Horrid Henry Goes Shopping

Horrid Henry Goes Shopping Horrid Henry stood in his bedroom up to his knees in clothes. The long sleeve stripy T-shirt came to his elbow. His pants stopped halfway down his legs. Henry sucked in his tummy as hard as he could. Still the zipper wouldn't zip. “ Nothing fits! ” he screamed, yanking off the shirt and hurling it across the room. “ And my shoes hurt. ” “ All right, Henry, calm down, " said Mom. “ You've grown. We'll go out this afternoon and get you some new clothes and shoes. " “ NOOOOOOO! ” shrieked Henry. “ NO0OOOOOOOO0O! ”

Horrid Henry hated shopping. Correction: Horrid Henry loved shopping. He loved shopping for gigantic TVs, computer games, comics, toys, and candy. Yet for some reason Horrid Henry's parents never wanted to go shopping for good stuff. Oh no. They shopped for vacuum bags. Toothpaste. Spinach. Socks. Why oh why did he have such horrible parents? When he was grown up he'd never set foot in a supermarket. He'd only shop for TVs, computer games, and chocolate.

But shopping for clothes was even worse than heaving his heavy bones around the Happy Shopper Supermarket. Nothing was more boring than being dragged around miles and miles and miles of shops, filled with disgusting clothes only a mutant would ever want to wear, and then standing in a little room while Mom made you try on icky scratchy things you wouldn't be seen dead in if they were the last pair of pants on earth. It was horrible enough getting dressed once a day without doing it fifty times. Just thinking about trying on shirt after shirt after shirt made Horrid Henry want to scream. “ I'm not going shopping! " he howled, kicking the pile of clothes as viciously as he could. “ And you can't make me. " “ What's all this yelling?" demanded Dad.

“ Henry needs new pants, ” said Mom grimly. Dad went pale. “ Are you sure?" “ Yes, ” said Mom. “ Take a look at him. " Dad looked at Henry. Henry scowled. “ They're a little small, but not that bad, " said Dad. “ I can't breathe in these pants! ” shrieked Henry.

“ That's why we're going shopping, ” said Mom. “ And I'll take him. " Last time Dad had taken Henry shopping for socks and came back instead with three Hairy Hellhound CDs and a jumbo pack of Day-Glo slime. “ I don't know what came over me, " Dad had said when Mom told him off. “ But why do I have to go?” said Henry. “ I don't want to waste my precious time shopping. " “ What about my precious time?" said Mom. Henry scowled. Parents didn't have precious time. They were there to serve their children. New pants should just magically appear, like clean clothes and packed lunches. Mom's face brightened. “ Wait, I have an idea, " she beamed. She rushed out and came back with a large plastic bag. “ Here, ” she said, pulling out a pair of bright red pants, “ try these on. "