16 & Pregnant , livre ebook

16 & PREGNANT
ReadZone Books Limited









© copyright in the text Marian Hoefnagel 2006
© copyright in this edition ReadZone Books 2019

Originally published in the Netherlands as 16 & Zwanger
© copyright Uitgeverij Eenvoudig Communiceren, Amsterdam

Translation by Laura Dashwood

British Library Cataloguing in Publication Data (CIP) is available for this title.

All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system or transmitted, in any form or by any means, electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording or otherwise, without the prior permission of ReadZone Books Limited.

ISBN 978-1-78322-857-7

Printed in Malta by Melita Press

Visit our website: www.readzonebooks.com
MARIAN HOEFNAGEL
16 & PREGNANT
What now?
Almost Christmas

Esther gets her rucksack out of the car. She slams the back door shut.
‘Bye, see you next week,’ she says.
Her mum rolls down the car window. ‘Bye sweetie,’ she says. ‘Say hi to Grandma for me.’

She wants me to give her a kiss , Esther thinks. But I really don’t feel like doing that right now .
She hoists the rucksack up on to her back. It’s pretty heavy. But then she did pack a lot of stuff. Warm clothes, extra boots and books.

She leans down so she’s face to face with her mother. ‘Will you call to let me know when you’re coming?’ she asks.
Her mum nods. ‘I need to get going,’ she says. ‘I’m on double yellows. Bye, Essy.’ Her mother rolls up the window. She starts the car and drives away. When she turns the corner, she waves. Esther doesn’t wave back.

Esther crosses the large square, towards the station. There’s a huge Christmas tree in the middle of the square. It’s decorated beautifully and covered in lights.
I wonder how many lights there are on that tree? Esther thinks. Maybe a thousand. And hundreds of baubles. That tree must have taken a lot of work.

This year her mum didn’t buy a Christmas tree. ‘I’m not in the mood for it,’ she said.
Esther thought it was a pity. Christmas trees always make the house smell so nice.

In the past, they used to go shopping for Christmas decorations. Esther and her mum. Every year. They would go into town on a Wednesday afternoon. They’d look in all the big shops. Then they would decorate the house.

Buying a ticket

Esther walks through the station doors. She sees her reflection in the glass. A tiny girl with a big rucksack.
It looks kind of cool , she thinks. Like I’m going on holiday on my own.

The station entrance is crowded. Esther walks towards the ticket desks. There are lots of people queuing there. She looks around. Where are the ticket machines? she wonders. Then she spots them.
There’s a queue for the machines, but it’s much smaller. Esther has never bought a ticket this way before. First time for everything , she thinks.

Finally it’s the turn of the boy in front of her. He reads the instructions out loud. ‘Enter the station you are travelling to.’ The boy types in Nottingham. That’s where he’s going.
Esther watches him closely.

‘Please choose,’ the boy continues.
‘Second class or first class. Regular ticket or discounted. For today or without a set date. One way or return.’
‘That sounds a bit complicated,’ Esther says to him.

The boy nods. ‘You’d think they could make it easier,’ he says. He presses a button. Then he continues reading: ‘Paying: cash or card.’
The boy selects cash. A little light in the machine starts flashing. It doesn’t have any change. The boy can only pay the exact amount in cash. Or he can pay by card.

Typical , Esther thinks. I don’t have the right change on me. And I don’t have a card, either. So I’ll have to buy my ticket at the desk after all.

Shopping

‘The train leaves from platform 5 at three minutes past ten,’ the lady behind the desk says. She hands Esther her ticket. ‘Merry Christmas,’ she says.
‘Thanks, and to you,’ says Esther. She puts the ticket in her wallet and looks at the big clock in the middle of the hall. It’s nine thirty. She has plenty of time.

I’ll just have a look at the shops , Esther thinks. There are quite a few shops at the station. A book shop. A gift shop. A sweet shop. A little supermarket. A pharmacy. A florist.

Esther buys a magazine to read on the train. It’s full of celebrity gossip. She also buys a bag of sweets and some crisps to eat on the way. It’s a long journey to Grandma’s house. It will take at least two hours.

I should probably take something for Grandma , Esther thinks. She looks around the gift shop. There are lots of things there. But nothing Grandma would like. Some playing cards. An ‘I love London’ mug. A silk scarf.
She decides to try the florist. She buys a poinsettia, a red one. The florist wraps it nicely for her.

The clock in the hall says it’s ten o’clock. Esther starts. She was here so early and now she’ll still have to run.
Panting, she reaches platform 5. But there’s no train.
Please say I haven’t missed it! Esther thinks.
Then I’ll have to wait another hour.

The boy from the ticket machine is also on platform 5. He smiles at Esther. ‘Never on time, these trains,’ he says.
‘Oh, thank goodness,’ Esther says. ‘I thought I might have missed it.’
Just then, the train pulls into the station.

A strange smell

Esther and the boy climb aboard. The train’s not very busy. Esther takes off her rucksack and her coat.
‘Shall I put your rucksack up on the rack?’ the boy asks.
Esther nods. ‘Yes please,’ she says, ‘I can’t reach to do it.’

The train leaves. Esther leans back in her seat. She closes her eyes for a moment. The train rattles along on the rails. When Esther was little, she called a train a choo-choo, after the sound it makes. But of course trains today don’t go “choo-choo” , Esther thinks. More like: “clunk-clunk”.
Clunk-clunk, clunk-clunk, clunk-clunk: it’s a very repetitive sound.

Suddenly, something wakes Esther up. There’s a strange smell. The boy opposite her is eating a sandwich. A fish sandwich. Esther doesn’t like fish. The smell makes her feel sick.
‘Could you take my rucksack off the rack, please?’ she asks the boy.
‘Are you getting off already?’ he asks.
‘No,’ Esther says, ‘But… I’m going to have to find another seat.’ She pauses. ‘I can’t stand the smell of fish,’ she says, honestly.
‘Oh,’ the boy says. ‘Sorry, I’ll put my sandwich away!’
Esther shakes her head. ‘No really… that’s very kind of you,’ she says. ‘But I’d still be able to smell it. I can’t bear it. It makes me feel sick. I’m pregnant, you see.’

Esther gasps. She didn’t mean to say that out loud. She doesn’t even want to think about it.

The boy gets up and gets her rucksack. Esther puts on her coat.
‘Thanks,’ she says to the boy. She walks into the next carriage. There’s a seat opposite a woman with a baby. Esther sits down there. She puts the rucksack on the seat beside her.

‘Are you going on holiday?’ the lady asks. She smiles at Esther.
Esther sighs. ‘You could say that,’ she says.

The baby

At the next stop, a man wants to sit beside Esther. ‘Could you put your bag in the luggage rack, please?’ he asks.
‘No, sorry. I can’t reach it,’ Esther says, ‘Otherwise I would have done it straight away.’
‘Would you like me to do it for you?’ the man says.
‘Alright, thanks,’ says Esther.

The man takes her backpack and puts it up above her head.
‘Do you think you could grab my baby bag for me while you’re there, please?’ the baby’s mother asks.
‘Of course,’ the man says. He takes the woman’s bag down from the luggage rack.
The woman pulls out a clean nappy and a baby bottle.

‘How old is your baby?’ the man asks.
‘Two months old,’ says the mum. She puts the bottle in the baby’s mouth.
‘And what’s his name?’ the man asks.
‘She’s a girl,’ says the mother. ‘Her name is Fleur.’
‘Oh, what a lovely name,’ the man says, ‘A little flower.’

The woman looks surprised for a moment. Then she laughs.