тOUGH COOKIE Vesna Aleksić Illustrated by Ana Šimon
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Tough Cookie 17
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The Doll’s House
The Fairy
Tough Cookie – I’ve got a lot of work today! I’m making a birthday cake for you and sandwiches for your friends! – said mum. – Yay! I can help you with that – Elizabeth exclaimed and clapped her hands. – I don’t want you to hang about in the kitchen today while I’m doing something! – mum insisted. – Why don’t you go outside, your friends are waiting for you! And don’t you dare make a sad face! And Elizabeth Davis did make a very sad face. She was sad indeed. That was because she loved hanging about in the kitchen, especially when mum made cakes. Because you could always find there a bowl with some unused cream that needed licking.
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Cream was so good to lick from a wooden spoon, even from an electric mixer! Not to mention whipped cream! It was even better! And there was also a piece of the soft sweet-smelling cake crust ... that simply melted in the mouth, while crumbs remained on the chin. Elizabeth loved that! – I could at least help you with sandwiches: I could cut gherkins, and hammy, and cheesy... – Elizabeth tried again. Mum crossed her arms and said sternly: Haven’t we agreed Elizabeth not talk baby talk to food? Ham and cheese, not hammy and cheesy! Is that clear?! I don’t need any help! Put on your jacket and go outside! Or there will be no birthday cake! – All right! – Elizabeth agreed and since she was sad, she had to nibble at something.
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– Can I at least have some crisps or something like that? – she asked in a sweet voice. – Yes, you can! Here’s a packet of biscuits, but you have to share it with your friends. Don’t you forget about that! – All right – said Elizabeth, but she decided to forget about it after all, because there were lots of her friends outside, and few biscuits in the packet!
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It would be best if she munched them all by herself, she decided. She put on her jacket, took the packet of biscuits and went down the stairs. Munch, munch, munch! Yummy, yummy! One biscuit, two biscuits, three biscuits ... melting in the mouth and vanishing.
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Elizabeth wasn’t stingy, she would share the biscuits with her friends if there were many of them, but there were very few biscuits. They weighed only 80 grams, mum had read it from the packet once. That wasn’t enough to chase away the sadness Elizabeth felt because she couldn’t make the cake with mum.
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