The boy cut himself another thick slice and started eating it fast. There were still no signs of flagging or giving up. He certainly did not look as though he was about to stop and cry out. "I can't, I can't eat any more! I'm going to be sick!" He was still in there running.
And now a subtle change was coming over the two hundred and fifty watching children in the audience. Earlier on, they had sensed impending diaster.
They had prepared themselves for an unpleasant scene in which the wretched boy, stuffed to the grills with chocolate cake, would have to surrender and beg for mercy and then they would have watched the triumphant Trunchbull forcing more and still more cake into the mouth of the gasping boy.
Not a bit of it. Bruce Bogtrotter was three-quarters of the way through and still going strong. One sensed that he was almost beginning to enjoy himself. He had a mountain to climb and he was jolly well going to reach the top or die in the attempt. What is more, he had now become very conscious of his audience and of how they were all silently rooting for him. This was nothing less than a battle between him and the mighty Trunchbull.
Suddenly someone shouted, "Come on Brucie! You can make it~!"
The Trunchbull wheeled round and yelled, "Silence!"
The audience watched intently.
And now a subtle change was coming over the two hundred and fifty watching children in the audience. Earlier on, they had sensed impending diaster.
They had prepared themselves for an unpleasant scene in which the wretched boy, stuffed to the grills with chocolate cake, would have to surrender and beg for mercy and then they would have watched the triumphant Trunchbull forcing more and still more cake into the mouth of the gasping boy.
Not a bit of it. Bruce Bogtrotter was three-quarters of the way through and still going strong. One sensed that he was almost beginning to enjoy himself. He had a mountain to climb and he was jolly well going to reach the top or die in the attempt. What is more, he had now become very conscious of his audience and of how they were all silently rooting for him. This was nothing less than a battle between him and the mighty Trunchbull.
Suddenly someone shouted, "Come on Brucie! You can make it~!"
The Trunchbull wheeled round and yelled, "Silence!"
The audience watched intently.
- ROALD DAHL 님의 Matilda 중에서 -