Free Big Change for Stuart by Lissa Evans Page B

between two magnets.
    And then his father called his name from downstairs and he found himself back in the real world, ravenously hungry, and a bit ashamed of himself.
    â€˜Sorry, Dad,’ he mumbled, coming into the kitchen. ‘Sorry I was rude to you.’
    â€˜Expiation delightedly accepted. I surmise that you were sorely in need of sustenance and therefore I have prepared a porcine-based comestible.’
    He waved a hand towards the table, and Stuart looked at the large, delicious-looking sandwich, stuffed with bacon and oozing tomato sauce. And then he looked at all the other things that his father had spent the entire afternoon cooking.
    â€˜Can I have some soup as well?’ he asked. ‘And maybe a small slice of the vegetable flan and a bit of salad. Just a small bit?’
    After five minutes of steady chomping, Stuart felt much fuller and much, much healthier.
    â€˜Thanks, Dad.’
    His father was looking thoughtful. ‘Do you think it might aid mutual colloquy if I endeavoured to converse in a less polysyllabic manner?’ he asked.
    â€˜What does
mutual colloquy
mean?’
    â€˜Our conversation.’
    â€˜And
endeavour
means
try
, doesn’t it?’
    â€˜Indubitably.’
    â€˜So what you’re saying is,
Would it be easier for us to talk if you used shorter words?
’
    â€˜Yes.’
    Stuart nodded cautiously. ‘Well, it might speed things up a bit. What do you want to talk about?’
    â€˜I confess to a mild sense of curiosity about your recently completed telephonic communi—’ His father paused and swallowed. ‘Your phone call,’ he said, rather slowly, as if speaking a foreign language. ‘Who was it from?’
    â€˜A very old lady. She knew about Great-Uncle Tony’s workshop being found, and she wants to buy all the tricks. She’s says she’s very rich. Dad?’
    â€˜Yes?’
    â€˜Have you ever wanted to be rich?’
    â€˜Such an ambition has never come within the compass of—’ His father stopped and cleared his throat.
    â€˜I mean to convey that I have always engaged in wider considerations than—’ He cleared his throat again.
    â€˜No,’ he said simply. ‘There are more important things than money.’
    In the brief silence Stuart heard April shouting his name from the back garden.
    â€˜Can I go and see her?’ he asked, and instead of saying something like, ‘You have my unconditional assent,’ his dad just smiled and replied, ‘Yes,’ and Stuart thought, with a burst of pleasure, how much simpler life would be if his father stuck to this new way of talking.
    The fence between the gardens always made Stuart feel especially short; it was too high for him to see over, whereas April was tall enough to comfortably rest her chin on it.
    She was standing on her side of the fence, sucking a bright blue ice-lolly. ‘Hello,’ she said. ‘You look all weird and excited about something. What’s going on?’
    â€˜Well, I had this mysterious phone call and—’
    The entire top of April’s lolly broke off in her mouth and she let out a piercing scream.
    Stuart stared at her.
    â€˜It’s
cold
,’ she wailed madly, hopping from foot to foot. ‘My teeth have gone all
tingly
. Ooooh! It’s like pins and needles only in my teeeeeeeeth!’
    Stuart folded his arms. ‘You’re not April,’ he said.
    â€˜What?’
    â€˜She wouldn’t make a fuss about something like that. You must be May.’
    Instantly April popped up from where she’d been hiding behind the fence, next to her sister.
    â€˜Very good,’ she said. ‘We were just testing you. I lent May my glasses and then I hid.’
    May laughed. Stuart felt a bit irritated. ‘What did you want anyway?’ he asked.
    â€˜To tell you that I can’t be at the museum tomorrow morning. We’ve got to go shopping for school