Here's a Penny (3 page)

The day after Truly arrived Penny took his two kittens over to see Patsy. When Patsy saw them, she said, "Oh, Penny! Can I play with them sometimes?"

"Sure, you can play with them," said Penny. "You can play with them this afternoon if you want to. I have to go to town with my mother to get new shoes."

Patsy's eyes shone. "You mean I can keep them all afternoon? Just as though they were mine?" she said.

"Yep!" replied Penny. "But you must take good care of them. Don't let them get lost or hurt."

"Oh, I'll take good care of them," said Patsy.

Penny stroked each kitten and went off to get his new shoes.

For a while Patsy sat in a big chair and held the kittens. She thought it was just like having two tiny babies.
Like having twins,
thought Patsy.

She decided to make believe that they were twin babies.

But if they were babies,
thought Patsy,
they would have clothes on.

With this thought Patsy jumped up. She put the kittens down on the floor and went into her bedroom. Rosalie and Rose Mary, her two dolls, were sitting on her bed, dressed in their best white dresses and bonnets. Rosalie's bonnet was tied under her chin with pink ribbons and Rose Mary's was tied with blue.

Patsy picked up the two dolls and carried them into her playroom. She untied their bonnets and took them off. Then she took off their dresses and their underwear. Then she tucked the dolls into their doll bed and covered them up with a blanket. "Now you take a nice nap," she said to Rosalie and Rose Mary.

Patsy went back to the kittens. She picked up Really. Getting Really into Rose Mary's underwear was quite a struggle. When his back legs were in the right places, his front legs wouldn't go through the armholes. When his front legs were through the armholes his back legs wouldn't fit into the place where Rose Mary's pink legs fitted so nicely. Finally Patsy decided to give up the underwear. She tried Rose Mary's slip. This went over Really's head very nicely and his front legs went through the armholes. Patsy looked at Really admiringly. "Now that's nice," she said. "You look like a baby already."

"Mee-ow!" said Really. Which probably meant, "I don't want to be a baby!"

Patsy picked up Rose Mary's dress. She poked the kitten's head through the neck and his front legs through the sleeves and fastened the button at the back of the neck.

"Oh, you're sweet!" cried Patsy, picking up the bonnet. She decided that blue ribbons would be more becoming to the yellow kitten.

It took some time to put the bonnet on and to tie the ribbons under Really's chin. Really twisted and squirmed and even scratched, but finally Patsy tied the blue bow.

"Oh, you beautiful kitten!" cried Patsy.

Really said, "Mee-ow!" which probably meant, "Phooey!" or something like that.

"Now after I get Truly dressed I'll take you for a nice ride in the coach," said Patsy, as she tucked Really into her doll coach. Really did a good bit of pawing and clawing but he finally decided to make the best of it and curled up for a snooze.

Patsy proceeded to dress Truly in Rosalie's clothes. Truly made noises that were worse than Really's. He wiggled and squirmed and twisted. Twice he broke away from Patsy but she finally tied the pink ribbons under his chin.

"Now, my beautiful babies," said Patsy, as she tucked the kittens under a pink blanket, "I'll take you for an airing."

Very carefully Patsy took her doll coach down the front stairs and out the front door. Then she looked into the coach to see if the kittens were all right. They were both curled up at the foot of the coach. Realty's bonnet had slipped down over one eye. Truly was all tangled up in his white dress and was sticking out of the blankets, tail first.

"Oh, dear!" sighed Patsy. "Such babies!" She picked up Truly and smoothed his dress. She straightened Realty's bonnet. Then, pushing the coach before her, she started down the street.

When she reached the corner, Patsy went into the grocery store to spend a penny for some candy. She left her coach standing by the step. Patsy didn't mean to stay in the store so long but she couldn't make up her mind about the candy. She didn't know whether to buy a chocolate marshmallow or a big green gumdrop.

Meanwhile the kittens had wiggled out of the pink blanket and were looking over the side of the coach.

"Mee-u!" said Realty. Which probably meant, "Let's get out of this."

"Mee-u!" said Truly. Which surety meant, "You said it, pal!"

And then, racing down the street, came a wirehaired fox terrier. His pink tongue was hanging out and there was a gleam of mischief in his eyes. He was out for a good time and looking for fun wherever he could find it.

He was just flashing past the doll coach when, "Wow!"—he spied the kittens. This was just the kind of fun he had been looking for. He made a lunge at the coach and over it went. The kittens flew, bonnets, dresses, ribbons and all.

When Patsy came out of the store, all she saw were what looked like two white rags, racing up the street, followed by a wirehaired fox terrier.

Patsy picked up her doll coach and ran as fast as she could after them.

The kittens ran as fast as their doll-baby clothes would let them. Really soon lost his bonnet. It landed in a puddle of muddy water.

Truly's bonnet had slipped down so that it covered his face entirely but he kept on running.

Without knowing it, the kittens ran straight for Penny's house.

Minnie was standing at the back door when the two kittens appeared. At first she thought they were two paper bags, blowing in the wind. But when they blew right past her and into the kitchen, she could hardly believe her eyes.

She banged the kitchen door on the barking fox terrier and hurried to see what it was that had blown in. She looked in the dining room but there was nothing there. She looked in the living room but there was nothing there. Then she climbed the front stairs and went into Penny's room. And there, curled up on the bed, were the two kittens wrapped up in what looked like muddy rags.

Minnie picked them up. She looked at their clothes and at Truly's bonnet, hanging from his neck like a wet bib. "Goodness!" she cried. "Where did you get those clothes? I declare, I never did see kittens dressed up like that before. And just see the mud you got on Penny's bedspread. He's going to whip you when he comes home."

Just then there was a knock on the back door. Minnie went downstairs with a kitten in each arm. When she opened the door, there stood Patsy with her doll coach.

"Oh, Minnie!" she cried. "Are the kittens all right?"

"All right!" exclaimed Minnie. "They're all right, I guess. But they gave me an awful scare, rushing in here like floor rags that had come alive. You take them clothes off those kittens. Don't you know they don't like clothes? They like to run in their skin."

"Not skin, Minnie," said Patsy. "Fur."

"Humph!" said Minnie. "When Penny comes home, he'll 'fur' you. Dressing his kittens up like sissies."

Patsy took the muddy clothes off the kittens. She had picked up Really's bonnet from the puddle. Then she went home, leaving the kittens with Minnie.

When she reached home, she took out her little washtub. She put soap flakes into it and warm water. Then she began to wash the doll clothes.

In a few minutes Penny returned.

"Hi, Patsy!" he cried. "I got my new shoes."

He looked around for the kittens. "Where are Really and Truly?" he asked.

"Oh, they're over at your house," said Patsy.

"Did you have fun playing with them?" asked Penny.

"Oh, yes!" replied Patsy, rubbing the clothes very hard.

"What are you washing?" asked Penny.

"My doll clothes," said Patsy.

"Gee, it's muddy water," said Penny. "How did they get so dirty?"

"A dog chased 'em," said Patsy.

"A dog chased them!" exclaimed Penny.

"It was that nasty old wirehaired fox terrier that lives up the street. He chased 'em."

"You mean he chased Rosalie and Rose Mary!" exclaimed Penny.

"Well," said Patsy, "not 'zactly. But he chased their clothes."

Penny screwed up his face and looked puzzled. "How could he chase their clothes?" he demanded.

"Well, he did," said Patsy. "That's how they got so dirty."

Suddenly Penny's eyes grew very big. "Patsy," he said, "did you have those doll clothes on Really and Truly? Did you?"

"Well," said Patsy. "Well, ah ... well, ah ... sort of."

Penny frowned and looked very angry. "You did?" he shouted.

Then his face broke into a broad grin. "Gee, I bet they looked funny!" he said.

Then the two children began to laugh and they laughed and laughed and laughed.

Every day when Penny came home from school he played with his kittens, Really and Truly. One day when he came into the house Really was curled up in the kitten basket, fast asleep. When he heard Penny's footsteps, he opened his eyes and hopped out of the basket. He knew that when Penny arrived it was time to play. The most fun was a ball of newspaper tied to the end of a string.

"Where's Truly?" asked Penny, looking all around.

"Mee-u!" said Really.