EXTRACTS FROM A TEENAGE DIARY
By Peter Tennant
It is as well to remember that fairy tales, like history, are told by the winners, and so offer not an objective account of what took place, but one designed to show them in a favourable light.
Professor Aubrey Jacks
This afternoon father took me up to his study, sat me down in front of the desk and told me that he had something very important to say. He said that he had been lonely since mother’s death, and that I needed a woman to look after me as he couldn’t, what with running the business and all. He told me that he had met someone, a widow who lived on the other side of town, and that they had been seeing each other for some time. He had proposed to her and she had accepted.
I was horrified. I couldn’t believe what I was hearing, that he would think somebody else could take my mother’s place, and so soon after her death. I started to cry, but turned my head so he wouldn’t see. He said that he knew I was upset, but I’d soon get used to the idea and, if I thought about it, would see the advantages of having a mummy again. He made it sound as if he was doing it for my sake, but that’s not true. I went up to my room, lay on the bed and beat the pillow with my fists. After mother’s death he told me that we’d always have each other, that I was the only one he loved, and now it’s all gone wrong. What am I going to do?
Trumpetville 