Betsey Biggalow Is Here! (3 page)

Betsey thought hard for a moment.

“I didn’t help the whole world today,” she said. “But I did help a little bit of it. I think that’s OK.”

“Of course it’s OK. I’m proud of you, Betsey,” said Gran’ma Liz.

And what did Betsey do? Betsey just smiled.

‘I’ve got a marble. A mighty marble,” said Josh proudly. School had finished for the day and there was still plenty of afternoon left to play in. Betsey and her friends were at the beach.

“Who wants to look at my mighty marble?” Josh called out.

“Me! Me!” everyone shouted.

Josh held out his marble in the palm of his hand. Betsey’s brown eyes sparkled brighter than sunshine on the clear blue sea behind her. Ooooh! All eyes were on Josh’s marble. Oh, how it glittered! Oh, how it glistened! Betsey had never seen anything like it.

“I told you,” said Josh. “Isn’t it terrific?”

It was the biggest marble Betsey had ever seen and it was filled with sky blue and leaf green and moonlight silver slivers.

“It’s the most beautiful marble in the world,” Betsey breathed. And all at once, she wanted that marble. She wanted that marble something fierce.

“Josh,” began Betsey, holding up her bag of marbles. “I’ll swap you ten of my best marbles for your mighty marble.”

“No way,” Josh scoffed. “Mr Mighty Marble is staying with me!”

“I’ll swap you
twenty
of my marbles for your mighty marble,” said May.

Soon the air was filled with ‘I’ll swap you this” and “I’ll swap you that”, but Josh only laughed and held Mr Mighty Marble up higher.

Betsey looked at the super marble in Josh’s hands. It called out to her, teasing her.

“Betsey . . .” whispered Mr Mighty Marble. “Betsey, look at me. Aren’t I just the most perfect, the most splendid marble in the world?” And what could Betsey reply but, “You are! You are!”

Betsey dug her hand into her dress pocket and slowly took out Old Faithful. Old Faithful was a small marble, perfect and clear, with a single gold streak like a summer lightning flash caught in its middle. Betsey’s dad had given it to her.

“You look after Old Faithful,” said Dad. “And Old Faithful will look after you.”

It was Betsey’s special marble and all her friends admired it, but Betsey never played with it. Old Faithful was too small to play with.

“Josh,” said Betsey. “Let’s have a contest, right now. Your Mr Mighty Marble against my best marble.”

“Why should I?” Josh frowned.

“Because if you win, I’ll give you every marble I’ve got,” said Betsey slowly. She held up her full bag of marbles. “You’ll get every single marble in here.”

Josh’s eyes gleamed. “Including Old Faithful?”

Betsey looked at the marble her dad had given her. Next to Mr Mighty Marble, Old Faithful looked dull and titchy-tiny and hardly worth bothering with at all.

“Including Old Faithful,” Betsey agreed at last.

“Betsey! You can’t do that,” said May. “Your dad gave you Old Faithful.”

“May, don’t you worry,” said Betsey. “If I win, I’ll get Josh’s super marble.”

“And what happens if you lose?” asked May, her hands on her hips.

Betsey thought about it, long and hard. If she lost then Josh would end up with every single marble she had in the world – including Old Faithful. Dad had played marbles with Old Faithful when he was a boy and he’d given her Old Faithful as a present. How could she give away a present from her dad? She shouldn’t have told Josh she’d give him Old Faithful. What if she
did
lose and Dad found out?

“Josh, I think . . .” Betsey began.

“You’re not changing your mind, are you? You’re not turning chicken?” Josh called out. “Cluck! Clu-uu-ck! Chicken!”

“No, I’m not. I’m ready when you are,” said Betsey. But as she spoke she was careful not to look at May. That didn’t mean that she couldn’t hear May tutting beside her, though.

Josh walked to his starting position which was at the end of the path that led to the beach. Everyone followed him. May pulled Betsey back from the crowd.

“Betsey, you’re making a big mistake.” May shook her head.

“Botheration, May! You’re not my gran’ma. Don’t you try to boss my head,” said Betsey, annoyed.

“Are you really going to let Josh take all your marbles?” asked May. “Even the one your dad gave you?”

“I’m going to win Josh’s mighty marble,” Betsey said stubbornly. “So Josh won’t get any of my marbles. I won’t lose a single one of them.”

“You’ve lost your marbles already if you think your itsy-bitsy bit of glass stands a chance against Josh’s mighty marble,” said May.

Betsey began to feel bad. Worse than bad. Betsey began to feel terrible. She wished she’d never challenged Josh to this stupid contest.

“Come on then, Betsey,” Josh called out. “I’m busting to win a whole bag of marbles.”

Betsey and May walked over to join Josh and the others.

“Josh, we can still have our contest but I don’t want to include Old Faithful in it. My dad gave me Old Faithful and . . .”

But Josh didn’t let Betsey finish.

“Cluck! Clu-uu-ck! Chicken!” Josh began to leap about and to peck and flap and strut, just like a chicken. “Cluck! Clu-uu-ck!” Soon everyone else was doing the same thing. “Clu-uu-ck!”

“Botheration!” said Betsey. “Josh, you’re about to lose Mr Mighty Marble.”

Betsey dug into her bag.

“What are you doing?” Josh frowned.

“Getting out a marble to play with,” answered Betsey.

“You’ve got to use Old Faithful,” Josh said. “That was the deal.”

“But that’s not fair. Your mighty marble is ginormous and Old Faithful is tiddly,” said Betsey.

“Too bad. That’s the deal.” Josh smiled.

What could Betsey do? The contest was all her idea so she couldn’t back out now. There was nothing left to do but to stay put and play. Betsey felt her eyes stinging but she forced herself not to cry. She was going to lose all her precious marbles. All the marbles it had taken her so long to collect. And worse still, she was going to lose Old Faithful.

“Josh, you go first,” sniffed Betsey.

And the contest began. Everyone gathered round to watch. Josh flicked Mr Mighty Marble first. Betsey flicked Old Faithful away from Mr Mighty Marble. Josh flicked his marble towards Betsey’s.

“Ooooh!” A gasp came from everyone around. Josh had only just missed Betsey’s marble.

This was it. If Betsey didn’t do something, Josh would hit her marble with his very next shot and then Betsey would lose every single marble she had in the world.

“Bombsies!” Betsey said.

Josh laughed. “Bombsies! With that little marble! You can’t win, Betsey, so give up now.”

“I’ll show you,” Betsey said. She stood up, Old Faithful in her hand. She stood over Josh’s marble, carefully lining up Old Faithful over Mr Mighty Marble. If she missed, Josh would win for sure. No one spoke. The only sound came from the waves lapping on the white sand and the sound of birds singing from the trees.

“Your hand can’t be lower than your waist,” Josh said.

“I know.” Betsey didn’t look up. She carried on lining up her shot until Old Faithful was directly above Mr Mighty Marble.

Then Betsey let go of her own marble. Old Faithful hit Mr Mighty Marble with a CRR-AAA-CK!