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Virginia Creeper

by Cathy Bryant

About the Author: Cathy Bryant has won 20 literary awards, and her work has appeared in over 200 publications. Cathy's published books are: 'Contains Strong Language and Scenes of a Sexual Nature', 'Look at All the Women', 'How to Win Writing Competitions (and make money)' and 'Pride & Regicide - a Mary Bennet mystery'. See Cathy's listings for cash-strapped writers at http://www.compsandcalls.com

Excerpt

It was a relief when our teacher was murdered. It took the other children’s minds off their usual activities, such as bullying me.

Oh, in some ways I can’t blame them. I am American for a start, which was a lot less acceptable in the seventies than it is now. If you’d told that class of little Brits that their children would wear t-shirts that said ‘New York’ or ‘Boston’ then they’d have been furious and disbelieving.

I was also a pudgy little mouse—short and plump with flat colourless hair and a slight overbite. But none of that was really important, of course. The trigger was my name.

In the eighties my two friends (two! I had a spare!) humoured me (hey, check that British spelling! Really useful ‘u’ there) and called me Ginny C, but as an eight-year-old I was at the sort of school where they call you by your full first name, no matter what, and if you transgress then they throw in your surname as well.

“VirGINia CREEper, Pay Attention!” some harpy teacher would snap at me, while I daydreamed of sunshine and decent gum. And everyone would stare at me, hoping for a reaction, and a few would snigger.

Yes, Virginia Creeper is my real name. I presume that it was chosen because my parents are horrible and evil people. I saw nothing to contradict that statement between my birth and their deaths, which occurred in their seventies and my thirties. They left me enough money to pay their death duties and to bury them.

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