Mardy Bum |best| Online

He ate the chocolate biscuit (Aisha had saved him half). He played football (the grass turned out to be fine). And when he got home, Mum just looked at him, raised one eyebrow, and said, “Well, look who’s back from the Land of Gloom.”

Their mum, folding laundry in the hallway, didn’t look up. “Oh, here we go. Mardy bum alert. Code red.”

“Stop it,” he grumbled, arms crossed so tightly his elbows nearly touched. mardy bum

Then Maya appeared, out of breath, holding a crumpled drawing. “Leo! I made this for you. It’s you… but smiling.”

A tiny crack appeared in the wall of his mardy. Not a collapse. Just a hairline fracture. A snort escaped him. Then a giggle he couldn’t swallow. Then—he couldn’t help it—a real laugh, rusty and reluctant, like an old gate swinging open. He ate the chocolate biscuit (Aisha had saved him half)

Then something weird happened.

He looked at the drawing. The smile was massive, lopsided, and had far too many teeth. It looked ridiculous. It looked nothing like him. “Oh, here we go

“That’s not me,” he said, but his voice had softened.