Clay (Matilda)

TV explodes! First Day of School!

Wormwood Home

Zinnia was cutting the remainder of the hat off of Harry's head with a set of army scissors. It was clear that Harry was very angry. "I will not be a figure of ridicule. I want respect and I want it now." Harry groaned in pain as Zinnia was cutting the hat.

Clay was reading in his usual chair while his brother, Michael, had already started to eat his TV dinner. Since never learned how to cook snack foods, TV dinner was the main meal for the Wormwood family, not that the older three minded since they liked to watch TV while eating.

Harry continued to groan as Zinnia continued to cut around the base of the hat as she tried to get it off. "I still don't see how you glued your hat on Harry. I mean, I know you say you didn't, but obviously, you did." Zinnia told her husband. "I did not glue my hat to my head. The hat shrunk, the fibers fuser to my hair." Clay fought a smile. 'You were bad so you got punished. I really wish the princess got to see my prank. I wish I knew her name though.' Zane thought to himself.

"Baby, wait a minute. I'm getting it now, one more." Zinnia was indeed correct. The hat came off along with it was a portion of Harry's hair. "Oh, my God." She laughed in amusement. Harry was upset as he looked into the handheld mirror. He put down the mirror and declared, "From now on, this family does exactly what I say, when exactly when I say it!"

"Here's your hat, Harry." Zinnia said as she handed the remains of the hat back to her husband. He grabbed it and tossed it like a Frisbee then he moved his table towards him so he could eat his TV dinner. "And right now, we are eating dinner and watching TV." He angrily turned the television onto his favorite show, The Million Dollar Sticky. Clay was still absorbed in his book. "Turn off you light." Harry told Michael then he turned it off. 

The announcer explained how the game show worked, then Harry noticed that Clay, who was still reading, did not turn off his light. Harry hated it when Clay read. Harry slammed his silverware down, moved his table, and got up from his chair. He stomped over to the spiky-haired child and frowned at him. "Hi, Dad." Clay had a feeling that his father was displeased with him since he never paid any attention to him unless something good was going on or when he was in trouble.

"Are you in this family?" Clay stayed silent. 'Yep, I'm in trouble.' "Hello? Are you in this family?" Clay still stayed silent. His family rarely treated him like a member of this family. Whenever Zane was alone, he tried to find his birth certificate and other papers to see if his parents truly owned him but he never could. Clay wanted to run away but his gut told him not too plus he had nowhere to go. Harry then turned off Clay's light. "Dinner time is family time. What is this trash you're reading?" Harry asked Clay furiously. 

"It's not trash, dad. It's lovely. It's called Moby Dick by Herman Melville." Clay said calmly. "Moby what?" With that Harry lost it. He took the book from Clay and started to rip the pages out of it and Clay was mortified. "This is trash! Filth!" 

"It's not mine! It's a library book!" Clay cried out as his book was being torn to shreds. 'I hope I can find enough money to pay for that. How am I going to explain this to the librarian?' Clay thought to himself.

Harry threw the destroyed book down and yelled at Clay. "I'm fed up with all this reading! You're a Wormwood, you should start acting like one!" Clay wanted to fight with that statement so badly but knew he had no evidence that he was or wasn't a Wormwood and his parents had no idea that he read everything in the house. Harry then grabbed Clay by the head. "Sit up and look at the TV." Harry held up Clay's head in place and forced him to watch as an older male was being covered in a sticky goop to try and collect money.

'This is wrong. My father shouldn't force me to watch TV and toss my book aside like it's trash. He shouldn't make me stay home all day, every day instead of being at school. What right does he have to call a classic like Moby Dick trash?' Clay thought to himself very angry with his father and the rest of his family. Everyone else but Clay was laughing at the TV as the man was collecting money. Clay glared at the TV and wanted it to explode so badly. And just a moment later, Clay's wish came true. The TV exploded and scared everyone in the family but himself. His mother even screamed at it happened.