Chapter 24
LIZZIE
Then
I was so excited. I was going on a school outing today to an amusement park with a zoo, and we were having a picnic lunch there.
All the class was going, and the class above us.
Mum got me some treats to take, crisps, chocolate, an apple.
‘What do you want for sandwiches, Lizzie? We have cheese, ham or peanut butter,’ she asked.
‘Peanut butter,’ I instantly replied. It was my favourite, I had a peanut butter sandwich every night before I went to bed.
‘Cheese is better for you,’ Mum said persuasively. She was always trying to get me to vary my diet, but I was insistent. I wanted peanut butter. I had no idea how much I would regret that decision, how I would wish I’d agreed to have cheese.
Both classes were excited as we got onto the coach and set off.
I sat by my best friend Jodie and we chatted away about what we would do at the park, the animals we would see, the rides we would go on.
A couple of children’s parents were accompanying the teachers, and I’d wanted my mum to come but she couldn’t because she had to work.
If only she had come things would have been different.
There were a few groups from other schools at the park too, it was really busy.
We all had to queue to go on the rides and to go into the reptile house to see the big snakes and lizards.
I was scared of the snakes but Jodie said she wasn’t.
We were licking our ice cream cones, talking about the snakes, when a girl from another school accidentally bumped into me and knocked my ice cream out of my hand.
‘Sorry!’ she said, and I fought back the tears as I saw my delicious ice cream splattered on the ground. I had been enjoying that ice cream and I didn’t have enough money to buy another one.
Then a lady came over. ‘What’s happened, Ally?’ she asked.
‘It was an accident, Mum. I didn’t mean to knock her,’ the girl protested.
‘It’s okay, Ally. Accidents happen.’ The lady looked kindly at me. ‘What’s your name, love?’
‘Lizzie,’ I replied, determined not to cry.
‘I’ll go and get you another ice cream, Lizzie. I’ll be back in a minute,’ she promised.
True to her word, she returned a few minutes later with an even bigger ice cream cone, with two flakes in it. I was delighted and thanked her profusely. Jodie eyed the cone enviously, so I gave her one of the flakes, dipped in ice cream.
I saw Ally, her mother and little brother a few times throughout the morning and we all waved at each other.
Then lunchtime, we sat down on the wooden benches in the picnic area to eat our packed lunches. Ally, her mother and little brother were sitting at another table, but me and Jodie waved to Ally and called her over, so she squeezed onto the bench next to me and we all chatted away.
Jodie had a cheese roll and Ally had egg and cress sandwiches made with thin brown bread, they looked so dainty and tasty.
My mum usually gave me thin brown bread too but we were out of it that morning, so Mum had to use the thick bread Dad liked.
It was twice as thick as Ally’s bread and the crusts were hard.
I bit into the middle of the bread, nibbling around the crusts as I chatted to Jodie and Ally.
‘Right everyone, put your rubbish in your lunchboxes and let’s get going,’ our teacher said.
I didn’t want to put my crusts in my lunchbox.
Mum would scold me if she saw I had left them, she was always telling me to eat my crusts, but I couldn’t eat these, they were thick and hard.
I needed a bin. Only there wasn’t time to find one, everyone was getting up to follow the teacher. I’d be left behind.
Ally’s lunchbox was open. Her empty crisp bag was in there, and her chocolate bar wrapper.
I glanced at her, she was busy talking to her friend and not watching me, so I quickly scooped up my crusts and thrust them into the empty crisp packet.
Then I shut my lunchbox, got up, shouted goodbye and went off with the rest of my class.
We were going to see the chimps when suddenly there was a commotion in front of us. I could see Ally’s mum standing by the bin, holding her throat, she was crying and wheezing. She couldn’t seem to breathe.
Ally screamed something about getting a pen and raced over to the table where her mum had left her bag.
There was a crowd around her mum now, teachers and other mothers all trying to help.
Her little brother was standing all alone, crying, then one of the mums held his hand and talked to him, trying to comfort him.
Ally returned a couple of minutes later shouting, ‘I’ve got it!’
I couldn’t see what she was holding, but a teacher grabbed it off her and bent down by her mum. I couldn’t see properly because there were so many people around. Soon the sirens sounded and an ambulance pulled up.
‘Stand back! Stand back!’ the paramedics shouted as they ran over and the crowd parted.
But it was too late. Ally and her little brother’s mum was dead.