Three whole days of flat hunting! And of all the fun she had ever had in
her more than five years of life, Mary Jane thought flat hunting in
Chicago was the most fun of all! She loved the mystery of each new
apartment; the guessing which room might be hers and which mother's; the
hunting up the door bell and hearing its sound (for as you very well know
each door bell has a sound of its own); the poking into closets and
pantries and porches. It was the most delightful sort of exploring she had
ever come across and she couldn't at all understand why mother and father
got tired and somewhat discouraged. For _her_ part Mary Jane was tempted
to wish that they would never find a flat, well hardly that; but that
finding the right one would take a long, oh, a very long time!
But by the afternoon of the third day, her legs began to get a little
tired too, and her eyes looked more often to the green of the Midway they
occasionally saw and she thought that flats, even empty flats, really
should have chairs for folks to sit on. So, as a matter of fact, she
wasn't half as sorry as she had thought she would be, when, on the
afternoon of the third day of hunting the Merrill family came across a
charming little apartment.
It was on the second floor of a very attractive red brick building; it had
five rooms, quite too small, father thought, but then one can't have
everything, they had found, and every room was light and sunny and
cheerful. But the part about it that Mary Jane and Alice liked the best
was the back porch. To be sure there was a front porch, a pretty, little
porch with a stone railing and a view way down the street toward the park
and lake. But off the dining room the girls discovered a small balcony
that overlooked the back yard next door, a back yard that had a garden
laid out and a chicken house and everything so homey and comfortable
looking that the girls immediately wanted to sit out and watch.
"I think if we'd stay here maybe some children would come out to play,"
suggested Mary Jane in a whisper.
"I think they would, too," agreed Alice. "And I think if we lived here
maybe we could get acquainted and play with them."
"Let's live here!" exclaimed Mary Jane and she ran back into the house
just at the very minute Mr. and Mrs. Merrill decided to rent the
apartment.
"So you think you'll like it, do you?" said Mrs. Merrill, smiling; "the
rooms are pretty small."
"I know we'll love it," said Alice eagerly, "and you should see the back
porch."
But Mr. Merrill laughed when they showed him the porch.
"Do you call this a porch," he exclaimed, "why it's not half big enough
for a porch! I'd call it a balcony."
"Yes," agreed Mrs. Merrill, "and then when you watch folks in the yard
down there,--for you _are_ planning to watch and get acquainted, aren't
you?--then you can pretend that this is your balcony seat and that the
folks down there are in a play for you--wouldn't that be fun?"
The girls thought it would, but there was so much to plan and think about
that they didn't stay on their little balcony any longer just then, which
was something of a pity, for right after they went indoors, somebody came
out into the yard-- But then, there's no use telling about _her_ for Mary
Jane didn't see her.
So Mary Jane and Alice went with their father and mother into the room
that was to be theirs and they planned just where each bed should be and
where was the best place for the desk and dressing table and who should
have which side of the closet. And by that time, it was nearly six
o'clock--time to go back to the hotel for dinner.
Mr. Merrill stopped at the desk for mail as they went up to their room and
there he found a message telling him that their furniture had arrived in
Chicago and that it must be taken out of the freight house the next
morning.
"Dear me!" exclaimed Mrs. Merrill with a gasp of dismay, "I think it's a
good thing we found that flat! What ever would we have done if we hadn't!
Well, girls, I think we'd better eat a good dinner and then go to bed
early for we'll have to get down there and clean up the flat while father
tends to getting our things delivered."
So bright and early the next morning everybody started to work. Mr.
Merrill went down town to meet the moving men he had engaged by 'phone and
Mrs. Merrill and the two girls put aprons and cleaning rags and soap, all
of which they had brought in their small trunk, into a little grip and
went down to the new home.
Mary Jane had lots of fun that morning. First she went down to the
basement and borrowed a broom from the janitor. Then she went back for
clean papers which she folded neatly and spread on the pantry shelves
which Mrs. Merrill with the good help of the janitor's wife had cleaned
and ready. Then she put papers on the shelf of the closet she and Alice
were to share and papers in the drawers near the floor of that same
closet. By that time--it takes pretty long to fold papers neatly and get
every bit of the shelf covered, you know--the door bell rang--a great,
long, hard ring.
"Oh, dear! Can you go, Mary Jane?" exclaimed Mrs. Merrill, "Alice and I
both have wet hands!" You see, Alice had been washing mirrors that were on
the closet doors while her mother and the janitor's wife did windows and
wood work.
"Yes, I'm dry," said Mary Jane, "and my papers are done and I'd like to
go."
To tell the honest truth, Mary Jane had just that very minute been wishing
the door bell would ring. For the janitor's wife had showed her how to
press the buzzer that would release the lock of the front door and let a
person come up the stairs. And of course Mary Jane wanted to try it. So
she hurried over to the house 'phone, took down the receiver and said,
"Who is it?" just as any grown-up person would.
"Here's your things!" said a gruff voice, "we'll bring 'em up the back!"
Mary Jane didn't stop to press any buzzer. She dashed over to the window
nearest the alley and there, sure enough, was a great big moving van and
it was piled up full of boxes and barrels and crates--all the things that
Mary Jane had watched the packing of only such a few days before. Talk
about fun! Moving was surely the best sport ever!
Mary Jane stayed at the window watching till the men brought the first
load up. Then they announced that they were going for lunch and Mrs.
Merrill said she and the girls had better eat while the men were away. So
hastily putting on wraps, they went over to a small tea room only a few
doors away, where they had a tasty little luncheon so quickly served that
they easily got back to their flat before the moving men arrived again.
How that afternoon went, Mary Jane never quite remembered. It was one long
succession of excitement and fun. The unpacking of boxes and crates, the
piling up of rubbish, the finding of cherished belongings and putting them
where they belonged in the new home, and the gradual change of the living
room from a mess of boxes to a place that might some day really look like
home, all seemed thrillingly interesting to a little girl who had never
moved before.
But by half past four or thereabouts, even Mary Jane began to get a little
tired.
"I'll tell you something to do," suggested Mrs. Merrill, when a pause in
her own work gave her a chance to notice that Mary Jane was getting
flushed and tired. "Here is a box of doll things I have just come across.
Suppose you take them out into your own little balcony and sort them over.
Put in this box (and she handed her a little box) all the things you must
surely have upstairs; and leave in the big box all the things you will be
willing to put in the store room. Now take your time, dear, and sit down
while you work."
Mary Jane was very glad for that advice. For even though moving men are
wonderful to watch, and even though rubbish and boxes and barrels are all
very fascinating, a person _does_ get tired and sitting down isn't at all
a bad idea.
One of the men who was unpacking gave her her own little chair that he had
just uncrated and so she sat down in state, in her own chair, on her own
balcony and opened the box of doll things. But that's every bit that got
done to those doll things that day, every bit.
For at that very minute, who should come out of the house around the
corner, the house with the back yard and garden and chickens and
everything, but--yes, you must have guessed it--the same two girls that
Alice and Mary Jane had seen on the Midway the day they arrived in
Chicago. Think of that! Right under Mary Jane's own balcony and, moreover,
it was plain to see that they lived there.
"Now I guess we'll get to know them," whispered Mary Jane to herself
happily. But of course, she didn't say a thing out loud. She only sat very
still and watched.
And as she watched, two boys came out on the back porch of the house
around the corner and one of the boys called, "Say, Fran, did you feed the
chickens?"
The girl who was about Alice's age answered back, "No I didn't, Ed, I
thought it was Betty's turn to-day."
"Now I know a lot," Mary Jane whispered to herself. "She's Frances, I'm
sure, and he's Ed; and Betty must be the little girl that's 'bout as big
as me."
Just then, when Mary Jane was wishing and wishing and wishing that she
would come, Alice came to the door of the balcony and looked out.
"Sh-h-h!" whispered Mary Jane, tensely, "they're here, both of 'em, and
there's more of 'em, too!"
Alice seemed to understand exactly what Mary Jane meant, even though her
sentence was decidedly mixed up, and she stepped out onto the balcony.
Frances heard the door shut and looked up. For a long minute the two girls
looked at each other, then Frances, the girl with the auburn hair and the
friendly smile, nodded shyly.
Little Betty didn't take long deciding what she would do. She called
eagerly, "Moving in?"
"Yes, we are," laughed Alice, waving her hand toward the piles of boxes
and rubbish stacked up on the back stairs of the building.
Ed, who had started back into the house, looked around and, seeing his
sisters had made a small start toward conversation, called a question on
his own responsibility.
"Going to use 'em all?" he asked, pointing to the boxes.
"Dear me, I guess not," said Alice. "I don't see how we could!"
"Then will you give me a box?" he asked, running back in the yard till he
stood right under the balcony. "We're going to get some rabbits, John and
I are, and we want a box for their home."
"Come on over and see which one you want," suggested Alice, "and I'll ask
father."
Ed and his brother John lost no time climbing over the fence and
inspecting the boxes. By the time Alice brought Mr. Merrill, he had picked
out just the one he wanted and was very grateful when it was given him for
his own.
"Don't you want to come over and see 'em make the rabbit house?" suggested
Frances shyly. "Oh, maybe you're busy."
"I'm sure we can come," replied Alice, "because mother just told me she
wished we'd get some fresh air." So Alice and Mary Jane followed the
others to the back yard and helped hold nails and boards and make the
rabbit house. When it was nearly finished the children's mother, who
proved to be very charming Mrs. Holden, came out with a plate of cookies
and a welcome for the two little strangers.
"Thank you for the cookies," said Mary Jane politely, "but we're not
strange--that is, not any more, we aren't, we know each other--all of us
do!"
And so it really seemed to all the children. They were friends from the
first day and making the rabbit house was just the beginning of many nice
times in that friendly back yard.