hundred times how much he wanted a telescope The issue wasn’t whether she would remember but whether she could afford to buy him one Money was tight and the kind of telescope Pete wanted cost a lot of money No point bugging Mum about it He’d just have to wait and see 8
2 Coming home from school was Pete’s favourite part of the day After being stuck inside listening to Mr Thompson drone on about maths or spelling or history he was always glad to get home and be free to do whatever he liked Today as he came through the front gate Pete lifted the flap on the letterbox then stopped This was different There was an envelope Addressed to Pete He’d never received mail of his own before Mum got plenty Usually bills although sometimes she got an invitation to a party And every weekend their letterbox was stuffed with what Mum called junk mail catalogues from all 9
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the big chain stores wanting them to buy stuff But never before had Pete opened the letterbox to find something with his name on it He picked up the yellow envelope and examined it The writing was kind of wobbly and loopy not like Mum’s flowery writing and not like Pete’s own printing which Mr Thompson said was not neat enough Pete was sure he’d never seen this writing before He turned the envelope over Sometimes on the back of Mum’s letters there was an address from whoever had sent it Not this one The back was empty just a neat triangle stuck down to itself with no hint of what might be inside Pete felt a teensy tremble of excitement Who could be writing to me It was a mystery and Pete loved mysteries Almost as much as he loved stars Resisting the urge to rip open the envelope Pete walked slowly across the front lawn down the side of the house and up to the back door He plonked his schoolbag on the mat while 11
