Free Nothing to Fear by Jackie French Koller Page B

made me feel inside, that was the best darn ten cents I ever spent.

FIFTEEN
    Mama was in a real snit when I got home.
    "Will ya look at this?" she said, waving an envelope in front of my face. "Stubborn, prideful fool," she muttered as I took the envelope from her hand.
    "It's from Pa!" I said, my heart leaping.
    "Aye," said Mama, her arms crossed, her foot tapping the floor.
    Then I discovered what it was that got her goat so. In the envelope, along with the note, were the three dollars Mama had hidden in his sack. I read the note:
    Â 
Dearest Molly,
It'll be a cold day in hell before I'll eat a meal that's been stole from the mouths of my wife and children.
Your devoted,
Daniel
    Â 
    I couldn't help smiling.
    "And just what are you grinnin' at?" asked Mama.
    I shrugged. "Well, that's Pa for you," I said.
    "Aaagh," said Mama, throwing her hands up in the air. "I mighta known you'd take his side."
    Our door buzzer rang and Ma made a face. "Now who the devil is that?" she mumbled.
    "I'll go see, Ma." I went into the front room, pushed the window up, and stuck my head out. "Who's down there?" I yelled. The front door opened and Mr. Twiddle stepped out onto the stoop and looked up. I frowned.
    "Twiddle," he yelled, "collecting."
    "Yeah, just a minute," I told him. I couldn't stand Mr. Twiddle. Not that he's a bad guy or anything, but he's an insurance man. Every week, for no reason that I can see, we have to give him a quarter, for which we get absolutely nothing. Some racket, if you ask me.
    "It's Twiddle," I told Ma, and she made a face, too.
    "Don't give it to him, Ma," I said. "Who cares if we have insurance."
    "No, no," Ma said with a sigh. "Insurance is important." She reached up over the sink and took down the jar where we kept my shoeshine money. She took out five nickels and handed them to me. "Go pay him, please, Danny."
    I dropped the nickels down one by one and watched Mr. Twiddle put them in his pocket—nick
els it had taken me the better part of a week to earn. He smiled when he caught the last one and tipped his hat. "See you next week," he yelled.
    "Yeah, sure." I could hardly wait.
    I heard a door slam and looked over to see Mickey dashing down his front steps. He saw me hanging out the window.
    "Hey, Garvey," he yelled. "Let's go. We're gonna be late again!"
    Oh no. I glanced at the clock on the front room wall. Five minutes to ten! I raced through my room, grabbed my missal, and shot past Ma and out the door. "Gonna be late for catechism," I yelled over my shoulder.
    Mickey and I ran to the corner, turned left, and kept going right on through the tunnel and down 106th. The sidewalk was full of Saturday morning shoppers. We zigged and zagged around them and arrived at St. Cecilia's, all out of breath, just a minute past ten.
    Sister Mary Francis pursed her lips and stared at us with her beady black eyes when we walked in.
    "We're late again, I see," she said.
    An irresistible urge to sully came over me.
    "Oh? Were you late, too, Sister?" I asked.
    I'd been tempted to say it a million times, every time she referred to me as "we," but I'd always managed to keep my mouth shut. Now I'd gone and done it. A rash of giggles burst out in the room and Sister's eyes flew open wide.
    "Master Garvey," she said, "
you
will spend the class on your knees in front of the room."
    Another giggle swept the room.
    "And the next one who makes a sound will join Master Garvey."
    There was absolute silence as I took up my position on the cold, cement floor. I tried to lean back on my heels, but Sister gave me a sharp rap on the rump with her pointer.
    "At attention!" she said.
    One of the girls burst out laughing.
    "Miss Riley," said Sister, "join Master Garvey, please."
    Wow, Sister must've really been in a lousy mood. I'd never seen her make a
girl
kneel before. Maggie appeared beside me, trying to look repentant, but not quite succeeding.
    "Anyone else?" Sister demanded.
    Absolute silence reigned again.
    "All right," said