Free Rufus M. by Eleanor Estes Page A

Jane.
    "My!"
    "I don't mean just dates like when Columbus discovered America and Washington's birthday. I mean
all
dates."
    "Goodness!"
    "He remembers things like what date the parish house burned down and the New Haven depot, too. And the day Rufus fell out of the cherry tree, and the day Rufus got his bike."
    "Gracious!"
    "Yes. He remembers what date the parish house burned down," Jane repeated. "Don't you, Joe?" She looked at him encouragingly.
    Joe nodded. Jane had hoped he'd answer the right date. But he didn't; he just nodded.
    "Sure. And he remembers when the New Haven depot burned down. Don't you, Joe?"
    Joe nodded again.
    Nodding isn't exactly conversation but it is taking part,
thought Jane. Out loud, she said, "He doesn't have to write them down."
    To this Miss Myles just raised her eyebrows incredulously.
    "The funny thing is that most of these things happened in May and still Joey remembers them."
    "In May?"
    "Yes. The month of May."
    Here Jane paused and she looked desperately at Joe. He could slide in now if he felt like it. He didn't feel like it, though. His forehead was damp. Jane plunged on.
    "Yes. So many things happened in May, like birthdays in our family, but he keeps them all straight and doesn't mix them up with the fires."
    Miss Myles had settled herself comfortably in her armchair and she nodded her head up and down, up and down, considering this. But she didn't say anything, so Jane continued.
    "If you say to Joe, 'Joe, when did the parish house burn down?' he doesn't have to think a second. He says right off, 'May third.'
    "I don't mean the parish house really burned down on May third. He knows the date. I don't."
    Jane saw that Miss Myles looked a little confused.
    "I'm just saying May third because I don't know the date and I'm just saying May third." This was hard to explain and the perspiration broke out on Jane's forehead now.
    "I might have said the fifth!" she blurted out. "That's because I don't know the date. Only Joey knows in our whole family."
    Miss Myles touched her handkerchief to her nose. Was everything clear? Jane wondered.
    "I just said May third because it came into my head first."
    "Well," said Miss Myles, turning to Joe with a slightly bewildered air, "the parish house did or did not burn down on May third?"
    This required an answer. Joe said, "May eighteenth!"
    And "May eighteenth" were the only two words that Joe said during the whole visit. Then Miss Myles left the room for a moment. Joe and Jane moved to the door. When Miss Myles came back, she gave each one of them a big round lemon cookie with a scalloped edge and they left.
    The air smelled sweet, of ripe apples and grapes. They walked home, not saying anything until they were around the corner. They passed warmly lit houses and in some you could see the men smoking their pipes and reading the paper. And in another someone was playing the piano. In another a lot of ladies laughed. Joey whistled softly. When the children reached their corner, they went around to the backyard, climbed up on the fence, reached for some bunches of ripe purple grapes, and started eating them and spitting out the skins.
    "Taste better at night than in the day, don't they?" said Jane.
    "Yeah. Dew on 'em," said Joe.
    "I wouldn't 'ave talked because she's really your friend, and I shouldn't 'ave done all the talkin'," said Jane apologetically. She did not want Joe to think she had deliberately stolen his show.
    "Yeah," said Joe. "I should 'a' talked."
    "Gee, it's hard to talk sometimes, isn't it?" said Jane.
    "Yeah, it sure is hard to talk," said Joey. "I had a lot to tell her when I went in there," he went on, "but when I got in there I couldn't talk."
    "I have a hard time talkin,' too," said Jane. "But sometimes I can make myself."
    "Yeah? Well, I couldn't tonight. Talkin' sure is hard."
    Rufus came out of the back door, leaving it open so that a path of light stretched into the yard.
    "I heard you come home," he said. He shinnied up on the