LERNERT ENGELBERTS Real Bad People - De Harmonie

course, so I came up with the idea of kicking a tree root that was sticking up out ofthe ground by the door, mainly because I was peeved about the letter still beingthere, but also because I was already dead bored and it was only ten minutes intothe holidays.Then I spotted something purple sticking up out of the ground where I’d beenbashing away with my foot. I kicked it a few more times and exposed more of thepurple. I didn’t think I’d dug up some kind of treasure or anything, but I had nothingelse to do anyway, so I knelt down with the letter between my teeth and I dug anddug until a wooden plank appeared. One end of the plank had a kind of fin on it thatwas stuck really deep in the ground.‘What on earth’s that?’ Mum spun around, clearly not expecting me to turn up behindher in the kitchen holding something that size.‘Where did you get that from?’‘Dug it up in the garden. What is it?’‘That, my dear,’ she said, examining the object, ‘is a surfboard.’ She camecloser and gave it a rap with her knuckles. ‘Top notch.’‘Top notch?’‘Excellent.’So, it was a surfboard. ‘I thought it was something like that,’ I bluffed. ‘Can Ikeep it?’‘Why not? I think you’ll have to do it up a bit first though.’I just looked at Mum.‘You know, clean it, sand it down, give it a new coat of paint.’‘How do you know what to do with it?’‘I grew up in Cornwall. All of my brothers used to surf.’