Free John Fitzgerald by Me, My Little Brain Page B

right,
John, you can keep your bank," he said as if he was doing me a big favor.
        Then my little brain got a brilliant idea.
"You've had your fun," I said. "Now give me everything back or
you'll sleep alone the next full moon."
    "No, I
won't," he said. "I'll go sleep with your Mamma."
        This kid had the answer for everything. He
pointed at my box. "My box now," he said. "You don't need it any
more."
    "Take
it," I said.
        Then I got a chair and stood on it to put
my bank on the top shelf in the clothes closet. I knew Frankie couldn't reach
it there. And for all I knew this kid might turn out to be a safecracker as
well as a blackmailer. My conscience wasn't bothering me any more for telling
Frankie the ghost story. I had paid plenty for telling him a lie.
        It had stopped raining by the time dinner
was served. Frankie put away more than his share of the roast chicken with
giblet gravy, chestnut dressing, mashed potatoes, and peas. He also ate a big
piece of angel food cake with ice cream.
    I changed into my
play clothes after dinner, which we always ate at one o'clock on Sundays. There
were two things a kid could do and have a lot of fun after a rainstorm. He
could go walking on stilts through rain puddles or go wading through them
barefoot.
        Mamma stopped me on my way through the
kitchen. "Take Frankie with you," she said.
        "He can't walk on stilts," I
protested. "I'm going walking in the rain puddles."
        "Not today you aren't," Mamma
said. "I'll change him into some of your old clothes. You can take him for
a ride in your wagon through the mud puddles and go barefoot yourself."
        "Boy, oh, boy," I said with
disgust, "it is getting to where I'm nothing but Frankie's slave around
here."
        "We don't know what your Uncle Mark is
going to find at the Pennyworth farmhouse," Mamma said sharply.
"Frankie may only be with us a few more days if your uncle locates some
relatives. You will treat Frankie as your own little brother for as long as he
is with us."
        Mamma had spoiled my afternoon but had
given me hope. Uncle Mark was sure to find Frankie had relatives. I was ready
on the back porch when Mamma brought Frankie out. I had on knee pants and had
my shoes and stockings off to wade barefooted. Mamma had dressed Frankie in
some old jeans and shirt of mine.
        I got my wagon off the porch. He climbed
into it. I pulled him out of the backyard and down the alley to the street. I
could see several kids wading through rain puddles on stilts or barefooted.
Howard Kay and Jimmie Peterson were both barefooted. They came running through
the rain puddles to meet me.
    "Is that the
kid?" Howard asked, pointing at Frankie.
        I figured everybody in town knew about
Frankie by now. "Yeah," I said. "His name is Frankie
Pennyworth."
        Jimmie hitched up his jeans. His mother
always bought his clothing one size too big so he could wear clothes for two
years. "What a funny name," he said.
        Howard Kay laughed. "A penny's worth
of what," he said.
        Frankie looked at Jimmie. "Your pants
are too big and you look funny," he said. Then he looked at Howard.
"You've got a funny face," he said.
    "Saucy
little kid, ain't you?" Howard said.
        Just then I saw Seth Smith go riding by on
Tom's bike. He was deliberately riding through all the rain puddles he could.
No kid who owned a bike would do a thing like that. He would know it would rot
the tires and make the sprocket, chain, and spokes rusty.
        "Is Sammy renting out Tom's bike on a
day like this?" I asked, although I knew the answer.
        "Yeah," Howard said. "I saw
Danny Forester riding it through the deepest puddles he could find a while
ago."
    "I'll put a
stop to that," I said. Boy, oh, boy, was I angry.
        I pulled Frankie to the Smith's vacant lot.
Sammy was there with his alarm clock. Five kids were waiting to pay for a ride.
I let go of the handle of the wagon and walked up to Sammy.