Ginger Pye (4 page)

Lunch was over. Where could Jerry turn now to earn his dollar? He didn't know. And just as he was thinking, disconsolately, that he would run over to Speedys' barn and stay with his puppy until the very last minute, just then a miracle happened.

A tall boy named Sam Doody, who lived a few doors away in their block, came and knocked at the kitchen door. Sam Doody was about fifteen years old and he was so tall that every time any little boy or girl met him they always asked him how the air was up there. Sam had heard this joke so often he
must have been very tired of it. But he was very good-natured and he always grinned and said, "Swell!"

Sam Doody and Judge Ball and a man named Mr. Tuttle were the three tallest people in the church. Sitting, they all towered above everybody else. Standing, Sam Doody and Judge Ball still towered. But Mr. Tuttle shrank and mingled with the congregation for his tallness was only from the waist up. From the waist down he was very short. Anyway Sam Doody was tall from top to toe and Uncle Bennie was nearly falling over backwards now trying to see top.

Well, Sam Doody, the tall boy, had a job on Saturdays dusting the pews of the church and now he said to Jerry, "Hey, Jerry. How'd you like to earn a dollar this afternoon?"

Jerry nearly fell flat. It sounded like a joke to him. Here he was wondering how he could earn a dollar and here was Sam, the tall boy, asking him how he'd like to earn a dollar. He was speechless waiting to see if it was a joke, or what.

"I have to go to town to buy a new suit, and I thought if you'd do me this favor, I'd give you the dollar I always get for dusting the pews. Because that's what I want you to do, dust the pews."

Jerry nodded his head up and down slowly. He was still too speechless for anything else and he
wished the tall boy would sit down so he could see his face better and study whether this was a joke or not. He was also remembering Sam Doody's first suit with long pants. It was a dark green suit and when he walked into church with it on, everybody knew it was Sam Doody's new suit with long pants, his first suit with long pants, which was why his face was red.

Rachel, too, was remembering the first suit of Sam Doody's that had long pants to it, and she asked him if he was going to get another dark green suit. She liked that other suit, she said. And Sam Doody said he didn't know.

Jerry glared at Rachel. She shouldn't be asking a big fellow like Sam Doody what color suit he was going to buy. Sam Doody was captain of the high school basketball team. He was so tall he could practically put the ball into the basket just standing on his tiptoes. He was one of the most important people in Cranbury and here Rachel was, asking him what color suit he'd buy. It was a wonder Sam Doody didn't walk out of the kitchen and out of the door and say, "Forget the pews and the dollar, fellow." But he didn't. He was still smiling, showing his white, white teeth, and he said, "Well, how about it, fellow? Dust the pews for me?"

Again Jerry nodded. How could he say anything?
Sometime he would tell Sam Doody how this dollar happened to buy the smartest puppy in all of Cranbury for him. He longed to ask Sam when he would get the dollar. Would it possibly be before six o'clock tonight? But of course he could not ask such a question. Moreover, he thought he could run over to Mrs. Speedy's before the dusting of the pews and explain to her that he had the dollar, that all he had to do was dust some pews, that is, and then the dollar would be his. And he would ask her to please not sell the puppy to that other person, whoever he was, even though that other person might have the dollar right in his pocket.

"OK then," said Sam Doody and turned to go, nearly stepping on Uncle Bennie. "Hello there, Uncle Bennie," he said, grinning. "Where's your bubbah?"

"Bubbah" was Uncle Bennie's name for an old pink blanket he loved and used always to carry around with him. In fact, he considered Bubbah a member of the family and always said, "Mommy, Daddy, Uncle Bennie, and Bubbah," when people asked him who was in his family.

"Too big to take Bubbah with me now," he said, a little sadly.

"Well, you hang on to Bubbah anyway," said Sam Doody and then, going out the door, he said, "Better get over to the church soon, Jerry. And don't forget the choir stalls and the pulpit," he cautioned. "Oh, and pay special attention to old Mrs. Widdemeyer's pew, will you? One thing she can't stand is a speck of dust on her pew."

Jerry said, "I'll dust it good," and Sam was gone.

Hardly had Sam gone, however, when his long legs brought him right back. "Here," he said. "Might as well pay you the dollar now, in case I should forget."

"Jiminy crickets!" exclaimed Jerry and, when Sam had really left for good, he fell down on the floor in a pretended faint, blew whistle notes on his fingers, and wrestled a bit with Uncle Bennie. "He's a first class Boy Scout, an Eagle Scout," said Jerry, almost sobbing in admiration, awestricken at the years of learning and accomplishment that had gone into the formation of this perfect person, Sam Doody. When he was Sam Doody's age and height, he would carry dollar bills around with him in his pocket and hire boys like Jerry to dust pews so they could buy dogs or rabbits.

"The Boy Scout boy, the Boy Scout boy," chanted Uncle Bennie, clapping his hands.

"Well," said Jerry importantly. "I better get to work." The pews were never to have such a dusting as this was going to be.

It had never before occurred to Rachel that a church had to be dusted. She had never thought that a church might get dirty. If she had, she would then never have imagined that ordinary people like herself and Sam Doody would do the dusting. She
would have imagined the dusters would have to be superior beings, angels perhaps.

"Want me to help?" asked Rachel anxiously. She did so want to help dust the pews. She imagined this would be a great experience, not at all like dusting the black horsehair furniture in their parlor. It would be interesting, too, to be in church dusting pews on a Saturday when no one else was there. It would be like being behind the scenes at the Town Hall when she was in a play. She might see God.

"Sure," said Jerry, glad to have company.

Then it seemed that Uncle Bennie must go along also because he was to spend the whole day with Jerry and Rachel. Instead of Gramma coming for him later in the day she wanted Jerry and Rachel to bring him home around six o'clock. She lived a long way off, over by the water, and Rachel and Jerry could have supper there, she said. So. First they'd dust the pews, then they'd get the puppy, then they'd take Uncle Bennie home and have some supper, then they'd go home themselves, with the puppy. That's what they would do.

They put Uncle Bennie in his wagon and dragged him lickety-cut down the street, not stopping to look at anything—the fire engine house,
anything.
When they reached the pretty stone church on the Green,

Jerry was glad to see that the doors were open. He had been wondering how he was going to open the heavy brown doors and tall Sam Doody had not told him exactly what to do, except where he would find the dusters in the Parish House.

These he and Rachel found easily enough and once they had persuaded Uncle Bennie to leave his wagon outside, saying he could not ride it up and down the cement aisle—this was church and he must tiptoe and be quiet—they got to work, each one with a big cloth duster. Since Rachel had neglected to bring a hat, she had to put her handkerchief on her head. To hold this on with one hand and to dust with the other was difficult.

"This my bubbah?" asked Uncle Bennie, surveying his duster suspiciously.

"You know it's not," said Rachel. "It's a duster.

"Oh," said Uncle Bennie a little disconsolately.

It was very still in church, very cool and very still. They went up one pew and down the next, dusting carefully, dusting even the corners of the dark brown wooden pews. They couldn't remember exactly which pew was Mrs. Widdemeyer's so they had to dust each one carefully lest it be hers.

It was slow work and soon they felt they had been dusting for hours. Yet they were only halfway
down one of the middle rows of pews. There were two wide rows of pews in the middle of the church and two narrow rows, one on each side. The bright sun outside filtered through the stained-glass windows and, in the beginning, they worked silently and solemnly. After all, this was the first time they had ever been in church unless church was going on.

Suddenly Uncle Bennie said in a very loud whisper, "Hey. This church? Where everybody?"

"Sh-sh-sh. This is church but this is Saturday," said Rachel. "Nobody is here on Saturday."

"God here?" asked Uncle Bennie.

"Yes. Only us and God."

"God everywhere," said Uncle Bennie with satisfaction. "Even on Saturday."

Once the silence had been broken by Uncle Bennie they all talked as they worked and for a time they seemed to be going very feist. How they dusted! Up one pew and down the next. It was really hard work. Jerry did not care how hard he worked though. Thoughts of the little puppy that was going to be his when the last pew and pulpit were dusted put heart and speed in his hands. In Rachel's too. But not in Uncle Bennie's. He was merely making a chivalrous gesture toward this unusual way of spending Saturday. After all, he was only three and who would
expect him to take the dusting of the pews seriously? Uncle Bennie was having a good time anyway, climbing up and down the pews and pushing all the hymnals and prayer books to the ends of their little racks. They'd have to straighten these all out later, thought Jerry worriedly. And how were they ever going to finish by six o'clock?

Rachel, too, was thinking the same thing. Moreover, her arms were very tired and both she and Jerry had begun to slow up. Occasionally they looked ahead and behind to see how much ground had been covered, and how much was still to be done. There was plenty still to be done. "We should not look ahead or behind," panted Rachel. "Just keep on going."

Then Rachel had a very bright idea. Here was Uncle Bennie, she thought, only making more work for them, pushing books around. They could make use of him, she decided, and have fun besides. Mama always said, "If you can have fun doing your work, have fun." She could see no harm in that.

"Come here, Uncle Bennie," she said. "Game."

"Have fun?" asked Uncle Bennie hopefully. He was beginning to have had enough of church.

"Have plenty of fun," said Rachel. And Uncle Bennie came climbing over the pew.

Rachel had a quite long duster and she tied it
around Uncle Bennie's pants. "Whee-ee," she said, sending him sliding down the long pew.

Well. Did Uncle Bennie like that? He certainly did and now Jerry got at one end of a pew and Rachel at the other and they sent Uncle Bennie sliding back and forth across the pews. They no longer cared about the comers. They must surely have passed Mrs. Widdemeyer's pew by now, and who sat in corners anyway?

"Whee-ee," said Rachel, sending Uncle Bennie sliding down one long pew.

And, "Whee-ee," said Jerry, picking him up, putting him on the next pew, and sending him sliding back.

This was great fun for everybody and particularly for Uncle Bennie who thought it almost as good as sledding. He did not mind at all being turned into a duster. They soon finished the long pews in this pleasant manner and started on the little side pews. When Uncle Bennie got tired of the new game, Rachel and Jerry tied the dusters around their own waists and slid back and forth across the pews themselves. Now the work went so much quicker that they finished the last pew as the clock in the other church, the little white church, on the Green, struck one, two, three, four.