Finding Sophie

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Book: Read Finding Sophie for Free Online
Authors: Irene N.Watts
you have to write a letter to her, explaining what you did, and enclose a postal order for the amount you stole, and tell her how she drove you to it,” I say.
    “By the way, what
did
you do with the change?” Nigel asks.
    “I threw it away, so the lie would only be a little fib. I love the punishment. It'll get rid of my guilt.”
    “Mandy,” I say, “you can't mean that. I mean, about feeling guilty. She stole. The government and your mother paid her to take care of you and she starved you. Actually, for a child of eight, I think it was rather a brilliant way out of the situation.
    “Now I'll tell you my evil deed. It happened about three years ago. Miss Merton was teaching us gym. She was at least sixty even then because all the young teachers had been called up for the war effort. I hated going to class and that morning I'd forgotten to bring my gym blouse. She told me I'd have to participate in my vest and knickers. So I told her I hadn't brought my blouse because I had an awful headache and a stomachache and I was hoping she'd excuse me. She said I'd better go home and bring her a note next day.
    “I couldn't believe my luck, and decided I'd do some sketching. There'd been a raid the night before and I thought, ‘If London keeps getting bombed, there'll be no record of any of the great buildings left.’
    “I started close to the school. First I drew Nash Crescent, that lovely curve of houses near Albany Street. Then I cycled to the Royal Academy of Music. I thought I'd have time to draw the BBC before lunch too. I'd just got the outline right when I felt a tap on my shoulder. A policeman was looking down at me. ‘I'll take care of that, Miss,’ he said, and removed my sketchbook and began to leaf through it.
    “‘It's all right,’ I explained, ‘I've got permission to be absent from school.’ I thought Miss Merton had changed her mind and sent a policeman to find me, and I'd be punished for missing school.
    “‘Fond of drawing important landmarks, are you?’ he said. ‘I think you'd better come along to the station, young lady, and tell the sergeant about what you've been up to.’
    “I had to wheel my bike while he walked beside me. I couldn't think what all the fuss was about. It's not as if I'd been stealing, or anything like that. He took me into the sergeant's office. I was allowed to sit down while they conferred. I thought I'd better apologize, so I did and said I'd never do it again.
    “The sergeant looked at my sketches and asked, ‘Who put you up to this?’
    “I got confused at the question, so I told him the truth – that I'd forgotten to bring my gym blouse to change into, and that I hated gym anyway, had pleaded a headache, and was sent home.
    “He demanded my name and wrote it down. Then he wanted to know my age and place of birth. The looks on their faces when I said Berlin, Germany made me feel like a criminal. He wanted to know if I lived with my parents. I was a bit frightened by then, so I said I was an orphan, and I lived with my guardian, who worked at the Ministry of Food.
    “‘Who told you to tell this story if you're caught?’ he asked, and he and the constable kept giving each other meaningful looks. Honestly, I didn't know what he was talking about. I mean it's not as though I'd deliberately planned to forget my gym blouse.
    “Then he said they'd check my statements, and my drawings were confiscated. I was just going to ask him not to do thatbecause they were important, when he pointed his finger at me – you know the way they always show on the posters when they issue a warning to the public about something. He said that the enemy was everywhere, and I wouldn't be the first child who'd been recruited as a spy. He said any drawing or photograph that might give information to the enemy was a major offence. ‘I want the truth,’ he said. He was really stern and I had visions of being locked up for years. I wondered when they were going to take my

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