Poppy Shakespeare by Clare Allan Page B

What rate of MAD money was she on? (MAD money? What the fuck's MAD money?!) She never heard of MAD
     money? She never heard of MAD money? She never heard of MAD MONEY!!!! And so it gone on. And each time they asked her and each time she answered, their shrieks of surprise got louder and louder
     and louder. And the shrieks got so loud that the dribblers down the line couldn't hear what Poppy was saying. So Astrid told
     Michael and Michael told Verna and Verna told Candid and so on all round the room. And you heard the shrieks like rippling
     through the flops.
    But the more Poppy's answers got passed around, the more they got stretched out of shape. 'Cause everyone wanted to try them
     on, do you know what I'm saying, they couldn't resist it, and giving a little tug here and there, and not too concerned with
     drying them flat or nothing. So sometimes when they come back round they never even recognised the answers they'd passed on
     two minutes before, and they passed them again and they give them a good old yank as they handed them over. And once a rumour
     got that overstretched there weren't no way of shrinking it back into shape if you even wanted. Which I reckon that's how
     half the stuff 'bout Poppy Shakespeare started in the first place.
    Some of the flops come over to look at Poppy. Clifton give her a poem he'd wrote on a napkin from the canteen. Something like,
     'Poppy, red as your name. Your hair is like a glowing flame.' Which it weren't anyway, it was black/ brunette, but he said
     he'd changed it 'cause of poetic licence. Fifth-Floor Elijah give her a blessing and Safid shown her this passport photo and
     asked her if she was his mother.
    'You not got a question for Poppy, N?' Rosetta said, patting my arm.
    'She's sulking,' said Astrid.
    'Fuck off!' I said.
    'Go on, man,' said Wesley. Do you know what I'm saying! It was like some fucking celebrity come to visit the Dorothy Fish!
    'No it's my fault,' said Poppy. 'I was really rude. I'm sorry.' She looked across at me but I made like I never seen.
    It was when Poppy didn't show up next day the tide begun to turn. It weren't strictly logical maybe, but we'd sort of assumed
     she'd come in the gap where Pollyanna should of been. So when Astrid and Middle-Class Michael come in and seen the 'P' chair
     empty, it was like already we sensed there was something wrong. When Dawn turned up we was getting that edgy we forgotten
     to tell her our names, or where to sit or anything, so she walked up and down between the rows, looking around, like she'd
     lost the sugar down Kwik Save. But when Brian the Butcher finally come in, left his coat on his chair, had a quick look round,
     and gone off to wash his hands, that's when people begun to say how Poppy weren't going to show.
    'She's not coming in,' said Astrid. 'What did I tell you!'
    'Maybe she's lost,' whispered Tina.
    'Lost!' said Astrid. 'She can't be lost! You can see the tower a hundred miles away!'
    'She could have got lost on the Darkwoods,' Rosetta said. 'Even if she could see the tower.'
    But Astrid snorted. 'She's not got lost!' she said.
    'Poor Brian,' said Sue the Sticks. 'You see how he looked?'
    'I know,' said everyone, 'cause everyone seen.
    'It's cruel,' said Sue. 'That's what it is. Poor Brian! I knew he should of spoke to her yesterday. I said to him, I said
     "Grasp the nettle!" "Go for it, Brian!" I said. "You're only young once!"'
    'He's not young, is he?' said Candid Headphones.
    'He's younger than me,' said Sue the Sticks. 'Watch your mouth!'
    I ain't saying I was over-concerned if Poppy come in or not. But the rest of them, they got that worked up, how she'd led
     Brian on, how she'd led them all on, how she'd took Pollyanna's place, cost her her life, then just chucked it away like an empty packet of fags.
    'Pollyanna could of been sat there now,' said Astrid.
    'Don't,' said Rosetta.
    'Well she could,' said Astrid.
    'I know,' said Rosetta. 'But that not Poppy's fault.'
    'Whose is it then?!' said