Back to School with Betsy (11 page)

"Here's Daisy!" cried Betsy.

The children laughed when they saw Daisy. They were so glad to find her. Betsy picked her up and put her back in the box.

The boys covered the box with wire screening so that Daisy wouldn't get lost again.

The best wooden box was selected for Daisy's house. Then the children spent several weeks building her house and yard. They put it out of doors, near the school garden. The spot was shaded by some trees and the earth seemed rich.

"There ought to be plenty of worms and bugs in that earth," said Billy.

By the time the new quarters were finished Daisy had grown big enough to be kept out of doors.

Each week a different group of children took care of feeding her. The group was known as "The Daisy Committee."

Daisy was growing into a very beautiful chicken. She was pure white. The children could hardly wait for her to lay her first egg. The pile of empty boxes on the table in the classroom grew higher and higher.

Every day the children looked in the nest to see if Daisy had laid an egg. But the nest was always empty.

One day Peter came to school with a china egg. "It's for Daisy," he said. "I got thinking that maybe Daisy doesn't know that she's supposed to lay eggs. Maybe if we show her this, it will put her in mind of it."

The china egg was laid in Daisy's nest. Daisy paid no attention to it.

One day Betsy and Billy looked in the nest. There lay the china egg all alone.

"If she doesn't begin to lay eggs soon," said Billy, "school will be over."

Suddenly Daisy stretched her neck. She seemed to swell up and her feathers stood out. The children stared at her. Billy grabbed hold of Betsy. "She's going to lay one now," he gasped.

"It will break," said Betsy. "She's supposed to be on her nest."

Like a flash Billy picked up the chicken and carried her to her nest. Billy patted the nest with his hand. "You lay 'em there," he said to Daisy.

Daisy didn't look one bit interested. Billy tried to push her down on the nest but she struggled and got free. In a moment she was back in her yard.

Again she stretched her neck and swelled her body. Suddenly she let out a noise that sounded like "Cock-a-doodle-doo!"

Betsy's eyes popped. She looked at Billy. "I never heard a hen make a noise like that," she said.

"They make noises when they lay eggs," said Billy. "Maybe she's just practicing."

Once again Daisy stretched her neck. This time it was loud and long. "Cock-a-doodle-doo! Cock-a-doodle-doo!"

"Billy," said Betsy, "Daisy's just been fooling us all the time. She's not a hen at all. She's a rooster. And she's not a she; she's a he. And roosters don't lay eggs."

Betsy and Billy ran back to their classroom. They were so excited they could hardly speak. "Daisy's a rooster!" gasped Billy.

"She's crowing," said Betsy. "I mean, he's crowing."

The children could hear Daisy crowing now. He seemed to be crowing his head off.

"Listen to her," said Billy. "I mean, listen to him."

The children were so provoked at Daisy for turning out to be a rooster that they hardly went near him for days. They felt that he had purposely cheated them out of all of the money they had expected to make from the eggs.

Finally Peter said, "I think we should change Daisy's name. Who ever heard of a boy named Daisy?"

"Guess we better name him Big Ben," said Richard. "He certainly goes off like an alarm clock."

So the rooster was named Big Ben.

When it came time for school to close, the children had grown very fond of Big Ben. They had forgiven him for being a rooster.

Miss Ross said that something would have to be done about him for the summer. "He can't stay here," she said, "and I can't keep him in my apartment. Billy, I guess I will have to give him back to you."

The last day of school Billy carried the rooster home. He needed a much larger box than the day he brought him to school.

At home he made a little pen for him but he was always getting out. He dug up the flower beds and made a great deal of noise.

The neighbors complained because he crowed early in the morning and woke them up.

Finally Billy's daddy said that Billy would have to get rid of Big Ben.

"What can I do with him?" asked Billy, in a troubled voice.

"Well, all that he is good for is stewing," said Billy's daddy.

"Oh, Daddy! We can't stew Big Ben," cried Billy.

"Something will have to be done about him," said Daddy. "So you had better think hard and fast."

Billy talked it all over with Betsy. Then Betsy had an idea. "I know what!" she cried. "You can send him up to Granddaddy on the farm. He has hundreds of chickens and he would be glad to have Big Ben."

Billy thought this was a good idea. He set to work at once making a crate for Big Ben. When it was finished, he put the rooster in and nailed slats across so that he couldn't get out. His daddy painted the name and address on the crate. Then Betsy and Billy and his daddy took it to the station. There they put it on the train.

There were tears in Billy's and Betsy's eyes when they saw the rooster go.

The next week, Betsy received a letter from Granddaddy. This is what the letter said:

"Dear Betsy,

Big Ben arrived safely and I have written to Billy to thank him for sending me such a fine rooster. I told Billy that Big Ben seems a little homesick, so I think Billy had better come up with you and Ellen and spend the summer on the farm.

Love and kisses from

Granddaddy."

Turn the page to see what awaits Betsy in

Betsy
and the
Boys

when Ellen, Billy, and Betsy
take on the fourth grade.

Betsy, Billy, and Ellen had met in the first grade. They had become fast friends as they worked and played together. For three summers Ellen had gone with Betsy to spend the whole summer on Betsy's grandfather's farm. The third summer Billy had gone too, and the three children had played together for two long months. Now it was September and they were back in their homes, getting ready to return to school.

One morning, the week before school opened, Betsy went over to Billy's house to spend the day. Betsy's mother and Billy's mother were going to a luncheon, so the two children were going to get their own lunch. They were both thrilled, for they loved to cook.

"What are we going to cook?" asked Betsy, as soon as she arrived.

"Pancakes!" shouted Billy. "Pancakes!"

"Oh, yummy!" said Betsy. "They're practically my favorite food, 'cept cream puffs."

Billy's mother came downstairs with her hat and gloves on. "Now, Billy," she said, "don't bother Daddy unless it is absolutely necessary. He's painting a magazine cover and he has to get it finished. I've given him his lunch on a tray."

"O.K.," said Billy.

"And I expect the kitchen to be just as clean when I come back as it is now," said Mrs. Porter. "Don't get the place in a mess."

"Sure, sure," said Billy. "Everything will be dandy. We've cooked at school. We're good."

Billy and Betsy went into the kitchen. Mrs. Porter had left the pancake batter in a pitcher. The griddle was on the stove.

"I like to make 'em one at a time," said Billy. "That way you can make 'em big."

"I do too," said Betsy.

"I'll make the first one," said Billy. "You get the maple syrup out of the pantry closet."

Betsy went into the pantry. She found the bottle of maple syrup and poured it into a pitcher.

Meanwhile Billy picked up the pitcher of pan-cake batter to pour it on the griddle. He grasped the pitcher by its handle, but midway between the table and the stove the handle parted from the pitcher and the pitcher fell to the floor, pouring the batter all over the linoleum.

"Hey, Betsy!" Billy yelled. "Come quick!"

Betsy rushed through the pantry door. And then, to Billy's amazement, she slid all the way across the kitchen and right out the back door. There she landed in a heap.

Billy ran toward Betsy, but he too slipped in the batter, which Betsy, as she slid, had spread all over the floor. Billy's slide was exactly like a baseball player sliding to second base.

Miss Mopsie-Upsie Tail, Billy's dog, hearing the racket in the kitchen, came dashing through the pantry door. Like Betsy, she headed straight for the pancake batter. She reached it in a flash. Her legs slid from under her and she skidded on her fat little stomach right out of the door, and joined the children.

Betsy and Billy were so surprised to find themselves in this jumbled mess that for a moment they were speechless. Miss Mopsie-Upsie Tail was the first one on her feet, and before Betsy or Billy had uttered a word she had begun to lick up the pancake batter.

Billy was the first to speak. "Golly! Betsy! Did you hurt yourself?"

"I don't think so," said Betsy.

And then Billy began to laugh. "Gee, but you looked funny sliding out the door."

"Well, you looked funny, too," laughed Betsy. The two children sat on the driveway and rocked with laughter.

Finally they got up. When they looked at each other, they went off into peals again. Betsy's arms and legs were covered with pancake batter. One side of her dress was thick with the white mixture.

"You certainly are a mess," said Billy.

"Well, you don't look so good yourself," laughed Betsy. "You should see the seat of your trousers. You've got about a dozen pancakes right there."