1 Nobody's baby

USBORNE YOUNG READING Oliver Twist

Chapter 1 Nobody's baby "Take... care... of... him." The young mother's whisper was as soft as the swirling snow outside; her face as white as the sheet that covered her. Feebly she touched her newborn son, breathed a last sigh, and closed her eyes.

"She's dead!" announced Mrs. Mann, the midwife. "What a nuisance. I'll have to get Mr. Bumble." Mr. Bumble was in charge of the workhouse- a cold, grim place for the homeless without a spark of comfort or a crumb of nourishing food. He didn't care if the inmates starved, as long as his own tummy felt warm and full three times a day. Quickly, Mrs. Mann unclasped a gold locket from the dead woman's neck and put it around her own. Opening it, she read the name "Agnes" engraved inside.

"Another orphan brat," raged Mr. Bumble, when he saw the baby. "Who is he anyway?" "Who knows?" Mrs. Mann yawned. "His mother walked in yesterday off the street. She must have walked some distance- her shoes were worn out. Good looking girl, too." "He must have a name..." Mr. Bumble thought hard. "Well, I name all orphans alphabetically and the last one was Smith, so he can be Twist. Oliver Twist."

"Ooh, Mr. Bumble, you are clever," smiled Mrs. Mann, fluttering her eyelashes at him. She wrapped Oliver in a scrap of cloth, yellowed with age. Oliver opened his mouth and roared with all the force of his baby lungs. If he'd understood he was an orphan, loved by no one, he would have cried even louder.