Just William's New Year's Day (3 page)
Read Just William's New Year's Day Online
Authors: Richmal Crompton
‘I’m afraid there’s a bit of a mess,’ said William, returning to the more important matter.
Mr Moss waved aside his apologies.
‘It doesn’t matter, William,’ he said. ‘Nothing matters today. She’s took me at last. I’m goin’ to shut shop this afternoon and go over to her again.
Thanks for staying, William.’
‘Not at all. Don’t menshun it,’ said William nobly. Then, ‘I think I’ve had enough of that bein’ p’lite. Will one mornin’ do for this year,
d’you think?’
‘Er – yes. Well, I’ll shut up. Don’t you stay, William. You’ll want to be getting home for lunch.’
Lunch? Quite definitely William decided that he did not want any lunch. The very thought of lunch brought with it a feeling of active physical discomfort which was much more than mere absence of
hunger. He decided to go home as quickly as possible, though not to lunch.
‘Goo’bye,’ he said.
‘Goodbye,’ said Mr Moss.
‘I’m afraid you’ll find some things gone,’ said William faintly; ‘some boys was in.’
‘That’s all right, William,’ said Mr Moss, roused again from his rosy dreams. ‘That’s quite all right.’
But it was not ‘quite all right’ with William. Reader, if you had been left, at the age of eleven, in sole charge of a sweet shop for a whole morning, would it have been ‘all
right’ with you? I trow not. But we will not follow William through the humiliating hours of the afternoon. We will leave him as, pale and unsteady, but as yet master of the situation, he
wends his homeward way.
Richmal Crompton was born in Lancashire in 1890. The first story about William Brown appeared in
Home
magazine in 1919, and the first collection of William stories was
published in book form three years later. In all, thirty-eight William books were published, the last one in 1970, after Richmal Crompton’s death.
‘Probably the funniest, toughest children’s books ever written’
Sunday Times
on the Just William series
‘Richmal Crompton’s creation [has] been famed for his cavalier attitude to life and those who would seek to circumscribe his enjoyment of it ever since he first
appeared’
Guardian
First published 1922
This electronic edition published 2010 by Macmillan Childrens Books
a division of Macmillan Publishers Limited
Pan Macmillan, 20 New Wharf Road, London N1 9RR
Basingstoke and Oxford
Associated companies throughout the world
www.panmacmillan.com
ISBN 978-0-230-75782-0 EPUB
Copyright © 1922 Richmal C. Ashbee
Foreword Copyright © 2009 Lily Broadway Productions
You may not copy, store, distribute, transmit, reproduce or otherwise make available this publication (or any part of it) in any form, or by any means (electronic, digital, optical, mechanical, photocopying, recording or otherwise), without the prior written permission of the publisher. Any person who does any unauthorized act in relation to this publication may be liable to criminal prosecution and civil claims for damages.
A CIP catalogue record for this book is available from the British Library.
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