to purr very softly and Nancy, her tear-swollen eyes shining, said, “Oh, Plum, listen to him. He likes me.”
Plum said, “Come over here, I’ll show you how funny they are when they play. I’ve got a string with a piece of paper tied on it and when I drag it across the floor they all jump on it and on each other.”
For about half an hour the little girls played with the kittens. Then Old Tom came in to milk and they stood and watched him and drank dipper after dipper of the warm foaming milk. Old Tom said, “No supper again tonight, eh? What’s the trouble this time?”
Plum told him about the program and the scene in Mrs. Monday’s sitting room and when she got to the part about the goldfish globe, Old Tom laughed so hard that Clover turned around to see what the commotion was.
Old Tom said, “Look, isn’t that just like a woman? Curious as can be. Gotta know what the joke is. Now you turn around there, Clover, and concentrate on giving down your milk so these hungry little children can have some supper.”
Plum said, “I love it out here in the barn. I wish we lived out here.”
Old Tom said, “It can get mighty lonesome out here, Plum. I love animals and they’re awfully comforting at times but it’s pretty hard to stay out here alone in the winter, especially when your own sister is living in such style right across the barnyard.”
“Your own sister, Mrs. Monday?” Both little girls said together.
“Yep,” Tom said. “My own sister. This was our home when we were little kids. We jumped in the old haymow together. We both rode our ponies together. We went to school together. But when we grew up we went different ways. Mine wasn’t a good way and I got in some serious trouble and when things got awful bad I turned to my sister Marybelle for help.She helped me, I’ll say that for her, but she never let me forget it. At first I was so troubled I didn’t notice how things had changed around here. But after I had been back a year or two, I saw that my sister Marybelle had turned into a hard, greedy woman. A woman who lets nothing or nobody stand in her way. I don’t know much about you two except that I like you and I feel sorry for you and if ever there’s anything I can do to help you, that’s in my power anyway and that my sister can’t find out about, I’ll sure do it.”
Nancy and Plum thanked Old Tom, and Plum said, “Well, Tom, if Mrs. Monday won’t let us go to the school program or the picnic, we are planning on going anyway and we may need you to help us get out.”
Old Tom said, “I don’t have the keys to the gates, she keeps them, but if she wasn’t home I could help you over the fence.”
Plum said, “If you help us, Tom, someday maybe we can help you.”
Old Tom said, “Who knows, Plum, who knows?”
While Plum and Nancy and Old Tom were talking in the barn, a farmer had stopped his truck and was examining a dead chicken that he had found lying in the road.
“Too bad,” he said. “Somebody’s nice big, fat red hen.”
He was just going to throw it in the ditch when he noticed something tied to its wing. Something white. With his pocketknife he cut the strings that held it, saw that the white thing was a letter, put the letter in his pocket and tossed the dead chicken away.
When he got home he told his wife about finding the chicken with the letter tied to its wing. His wife said, “Sounds like some child’s idea. Let me see the letter.”
The farmer took it out of the pocket of his blue shirt and handed it to his wife. She adjusted her glasses, looked it over carefully and said, “Certainly it is the work of a child. Notice the round careful writing. Also it hasn’t any stamp. Well, I’m going to town tomorrow and I’ll put a stamp on it and drop it at the post office.”
8
Uncle John’s Visit
M ONDAY MORNING AT RECESS , Nancy and Plum asked Miss Waverly if she would ask Miss Dowd if Nancy could wear the extra tree costume,
if
she sang her
Plum said, “Come over here, I’ll show you how funny they are when they play. I’ve got a string with a piece of paper tied on it and when I drag it across the floor they all jump on it and on each other.”
For about half an hour the little girls played with the kittens. Then Old Tom came in to milk and they stood and watched him and drank dipper after dipper of the warm foaming milk. Old Tom said, “No supper again tonight, eh? What’s the trouble this time?”
Plum told him about the program and the scene in Mrs. Monday’s sitting room and when she got to the part about the goldfish globe, Old Tom laughed so hard that Clover turned around to see what the commotion was.
Old Tom said, “Look, isn’t that just like a woman? Curious as can be. Gotta know what the joke is. Now you turn around there, Clover, and concentrate on giving down your milk so these hungry little children can have some supper.”
Plum said, “I love it out here in the barn. I wish we lived out here.”
Old Tom said, “It can get mighty lonesome out here, Plum. I love animals and they’re awfully comforting at times but it’s pretty hard to stay out here alone in the winter, especially when your own sister is living in such style right across the barnyard.”
“Your own sister, Mrs. Monday?” Both little girls said together.
“Yep,” Tom said. “My own sister. This was our home when we were little kids. We jumped in the old haymow together. We both rode our ponies together. We went to school together. But when we grew up we went different ways. Mine wasn’t a good way and I got in some serious trouble and when things got awful bad I turned to my sister Marybelle for help.She helped me, I’ll say that for her, but she never let me forget it. At first I was so troubled I didn’t notice how things had changed around here. But after I had been back a year or two, I saw that my sister Marybelle had turned into a hard, greedy woman. A woman who lets nothing or nobody stand in her way. I don’t know much about you two except that I like you and I feel sorry for you and if ever there’s anything I can do to help you, that’s in my power anyway and that my sister can’t find out about, I’ll sure do it.”
Nancy and Plum thanked Old Tom, and Plum said, “Well, Tom, if Mrs. Monday won’t let us go to the school program or the picnic, we are planning on going anyway and we may need you to help us get out.”
Old Tom said, “I don’t have the keys to the gates, she keeps them, but if she wasn’t home I could help you over the fence.”
Plum said, “If you help us, Tom, someday maybe we can help you.”
Old Tom said, “Who knows, Plum, who knows?”
While Plum and Nancy and Old Tom were talking in the barn, a farmer had stopped his truck and was examining a dead chicken that he had found lying in the road.
“Too bad,” he said. “Somebody’s nice big, fat red hen.”
He was just going to throw it in the ditch when he noticed something tied to its wing. Something white. With his pocketknife he cut the strings that held it, saw that the white thing was a letter, put the letter in his pocket and tossed the dead chicken away.
When he got home he told his wife about finding the chicken with the letter tied to its wing. His wife said, “Sounds like some child’s idea. Let me see the letter.”
The farmer took it out of the pocket of his blue shirt and handed it to his wife. She adjusted her glasses, looked it over carefully and said, “Certainly it is the work of a child. Notice the round careful writing. Also it hasn’t any stamp. Well, I’m going to town tomorrow and I’ll put a stamp on it and drop it at the post office.”
8
Uncle John’s Visit
M ONDAY MORNING AT RECESS , Nancy and Plum asked Miss Waverly if she would ask Miss Dowd if Nancy could wear the extra tree costume,
if
she sang her
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