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Spider Wig

M. G. Leonard

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Illustrated by Lisa Hilker

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1. Auflage 1 Version 1 | 2020

Das Werk und seine Teile sind urheberrechtlich geschützt. Jede Nutzung in anderen als den gesetzlich zugelassenen Fällen bedarf der vorherigen schriftlichen Einwilligung des Verlages.

© Ernst Klett Sprachen GmbH, Rotebühlstraße 77,

Autor: M. G. Leonard

Redaktion: Debby Böhm, Don Haupt

eISBN 978-3-12-909083-1

Contents

1Friday, 13th of June – 6 a.m.

2Friday, 13th of June – 7 a.m.

3Friday, 13th of June – 7.30 a.m.

4Friday, 13th of June – 8 a.m.

5Friday, 13th of June – 9 a.m.

6Friday, 13th of June – 10 a.m.

7Friday, 13th of June – 11 a.m.

8Friday, 13th of June – 12 p.m.

9Friday, 13th of June – 2 p.m.

10Friday, 13th of June – 4 p.m.

11Friday, 13th of June – 5 p.m.

12Friday, 13th of June – 6 p.m.

13Friday, 13th of June – 6.25 p.m.

14Friday, 13th of June – 6.40 p.m.

15August and later

Unterstrichene und blau markierte Wörter sind verlinkt und werden am Ende eines Kapitels übersetzt.

Die Printausgabe des Titels ist mit einem Hörbuch ausgestattet, das über die App Klett Augmented abgerufen werden kann.

Die E-Book-Ausgabe des Titels enthält das Audiobuch eingebettet in den Content.

Folgende Abkürzungen werden in den Worterklärungen verwendet:

etw.

etwas

jdn.

jemand/en

inf

informal

sb

somebody

sth

something

1

Friday, 13th of June – 6 a.m.

If you are reading this, I am dead.

Calvin Porcus has challenged me to a fight. This is a fight I cannot win. Calvin Porcus has sworn to hammer me into the ground. Here are the last wishes of an innocent thirteen-year-old boy – who deserved to live.

The Last Will and Testament of Morris Mills

Tell my family that I love them.

If Holly Adams is still alive, tell her that I am very sorry for telling Calvin it was her idea about his name. That was wrong and cowardly.

Let Holly Adams have any of my fossils or books or anything that she wants from my bedroom as an apology. If she is also dead, then give them to my friend Harold.

My little sister, Sukie Mills, can have my savings of £376.56 to put towards her university education, but not to spend on dolls. Dolls scare me.

Don’t let anyone from school come to my funeral, as they all cheered when Calvin Porcus said he was going to kill me.

It’s a terrible tragedy that I had to die because I knew Latin. Well to be precise, just because I translated Calvin Porcus’ name from Latin into English. Surely, that can’t be considered a crime?! It’s not my fault that his name means ‘Bald Pig’. If I were good at punching and kicking people, then I would still be alive – but I am not. Is it wrong to be bad at fighting and good at maths? I wanted to be a doctor when I grew up, I wanted to cure cancer and now that won’t happen. This cruel life has taught me that being small, bookish and unable to hurt people will get you killed.

You should think about these things when Calvin Porcus is in court and the jury are deciding his prison sentence. Yes, he’s still a child, but Calvin Porcus may have murdered the person who was going to cure cancer.

Goodbye cruel world.

Morris

Morris wrote his name at the bottom of the page and nodded. He didn’t know what a will looked like, as he’d never seen one, but this felt right. He didn’t have many things to leave behind, but he felt better after writing it all down. He took off his glasses, rubbed his eyes and then put them back on.

He folded up the piece of paper and put it on his bed. When he didn’t come home after school, his parents would look for him up here in his bedroom and find it.

He got up with a sigh. He was already wearing his white school shirt and black trousers. He tied his blue and gold tie around his neck and pulled on his black blazer with the blue and gold crest on the top pocket. Then he wriggled his arms through his leather bag, so that it sat on his back, against his shoulder blades. Taking one last look around his bedroom, Morris stepped over to his precious shelf of fossils. He picked up a large golden rock, put it into his pocket, turned and walked out the door.

to swear schwören

innocent unschuldig

deserved es verdient haben

last will Letzter Wille, Testament

cowardly feige

apology Entschuldigung

doll Puppe

funeral Trauerfeier

fault Schuld

bald kahl, glatzköpfig

to cure cancer Krebs heilen

in court vor Gericht

the jury die Geschworenen

prison sentence Gefängnisstrafe

to nod nicken

sigh Seufzer

crest Emblem, Wappen

shoulder blades Schulterblätter

precious kostbar

2

Friday, 13th of June – 7 a.m.

A figure dropped out of the tree he was walking towards and Morris screamed.

‘You’re up early,’ Holly Adams stood up and put her hands on her hips. ‘Trying to avoid someone? Me, maybe?’

Morris jumped back in shock, his hands on his chest. ‘You nearly gave me a heart attack.’

‘I need to talk with you Morris Mills.’ Holly moved her head and her blond ponytail swished like the tail of an angry horse.

‘I know, um, I’m sorry, I was…’

‘Calvin Porcus and his gang came to my grandad’s garden after school yesterday and trampled all over his vegetables. They’re mashed now.’

‘Oh no!’ Morris’s mouth fell open. ‘I’m so sorry.’

‘Now, I wonder, why would they do that?’ Holly asked.

‘It’s my fault,’ Morris admitted, looking down at the ground and feeling terrible. ‘Calvin grabbed me in the playground. He asked me who had started the rumour about his name. You know that it means ‘Bald Pig’ when translated from Latin.’

‘Bald Pig?’ Holly laughed. ‘Does it? That’s brilliant.’

‘I take a Latin class after school. I found that out myself.’ Morris shrugged