CHAPTER III
JANET’S PIE
Talking about it afterward, Ted remarked that he was glad none of the circus acts had started, because he would have missed some of them in watching the old gentleman. The parade around the circus ring was just over when Trouble, by accident, flung his bag of peanuts on the head of the old gentleman who had saved him from the elephant that morning.
“Oh, dear!” gasped Janet, as she saw what her little brother had done.
“Trouble, my dear!” murmured Mrs. Martin.
“Careful, son,” warned Mr. Martin, but it was too late for any warning.
However, no great harm was done. The old gentleman with the beautiful white hair turned with a smile when he saw what it was that had hit him. Some of the peanuts had scattered from the bag into his wife’s lap.
Gathering up these nuts, the old gentleman put them back in the bag and, handing them to Trouble said, with a smile:
“Thank you, little man, but I can’t eat peanuts. I used to like them when I was a lad, but my teeth aren’t so good now. Save them for the elephant.”
“That’s what I was doin’,” Trouble replied, as he took the bag in his chubby fingers. “I did give the nellifunt some and——”
By this time the old gentleman had seen who Trouble was, and he also knew Mr. Martin, who was looking at him and smiling.
“Why, why!” exclaimed the old gentleman. “You’re the same little boy who nearly got stepped on by the elephant in the parade this morning, aren’t you?”
“Yes, sir,” answered Trouble. “I guess I am.”
“Indeed he is!” exclaimed Mrs. Martin. “And I’ve been anxious to meet you and thank you for what you did. My husband tried to find out your name and where you lived, but——”
“The crowd was too much for us,” interrupted the old gentleman, with a laugh. “I looked for the little boy afterward, to see if he was all right, but I couldn’t find him, and I was anxious to get my wife out of the crowd.”
“I’m glad to meet you again,” said Trouble’s father. “My name is Martin. I’m in business here in town, and I wish you would come and see me. Bring your wife and call some evening.”
“Yes, please do,” urged Mrs. Martin.
The Curlytops listened to this talk, and they were glad none of the acts had begun, for they wanted to hear what was said, but if the performers had been in the ring they would have wanted to look at them.
As for Trouble, he was looking with big eyes all around the tent, for to him everything was wonderful, though, as yet, the circus performance had not really begun. He was also slyly eating a few peanuts, though he had promised to save them for the “nellifunt.”
“My wife and I would like to come and see you,” answered the old gentleman. “My name is Harry Keller. My wife and I are in Cresco for only a few days, visiting relatives.”
“Where is your home?” asked Mr. Martin, while Janet, clutching her father’s sleeve, whispered:
“Oh, Daddy! The trapezers are coming in now! Look at the trapezers!”
“Yes, dear,” murmured Mr. Martin, as a number of men and women in wonderful pink silk suits bounded into a center ring and began pulling themselves up on ropes and bars.
“Oh, look!” cried Ted. “There’s a man going to jump over three elephants’ backs!”
“Is that the same nellifunt what ’most stepped on me?” Trouble wanted to know, but no one answered him.
“I live in Pocono,” answered Mr. Keller.
“Pocono? Why, that’s where Uncle Toby lives!” exclaimed Mrs. Martin. “Perhaps you know him? His name is Bardeen.”
“Of course I know Mr. Bardeen,” said Mr. Keller. “He and I are old friends.”
“Then we must call around and see you, and have you visit us, even if you are here for but a few days,” said Mr. Martin, and then, for a time, social talk was hard to carry on, for Janet pulled her father at one side, to tell him to look at some of the circus tricks, and Ted was pulling his mother on the other side for the same purpose. Trouble, in a whirlwind of joy, was munching peanuts and trying to look two ways at the same time.
It was a wonderful circus. Never were there such exciting animal tricks! Never such skillful trapeze performers, never such funny clowns! How the children laughed when one clown, dressed like a policeman, started to arrest another clown dressed as a farmer. The farmer clown pushed the policeman clown down and then jumped on him.
But under his coat the policeman clown wore a rubber bag, blown up with air. And when the farmer clown jumped on it—up he bounced like a ball.
“Oh! Oh! Oh!” screamed Trouble, in wild delight.
“And look at that man! He’s going to do a high dive from the top of the tent!” cried Ted, pointing to a performer in red tights standing on a little platform at the top of the center pole.
“Oh, I can’t bear to look at him!” murmured Mrs. Martin, covering her eyes with her hands.
However, the man jumped safely amid great applause, and then followed other tricks and animal acts. During a pause in the performance Mrs. Keller leaned back and said to Mrs. Martin:
“My husband and I are on our vacation; or rather, it is his vacation and I am spending it with him.”
“That’s nice,” murmured the mother of the Curlytops. “Are you going to spend all your vacation in Cresco?”
“Indeed, no,” answered Mrs. Keller, while her husband and Mr. Martin were talking together. “We are going to the seashore in a few days—to Sunset Beach.”
Janet heard the words “Sunset Beach,” and at once exclaimed:
“Why, that’s where we are going!”
“Where, my dear?” asked Mrs. Keller.
“To Sunset Beach!” went on Janet. “That’s where we are going for our vacation! Aren’t we, Mother?”
“Yes, dear,” answered Mrs. Martin. “I wonder if it is the same Sunset Beach where we have taken a cottage,” the Curlytops’ mother said to Mrs. Keller.
“The Sunset Beach where my husband and I are going is near Oceanside City, the big summer resort,” Mrs. Keller explained.
“Then it’s the same one!” exclaimed Ted, who had been listening earnestly while waiting for more circus acts to start.
“How delightful!” murmured Mrs. Martin. “I hope we shall see more of one another down there. You must call on me, and I’ll come to see you before we go—we shan’t start for another week.”
“Nor we,” added Mrs. Keller. “It is quite strange, isn’t it,” and she smiled, “how my husband should rescue your little boy, and that we should meet in the circus and discover that we are going to the same summer resort?”
“Yes, it is odd,” agreed Mrs. Martin.
“I’m glad they’re going to Sunset Beach, aren’t you, Ted?” asked Janet of her brother.
“Yes,” he replied, in a whisper. “They’re nice. But look, they’re going to have a dog race now with monkeys on their backs! Look, Trouble!”
Trouble was trying to look in so many directions at once that it is a wonder he did not have a sore neck from twisting it so much. But then I almost think young necks must have some rubber in them.
“Oh! Oh, look at the monkeys!” cried Trouble! “And the dogs!”
There followed a delightful time for the children, though really there was so much to view I doubt if they took in more than half of it. However, they enjoyed all they did see.
But a circus cannot last forever. There must be an end some time, and finally when men came around selling tickets for the “grand concert,” Ted knew the end was approaching.
“May we stay for the concert, Daddy?” he asked his father.
“Yes, I think so,” was the reply.
“Oh, do you want to?” asked Mrs. Martin, who was anxious to get home.
“I think we may as well,” her husband said. “We can remain right here in these seats, and, though the concert doesn’t amount to much, it will give us a chance to wait for most of the crowd to get out of the big tent.”
“That’s the reason why I always stay to the concert,” said Mr. Keller. “It’s easier to get out when the crowd isn’t so large.”
So he bought tickets for himself and his wife, and Daddy Martin bought some for his family, and the children were delighted. Into the main tent came the “freaks” from the side shows, and also some men and women who sang while part of the circus band played. Then there were some “acts,” and the concert was over.
“But it will give the children a better chance to see the animals in the outer tent,” said Mr. Martin. “It won’t be so crowded.”
“An’ I want some peanuts to feed the nellifunt,” demanded Trouble.
“Where is that bag of peanuts you had?” asked his sister. “The one you threw on Mr. Keller’s head?”
“I eat ’em all up, I did,” confessed Trouble.
“O—o—o—oh!” murmured Janet.
There was another delightful half hour for the children in the animal tent, and Trouble not only fed the “nellifunts” some peanuts, but also gave a few to one of the cute little Shetland ponies.
And then, much to the regret of the Curlytops, it was time to go home, though they pleaded to stay “just a little longer.”
“But it is almost time for supper, my dears,” objected Mother. “Come, I think you have had quite enough of circus for one day.”
“Well, anyhow, we’ll have some fun at Sunset Beach,” said Janet.
“Yes,” agreed her brother, “we’ll have lots of fun there.”
“And we’ll see Mr. and Mrs. Keller,” added Janet.
Not only were they to see these new friends at Sunset Beach, but the Curlytops were to have a part in a strange happening with the old gentleman and his wife. I’ll tell you about that when the right time comes.
Mr. and Mrs. Keller had taken leave of the Martins outside the animal tent, and there had been promises on both sides to call before the summer trip to Sunset Beach should have been taken.
Janet dreamed that night she had a baby lion for a pet and it would carry around in its teeth her best rag doll. Teddy dreamed he was an elephant driver and rode his animal up into the clouds.
It was several days after this, during which preparations were begun for the summer outing at Sunset Beach, that Mrs. Martin had to go downtown shopping. There was no school, the long vacation having begun, and Teddy and Janet were at home.
“Watch Trouble while I’m away,” said Mrs. Martin.
“I will,” promised Janet.
The little fellow was playing out in the yard, where his sister could keep an eye on him, and Norah, who had been busy in the kitchen, came into the sitting room where Janet was playing with her doll, to say:
“I have to go to the corner grocery, Janet. I need some cinnamon to make apple pies. You’ll be all right for a little while, won’t you?”
“Oh, yes, Norah,” Janet answered. “Anyhow, Patrick is here.”
“To be sure he is,” said Norah, and she knew she would not have to worry. She might even be able to stop a few minutes and chat with Mary, the maid from next door, who usually went to the store about this time.
After Norah had gone Janet strolled out into the kitchen. She saw where Norah had started to make the pies, and at once a bold thought came into Janet’s mind.
“I’ll make a pie myself,” she said. “I’ve often watched mother and Norah, so I know how. I don’t need any cinnamon in my pie. I’ll make it without.”
The flour, water, lard and other things that go to make pie dough were already on the table. Doing as nearly as she could remember having seen her mother and Norah do, Janet mixed up in a brown bowl some flour, lard and milk.
“Oh, it feels just lovely on your hands!” she said to Ted, who stuck his head in the kitchen door to ask what his sister was doing. “It’s just like the squidgie mud we play with at the pond.”
“You can’t make a pie!” scoffed Ted.
“I can so!” insisted Janet. “I’ll show you! I’ll have it in the oven before Norah comes back and s’prise her!”
“I guess nobody could eat your pie after you made it!” laughed teasing Ted.
“I think you’re real mean!” declared Janet, with the beginning of a tear in each eye. “If you want some of my pie you can’t have it—so there!”
“Oh, well, maybe it will be all right,” laughed Ted, feeling a bit sorry for what he had said. “And if it’s good I’ll eat some. But why don’t you put the apples in?” he asked, seeing some of the sliced fruit in a bowl on the table. Norah had gotten the apples ready for her pies. “I’ll put them in for you,” offered Ted, and he raised the sliced apples toward the bowl where Janet was mixing up the sticky dough.
“No! No! They don’t go in here yet!” cried the little girl. “I have to roll out the crust first, like mother does! Oh, you stop, Ted Martin!” she wailed, as her brother tossed a few pieces of apple into the dough. “I’ll tell mother on you! Oh, now look what you did!”
For as Janet raised one arm to keep Ted from putting any more of the sliced apples into the dough, something happened. The next minute the bowl of dough crashed to the floor, a mixture of milk, flour, lard and other things, and began running over the oilcloth.
“Oh! Oh!” gasped Janet.
“Um!” grunted Ted.
Then the front doorbell rang.