One blowy afternoon in March, when the house was all warm and cosy inside, Miss Boot exploded through the front door in a gust of cold air and dead leaves. She was very excited and was actually smiling, yes smiling, and because her ugly face was not used to doing smiling and it didn't really know what it was required to do, it just made an enormous deep red crack right across her face from one big ear jaggedly across to the other.
It was a horrible sight.
'Child where are you ?' screamed the jagged crack mouth, whilst Miss Boot snatched up a shopping bag and began filling it with clipboards, pencils and bundles of little note books.
'Oh I'm just here Miss ' said Jenny quietly, watching bewildered from the kitchen doorway as the grinning pig woman flew around the tiny sitting room grabbing and snatching things up.
'Come on get your things ...child. Got to move you on somewhere. Must get up to London. Lots of people to organise. They can’t manage without me. Chop chop whatever your name is. There is a war on you know!’
Jenny's mouth dropped full open. She was flabbergasted. She knew, and hoped, she'd be moving again one day but she didn't think it would be right there and then that very minute and she hadn't even had her onion soup supper which was still on the stove behind her.
'But...But…But what about Ooty.' Jenny stammered. Tears beginning to sting her eyes.
'An Ooty. What is an Ooty?' asked Miss Boot. 'Come on, there's no time for Ootying things.'
Miss Boot was hopping up and down on the sofa and rubbing her big shovel hands together.
'Ooty is my cat.' said Jenny quietly.
Miss Boot stopped hopping and looked puzzled. The jagged red crack of her mouth reshaping it's self into a screwed up ball where it felt more at home.
'Cat? I didn't know we had a cat. I can't stand cats. I hate cats. Horrid dirty furry things. Full of fleas and diseases.'
'Ooty does not have fleas and I love him.' Jenny said starting to get angry.' Ooty is my cat and I'm not leaving him behind.
The pig woman stepped slowly down from the sofa looming over Jenny like a... Well, like a huge pig really.
'Don't be stupid child. You can't expect people to take in filthy creatures as well as annoying little children else their houses would soon be over flowing with...cows and ...and.. lions and things. Now come on, sharp about it. Chop chop. Pack your suitcase.'
'No.' said Jenny. 'No I won't.' And she quickly darted out of Bossy Boot's reach.
'If Ooty can't come with me then...well....well then I'm not going.'
Jenny crossed her arms defiantly and laid flat out on the floor like a dead person, but with a deep red angry face and not a dead white one. It was the first time in Jenny's life that she had ever answered an adult back like that. She had absolutely no idea what would happen next. So she just lay there, dead still and terrified with her eyes tight shut waiting for Miss Boot to start screaming or slapping or something worse. But Miss Boot didn't scream or slap, she didn't even shout. It was Miss Boot's turn to be flabbergasted.
'Oh no this won't do, won't do at all.' The old Boot eventually gasped.
'Crikey...umm ... Spanner in the works and all that. No no. Where are my lists. I can't be messing around with brats and creatures. There is a war on you know! '
The shocked Miss Boot began fumbling around in her bag pulling all the note books back out again, frantically flicking over the pages and running her finger up and down the countless names they contained. Jenny opened her eyes and watched her. Eventually Miss Boot stopped, waved a book triumphantly in the air and declared.
'Problem solved! Old Bootsy does it again. Woman here on my list takes in injured animals. She'll do. Put the thing in a tin or something and go and get your clothes. Chop chop - Get up off the floor child you're not a hearth rug.'
Miss Boot packed her own things in an instant and was soon outside impatiently tooting her car horn.
'Chop chop child. Hurry up.' She yelled from the car window. 'It's getting dark. Long way to go. Come on child - GET IN THE DAMMED CAR.'
Jenny climbed in the back of the car carrying a large wicker shopping basket with Ooty inside it. Under Ooty was a patchwork cushion that Jenny had made for him, and under that were some tins of sardines. Miss Boot didn't take any notice of the basket and couldn't have cared less about the sardines anyway. She slammed the car into gear with a deafening crunch and tore up the lane out of Much Nuffin. Jenny's little suitcase stayed behind on the path watching them go.