"B" Is for Betsy (10 page)

"Well, Betsy, here is your surprise," he said, as he put Ellen and the bag in the back of the car with Betsy.

"Is Ellen going with us?" cried Betsy.

"Yes," said Mother. "She is going to be with us all summer."

"Oh, Father!" cried Betsy. "It's the best surprise I ever, ever had!"

Ellen's mother kissed her little girl good-bye. "Be a good girl, dear," she said.

"I will, Mummy," said Ellen and she waved her hand to her brother and her baby sister.

Betsy's mother put Ellen's best hat in the paper bag with Betsy's and they started off.

It was a long drive to Grandfather's. The road stretched like a ribbon over the hills and down into the valleys. The children chattered. "I brought my doll, Lydia," said Ellen. "I washed all of her clothes and ironed them myself."

"I brought my doll, Judith," said Betsy. "I couldn't bring Evelyn. Evelyn's eyes fell inside of her."

"Didn't you bring Koala Bear?" asked Ellen.

"Of course," replied Betsy. "I wouldn't go away without Koala Bear. He would cry if I left him all by himself."

"Where is he?" asked Ellen.

"He's riding on the front seat between Father and Mother. Koala likes to ride on the front seat. He likes to see things before he comes to them." This was only one reason why Koala liked to

ride on the front seat. The other reason was that Thumpy liked Koala better than Koala liked Thumpy. Thumpy liked Koala so much that he loved to play with him, but Thumpy's idea of playing was to shake Koala very hard and then chew him. Koala didn't like it a bit because he couldn't shake and he couldn't chew. So Betsy bought Thumpy a rubber bone, and Koala never sat on the floor but on the tops of things.

"Oh, there is a white cow," cried Betsy, pointing out of the window.

"There's another one," cried Ellen.

The children decided to play a game. They called it "White Cow." Betsy looked out of one window and Ellen looked out of the other window. When Betsy saw a white cow on her side of the road she would call out "White Cow"; and when Ellen saw one on her side she would call out "White Cow." Mother kept the score. By the time they reached the farm, Betsy had seen twenty white cows and Ellen had seen thirty-two. So Ellen won the game.

Grandfather's farmhouse was built on the side of a hill. It was made of stone and had a big porch. The porch ran across the front of the house and around the side. Grandfather called it "the piazza." A trumpet vine ran all over the
porch railing and climbed up the posts. Betsy loved the big red trumpet flowers. She was sure the fairies blew them at night and made music.

Grandfather was standing on the front,steps when the car drove up the driveway. He opened the car door and kissed Mother and Betsy and shook hands with Father.

"Grandfather, I counted twenty white cows," said Betsy. "But Ellen won because she counted thirty-two."

"Well, well," said Grandfather. "I am glad to see you, Ellen. I didn't know that such little girls could count."

Betsy and Ellen laughed. "Of course we can count," said Betsy. "We go to school. We got promoted too."

"We are in the second grade now," said Ellen.

"My! My!" said Grandfather. "Now I suppose you will be counting my chickens before they are hatched."

Betsy thought for a moment, then she said, "You can't count the chickens before they're hatched, Grandfather. But we'll help you count them after they're hatched."

Grandfather said that dinner was all ready. The children washed their hands and faces and
ran to the dining room. Linda was standing by the kitchen door. Her face was shining. Betsy rushed up to Linda. "Hello, Linda. This is Ellen," said Betsy. "She is going to stay all summer. Are there any ginger cookies?"

"Well, I shouldn't be surprised if there were a few," said Linda. "I set a table over here in the corner for you children."

Betsy and Ellen sat down at the little table. It was covered with a red-and-white checked tablecloth. In the center of the table was a plate of big, round, ginger cookies. Betsy's eyes danced when she saw the cookies. "Oh, Linda!" she

cried. "Ginger cookies! And we don't have to wait until breakfast!"

"No," said Linda, "this is special."

After dinner, the children went upstairs to their bedroom. It was a big room with two beds, one for Betsy and one for Ellen. While Betsy and Ellen got ready for their naps, Mother put their clothes away in a big high chest.

The little girls lay down and soon they were fast asleep.

When Betsy woke up, she heard Old Ned's voice under the window. He was talking to Grandfather. Betsy ran to the window. "Oh, Ned," she cried, "are you going to the village?"

"Yes," said Old Ned, "goin' into the village fer oats."

"Can we go with you?" asked Betsy.

"Reckon so," said Old Ned.

Betsy and Ellen scrambled into their new overalls and dashed down the stairs.

"Mighty pretty little girls!" said Old Ned as he lifted them into the wagon. Old Ned picked up the reins. "Gee up, Priscilla," he said. The horse started off down the road.

"Well," said Old Ned, "I hear you been goin' to school."

"Yes," said Betsy, "and we got promoted. We're in the second grade. Ned, you were wrong about school. School is nice, Ned. We love our teacher. She's just sweet. And there isn't any switch, Ned. You said there was a switch." Betsy laughed. "Oh, school is fun! Isn't it, Ellen?"

"Yes," said Ellen. "We built a farm out of wooden boxes and we sawed out the doors and the windows."

"And Billy made a chicken coop," said Betsy.

"Christopher and I made a stable with stalls for the horses," said Ellen.

"Yes, and there was a pigsty and window boxes on the windows of the farmhouse," said Betsy. "I painted them green and Miss Grey gave me some little flowers to put in them. Oh, it was fun!"

"And we had a play at Easter," said Ellen. "Kenny Roberts was a bunny rabbit. He was dressed up in a white bunny suit and his ears fell off."

Ellen and Betsy laughed loudly as they remembered how funny Kenny had looked without his ears.

"Please, may I drive Priscilla, Ned?" asked Betsy. Old Ned handed the reins to Betsy.

"So school is fun!" said Old Ned. "You build farmhouses and chicken coops and dress up like bunny rabbits. Well, well," said he, and he stroked his grizzly beard.

"Yes, school is lovely," said Betsy. "Gee up, Priscilla!"

Turn the page for a peek at Betsy's adventures in

Betsy and Billy

when Betsy and her friends go into second grade.

It was September and vacation days were almost over. Soon it would be time for Betsy to go back to school. She had tried on all of her school dresses that she had worn the year before. Betsy had grown so tall that Mother had to let down all of the hems.

One day Mother was busy hanging the skirt of one of Betsy's dresses. Betsy was standing on
a chair. She turned very slowly while Mother put the pins in the skirt.

"Betsy, what are you looking so sober about?" asked Mother.

"I was thinking," replied Betsy.

"And what were you thinking about?" asked Mother.

"I was thinking about school," answered Betsy. "Do you know, Mother, I don't know whether I am going to like being in the second grade."

"Of course you are going to like being in the second grade," said Mother.

"But, Mother, Miss Grey won't be there," said Betsy. "Miss Grey was such a nice teacher. I don't think I am going to like my new teacher. Her name is Miss Little. She isn't pretty like Miss Grey."

"Well, dear, everyone can't be as pretty as Miss Grey," said Mother.

"But Miss Little wears black dresses all the time, Mother," said Betsy. "I used to see her last year and she always had on a black dress. I don't like black dresses. Miss Grey wears pretty dresses, pink ones and green ones and red ones, and once she had a dress that had flowers all over it."