Two Times the Fun (4 page)

“They will?” Jimmy looked at Mr. Lemon’s feet. They were even bigger than Daddy’s feet.

“And do you know something?” asked Mr. Lemon as he handed Jimmy the catalogs to carry. “When you get new shoes, those boots will grow to fit.”

Now it was Janet’s turn to be surprised. “How did you know?” she asked Mr. Lemon.

“I’ve learned a thing or two in my lifetime,” said Mr. Lemon.

Jimmy and Janet splashed in their puddle. “We have growing-up feet!” they shouted. “We have growing-up boots, too!”

Mr. Lemon said so, and he knew a
thing or two.

“I can’t find the thingamajigs,” Mother said when Jimmy fell down and skinned his knee. “What happened to the thingamajigs?”

Thingamajigs
was a word Mother sometimes used when she was excited or in a hurry. Janet enjoyed finding out what thingamajigs meant each time her mother used the word. This time it
meant Band-Aids.

While Mother took care of Jimmy’s knee, Janet found a red plastic paper clip, a little wheel, and a shiny bead. They were just right to hold in her hand. “Are these thingamajigs?” she asked.

Mother laughed and said, “Yes, you could call those thingamajigs.”

Janet carried her things around all morning. She showed them to Mr. Lemon
when he brought the mail. “See my thingamajigs,” she said.

“Well, what do you know? Thingamajigs!” Mr. Lemon sounded surprised.

At lunchtime, Janet laid her plastic paper clip, her little wheel, and her shiny bead on a chair in the living room and said, “I don’t want Jimmy to touch these things.”

“They’re just old stuff,” said Jimmy, who wanted very much to touch them, so he did. He touched them every time Janet wasn’t looking. He liked to hold them, too.

He touched them until Janet
caught him at it and said, “Jimmy, those are my thingamajigs.”

“No,” said Jimmy, holding on to them.

“Mother, Jimmy won’t give me my thingamajigs,” said Janet, “and I asked him in a nice, polite voice.”

“I’m not hurting them,” said Jimmy, who could be stubborn.

“Jimmy, give me my thingamajigs!” yelled Janet. Her voice was not polite at all.

“No,” said Jimmy and turned his back. Janet pushed Jimmy. Jimmy yelled, “Janet
is pushing me!” Then he pushed Janet.

“Children!” cried Mother as she came out of the kitchen. “Stop this at once. Jimmy, give Janet her little things. You can find toys of your own.”

Jimmy threw Janet’s things on the floor. “I don’t want other toys!” he shouted.

Janet picked up her things and put them back on the chair. “I don’t want
Jimmy to touch my thingamajigs,” she said.

Mother said, “Janet, you cannot leave them on that chair. When Daddy comes home, he wants to sit on the chair. He doesn’t want to sit on your toys. If you don’t want Jimmy to touch your things, you should put them away.”

So Janet found a paper bag in the kitchen. She put the red plastic paper clip, the little wheel, and the shiny bead into the bag, wrapped a rubber band around the top, and put it on her little bed. “Now Jimmy can’t touch my thingamajigs,” she said.

“I don’t want to touch Janet’s things,” said Jimmy, but he
did
want to touch them, more than anything.

The next day, Janet found a spool, a doll’s shoe, and a smooth green stone. She carried her new little things around while Jimmy pretended to put air in the tires of his dump truck. She showed them to Mr. Lemon who was surprised all over again. Then she laid
her little things on a chair and went into Mother and Daddy’s room to help Mother make the big bed. When she came back, Jimmy was not playing with his dump truck. He was holding her spool, her doll’s shoe, and her smooth green stone.

“Jimmy is touching my thingamajigs!” Janet cried. “He took them from the blue chair!”

“Children, I am at my wit’s end,” said Mother.

“What does ‘at my wit’s end’ mean?” asked Janet.

“It means I don’t know what to do,” answered Mother. “Jimmy, give Janet her things.”

Jimmy threw the toys on the floor. “I am too big for those things,” he said. “They’re just junk.”

“They are not junk,” said Janet. “They are my treasures.”

Jimmy only pretended to play with his dump truck while she picked up her treasures and laid them on the blue chair again.

“Janet,” said Mother, “you cannot leave your things on the blue chair. I do not want to sit on your toys. I told you if you don’t want Jimmy to touch them, you should put them away.”

“I am at my wit’s end,” said Janet. Then she found another paper bag in the kitchen. She put her spool, her
doll’s shoe, and her smooth green stone into her paper bag. She put a rubber band around the top of the bag and put it on her little bed. “Now Jimmy can’t touch my thingamajigs,” she said.

The next day the same thing happened with a feather, a piece of pink yarn, and
an old lipstick case. And the day after that the same thing happened with a little stick, a pretty leaf, and an empty snail shell. Every day Janet found little things, and every day she put them into paper bags on her bed, where Jimmy could not touch them.

One day Mother said, “Janet, your bed is full of paper bags. When you go to sleep, you rustle like a mouse in a wastepaper basket. Don’t you want to share some of your paper bags with Jimmy?”

“No,” said Janet as she climbed over the rail of her little bed. “These are my paper bags.”

“Oh, dear, what are we going to do?” asked Mother. “Janet’s bed is so full of
paper bags she rustles like a mouse in a wastepaper basket. There is scarcely room for her to sleep. What are we going to do?”

“Paper bags are silly,” said Jimmy as he climbed over the rail of his bed. Neither twin would let Mother remove the sides of the little beds. Climbing over the rail was fun.

“Paper bags are not silly,” said Janet. “Paper bags are nice.”

“But, Janet, you have too many,” said Mother. “We will have to find another place for all your paper bags.”

“I like being a mouse in a wastepaper basket,” said Janet, and she went right on finding little things and putting them in paper bags on her bed. Every night
she said, “
Squeak-squeak.
I am a little mouse.”

“
Grr-grr.
I am a fierce bear,” said Jimmy. He did not sound like a fierce bear. He sounded like a cross boy.

Then one morning Mother said, “Today we are going to have a surprise.”

“Is it strawberries?” asked Jimmy.

“Is it a nice soft kitten?” asked Janet.

“No, it isn’t strawberries or a nice soft kitten,” answered Mother. “You wait and see.”

Jimmy and Janet thought and thought, but they could not think what Mother’s surprise could be.

“If you watch out the front window, you will see it sometime this morning,” said Mother.

Jimmy and Janet watched out the front window. “When is it going to come? When is it going to come?” they asked over and over. They saw a boy riding a bicycle, a girl skipping rope, and a lady carrying a shopping bag. They saw cars, a tow truck, and a school bus, but they did not see a surprise. After a while they grew tired of watching and turned their little table upside down and pretended it was a boat.