Free Treasures from Grandma's Attic by Arleta Richardson Page B

build you a bookcase? Reuben or Roy could paint it for you. It’s not long until your birthday.”
    That night at the table, I brought up the subject. “Would you like to know what I want for my birthday?” I asked.
    “We hadn’t been worrying about it,” Pa teased. “But if you’d care to tell us, we’ll listen.”
    “I’d like a bookcase for my room. Sarah Jane’s pa made one for her, and Josiah painted it. You’d be surprised how much neater I could keep my things if I had shelves.”
    “I think we might arrange that,” Pa said.
    “I’m in favor of anything that contributes to neatness,” Ma put in. “That sounds like a fine present to me.”
    “I’ll measure the space after supper,” Pa decided, “and work on it whenever I can.”
    The bookcase was done by my birthday. It was painted a pale blue—my favorite color.
    “Thank you, Pa,” I said, hugging him. “It’s the nicest thing I own. Doesn’t it look pretty there?”
    Pa agreed that it did. I spent the rest of the morning deciding what to put on the shelves. I didn’t have many books either, but the ones I had went on the top. There were McGuffey Readers from the primer on up, a speller for each year, and several other schoolbooks. I also had two books I had won at school and the volume of “Snow-Bound.” I added my Bible and was pleased with the results.
    “Come and look,” I called to Ma. “What do you think?”
    “It looks very nice,” she told me. “What are you going to put on the other shelves?”
    “I think Emily can sit in one corner,” I replied, “and Charlotte in the other.”
    As I placed the dolls on the shelf, Ma eyed Charlotte and shook her head. “Do you know how many years you’ve had that rag?” she asked me.
    “Charlotte’s not a rag!” I protested. “She’s not as pretty as Emily, but you don’t just throw away a doll that depends on you!”
    “You have a heavy load of responsibility if everything you save depends on you.” Ma laughed. “But this is your room. You keep whatever you like.”
    I arranged all the things I could find. The shelves weren’t full by any means, but they looked very nice to me. I stood in the doorway and surveyed the rest of my room critically. The new bookcase certainly made my curtains look shabby.
    “Ma, do you think we have a little material left from something that I could use to make new curtains for my room?”
    Ma thought for a moment. “I’m not sure we have any scraps that are suitable or even big enough. Perhaps you could persuade Pa to let you go to town.”
    I was sure I could, so I enlisted Sarah Jane’s help to pick out the fabric. “I’d like nice white curtains with ruffles and blue tiebacks to match the bookcase,” I said. “Maybe dotted swiss.”
    “I hope you’re going to let your ma make them for you,” Sarah Jane said. “I don’t know what you could do to a straight piece of cloth, but I’m sure you’d think of something.”
    “You’re jealous,” I retorted. “All you have is a new bookcase, and I’m getting a bookcase and curtains.”
    “I was just teasing.” Sarah Jane smiled. “They’ll look nice.”
    And they did. When Ma finished them, I washed the windows, and together we hung the new curtains.
    “There. It looks perfect. Except …”
    Ma paused at the door and looked back. “Except?”
    “Well, the walls look a little drab, don’t they? I mean, the windows are sparkling and the bookcase and curtains look so fresh and new. It does show up the old paint.”
    Ma sighed and went back to the kitchen. I wandered out to the barn to look for Pa.
    “Would you happen to have any more of the paint you used for the bookcase?” I asked him.
    “There’s a little left, I guess,” Pa replied. “What do you need it for?”
    “Could I paint my bedroom walls?”
    “Not enough for that, I’m afraid.”
    My face fell, and Pa looked sympathetic. “I could pick up another pail of it when I go to town. I’m not sure that you