Mimi (16 page)

Tenth Good Thing:
After that the band played a lot of songs and everyone got up to dance. Sally and George danced together every time, and Aunt M. whispered in my ear that she wanted a full report of Sally’s diary when she came back from her honeymoon.

Then it was Conor’s big moment. Nicholas asked the drummer to give Conor a go. Conor’s face was very red as he took the drumsticks, but he soon got into it and started belting away and making a terrible racket. Everybody cheered and the band thought that he was so good they asked him to stay on and play with them for a while.

“Man!” said George. “He’s giving it socks! Your brother is so — I don’t know — so cool!”

Then they asked if anyone else would like to sing, but that was a big mistake because Great-Aunt Violet tottered up onto the stage and her singing was so awful that Emma got a total fit of the giggles, and I had to put my hand over her mouth to try to keep her quiet — but that only made her laugh more.

The Eleventh Good Thing:
It was still hot outside when it got dark, and Dad switched on the strings of colored lights and made the garden look like a magical place. Aunt L. was sitting on a garden bench telling Uncle Horace that we were having a lovely Indian summer this year, which I didn’t understand. It was an Irish autumn, wasn’t it? Uncle Horace was saying that it was very unseasonable weather and it was a sure sign of global warming — and suddenly I felt very tired.

Aunt B. had taken Emma home, and Orla had left ages ago. Even Aunt M. and Nicholas had gone off to their hotel, and although Dad had said that I could stay up as long as I liked, I now felt so sleepy that all I wanted to do was go to bed.

I found Dad talking to Nicholas’s father, and I kissed him good night, and then I found Granny and Grandad just as they were about to leave.

“Your old granny is not up to these late nights anymore,” said Grandad, and Granny elbowed him in the ribs.

I gave them both a hug and climbed up the stairs to my bedroom. I had to be very quiet, because wee Billy was asleep in his cot in my room and I didn’t want to wake him.

I brushed my teeth for three minutes — well, maybe not the full three minutes — and crawled under my duvet. Socky was already asleep so I didn’t disturb him, but I told Mammy’s picture that it had been the best day and good night, sleep tight, and somehow it felt like she was right there with me.

And in the distance I could hear the band playing “Perfect Day” as I drifted off to sleep.

First and foremost I thank my wife, Astrid, for her encouragement, her deft ear for the authentic, and not least, for her insistence on time spent away from typing! Kathryn Ross (my agent) has been simply brilliant all the way — always positive and good-humored and exacting (but in the nicest possible way!). Thanks also to Caroline Royds (my editor) and Genevieve Herr at Walker Books for being so friendly, insightful, and occasionally indulgent! Thanks to my daughter, Astrid, for her creative input, and to the boys, Frank and Sean, for supporting me in their own sweet way! Thank you, too, to the pupils I’ve taught for sharing their quirky way of looking at the world. And, of course, thank you Jo and Betty for . . . well, for being Jo and Betty!

John Newman
was born in Dublin and worked as a folklore collector, a civil servant, and an accountant before he became an elementary-school teacher. He is the co-author of eleven books for children.
Mimi
is his first solo novel. He lives in Ireland.