The Harriet Bean 3-Book Omnibus by Alexander McCall Smith Read Free Book Online

up a whole new list of things about which to boss people after that.
    We stopped for the night and continued the task the following day. Then, just before midday, I opened the last letter and handed it to Aunt Harmonica. This last letter did not count at all, as it was from someone who went to a school where there was a bossy dog. This dog barked at you if you did anything which it thought was wrong, and thus was very unpopular. The only thing that the children at that school liked about the school dog was that when visiting sports teams came to the school, the school dog would rush out and nip the ankles of the visitors while the game was being played. This meant that the visitors always lost, which made the school dog into something of a hero.
    “Now,” said Aunt Harmonica, sounding very relieved, “let’s look at the third pile.”
    There were only three letters in the thirdpile and my aunts looked at them very carefully. They read them and then re-read them. Then they held them up to the light in the hope that that would help. At last, after much discussion between themselves, they chose one.
    “This girl must be talking about Majolica,” said Aunt Veronica. “Look, she says here that this teacher goes red in the face when she starts to boss people around.”
    “That’s exactly what Majolica used to do,” agreed Aunt Harmonica. “And look, she says that they even found her being bossy when nobody was there to boss around.”
    “Majolica often used to do that,” said Aunt Veronica. “Yes. There’s no doubt about it. We’ve found our sister!”
    We made a large bonfire of all the other letters and then prepared to leave the campsite. The letter had come from some distance away, and Aunt Veronica said that we would need quite some time for the journey. If we set off at once, we could find a place to stop overnight and would reach the school the next morning.
    So we said good-bye to the farmer and thanked him for his kindness. Then we set off, the farmer standing on his doorstep looking very puzzled as to how the trailer made no noise when it moved. I waved to him from my window, and he waved back, but when I looked again he was scratching his head in utter bewilderment.

The Bossiest Teacher
    We found the school with little difficulty. It was midmorning by the time we arrived and so the children were all in their classrooms having lessons. I wondered what we were going to do next, but Aunt Veronica soon answered that question.
    “We’ll stay right here,” she said. “When the children come out at lunchtime, we’ll see Majolica. I can guarantee that.”
    I wasn’t sure what she meant, but I knew that things always seemed to work out with Aunt Veronica so I did not worry.
    When we heard the lunch bell, Aunt Veronica got out of the trailer and stood at theschool gates. The gates were made of iron bars and over the years had become a bit twisted. They looked as if one or two cars had backed into them at times, and there were also places where bars had slipped out of their places and had not been put back.
    Rolling up her sleeves, Aunt Veronica took out one of the misshapen bars and began to twist it back into shape. Some of the children noticed this, and came running to watch her. Soon others saw what was going on, and joined them. Within minutes, there was a large crowd cheering with delight as Aunt Veronica bent the gate back into proper shape.
    There was the sound of a shrill voice from the other side of the playground. Out of the main door of the school, a large figure advanced purposefully.
    “What are you doing, children?” the voice screeched. “Have you nothing better to do than hang around the gates? What about your lunch? How do you expect to grow properly if you don’t eat lunch? Well, come on, answer me!”
    The figure paused, noticing what was attracting the children.
    “And you!” the teacher shouted at Aunt Veronica. “Put the school gates down immediately! We simply won’t have people