Alice-Miranda on Vacation Read Online Free Page B

Daddy sometimes join in and Shilly times us all. Once we even coaxed Mrs. Oliver into having a turn. She’s very proud of her record—for the slowest ride ever. It’s a bit of a family tradition.”
    Jacinta stopped and stared at the ground. “I don’t think we have any family traditions.”
    “Well, we have tons—and you’re most welcome to join in with them anytime you like.” Alice-Miranda pulled her friend in the direction of the field.

A lice-Miranda turned the handle of the weathered timber door in the middle of the high stone wall that stretched the length of the garden. The two girls entered the long meadow. It was dotted with vast oaks, all just begging to be climbed.
    “Where are we going?” Jacinta asked.
    Alice-Miranda pointed toward a row of poplars.
    “Over there.”
    Beyond them Jacinta could just make out the top of a roof and some chimneys. “I want you to meet my friends Jasper and Poppy. Jasper is nine and he’s loads of fun, and Poppy is the sweetest five-year-old you’ll ever meet. Their father, Heinrich, looks afterthe farm, and sometimes their mother, Lily, helps Mummy in the house—when we have parties and things. Then we’ll go and see Daisy and Granny Bert too.”
    The girls were walking under the branches of a very large oak tree when suddenly something rustled in the leaves above.
    “Ow,” Jacinta complained. She rubbed her head and looked around for the offending missile.
    “What was it?” Alice-Miranda scanned the ground and found a little stone. She bent down and picked it up. “I thought oak trees produced acorns, not pebbles.”
    The girls peered into the plush canopy but couldn’t see any delinquent creatures.
    “Ow!” Alice-Miranda squeaked as a larger pebble glanced off the top of her head and hit the ground with a light thud. “Whoever or whatever you are, please stop throwing stones. It’s really not very nice,” she called into the tree.
    A sliver of light shone through the emerald limbs and suddenly another pebble hit Jacinta.
    “Right, that’s it.” Jacinta swung into action. “I’m coming up there, so whatever you are, you’d better watch out.”
    Jacinta scaled the low branches quickly, swingingher legs up onto the higher boughs. As her friend climbed, Alice-Miranda was distracted by a flash of blue. It seemed that the hidden rogue was trying to make a getaway. A figure landed on the ground right in front of her.
    “Stop right there,” Alice-Miranda commanded. “Please,” she added.
    It was the boy from the lane. Before he had time to make an escape, Alice-Miranda held out her hand and said, “Hello, my name is Alice-Miranda Highton-Smith-Kennington-Jones and I am very pleased to meet you.”
    The boy stared at Alice-Miranda as if he were observing an alien species.
    “I know who you are,” he spat.
    “Well, please don’t think me rude,” Alice-Miranda continued, “but I don’t recall us meeting before now, although I’m sure that I saw you in the laneway a little while ago.”
    “We haven’t met before,” the boy replied.
    Jacinta jumped to the ground beside her friend.
    “That wasn’t very nice, you know, throwing stones at us.” Jacinta glared fiercely.
    “Well, I’m not particularly nice,” he said, his eyes narrowing. “In fact, I’m not nice at all.”
    “Who told you that?” Alice-Miranda asked.
    “Everyone,” the boy replied.
    “Well, that’s just silly. You don’t know everyone, do you? Not everyone in the whole world. That would be impossible. I mean, my daddy knows quite a lot of people, but he would say that it’s just a tiny number really out of the whole wide world—”
    “Do you ever shut up?” the boy interrupted.
    Alice-Miranda smiled at him. “I’m sorry. You haven’t even had a moment to tell us your name.”
    “Why would I tell you my name?” he said with a sneer.
    Alice-Miranda nodded at Jacinta. “Well, this is my friend Jacinta Headlington-Bear—she goes to Winchesterfield-Downsfordvale