Just William's New Year's Day Read Free Page A

bowed with would-be gracefulness as she went through the doorway.
    As she passed the window she was rewarded by a spreading effusive smile in a flushed face.
    She stopped and kissed her hand.
    William blinked with pure emotion.
    He continued his smile long after its recipient had disappeared. Then absent-mindedly he crammed his mouth with a handful of Mixed Dew Drops and sat down behind the counter.
    As he crunched the Mixed Dew Drops he indulged in a day dream in which he rescued the little girl in the white fur coat from robbers and pirates and a burning house. He was just leaping nimbly
from the roof of the burning house, holding the little girl in the white fur coat in his arms, when he caught sight of two of his friends flattening their noses at the window. He rose from his seat
and went to the door.
    ‘’Ullo, Ginger! ’Ullo, Henry!’ he said with an unsuccessful effort to appear void of self-consciousness.
    They gazed at him in wonder.
    ‘I’ve gotta shop,’ he went on casually. ‘Come on in an’ look at it.’
    They peeped round the doorway cautiously and, reassured by the sight of William obviously in sole possession, they entered, open-mouthed. They gazed at the boxes and bottles of sweets.
Aladdin’s Cave was nothing to this.
    ‘Howd’ you get it, William?’ gasped Ginger.
    ‘Someone gave it me,’ said William. ‘I took one of them things to be p’lite an’ someone gave it me. Go on,’ he said kindly. ‘Jus’ help yourselves.
Not at all. Jus’ help yourselves an’ don’t menshun it.’
    They needed no second bidding. With the unerring instinct of childhood (not unsupported by experience) that at any minute their Eden might be invaded by the avenging angel in the shape of a
grown-up, they made full use of their time. They went from box to box, putting handfuls of sweets and chocolates into their mouths. They said nothing, simply because speech was, under the
circumstances, a physical impossibility. Showing a foresight for the future, worthy of the noble ant itself, so often held up as a model to childhood, they filled pockets in the intervals of
cramming their mouths.
    A close observer might have noticed that William now ate little. William himself had been conscious for some time of a curious and inexplicable feeling of coldness towards the tempting dainties
around him. He was, however, loath to give in to the weakness, and every now and then he nonchalantly put into his mouth a Toasted Square or a Fruity Bit.
    It happened that a loutish boy of about fourteen was passing the shop. At the sight of three small boys rapidly consuming the contents, he became interested.
    ‘What yer doin’ of?’ he said indignantly, standing in the doorway.
    ‘You get out of my shop,’ said William valiantly.
    ‘ Yer shop?’ said the boy. ‘Yer bloomin’ well pinchin’ things out o’ someone else’s shop, I can see. ’Ere, gimme some of
them.’
    ‘You get out !’ said William.
    ‘Get out yerself !’ said the other.
    ‘If I’d not took one to be p’lite,’ said William threateningly, ‘I’d knock you down.’
    ‘Yer would, would yer?’ said the other, beginning to roll up his sleeves.
    ‘Yes, an’ I would, too. You get out.’ Seizing the nearest bottle, which happened to contain Acid Drops, he began to fire them at his opponent’s head. One hit him in the
eye. He retired into the street. William, now afire for battle, followed him, still hurling Acid Drops with all his might. A crowd of boys collected together. Some gathered Acid Drops from the
gutter, others joined the scrimmage. William, Henry, and Ginger carried on a noble fight against heavy odds.
    It was only the sight of the proprietor of the shop coming briskly down the side-walk that put an end to the battle. The street boys made off (with what spoils they could gather) in one
direction and Ginger and Henry in another. William, clasping an empty Acid Drop bottle to his bosom, was left to face Mr Moss.
    Mr Moss