Betsy and Billy (3 page)

"Now, children," said Miss Grey, "I want you to put all of the costumes and the false-faces under the desks. We will keep them there until lunchtime."

After a while Kenny came in. He had his false-face in his hand and he was crying.

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

"I lost my Halloween suit," said Kenny.

"But how did you lose it?" said Miss Grey.

"I don't know," sobbed Kenny. "I had it when I left the house and now I haven't got it."

"You must have dropped it," said Miss Grey. "Go look in the schoolyard."

Kenny went out in the yard. It was pouring now. Soon he returned carrying a very wet suit. "I guess I dropped it when I stopped to get a drink," he said.

Miss Grey took the suit from Kenny and hung it over the radiator to dry. Betsy thought it looked just like her winter night-drawers only it was dark gray and there was a long tail hanging from the seat of the trousers.

"I know what that is," said Ellen. "It's a pussycat suit."

Soon steam began to rise from the pussycat suit.

"Miss Grey," said Kenny, "do you think it will be dry in time for the party?"

"Yes, Kenny," replied Miss Grey, "we'll leave it there all morning and it will be dry and warm when you put it on."

When the lunch bell rang, Miss Grey told the children to take out their costumes and put them

on. In a moment the room was buzzing. The children were busy putting on skirts and jackets, trousers and boots, hats and scarves. The false-faces were on in a jiffy.

Kenny took his suit off the radiator. What was his surprise when he found that it was so tiny he couldn't begin to put it on. "What is the matter with my suit?" cried Kenny. "I can't get it on.

"Oh, Kenny!" said Miss Grey. "It must have shrunk. Isn't that too bad!"

All of the children stopped dressing to look at Kenny's suit.

"That isn't a pussycat suit," said Billy. "It's a kitten suit."

Kenny began to cry for now he had no Halloween suit.

"Don't cry, Kenny," said Miss Grey. "I'll find something for you to wear."

Miss Grey went out of the room while the children finished putting on their costumes. When they were through, the room was full of cowboys and pirates, policemen and firemen. There were Gypsies and dancers, Dutch girls and boys in wooden shoes, fairies and elves. Ellen was a Spanish dancer and she had a tambourine that

jingled. Betty Jane was Red Riding Hood and Christopher was a soldier with a sword in his belt.

When Miss Grey returned, she was carrying a brown blanket with bright red stripes. "Here, Kenny," she said. "You can be an Indian."

Kenny stopped crying when he saw the blanket. He looked much happier. Miss Grey wrapped the blanket around him and fastened it with a big safety pin. Then she found some old feathers in her desk drawer. These she fastened to Kenny's head with a rubber band.

When the children were all dressed, they came up to the front of the room, one by one. Each child told the others what he was supposed to be. The children clapped for every one. When Betsy said that she was the Queen of Hearts, they clapped very hard. Finally, it was Kenny's turn. He walked to the front of the room in his Indian blanket. When he turned round, he was wearing his pussycat false-face. The children laughed and laughed when they saw how funny Kenny looked.

"Well, Kenny," said Miss Grey, "tell us what you are."

"I'm an Indian pussycat," said Kenny.

The children clapped louder than ever and Miss Grey laughed very hard.

"Now," said Miss Grey, "let's have a parade around the room before we eat our lunch." The children formed a line around the room. Betsy's pillow was slipping down so she shoved it up around her middle. Christopher was right behind her rattling his sword. Miss Grey sat down at the piano and began to play a march. The children marched around the room. Betsy was having a hard time with her pillow. It kept slipping down and she kept pushing it up. Suddenly it dropped on the floor. Betsy stepped over it but the soldier with the tin sword tripped and fell on the pillow. Christopher scrambled to his feet and Betsy picked up her pillow. Out flew the feathers all over the room. Christopher's tin sword had cut the pillow cover.

"Oh! Oh!" shouted the children.

The music stopped and Miss Grey turned round. "Gracious goodness!" she cried; "where did this snowstorm come from?"

Just then a boy from the sixth grade opened the door. As he did so, the draught from the open door sent the feathers flying higher than ever. How the children shouted!

When the feathers dropped, they settled all over the room. The children had to gather them up very carefully and put them in a big paper bag.

At last they were all caught and the children settled down to eat their lunch. Miss Grey had a brick of ice cream for each little boy and girl. The children's eyes danced as she put the ice cream in front of them.

"Oh, boy!" cried Billy. "This is a real party all right!"

Just as the children were beginning to eat their ice cream, Kenny said, "Guess what, Miss Grey!"

"I couldn't guess, Kenny," said Miss Grey. "You will have to tell me."

"There's a feather sticking right up out of my ice cream," said Kenny.

On Saturday mornings Betsy played with her little friends. Sometimes she went to Ellen's house and sometimes to Billy Porter's. Sometimes Ellen or Billy came to play at Betsy's.

Billy had a new puppy dog. The dog had been named Miss Mopsie-Upsie Tail because her tail stuck up so straight. Most of the time she was called Mopsie for short because nobody could go out front and call, "Here, Miss Mopsie-Upsie Tail! Here, Miss Mopsie-Upsie Tail!" Billy had a lot of different ways of calling her. Sometimes he shouted, "Here, Mopsie-Upsie-Opsie" and sometimes he would call, "Here, Upsie-Opsie-Mopsie" and sometimes, "Here, Opsie-Mopsie-Upsie," so that Miss Mopsie-Upsie Tail soon learned to run home whenever she heard anything shouted with a lot of p's in it.

One Saturday morning Mother drove into the city. She dropped Betsy off at Billy's house. Billy's mother had invited Betsy to spend the whole day with Billy. Betsy had her paintbox with her, for she and Billy had decided to color pictures in a new painting book. They both liked to paint, and whenever they painted pictures that pleased them very much they would climb up three flights of stairs to the top floor of Billy's house to show their work to Billy's father. Billy's father was an artist and he worked all day painting pictures in his studio away up on the top floor.

About ten o'clock Billy's mother looked into the living room. The two children were lying on the floor painting. Mopsie was lying as close to the children as she could. She was almost on top of the painting book.

"I am going to the store now," said Billy's mother. "Don't disturb Daddy because he is very busy this morning."

"Can we have something to eat?" asked Billy.

"Yes," replied his mother. "I left some crackers for you on the kitchen table."

Mrs. Porter went off and the two children ran out to the kitchen. They finished off the crackers in no time.

"Say!" said Billy, "we have some dandy molasses. Do you like bread and molasses, Betsy?"

"You bet!" said Betsy.

"Well, I'll see if I can find it," said Billy.

Billy looked in the refrigerator but the molasses was not there. Finally up on a high shelf he spied a jar filled with golden molasses. Billy climbed up on a chair and reached for the jar. He couldn't quite reach it. Betsy and Mopsie