On Planet Fruitcake. Anne Fine

      ‘No,’ Philip said. ‘I wanted to tell you that what Mrs Carter just said to us – that it’s never, ever right to tell a lie – well, that’s plain wrong.’

      Everyone stared even harder. Then Miss Dove asked him gently, ‘What makes you say that, Philip?’

      He wasn’t going to admit he only said it because he was pretending that he was on Planet Fruitcake. So he said, ‘Because that’s what I think.’ And then, because they were still gazing at him in astonishment, he told them what he had been thinking all the way back from Assembly.

      ‘Suppose you looked out of your window and saw a man waving an axe dripping with blood, and terrified people scuttling away up an alley. If he called up to ask you if you could see anyone trying to hide from him, it would be right to say you couldn’t.’

      ‘That’s true!’ Arif agreed. ‘You’d say one tiny thing that wasn’t true, but you’d save people’s lives.’

      They all chimed in. ‘Yes. That’s much more important.’

      ‘What could be wrong with that?’

      They sat and watched as Miss Dove had a quick think about it. In the end she said, ‘Well, that’s a special example.’

      ‘Still,’ Astrid said. ‘It proves that Mrs Carter’s wrong.’