Betsy and Billy (2 page)

Betsy wondered who her teacher would be. She saw Miss Grey pass the door. She was so glad to see Miss Grey again. It was all she could do to keep from running after her. She began again to wish that she could go back to the first grade with Miss Grey. Betsy could feel a little lump in her throat. She swallowed hard but it didn't do any good. Just as the tears were beginning to come into her eyes, the door opened and in came Miss Grey. "Good morning, boys and girls," said Miss Grey.

"Good morning, Miss Grey," the children said.

"I have a surprise for you," said Miss Grey.

The children's eyes were very wide, for they loved nothing better than surprises.

"I have been promoted," said Miss Grey. "I am in the second grade, too."

"Whoopee!" shouted Billy Porter.

Billy Porter was very proud of his loose tooth. No one else in the second grade had a loose tooth so of course this made Billy feel very important indeed. At recess he stood in the center of a circle of friends and wiggled the tooth.

Betsy thought Billy's loose tooth was wonderful. When she came home from school she said, "Mother, Billy Porter has a loose tooth. Will I have a loose tooth too pretty soon?"

"I suppose you will, Betsy," replied Mother. "Your baby teeth should be coming out soon."

"Will all of my teeth come out?" asked Betsy.

"Yes," answered Mother, "but new ones will come in to take their places."

Each day Billy's tooth grew looser and every day his little friends gathered round him to see how loose it was.

Betsy could hardly wait for the day to come when she would have a loose tooth. Every morning, as soon as she woke up, she sat up in bed and felt each of her teeth. One morning when she felt her front teeth, one of them seemed to rock ever so little. Her eyes grew round with

wonder. She felt it again. Yes, she was certain that it moved a tiny bit. Betsy leaped out of bed and rushed into Mother's room. "Mother, Mother!" she cried. "My tooth is loose. Look, Mother, it's loose!"

Mother felt Betsy's little tooth. "Yes, I believe it is," she said.

"Look! Father, look!" cried Betsy. "My tooth is loose!" Father had to stop shaving to look at Betsy's tooth.

"Well, isn't that something!" said Father. "I wonder if any of mine are loose."

Betsy laughed at Father while he felt his front teeth, for Betsy knew that none of Father's teeth were loose. They were big and white and strong.

Then Betsy's face fell. "Oh, dear," she sighed.

"What's the matter?" said Father, as he went on shaving.

"I just remembered," said Betsy. "Today is Saturday and I don't go to school today. Now I'll have to wait until Monday to show everybody."

"Cheer up!" said Father. "It will be looser by Monday. You'll be able to get a bigger crowd around you on Monday."

Betsy went back to her room a little comforted. While she dressed she thought of Billy Porter. He wasn't the only one with a loose tooth now. How would she ever be able to wait until Monday, she thought. And there was Sunday in between too.

Betsy found that waiting until Monday was not as bad as she had thought. On Saturday morning the grocer's boy came with the groceries. The milkman came to collect his money for the milk. The gas man came to look at the gas meter and a man came selling brooms. As each one arrived, Betsy said, "I have a loose tooth."

Betsy thought that the grocer's boy and the gas man and the man selling brooms didn't act as though they thought a loose tooth was very important, but the milkman thought it was wonderful. When she told him about her tooth, he said, "Now that's the best news I've heard all morning. Sure it will be a great day when it comes out."

On Monday morning the tooth was looser. It really wiggled. Betsy reached school very early. She showed it to Miss Grey and to all of the children as they came into the room. When Billy Porter arrived the children were crowded around Betsy. "Oh, Billy!" they shouted. "Betsy has a loose tooth too."

"Well, mine will come out first," said Billy, "because mine is looser than yours."

"Maybe it won't," said Betsy, " 'cause mine is pretty loose."

"There's not a chance," said Billy, "not a chance."

When the bell rang for school to begin the children sat down in their seats.

"Children," said Miss Grey, "I am going to give a brand-new red pencil to the first one who loses a tooth." Miss Grey had red pencils and green pencils, but the red pencils were very special and were always used as first prizes.

Billy pointed to himself and grinned. "That means me," he said.

At recess time no one gathered around to look at Billy's tooth. Now that there were two loose teeth in the second grade, Billy's didn't seem so important.

Betsy was letting Ellen feel hers when Billy came up to her.

"You think you're smart, don't you," said Billy, "getting a loose tooth. Well, you're just a copycat."

Billy was so cross that he shoved Betsy very hard. "You old copycat!" he cried.

Now Betsy had been standing on one foot, and when Billy shoved her she toppled over and her little nose struck the hard cement of the school yard.

When Billy saw what he had done, he was so scared that he ran away as fast as he could.

Ellen helped Betsy up. Betsy was crying and there was a little blood on her lip.

The bell had already rung for the children to return to their classrooms. Ellen put her arm around Betsy. When Miss Grey saw Betsy crying, she said, "Why, Betsy, what has happened?"

"Billy Porter knocked her down," said Ellen.

"I didn't mean to knock her down," said Billy. "I just gave her a push and she upset."

"Billy, I am ashamed of you," said Miss Grey. "I want you to apologize to Betsy and tell her you are sorry."

Betsy had stopped crying. The tears were still wet on her cheeks but she was smiling a big broad smile. Before Billy could say he was sorry, Betsy called out, "Oh, Miss Grey, I've lost my tooth."

Miss Grey handed Betsy a new red pencil. "Now, Billy," said Miss Grey, "we are waiting to hear you tell Betsy that you are sorry you knocked her down."

"I'm sorry I knocked you down," murmured Billy.

"Oh, that's all right," said Betsy, looking at her new red pencil. "I'm not sorry; I'm glad."

Then a strange look came over Billy's face. His eyes were big and round and he looked scared.

"What's the matter, Billy?" asked Miss Grey.

"I swallowed it," said Billy.

"What did you swallow?" asked Miss Grey.

"My tooth," said Billy.

"Thank goodness!" said Miss Grey. "Now we are rid of those teeth." Then she looked at the class. "How many children think that Billy should have a green pencil?"

All of the children raised their hands.

"Thank you," said Billy, as he took the pencil. In a few moments Billy raised his hand.

"What is it, Billy?" asked Miss Grey.

"That tooth won't bite me, will it, Miss Grey?" said Billy.

The children laughed very hard at Billy's question.

"No, Billy," said Miss Grey, "it won't bite you.

All during the month of October, the children in the second grade were looking forward to Halloween. They could hardly wait for the last day of October to come. One day Miss Grey told them that they could have a Halloween party on that day.

"Can we come to school dressed up?" Kenny Roberts asked.

"Well, you can't come to school dressed up," Miss Grey replied, "but you can bring your costumes with you and put them on at lunchtime and we will have a party."

"Will there be ice cream?" said Billy. "It won't be a party if there isn't any ice cream."

"I don't know about ice cream," said Miss Grey. "We shall have to see when the time comes."

When Ellen went to Betsy's house to play, they talked about what they would wear. In the schoolyard they whispered about it because they wanted to surprise the other children. Everybody wanted to surprise everybody else but everybody whispered to somebody about what he was going to wear.

As the day drew near, funny false-faces appeared in the store windows. There were clowns and Indians, monkeys and donkeys, rabbits and cats. There were old men with great big noses and ladies with bright pink cheeks and fuzzy hair.

At last the day came. Betsy woke up with a happy, "special-day feeling." She knew that this was going to be a day full of fun. She was going to be the Queen of Hearts. Mother had made a long blue dress for Betsy. It was very stiff and there were big red hearts fastened all over it. There was a crown for Betsy to wear on her head. It was made of cardboard and painted with gold paint. When it was time for Betsy to leave for school, Mother folded the dress very carefully and put it in Betsy's schoolbag.

Betsy trotted off with her schoolbag over her shoulder and her crown hanging on her arm. When she reached the corner, she turned around and ran home. "Mother," she shouted, "I forgot the pillow that goes under my dress to make me look fat."

Mother gave Betsy an old sofa pillow and Betsy started off again. This time her arms were full. On her way to school she met some of the other children. They were all carrying brightly colored clothes in their arms or packages done up in brown paper. Some of the children were wearing their false-faces. They laughed and shouted. Suddenly it began to rain. The children ran as fast as their legs could carry them. They didn't want their Halloween costumes to get wet. When they reached the school, Kenny Roberts stopped at the drinking fountain to get a drink of water, but everyone else ran right into the classroom.