Chapter 2 Mr Wormwood
Matilda's father bought and sold cars, and he seemed to make
quite a lot of money from doing it.
'Sawdust,' he said proudly. 'That's the secret. And it costs me
nothing. I get it from the wood shop.'
'How can sawdust help you to sell cars, daddy?' asked Matilda.
'I don't understand.'
'That's because you're a stupid little girl,' her father said. He
turned to his son. 'I'm always glad to buy a car with an old
gearbox, one that makes a terrible noise. I get it cheap. Then I
mix a little sawdust with the oil in the gearbox and it goes
beautifully - for a day or two.'
'How long will it go like that before it starts making noises
again?' asked Matilda.
'Long enough for the buyer to get a long way away,' her father
said, laughing.
'But that's not honest, daddy,' said Matilda.
'Nobody gets rich by being honest,' he said. He was a small
ratty-looking man with a thin moustache. He liked to wear
brightly coloured jackets with yellow or green ties. 'For example,
anyone who buys a car asks "How many miles has it done?"
Right, Michael?'
'Right,' said his son.
'So, I buy an old car that's done a hundred and fifty thousand
miles, and get it cheap. Then I ask myself, "How can I change the
clock so that it reads ten thousand?" If I run the car backwards,
the numbers will go backwards. But who's going to drive a car
backwards for thousands and thousands of miles?'
'Nobody,' young Michael said.
'Right,' said his father. 'Now this clock thing runs off one of
the front wheels. So I use an electric drill on it, and when the
drill turns, it turns the clock backwards - very fast! I can take fifty