Sunny Rogers & The White Pebble
Author
Elizabeth Benson
Description
Nobody ever said life in Primary School was supposed to be easy, right? Sunny Rogers, however, thinks this final year is his time to shine. He is a senior, he is eleven and, in his mind at least, he is ultra-cool. Until the day his new teacher notices the school bully picking on him and gives him a gift in the form of a white pebble. Sunny soon discovers its powers and in a desperate attempt to fit in at school, he uses the pebble to solve his problems, unwittingly causing more chaos in the process.
Book excerpt
Mr Waterson’s house was old. Probably as old as he was. Now don’t get too excited. It isn’t in my nature to help the elderly. We’d been talking about helping out in the community in class and one of the assignments we were given was to help someone in need. Mr Waterson seemed like the perfect victim. And I did feel a little bit sorry for him.
I walked up the rickety front steps and onto his veranda. There were twenty different door bells to choose from. I’d never been here before so wasn’t sure which one to try first. Hang it, I thought, I’ll try them all. Between the low ‘dongs’ and the high ‘dings’ I was sure he’d have heard me. I waited. And waited.
He wasn’t coming. Maybe he wasn’t home. I decided to walk around the side veranda and try the back door. It opened with a creak and dust fell from the top, sending me into a sneezing fit. Once the dust settled I could see my way around. A dirty kitchen, loaded up with more plates and cups than a restaurant, cobwebs everywhere and in the corner, flopped on a large wooden rocking chair, was Mr Waterson. He was dead.
Slowly I walked over to him. I’d never seen a dead person before. At least, not this close. He lay slouched, his arms hanging over the arm rests , his head back against the rocking chair and his mouth wide open. There was no noise coming out of it. Just dust falling into it. I leaned over for a closer look, very careful not to touch him. His mouth was really big. Inside his teeth were yellow and there was such a bad smell coming out I had to block my nose. In one of his back molars was a gold filling. I know you’re going to think the next thing I did was wrong. But I’ve been saving up for a new bike for ages and at this rate I was never going to get one . If I could just pull that tooth out and sell the gold, I’d have my bike in no time. Walking back over to the kitchen, I rattled through the draws till I found a pair of dusty thongs . That should do it.
I hadn’t touched Mr Waterson until this point. His face was ice cold as I took a hold of his chin to steady his face and lowered the thongs into position. Slow and steady.
Author Website
http://www.elizabethbenson.weebly.com
