Rocks in the Belly by Jon Bauer Read Free Book Online Page A

hard my ears moved.
    â€˜Come on then, Sonny Jim.’ Which isn’t my name but I like the way his voice sounds when he says it. I clamber in and get to change gears and we sing along to the radio together and even though it’s up too loud for me to hear the engine I can still change gear on time by watching Dad’s knee on the clutch. I’m good. Lucky I didn’t burn my gear changing hand.
    Sometimes he pretends to push his knee as if he wants me to gear change but it’s just a red herring trick, and even though we’re on our way to the psychologist I still get the giggles every time.
    My tongue pokes out when I’m concentrating. Dad calls me Three Lips Macavoy when that happens. I imagine Three Lips Macavoy can concentrate very hard and is a private detective. And plays a mean saxophone.
    We park in the car park and I get the squishing snake in mystomach but Mr Gale the psychologist turns out to seem quite nice and not scary.
    Dad calls him Jaws afterwards, like the baddie out of The Spy Who Loved Me by James Bond.
    Dad calls Mr Gale Jaws because he has braces on his teeth even though he’s quite old. Dad says he must be vain, or maybe just a late developer and might still do a paper round too.
    Dad goes in to talk to Jaws first and leaves me in the waiting room. I can hear them talking but not what they’re saying.
    When they come out Mr Gale says hello again and asks about my burnt hand. It has a big bandage on it and a plastic protective cover.
    Jaws watches while Dad takes me into this big room with a desk and posh work stuff at one end and toys and things up the other. There’s a white line stuck to the carpet to divide the room up into two halves, the toy end and the posh office end. Plus there’s a big window of glass on one wall but you can’t see through it to anywhere and it isn’t a mirror properly either.
    Jaws watches while Dad explains to me only to play with certain toys and not to cross the taped line on the floor between the play bit and the work office bit. Then they leave me all alone but I’m not to worry cos they’re just next door.
    I get scared on my own but pretend I’m a robot. Mostly I play with my monster robot and don’t touch any of the psychologist toys because of all the crazy boys who must have touched them and Robert has been saying ‘Stay away from me or I’ll catch your crazy germs.’ I’m not crazy I don’t think but I don’t want to catch crazy germs off the other boys who come.
    It’s hard playing with only one hand but I like how Mum has to sit with me every day and change the dressing plus she’s a bit softer now as if the heat from my burn melted her.
    They say I’ll be scarred for life. Mum says she will too.
    Eventually Dad comes in and plays with me but he’s a bit funny and keeps looking at himself in the half mirror window.
    Afterwards we get to go and he takes me for fish and chips and I’m all happy I didn’t get my brain fried.
    The chip shop is always steamed up inside and the counter smells of vinegar. Plus we normally get to pinch a chip just after the man has salt and vinegared them but before he wraps them up. And they’re always so hot we chew them like a dog chews a marshmallow.
    I like the fish and chip shop except being here today with all the hot surfaces makes me scared my hand will get burnt again. I’m always getting these really big daydreams about bad things happening and they’re so real they make me jump.
    When the food is all wrapped and paid for Dad takes it off the counter and it always leaves a mark and I stay behind to watch the hot mark fade because if I don’t Mum and Dad will die.
    Then I run to catch Dad up and he’s pretending I’ve caught him with his face guzzling the package of food.
    We eat the fish and chips in the car by the park. I eat slower than usual cos I can only use one hand. When Dad’s