Penny and Peter (2 page)

"Okay!" said Penny. "We'll take care of them, won't we, Peter?"

"Sure!" said Peter.

Mother had the one remaining suitcase packed and Minnie had a large black leather bag and a shopping bag. In the shopping bag she had odds and ends. It was filled with half-empty packages of flour, cocoa, sugar, cornstarch, and raisins—things that Minnie would use up when they got back home. Also, into the shopping bag went Minnie's favorite gadgets, such as the can opener, knife sharpener, and apple corer. Sticking out of the bag were the long handles of the pancake turner and the soup ladle. The bag was sitting on the kitchen chair when Mother came out into the kitchen after lunch.

"Why are you taking the pancake turner and the soup ladle, Minnie? We have others at home," said Mother.

"Well, I just got awful fond of them," said Minnie. "Somehow, I think I'm going to need them. The pancake turner's nice and limber and the soup ladle's not too big."

Finally, the taxi was at the door to take them to the train.

Penny put Really and Truly into their traveling bag. There was a great deal of mewing as Penny placed the bag in the taxi. Then Peter and Penny carried the basket of crabs out and put it in the taxi.

"You boys are sure there is plenty of seaweed in the basket with the crabs, aren't you?" asked Mother.

"Oh! Sure, sure!" said Peter. "We put in a lot of seaweed, and the crabs are very quiet."

"Well, that's good," said Mother, as she climbed into the taxi. "Here's hoping they keep quiet!"

Minnie, with her bags, climbed in beside the taxi driver.

"I've traveled with lots of things in my day," said Minnie, "but this is the first time I've traveled with fifty crabs."

"But they're beautiful crabs, Minnie," said Penny.

"Oh, sure, sure! They're beautiful crabs," said Minnie. "I just hope they take a nice long nap on the train and don't get into trouble."

"What trouble could they get into?" asked Peter. "They're so quiet you wouldn't know they were in the basket." And then, as a shuffling sound came from the basket, Peter added, "Almost."

"Well, I just hope for the best," said Minnie. "I just hope for the best."

This made Mother laugh and she said, "Oh,
Minnie! Don't be so gloomy about the crabs. They are quite all right in the basket."

Minnie sighed. "I just hope for the best," she said.

When they reached the station, the train was rapidly filling with passengers. Mother carried the suitcase in one hand and Really and Truly in the other. The boys carried the basket of crabs between them and Minnie brought up the rear with her black bag and the shopping bag.

Carrying the basket of crabs up the steep steps of the car was not easy, but the boys managed it slowly.

Mother led the way to four vacant seats that faced each other in the center of the car. The suitcase she stowed away on the rack overhead. The bag containing Really and Truly she placed on the floor.

"Now, boys," she said, "you will have to put the basket of crabs between the seats and do the best you can with your feet and legs. After all, the crabs were your idea."

"Okay!" said Peter, as the boys reached the seat. "Put it down, Penny."

Penny dropped his end of the basket so suddenly that it startled Peter, and before you could say "Boo!" the basket of crabs had tipped over and nearly all the crabs and the seaweed lay sprawling in the aisle.

The excited crabs began scrambling in all directions. Women and children, nearby, jumped up on the seats to get out of the way of the pinching crabs. The children yelled and squealed. The aisle was blocked and people couldn't get through. When they saw the crabs scurrying around in the aisle and under the seats, they fled out of the doors of the car.

Minnie started to cry, "Goodness! Goodness!"

Peter righted the basket while Penny jumped up and down and cried, "Oh, Mummy! Oh, Mummy! Oh, Mummy!"

"Be quiet, Penny. Minnie, stop yelling and do something," said Mother. "Here, give me the pancake turner."

Mother pulled the pancake turner out of the shopping bag and went after a nearby crab. She scooped for it but it slid right off. Meanwhile, the other crabs were getting farther and farther away. Everyone in the car was either kneeling or standing on the seats and they were all watching the crabs.

"Oh, dear!" said Mother. "This will never do. Here, give me the soup ladle."

Minnie handed over the soup ladle. With the pancake turner under the crab and the soup ladle pinning it down on top, Mother was able to lift one crab back into the basket. And then, the crabs in the basket started such a commotion as their fellow crab returned. Mother went after another.

By this time, most of the crabs had hidden under the seats. They could be heard scratching their claws on the floor.

"I think I can get them, Mother," said Peter. "I can get under the seats more easily."

Meanwhile, Minnie had gathered up the seaweed. She kept muttering over and over, "I never did trust crabs. They're just plain wicked."

The aisle was now cleared of everything but Peter and Penny, who went crawling up and down looking for crabs. Peter had the pancake turner in one hand and the soup ladle in the other. Every once in a while he would chase a crab out from under a seat, put the pancake turner under it, the soup ladle on top of it, and drop it into the basket. Many a time he dropped the crab and had to begin over again, but by the time the train had gone halfway home, all of the wandering crabs had been caught and were safely back in the basket. They had settled down under the seaweed.

Once, Penny looked down at the basket and said, "I'm glad we didn't lose the crabs, aren't you, Mummy?"

"Well," replied Mother, "it would have been better to have left them in the ocean."

"Oh, but Mother," said Penny, "they are such beautiful crabs!"

"Beautiful crabs!" muttered Minnie. "Just full of meanness, that's what. Nothing beautiful about them."

At the end of the journey, Mother asked the conductor if he would lift the basket off the train. Peter and Penny carried it safely to a taxicab.

At last they reached home and Mother and Minnie breathed a sigh of relief.

"I won't trust those crabs until I get them in the pot," said Minnie. And without taking off her hat, she put a big kettle of water on the stove.

When the water was boiling, she threw the crabs in one by one. As she did so, she muttered to herself, "Beautiful crabs! I just hope I never travel again with crabs. The most awful good-for-nothing nuisance in the world is a crab."

When they were done, Minnie laid the big fat crabs out on the kitchen table. Penny came into the kitchen. Minnie stood back and admired the crabs. Then a broad grin spread over her face. "My! Oh, my, Penny!" she said. "Aren't they beautiful crabs?"

Peter's bedroom was next to Penny's room. Before Peter came to live at Penny's house, it had been the guest room. As it didn't look very much like a boy's room, Daddy decided to do the whole room over.

"I saw a wonderful red, white, and blue wallpaper the other day," said Daddy. "And we will paint the floor a nice shade of blue."

"And we can use a red bedspread and white curtains," said Mother.

So, in no time at all, Daddy had moved everything out of the room. Peter was to sleep on the daybed in the upstairs study until the room was finished.

The paper hangers came and hung the red, white, and blue wallpaper and Daddy bought the blue paint to paint the floor.

A few days before school opened, Mother went into town to do some shopping. It was Minnie's day out and the two boys were left alone.

Before Mother left, she said, "How would you boys like to meet Daddy and me this evening for dinner and go to a movie?"

"Great!" cried Peter.

"Swell!" said Penny.

Mother told them the name of the restaurant.

"Oh, I know where that is," said Peter. "I used to serve papers there when I had my paper route."

"Very well," said Mother. "You and Penny be there at six o'clock sharp."

"All right, Mother," said Peter.

After Mother left, the boys looked around for something to do. They wandered into the room that was to be Peter's. By the door, in the empty room, sat a large can of blue paint and a package containing two large paintbrushes. Peter walked over and examined the can.

"I heard Daddy say that he wished the floor was painted," said Peter. "I wonder if we could paint it and surprise him when he gets home."

"Oh, I like to paint," said Penny. "I just love to paint."

"Well, let's do it," said Peter.

The boys squatted down beside the can of paint and Peter unwrapped the package of paintbrushes.

"I helped paint a floor once when I lived at the orphanage," said Peter.

"You know how to do lots of things, don't you, Peter?" said Penny.

"Pretty many," said Peter, as he went off to get a screwdriver to lift the lid off the can of paint.

When he returned he had a screwdriver and a sturdy stick. He pried off the lid and thrust the stick into the can.

"You have to stir it until it is smooth," he said, as he began to stir the paint round and round with the stick.

At first, it was very hard to stir, but the more he stirred the easier it became. And the color grew more beautiful.

Penny sat on the floor beside Peter. While Peter stirred, the two boys talked. "Do you know Jimmy and Jackie Landon?" asked Penny.

"Sure!" said Peter. "They're in your room in school, aren't they?"

"Yes," replied Penny. "And do you know what Jimmy and Jackie have in their bedroom?"

"What?" asked Peter.

"They have bunk beds," answered Penny. "Do you know what bunk beds are?"

"Sure," said Peter. "They're like the beds on trains. One is down low and the other is up high, near the ceiling."

"And you climb up a ladder to get into the upper one," said Penny.

"That's right," said Peter.

"I wish we had bunk beds," said Penny.

"I read a story once about some people who had a cabin in the woods. They had bunk beds," said Peter.

"They did?" said Penny. "They had a cabin in the woods?"

"Yepper!" replied Peter. "And it was an exciting story."

"Were there wild animals in the woods?" asked Penny.

"Oh, sure!" said Peter.

"Would you like a cabin in the woods?" asked Penny.

"You bet!" replied Peter. "Someday, I'm going to have one."

"Would you be afraid of the wild animals?" asked Penny.

"'Course not," said Peter.

"Wouldn't you even be afraid of a wolf?" asked Penny.

"No," replied Peter. "I would shoot it. Would you be afraid?"

"No," answered Penny. "I wouldn't be afraid of any old wolf."

"Well, then, you can stay in my cabin when I get it," said Peter. "You can sleep in one of the bunks."

Penny looked into the can of paint. "Isn't it done yet?" he asked.

"Almost," Peter answered.

At last, Peter said, "Now it's ready." And just then, he tipped the can and spilled some of the paint on the floor. Peter picked up one of the brushes and spread the paint that had been spilled. "We might as well begin right here," he said.