THE STRAY DOG
The girl waitress in the restaurant smiled at Bunny Brown and his sister
Sue. They seemed too small to be going about, ordering meals for
themselves, but then the girl knew that in New York people do not live
as they do in other cities, or in the country. Many New York persons
never eat a meal at home, nor do their children. They go out to hotels,
restaurants or boarding houses.
And perhaps this girl thought Bunny and Sue might be the children of
some family who had rooms near the restaurant, and who went out to their
meals. So she just asked them:
"Are cakes the only things you want?"
"Oh, no, we'll want more than that," said Bunny. "But we want the cakes
first; don't we, Sue?"
"Yep," Sue answered. "I like pancakes. And I want some syrup on mine."
"So do I!" cried Bunny.
"I'll bring you some maple syrup when I bring you the cakes," the girl
said as, with a smile, she went up to the front of the restaurant to
tell the white-capped cook in the window to bake a plate of cakes for
each of the children.
Several other persons in the restaurant smiled at Bunny and Sue, as they
sat there waiting for the cakes. They seemed such little tots to be all
alone. But Bunny and Sue knew what they were doing. At least they
thought they did, and they were not at all bashful.
When the hot cakes were brought to them they spread on some butter,
poured the maple syrup over their plates, out of the little silver
pitchers, and began to eat.
"They're awful good, aren't they, Bunny?" asked Sue, as she took up the
last piece of her third cake.
"Yep," he answered. "I like 'em."
"Let's have some more," Sue said.
"No, let's have something else," said Bunny. "I'm hot now."
"Oh, then we ought to have ice-cream," cried Sue. "You know the other
night, when Aunt Lu and mother were so warm, they had ice-cream."
"Then we'll have some," agreed Bunny.
"Anything else?" asked the waitress girl, coming up to their table.
[Illustration: SOON BUNNY AND SUE WERE EATING THE ICE-CREAM
_Bunny Brown and His Sister Sue at Aunt Lu's City Home._ _Page 131._]
"Ice-cream, please--two plates," ordered Bunny. Soon he and Sue were
eating the cold dessert. As they were taking up the last spoonfuls they
saw the waitress girl, at the next table carrying a large piece of red
watermelon to a man.
"Oh, Bunny!" cried Sue. "I want some of that!"
"So do I!" exclaimed Bunny. "We'll have some."
And so, after the ice-cream, they ordered watermelon.
"Do you think it will be good for you?" asked the waitress girl.
"Oh, yes, we like it," said Bunny. That was all he thought of--just
then.
The ice-cream had been cold, and so was the watermelon, for it had been
on the ice, and by the time they had finished that Bunny and Sue were
quite chilled through.
"Now I'd like to be warm again," said Sue. "Let's have some more hot
cakes, Bunny."
"All right," agreed her brother. He waved his hand to the waitress girl.
"Some more hot cakes!" ordered Bunny.
The girl laughed and said:
"I guess you tots had better not eat any more. I'll call the manager,
and ask him if he thinks it safe."
A man, with a black moustache and red cheeks, came up to the table.
"What is it?" he asked. The waitress girl explained. At the same time
she put down on the table, by Bunny's plate, two little cards, with some
numbers on them, and some round holes punched near the numbers.
"We want some hot cakes, 'cause the ice-cream and watermelon made us so
cold," Bunny said.
"How much money have you?" asked the manager, who is the man who sees
that everyone gets enough to eat, and then that they pay for it.
"Money?" cried Bunny Brown. "Money?"
"Yes, you must have money to pay for what you eat," the man said.
"I've five cents," explained Sue. "My mother gave it to me for a toy
balloon, but I didn't spend it yet."
"I've four cents," said Bunny, reaching into his pocket, and bringing
out four pennies. "I had five cents," he explained, "but I spent a penny
for a lollypop."
He shoved the four pennies over toward the girl. Sue began looking in
her pocket for her five cent piece.
"I'm afraid you won't have enough money," the manager said. "But if you
tell me where you live, and give me the name of your father, I'll call
him up on the telephone, and let him know you are here."
"Oh, our daddy's away off," said Bunny. "But you can talk to Aunt Lu on
the telephone. She's got one. My mother is with her. She'll buy some
cakes for us."
"What's your aunt's name?" the manager wanted to know.
"Aunt Lu!" said Sue.
"Aunt Lu Baker," added Bunny.
"All right. I'll call her up," said the man, smiling. "And I don't
believe you had better eat any more griddle cakes. You might be made
ill. Give them some dry, sweet crackers, and a glass of milk," he said
to the girl. "That won't hurt them."
Bunny and Sue liked the crackers very much. They were eating away,
having a fine time, when, all at once, into the restaurant came Mrs.
Brown.
"Oh, Mother!" cried Bunny, as he saw her. "Are you hungry too? Sit down
by us and eat! We had a fine meal, didn't we, Sue?"
"Yep," answered the little girl. "The ice-cream and watermelon is awful
good, Mother!"
"Yes, I suppose it is," and Mrs. Brown could not help smiling. "But you
musn't come in restaurants, and order meals like this, Bunny Brown,
without having money to pay for them. It isn't right!"
"I--I thought I had money enough," and Bunny looked at his four pennies.
The manager laughed. He had found Aunt Lu's name in the telephone book,
and had talked to her, telling her about Bunny and Sue. And then, as the
restaurant was just around the corner from Aunt Lu's house, Mrs. Brown
had hurried there to get her children.
She paid for what they had eaten, and took them back with her. The
waitress girl smiled, so did the manager, and so did many persons in the
restaurant, who had seen Bunny and Sue eating.
"Don't ever do anything like this again, Bunny," said Mrs. Brown.
"I won't," Bunny promised. "But we went to the fire, and we were awful
hungry; weren't we, Sue?"
"Yes, we was. And the hot cakes was good."
"Oh dear!" sighed Mrs. Brown. "I wonder what it will be next."
But even Bunny Brown and his sister Sue did not know.
For several weeks the two children stayed at Aunt Lu's city home. They
had more good times, and often went with their mother or Aunt Lu to the
moving pictures. Then, too, there was much to see on the city streets,
and Bunny and Sue never grew tired of looking at the strange sights.
Daddy Brown wrote letters, saying he was so busy, looking after his boat
business, that he could not come to see them for a long time.
"Does he say how Splash, our dog, is?" asked Bunny, when part of one of
his father's letters had been read to him and Sue.
"Yes, Daddy says Splash is all right, but lonesome," Mrs. Brown
answered.
"I wish we had Splash here with us," sighed Sue.
"So do I," echoed her brother.
After that, whenever they saw a dog out in the street, they looked
anxiously at him, especially if he looked like Splash. And one day, when
Bunny and Sue had gone down to the corner of their street, to listen to
another hurdy-gurdy hand-piano, they saw a big yellow dog running about,
sniffing at some muddy water in a puddle in the sidewalk, as though he
wanted a drink.
"Oh, look at that dog!" cried Bunny to Sue. "He's thirsty!"
"He looks as nice as Splash, only, of course, it isn't Splash," Sue
said.
"Maybe we could take him," said Bunny. "Let's try. Then we'll have a
city dog and a country dog, too."
Sue was willing, and she and Bunny walked up to the stray dog.
"Come here!" called Bunny, just as he used to call to Splash.
The dog looked up. He seemed to like children, for he came straight to
Bunny and Sue.
"Oh, he's got a nice collar on," said Sue. "Let's take him to Aunt Lu's,
Bunny, and give him a nice drink of water."
"All right," agreed Bunny. "We will." Then, each with a hand on the
dog's collar, Bunny and Sue walked along with the nice animal, whose red
tongue hung out of his mouth, for the dog had been running, and was
quite hot.