Penelope Skye, Private Eye - by Mae Chapman: category:childrens

MONKEYMAGIC SAID:

In the beginning
Penelope Skye was 6 years old when she decided she wanted to be a cowboy. “Whoops” and “Yee-haas” were heard around the house from under a giant Stetson which once belonged to her uncle John ‘Tex’ Skye.
When she turned 7 however, Penelope Skye wanted to be an air hostess. She liked the white gloves and matching hat. Much more sophisticated than a cowboy, William her best friend in the world said. Visitors to the Skye family home were handed a “drink with their meal” and shown the emergency exits on a number of occasions.
At the grand old age of 8 Penelope Skye knew that her true calling was to be a deep sea diver. Wearing an ancient diving helmet once belonging to her mother’s cousin Robert (the one who was in the navy for an all too brief time before “the incident” in 1947) she would clomp slowly around the house careful not to bump into furniture, her breathing muffled and sounding not dissimilar to Darth Vader.
Aged 9, Penelope Skye swapped her helmet for a long beige mackintosh of her Father’s (sleeves rolled up at the elbows several times over), a pair of her sister’s sunglasses, an old briefcase found in the attic and a hat of her granddad George’s. Thus disguised, Penelope Skye became a Secret Agent.
This latest profession lasted longer than the deep sea diver, not quite as long as the air hostess and around the same duration as the cowboy, but something about it didn’t quite feel right. Almost like she was on the right track but running the wrong way. After discussing it with William her best friend in the world she knew exactly what it was she wanted to be.

02 September 2007 04:01