Henrietta's Good Day

All in all, decided Henrietta, it had been quite a good day.

She had been a little late for school, which was a bad way to start. Henrietta had to explain that she had been soaked when a passing car had driven through a puddle, and she had had to go home to put on a dry uniform. Henrietta had been really annoyed when it happened, not least because Matilda had seen it all happen and had laughed at Henrietta. Matilda was often like that, being a little bit mean just for the sake of it.

Once at school, things had improved. There was a general knowledge competition, which Henrietta won. She was given a medal by the school, and Henrietta was ever so proud of it. She wore it all day, and whenever anyone asked her how she knew so much about everything she would look at them conspiratorially and whisper "I read three newspapers every day". And it was true, she did. Every day, on the way home from school, she visited her friend Mr Ashton. He ran the newsagent on the High Street, and he would always give her some of the morning papers when it was clear nobody would buy them in the evening.

Later on, as she was leaving school, Henrietta saw Matilda trip over a loose shoelace and fall headfirst into a puddle. At first, Henrietta wanted to laugh, because Matilda was always beastly to her. But instead, Henrietta went into her bag and pulled out a towel that she had brought for PE. The towel was... well... a little damp after Henrietta had used it, but nowhere near as wet as Matilda was. Matilda had thanked Henrietta for letting her dry herself off, and they walked back home together.

Maybe Matilda wouldn have learned something from that. Henrietta certainly hoped so.

But now, Henrietta waa tired. She had had her dinner, finished her homework, tidied her room and put her school uniform out for tomorrow. Now, she just wanted to sit and watch TV for a little while, with a nice slice of cake and lashings of orange squash.