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  He looked around the room in desperation and grabbed a toy puppy.

  “Look, Molly, doggie! What does doggie say? Woof! Woof!”

  He made the puppy tickle her under the chin.

  “BEE BEE!” said Molly, grabbing the puppy and kissing it on the nose.

  “Yes!” nodded Bertie. “That’s right. Bee bee! Bee bee!” It was going to be okay. Babies never remembered things for long. They said a word and then a minute later they had forgotten it.

  Molly was toddling over to the door. It was shut. She pointed at it, wanting to get out.

  “BUM!”

  CHAPTER 4

  Bertie was exhausted. He’d spent the entire morning playing with Molly. He’d played with her toy farm. He’d played ‘Peepo’ behind the sofa. He’d watched Fifi’s Fairy Friends six million times. Jenny said he was an angel. But the truth was he didn’t dare let Molly out of his sight in case she said the unmentionable word.

  After lunch, Simon suggested they all take Molly to the children’s playground at the park. Bertie was glad to get out of the house. He couldn’t take much more of this. But if he could just manage to keep Molly busy for the afternoon, they could go home and he’d be off the hook.

  Molly sat in one of the baby swings, but refused to let anyone except Bertie push her.

  Mum, Dad, Simon and Jenny stood and watched.

  A girl in a red coat ran over and sat on the swing next to Molly.

  “Look, Molly, here’s Nadia,” said Jenny.

  Nadia pointed to Molly. “Monny!” she said. “Monny!”

  Nadia’s mum beamed proudly. “Clever girl! There’s your friend, Molly.”

  She pushed Nadia on the swing. “She’s picking up so many words now,” she told Jenny. “There’s no stopping her. The other day she looked at me and said ‘Biscuit’, clear as you like.”

  “Amazing,” said Jenny.

  “I know, and every day it’s something new. How about Molly? Talking yet?”

  Jenny sighed. “Only baby words so far,” she said. “But we don’t want to rush her. This is her friend, Bertie, by the way. He’s been a complete angel with Molly. Hasn’t stopped playing with her all day.”

  Bertie hadn’t been paying attention. Molly’s swing had slowed down and almost stopped. She bounced up and down in her seat with frustration.

  “BUM!” she cried.

  “Pardon, sweetie?” said Jenny.

  “Bum!” sang Molly. “Bum, bum, BUM!”

  “Oh dear!” said Nadia’s mum, trying not to laugh.

  “Bum!” cried Molly.

  “Bum!” shouted Nadia, joining in.

  “No darling, we don’t say that,” said Nadia’s mum. “We say ‘Bottom’.”

  She turned to Jenny. “Really! I thought you said she wasn’t speaking!”

  “She wasn’t,” said Jenny, turning pink. “She’s never said that before. I’ve no idea where she could have learned it.”

  “Nor me,” said Simon.

  Mum looked at Bertie grimly. “Oh, I think I can probably guess,” she said.

  Bertie decided it might be a good time to slip away.

  “Um, will you excuse me?” he said politely. “I’m just going for a poo.”

  Copyright

  STRIPES PUBLISHING

  An imprint of Little Tiger Press

  1 The Coda Centre, 189 Munster Road,

  London SW6 6AW

  Characters created by David Roberts

  Text copyright © Alan MacDonald, 2008

  Illustrations copyright © David Roberts, 2008

  First published as an ebook by Stripes Publishing in 2012.

  eISBN: 978–1–84715–398–2

  The right of Alan MacDonald and David Roberts to be identified as the author and illustrator of this work respectively has been asserted by them in accordance with the Copyright, Designs and Patents Act, 1988.

  All rights reserved.

  Apart from any use permitted under UK copyright law, this publication may only be reproduced, stored, or transmitted, in any forms, or by any means, with prior permission in writing of the publishers or, in the case of reprographic production, in accordance with the terms of licences issued by the Copyright Licensing Agency.

  A CIP catalogue record for this book is available from the British Library.

  www.stripespublishing.co.uk