Betsy and the Boys (2 page)

The children's eyes looked as though they were about to fall out onto the kitchen floor.

"Golly!" cried Billy. "I didn't know that they were going to blow up like balloons."

"Jimminy!" cried Betsy. "I'll bet we've made the biggest cream puffs that were ever baked."

"You betcha!" said Billy, closing the oven

door. "It says to turn down the heat and leave them in twenty minutes. Boy! I can hardly wait to eat it."

"Me too," said Betsy.

The children proceeded to wash up the dishes. "We have to get this place cleaned up before Mother comes home," said Billy.

"Yes," replied Betsy, looking at the batter that was still spread over the floor.

Just as Billy took the cream puffs out of the oven his daddy walked into the kitchen.

Billy placed the tin on the table.

"For goodness' sake!" said Mr. Porter. "What are those things?"

"Cream puffs!" exclaimed Billy with pride.

"Cream puffs!" cried his daddy. "Who are they for, pray tell? An elephant?"

"They're for us," said Billy.

"Why didn't you make big ones?" asked his daddy. "And by the way, who, I would like to know, gave you permission to make cream puffs?"

"Why, you did, Daddy," said Billy.

"I did!" exclaimed Daddy. "When did I ever give you permission to make cream puffs?"

"I called upstairs to you, Daddy," replied Billy.

Mr. Porter turned to Betsy. "What about this, Betsy?" he asked. "What's your story?"

"That's right, Mr. Porter," said Betsy. "I heard you. You said, 'Sure, sure.'"

Mr. Porter scratched his nose. "Well, that sounds like me," he said. Then he turned to Billy. "What did you make them of?"

Billy said, "Oh, butter and..."

"Butter!" cried Mr. Porter. "You used the butter?"

"But you said we could," replied Billy.

"When did I ever say you could use the butter?" demanded Mr. Porter.

"I called to you, Daddy," said Billy.

"Yes, Mr. Porter," said Betsy, "and you said..."

"Never mind, never mind, Betsy," interrupted Mr. Porter. "Don't tell me, I can guess."

Just then Billy looked out of the window and saw his mother turning in the drive.

"Excuse me, Daddy," he said. "I gotta go upstairs."

But his daddy saw his mother coming, too. "No, you don't!" he said, catching hold of Billy.

"But I gotta go upstairs, Daddy," pleaded Billy.

"No, sir," said Daddy. "You're going to stay right here and face the music."

"Hello!" called Mrs. Porter from the front hall. "What's going on?"

"We're all here, Mother," called Mr. Porter. "We've been making cream puffs."

When Mrs. Porter saw the cream puffs, she couldn't help laughing. "They're a little bit small, aren't they?" she said.

"Well, it was the best they could do in this size oven. We'll have to get a bigger oven if these children are going to do very much cooking," said Mr. Porter with a twinkle in his eye. "They seem to have big ideas."

"What is all over the floor?" asked Mrs. Porter.

"Pancakes," said Billy. "The handle broke off of the pitcher."

"And what is all over Betsy?" asked Mrs. Porter.

"That's pancakes, too," said Billy.

"I slipped," said Betsy.

"Well, you two children get the mop and the floor cloth and clean up the floor. I'll take off my hat and make the filling for these giant cream puffs."

"What do you mean, 'filling'?" said Billy. "Aren't they cream puffs?"

"They will be when they are filled with custard," replied Mrs. Porter.

Billy leaned against the table and looked at the results of their baking. "What?" he said. "I thought they were sure 'nough cream puffs now."

Then he ran to the foot of the stairs. "Oh, Mother," he called, "am I going to eat it all myself?"

"You are not," replied his mother.

And Betsy heard Mr. Porter say to himself, "Good thing he didn't ask me. I would have said, 'Sure, sure.'"

After the pancake and cream puff experience, Billy began calling Betsy "Pancake" and Betsy called Billy "Cream Puff."

At first, Billy didn't mind. He just thought it was funny. But when the Wilson boys, who lived around the corner from Billy, heard Betsy call Billy Cream Puff, they screamed with laughter.

There were four Wilson boys: Eddie, aged
seven; the twins, Joe and Frank, who were nine; and Rudy, who was eleven.

"Cream Puff!" they yelled. "What a name for a boy! Hiya! Cream Puff!"

Billy's face got very red. He turned to Betsy. "Now, look what you did," he cried.

"Well, you called me Pancake first," said Betsy.

"Aw, Pancake is just funny. But Cream Puff." wailed Billy. "It's awful!" And he ran inside the house.

Angry tears were in his eyes. When his mother saw him, she said, "Why, Billy! What's the matter?"

"Oh, Betsy started to call me Cream Puff and those Wilson kids heard her, and now they're calling me Cream Puff and making fun of me," replied Billy.

"Well now, don't pay any attention to them, Billy," said his mother. "Just act as though you didn't care and soon they'll forget about it."

"But no fella wants to be called a sissy name like Cream Puff. And I'll hit the first one who calls me that. I'll just hit him and knock him down."

"Is that so?" said Mrs. Porter. "Well, that's the way savages behave. They knock each other
down. But I thought I heard you telling Daddy the other night that you were civilized."

"Well, I
am
civilized," said Billy.

"Well, when you're civilized, you think things out," said his mother. "You decide what is the best way to behave towards people. You don't go up and punch them in the nose."

Billy sat down in a chair and sulked. He could hear Betsy and the Wilson boys playing outside. They were playing with an old football.

Pretty soon Billy grew tired of sitting still. He wanted to go out to play. Finally he jumped up and ran out of the front door.

"Hiya, Cream Puff!" shouted Rudy, the moment Billy appeared. "Catch this."

Billy paid no attention to the name. He caught the ball as it came through the air.

"Let's have it here, Cream Puff," yelled Joe.

Billy kicked the ball. "That ball is a mess," he said.

"It's all worn out," said Betsy. "It won't hold any air."

"It's better than none," replied Rudy. "It's all right to practice with until we get a good one. I'm going to get up a football team."

"Can I be on it?" asked Billy.

"Sure, Puff. You can be on it," said Rudy.

"Can I?" yelled the twins together.

"Yep," replied Rudy.

"Can I be on the team?" asked Eddie.

"No, you're too little," replied Rudy. Whereupon Eddie began to cry and went home.

"What about me?" said Betsy.

"Nix," replied Rudy. "Who ever heard of a girl on a football team?"

"Girls can do anything," said Betsy. "Girls can fly airplanes and drive taxicabs and run streetcars. Why can't they play football?"

"Cause they can't," said Rudy.

"Well, I betcha I'll be on the team," said Betsy.

"Betcha won't," said Rudy. Then he called to Billy, who had the ball. "Come on, Puff, let's see you make a forward pass."

Soon all of the Wilson boys were calling Billy Puff. Billy thought this was much better than Cream Puff. After all, no one would know what it meant. Big strong things puffed. Like locomotives and the wolf that "huffed and puffed until he blew the house down."

No,
thought Billy,
it isn't bad to be called Puff.
In fact, he thought Puff Porter sounded more

grown-up than Billy Porter. Lots of the big boys in the school had nicknames like Spike or Butch or Skinny.

By the time Betsy and the Wilson boys went home, Billy was quite pleased with his new name.

That night at dinner Billy said, "Daddy, did you know that I have a nickname?"

"Is that so?" said Daddy. "What is it? Pud?"

"No. It's Puff," replied Billy.

"Puff! Why Puff?" asked Daddy.

"Well, you know how big strong things puff, like locomotives and the wolf that huffed and puffed," said Billy, throwing out his chest. "That's me. Puff Porter."

"Well, well," said his daddy. "Names are funny things."

"Yes," said Billy. "Do you know what we call Betsy?"

"Haven't an idea," said Mr. Porter.

"We call her Pancake," said Billy; and he threw back his head and laughed. "Pancake! I named her that. I'll bet nobody ever had the name Pancake before."

"Does sound a bit unusual," said Daddy. "Does Betsy mind being called Pancake?"

"No," laughed Billy. "She thinks it's funny. Every time I call her that we just laugh and
laugh. We always remember about slipping in the pancake batter."

When Betsy reached home, Mother said, "Oh, Betsy, I have just heard that there is to be a new teacher at your school and she is to teach your class."

"You did, Mother!" said Betsy. "What's her name?"

Mother laughed. "Well, Betsy, she has a very unusual name. In fact, I have never known anyone with the same name."

"What is it?" said Betsy.

"Miss Pancake," replied Mother.

Betsy fell into the nearest chair. She rocked from side to side, laughing. "Oh, Mother! You're just fooling. That's what Billy calls me—Pan-cake."

Mother was laughing too. "No, Betsy, I'm not fooling. That really is her name."

"But I'll never be able to call her Miss Pan-cake without laughing," said Betsy.

"You will have to learn to say it without laughing, dear. You can't be rude to Miss Pancake."

When Mother said the name, Betsy went off into gales of laughter. "Oh, just wait until I tell Billy," she gasped.

The next morning Betsy was at Billy's house