Annabelle Sami - Llama Out Loud!

And eat the food her parents wanted her to eat.

And sit where her brothers wanted her to sit.

Even though it was her tenth birthday.

The kitchen was chaos. All six family members placed bowls of steaming food, chutneys and lemonade on the table whilst shouting about what should go where. Yasmin crept in, wearing her new dress. It was probably best just to sit quietly at the table, like she usually did. But unfortunately, Short Brother had already spotted her.

‘So . . . did you win your checkers match this afternoon, Yasmin?’ he asked, trying to act like he was too cool to care.

‘Or have all the oldies turned into fossils?’ Tall Brother smirked.

Yasmin pointed to the ‘winner’ badge she had pinned to her party dress and took a sip of lemonade. She had been competing in the checkers tournament at the elderly people’s daycentre for a few weeks now and had won every match. It was a game that required concentration, logic and quiet – some of Yasmin’s favourite things. The focused calm that surrounded a game of checkers made Yasmin feel like she was wrapped in a nice warm blanket. Even if she didn’t win the tournament, she was sure she could make it to the finals.

‘Phhhst.’ Tall Brother rolled his eyes. ‘You won’t win the whole thing.’

‘Yeah, no chance,’ Short Brother added, quick to copy his brother.

Yasmin ignored them both and got up to help Papa and Ammi with the chapattis.

‘How is school?’ Papa asked as she passed him a handful of flour.

‘DIDYOUPASSTHESPELLINGTEST?’ Ammi added.

‘Of course she did, she’s great at spelling.’

‘SHEGOTTHATFROMME.’

Yasmin gritted her teeth. This was her birthday celebration. Weren’t birthdays meant to be fun? All her parents wanted to do was talk about school.

‘For your science project I have decided we will study moss growth and reproduction,’ Papa told Yasmin. ‘That is what I studied at university, therefore I am very knowledgeable on the subject.’

‘But how will moss growth help her grades? I think she should study the water cycle,’ Auntie Gigi called over from the table.

‘Do not question me, sister. I am the man of the house.’

‘Man of the house or not, you are still our younger brother!’ Auntie Bibi countered.

‘COMEONEVERYONEDINNERISREADY.’ Ammi’s voice cut through the hubbub. She was the one person nobody ever questioned.

‘Yassy, are you coming to sit down?’ Auntie Bibi asked.

Yasmin took a deep breath and walked over to the table with a sour face. She may have to sit through this meal, but she didn’t have to smile.

‘One more thing before we eat.’ Papa seemed very pleased with himself as he produced a square parcel wrapped in red paper out of his briefcase. ‘A present for Yasmin.’

Yasmin’s eyes grew wide. Maybe her parents did care about her birthday after all! Carefully peeling open the paper, she uncovered her birthday present.

Smiths Bumper Book of Logic and Reasoning Puzzles – proven to increase brain activity !

Yasmin stared at it in silence, trying to muster a grateful smile. Her brothers giggled.

‘Yasmin will have the most active brain in her whole class.’ Papa beamed. ‘Now let’s discuss your maths grades –’

Yasmin managed to get through the dinner without throwing her rubbish present through the window. Then, finally, it was time for dessert. And Ammi had made a birthday cake!

‘Your Ammi spent all afternoon baking this cake, Yasmin,’ Auntie Bibi prompted.

Yasmin’s face softened and she smiled up at Ammi. The cake was double-tiered chocolate, with beautiful buttercream flowers on the top. The family collectively gasped at its absolute chocolatey amazingness.

Ammi carried the heavy cake to the table with such care that it might as well have been a newborn baby. She gently placed it in front of Yasmin and was just about to light the candles . . . when Yasmin opened her napkin.

Pepper puffed out of the napkin’s folds.

It rose into Yasmin’s nose in a big cloud of spiciness, causing a loud –

Nobody moved.

Sounding like a plug popping out of the plughole, Yasmin unstuck her face from the icing.

For once, the whole family was quiet. Through icing-coated eyelashes, Yasmin could see that they were all staring at Ammi and holding their breath.

Ammi looked at Yasmin.

Yasmin looked at Ammi.

Auntie Gigi looked at her own napkin and then used it to wipe Yasmin’s face.

Then, in the loudest voice ever to come out of Ammi’s mouth – the equivalent of a jet engine and an earthquake – Yasmin’s mother boomed:

‘YASMIIIIIIIIIIIIIN!YOURUINEDTHECAKE!’

Yasmin’s brothers cackled with laughter. Tall Brother slyly picked up the pepper shaker and wiggled it teasingly at Yasmin. Her parents always seemed to miss their pranks.

‘Because of your outburst –’ (Outburst? thought Yasmin. It was a sneeze !) ‘– Ammi’s cake is ruined! Why didn’t you blow your nose before dinner?’ Papa ranted.

Ammi’s cake? Yasmin heard ringing in her head.

Ammi’s cake???

AMMI’S CAKE????

It was her cake, it was her birthday, and none of this was her fault. But would her parents listen to her side of the story? NO! And her aunties never helped, not to mention her horrible brothers.

A whole wave of noise came crashing down. Ammi was calling out an endless stream of orders. Papa was scooping up pieces of cake from the floor. Auntie Gigi and Auntie Bibi were trying to comfort Ammi and Yasmin’s brothers were just licking bits of icing that had fallen on the table.

Yasmin might as well have not been there.

So she did what she was best at, and disappeared.

Yasmin raced up all four flights of stairs, face caked in cake, and slammed her door shut behind her.

She grabbed her pillow and started beating it up.

Her stupid THUMP! brothers THUD! were always THUMP! THUMP! gettingherintotrouble THWACK! THUMP! THUD!

Her family always blamed her for everything.

Wiping her face with a towel, she kicked off her shiny shoes and threw them at her cupboard, where they slammed against the wooden door. Jumping on to her bed, she buried her head in the pillow and tried to block out the sounds of Ammi’s continued yells. It was no use. It was like there was a yodelling competition going on downstairs. She wanted nothing more than to stand on her bed, open her mouth and let out a roar so big that it would tear the whole house apart!

But . . . it wasn’t worth it. Nobody would stop talking for long enough to listen to her..

Yasmin got up and walked over to her mirror. She looked into the glass with such a severe expression she nearly scared herself. Finally she closed her eyes and, with all the brain strength she could muster, she made a wish.