One Thousand Lollipops

by Emma Laybourn



  ONE THOUSAND LOLLIPOPS

  Emma Laybourn

  Copyright 2012 Emma Laybourn

  Sharkbiter

  Save the Unicorn!

  Two and a Half Dragons

  Megamouse

  Captain Snatchit’s Parrot

  Licence notes

  Table of Contents

  Chapter One

  Chapter Two

  Chapter Three

  Chapter Four

  Chapter Five

  Chapter Six

  Chapter Seven

  Chapter Eight

  Chapter Nine

  CHAPTER ONE

  Alone at last…

  Sam crept into his bedroom and closed the door tight. Then he listened.

  Outside, he could hear the usual Saturday morning noises. Mum was whistling as she dug the garden. Laura was squealing happily in her buggy. Dad was singing to her out of tune, as he pushed her down the drive and off to the park.

  At last the house was empty. It was Time.

  Time for Sam’s secret…

  Sam dived under his bed and pulled out the shoebox hidden far beneath. The label on the lid said:

  SAM’S CARS

  KEEP OUT! THIS MEANS YOU!!

  Sam had stopped collecting toy cars when he was seven. The label was just to put his parents – and especially Mum – off the scent.

  Mum must never know what was inside Sam’s box... because Mum was a dentist, and she would be horrified.

  Sam paused with his hands on the lid. He could feel eyes watching him.

  He glanced round guiltily. Tufty Toothbrush was glaring at him from the far end of the bed. Tufty Toothbrush was, of course, not real, but that didn’t stop him from being very disconcerting.

  Mum had made Tufty herself, out of horrible blotchy orange and purple cloth. He was like a cross between a toothbrush and a bad-tempered fox. He had stumpy legs, stiff white bristles sticking out of the back of his head, and a badge saying

  CLEAN YOUR TEETH!

  “Get lost, Tufty,” muttered Sam. He reached over and shoved Tufty under the pillow so that only the stumpy legs were sticking out. When Sam was little he had been a bit scared of Tufty. He had certainly never been very fond of him. Now that he was older, he couldn’t stand him.

  He couldn’t throw Tufty away, though, because Mum was so proud of her creation. She used to tell Sam Tufty stories when he was small. She’d even had hundreds of Tufty leaflets printed to give out to all the children whose teeth she checked. Sam privately thought that the sight of Tufty snarling CLEAN YOUR TEETH! would put them off toothbrushes for life.

  However, that wasn’t his problem. Sam tried to forget about Tufty, and turned back to his box.

  At last! It was time for sugar, candy, lollies, chocolate! His mouth was already watering. What should he choose today?

  A sherbet fizz? Jellybeans? Liquorice allsorts? Fruit gums or chocolate raisins?

  Hungrily Sam opened his box. He tossed aside the pictures of cars that hid his treasure, and saw–

  – a few grains of sherbet and an ancient, woolly wine gum.

  “Oh, bother!”

  Sam remembered now. He’d polished off the chocolate raisins a few days ago, and eaten the last jellybean yesterday.

  “One measly wine gum!” grumbled Sam. He stuck it in his mouth anyway. “I need to restock. I need more sweets – now! I want lollies!”

  Angrily he rammed the lid back on the empty box and kicked it under the bed. Then he rattled his money-box and prised out the contents. Two buttons and a paper-clip.

  “But today’s Saturday,” Sam reminded himself. “Pocket money day!” As long as his room was tidy, Mum would give him his pocket money.

  Then he could run down to the shop owned by Hanif’s Dad, to buy his weekly hoard of wonderful sweet treats.

  Mum thought he just bought comics there, because he always came back with a bundle of them. She didn’t realise that Hanif’s Dad gave him last week’s comics for free – and that all Sam’s money went on toffees, mints and gobstoppers.

  Now Sam zoomed around the bedroom like a human vacuum cleaner, scooping up crayons, socks and comics and stuffing them into his drawers.

  There! Tidy. He galloped downstairs to demand his pocket money from Mum. As he was about to run outside to find her, the doorbell rang.

  “Mum!” shouted Sam. But Mum was still in the back garden, and couldn’t hear. So Sam opened the door.

  “Sam Hunter?”

  “Yes?”

  The man on the doorstep was as round as a football, with a grin as wide as Tufty Toothbrush’s. Next to him stood a teetering tower of cardboard boxes – five of them in a tall pile.

  He beamed at Sam. “Twizzo Treats!”

  “What?”

  “I’m from Twizzo Treats! You entered our Super Colouring Competition!”

  “Did I?” Sam vaguely remembered colouring a picture in a comic, and sending it off. But that was months ago.

  “You certainly did! What’s more – you won! Congratulations, Sam! You won first prize!”

  “Me? First prize?” gasped Sam. “I’ve never won a first prize in my life! What is it?”

  The man lifted the top box from the pile, and thrust it into Sam’s arms.

  “Twizzo’s Super Giant Rainbow Lollipops!”

  “What? You mean I’ve won a whole box of lollipops?”

  “No, no!” laughed the Twizzo man. “Not one box! All these boxes! Sam, you lucky boy – you’ve won a thousand lollipops!”

  CHAPTER TWO

  Sam panted upstairs with the five big boxes, one at a time. He was desperate to hide them in his bedroom before Mum saw them.

  But outside, Mum was whistling as she whacked the weeds with her hoe. She hadn’t seen the Twizzo man arrive or leave. She didn’t know about the prize.

  She had no idea that Sam had a thousand Giant Rainbow Lollipops heaped upon his bed.

  Eagerly Sam tore open the first box.

  Lollipops! Fat, round, lickable lollipops! They were covered in swirly stripes of orange and purple. He used to dream of having a shoebox full of treats – and now he had five huge cardboard cartons crammed with them!

  Sam couldn’t wait. He tore a wrapper off a lollipop and stuffed it into his mouth. It felt wonderful.

  “Mm,” said Sam. “Mmmm.”

  For the first few seconds, he was blissful. Then he began to wonder – what flavour was this lollipop? It tasted a bit odd.

  “Cherry?” thought Sam. “Gooseberry? Rhubarb? Never mind. It’s sweet – that’s what counts!”

  As soon as the first lollipop was finished, he unwrapped another, popped it into his mouth and lay back on his bed to enjoy it.

  This lollipop had a funny taste too. Sam sucked his way through it as fast as he could, and rummaged in the box for a different sort. But the lollipops all looked exactly the same, all with orange and purple swirls.

  Sam unwrapped a few more, and licked them cautiously. They all tasted the same as well.

  “I don’t care,” said Sam, as he started to suck a third lollipop. But somehow it didn’t taste as good as the first two.

  With the stick poking out of his mouth, Sam hunted for a label on the box. He read:

  TWIZZO TREATS

  TWO HUNDRED SUPER GIANT RAINBOW LOLLIPOPS

  PRUNE AND MANGO FLAVOUR

  “Oh,” said Sam. He studied the labels of the other four boxes.

  PRUNE AND MANGO said each one.

  Valiantly Sam finished the third lollipop. Slowly he unwrapped a fourth, took a deep breath, put it in his mouth – and the terrible truth hit him.

  He didn’t like these lollipops. He didn’t want another. He couldn’t stand prune and mango flavour. A
nd he was starting to feel a bit sick.

  There was a sharp knock on his bedroom door.

  “Sam?” said Mum’s voice. “Is your room tidy?”

  Sam spat out the lollipop. “Not quite!” he shouted. “Don’t come in!”

  “I’ll be back in two minutes,” called Mum through the door. “You’d better be ready by then!”

  Sam gazed in horror at the five big boxes on his bed. They looked like a cardboard mountain advertising Twizzo Lollipops. Where could he hide them? He spun round frantically, looking for a place.

  There was no room for them under his bed, or in his toy box, or behind his curtains. The only possible place was inside his wardrobe.

  Throwing open his wardrobe door, Sam began to pull everything out. He dumped his shirts, jumpers and trousers on the floor, and piled the boxes up inside. The last one only just squeezed in at the top. Sam slammed the wardrobe shut.

  “Time’s up!” called Mum. “I hope it’s tidy!” She opened his door and walked in.

  Her mouth fell open as she stared at the piles of clothes strewn all over the floor.

  “Sam! It looks like a jumble sale in here! Is this the best you can do? No pocket money for you this week!”

  “But Mum! It’s because I need the wardrobe for – for a surprise that I’m making for you. Only it’s a secret! You mustn’t open the wardrobe! You mustn’t look inside! You mustn’t! Promise!”

  Mum began to smile. “A surprise for me? That’s lovely of you, Sam. But your room is a terrible mess. How long is this surprise going to take?”

  “At least a week!” Sam said desperately.

  “Well... all right. But right now you can fold all those clothes up. And by next Saturday they must be back in your wardrobe. I will want your room to be absolutely spotless. Do you understand?”

  Sam nodded. As Mum left, he flopped on to the bed, weak with relief.

  Safe – for a week. He had seven days to get rid of the boxes filling his wardrobe, without Mum realising what they contained.

  But what on earth was he going to do with a thousand prune and mango lollipops?

  CHAPTER THREE

  It was Monday morning. Sam lugged his rucksack into the kitchen and tried to hide it behind his chair while he got his breakfast.

  “Your school bag’s bulging this morning,” said Mum.

  “I’m taking some old comics in to lend Alex,” said Sam quickly.

  “Let me see!” shouted Laura.

  “Not now! We’re eating breakfast,” said Sam.

  “Want a comic!” Laura toddled round the table and grabbed at Sam’s rucksack. A lollipop fell out.

  Mum picked it up and looked at Sam.

  “It came free with one of the comics,” he said. “I thought Alex could have it. I don’t eat lollipops.”

  Mum beamed. “Good boy, Sam!” she said. “I’m so glad you don’t like that nasty tooth-rotting stuff. Talking of teeth – have you got room in your bag for these posters?”

  She unrolled two sheets of paper and held them up.

  A picture of Tufty Toothbrush grinned fiercely from each poster. On the first was written:

  Tufty says, brush twice a day

  And keep the dentist’s drill away!

  while on the second was:

  Tufty says, don’t eat that sweet!

  Carrots are a healthy treat!

  This poster showed a threatening Tufty brandishing a carrot like a club.

  Sam shuddered. “Lovely,” he said.

  “They’re for Mrs Vernon,” Mum explained. “She wants them for the school fair on Saturday. I’ve told her I’ll do a display all about how to look after your teeth.”

  Sam rolled the posters up and slid them carefully into his bag, on top of the forty lollipops he already had in there.

  They seemed to have got a bit sticky over the weekend. At school, during the morning break, he had to peel the posters off them before he handed them over to Mrs Vernon.

  Mrs Vernon took the sticky posters gingerly. “Thanks, Sam. Do you think your mum could bring us some leaflets on Saturday as well?”

  “I’ll ask her,” said Sam, edging away. He was in a hurry to get outside. He needed to find a good spot in the playground to start up his business…

  Running across the playground with his bulging bag, he picked a sheltered corner where the teacher on duty couldn’t see him. Then he spread his coat on the ground and laid out his wares on top of it – forty giant rainbow lollipops.

  “Lollipops!” Sam didn’t dare shout in case the teacher heard, so it came out in a loud whisper. “Get your lovely lollipops here!”

  A few children came over to inspect them.

  “They’re really cheap! Only 10p each!” croaked Sam, and more children gathered to see what he was selling.

  “What’s wrong with them?” Alex asked suspiciously.

  “Nothing! They’re lovely!”

  “My dad sells that sort in his shop,” said Hanif. “I’ve tried one. They’re yucky.”

  “I only like green lollies,” said a little kid from Year One. “Have you got any green lollies?”

  “Have you got any fudge?” asked another.

  “No, just lollipops,” said Sam.

  “Do you have any jelly babies?”

  “Can I have some chocolate?”

  “What about humbugs?”

  “No! Just lollipops!”

  Rebecca from Year Six marched up to examine his stall. She was the biggest and bossiest girl in school.

  “They’re ever so bad for your teeth!” she declared. “They’re terrible! Your teeth will all turn black and fall out.”

  The smallest children dropped the lollipops they had picked up and began to back away.

  “Half price!” cried Sam. “Have one free! I’ll give them away!”

  “I’m surprised at you, Sam Hunter,” said Rebecca sternly. “I thought your mum was a dentist! Does she know you’re selling lollipops? Did Mrs Vernon say you could?”

  “Well – sort of, I mean I spoke to Mrs Vernon, but I didn’t really…”

  Sam’s voice tailed away. He was saved by the bell.

  “I bet you didn’t get permission at all. If you’re back here next playtime, I’m going to tell!” Rebecca flounced away.

  As the other children scattered, Sam gloomily unstuck the lollipops from his coat and shoved them back into his bag. Only three had gone – and he hadn’t even got any money for those.

  Hanif lingered behind. “Where did you get all those lollipops, Sam?” he asked.

  “I won them in a competition,” groaned Sam. “A thousand of them.”

  “A thousand!” Hanif’s eyes widened.

  “And now I don’t know what to do with them! I don’t like them, and Mum and Dad will go spare if they find out!” As an idea struck him, he turned eagerly to his friend. “Hanif! Do you think your Dad might want them for his shop? He could have them really cheap!”

  Hanif shook his head. “No chance. He can’t even sell the ones he’s got. Nobody likes them.”

  Sam sighed. “I’ve got to get rid of them somehow,” he said miserably. “But I can’t even give them away!”

  “Why don’t you just tell your Mum and Dad about them?” asked Hanif.

  “I can’t!”

  Hanif looked puzzled. “Why not? They won’t be all that mad, will they? I mean, I know your Mum’s a dentist, but it’s not your fault you won a prize.”

  “Yes, but she would say I should never have entered the competition,” said Sam. “I’m not supposed to like sweets.”

  “What, not any sweets? But you’re always buying sweets in our shop.”

  “Mum doesn’t know that! As far as she’s concerned, I couldn’t tell the difference between a mint and a Mars Bar. She thinks my favourite food is celery.”

  “You’ve got a problem,” admitted Hanif.

  “I haven’t got a problem,” Sam said gloomily. “I’ve got a thousand of them!”

  CHAPTER
FOUR

  Sam took thirty-seven sticky lollipops home in his bag. After tea, he managed to eat five lollipops before he began to feel sick. By the time he finished the fifth, he never wanted to taste prune and mango again. Ever.

  Tufty Toothbrush, lounging on the bed, smirked at him with a “serves you right” expression. Sam threw a lollipop stick at him.

  That night, Sam dreamt of lollipops. They hopped through his dreams on little stick legs. He dreamt of Tufty Toothbrush too, lurking behind a pile of cardboard boxes to jump out and clobber Sam with a carrot…

  Next day in school, all he could think of was lollipops. Maths, science, spelling – it was all just lollipops to Sam.

  In the afternoon, his class were allowed to make sideshows for the school fair. Everyone was busy sticking together cardboard tubes to roll marbles down, and cutting holes in boxes to throw beanbags through.

  Sam couldn’t think of any ideas for sideshows. His head was too full of lollipops.

  “Give me a hand with mine!” coaxed Alex. He had a box full of ice lolly sticks – the big, flat sort. Sam winced. It seemed as if he couldn’t get away from lollipops.

  “So how does your game work?” he asked.

  “I’ve got this tray full of sand, right, and we put all these lolly sticks into it. But we need to paint some of the ends green because it’s ten pence to pull out a stick, and if you pull a green one out, you win a prize.”

  Sam’s heart leapt. “A prize? Would you like some lollipops to use as prizes?”

  “Well, I’ve already got a load of stickers, but I suppose we could have some lollipops as well,” said Alex.

  “Excellent! I’ll bring you some!”

  Sam was elated. For a wonderful moment he thought his problems were over. He could bring all his lollipops to the school fair – and if he couldn’t sell them, he could give them away as prizes!

  Then he remembered. Mum was going to be at the school fair. She would have a stall there all about dentists and cleaning your teeth. How could he possibly arrive with five huge boxes of lollipops – let alone sell them at the fair?

  His heart sank back into his boots. Even if he could somehow hide a thousand lollipops from Mum – how could he get them to school in the first place? It was impossible! Those boxes were far too big to carry all that way...

  “Sam?” said Alex. “Are you listening? I said, when people pull out the lollipop sticks, you mustn’t throw them away. You have to bury them in the sand again.”

  “Throw them away,” muttered Sam, his eyes gleaming strangely. “Or bury them…”