He acted as if he didn’t, but then lying was one of his greatest talents so either could have been true. Tracyvere and Culvert had their suspicions from the way both Mordred’s parents had kept coming over to borrow things, none of which they had ever actually returned unless they had got broken or offered to pay for. The list was very, very long. Here are just a few of the things: Buckets of sweat – fourteen (this included the buckets). Earth – nineteen thousand kilos. Jam – three thousand jars (assorted flavours, but mainly earwig). Trousers – eighteen pairs (seven with people still inside them). Homing pigeons – twelve (all but one came back). Germs – impossible to count as they kept multiplying. Penknives – three (returned blunt). Skateboards – none (they hadn’t been invented, but that didn’t stop Mordred’s mother from asking). Anything that caught their eye – thousands. ‘Of course they might not have been hard-up at all,’ said Culvert. ‘It’s not like they spent their money on anything.’ ‘True, they could have been incredibly rich, just very mean,’ Tracyvere agreed.
