SOMETHING DIFFERENT
“I’m afraid,” said Uncle Hiram significantly, “that someone has been
forgetting quarter-deck manners.”
Elizabeth Ann blushed and Doris looked ashamed. They had forgotten how
their words must sound.
“Did I hear a niece of mine talking about candy?” asked Uncle Hiram,
looking straight at Doris.
“It was the prize we won,” Doris mumbled. “We left it at Catherine’s
house.”
“You left it in the barn,” said Catherine. “I didn’t think you liked it
and I ate some of it. There may be a few pieces left and I’ll send them
over to you.”
“Uncle Hiram,” broke in Elizabeth Ann, too worried about Roger and the
corncrib to listen to Doris talk about that silly candy--“Uncle Hiram,
Catherine says that Roger left the corncrib door open and one of her
father’s cows ate corn and died. And Roger says he didn’t leave the
door open.”
“Elizabeth Ann thinks I don’t tell the truth, but she is sure Roger
does,” Catherine said.
Uncle Hiram looked at both little girls and the frowns smoothed out of
their faces.
“That’s better,” he said. “Why, Elizabeth Ann, I’ve heard all about
the cow from Mr. Gould and from Mr. Bostwick. They seem to think that
Roger has been careless and he’ll have to learn that carelessness costs
money. I’m sorry this thing happened--not only did the poor animal
suffer, but Roger loses what little free time he has.”
Elizabeth Ann wanted to say that she didn’t think Mr. Gould ought to
ask Roger to pay for the cow, but she wasn’t sure Uncle Hiram would
like her to say that. So she kept silent.
“Perhaps Roger Calendar will have more sense after this,” said
Catherine. “Anyway, I’ll never ask him to another party. I have to go
now. My mother told me not to stay too long.”
After she had gone Elizabeth Ann cried. She felt so badly about poor
Roger, and she was sorry for Lydia, the dead cow, too. And Doris cried
because Catherine had eaten the candy.
“I’m sorry Roger was careless, Elizabeth Ann,” said Uncle Hiram, “but
if he was the only thing for him to do is to try to make up for it.
He may think he closed that corncrib door, but both Mr. Gould and Mr.
Bostwick seem to think he was forgetful; they’re older men and we’ll
have to accept their decision.”
Usually Elizabeth Ann and Doris saw Roger on Saturdays--he had a couple
of hours to himself in the afternoon, and he liked to come over and
talk to them. He was teaching Tony to box, and the white cat liked him.
But this Saturday they did not see Roger at all, and it was clear that
he had already started to work for Mr. Gould.
When he saw Elizabeth Ann in school the next Monday, Roger told her
what had happened and that he expected to be working on the Gould farm
Saturdays, “forever and ever.”
“I know you didn’t leave the door open, Roger,” said Elizabeth Ann.
“I know you didn’t leave it open, either, Roger,” Doris added.
“Catherine ate up all our candy, so I don’t believe a word she says.”
“Uncle Hiram scolded you for saying that last night and you told him
you wouldn’t say it again,” Elizabeth Ann told her severely. “I don’t
believe Catherine tells fibs; she thinks you left the door open, Roger,
and you _know_ you didn’t. Some day you can prove it to her father that
you didn’t.”
Roger didn’t see how he was ever going to prove it, but he said it made
him feel better to know that Elizabeth Ann and Doris were sure he had
not been careless. And when they went into school, there was a notice
on the bulletin board that made them forget about cows and corncribs
and Hallowe’en parties.
“The school is going to have a fair,” said Elizabeth Ann at the supper
table that night. “It was on the bulletin board this morning and Miss
Owen explained it to us. Each class has a booth and we make lots of
money, and buy Christmas presents for poor people.”
“But we have to go around and ask people for things,” Doris said in
such a discouraged voice that everyone laughed.
“Never mind, Doris, I’ll go around with you,” promised Uncle Hiram.
“What do we ask for?”
“Oh, everything,” Doris explained. “Cakes and pies and fancy work to
sell. It’s a great deal of work, Miss Owen says, and she thinks it will
be good for us. We have to trim our own booths, and the fair lasts a
whole afternoon. We have it in the basement of the school.”
The next day Miss Owen held a meeting after school and explained more
fully what her class was expected to do to make the fair a success. She
had slips of paper and they were numbered in pairs. Each child drew a
slip and found something written on it. The child who drew the slip
with the same number was his partner and was supposed to work with him.
Elizabeth Ann drew a slip numbered 6. On it was written the word
“cakes.” Catherine Gould drew a slip numbered 6, too, and that meant
she and Elizabeth Ann were to ask people to bake cakes to sell at the
fair.
Roger Calendar had a slip numbered 10 and Flora Gabrie drew the other
slip marked 10. They were to get packages for the grab bag table.
“Any little things that can be wrapped in small parcels, and which can
be sold for five and ten cents,” Miss Owen explained.
Then she told them, after they all had their slips, that they ought to
do a little work for the fair each day.
“Otherwise, you will leave too much till the last minute,” said Miss
Owen. “We mustn’t get excited at the last minute, because we’ll have to
go to school as usual up to the day the fair is held.”
Doris’s slip had “dolls” written on it, and she was supposed to ask
people to donate dolls for the fair.
“Paper dolls or china dolls--it doesn’t matter,” Miss Owen told her.
“If anyone wants to lend us dolls, we’ll borrow them and send them
back after the fair is over. They’ll help decorate the doll booth.”
“Better not lend Roger Calendar a doll,” said Catherine Gould in a low
voice. “He’s likely to forget it, and leave it out in the rain or snow
or something.”
Elizabeth Ann held her tongue. She had promised Uncle Hiram not to
quarrel with Catherine about the cow episode. But, thought Elizabeth
Ann, if Catherine meant to bring it up every chance she found, it would
be very difficult not to answer her crossly.
And within the next week Elizabeth Ann discovered that it was not only
difficult to keep from quarreling with Catherine, but it was almost
impossible to work with her. It had been expressly explained that the
children were to work in pairs, but Catherine wouldn’t let Elizabeth
Ann know when she was going to people’s houses to ask for cakes. Of
course she knew everyone in town and everyone who lived on the farms,
for Catherine had lived in one place all her life. She said nothing to
her father and mother about the plan for Elizabeth Ann to go with her,
and first she went to everyone she knew in Gardner and then she coaxed
her father to take her in his car to her friends who lived on various
farms and before Elizabeth Ann knew anything about it, Catherine
announced that she had twenty-four cakes “promised.”
“I guess no one will do any better than that!” she said triumphantly
and handed in the list of names to Miss Owen.
“But Elizabeth Ann was supposed to go with you,” the teacher protested.
“She can’t get any cakes, now. She doesn’t know any people to ask and
if she did she couldn’t go round alone and ask them.”
“She can ask her Aunt Grace,” said Catherine stubbornly.
Elizabeth Ann, of course, meant to ask Aunt Grace to bake a cake for
the fair. But that would be only one, and Catherine had twenty-four
cakes written down on her list, also the kinds, such as “caramel” and
“chocolate” and “cup cake.”
“If I were you,” Doris announced indignantly, after she had heard what
had happened, “I wouldn’t have anything to do with the silly old fair.
Or else ask Miss Owen if you can help me get some dolls. The girl who
is my partner is afraid to ask people, and so am I.”
At first Elizabeth Ann thought she would do that. But Uncle Hiram and
Miss Owen said no, when she asked them. They said that it was “high
time” that Doris learned how to ask people for the things she wanted.
“She can’t have you to help her all her life,” said Uncle Hiram to
Elizabeth Ann.
“I’d rather Doris and Helen Anderson did their own struggling,” Miss
Owen declared, smiling at Elizabeth Ann. “They’ll have to learn to ask
for things sooner or later and now is an excellent time to begin.”
“I have a plan,” said Elizabeth Ann a morning or two later. “I know
what I’d like to do for the fair. It’s a secret, Doris, but I’ll have
to tell Miss Owen, and if you promise not to tell anyone, I’ll let you
listen, too.”
Doris promised quickly and she and Elizabeth Ann went up to their
class room to find Miss Owen. The teacher listened while Elizabeth Ann
explained her plan. There was no one else in the room for it still
lacked twenty minutes of nine and Miss Owen liked her class to stay out
and play till the warning bell sounded.
“Why, I think that will be a success, Elizabeth Ann,” said Miss Owen,
when she had heard what Elizabeth Ann wanted to do. “We’ll keep it a
secret, and surprise everyone.”