Pencil of Doom! by Andy Griffiths Read Free Book Online Page B

all at the same time!’
    â€˜I’m still scared of lions, though,’ said Newton.
    â€˜But Jenny’s alive, and that’s the important thing!’ said Mr Brainfright.
    â€˜I wish it had been a pony that escaped from the circus,’ said Gina.
    â€˜I wish it had been a whole bunch of ponies,’ Penny chimed in. ‘Dancing ponies with plumes and sparkly saddles!’
    â€˜Speaking of ponies,’ said Mr Brainfright, ‘how are your horses, girls?’
    â€˜The lion got them,’ said Gina sadly.
    â€˜Are they all right?’ asked Jenny.
    â€˜No,’ Penny replied. ‘They’re in the hospital.’
    â€˜In a
very
serious condition,’ added Gina.
    â€˜I’m sorry to hear that,’ said Mr Brainfright.
    Jack sighed and rolled his eyes. ‘I’m not,’ he said. ‘I’m only sorry that it wasn’t a T-Rex that escaped. It would have stood on the horses and then it would have squashed the whole school and we would have gotten the rest of the year off!’
    â€˜Be careful what you wish for, Jack,’ said Mr Brainfright. ‘Because it might just come true.’
    â€˜That’s what my mother always says,’ said Jenny.
    â€˜She’s a wise woman,’ said Mr Brainfright. ‘Wishes are dangerous things. Sometimes they come true, but not quite in the way you expect. My father once told me a story about a friend of his who—No, I can’t tell you that . . . much too frightening for a Wednesday morning.’
    â€˜Ohhhh!’ groaned the class all in one voice. ‘Tell us! Please!’
    Mr Brainfright shook his head. ‘No . . . I can’t . . . It’s really not suitable . . .’
    â€˜Please!’ we begged. ‘Pleeeeease!’
    Mr Brainfright looked at the door. Then he shrugged. ‘All right,’ he said. ‘But don’t tell anybody I told you this . . . and don’t say I didn’t warn you!’
    We nodded.

36
The monkey’s paw

    Mr Brainfright came around to the front of his desk and leaned in close. ‘It happened to a friend of my father’s,’ he began. ‘He was given a monkey’s paw by a traveller who swore that it had the power to grant the owner three wishes.’
    â€˜A monkey’s
paw
?’ said Fiona. ‘Don’t monkeys have hands and feet?’
    â€˜Yes,’ said Mr Brainfright. ‘But they are also called paws.’
    â€˜Oh, I see,’ said Fiona, making a note.
    Mr Brainfright continued. ‘Naturally my father’s friend was sceptical, and who could blame him? After all, what magical properties could a monkey’s paw—of all things—possess? But, nevertheless, his son urged him to try it out.
    â€˜My father’s friend protested, saying he had no need of anything, but the son insisted and finally he convinced his father to wish for twentythousand dollars to pay off the money they owed on their house. They waited, and waited, and waited. But nothing happened. The man put the monkey’s paw on the mantelpiece, laughed about it and went to bed.
    â€˜The following day, however, they had a visitor. It was a man from the factory where the son worked. Apparently, the son had been killed that morning in a terrible accident. His clothing had got caught in a machine and he’d been sucked into it, his body horribly mangled.
    â€˜My father’s friend and his wife were devastated by the news, and even more upset when the man from the company presented them with a cheque for twenty thousand dollars as compensation.
    â€˜You see, the man ended up getting what he wished for, but not quite in the way he’d expected to get it . . . and indeed, in a way that he greatly wished he never had.’
    Mr Brainfright drew a deep breath.
    The class was completely silent.
    â€˜Is that the end of the story?’ said