by Hilary McKay
‘Well at least you seem to have stopped quarrelling!’ she said.
This surprised Charlie and Henry, who were best friends and thought they hardly ever quarrelled.
Another surprising thing happened when Henry’s mother came to collect Henry.
Henry’s mother asked (in a very worried voice), ‘Well, how did it go?’
‘I suppose,’ said Charlie’s mother, carefully not looking at Charlie and Henry, ‘I suppose they could have been much worse!’
Charlie and Henry’s eyes met over the breakfast table, and their jaws dropped open in surprise. Looking back on the night, they themselves really could not see how they could have been much worse.
So then Henry’s mother said, ‘How good! Then perhaps Charlie could come for a sleepover at our house next Saturday!’
Charlie and Henry now waited for Charlie’s mother to tell the truth. This did not happen.
‘Yes,’ said Charlie’s mother, very eagerly. ‘Yes he could! That would be lovely!’
‘He could bring his school things and stay for the whole weekend if you like!’ suggested Henry’s mother.
Charlie and Henry shook their heads in disbelief, and they thought that even if they lived to be as old as their mothers, they would never understand the ways of grown-ups.
‘That would be wonderful!’ said Charlie’s astonishing mother, and she shooed the boys outside and began to make coffee for herself and Henry’s mother. Henry’s mother watched in astonishment as she poured milk into the coffee jar and then tried to push the kettle in the fridge.
‘Gosh, sorry!’ said Charlie’s mum. ‘Bit sleepy!’
Henry’s mother thought of the coming Saturday night and felt suddenly frightened.
Outside in the garden things were much more cheerful. Charlie had just tipped Henry over. Henry was making grabs for Charlie’s nose. It looked like they were fighting, but of course they were not.
They were perfectly happy.
They were best friends.
1
Max’s Fault (I)
Charlie was seven years old when the big snow came. It was almost the first time in his entire life there had ever been enough snow to make a snowman. The only other time it had happened he had not been allowed out because he was ill. He had caught the illness from his big brother, Max. Even now, a year later, he had not quite forgiven Max for this.
However, at last it had happened again. Charlie woke up and found that the bedroom he shared with Max was filled with clear cold light. White splodges patterned the window glass. The sky looked close and grey.
Snow! thought Charlie as he scrambled out of bed, and then he thought, Nobody bothered to tell me.
Charlie’s father, who was always the first to be up, would already be on his way to work. His mother was in the shower; Charlie could hear the water running. Neither of them had bothered to shake Charlie awake and tell him that it had snowed at last.
That did not surprise Charlie very much, because after all they were grown-ups and did not have any sense. But it seemed to Charlie that Max should have woken him. Max was nowhere to be seen.
Text copyright © Hilary McKay
Illustrations copyright © Sam Hearn
Charlie and the Cheese and Onion Crisps was first published in Great
Britain in 2008 by Scholastic Children’s Books
Charlie and the Cat Flap was first published in Great Britain in 2007 by
Scholastic Children’s Books
This ebook edition published in 2014
This bind-up published in 2014 by Hodder Children’s Books
The rights of Hilary McKay and Sam Hearn to be identified as the Author and Illustrator of the Work respectively have been asserted by them in accordance with the Copyright, Designs and Patents Act 1988
All rights reserved. Apart from any use permitted under UK copyright law, this publication may only be reproduced, stored or transmitted, in any form, or by any means with prior permission in writing from the publishers or in the case of reprographic production in accordance with the terms of licences issued by the Copyright Licensing Agency and may not be otherwise circulated in any form of binding or cover other than that in which it is published and without a similar condition being imposed on the subsequent purchaser.
All characters in this publication are fictitious and any resemblance to real persons, living or dead, is purely coincidental.
A Catalogue record for this book is available from the British Library
ISBN 978 1 444 91923 3
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