younger brother Quotes

‘It’s not polite to count nits,’ said his younger brother, Perfect Peter, wiping his mouth with his spotless napkin. ‘Is it, Mum?’ ‘It certainly isn’t,’ said Mum. Dad dragged the nit comb across his head and made a face. ‘Ugjj,’ said Dad. Mum dragged the comb through her hair, ‘Bleccch,’ said Mum. Mum combed Perfect Peter’s hair. Then she did it again. And again. And again. ‘No nits, Peter,’ said Mum, smiling. ‘As usual. Well done, darling.’ ‘It’s because I wash and comb my hair every night,’ said Peter.”

“Good heavens! what a ninny my brother is! he’ll never come to any good; as the twig is bent, so is the tree inclined.”

The story begins at school where Janna-Berta and the other students and teachers are alarmed of a nuclear accident in the vicinity. She returns home. Her younger brother Uli is alone because the parents are away and the grandparents on vacation.

The only person who saw her leave the house was the younger brother - which is why he feels particularly guilty about her disappearance.