Girl Wonder's Winter Adventures

by Malorie Blackman

  “Not bad,” said Edward.

  “It’s mega-brilliant!” I argued. “After all, Mum said she’d like some snow.”

  We went into the conservatory where the washing machine was kept. Anthony and Edward started arguing about who should sprinkle the washing powder until I said, “There’s no need for that. There’s plenty of washing powder for all of us to have a go. Besides, superheroes don’t argue.”

  So Anthony sprinkled washing powder in the conservatory and the kitchen. I did the living room and Edward used the last of the washing powder in the hall and at the bottom of the stairs.

  And when we’d finished, it looked TERRIFIC!

  “Mum, come and see what we did,” I called out.

  “What is it?” Mum asked, walking down the stairs.

  She stopped halfway down the stairs and stared at the hall carpet. It’s usually beige but now it was white and looked just like snow on the ground.

  “What . . . on . . . earth . . .?” Mum stared at the carpet. AND STARED AND STARED. Then she finally looked at us. I recognized that look. We were in serious trouble! Again!

  “WHAT IS THAT . . . THAT ON MY CARPET?” Mum asked furiously.

  “It’s snow,” I answered.

  “That’s right. Snow,” said Anthony.

  “Yeah, snow,” said Edward.

  “Snow! I’ll give you snow!” Mum marched down the stairs. “That’s my washing powder all over my good carpets. Right, you three. Out with the vacuum cleaner. NOW.”

  We spent all morning vacuuming up the washing powder. The vacuum cleaner couldn’t suck up some of it, so we had to get down on our hands and knees and pick up every single grain.

  “No more pocket money for any of you until that box of washing powder is paid for,” Mum ranted and raved behind us.

  “Maxine, your idea was rotten rubbish,” Anthony moaned at me.

  “Yeah, extra stinky rotten rubbish,” groaned Edward.

  “The stinkiest . . .” Anthony continued.

  “It was a good idea,” I tried to argue.

  But my brothers didn’t think so. They moaned and groaned and whined and complained until I was getting a headache. They just didn’t appreciate my good ideas. I thought the washing powder looked really pretty. Just like real snow!

  The Biggest Snowball in the Universe

  When I woke up, my bedroom was really bright, even though the curtains were mostly drawn.

  “Oh no! It’s sunny,” I said to myself.

  If it was sunny then it would be too warm for snow. I walked slowly to the curtains and drew them back and there was . . . SNOW! The grass, our apple tree, the garden shed, they were all covered in lots and lots of snow. Inches and INCHES of snow.

  Yippee!

  I quickly had my shower and rushed downstairs.

  “Mum, Mum! There’s snow in our garden.”

  “Yes, I know,” Mum said glumly. “I left my clothes hanging out last night and now they’re frozen stiff. I’m going to have to let them thaw out and wash them all over again.”

  “Maxine, it’s been snowing.” My brothers came running into the kitchen, and started hopping up and down as they looked out of the kitchen window at our garden.

  “What are we going to do? Build a snowcastle?” I asked.

  Snowcastles are the winter version of sandcastles.

  “Build a snowman?” asked Anthony.

  “Have a snowball fight?” said Edward.

  “You’re all going to have some breakfast before you do anything else,” Mum interrupted.

  “Then can we go to the park, Mum? Please, please!” I begged.

  “All right then. As long as you all stay out of trouble,” Mum said.

  So after breakfast, we set off for the park. There was a group of carol singers singing near the children’s playground and a few people building snowmen and having snowball fights.

  “Mum, can we climb up the hill?” I asked.

  “Why?” Mum frowned.

  “Then we can see everyone in the park,” said Anthony.

  “Then we can see for miles and miles,” added Edward.

  “Well, I’m not climbing up there,” Mum replied. “I’ll sit on a bench and watch you – AND DON’T GET INTO TROUBLE.”

  “Of course we won’t get into trouble,” I said, crossing my fingers behind my back.

  We don’t go looking for trouble, it just seems to sneak up behind us!

  We climbed up the hilly bit of the park and we could see all the houses for kilometres around. It was brilliant! Double brilliant!

  “What shall we do?” I asked.

  “Let’s do something special,” said Anthony.

  “Something mega special,” agreed Edward.

  “Hhmm!” I said. “I think this is a job for Girl Wonder and . . .”

  “The Terrific Twins!” Anthony and Edward called out.

  And we all spun around until we were wobbly woozy and slipping and sliding all over the place.

  “I know,” I said. “Let’s build a snowball. The hugest snowball in the world. And we can leave it here, at the top of the hill for everyone to see who comes to the park. They’ll all look at it and say, ‘Isn’t that the most amazing snowball?’ ”

  “Yeah, let’s do that,” Anthony said.

  “Right this second!” said Edward.

  So we started building our snowball. At first it was the size of a marble, then the size of an orange, then the size of a football, then the size of the globe at school – and it got bigger and Bigger and BIGGER.

  “This is fun,” Anthony laughed.

  “This snowball is going to be the biggest and best in the world,” said Edward.

  “The galaxy,” Anthony said.

  “The universe,” I argued.

  And the snowball got bigger and bigger until it was almost as high as my brothers’ waists and still we kept piling more snow on it.

  Now it was as high as the twins’ chests.

  “We’ve done it,” I said proudly. “We’ve built the biggest snowball in the universe.”

  “Let’s make it even bigger,” said Anthony. “There’s plenty of snow around.”

  “Yeah, don’t stop yet,” Edward pleaded.

  “OK then,” I replied, and we trotted a bit down the hill to get more fresh snow.

  We were walking up the hill with our arms full of snow when I saw that our snowball was rocking backward and forward.

  “Look, look!” We all started laughing.

  But then the snowball took one great rock backward, then one giant rock forward and started to roll off down the hill.

  “Oh no!” I shouted. “Quick, Terrific Twins, we have to stop it.”

  We dropped the snow in our hands and started running after our runaway snowball.

  “Oh no!” I said, huffing and puffing as we ran down the hill. Our runaway snowball was growing bigger and bigger as it rolled – and it was heading straight for the carol singers.

  “Look out below!” I shouted.

  “Watch out!” Anthony called.

  “It’s coming! It’s coming,” Edward yelled.

  “MAXINE . . . EDWARD . . . ANTHONY . . .!” I heard Mum calling us but we couldn’t stop.

  And still the runaway snowball kept growing as it collected more snow rolling down the hill. We were still running after the snowball, trying to catch up with it. At last the carol singers heard us. They stopped singing and stared up the hill.

  “Look out!” we bellowed.

  The singers dived out of the way. There were legs and arms everywhere. Our ginormous, runaway snowball hit the railings around the children’s playground and collapsed.

  The carol singers stood up, dusting the snow off their clothes and glaring at us.

  Ooops!

  “Maxine, Anthony, Edward, what did I say about staying out of trouble?” Mum asked, her hands on her hips.

  “But Mum, it wasn’t our fault. The snowball ran away from us,” I said.

  “I don’t want t
o hear another word,” Mum said. “We’re going home. Right this minute. Right this moment.”

  “This is all your fault,” Anthony whispered, as we walked back home, after apologising to the carol singers. “It was your idea.”

  “It was a good idea,” I argued.

  “It was a flimsy-floppy idea,” pouted Anthony.

  “A seriously flimsy-floppy idea,” sulked Edward.

  “But at least it worked,” I said. “We did build the biggest snowball in the universe.”

  Jayne, the Pain!

  It was going to be a rotten day. We had to go and see Aunt Joanne and Uncle Stan and, worst of all, our cousin Jayne.

  My brothers and I made up a rhyme about our cousin.

  Cousin Jayne

  Is a pain.

  If she’s naughty,

  We’re to blame!

  We’re not too keen on our cousin. She gets on our nerves. She’s always showing off about her new dress, or new hat, or new bike, or new something or other. Every time we go to her house she’s always got something new. And she never shares anything.

  She’s so wet!

  Mum drove us to Aunt Joanne and Uncle Stan’s house because it was too cold to walk through the park (which was how we usually got there).

  “Maxine, Edward, Anthony, I want you three on your very best behaviour,” Mum said just before we got out of the car. “Every time we come here, you three seem to look for trouble to get into.”

  We don’t look for trouble – it just seems to find us!

  Mum got out of the car and walked up the garden path. We dawdled behind her. I walked up the garden path last. I think I’d rather go to the dentist than see my cousin Jayne.

  “Hello, everyone.” Aunt Joanne opened the door before Mum even rang the door bell.

  “My goodness, Maxine, haven’t you grown!” Auntie bent down and kissed me on the cheek. She always says that. She always does that. And I hate it!

  Yuk! In fact, double yuk!

  “Hello, Maxine. Hi, Ed and Tony,” Drippy Jayne said to us. “Come and see my new toboggan.”

  I looked at the twins. They looked at me. It hadn’t taken her long to show off this time. It must have been all of about five seconds.

  “What’s a toboggan?” Anthony asked.

  “Yeah, what’s that?” Edward added.

  “It’s like a sledge that I can lie on or sit on. Then I can slide over the snow,” Jayne said with her nose in the air. “I can go really fast. It’s a really good toboggan.”

  “Go on, you three,” Mum said. “Go into the garden and have a look at Jayne’s toboggan.”

  We dragged our feet and walked slowly as we followed Jayne out into the garden. I did want to see the toboggan but I didn’t want to see Jayne show off.

  “Isn’t it terrific?” Jayne said, dusting some snow off it.

  I must admit it did look good, and Jayne’s garden was just perfect for tobogganing. It was huge and ever so slightly hilly, so that there was enough of a slope for the toboggan to whizz along but not too much of a mountain for the toboggan to get out of control. I was longing to try it out but I knew it was no use asking Jayne. She liked to show us all her new things but she never let us touch any of them.

  “Watch me,” Jayne ordered, going to the far end of her enormous garden. As we watched, she lay down on her toboggan and kicked off with her feet.

  WH-III-SH!

  Jayne came skiing down the slope. She dug her toes into the snow to stop the toboggan just before it got to us.

  “Watch me again,” she commanded, running back up the garden.

  “Maxine, can’t we have a go?” Anthony whispered to me.

  “Maxine, I want to go on the toboggan,” Edward said.

  “It’s up to Jayne, not me.” I shrugged.

  “Huh! Then we might as well go indoors,” Anthony sighed.

  “Right this second!” Edward agreed.

  “Don’t give up yet. We’re each going to have a go on Jayne’s toboggan before leaving for home,” I said.

  “Do you have a plan?” asked Edward.

  “Not yet, but maybe this is a job for Girl Wonder . . .”

  “And the Terrific Twins,” my brothers said without much enthusiasm, and we spun around slowly so that we didn’t skate and glide and slip and slide over the snow.

  “Here I come!” shouted Jayne from the other end of the garden.

  SHH-WHISH!

  Jayne whooshed over the snow, stopping just in front of us again.

  “Watch me again,” she demanded. She ran back up the garden, dragging her toboggan behind her.

  “Pretend you’re not really interested in what she’s doing,” I whispered to the Terrific Twins as Jayne tobogganed towards us.

  “Come on, you two, let’s make a snowman,” I said out loud.

  We moved out of Jayne’s way and knelt down. Then we started piling up snow to make the snowman’s body.

  “Don’t you want to watch me?” Jayne asked, puzzled.

  “Why should we?” I replied. “We’re building a snowman.”

  “A big snowman,” said Anthony.

  “A huge snowman,” said Edward.

  “The best snowman in the world,” I told Jayne.

  And we piled up more snow. Jayne stood watching us for a while, her toboggan behind her.

  “Why don’t you want to watch me?” Jayne asked, even more puzzled.

  “We did watch you. Now we’re doing something else,” I replied.

  “Something far more exciting,” added Anthony.

  “Something much, much more interesting,” said Edward.

  Then Cousin Jayne, the pain, did something really nasty. She walked over to us and kicked our snowman’s body over. The Terrific Twins and I jumped to our feet.

  “That was really spiteful,” yelled Anthony.

  “That was really nasty,” shouted Edward.

  “Is it any wonder we don’t want to play with you?” I told Jayne. I was furious. “Whenever we see you all you do is show off and boast about what you’ve got and you never share anything. You’re selfish and we hate coming to your house. We mega-hate it.”

  The Terrific Twins and I glared at her. Jayne glared back but her bottom lip was trembling. Then her face scrunched up and she burst into tears.

  “Would anyone like a hot drink?” Uncle Stan asked from the kitchen doorway before he saw Jayne crying. “Maxine, Anthony, Edward, what have you been doing to Jayne?”

  Uncle Stan looked really annoyed with us.

  On either side of him stood Aunt Joanne and our mum, looking really stern.

  “We didn’t do anything, Mum . . .” I said quickly.

  “No, we didn’t,” said Anthony.

  “Not a thing,” said Edward.

  “Jayne dear, did they hurt you?” Aunt Joanne came out into the garden in her slippers and hugged Jayne.

  “Maxine, why is Jayne crying?” Mum asked quietly.

  I looked at the twins, they looked at me. None of us said a word.

  “It . . . it wasn’t them,” Jayne whispered to her mum. “I . . . I fell off my toboggan.”

  I stared at her. She was taking the blame.

  “Are you hurt, my precious?” Aunt Joanne asked Jayne.

  “No, I’m fine,” Jayne sniffed before wiping her eyes. “Maxine and Anthony and Edward are going to use my toboggan and I’m going to help them build a snowman.”

  “Maxine, are you all OK?” Mum asked.

  “Yes, Mum,” the twins and I said.

  “Well, don’t stay out too long,” Mum said.

  “We won’t,” we replied.

  “Come on, Joanne, before you catch a cold,” Mum said to our aunt.

  The grown-ups walked back into the kitchen and shut the kitchen door behind them. My brothers and I looked at Jayne.

  “Did you mean it about letting us use your toboggan?” I asked suspiciously.

  “Only if you let me help you with your snowman,” Jayne replied.

&
nbsp; “It’s a deal,” I said. “And we’re sorry for all the mean things we said.”

  The twins and I had great fun toboganning down Jayne’s garden. Each of us kept falling off until Jayne told us how to do it properly. It was just as well that the snow was soft. After that we built a huge snowman. Jayne got us a carrot to use as the nose and two satsumas to use as the eyes and she wasn’t a pain at all. Our snowman was the best in the world. We had the most fun we’d ever had at Jayne’s house.

  We didn’t mean to make her cry but at least our plan worked – sort of. We did all get to use Jayne’s toboggan.

  Carol Singing

  “Mum, everyone in my class is doing something to collect money for charity,” I said when I came home from school. “I thought that maybe the twins and I could go carol singing and we could collect money that way. Will you take us? Please, please?”

  “Carol singing. Hooray!” said Anthony.

  “Yippee! Carol singing,” said Edward.

  Mum frowned. “Oh, all right. We’ll go tonight – but only tonight.”

  “Thanks, Mum,” we said.

  “Come on, you two. We’re going to practise,” I said to my brothers.

  We ran upstairs and into Edward’s and Anthony’s bedroom, shutting the door behind us.

  “Edward, Anthony, we’re going to collect a lot of money for charity,” I said. “And we’re going to be the most ace-dazzling carol singers ever.”

  “We are?” asked Anthony.

  “Are we?” asked Edward.

  “Yes we are,” I said firmly. “And just to make sure, I think this is a job for Girl Wonder . . .”

  “And the Terrific Twins,” said my brothers. And we spun around until we rolled and reeled all over the place.

  We practised and practised until we could remember the words of each of the four songs we were going to sing – ‘Silent Night’, ‘Oh Come, All Ye Faithful’, ‘We Wish You a Merry Christmas’ and ‘Christmas is Coming’. We couldn’t wait for evening to arrive.

  At last it was time to set off. We had my drum and Anthony’s red trumpet. We all went to Miss Ree’s house first.

  Anthony played his trumpet – ROOOOMPH! ROOOOMPH! And I banged my drum – DUUUM! DUUUM! – and Edward and I started singing.