Alice-Miranda Shows the Way by Jacqueline Harvey

soul.’
    Hephzibah and Henrietta exchanged puzzled glances. It was the first they’d heard that Mr Parker had passed away. They would have to ask Myrtle more after the girls had gone.
    â€˜Apparently Evelyn fell because the lights were out in the tack room. Mr Wigglesworth was supposed to get the electrician in a week ago,’ said Mrs Parker, raising her eyebrows so high they almost touched her hat. ‘But you didn’t hear that from me, ladies.’
    Hephzibah suggested that Henrietta and Mrs Parker sit down and she would make them both some tea and a sandwich.
    â€˜We should be going,’ Alice-Miranda said once more. The tiny child gave Henrietta and Hephzibah farewell hugs. Millie followed suit.
    Myrtle Parker stared at the girls, frowning. ‘So where’s mine?’
    Alice-Miranda leaned in to embrace the floral-clad woman who smelt of powder and tart perfume.
    Myrtle Parker gripped the child tightly to her chest.
    When she finally let go, Myrtle pointed at her rouged cheek, which Alice-Miranda dutifully kissed.
    Millie watched the scene and knew what was required of her but her feet seemed set in concrete.
    â€˜Millicent, have you got a kiss for Aunty Myrtle?’
    Millie gulped. Alice-Miranda gave her a gentlepush and she too was taken into the woman’s formidable grip. Millie pecked at Mrs Parker’s cheek like a chicken in a farmyard, then wiped her mouth. ‘ And what happened to your face, Alice-Miranda?’ Myrtle asked.
    â€˜It’s nothing, Mrs Parker,’ the child replied.
    â€˜It doesn’t look like nothing. There must be a story behind it,’ the woman insisted. ‘You might like to tell me, Millicent.’ She stared at Millie, who kept her mouth clamped shut.
    Hephzibah moved her head ever so slightly from side to side, then said, ‘Well, girls, off you go now, or poor Wally will think you’ve abandoned him.’
    Hephzibah ushered them out of the kitchen and onto the back veranda. ‘I think I’m beginning to understand what you mean about Mrs Parker, Millie,’ the old woman whispered to the girls as she glanced back inside.
    â€˜I don’t think it would do any good at all to have Mrs Parker worrying about the carnival people,’ said Alice-Miranda.
    Hephzibah nodded. ‘On that, my dear, I completely agree.’

‘I’ m starving,’ Millie complained as the girls trotted down the drive. She looked around for the satchel containing their picnic feast.
    â€˜It’s gone,’ Millie groaned.
    â€˜What’s gone?’ Alice-Miranda asked.
    â€˜The satchel,’ Millie replied. ‘I thought I’d done it up properly but that dodgy buckle must have broken.’
    â€˜We could ask Miss Hephzibah for something to eat,’ Alice-Miranda suggested, as they hadn’t yet reached the bottom of the drive.
    Millie shook her head. ‘No, let’s go back to school. I couldn’t stand listening to any more of Nosey Parker.’
    â€˜She certainly does know a lot about people,’ Alice-Miranda agreed, ‘but I’m sure she has good intentions.’
    â€˜Good intentions! Pah.’ Millie tightened the reins on Chops and dug her heels into his belly. He started to canter and she almost slipped off. ‘Hey, what did you do that for?’
    â€˜You asked him to,’ Alice-Miranda called out.
    â€˜Yes, but you know Chops isn’t the most obedient pony,’ Millie replied. ‘It usually takes at least three or four kicks to get him to move.’
    â€˜Well, I think he’s been an angel today. Did you put some molasses in his dinner last night?’
    â€˜No, but I did whisper in his ear that if he didn’t start to behave better we might take a visit to the dog food factory,’ Millie replied.
    â€˜Oh, Millie, that’s horrible. Poor Chops.’ Alice-Miranda turned her attention to the shaggy pony. ‘You know she’d never do it