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Bunny Brown and His Sister Sue Keeping Store, a novel by Laura Lee Hope |
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Chapter 15. The Broken Window |
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_ CHAPTER XV. THE BROKEN WINDOW "Daddy," said Bunny Brown that night, as the family were in the pleasant living room, "have you much money in the bank?" "I have a little, Bunny, yes. But why do you ask?" Mr. Brown wanted to know. "I have some in my bank!" cried Sue, before her brother could answer. "I guess maybe I have a hundred and seventy dollars!" "Pennies you mean, dear! Pennies! Not dollars!" laughed her mother, for the children each had a penny bank. "Well, pennies, then," agreed Sue. "But aren't a hundred and seventy pennies 'most the same as a hundred dollars?" "Pooh! No!" said Bunny. "It takes a hundred pennies to make even one dollar!" "Oh--o--o--! Does it?" exclaimed Sue. "What a terrible lot of money!" "Yes, it does seem a lot," laughed Mr. Brown. "But why are you talking about money?" and he looked at his little son. "Why did you ask if I had any money in the bank?" "I was wondering if Mrs. Golden had any in her bank," said Bunny. "I don't believe she has very much," said Mr. Brown. "I was past her store to-day. It's a very small one. I don't see how she makes a living there." "We were in there to-day," went on Bunny, "and a man came in and wanted a lot of money. He said Mrs. Golden owed him. He was from the grocery company." "Yes, the wholesale house, I presume," remarked Mr. Brown. "Well, Bunny, did Mrs. Golden pay her bills?" "No," said Bunny, a bit sadly, "she didn't. And Mr. Flynt was cross. I was thinking maybe if you had a lot of money in the bank you could take some out and give it to Mrs. Golden, and then she wouldn't have to cry when cross men came in. And she could pay you back when she got her leg--her legacy!" and Bunny brought the last word out with a jerk, for it was rather hard for him to remember. "What's all this about?" asked Mr. Brown, looking at his wife in some surprise. "I don't know," answered the children's mother. "It's the first I've heard of it. Bunny and Sue often go to the little corner store. It's handy when Mary wants something in a hurry." "Tell me more about Mrs. Golden, Bunny," asked his father. Thereupon the story of the cross man and the money the old lady owed to the grocery company was told as well as the children could tell it. "It's too bad!" exclaimed Mrs. Brown. "I want you children to be as kind as you possibly can to Mrs. Golden. Help her all you can, Bunny and Sue." "And will you buy things there?" asked Sue. "Why, yes," agreed her mother. "We will trade there all we can. Mr. Gordon, the big grocer, can afford to lose a little of our custom." "Do you think you could give her any money out of your bank, Daddy?" asked Bunny. "And she could give it back after she got her legacy." "I'll see about it," was the smiling answer. "I know some of the men in the Grocery Supply Company," went on Mr. Brown, "and I'll ask them to be a bit easy with the old lady. But you didn't tell us about this legacy, Bunny. You told us about the cross man, but not about the legacy." "The children have spoken of it to me several times," said Mrs. Brown. "It seems some relative of Mrs. Golden has died, and her son has gone to see about some money or property that may come to his mother." "She'll have plenty of money when she gets her legacy," remarked Bunny. "She told me so." "Then let us hope that she gets it," said Mr. Brown. "And now don't you children worry any more about it," he told Bunny and Sue. "I'll help Mrs. Golden if she really needs it." "And we'll help her, too," said Bunny to his sister, as they went to bed that night. "Hey, Bunny! Hi, Bunny Brown!" called a voice under Bunny's window early the next morning. "Hello! Who's down there?" Bunny asked, jumping out of bed. "Come on down!" cried Charlie Star. "We're going to have a ball game! We're waiting for you! Bobbie Boomer, Harry Bentley, George Watson, and all the fellows are over in the lots waiting. Come on have a ball game!" "I didn't know it was so late!" murmured Bunny, rubbing his eyes. "I'll be right down!" He had, indeed, slept later than usual, and as this was vacation time, his mother had not called him, though Sue had got up and had gone off to play with some of the girls. Bunny had his breakfast and then he ran over to the big lots with Charlie. A number of boys were tossing and batting balls, and when Bunny arrived there were enough to make up two "sides" and have a game. Bunny was captain of one team and Charlie Star of the other. "Now, fellows, we want to beat!" cried Bunny, as he took his place to pitch the first ball of the game. "Yes! Ho! Ho! I'd like to see your side win!" laughed Charlie. "We won't let you get a single run!" It was all jolly good fun, and though each side tried to win it was in good-nature, which is how all games should be played. First Bunny's team was ahead, and then Charlie's, until it came close to noon, when the boys knew they would have to stop playing and go home to dinner. "Now, fellows," said Bunny Brown, as it was his turn to bat, "I'm going to knock a home run and that will win the game for us!" "Pooh! You can't knock a home run!" laughed Charlie, who was pitching for his side. Bunny swung hard at the ball which Charlie pitched to him. And Bunny himself was a little surprised when his bat struck it squarely and the ball sailed away, much farther than he had ever knocked a ball before. "Run, everybody! Run!" cried Bunny Brown, dropping the bat and starting for first base himself. Two of his side were on the other bases, and if they could all get in on his home run it would mean that his side would win. Higher and higher and farther and farther sailed the ball Bunny had knocked, away over the head of fat Bobbie Boomer, who was playing out in center field. It surely was going to be a home run. "Oh, look where that ball's going!" cried Charlie Star, turning to watch it. "Oh, it's going to break one of Mr. Morrison's windows!" Mr. Morrison was a rather crabbed, cross old man who had a house on the edge of the vacant lots where the boys played ball. Bunny was too excited over his home run to pay much attention to where the ball went, and Tom Case and Jerry Bond, who were running "home," thought only of how fast they could run. But the others watched the ball, and a moment later saw it crash through one of Mr. Morrison's windows. By this time Bunny was at third base. He did not stop there, but ran on in, touched home plate, and sank down to rest, very tired but happy because he was sure his side would now win the ball game. Out in the field, near the fence that was around Mr. Morrison's house, Bobbie Boomer was calling: "I can't get the ball! I can't get the ball! It's in Mr. Morrison's house!" And, surely enough, that's where it was--right in the house. It had gone through the window. "I--I made the home run all right!" panted Bunny Brown. "I told you I would, Charlie Star!" Bunny had run so fast that he had not heard the tinkle of the breaking glass, nor had he seen where his ball went. "Yes, you made a home run all right!" yelled Charlie. "And now we'd better all _run home_ or Old Morrison will be after us for busting his window. Come on, fellows! Let's run home!" The game was practically over, and a number of the boys, fearing the anger of Mr. Morrison, started after Charlie, running away from the lots. But this was not Bunny Brown's way. "Did I--did the ball I batted break a window?" he asked. "You ought to 'a' heard the crash!" panted Bobbie Boomer, running in from center field. "Old Morrison will be here in a minute! You'd better run, Bunny!" Surely enough, a moment or two later Mr. Morrison came out on his back porch, from which he could look into the lots. He saw the boys, some of them running away. In his hand he held the baseball that had crashed through his window. "Hi, there!" he cried. "Who did this?" One or two boys, seeing that Bunny was not going to run, had stayed with him. "Who did this?" cried Mr. Morrison again. Up spoke Bunny Brown, walking toward the angry man. "I--I knocked the ball," he said. "Well, you broke my window, young man, and you've got to pay for it!" "I--I will!" faltered Bunny. "I have some money in my bank, and if you come home with me I'll take it out and pay you." Mr. Morrison seemed surprised at this. In times past when his windows were broken the boys had run away, or, if they had not, they had been saucy to him and had refused to pay for any glass. This was something new. "What's your name?" asked Mr. Morrison. "Bunny Brown," was the answer. "Does your father keep the boat dock where Bunker Blue works?" "Yes, Sir." "Oh," said Mr. Morrison, not so angry now. "Well, of course this window has to be paid for, but I know your father, Bunny Brown. He and I do business together. And Bunker Blue does me favors once in a while. I guess there won't be any hurry about paying for this glass. You can pay me five cents a week if you want to. And I should think the other boys ought to chip in and help you pay for it. That's what we used to do when I played ball. If a window was broken we all helped pay for it." "I'll help," offered one boy. "So will I!" said another. By this time Charlie Star and the boys who had started to run away began straggling back. They wondered why Bunny and his companions were not being chased by Mr. Morrison. And when Charlie and his chums heard about the offer to pay shares for the broken glass Charlie said: "I'll pay my part, too!" "So will I!" cried his players. "That's more like it," chuckled Mr. Morrison, and, somehow or other, the boys began wondering why they had ever called him cross. Certainly he seemed quite different now. Perhaps it was the way Bunny had acted, so bravely, that made the change. "Now look here, boys," went on the uncross Mr. Morrison. "I know you have to play ball, and this isn't the first time you have broken my windows. But it's the first time any of you have had the nerve to stay here and offer to pay. I like that. And now that you all offer to chip in and pay for it, it'll not be too hard for any one boy. It's the right spirit. And I want to say that if you always do that there'll not be any trouble. "Not that I want any more windows broken," he added, with a laugh. "But if they are smashed, chip in and pay for them. And now I'll have the pane of glass put in and you can take up a collection among yourselves and pay me later on. I'm in no hurry as long as you act fair. "And now if you'll come in here I think maybe I can find something that you boys would like to have," he added. "Don't be afraid, come on in," he invited, opening a gate in his side fence. The boys hesitated a moment, and then, led by Bunny Brown, they entered. What could Mr. Morrison have in mind? They soon found out. He led them down into the cellar and showed them some old baseballs, some bats, some gloves, and, best of all, a good catcher's mask. "Here are some old baseball things," said Mr. Morrison. "I got them in a lot of junk I bought a year ago, and I've been wondering what to do with them. I like the way you boys acted--especially some of you," and he looked at Bunny. "I'm going to let you have these things for your team," he said. "But try not to break any more of my windows!" he laughed. "We won't!" promised Bunny Brown. "Or, if we do, we'll pay for 'em!" "Crackie! What dandy stuff!" cried Bobbie Boomer. "Now we can have regular league games!" exclaimed Charlie Star, who was perhaps the best player of all the boys. "And a real mask, like the Pirates have!" cried Harry Bentley. "Take 'em along," said Mr. Morrison. "They're only cluttering up my cellar. I'm glad to get rid of 'em, and especially to good boys." "We--we were afraid of you at first," said Charlie. "Well, you needn't be any more," chuckled Mr. Morrison. "Just pay for my window, when you get the money together, and we'll call it square!" Talking, laughing gleefully, and wondering at their good fortune, the boys hurried from the cellar. And they had another game that same afternoon, with the balls, bats, gloves and mask that Mr. Morrison had given them. Only Bunny knocked no more home runs, and Charlie's team won, which was, perhaps, as it ought to be. And, best of all, no more windows were broken. It was quite an adventure for Bunny Brown, but it was not the last he and his sister Sue were to have, for many good times were ahead of them for the long vacation. _ |
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