Dustbin Baby Read online

  Marion really cares about me even though we’re not related. I was kidding myself before. I don’t always want her to care but she does. The slightest little thing can send her into a state. She got terribly fussed when I had my ears pierced in case the equipment hadn’t been sterilized properly. She drove me to the hospital one time when I had a bad migraine just to check it wasn’t meningitis. She was worried that time the school coach broke down. She pretended she was fine and acted all organized and efficient, but she’d picked at the ribbing on her pale pink jumper so violently that it started to unravel and she never wore it again.

  She would hug me if I let her. She’s tried several times. I’m the one who always backs away. It’s because I don’t want her to get too close. I don’t want her to be a real mum. Because she’s not my mum.

  I’ve hung on so long hoping to find my real mum. I don’t think I’m ever going to find her now. She’s the one who hasn’t been the real mum.

  I dial the operator. I tell her Marion’s number. She asks Marion if she’ll accept the call. And then we’re talking. Well, I can’t talk properly. I’m crying too much.

  ‘Oh Marion, I’m sorry, I’m so sorry . . .’

  ‘Are you all right, April?’ Marion sounds desperate.

  ‘Yes, I’m OK. In fact the most amazing things have happened. But I should have phoned you, I know. Have you been really really worried?’

  ‘Of course I have! I’ve even been in touch with the police.’

  ‘Oh no! Are they after me?’

  ‘Looking out for you, you silly girl. To bring you home safe and sound. Where have you been? I’ve rung Cathy and Hannah, and everyone I could think of . . . I’ve spoken to Elaine . . . I told her all about the argument this morning.’

  ‘I’m sorry, Marion. I was so mean and ungrateful. They’re lovely earrings.’

  ‘Do you know something ridiculous? I weakened this morning and bought you a mobile phone after all.’

  ‘Oh Marion!’

  ‘But I’m not sure I’ll give it to you now – though at least it would mean I could phone you to check where you are. You’ve driven me demented today, April.’

  ‘I’m sorry. I didn’t plan it to be this way. I just kept thinking about the past, and my mother putting me in the dustbin and – oh Marion, you’ll never guess!’

  She draws in her breath sharply. ‘Your mother? You haven’t found her?’

  ‘No. No, I’ve found Frankie, you know, the one who found me in the dustbin.’

  I explain that he’s coming to meet me at The Pizza Place. Marion fusses and takes down his phone number and insists that she’s going to come too.

  ‘But it will take you ages, and you sound ever so tired.’

  ‘I am!’

  ‘I’m sorry, Marion.’

  ‘And I shall probably make you even sorrier by the time I’m through with you!’

  ‘I bet you wish you’d never taken me on.’ I stop suddenly. ‘Is that why you talked to Elaine? Do you want to get rid of me?’

  ‘Oh April! Of course I don’t! You’re mine.’

  ‘You’re mine too,’ I say.

  Marion is crying too when we say goodbye.

  I mop my eyes, wipe my nose, and walk out towards The Pizza Place. I think about my mother stumbling along fourteen years ago, about to give birth to me. It’s starting to seem so shadowy and unreal.

  I don’t know if she really is the way I imagine. She could be any woman anywhere. I could sit next to her on a bus or brush past her in a shop and neither of us would know. Maybe it’s silly to think a birth mother so important when the birth is the only thing that connects you.

  It’s weird the way I’ve loved her all these years. Maybe I should have hated her for dumping me in that dustbin. I know I’d never do that to any baby of mine, no matter what. I’ll keep her and love her and hold her tight. I’ll be a proper mum to my baby.

  I haven’t got a mum. But one day I can be my child’s mum.

  A real mum.

  I go into The Pizza Place. The waiter smiles at me, shows me to a table, and asks me if I’m on my own.

  I hesitate.

  ‘I’ve got . . . family coming later,’ I say.

  Let’s end with a new beginning.

  ‘It’s so strange, April! I feel as if we really know each other,’ Frankie says.

  ‘I know. It feels exactly that way for me too. I can’t believe this is real. I make things up a lot. Especially about my birthday.’

  ‘Well, I was there. I’ll tell you all about it, every little detail. I can remember everything so vividly because it was the strangest day of my life – and the most special. My little boys mean all the world to me, but somehow I didn’t feel quite the same way when I first held them. You must meet them, and my wife.’

  ‘And you must meet Marion, my foster mum.’

  ‘She won’t mind if we keep in touch now?’

  ‘Of course she won’t.’

  ‘And we’ll always meet to celebrate your birthday?’

  I nod eagerly. I’m so happy – but I’m crying again. ‘I’m sorry. I’m hopeless. I always cry.’

  ‘If you hadn’t cried when you were stuck in that dustbin I’d never have found you. You saved your own life, April.’

  Then he takes hold of my hand and starts telling me exactly what happened that first day of my life. He tells me what I looked like, how I cried, how my tiny fists closed over his finger. He gives me a real sense of my baby self. A tiny history. My beginning.

  You’ve finished reading Dustbin Baby, but how much of the story do you remember?

  1. Which friend’s hairstyle does April copy?

  2. What sort of flowers does Marion give April as part of her birthday breakfast?

  3. April hopes she’ll get a mobile phone for her birthday, but Marion gives her a pair of earrings instead. What special stone are they?

  4. April was born in the alleyway behind a restaurant – what is it called?

  5. Which hospital does Frankie take baby April to?

  6. April’s pretty friend Hannah goes on a date with a really popular boy – what’s his name?

  7. April meets a character from another of Jacqueline Wilson’s books in Dustbin Baby! Who is it and which book is she from?

  8. When April was adopted by Janet and Daniel, what new first name did they choose for her?

  9. When April first meets Marion – or Miss Bean, as she knows her back then – they argue over a piece of work Miss Bean sets the class. What is it?

  10. Frankie leaves a special message for April in the alleyway, in the hope that she’ll get in touch with him. What is it?

  1. Dustbin Baby begins and ends in the same way – with April in the restaurant, waiting for Frankie to arrive. To start with, of course, we don’t know who she is waiting for – who did you imagine this might be? Did you think this might have been April’s real mother? Were you surprised, pleased, or even disappointed when you realized it wasn’t?

  2. April often has very mixed feelings towards Marion, the teacher who became her foster mother. What do you think of Marion as a character, and as a parent? Is April lucky to have found Marion, or do you think she’s too old-fashioned and out of touch to bring up a fourteen-year-old girl?

  3. April’s life began with a very unusual and extreme decision by her birth mother – the decision to abandon her baby. What do you think of this action? Are there any circumstances under which you think this could have been the right thing to do?

  4. April has imagined, in detail, the scenario that might have happened when her mother gave birth to her. Discuss the other options, and create your own version of what might have happened. Was April’s mother very young? Did she have a boyfriend or a husband, or was she alone? Do you think her own parents knew she was about to be a mother – or perhaps she had no parents?

  5. Imagine that April’s birth mother chose to keep her baby, rather than abandoning her. How would April’s life and character have been affected by th