Astonishingly Good Stories: Twenty Short Stories from the Bestselling Author of Friday Barnes - Softcover

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‘partial’, I mean he passionately loved honey sandwiches with
every ounce of his considerable frame.
‘They couldn’t afford honey,’ said Nanny Piggins.
‘Oh dear chocolate!’ wailed Boris. ‘This story is horrendous.
I can’t bear to listen. And I’m a bear, so I’m usually good at
bearing.’
This was not true. Boris was not good at bearing in the
sense of tolerating something unpleasant at all. But he was a
bear and therefore good at that, so close enough.
‘It was terrible,’agreed Nanny Piggins.‘It’s so exhaust-
ing being poor and hungry. Especially for pigs.’
‘It is?’ asked Derrick.
‘Oh yes,’ said Nanny Piggins. ‘You see, we love food so
much that when we don’t get any it’s so much more dreadful.’
The children thought about this. They guessed it kind of
made sense.
‘Madge and her husband only had enough leather left
to make one pair of shoes,’said Nanny Piggins.‘If no-one
came in and ordered a pair of shoes, they would starve.
Or have to grow vegetables and eat them. Which just
sounds so dreadful I’m sure they’d rather starve.’
‘This story is awful!” sobbed Boris.
‘Don’t worry, I’m coming to a good bit,’ said Nanny
Piggins.‘Madgeandherhusbandwerejustdespairing
and bemoaning their wretched lives when the shop bell
tinkled. They looked up to see that a man had entered.
A customer had not been in their shop for such a
long time that they assumed it was someone who was
lost, or perhaps a bank robber who was...