Tennis Shoes Read Free

and waved good-bye.
    At half-past twelve grandfather came driving back. He climbed out of his seat carefully, then he turned to James.
    â€˜Give me that parcel.’ He nodded to the children and took a square brown parcel from James. ‘You come with me.’ His look included Dr. and Mrs. Heath and Pinny. He marched into the dining-room with them all trailing behind. In the dining-room the table was being laid for lunch. Grandfather never cared about things like tables being laid, and he swept back the cloth. The cloth upset the salt-cellar. Susan was shocked to see that grandfather never bothered to throw salt over his left shoulder, so she did a little salt-throwing herself to keep ill-luck from him. Of course she did not believe that salt really brought ill-luck, but all the same it made her feel worried inside to see it upset and no precautions taken.
    Grandfather, having made a space for himself on the table, sat down in his own chair which was a Hepplewhite and beautiful to look at. He took the carving-knife and cut the string of the parcel. First there was a layer of brown paper, then there was a cardboard box, and then tissue-paper. Grandfather’s fingers were a little stiff with rheumatism. He took a tremendous time undoing the tissue-paper, but because of the stiffness and the rheumatism none of the children liked to say: ‘Oh, do hurry up!’ When the tissue-paper was undone that was not the end, for the thing itself was wrapped in a piece of cotton-wool. Even grandfather’s slow fingers could not fumble much over cotton-wool. He pulled off the last piece and took out what he had bought. It was a little silver house.
    They all took in their breath rather loudly. The little house was most beautifully made. It looked a cross between the wolf-proof house the sensible pig built in Walt Disney’s cartoon and something magic, rather like the witch’s house in Hänsel and Gretel . The downstair rooms had bow-windows. There were eaves in the roof. The chimneys had a twisted look, as if they had been up a long time and had got rather blown about.
    Grandfather looked at them all.
    â€˜Know what this is?’
    The children examined the house more closely. They were not quite sure what grandfather meant. It was obviously a toy house made of silver. If he meant ‘what was it for,’ that was different. Susan thought it might be meant for a very tiny doll to live in. Jim hoped that perhaps it had works inside and would be a clock or perhaps that kind of musical-box that has a prickly thing that turns round and makes notes. Nicky suggested that perhaps the roof came off and it was full of chocolates. David said:
    â€˜Per’venture it’s for my farm.’
    Grandfather laughed so much at David trying to use so long a word (for people at that date had not begun to get used to him being fond of long words) that he almost forgot the house. Then he remembered and showed them. He took hold of one of the chimneys and pulled it down. The children leant over his arm to see what it was. The chimney was on a hinge, and when it was pulled back there was a slot underneath. The house was a money-box. The front door had a real lock and grandfather had a tiny key which fitted it. When the front door was open it showed that inside the house was hollow. When you put money in the slot under the chimney it fell straight through to where the hall ought to be. When you wanted to get the money out again you opened the front door and pulled it out on to the front steps, or drive, or whatever you liked to think would be there. Grandfather let them see this happen. He opened his note-case and took out four one-pound notes.
    â€˜Here is a pound each, me dears.’ He handed them round, and pulled back the chimney. ‘Come on, twins, yours first.’
    It was fun to see the notes come tumbling through, because although, of course, one part of you knew that the whole house was hollow, and that