Betsy and the Boys (9 page)

"Then the blacksmith spoke up and said, 'Look at me. I would like to have a hammer that would beat the iron without my having to lift it, but would I be so silly as to ask the Christmas fairies to bring one to me?'

"And all of the people except the woodchopper laughed and said, 'No. The blacksmith wouldn't be so silly.'

"Then the cobbler spoke up and he said, 'Look at me. I would like to have some scissors that would cut the leather for the shoes, all by itself. But would I be so silly as to ask the Christmas fairies to bring me such scissors?' And all of the people except the woodchopper laughed and shouted, 'No. You wouldn't be so silly. Only the woodchopper is silly.'"

"And then what?" asked Betsy, as Mrs. Jackson stopped for breath.

"Well, one after another spoke up and said what he would like to have, and the only one who didn't think it was silly was the woodchopper. Finally Christmas Eve arrived, and as the clock was striking the midnight hour the Christmas fairies arrived; and sure enough, they had with them the ax that the woodchopper had wished that he could have."

"Oh, Mrs. Jackson!" cried Betsy. "I think that
is a lovely play. Let's get everyone together and start rehearsing."

Mrs. Jackson laughed. "All right," she said. "Suppose you tell the boys and girls to come over tomorrow evening and we will decide who will play the parts."

The following day Betsy told Billy and Ellen about the Christmas party and the play that Mrs. Jackson was planning.

Of course they were delighted with the idea, and soon the news had spread among the boys and girls of the neighborhood. When they gathered at the Jacksons' house there were over a dozen boys and girls.

Mrs. Jackson read the play aloud. The next thing was to decide who was to play the parts. After a great deal of chatter, it was settled that Billy would be the woodchopper and Ellen would be his wife. Christopher was chosen to be the blacksmith and Kenny to be the cobbler. There were so many characters in the play that most of the children had parts. The rest were stage directors, lighting experts, scene painters, and curtain pullers.

It took the children a long time to decide about the fairies.

"They ought to be little," said Ellen.

The children all agreed that the fairies should be little, but no one in the group was little enough. At last Betsy said, "I know! Let's have Star and Lillybell for the fairies."

"Oh, yes! Let's!" said Ellen.

"I think that would be lovely," said Mrs. Jackson.

And so it was settled that Star and Lillybell would be the Christmas fairies.

Rudy Wilson was the biggest boy, so he was to be dressed as the ax and the little fairies were to bring him in on Christmas Eve.

The children met at Mrs. Jackson's house in the evenings and practiced the play. The Jacksons had a big living room, and a large doorway led from the living room into the dining room. There, in the doorway, Mr. Jackson built the stage. He and some of the children painted the scenery which divided the stage from the dining room.

Mrs. Jackson and Betsy's mother spent hours making the children's costumes. The fairies' dresses were a delight to the children. They were made of white gauze with shiny gold spangles sewed all over the skirts. There were white gauze wings that fastened to the little tots' shoulders. Lillybell and Star thought they were wonderful.

At last the night for the party arrived. The children reached Mrs. Jackson's house at seven o'clock. By the time their parents arrived at eight, the children were dressed in their costumes and everything was ready.

The guests were seated in the living room and all was quiet. Just as Richard was about to pull the curtain, Mrs. Jackson said, "Where are the fairies? Has anyone seen the fairies?"

All of the children began looking around for the fairies. They were nowhere in sight.

"See if they are out in the audience, Betsy," said Mrs. Jackson.

Betsy left her post as stage manager and went into the living room to look for the fairies.

"I don't see them anywhere," said Betsy, returning backstage.

"Well, run upstairs," said Mrs. Jackson. "Perhaps they are upstairs."

Betsy ran upstairs. She looked through the rooms on the second floor but there were no fairies. Then she went up to the third floor. Outside the bathroom door she found Clementine.

"Oh, Clementine!" said Betsy. "Do you know where the fairies are?"

"I know where they are, all right," said Clementine. "They locked themselves in the bathroom and they can't unlock the door."

"Oh, Clementine!" cried Betsy. "What shall we do? It's time for the play to begin."

Clementine leaned her head against the door. "Lillybell, honey," she called. "You turn the little knob for your Mommy. You reach up and turn the little knob."

There was only the sound of a bumping noise on the door.

"I don't know how she ever reached up that high to lock it," said Clementine. "That child must have grown tall without my noticing."

"Oh, Clementine! I'll go and get Mr. Jackson," said Betsy. And Betsy rushed down the stairs.

In a few moments Mr. Jackson arrived.

"I've been coaxing them for fifteen minutes," said Clementine, "but nothing's happened yet."

"I'll see if I can take the door off," said Mr. Jackson.

Mr. Jackson examined the door. Then he said, "No use. The hinges are on the other side."

"Oh, dear! Oh, dear!" said Clementine. "What a night for this to happen."

Suddenly Lillybell began to cry, "Mommy! Mommy! Mommy!"

Then Star burst out. They cried so loudly that everyone downstairs heard them. Betsy's father and mother came up and they tried to quiet the fairies. But the fairies just howled.

"We'll have to get the ladder out of the garage," said Mr. Jackson. "Then I can climb up and get in the window."

Mr. Jackson and Betsy's father went down to the garage. They brought the ladder out and leaned it against the house beneath the bathroom window. The ladder was not nearly long enough.

"My goodness!" said Mr. Jackson. "We'll never get up with this ladder."

The fairies were screaming now and nearly all of the parents were either up in the third floor hall or outside, looking at the ladder that was too short.

"You will have to call up the fire department," said someone. "They will send the ladder truck over."

"Guess that is what we will have to do," said Mr. Jackson.

Mr. Jackson went to the telephone and called the fire department. He told them about the difficulty and the fire department said that they would be right over.

This was all very exciting and the children
put on their coats and gathered on the porch to watch for the fire engines.

Soon they heard the clang, clang, clang of the fire bell.

"Here they come! Here they come!" the children cried.

"Goodness gracious!" said Mr. Jackson. "They don't have to make all that racket just to bring a ladder, do they?"

Just then the big red hook and ladder swung around the corner. "Clang! Clang! Clang!" went the bell.

Billy was so excited he kept saying, "Oh, boy! Oh, boy!"

Then, to the amazement of everyone, before the hook and ladder stopped at the curb the big shiny engine truck careered around the corner and stopped by the fireplug. Sparks shot out of its smokestack, looking in the darkness like giant Fourth of July sparklers. Right behind it was the hose truck, clanging its bell for all it was worth.

"For mercy sake!" cried Betsy's father. "They've brought out the whole fire department."

Before Mr. Jackson could stop them, the firemen came running up the porch steps with the hose. The men looked surprised to see the children on the porch.

Mr. Jackson held up his bands. "Hold it, men!" he cried. "There isn't any fire. You must have misunderstood. We just called for a ladder. Two little girls have locked themselves in the bathroom on the third floor."

"Oh!" said one of the firemen. "We got the message wrong. We thought it was a fire."

The men took the hose back to the truck and some other firemen carried a ladder around to the back of the house. The children followed and watched with great interest as the ladder went up, up, and up, until it reached the bathroom window.

One of the firemen ran up the ladder very quickly. The children watched him as he raised the window and climbed through. Then he stuck his head out and shouted, "OK, I'll come down through the house."

The other men took the ladder away and the children returned to the house.

When the fireman who had rescued the fairies came out of the front door, he was carrying a big pitcher of hot cider. Mrs. Jackson followed with a plate piled high with doughnuts.

"Gather 'round, boys! Gather 'round!" the fireman called out to the other men.

All the men came running to the porch. They

sat down on the steps and drank the cider and ate the doughnuts.

"Nicest fire I've ever been to," said one of the men.

"Never had cider before," said another.

"No," said another fireman, "only plenty of water."

Meanwhile, inside the house the children were gathered in the dining room and the parents were settled again in the living room. Betsy stood behind the scenes holding tightly to the two fairies.

Mary Lou stepped before the curtain. She bowed. "Parents and friends," she said. "We are about to present for you a play. It is called 'The Fairies' Gift.'"

"Clang! Clang! Clang!" came from down the street. It was the fire engines, going home.

And from behind the curtain came the little voice of Lillybell. "Fire engines! Come all for Lillybell." Then the other wee fairy piped up. "Fi-gins, Betsy! Fi-gins!"

Betsy said, "Sh-h-h-h!"

And Richard pulled the curtain.

Ever since the day Rudy Wilson learned that Betsy had given her football to Billy, Rudy had felt hurt. After all, he thought, he was the one who had wanted the football the most. And hadn't he been the one who had made Betsy Grand Matron? And finally hadn't he put her on the team? "After all that," he grumbled to himself, "she went and gave that wonderful football
to Puff Porter." Rudy felt that it wasn't fair at all. Betsy should have given the football to him.