Alice Dent and the Incredible Germs

Mr and Mrs Dent were the sort of parents who didn’t much like children.
‘They’re such grubby little creatures, always picking their crusty little noses and spreading germs and mess everywhere,’ declared Mrs Dent that morning. Dangling daringly out of the kitchen window, she extended her best long-handled grabber and expertly plucked their daily newspaper from the mailbox on the gate. Mrs Dent never went outside; not if she could help it.
‘It’s a shame there aren’t more fantastic parents like us, always on top of dirt and diseases,’ she continued smugly, shaking a bottle of disinfectant into a foaming fizz. Soon the paper was drenched and Mrs Dent thrust it into the hot oven to toast. Her words and the warm fumes nearly made Alice Dent choke.
Alice was sitting very quietly at the kitchen breakfast table in Number Nine Nettle Close, pretending that she was invisible. She was good at doing this; sometimes her parents forgot about her for hours at a time.