Cris
December 25th 07, 07:45 PM
neighbours banged on the wall, while the younger child wailed
intermittently. In the end his mother said, 'Now be good, and I'Il buy you
a toy. A lovely toy -- you'll love it'; and then she had gone out in the
rain, to a little general shop which was still sporadically open nearby,
and came back with a cardboard box containing an outfit of Snakes and
Ladders. He could still remember the smell of the damp cardboard. It was a
miserable outfit. The board was cracked and the tiny wooden dice were so
ill-cut that they would hardly lie on their sides. Winston looked at the
thing sulkily and without interest. But then his mother lit a piece of
candle and they sat down on the floor to play. Soon he was wildly excited
and shouting with laughter as the tiddly-winks climbed hopefully up the
ladders and then came slithering down the snakes again, almost to the
starting-point. They played eight games, winning four each. His tiny
sister, too young to understand what
intermittently. In the end his mother said, 'Now be good, and I'Il buy you
a toy. A lovely toy -- you'll love it'; and then she had gone out in the
rain, to a little general shop which was still sporadically open nearby,
and came back with a cardboard box containing an outfit of Snakes and
Ladders. He could still remember the smell of the damp cardboard. It was a
miserable outfit. The board was cracked and the tiny wooden dice were so
ill-cut that they would hardly lie on their sides. Winston looked at the
thing sulkily and without interest. But then his mother lit a piece of
candle and they sat down on the floor to play. Soon he was wildly excited
and shouting with laughter as the tiddly-winks climbed hopefully up the
ladders and then came slithering down the snakes again, almost to the
starting-point. They played eight games, winning four each. His tiny
sister, too young to understand what