Lost Lucy



  LOST LUCY

  By

  William Forde

  Illustrations by Joel Stephen Breeze

  Copyright February 2012 by William Forde

  Thank you for downloading this ebook. This ebook is licensed for your personal enjoyment only. This book may not be re-sold or given away to other people. Thank you for respecting the hard work of this author.

  Author’s Foreword

  ‘Lost Lucy’ was first published in January, 2000. It is the only story that I have penned for children of nursery-school age. For a number of years during 2000-2007, ‘Lost Lucy’ was broadcast for school listeners on Bradford Educational Radio. It is suitable for the 4 to 7-year-old reader.

  William Forde February, 2012.

  LOST LUCY

  Lucy Lawson is a 7-year-old girl. She has red hair and a face filled with freckles. Lucy is always ‘forgetting’ things.

  When Lucy asks for anything, she always forgets to say, ‘Please.’

  When Lucy is given something, she always forgets to say, ‘Thank you.’

  When you ask Lucy to do something, she always says she will, and then forgets to do it.

  Forgetting things gets Lucy into lots of trouble. It makes her teachers and parents very cross with her.

  Some things, which Lucy forgets are dangerous, like forgetting to fasten her shoelaces and not running up and down the stairs.

  Some things that Lucy forgets are unhealthy, like forgetting to brush her teeth or wash her hands after going to the loo.

  Some things, which Lucy forgets are wasteful, like forgetting to turn off the bedroom light before going to sleep or forgetting to turn off the water tap after she has had a drink.

  Some things, which Lucy forgets are inconsiderate, like being late for school or forgetting to flush the loo.

  Lucy Lawson starts her day by ‘forgetting’ and ends her day by ‘forgetting,’ and in-between, Lucy ‘forgets’ some more. She is always ‘forgetting.’

  At 8 o’clock, she is supposed to be in her pyjamas and ready for bed, but never is! This makes her mother and father very cross with her.

  When the clock strikes eight, Lucy’s father looks at the clock and then he looks at Lucy and says, “Lucy Lawson! Look at the time. It is past 8 o’clock and you are still out of your pyjamas. Get ready for bed now or you will be in ‘big, big trouble!’”

  Lucy then gets changed and goes to bed, but she always forgets to do lots of things along the way.

  Lucy forgets to tidy up and put her toys away.

  Lucy forgets to say, ‘Good night’ to her mum and dad.

  Lucy forgets to walk up the stairs.

  Lucy forgets to brush her teeth.

  Lucy forgets to flush the loo and wash her hands.

  Lucy forgets to say her prayers.

  Lucy forgets to turn off the bedroom light before going to sleep.

  Lucy Lawson’s forgetfulness was always getting her into trouble.

  Then one day, something happened to Lucy. It was something horrible. It was something she would never forget.

  On the day in question, her day started as it always does, with lots of ‘forgetting.’

  Lucy got up as usual, and ‘as usual’ she forgot to brush her hair and teeth. She forgot to wash her hands and face. She forgot to fasten her shoelaces. She forgot to flush the loo. She forgot to walk down the stairs and she forgot to say, ‘Good morning’ to her mum and dad, along with a number of times she forgot to say, ‘Please’ and ‘Thank you’ also.

  When Lucy walked to school, she tripped up over her unfastened shoelaces and fell to the ground. Lucy fell down hard and grazed her knee. Her knee started to bleed. It hurt a lot and Lucy started to cry.

  When Lucy picked herself back up off the ground and tried to walk, her leg hurt some more. She started to limp and could only walk slowly for the rest of her journey.

  By the time Lucy arrived at school she was late. Her teacher, Miss Wigglesworth, was annoyed.

  “Lucy Lawson” her teacher said in a cross voice, “what time do you call this? School started 10 minutes ago. This is the third time you have been late for school this week, you silly girl, and it’s only Wednesday morning!”

  Lucy had to miss her playtime that morning. Miss Wigglesworth told her, “Lucy Lawson, instead of playing out with the other girls and boys at break time, you shall sit at your desk.”

  Lucy sat down at her desk as Miss Wigglesworth approached holding a mirror. Still using her cross voice, her teacher said, “For the whole of this break time, you will sit down at your desk. You will look in this mirror and you will count every freckle on your face.”

  Lucy started to protest. “But Miss” Lucy said, “I have got thousands of freckles on my face. It will take me all day to count them all.”

  “If you cannot count them all during this morning’s playtime break, Lucy Lawson, then you will just have to sit at your desk all through the lunch-time break as well and carry on counting!” Miss Wigglesworth said.

  After school that day when Lucy arrived home her mother asked, “What have you been doing at school today, Lucy?”

  Lucy looked at her mum and replied, “I have been counting the freckles on my face.”

  “Don’t talk stupid, you silly girl” Lucy’s mum replied. “Counting freckles is not learning.”

  Lucy explained to her mum that after she had arrived late at school again this morning, her teacher was very cross with her. “Miss Wigglesworth made me sit at my desk all morning during play break and during the lunch break as well. She gave me a mirror to look into and told me to count every freckle on my face.”

  “But what can that possibly teach you, Lucy?” her mum asked in a puzzled voice.

  “Miss Wigglesworth said that it would teach me not to be late for school again” Lucy replied.

  “And have you learned that lesson now, Lucy?” her mother asked.

  “Yes, I jolly well have!” Lucy replied. “I will never count freckles again. Counting freckles is boring.”

  Lucy’s mum then asked Lucy to take Patch for a walk while she got the evening meal ready. She also asked Lucy not to be late back for her evening meal.

  Patch was Lucy’s dog. Every day after Lucy arrived home from school, she would take Patch for a walk. Lucy and Patch always went on a different walk because Lucy could never quite remember where they had walked yesterday.

  “Now, where is the dog leash?” Lucy asked herself. Lucy was always forgetting where she put things. Her mum often said to her, “Lucy Lawson! You would lose your head if it wasn’t screwed onto the top of your neck!”

  As Lucy took Patch for a walk, she began to daydream. She forgot the time and one hour later, she was in big, big trouble.

  Lucy had walked so far away from home that she got lost. She looked around to see if there was something or place she recognized, but everything looked strange. Lucy was well and truly lost!

  Lucy started to get worried and then she started to cry. Then, Lucy had a good idea. She remembered something her teacher, Miss Wigglesworth had told the children at school. She remembered what to do if you get lost.

  “Got it!” Lucy said. “When you get lost, Miss Wigglesworth says you should ask a ...............”

  It was no good. As soon as Lucy remembered, she forgot again.

  Lucy scratched her head as she tried to remember. “Now, who do you ask for help when you get lost?” she said to Patch. “It begins with the letter..... ‘P’........Yes! That’s it. It begins with the letter ‘P’.”

  As Lucy scratched her head trying to remember, her dog Patch saw her and also decided to have a scratch.

  Suddenly, Lucy yelled out to Patch, “I remember now! I remember who to ask for help. I will ask a p.................plumber!”

  Pat
ch looked at Lucy and shook his head from side-to-side, as if to say, “No, that’s not right!”

  “I know who I will ask for help. I will as a p..................painter!” Lucy said.

  Patch shook his head from side-to-side again while Lucy tried to think harder.

  “I know...I know...I know” Lucy said excitedly, “I will ask a p...........postman!”

  Patch shook his head from side-to-side as if to say, “No! That’s not right either!”

  “I will ask a pppppppp..............plant pot!” Lucy said.

  Patch looked at Lucy and pulled a funny face as if to say, “That’s not right. That’s stupid!”

  Then, all at once it came to Lucy. She no longer needed to guess because she remembered who to ask. “Got it!” she said to Patch with a big grin across her face. “I remember who to ask if you ever get lost Patch” she said. “You ask a policeman!”

  This time Patch wagged his tail in a sign of approval and barked seven times as if to say, “That’s right. You ask a policeman!”

  “Now, where can I find a policeman?” Lucy said to Patch. “I know. At a police station” she said as they walked on in search of a police station. It was getting late and Lucy knew that as she and Patch walked on, she wasn’t to talk to any strangers unless it was absolutely necessary. Her teacher, Miss Wigglesworth had told the class that if they ever got lost or separated from their parents and couldn’t find a policeman to help, if they had to risk asking a stranger, they would be safer to ask a woman than a man and an adult rather than a boy or girl. This was one of those important things that Lucy never forgot.

  After walking miles and miles, Lucy and Patch saw a police station and went inside. Patch parked himself by the door entrance while Lucy walked towards the counter to speak with the policeman and police-woman behind it.

  Seeing Lucy standing there, the policeman looked down over the counter and said, “Can I help you?”

  Lucy looked up at the policeman and said, “I’m lost and I can’t find my way home.”

  “Now then, little girl, let me see,” the policeman said in a kind voice as he got a note pad and pencil out of the top pocket of his uniform. With his notebook open and the pencil in his hand, ready to write, he asked, “Tell me, where do you live? What is your address?”

  “I live at....................” Lucy started to say before stopping suddenly. “I....don’t know my address. I have forgotten where I live!” she replied in a shocked voice.

  The gentle policeman put down his pencil and said, “Never mind. Let’s forget where you live for the moment. If you cannot tell me where you live then let’s begin by telling me your name. You can tell me your name, can’t you?”

  “Of course I can,” Lucy replied in a cross voice and proceeded to tell him. “My name is ................................Oh dear!”

  “Oh dear?” asked the policeman in a puzzled voice as he scratched his head. “That’s a strange name. I have met many people in my time, but I can honestly say that I’ve never met anybody called, ’Oh dear!’”

  Lucy felt very stupid when she tried to explain that ‘Oh dear’ wasn’t her name. “I didn’t mean that ‘Oh dear’ is my name” Lucy said. “I meant Oh dear I’ve forgotten my name, if you know what I mean.”

  “Oh dear,” thought Lucy who was getting all her words muddled up in her mouth. By now she was getting very tired, hungry and very confused. Lucy’s eyes began to water up. Then, she started to cry.

  The kind police-woman came around from behind the counter and placed her arms reassuringly around Lucy’s shoulders and said, “Don’t worry. We will sort it out. We will get you home. Don’t worry.”

  Then the policeman had a good idea. He asked Lucy to empty the contents of her pockets out onto the counter, just to see if she had a library card or anything else that would tell them her name and where she lived.

  Lucy emptied her pockets, but there wasn’t anything, which could help them. Lucy had one dirty handkerchief that she’d forgotten to put in the wash, half an apple that she’d forgotten to finish eating and a toffee she had been sucking before she’d put it in her pocket ten days ago. The sticky toffee had now stuck inside the pocket and had been there too long to get out without ripping her pocket.

  “Well! I don’t know what to do,” said the policeman to Lucy in a sorry voice. “I’ve been in this job a long time and I must confess I’ve never been asked to help with this kind of problem before.”

  The policeman continued to explain to Lucy, “I’ve had to deal with lost purses, lost bicycles, lost rabbits, lost cats, lost horses, lost dogs and even lost children, but I’ve never before met a lost child who has forgotten where she lives and what her name is!”

  Lucy started to feel stupid and she started to cry again. She was very angry with herself for forgetting her name and address. She promised herself that if she found her home and her name, she would never be so careless as to lose them again.

  The police woman then had a good idea. She knew that some mums stitched their children’s names into the collars of their school shirts and the lining of their coats and jackets. The police woman looked at Lucy’s clothes but couldn’t find a name there.

  The policeman was really puzzled as what else to do now and he scratched his head. When Patch, who was still parked by the door entrance, saw the policeman scratch his head, he decided to have a scratch too. The policeman saw Patch there scratching his bottom by the door entrance and his eyes lit up.

  “Is that dog yours?” he asked Lucy.

  Lucy looked across at Patch and replied, “Yes. That’s my dog. He’s called Patch and he is always scratching himself.”

  “And does Patch have a name tag fastened to his dog collar?” the policeman asked Lucy.

  “I think he does,” Lucy replied. “I’m not sure, but I think he does.”

  “Let’s have a look,” the policeman said as he went across to pat Patch on the head.

  “Here we are,” said the policeman as he looked at the name tag fastened to the dog’s collar. Smilingly he said, “I think we have solved our little problem. This nametag tells me what the dog is called and where its owner lives. Unless I’m greatly mistaken, I think that you and Patch live at the same address. If so, there must be somebody at that address who can tell you what your name is!”

  Lucy and Patch were then placed on the back seat in the police car and were driven to the address on Patch’s dog collar by the policeman.

  As they travelled along the policeman said to Lucy, “You will have to be more careful in future. If your dog hadn’t had a name tag on his collar, we might never have found out where you lived”

  “Name tags can be very useful,” the policeman said to Lucy. “Did you know that when babies are born in hospital, the maternity nurse always puts a name tag on the baby? They put the nametags either on their little ankles or their tiny wrists. When soldiers go to battle, they also have name tags around their necks and lots of professional people have name tags pinned to their uniforms.”

  When the police car pulled up outside Lucy’s house, she and Patch got out and thanked the policeman for his help. Lucy’s mother was waiting anxiously for her. She looked very cross; especially when she saw her daughter and Patch get out of a police car.

  “Where have you been, Lucy Lawson?” Lucy’s mum said crossly. “I’ve been worried sick. And why have you brought a policeman home with you?”

  Upon hearing her name, Lucy started to jump up in the air with excitement as she gleefully yelled, “Lucy Lawson! Lucy Lawson! Lucy Lawson! My name is Lucy Lawson!”

  “Why do you keep repeating your name like a parrot, you silly girl?” her mother asked.

  Lucy was so happy to have found her name again that she continued to jump for joy as she joyously proclaimed over and over, “Lucy Lawson! My name is Lucy Lawson! I’m called Lucy Lawson!”

  “Of course you are, you silly child!” Lucy’s mum replied. “What else would you be called? You woke up with the name
of Lucy Lawson and you will go to bed with the same name. Now then, my girl, let’s be hearing no more of this silly talk. Get inside the house this minute. Your tea is stone cold!”

  From that day on Lucy Lawson became a changed person. She was never again late for school. She stopped being untidy and inconsiderate. She stopped being careless and then she stopped ‘forgetting’.

  Today, Lucy Lawson is just like every other 7-year-old boy or girl. Today, Lucy Lawson is................ ‘JUST LIKE YOU!’

  Today, when 8 o’clock arrives at the end of the day, Lucy tidies up her games, gets into her pyjamas, says ‘Good night’ to her parents and goes quietly to bed..................’JUST LIKE YOU!’

  She walks up the stairs, washes her hands and face, turns off the tap and flushes the loo...............’JUST LIKE YOU!’

  Then she brushes her teeth, goes into her bedroom, says her prayers and turns off the bedroom light before going to sleep...................... ’JUST LIKE YOU!’

  But there is one thing that Lucy does before she goes to sleep that no other boy or girl does.

  If you were to sneak up to Lucy’s bedroom and listen very carefully outside her bedroom door when she is in bed, you would hear her quietly saying to herself, “My name is Lucy Lawson. My name is Lucy Lawson. My...name....is...Lucy Lawson. My ..............name is Lucy..............My....name...is...L............My name is.........................................”

  Lucy hasn’t forgotten her name again. She hasn’t lost it. She has just gone to sleep!

  The End