Matilda

'Tell me about it,' Miss Honey said.

'This morning,' Matilda said, 'just for fun I tried to push something over with my eyes and I couldn't do it. Nothing moved. I didn't even feel the hotness building up behind my eyeballs. The power had gone. I think I've lost it completely.'

Miss Honey carefully buttered a slice of brown bread and put a little strawberry jam on it. 'I've been expecting something like that to happen,' she said.

'You have? Why?' Matilda asked.

'Well,' Miss Honey said, 'it's only a guess, but here's what I think. While you were in my class you had nothing to do, nothing to make you struggle. Your fairly enormous brain was going crazy with frustration. It was bubbling and boiling away like mad inside your head. There was tremendous energy bottled up in there with nowhere to go, and somehow or other you were able to shoot that energy out through your eyes and make objects move. But now things are different. You are in the top form competing against children more than twice your age and all that mental energy is being used up in class. Your brain is for the first time having to struggle and strive and keep really busy, which is great. That's only a theory, mind you, and it may be a silly one, but I don't think it's far off the mark.'

'I m glad it's happened,' Matilda said. 'I wouldn't want to go through life as a miracle-worker.'

'You've done enough,' Miss Honey said. 'I can still hardly believe you made all this happen for me.'

Matilda, who was perched on a tall stool at the kitchen table, ate her bread and jam slowly. She did so love these afternoons with Miss Honey. She felt completely comfortable in her presence, and the two of them talked to each other more or less as equals.

'Did you

know,' Matilda said suddenly, 'that the heart of a mouse beats at the rate of six hundred and fifty times a minute? '

'I did not,' Miss Honey said smiling. 'How absolutely fascinating. Where did you read that?'

'In a book from the library,' Matilda said. 'And that means it goes so fast you can't even hear the separate beats. It must sound just like a buzz.'

'It must,' Miss Honey said.

'And how fast do you think a hedgehog's heart beats?' Matilda asked.

'Tell me,' Miss Honey said, smiling again.

'It's not as fast as a mouse,' Matilda said. 'It's three hundred times a minute. But even so, you wouldn't have thought it went as fast as that in a creature that moves so slowly, would you, Miss Honey?'

'I certainly wouldn't,' Miss Honey said. 'Tell me one more.'

'Ahorse,' Matilda said. 'That's really slow. It's only forty times a minute.'

This child, Miss Honey told herself, seems to be interested in everything. When one is with her it is impossible to be bored. I love it.

The two of them stayed sitting and talking in the kitchen for an hour or so longer, and then, at about six o'clock, Matilda said goodnight and set out to walk home to her parents' house, which was about an eight-minute journey away. When she arrived at her own gate, she saw a large black Mercedes motor-car parked outside. She didn't take too much notice of that. There were often strange cars parked outside her father's place. But when she entered the house, she was confronted by a scene of utter chaos. Her mother and father were both in the hall frantically stuffing clothing and various objects into suitcases.

'What on earth's going on?' she cried.'

'What's happening, Daddy?'

'We're off,' Mr Wormwood said, not looking up. 'We're leaving for the airport in half an hour so you'd better get packed. Your brother's upstairs all ready to go. Get a move on, girl! Get going!'

'Off?' Matilda cried out. 'Where to?'

'Spain,' the father said. 'It's a better climate than this lousy country.'

'Spain!' Matilda cried. 'I don't want to go to Spain! I love it here and I love my school!'

'Just do as you're told and stop arguing,' the father snapped. 'I've got enough troubles without messing about with you!'

'But Daddy ...' Matilda began.

'Shut up!' the father shouted. 'We're leaving in thirty minutes! I'm not missing that plane!'

'But how long for, Daddy?' Matilda cried.'