SONNY BOY FINDS A CROOKEDER BOY
Sonny Boy followed Lena through the great door.
The doorkeeper said if he was a friend of hers he might go in for a little
while, but the parrot must be kept outside; she was too noisy.
The boy in buttons seemed very willing to take care of Polly. He said he
would carry her out upon the grounds and give her an airing.
Lena led Sonny Boy into a large, long room, which she said was the "almost
well" room of the children's ward.
"But we're afraid Otto never will be well," she whispered, turning a sad
little face toward Sonny Boy, as she opened the door.
"Otto, the mice boy has come to see you!" she said to a white-faced,
humpbacked boy, who sat propped up in a chair, at a table, with the cage
of mice before him.
The boy drew the cage towards him and placed his thin white hands over
it.
"Have you come for them?" he asked, with a sob in his throat.
"Let me show you what they will do!" said Sonny Boy, and sat down opposite
him at the table.
Those mice had been trained before Sonny Boy had them, and for two years
he and Tom and Trixie had been teaching them. When either of the young
Plummers had the mumps or the measles, or there was a long storm, it meant
several new tricks for the white mice! and they could now do really
wonderful things.
[Illustration: "'LET ME SHOW YOU WHAT THEY WILL DO.'"]
Since the war with Spain had begun, they were taught soldier tricks
altogether. And it was so fortunate that some had black spots, for those
could be Spaniards!
All the children in the ward who could walk crowded around the table, and
the matron and the nurses, too.
It was such a good time that many an ache and pain was forgotten for many
minutes. When Sonny Boy let the mice out of the cage and they scampered
all over the table, then the children scampered, too--every one who could.
Even the matron and the nurses uttered little screams.
But Sonny Boy whistled, and into the cage marched those mice like
soldiers! It was really a wonderful sight to see.
And the worn and tired looks were gone from so many children's faces!
Otto's poor, shrunken, misshaped body shook with laughter. "I want to know
how you trained them!" he said. "I want to train them! I want to do
everything that well boys do--that you do! And I'm going to learn! Lena is
only a girl, and I never had a brother. I think I could even learn
spelling and fractions if you would show me how!"
Sonny Boy blushed. He began to say that he was not much for spelling and
fractions himself, but Lena touched his foot.
"Spelling and fractions are nothing! I'll show you how to do them," said
Sonny Boy stoutly.
"And you'll show me how to straighten my legs, so I can be a soldier,
won't you?" said Otto.
Sonny Boy moved about uneasily on his bow-legs. "It's queer! I want to be
a soldier, too," he said. "Yes, I'll show you, Otto."
"You're what I've been wanting--a well boy!" said Otto, with a happy sigh.
"You're very bright and clever, aren't you?"
"Oh, no," began Sonny Boy, but Lena touched his foot again.
"The Plummers are called a smart family," said Sonny Boy firmly, although
his cheeks burned. "My brother Tom and my sister Trixie are very clever."
"Of course you couldn't have trained those mice if you hadn't been very
clever," said Otto.
"Those mice have done him good. I've never seen him so bright," whispered
the matron. "They've done all the children good!"
"And although I went away off to Uncle Fritz's to get the parrot for him,
he says he doesn't like a parrot," whispered Lena.
"You like a parrot, don't you?" said Otto, eagerly, to Sonny Boy.
"I never was very well acquainted with one before. I think this one has a
fine voice," said Sonny Boy politely.
"You like her better than you do the mice, don't you? You'll swap, won't
you?" said Otto.
Now this, thought Sonny Boy, was hard! And what would they say at home?
Trixie herself had trained the big mouse with the black spots on his ears
that they called Admiral Cervera, and Tom would never be willing that
Hobson should go out of the family!
[Illustration: "'JUST THINK! HE NEVER HAS HAD ONE GOOD TIME.'"]
But Sonny Boy's heart ached with pity for the poor, humpbacked, shrunken
fellow, whose face looked like a little old man's. And Lena leaned over
Sonny Boy's shoulder and whispered:
"Just think! He never has had one good time!" she said.
"You can have them!" said Sonny Boy, although he had to swallow a great
lump in his throat.
He got away as soon as he could then, for fear he should cry, Otto making
him promise that he would come again just as soon as he could.
The delightful little glow at Sonny Boy's heart, such as you always feel
when you have made any one happy, was queerly mixed with the grief of
losing his white mice.
When he got to the entrance door he found that Polly had been shut up in a
dark closet, because she whooped and shouted so that the boy in buttons
had not been able to keep her out upon the grounds.
When Sonny Boy took her again into his arms and started to go back, just
as he had come away, he almost wished that Aunt Kate had borrowed some
other one of the Plummers!
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SONNY BOY BECOMES A SCHOLAR
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