Maurice’s Room (2 page)

The doorbell rang. It was Jacob.

“Jacob can help you,” his mother said.

Jacob was seven, but he looked bigger than Maurice. It was because he was wearing so many clothes—scarves, mittens, sweaters, two hats, and several pairs of socks. He began to take off his outer clothing, laying each item in a pile at his feet. Meanwhile Maurice explained the predicament.

“What are we going to do?” asked Jacob.

Maurice looked at the chest of drawers. The pebbles and rocks had been moved to the floor, and the chest was now covered with oatmeal boxes. He looked at the table. He could barely see the yellow oilcloth because it was hidden by sections of a witch doctor's mask he and Jacob had begun to make the week before. The turtles had been moved next to the salamanders on the window sill.

“There are five more floors in this room if you count the walls and ceiling,” Maurice said to Jacob. Jacob looked smaller and thinner now that he was down to his shirt and pants.

“I see,” said Jacob.

“We'll have to ask Mr. Klenk to help us,” said Maurice.

Jacob began to sort out nails. Then he stopped. “But we won't be able to do that with everything! And how can we get it all done in just a day?”

“Mr. Klenk will know,” said Maurice.

3. THE JANITOR

Mr. Klenk, the janitor, lived in the basement five floors down. The basement smelled like wet mops, damp cement, pipes, and old furniture stuffing. But it was clean. Mr. Klenk had told Maurice that he couldn't relax a second or he would be drowned by the rubbish that poured out of all the apartments. “Overwhelming!” Mr. Klenk often exclaimed.

“It's a race between me and the junk,” he would say. “If I let it get an edge on me, I'll get shoved right out of the city.” But Mr. Klenk didn't seem to feel the same way about Maurice's collection.

“Well, you're selective, my boy,” he had said once, giving Maurice a caramel. “Besides, I suspect you've got something in mind for all that stuff of yours.”

The two boys rang the janitor's bell. Mr. Klenk opened his door, blowing out a cloud of cigar smoke.

“I have to get everything off the floor,” Maurice said. “Could you help us a little?”

“What do you have in mind?”

“There's plenty of space on the walls,” said Maurice.

Mr. Klenk nodded and puffed on his cigar. “I know,” he said. “But you didn't bring back my ladder, did you?”

“He forgot,” said Jacob timidly. Mr. Klenk peered through the cigar smoke. Jacob backed away. The janitor in the building where Jacob lived sat in a big collapsed steamer trunk all day just waiting, Jacob was sure, for boys to wander by so he could pounce on them.

“Can you come now?” asked Maurice.

“Let's go,” answered Mr. Klenk.

When they reached Maurice's room, Mr. Klenk stopped at the doorway.

“How am I supposed to get in there?” he asked.

Jacob cleared a path for him. Maurice took all the things off the ladder steps, and in a few minutes Mr. Klenk was at work.

First Maurice chose the starfish. He handed it to Jacob, who held it up to Mr. Klenk on the ladder. Next came the rusty grater. In an hour everything was hanging either from the ceiling or from the walls. The animals paid no attention to the fact that they were suspended above the floor. The hamster went to sleep; his cage swung gently like a hammock in a light breeze.

By six o'clock, the floor boards appeared. It was a good floor, and Maurice and Jacob sat down on it.

“Now we have room for more things,” said Maurice.

Maurice's mother and his uncle came to the door.

“Wow!” said Uncle.

Mrs. Henry looked pale. “I didn't have
that
in mind,” she said.

“Well, Lily, they've cleared the floor,” said the uncle. He looked at Maurice. “I have a surprise,” he said. “I'm going to bring Patsy here to spend a week with you.”

Then his uncle winked at Mrs. Henry. “You'll see,” he said to her. “Patsy will take his mind off all of this.” Maurice's mother looked doubtful.

“Who is Patsy?” asked Jacob.

“Who is Patsy!” repeated the uncle, as though astonished. “Tell him, Maurice.”

“A dog,” said Maurice. “A dumb fat dog,” he added in a whisper to Jacob.

After Maurice's uncle and Mrs. Henry went back to the kitchen, Mr. Klenk picked up his ladder and started to leave. Then he seemed to remember something. He tapped Maurice on the shoulder.

“Would you like a stuffed bear?” he asked.

“I'd like a bear,” Maurice said.

“A tenant left it when he moved out,” said Mr. Klenk. “Send your man down for it in the near future.” He nodded at Jacob.

“We could make a car for it,” said Maurice after Mr. Klenk had left.

“There's a busted baby carriage in front of my building,” said Jacob.

“Bring the wheels,” said Maurice.

Jacob began to put on all his outdoor clothes.

“I never heard of a bear having a car,” he said.

“Why not?” asked Maurice.

4. THE DOG

Maurice and Jacob were unable to begin building a car for the bear the next day because Patsy arrived early in the morning.

Patsy was a large soft dog with beady eyes. She was wearing a plaid wool coat. Maurice and she stared at each other for several minutes. She was nearly as tall as he was. Then she walked straight into Maurice's room. When she came out a minute later, she had an oatmeal box in her mouth.

“Give me that!” demanded Maurice. Patsy lowered herself slowly on her four legs until she was lying on the floor with the box in her teeth.

Maurice looked at his mother. She was smiling and nodding. He looked at his father who was just about to leave for work.

“Nice dog,” said his father.

“Give it back,” whispered Maurice to Patsy. She stared at him. Then she turned her head suddenly, and Maurice snatched the oatmeal box and ran to his room with it. He closed the door and went back to the kitchen to finish his bacon and cocoa.

When he came out to put on his galoshes before going to school, Patsy was sitting in the living room. She was chewing an ear section of the witch doctor's mask. He ran to her and grabbed it. Patsy stood up and wagged her tail. Maurice could see she was just waiting for him to leave. He pretended to go to the front door, then suddenly turned and tiptoed back to his room. Patsy was already in it, sniffing up at the hamster.

“Please leave my room,” said Maurice. Patsy looked at him over her back. He slipped his fingers beneath her collar and pulled. It was difficult to drag such a big dog. His mother came to the door. “Don't bully the dog,” she said. “Good Patsy!”

“I don't want her in my room,” said Maurice.

“She's so friendly,” his mother said. Patsy wagged her tail and sat down on Maurice's foot.

“She was trying to eat the hamster,” Maurice said.

“Oh!” exclaimed his mother. “You're exaggerating! She was only looking around. She probably misses your uncle.”

Maurice looked at a round hole in his door near the knob where he and Jacob had dug out the lock and the latch months ago.

“Couldn't we put the lock back in?” he asked.

“Not now,” said Mrs. Henry. “Now you go to school. You're going to be late!”

Right after his arithmetic class, Maurice asked the teacher for permission to go to the principal's office. The secretary said he could use the telephone for two minutes.

“Hello,” said Maurice's mother.

“Is she in there?” asked Maurice.

“Who?” asked Mrs. Henry.

“Pull the octopus higher,” said Maurice.

“Oh, Maurice,” said Mrs. Henry, “as if I didn't have enough to do! Patsy doesn't want your octopus.”

Maurice looked up at the clock.

“Can't you tie her to something?” Maurice asked.

“Stop fussing,” said Mrs. Henry.

After school, Maurice ran all the way home. He was out of breath when he reached his front door.

Patsy was lying asleep in the living room. Maurice's things were all around her like a fortress. Her head was resting on the raccoon tail.

It took Maurice an hour to put everything back. Patsy watched him from the door.

“Thief!” he said to her. She wagged her tail.

The next day Maurice did not feel very well. His mother said he could stay home provided he kept to his bed. “None of this wandering around in bare feet,” she said.

Maurice was happy to stay in his room. He watched Patsy as she paced back and forth outside his door. When she tried to sneak in, he shouted, “No, you don't!”

That afternoon he heard his mother speaking with his uncle on the telephone.

“Maurice and Patsy are inseparable,” she said. “You were quite right. We must get him a dog of his own.”

“A whole week,” said Maurice to himself. He began to feel really sick. Suddenly Patsy made a dash for the chest of drawers. She put one paw on a drawer pull.

“Out!” shouted Maurice, standing up in the middle of his bed with the blankets flapping around him. Patsy ran from the room, but she sat down right in front of the door.

The next day Maurice felt poorly again. His mother took his temperature. He had no fever. His throat wasn't red. But his eyes looked strained. The strain came from staring through the dark at Patsy half the night. But the dog had fallen asleep before Maurice had and so she had been unable to steal a single thing from Maurice's room.

“I think you should go to school,” said Mrs. Henry.

“No!” said Maurice, kneeling on his bed.

“Mercy! You don't have to kneel,” she said. “What
is
the matter?”

“I can't go to school,” Maurice said.

Mrs. Henry called Mr. Henry.

“I think he is developing a school phobia,” Maurice heard her say to his father as they stood in the hall outside his room.

At that moment, Patsy raced in, threw herself at the bed, snatched a blanket, and made off with it. Maurice jumped to the floor and ran after her. They both slammed into Maurice's father.

“If you don't stop playing with Patsy, I'll have to send her home!” said Mr. Henry.

After that, it was easy. Maurice played with Patsy every minute he could, and soon his uncle came to get her. He dressed Patsy in her plaid coat, clipped on her leash, put on his hat, and left.

“You see?” said Maurice's father.

Maurice nodded.

5. THE BEAR

One Saturday morning, a few weeks after Patsy had left, Maurice awoke at six o'clock. His window was blurred because it was raining so hard. The hamster stirred in its cage.

“You're up too early,” Maurice said. The robin lifted one wing slowly and opened its good eye. Maurice went into the kitchen and made himself a grape-jelly sandwich. It felt good to be eating a sandwich and walking down the hall so early in the morning. No one else was awake. He gave a piece of bread crust to the robin and one to the hamster. Then he got dressed.

Soon there was a soft knock on the front door. It was Jacob, who always arrived early on Saturday mornings and who usually brought something with him. Today he was carrying a paper sack.

“Do you want a jelly sandwich?” asked Maurice. Jacob nodded. Then he showed Maurice what he had brought in the bag.

“What is it?” asked Maurice.

“I think it's for weighing things. I found it in a box on the street,” Jacob said, holding up a large white scale. The paint was chipped, and when Maurice pressed his hand down on the platform, the needle on the dial jiggled.

“Your arm weighs six pounds,” said Jacob.

Maurice's mother walked by. She was yawning. She glanced into the room. “Good morning, children,” she said.

“My arm is very heavy,” said Maurice.

“That's nice,” said Maurice's mother, and yawned again and walked on.

“I forgot to tell you,” Jacob said. “Mr. Klenk said to come and get the bear.”

Maurice put the scale on his bed. Then both boys ran to the front door and down the five flights of stairs to Mr. Klenk's room in the basement. Mr. Klenk was blowing on the cup of coffee he was holding in one hand. He still carried a broom in the other.

“It seems I hardly have time for coffee,” said Mr. Klenk. “I'll be glad to get rid of that bear.”

He left them standing at the door, peering into his room. There was so much cigar smoke in the air, it was hard to see the furniture. In a minute Mr. Klenk was back, pushing the bear before him. The bear's feet were strapped into roller skates. It was as tall as Jacob.

“Here he is,” said Mr. Klenk. “Think you can handle him?”

Jacob and Maurice stared. The bear was plump. Its fur was black. Its two front paws stuck out straight in front of it. The claws were of different lengths, and some of them pointed upward as though the bear had been pushing against a wall.

“Why is it wearing skates?” asked Maurice.

“It came that way,” said Mr. Klenk.

“It looks tired,” said Jacob.

“It had a long sea voyage, all the way from South America.”

Maurice pulled and Jacob pushed and they got the bear up the stairs all the way to Maurice's front door, and inside. Because of the skates the bear moved easily on a level surface, but it had been a slippery business getting it up the stairs.

“I think we'd better wait a while before we show it to my mother and father,” said Maurice. “They don't like surprises.”

“Mine neither,” Jacob said.

Maurice said, “Why don't you get your hat and coat and put them on the bear and maybe they'll think it's you if we push him down the hall fast.”

Jacob went to get his outdoor clothes. They dressed the bear, pulling Jacob's hat almost all the way down its muzzle. Then, running, they propelled it down the hall. As they went by his parents' bedroom, Maurice's father poked his head around the door.