Freddy Plays Football Read Free Page B

Wiggins, “that’s nothing against him. I guess there’s something about everybody on this farm you and I don’t like. Even our best friends. But if they’re friends, you just have to shut your eyes to such things. Usually they aren’t very important.”
    â€œGoodness!” said Freddy. “Are there many things about me you don’t like, Mrs. Wiggins?”
    â€œWell,” said the cow, “you don’t think you’re perfect, do you?”
    â€œNo. I wouldn’t claim that.”
    â€œI guess that’s your answer, then,” she said.
    After a minute Freddy said: “Well, I’m glad you like me, anyway. And I guess I’d better work a little harder at correcting my faults. What would you say was my worst one?”
    The cow shook her head. “Let’s stay friends, and you figure that out for yourself.”
    â€œH’m,” said Freddy. And after a minute: “Look, Mrs. W., did you notice that big trunk of Mr. Doty’s, in the back of his car? It has got initials painted on the end of it. But they aren’t his initials, which would be A. D. Don’t you think that’s funny?”
    â€œDon’t know as I do,” said the cow. “That boy that comes out here from Centerboro to see you all the time—Jackson, Jabez—”
    â€œJason Brewer,” said Freddy.
    â€œYes. Well, he has the initials C.H.S. on his sweater. But they aren’t his initials.”
    â€œOh, that stands for Centerboro High School,” Freddy said. “He played on their football team last year.”
    â€œSo that’s it!” said Mrs. Wiggins. “Well, maybe Mr. Doty played on some team. Maybe it stands for the Canastota Buffaloes, or the Catskill Bullfrogs. Did you ever do that game, Freddy, where you take somebody’s initials and make up a sentence describing them? Like with you, F.B. would be ‘fairly bright,’ or ‘fat banker’—”
    â€œOr ‘first-class brains,’” said Freddy. “Yeah, somebody made up one last year when the Centerboro team lost its eighth consecutive game against Tushville. They said C.H.S. meant ‘Can’t Hope to Score.’ It was about right, too—they got licked 60-0.”
    Mrs. Wiggins wasn’t interested in football. “Well,” she said, “it’s kind of funny about Mr. Doty. If he went away from Centerboro thirty years ago, and never wrote to his family or anything, he couldn’t have cared much about ’em. Why come back now?”
    â€œI can make a good guess,” said Freddy. “He looks shabby, and that old car of his—golly, I bet if you gave it a good wash there wouldn’t be anything left but the wheels. He’s broke, and he probably figures he can get three free meals a day as long as Mrs. Bean will let him stay.”
    â€œAnd didn’t Mrs. Bean tell Jinx that there was some money their father left them?”
    â€œThat’s right,” said Freddy. “Half the money she got from her father was to go to him. Wouldn’t you think he’d have claimed it before this?”
    â€œMaybe he didn’t know about it. But I wonder how Mr. Boomschmidt happened to find him?”
    They heard something about that when Jinx came out to the barn a little later. “Boy, that Brother Aaron is quite a card!” said the cat. “Talk about adventures!—he’s been about everywhere except to the moon, and he claims he’s going there in a rocket next spring. Cousin Augustus got so excited listening to his stories that he’s got the hiccups again.”
    â€œHow’d he find out where Mrs. Bean lives?” Freddy asked.
    â€œWhy, ever since she asked Mr. Boomschmidt to let her know if he ever met anybody named Aaron Doty, there’s been a sign posted in the circus entrance. ‘Aaron Doty will learn something to his advantage if he will communicate with the