Matilda

'Daddy and Mummy!' Matilda burst out, gasping for breath. 'I don't want to go with you! I want to stay here and live with Miss Honey and she says that I can but only if you give me permission! Please say yes! Go on, Daddy, say yes! Say yes, Mummy!'

The father turned and looked at Miss Honey. 'You're that teacher woman who once came here to see me, aren't you?' he said. Then he went back to stowing the suitcases into the car.

His wife said to him, 'This one'll have to go on the back seat. There's no more room in the boot.'

'I would love to have Matilda,' Miss Honey said. 'I would look after her with loving care, Mr Wormwood, and I would pay for everything. She wouldn't cost you a penny. But it was not my idea. It was Matilda's. And I will not agree to take her without your full and willing consent.'

'Come on, Harry,' the mother said, pushing a suitcase into the back seat. 'Why don't we let her go if that's what she wants? It'll be one less to look after.'

'I'm in a hurry,' the father said. 'I've got a plane to catch. If she wants to stay, let her stay. It's fine with me.'

Matilda leapt into Miss Honey's arms and hugged her, and Miss Honey hugged her back, and then the mother and father and brother were inside the car and the car was pulling away with the tyres screaming. The brother gave a wave through the rear window, but the other two didn't even lookback. Miss Honey was still hugging the tiny girl in her arms and neither of them said a word as they stood there watching the big black car tearing round the corner at the end of the road and disappearing for ever into the distance.