Here's a Penny (2 page)

mother's neck all wet. She held him close and said in a very soft voice, "Tell Mother, Penny. Tell Mother what it is."

At last Penny seemed to run out of tears. "Patsy says I'm not your really truly little boy," he gulped.

"Patsy is mistaken," said his mother, wiping his eyes.

"She says when you're 'dopted you can't be really truly," said Penny.

"Nonsense!" said Mother. "There is only one thing that makes a little boy 'really truly."'

Penny sat up and looked at his mother. His blue eyes were big and round. Teardrops still hung on his eyelashes. "What does, Mother?" he said.

"Why, his mother's love for him," said Mother. "His mother's love for him makes him her really truly little boy."

"And does his daddy's love for him make him his really truly little boy?" asked Penny.

"It certainly does," replied Mother.

Then his mother told him how she and Daddy had talked about him long before he arrived. How they looked for just the little boy they wanted, with red hair and freckles on his nose.

Penny snuggled into his mother's neck. "Did you look at other little boys?" he asked.

"Indeed, yes," said Mother.

"But they didn't suit, did they?" said Penny.

"No. They were very nice," said Mother, "but we waited until we found you. And you were just what we wanted."

"That's the way I'm going to 'dopt my kitten," said Penny. "I'm going to wait until I find a black one with a white nose and white paws. And I'll love him so much that he'll be my really truly kitten."

"Of course," said Mother.

"I guess I'll go get a cookie," said Penny, as he slid off of his mother's lap.

When he reached the door he turned around. "I guess I'll take a cookie over to Patsy," he said. "And I'll tell her she's mistaken."

Every time Penny heard of a cat having kittens he would say, "Is there a black one with a white nose and white paws?" Over and over again he received the same answer. "Oh, no! There isn't any black one with a white nose and white paws."

Penny's daddy took him to see so many kittens that Daddy finally said he wouldn't have believed there could be so many kittens in the world. There seemed to be every kind that you could imagine, but no black one with a white nose and white paws.

After a while Daddy began to feel discouraged. But not Penny. After each trip to look at kittens he would say, "You found just 'zactly the little boy you wanted, didn't you, Daddy?"

And Daddy would reply, "Oh, my, yes!"

Then Penny would say, "Well, I'll find my really truly kitten, too." And the next Saturday afternoon Daddy and Penny would go look at another litter of kittens.

One Saturday afternoon Penny and his daddy were walking home from what Daddy called "a kitten hunt." They were walking under some trees when Penny heard a tiny "Mee-u."

Penny looked around to see where the sound came from. He didn't see anything. Then he heard the sound again. "Mee-u."

"Sounds like a kitty," said Penny.

Daddy stopped and looked around. There was the sound again.

"Yes, it does," said Daddy.

Daddy looked up in the tree above him, and there on a branch was a kitten. It was the most unhappy-looking kitten Daddy had ever seen. And Daddy had seen a great many kittens. It was afraid to move and it opened its little mouth and cried, "Mee-u! Mee-u! Mee-u!"

"Why, there it is! Up in the tree!" said Daddy. "I'll see if I can get it down."

Daddy stretched out his arms and stood on his toes. Just as he was about to take the kitten, the kitten moved away.

"Now, what do you know about that!" said Daddy.

"He's a silly old kitten, isn't he?" said Penny.

"Mee-u! Mee-u! Mee-u!" cried the kitten.

Daddy looked up at it. "Now see here, pal!" he said to the kitten. "I can't climb the tree. Come over here like a good fellow."

"Mee-u! Mee-u! Mee-u!" cried the kitten and moved still further away.

"Now, what do you know about that!" said Daddy.

"Maybe if you lift me up, I could reach him," said Penny.

"Well, that's an idea," said Daddy. "Let's try it."

Daddy lifted Penny up as high as he could. "Just reach right out for him," said Daddy. "Don't be afraid of him."

Penny reached out and took the kitten off the limb of the tree.

"Have you got him?" asked Daddy.

"Yep!" said Penny. "I've got him."

Daddy set Penny down and they both looked at the kitten.

"He's not very pretty, is he?" said Penny.

"He certainly is not pretty," said Daddy. "In fact, he looks like a scrap of a moth-eaten coat."

"What kind of a kitten do you s'pose he is?" asked Penny.

"I haven't an idea," said Daddy. "But he looks as though his mother had tried to hide him in a pot of mustard."

"What shall we do with him?" asked Penny.

"Oh, just put him down," said Daddy. "He'll find his way home."

Penny put the kitten down. His little legs seemed to wobble. "Mee-u," he said, and he rubbed against Penny's foot.

"I think he likes me," said Penny.

"Well, come along now," said Daddy. "Let's get going."

"Do you think he belongs to anyone?" asked Penny.

"If he does, they certainly don't feed him very much," answered Daddy. "He's as thin as a pin."

Penny stooped down and stroked the kitten. It purred.

"Come along, Penny," said Daddy. "It's getting late."

Penny took hold of his daddy's hand and started for home.

In a few moments Penny looked back. "I wonder where the kitten went," he said. "I don't see him anywhere."

"Mee-u!" said the kitten.

Penny looked down, and there was the kitten right at his feet.

"Oh, there he is!" cried Penny. "Look, Daddy, here he is."

"I see him," said Daddy. "I'm afraid he has decided to come with us."

"Do you think he is going to follow us home?" asked Penny.

"I think he has something like that on his mind," replied Daddy.

"But he's not the kind of kitten I want," said Penny.

"I know that," said Daddy. "But perhaps you are the kind of little boy he wants."

"But he can't be my really truly kitten," said Penny. "Because my really truly kitten is black with a white nose and white paws."

"Oh, I know that," said Daddy.

"Well, what shall I do?" asked Penny.

"We can try saying 'Scat' to him," said Daddy. So Penny and Daddy said "Scat" very hard. The kitten said, "Mee-u," and rubbed against Penny's foot.

"He probably doesn't speak English," said Daddy.

"He looks awful hungry," said Penny. "Maybe we ought to take him home and give him some milk."

"Maybe so," said Daddy. "One thing is certain. We ought to go home and it looks to me as though the kitten has made up his mind to go wherever we go."

Penny picked up the kitten. It was so thin he could feel all of its tiny bones. The kitten curled up contentedly in Penny's arms.

When they reached home, Penny ran into the house to show the kitten to his mother. "I've got a kitten," he cried.

His mother looked so surprised when she saw the kitten that Penny said, "Oh, he's not my really truly kitten, but he was up in a tree and when we rescued him, he followed us. We had to bring him home to give him something to eat. We couldn't let him starve. I'm not going to keep him."

"I see!" said Mother.

Penny gave the kitten a saucer of milk. He filled up like a little hot-water bottle and looked fatter already. Before Penny went to bed, he put the kitten to bed in a little box in the laundry.

In the middle of the night Penny woke up. He thought of the kitten.
Maybe the kitten is

lonely in the laundry all by himself,
he thought. He wished that he had him upstairs.

Penny got up and tiptoed down the back stairs. When he reached the laundry, the kitten was standing by the laundry door. He looked as though he had been waiting for Penny.

Penny picked him up and carried him upstairs. He climbed into bed and put the kitten on the foot of his bed. Soon they were both fast asleep.

The next day the kitten followed Penny everywhere. By the end of the week Penny loved the kitten just as much as the kitten loved him. Seven days of good food had made the kitten look quite different.

Penny couldn't decide what to name him. Daddy wanted to name him Mustard and Mother thought Yellow Jack would be a good name. But they didn't suit Penny.

The following Saturday Penny's grandaddy came to see him. To Penny's surprise Grandaddy was carrying a basket. When he opened the basket, there was a kitten. A beautiful coal black kitten with a white nose and white paws.

Penny let out a squeal of delight. "Oh, Grandaddy!" he cried. "My really truly kitten!"

Penny picked up the lovely kitten and held him to his cheek. He was soft and silky.

"Mee-u!" came from the floor.

Penny looked down. There was the mustard-colored kitten rubbing against his foot. The kitten looked up at Penny with pleading eyes.

Penny stooped down and picked him up. He held him against his other cheek. The kitten purred.

"What will you do now?" asked Daddy. "You can't have two kittens."

"Why can't I have two kittens?" asked Penny, coaxingly. "I'll take care of them."

"Why, you can't think of a name for one kitten," said Mother. "How will you ever find names for two kittens?"

Penny's face lit up. "I've got names for them already," he said. "I'll call the yellow one Really and the black one Truly."