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Different worlds (Margaret Johnson) Chapter one — A band on a guitar

Before I was born, my mum played music with four friends. There's a photograph of the m in our living room. Evie, Grace, Angela, Kate and my mum. They were the Sweet Pepp er Band, and they played South American music. Mum played guitar.

Mum had long dark hair. In the photograph she's wearing a big hat, a red shire and yellow trousers. She looks South American, but she's not, she's English.

She's smiling in the photograph. She looks beautiful.

She's beautiful now too. But these days her hair is short and the dark brown colour come s from a bottle. Mum doesn't play her guitar very often any more. It sits in the corner of the living room waiting for Evie, Grace, Angela or Kate to visit.

When I was a little girl,

I liked to put my small hand on the front of Mums guitar while she played if. My hand m oved a little because of the music. Mum said that was called vibration. She was happy th at I could feel the vibration of her music when I put my hand on her guitar. And she was n't angry when one day I had blue paint on my hand and I put it on the guitar.

Mum liked me to feel the vibration of her music, you see. That's because I can't hear her music. My ears don't work. I'm deaf.

I was born like that. Sometimes I think that's why Mum doesn't play music very often be cause she knows I can't hear it. And now that I'm eighteen years old, my hands are too bi g to put them on the front of the guitar.

I don't know if Mum was sad to have a deaf baby. She tells me I was beautiful when I wa s born.

I had lots of blonde hair and blue eyes that went brown like hers after a few months. But I don't think Mums sad because she smiles all the time.

Mum smiles more than anyone I know. She's always happy, that's one of the things ever yone loves about her. The children at Busy Kids Day Nursery, where we both work, all lo ve Mum. Busy Kids is Mum's business. She started it five years ago.

Mum's really good with children. I remember when I was quite young -

five or six years old - I was sad about something.