Penny and Peter Read Free Page B

stool with all of her might. Peter, being an expert catcher, caught it. He placed it on the unpainted part of the floor.
    "Now, stand the ladder up straight," said Peter. "And let it come down gently. Don't drop it."
    Patsy held the ladder up straight. Then she tipped it toward the inside of the room. Suddenly it dropped, but Peter was quick and caught the end of the ladder. He just saved it from landing on the paint.
    "Now, put your stool under your end," said Peter.

    Patsy slipped her stool under the end of the ladder and Peter placed the other stool under his end. "That's great!" he said. "Now, go ahead, Penny. You go across, first."
    Penny stepped on the first rung of the ladder, then to the second and then to the next, until he reached the end. Peter followed.
    "Didn't I tell you a bridge was a good idea?" said Patsy.
    "It was great," replied Peter, as he dashed off to wash his hands.
    "We won't have time to change our clothes," he called to Penny. "We're late now."
    Patsy ran home to her dinner and Penny washed his hands. Then the two boys set out on a run to meet Daddy and Mother. They ran all the way. When they reached the restaurant, Daddy was standing out on the pavement looking for them.
    "What made you so late?" he said, when the boys arrived.
    "We were doing something," said Penny. "It's a surprise for you, Daddy."
    "And we got sorta stuck," said Penny. "We didn't have time to change our clothes."
    "So I see," said Daddy.

    When Mother saw the boys in their overalls, she, too, was surprised. "Why, boys!" she said. "Why didn't you get dressed?"
    "We couldn't," said Peter. "We were so late. We thought you would be worried."
    "We were making a surprise for Daddy," said Penny. "And we got sort of stuck."
    When they were all seated at the table, Daddy looked at the boys' overalls and at the blue stains on their hands. Then he looked across the table at Mother. "You know, Mother, I have been thinking. I think perhaps it would be nicer to paint the floor of Peter's room red."
    Penny and Peter sat bolt upright and stared at each other, their eyes popping.
    "Red!" cried Mother.
    "Yes," said Daddy. "A nice bright red."
    "Oh no, Daddy!" cried Penny. "Not red!"
    "Oh no! Not red," said Peter. "You wouldn't like it red, Daddy."
    "Well, maybe not," said Daddy. "I guess I had better use that nice blue paint that I bought."
    Peter and Penny looked across the table at each other and grinned. Penny wriggled, he was so pleased. Then he said, "I think you will like it, Daddy."

3. Tootsie

    For a long time, Patsy had wanted a dog. "A nice little dog," Patsy would say. "I want a nice little dog. Not one like that wirehaired terrier that lives down the street. I want a nice quiet doggie."
    When Patsy said this to her daddy, he would say, "Well, perhaps someday." And when she chattered about the dog to her mother, she would say, "Well, we'll see."
    Patsy was beginning to feel that Daddy's "someday" would never come and that Mummy would never "see" when a letter arrived from her uncle Frank. Uncle Frank lived out west. He wrote that he was going into the army and he didn't know what to do with his dog "Tootsie." Would they like to have her, and if they wanted her, send a telegram.
    Patsy was so excited, she hopped up and down on one foot, saying over and over, "Sure we'll take her. Sure we'll take her. Won't we, Daddy? Won't we?"
    So her daddy sent the telegram to Uncle Frank. He said that they would be glad to take Tootsie.
    "What kind of dog do you suppose Tootsie is?" said Patsy.
    "I don't know," said her daddy. "As long as it isn't one of those Pekingese that expect to lie on a pillow all day, I don't care. Tootsie sounds very much like a Pekingese. They yap, too."
    "Maybe it's a little cocker spaniel," said Patsy. "I just love cocker spaniels."
    "I don't care what kind it is," said Patsy's mother, "just as long as it is little. And the littler the better."
    "You're not hoping for a Mexican hairless!" cried her daddy. "They look like