Annie (15 page)

“Oh, no, no, Mr. Mudge, you'd better look again,” said Mr. Warbucks in a steely voice.

“Pay to the order of . . . ‘The jig is up'!” Rooster's jaw dropped open. He'd been found out!

“Yes, the jig is up, Daniel Francis Hannigan,” said Mr. Warbucks sternly, “also known as Rooster Hannigan, also known as Ralph Mudge.” He turned to Lily. “And the jig is up for you, too, Miss Gumper.”

“Rooster, you dumb cluck, I could scratch your damn eyes out!” shrieked Lily.

“Drake,” commanded Mr. Warbucks, “summon in the gentlemen from the F.B.I.”

“I already have, sir,” said Drake politely, stepping aside to reveal a trio of brown-suited G-men who were holding drawn revolvers and pairs of handcuffs.

“Ah, good.” Mr. Warbucks smiled. “Would you arrest these two, please?”

“Yes, sir,” snapped the agents, putting handcuffs on Rooster and Lily, and started to lead them away.

“Bye, Mom. Bye, Dad,” Annie chirped.

Meanwhile, Miss Hannigan tiptoed up to the Christmas tree, surrounded herself with orphans, and began leading them in singing “Silent Night.” Mr. Warbucks strode up to Miss Hannigan, however, and placed a firm hand on her shoulder. “And I believe that you'll find that this woman is their accomplice,” he said to the F.B.I. agents. “Arrest her, too, please.”

“Me? I didn't do nothin',” Miss Hannigan shrilly protested. “I never saw them two people before in my life.”

“Aw, come off it, Aggie, you big liar!” shrieked Lily.

“Yeah, sis, if Lily and me is goin' to jail for this one, so are you,” snarled Rooster. “She was in on it, all right, gave us all the dope about the locket and everything.”

Miss Hannigan turned to Mr. Warbucks. “Mr. Warbucks, Oliver, I ain't never done nothin' to you,” she pleaded, “I've always been a nice—”

“Madam,” President Roosevelt interrupted, “the jig is up!”

Miss Hannigan looked about in panic and then spied Annie. “Annie, my little Annie,” she crooned, trying to sound like the sweetest lady in all the world, “tell them how good and nice I always was to you.”

“Gee, I'm sorry, Miss Hannigan,” said Annie, backing warily away, “but remember the one thing you always taught me: never tell a lie!”

“Brat!” screeched Miss Hannigan. She tried to grab for Annie, but an F.B.I. agent grabbed her first. “I'm gonna let you in on a little secret,” she screamed, wriggling in the F.B.I. agent's arms, “I never liked you—you little gold digger!”

The F.B.I. agent clamped handcuffs on Miss Hannigan's wrists. “Come along with me,” he ordered.

“Get your crummy hands offa me!” she hollered, but soon she was gone, dragged off with Rooster and Lily to a federal lockup and almost certainly no less than ten years in jail. For Annie, in any event, that was the end of Miss Agatha Hannigan—she never saw her again.

“Annie,” said Mr. Warbucks after the F.B.I. men had left with their prisoners, “we'd like to meet your friends from the orphanage.”

Annie quickly assembled the orphans—who'd been so busy playing with their Christmas toys under the tree that they hadn't even noticed what had happened to Miss Hannigan—and led them to Mr. Warbucks and Miss Farrell.

“Kids,” said Annie, “I'd like you to meet Miss Grace Farrell.”

“Hello,” chorused the orphans.

“Hi, kids,” Miss Farrell cheerfully replied.

“And that man over there is the president of the United States,” said Annie.

“Hello,” the orphans chorused again, totally unimpressed at meeting the president.

“Hi, kids!” cried President Roosevelt with a grin.

Annie took Mr. Warbucks by the hand. “And this,” she said, looking lovingly up at him, “is . . . my father, Daddy Warbucks.”

“Hello,” chorused the orphans.

“Hi, kids,” said Mr. Warbucks, hugging Annie close to him.

“And listen, kids, I've great news,” Annie happily announced. “Miss Hannigan is gone for good—to jail!”

“Hooray!” shouted the orphans.

“And you're not going to have to work at those sewing machines of yours ever again,” said Mr. Warbucks. “In fact, I'm going to see to it that every last one of you never spends another night in that damn orphanage! I'm going to see to it that you're all adopted by some very good friends of mine!”

“Hooray!” shouted the orphans.

“But Molly, you're gonna live here with me and Mr. Warbucks, startin' right now,” said Annie to Molly, picking her up and hugging her. Little Molly began to laugh and to cry with joy at the same time.

“Just think of it, Molly, and all of you,” cried Annie, “no more mush!”

“Hooray, hooray, hooray!” shouted the orphans, for this was the best news of all.

Drake now ushered in a crowd of newly arrived guests—a group of fourteen elegantly dressed men and women. They must be some of Mr. Warbucks's rich friends, thought Annie.

“Miss Annie's friends, sir,” announced Drake.

“
My
friends?” asked Annie. “Golly, I don't know any—”

“You don't know me, Annie? Of course you do!” smiled a clean-shaven aristocratic-looking man in an expensive gray pin-striped suit.

Annie suddenly realized who he was. “Randy!” she cried, running happily up to him. And the beautiful woman with the upswept hairdo in the black silk Paris dress was none other than Sophie! Yes, the group was the whole gang from the Hooverville, who now crowded joyously around Annie to hug their old friend. Soon after Annie had told Mr. Warbucks about her Hooverville pals and how kind they'd been to her, he'd arranged to have them released from jail and given each of them a well-paying job in his New York headquarters. Moreover, he'd found them spacious Riverside Drive apartments and had them fitted out with the finest of wardrobes at his expense. But he'd saved the news of all this as a surprise for Annie on Christmas morning. Which it certainly was! Annie was bursting with joy at all of the good things that had so suddenly happened to her and her friends.

“Oh, Daddy,” she said to Mr. Warbucks, “you're so good to me—I couldn't have had a more perfect Christmas!”

“Gosh, I'm sorry to hear that,” said Mr. Warbucks with a grin, “because I've got one last gift for you.” He signaled to Drake, who motioned to a pair of uniformed footmen who were waiting out in the foyer. The footmen now entered the living room toting a huge square box done up in green wrapping paper with a big red ribbon tied around it.

“Here you are, Annie, your last Christmas present—I hope you like it.” Mr. Warbucks smiled, leading her to the box. Annie had no idea what it could possibly be. Everyone gathered around.

“Come on, unwrap your dumb present,” said Pepper.

“Okay,” said Annie. She undid the ribbon, tore off the wrapping paper, lifted the top from the box, and there inside was . . . Sandy!

“Sandy!” shouted Annie exultantly. “My Sandy!” The dog leapt out of the box and all but knocked Annie down as he put his big paws up on her shoulders and licked her face with joy. Annie hugged him and kissed him over and over again. Sandy! Mr. Warbucks had found Sandy for her. “Oh, Daddy!” cried Annie. “Now my Christmas is really perfect.”

“Yes, I think maybe it is,” beamed Mr. Warbucks, gazing down on the happy child and her equally happy dog. Miss Farrell stood grinning next to him. He took her hand and warmly squeezed it. Miss Farrell's heart leapt up, for she of course loved Oliver Warbucks as much as Annie did. Kneeling on the floor with her arms around Sandy's neck, Annie saw Mr. Warbucks and Miss Farrell holding hands. Gee, thought Annie, maybe someday they'll get married and I'll have a mother, too. “Wow,” said Annie with a smile, “I think I'm happy.”

Outside, a bright sun had come out, shining down on Fifth Avenue, glistening on the new-fallen snow. The sunlight gleamed in the windows of the Warbucks living room, and Annie ran with Sandy to look out on the glittering, snow-covered fairyland scene. “Look, Sandy,” Annie said, hugging the dog to her, “tomorrow is here.”

The End