Read All About It. Valerie Tripp

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      Kit was a practical girl. She thought it was a waste of time to worry about a problem when you could be doing something to solve it. But her family had never had a problem as serious as this one before. All night long Kit lay awake thinking, listening to Stirling cough—and worrying.

      The night was very hot. Kit kicked her sheet off and turned her pillow over time and time again because it got sweaty so fast. Finally, Kit got up.

      It always made her feel better to write. She took her notepad and a pencil out of her desk and sat at the window in the moonlight. She decided to make a list of all the ways she could save the family some money.

       No dancing lessons

       No fancy dresses for dancing lessons

      Kit looked at her list and scolded herself. It was all very well to give up dancing lessons and fancy dresses. Those were things she didn’t want. But how about things she did want?

      With a soft sigh, Kit looked out the window. Then, sadly, she added to her list.

       No lumber for a tree house

       No new books

       No tickets to baseball games

       No sweets

      There! thought Kit. I’ll show Dad my list tomorrow.

      But by the time Kit went downstairs to breakfast the next morning, Dad had already left.

      “He’s gone to meet a business friend,” said Mother.

      “It’d be great if his friend offered Dad a job, wouldn’t it?” said Kit.

      “Yes,” said Mother. “It would.” She smiled, but it wasn’t one of her real smiles.

      Kit felt all restless and jumpy. She wanted to be alone so that she could think and work on her list some more. She wandered around the yard for a while before she found a good hideaway under the back porch. No one will find me here, she thought.

      But she had not been hidden long before Ruthie crawled in next to her.

      “How do you always find me?” asked Kit.

      Ruthie shrugged. “It’s easy,” she said. “I just think where I’d be if I were you, and that’s where you are. Why are you hiding, by the way?”

      “My dad lost his job,” said Kit.

      “Oh,” said Ruthie softly. “That’s too bad. I’m sorry.” The girls sat together in silence for a minute. That was a good thing about Ruthie. She’d sit and think with Kit. She didn’t need to talk all the time. “What are you going to do?” Ruthie asked at last.

      Kit handed Ruthie her list. “These are ways I can help save money,” she said.

      Ruthie read the list. “These are good,” she said. “These’ll help.” But her voice sounded doubtful.

      Kit sighed. “The truth is, I’ve just never given money much thought before,” she said.

      “I know,” said Ruthie. “Me neither.”

      Kit understood that when Dad sold a car, people gave him money. Dad gave some of the money to Mother. She used it to buy food and clothes and to pay the electric bill and the iceman and to get things for the house. Once a month, Dad paid the bank twenty dollars, which, as Charlie had explained, was part of the money that Dad and Mother owed the bank because they’d borrowed it when they bought the house. If there was any money left over after everything was paid, Dad put it in his savings account at the bank.

      “Without Dad’s job,” said Kit to Ruthie, “there won’t be any more money coming in. And Charlie said that Dad used up most of his savings to pay his salesmen as long as he could, so soon there won’t be any money left in his savings. What’ll we do then?”

      “I’ve read lots of books about people who have no money,” said Ruthie.

      “Me, too,” said Kit. “But most of them lived in the olden days on farms or in a forest where they could at least get nuts and berries. We live in modern times in Cincinnati. How will we get food when our money is gone? Will we move to a farm?”

      “I don’t think your mother would like that,” said Ruthie.

      “No,” sighed Kit. “Besides, none of us knows anything about farming.”

      Ruthie scratched her knee. “I think,” she said slowly, “we’re going to have to hope that your dad gets another job.”

      “Yup,” said Kit. “Maybe today.” She looked at Ruthie. “What a great headline that would be!”

      Mother’s Brainstorm

       CHAPTER 4

      ut Dad didn’t get a job that day, or the day after that, or the day after that, though he certainly seemed to be trying. Every day he put on a good suit and rode the streetcar downtown. Every day he said he was going to have lunch with a friend or a business acquaintance. Every day, Kit hoped he’d come home with the good news of a new job. But every afternoon, Dad came home tired and discouraged. All the bad news in the newspapers seemed to be about Kit’s own life now.

      One afternoon СКАЧАТЬ