Fizzypop by Jean Ure Read Free Book Online Page B

even try to eat it. Dad picked it up and put it in someone’s garden.”
    â€œThis dog barked,” said Jem. “That’s what made his owner come and look. If it hadn’t been for him – ” her eyes grew large, with wonderment – “if it hadn’t been for him I might have died. ”
    Me and Skye sat down next to her, on the top step.
    â€œWhat kind of person,” said Skye, “leaves a newborn baby outside in the middle of winter?”
    â€œSomeone desperate,” I said.
    â€œYou mean, someone heartless!”
    â€œNot necessarily. She could have been young, like really young, like… fifteen, maybe? And she’d have been scared. In a panic! She wouldn’t have known what she was doing. I once read somewhere,” I said, “that having a baby can drive you a bit nuts. Just temporarily. It wears off,” I assured Jem, who was starting to look worried. “I’m not saying your mum was mad, or anything.”
    â€œJust heartless,” muttered Skye.
    â€œDon’t keep saying that!” Jem shoved at her. “Imagine how you’d feel if you had a baby when you were only fifteen and you couldn’t tell your mum and dad cos they’d, like, disown you or something.”
    â€œPardon me,” said Skye, “but if I had a baby when I was only fifteen I think my mum and dad might notice.”
    â€œThey don’t always,” I said. “I’ve heard about girls having babies and nobody even knowing they were pregnant. Sometimes they didn’t even know it themselves.”
    â€œExcuse me?” said Skye.
    â€œNo, she’s right, she’s right!” said Jem. “I’ve heard that too.”
    â€œAnd it’s a Catholic church,” I said, “so that could mean she was Catholic. It’s a sin,” I said, “if you’re Catholic.”
    The more I thought about it, the more I began to feel sorry for this unknown girl, whoever she might have been.
    â€œIt’s a tragedy,” I said.
    â€œIt could have been,” agreed Jem. “If that dog hadn’t found me.”
    â€œNo, but for her. ”
    Even Skye had to admit, as we crossed back over the main road and wandered for old times’ sake along the Arcade, that it wouldn’t be easy if you were only fifteen and your mum and dad weren’t the sort of people you could talk to.
    â€œOn the other hand,” I said, “it is kind of romantic… it’s not everyone gets left on the steps of a church.”
    â€œIt’s not, is it?” said Jem, brightening. “I wish they’d kept the shawl, though.”
    â€œMaybe they did. Maybe if you asked your mum…”
    But she wasn’t ready for that. For the moment she seemed content just knowing something about her beginnings.
    â€œMy real beginnings,” she said.

Chapter Six
    I thought when I arrived home that Mum would be eager to hear about the Arcade, and whether the children’s playground was still there. I thought she’d be interested to know how Jem had got on, finding the very church, the very steps , where she had been abandoned.
    â€œIt was just, like, so extraordinary,” I said. “Sitting there, right on the actual spot!”
    â€œI’m sure it must have been,” said Mum. “But before you go any further I think I should warn you… your father is not in the best of moods. He is not at all pleased with you.”
    I said, “What? Why?” What had I done now?
    â€œHe’s hopping mad,” said Angel.
    But I hadn’t done anything! And then I noticed Rags: all along one side he was covered in something white. Paint?
    Mum pointed silently up the stairs. I didn’t want to look, but she seemed to expect it of me. Reluctantly, I swivelled my eyes in the direction of her pointing finger. Great clumps of dog fur were sticking out of Dad’s paintwork. You could see where Rags had