Page 32 - My FlipBook

Sarah Sues Santa – P.J. Leonard

"You're very brave, Anna," said Becky, looking over her shoulder, "You're going to make the big
kids angry if you keep doing stuff like that."
"They don't scare me," said Anna brightly, "They think they're tough, but all they do is pick on the
new kid." Anna patted Sarah on the shoulder, "They should try picking on someone their own size.
Anyway, I quite like you Sarah. You seem nice."
Sarah managed a small smile.
"Be careful about being too nice, though," said Becky, rolling her eyes, "Otherwise you'll end up
getting adopted."
Adopted...the word made Sarah's stomach churn.
Anna and Becky chatted away as the queue moved towards the hatch where breakfast was served.
Not once did Sarah hear them mention Christmas. Finally, they collected their plates and took a
seat in the corner of the room, away from the crowd.
Sarah looked down at her breakfast. There was the thin soup that she had stirred, a bowl of oatmeal
and a paper cup of orange squash. Sarah wouldn't even call this a nice breakfast on a normal day,
let alone Christmas.
"It hasn't always been like this," said Becky, noticing how Sarah stared at her meal, "Not if you
believe what Margaret says, anyway."
"Who?"
Becky and Anna pointed across the room to where the old cook stood, ladling the soup into bowls,
always smiling toothlessly.
"Margaret keeps saying that this place actually used to be quite nice," Becky went on, whispering
even though nobody else was nearby, "I mean, she says that the orphanage has never had that much
money, but at least it used to be fun here."
"What happened?"
Anna and Becky exchanged dark looks. They looked around them to make absolutely sure nobody
was listening.
"Mr. Vekil," Anna hissed, "He took over the orphanage about five years ago. Nobody had heard
about him before he turned up, and even now nobody really knows anything about him.
“There’s lots of rumors, though,” said Becky, lowering her voice even more so Sarah had to lean in,
“Like him being an old gangster who is hiding from his angry boss.”
“Or under the control of giant lizard aliens!” Anna added excitedly.
Becky rolled her eyes. “The only thing that’s for sure is that Mr. Vekil turned this place into what it
is now: miserable, cold and not fun at all.”
“Or Christmassy.”
Becky and Anna exchanged dark looks again.
“What is it?” said Sarah, looking from one to the other.
Becky and Anna seemed to be having a silent conversation with each other, as though they weren’t
sure how much they could say. With one more look over their shoulder to make absolutely sure
nobody could hear, Becky spoke.
“It’s just another rumor, but this one makes a lot of sense,” said Becky, “They say that Mr. Vekil
hates Christmas, but his family loves it. That’s why his parents named him Noel. When he was a
kid, his family would basically celebrate Christmas all year.”
Sarah thought of how she was now on her fourth Christmas Day in a row. “I can see how that could
get annoying.”
“So Mr. Vekil escaped to run this orphanage. It was a clever move, really, because he knows that
orphanages don’t get a lot of money. He could live in the orphanage with all the kids, and his family
couldn’t tell him to celebrate Christmas, because that would mean spending money on decorations
and presents when it should be spent on food and heating.”

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