Free 50 Ways of Saying Fabulous Book 1 20th Anniversary Edition by Graeme Aitken

dashed past me effortlessly and had soon disappeared from sight into a gully. I stopped running and began to plod down the hill instead. The moment of revelation had been averted. But I knew it was likely to arise again and prove just as difficult to avoid. It wasn’t easy keeping secrets, especially from Lou. I was going to have to become good at it.

5
Chapter 5
    Aunt Evelyn gave me the nickname that plagued me throughout my last months at primary school. She bestowed it quite unwittingly and would’ve been horrified if she’d ever realised what she’d precipitated. But she failed to realise. As the days passed and the name calling showed no sign of abating, my faith in Aunt Evelyn dwindled away, leaving a rancorous blame to mount up in its stead.
    I drew away from her. I avoided her Shakespeare recitals. Refused her invitations for duets on the piano. I made a show of not listening to whatever she said, whether it was one of her theatrical anecdotes or a command to do a chore for her. I derived a malicious pleasure that she seemed hurt and bewildered by my behaviour. I began to treat her the way Lou treated her, as a pest who was best ignored.
    She knew I was brooding over something. She
had
to realise she had done something wrong. I waited for her to ask what the matter was but she never did. Instead she remarked loudly to my mother one day that teenagers were awfully moody.
    By estranging myself from Aunt Evelyn, I deprived myself. I had adored our play-acting times together and she had always encouraged me. But there was another, even greater loss. I never had the opportunity to ask Aunt Evelyn my burning question. What was
acting the poof
? She had been the person most likely to provide the answers, but after what she started, no matter how much I wanted to know, I couldn’t bring myself to ask her. I felt betrayed.
    She said it at Lou’s twelfth birthday party in front of the entire school. That sounds like a lot of guests to invite to a birthday party but the school roll was actually only eighteen. It wasn’t because Lou was friends with everyone that the whole school was invited. In fact, Lou had such a fearsome reputation that she couldn’t truthfully be described as popular. It was Aunt Evelyn who had insisted on inviting everyone. She liked to ‘set the standard’ and for everybody to recognise her accomplishment.
    I’d heard my mother discussing the party on the telephone with Velda Pile. ‘I can’t believe that Evelyn has to prove something with a child’s birthday party as well. She already has the newest house, the biggest garden, her own car, the most frequent hair appointments, to go with Arthur having the biggest farm in Mawera. Where will she draw the line?’
    Aunt Evelyn was famous for organising innovative party games that culminated in the eating of something sweet. The first game that particular year was the licorice strap race. Everyone was commanded to pair off into boy-girl couples. Lou rebelled, declaring that all the boys were too dumb. She insisted on choosing her best friend Susan Scott instead. Aunt Evelyn smiled grimly but was forced to demur. Being Lou’s birthday, she was entitled to flout the usual etiquette of obeying when being told what to do.
    There were equal numbers of boys and girls, so Lou’s rebellion ruined the obvious symmetry of things. It meant two of the boys had to pair up as well. I being Aunt Evelyn’s nephew and more subject to her authority than anyone else, was instructed to pair with Roy Schluter. He was the new boy at school who everyone was still wary of, on account of his outlandish name, his strange clothes and the damage adolescence was wrecking upon his face and body. He was older than me by six months. His recent arrival had stripped me of the honour of being the oldest pupil at school. Strange things were happening to Roy. He had the vague shadow of a moustache above his mouth that everyone at school was always whispering in awe about.