Bunny Brown and His Sister Sue Keeping Store
L >> Laura Lee Hope >> Bunny Brown and His Sister Sue Keeping Store"Yes, I suppose it will be as well for me to do that, too," said the
storekeeper. "But since you like to help me tend store there are many
other things you can do."
Bunny and Sue found them, for it was afternoon now, and many families in
the neighborhood sent children to buy things for supper.
"Hello, Sue!" called George Watson as he came into the store, whistling.
"I told my mother about that special sale of oatmeal you had here last
week. Got any more?"
"Yes, a few boxes left," said Mrs. Golden, who was behind the grocery
counter with Sue. Bunny was out in the storeroom opening a new box of
prunes. "They're up on a high shelf, I'll get one down for you, Sue."
But as she was going to do this a man entered the store. He was Mr.
Flynt, and Sue heard Mrs. Golden sigh when she saw him.
"You'll have to wait a minute about that oatmeal," said the storekeeper
to George. "I'll get it down for you in a little while. I have to see
this gentleman first."
George was willing to wait, but Sue was anxious to help in the store,
and as she saw that Mrs. Golden was going to be busy talking to Mr.
Flynt, the little girl decided she could get down the box of oatmeal
herself. She felt sure that Mrs. Golden would have trouble with Mr.
Flynt who would want money, and Mrs. Golden had very little to pay.
"I'll get the box of oatmeal for you, George," said Sue. "I know where
it is."
She climbed up on the counter by means of a box, and stretched up her
little hands and arms to the shelf on which the cereal was stacked. Sue
reached for a box, managing to get hold of it by stretching as far as
she could and standing on her tiptoes. But as she pulled the one box out
it caught on several others standing in line on the shelf.
"Look out!" cried George, as he saw what was going to happen.
But it was too late. Sue could not get out of the way, and a moment
later a shower of pasteboard boxes of oatmeal and other things fell all
around her.
"What is happening?" cried Mrs. Golden, hearing the clattering sound.
She came hurrying from the back of the store where she had gone to talk
quietly to Mr. Flynt.
"Everything is going to fall!" cried George.
But it was not quite so bad as this. Sue kept her hands raised above her
so nothing would hit her head, though one or two boxes did bump her a
little.
Box after box slipped from the shelf, falling on the floor, on the
counter, and all around poor little Sue!
CHAPTER XXIII
THE PONY EXPRESS
Bunny Brown ran out of the storeroom, in his hand a hammer with which he
had been opening the box of prunes. Mrs. Golden gave a cry of alarm as
she heard the clatter of the boxes falling around Sue. Mr. Flynt joined
Bunny in a rush to help the little girl. As for George, he was so
frightened by the sudden toppling of things from the shelf that a tune
he had started to whistle died away and he got ready to run out of the
store.
"Mercy sakes! what is going on in here?" cried Mrs. Clark, entering the
store as the boxes ceased falling. "Is anybody hurt?"
No one knew for a moment, as Sue had uttered no cry save the first
frightened one. But by the time Bunny and Mr. Flynt reached her the
shower of boxes was over and the little girl took down her hands from
over her head.
"Did anything break?" asked Sue, looking about her. "Oh, dear, what a
terrible mess!" she cried.
"Don't worry about that, child!" exclaimed Mrs. Golden. "What if a few
boxes are broken open? It's you I'm thinking of."
"Oh, I'm all right!" Sue said, and she laughed a little.
And when they came to look her over nothing worse had happened than that
she had a few bumps and bruises. And they were not very hard ones, for
the boxes were of pasteboard and not wood.
And only one or two of the oatmeal packages were split open, so that not
much was lost in that way. So, take it all in all, the accident was a
very little one, though it made a great deal of excitement for the time
being.
"You oughtn't to reach up for such high things, little girl," said Mr.
Flynt, when he had helped pick up the packages.
"No, sir, I guess I oughtn't," agreed Sue. "But George wanted one and I
thought I could get it."
"You call me when you want things from a high shelf," said Bunny, going
back to the task of opening the box of prunes. "I'm a good climber."
"I wasn't climbing, I was reaching," answered Sue, as if that made a lot
of difference. "Here's your oatmeal, George," she added, and the
whistling boy came back to the counter and got it.
Bunny and Sue stayed in the store for an hour or more after the fall of
the oatmeal boxes. Bunny finished opening the box of prunes, and he and
Sue waited on several customers, for Mrs. Golden seemed to be quite busy
talking to Mr. Flynt in the back room. And it was not a pleasant talk,
either, as Bunny and Sue guessed when they caught glimpses now and then
of Mrs. Golden wiping tears from her eyes.
Finally the grocery man came out of the back room with Mrs. Golden. He
was saying, so that the children could hear:
"Now you'd better take my advice, Mrs. Golden, and sell out your store
here. You'll never make it pay, and you keep on owing us more money all
the while. I know you're trying to do your best, but you must either
pay us or we'll have to take our things back and sell you out besides
for the rest that you owe us.
"Take my advice and sell out before you're sold out. It will be better
that way. We can't wait any longer. This is a good little store, but you
don't make it pay."
"Maybe I could if my son Philip were to come back," sadly said the old
lady. "He's gone after a legacy, and when he comes back----"
"There there, Mrs. Golden! It's of no use to talk that way!" exclaimed
Mr. Flynt. "You've been telling me about that legacy a long time. Why
doesn't it come?"
"I don't know, Sir."
"No. And I don't believe it ever will come. We've waited as long as we
ought, but I'll give you a little more time, and that will be the last.
If you don't pay we'll have to close your store. Think it over and sell
out before you're sold out."
And then Mr. Flynt went out.
Bunny and Sue, who had been about to go home, looked at Mrs. Golden and
felt sorry for her. They could see that she was feeling bad, and that
she had been crying.
"What's the matter?" asked Bunny.
"Not enough money--that's the trouble," was her answer. "Oh, dear, I
don't want to sell my store!" she said. "I want to keep it."
"Have you got to sell?" asked Sue.
"Mr. Flynt says so," came the reply, "because I owe him a lot of money I
can't pay. If business was only better I might keep my store going until
Philip comes back with the legacy. Once we get that we'll be all right!
But if we don't----"
Mrs. Golden put her handkerchief to her eyes. Then, seeing that she was
making Bunny and Sue sad, she added:
"There now! Run along. Maybe I can get the money somehow. At any rate
you children have been most kind to me. Run along now, and don't mind a
poor old woman."
But Bunny and Sue did mind. They talked matters over on their way home
and decided that something must be done. They wanted to help more than
they had been doing, and Bunny thought of a way. As usual Sue agreed
with him, for she was willing to do anything her brother did.
That evening after supper Bunny brought his little tin savings bank from
a shelf in his room, and Sue brought hers. There was a great rattling as
the pennies, dimes and nickels in the tin boxes clattered against the
sides.
"My goodness! what's going on?" cried Daddy Brown, looking up from the
paper he was reading. "Are you two going to buy an automobile with all
that money?"
"Will you please open my bank, Daddy, and see how much is in it?" asked
Bunny.
His father, wondering what was "in the wind," as old Jed Winkler would
say, did so. With Bunny's help the cash was counted. There was eight
dollars and fifteen cents.
"I have more than that!" exclaimed Sue, and indeed she had, for Bunny
had taken some of his money the week before to buy a top and a set of
kite sticks. Sue had ten dollars and forty-six cents in her bank.
"What are you going to do with it?" asked Mrs. Brown, for she knew the
children would not have gotten down their banks unless they had some
plan in their heads.
"We're going to give it to Mrs. Golden," said Bunny.
"Mrs. Golden?" cried their father.
"You mean you're going to buy something at her store?" asked Mrs. Brown.
"No, we're going to give it to her," said Bunny gravely. "She owes money
and Mr. Flynt will close up her store if she doesn't pay. So we're going
to give her our money so she can pay Mr. Flynt and then the store will
stay open."
"'Cause if it's closed," added Sue, "we can't have any more fun helping
keep it."
"Oh, ho! I see!" laughed Mr. Brown. "Well, I must admit I forgot all
about Mrs. Golden. I promised to see if I couldn't help her when you
told me about Mr. Flynt before, but I forgot. Now, children, it wouldn't
be right for you to take your bank money to help Mrs. Golden. She
wouldn't want you to do that. Put away your pennies, and I'll see what I
can do to help."
This made Bunny and Sue feel happier, and they went to bed more
satisfied, for they felt sure their father could make everything right.
But the next day, when they went in to see Mrs. Golden, to help keep
store, they found her looking very sad and unhappy.
"What's the matter?" asked Sue.
"Oh, just the same old trouble," Mrs. Golden answered. "I need money to
pay bills."
"Mr. Flynt's?" asked Bunny.
"Yes, his and another man's. I'm afraid, children, you won't be able to
come here much longer and help keep store."
"Why not?" Bunny wanted to know.
"Because there won't be any store--at least I won't have it. I'm afraid
I'm going to lose it. If I could only get some more customers and do
more business I might manage to pull through until Philip gets back. But
I don't know--I don't know!" and she shook her head sadly.
That afternoon, going home with Sue, Bunny had another idea.
"Sue!" he exclaimed, "if we can't give our money to Mrs. Golden maybe we
can get her more customers."
"How?" asked the little girl.
"We can ask everybody we know to come and trade there," said Bunny. "I
remember when the Italian shoemaker started down at the end of our
street and I took my rubber boots there to have him fix a hole, he said
for me to tell all the boys I knew to bring their boots and shoes to him
to be mended."
"Did you?" Sue inquired.
"Yes. And the shoeman said I brought him good trade and he gave me a
piece of beeswax. So maybe we could get customers for Mrs. Golden."
"Maybe we could!" cried Sue. "Let's tell the other boys and girls to get
their fathers and mothers to let them buy things at Mrs. Golden's, and
then she'll have a lot of customers!"
"Oh, let's!" cried Bunny Brown.
And they did. The next day, when Bunny and Sue were playing with
Charlie, George, Mary, Sadie, Helen, Harry and Bobbie, the idea was
spoken of again.
"Fellows and girls!" exclaimed Bunny, who got up to make a speech, "we
have to help Mrs. Golden."
"You should speak of the girls first," said Sadie, who was a little
older than the others.
"Well, anyhow, we ought to help Mrs. Golden," went on Bunny. "She needs
customers. Now, if all of you would buy everything you could of her,
like Sue and I do, maybe she wouldn't lose her store."
"My mother says she'd trade there if Mrs. Golden would deliver stuff,"
remarked Helen Newton. "But she says she can't cart heavy things from
any store."
"My mother said the same thing," added Mary Watson.
"She can't afford to hire a delivery horse and wagon," said Charlie
Star. "I know, 'cause I helped in her store."
"She needs an auto like Mr. Gordon," said Bobbie Boomer.
"Pooh, autos are only for big stores!" exclaimed Harry.
Bunny Brown seemed to be doing some hard thinking. He had a new idea.
"Fellows!" he suddenly cried, "I have it! I'll get a delivery wagon for
Mrs. Golden!"
"You will?"
"A delivery wagon?"
"How?"
These cries greeted what Bunny had said.
"I'll take our Shetland pony, Toby, and deliver things for her in the
little cart!" cried Bunny Brown. "If all of you will promise to buy as
much as you can from her, I'll deliver things in our pony cart!"
"Hurray for the pony express!" cried Charlie Star. "I'll help!"
CHAPTER XXIV
BAD NEWS
The boys and girls, all of whom promised to buy as much as they could
from Mrs. Golden and who also promised to tell their mothers at home
that things could now be delivered from the little corner store, were
bubbling over with fun and good-nature as they left the yard of Bunny
and Sue where the "meeting" was held. But after his playmates had gone
Bunny Brown began to do a little worrying.
"I know Toby will like to deliver groceries and be a pony express," said
the little boy to his sister. "But maybe mother won't let us do it."
"Oh, I guess she will," said Sue.
"I'll ask her, anyhow," decided Bunny, and he did.
Mrs. Brown thought the matter over carefully when Bunny and Sue told her
about it.
"Is Mrs. Golden really in such need of money?" asked Mrs. Brown.
"Oh, yes!" cried Bunny. "She feels so sad when Mr. Flynt comes and says
he's going to close her store. And we'll feel sad if we don't have any
place to go any more and learn how to work in it, Mother! Please let us
take Toby and be a pony express!"
"I'll talk it over with your father," said Mrs. Brown.
The children waited anxiously for what their father should say, and they
were glad when they heard him laugh after Mrs. Brown had spoken to him
of the plan.
"Why, yes," he agreed. "I don't see any harm in it. Toby doesn't get
enough exercise as it is. And Bunny and Sue can manage the little
Shetland very well. The only thing is, I wouldn't want them to drive all
over town delivering groceries--I mean out on the main street where
there are so many autos now."
"Oh, we wouldn't go there!" promised Bunny.
"We might work it this way," went on Mr. Brown. "If there are things to
be delivered on the other side of Main Street I'll let Bunker Blue do
it. He can spare the time once a day. Bunny and Sue can do the rest of
the delivery."
So it was decided, and you can imagine how delighted Bunny and Sue were
when they hastened to tell the good news to Mrs. Golden.
"Why, that's perfectly wonderful!" exclaimed the old lady, and there
were happy tears in her eyes. "Oh, you are two darling children to think
so much of helping an old woman."
"You're not so old," declared Bunny politely. "Besides, we like to keep
store; don't we, Sue?"
"Lots!" answered the little girl.
Bunny and Sue clerked in the store as much as they had time for, but as
they were now to deliver things in the pony cart they could not spend so
much time behind the counter. And Mr. Brown said that Bunny and Sue must
both go in the pony cart, as it would be safer for them that way.
"Sue can hold Toby while you take the groceries into the houses," said
Mr. Brown. "Only you mustn't lift too heavy boxes, Bunny."
"No, Daddy!" he promised. "If it's too heavy I'll lift it twice!" He
meant he would make two trips of it.
Toby was almost as much help to Mrs. Golden as Bunny and Sue had been,
for many housekeepers, when they found they could have groceries
delivered from the corner store, took part of their trade there. And
Bunny and Sue were quite proud to load up the basket cart with boxes and
packages and start out to leave the orders at the different houses.
Mrs. Golden did not grow any younger or more active, and there were
times when she could hardly get around the store. At such times, if
Bunny and Sue had to be out with the pony cart, Charlie Star would come
in and be a clerk.
When things needed to be delivered on the other side of Main Street,
along which many automobiles were driven, then Bunker Blue was called
on. He gladly drove the "pony express" as it was laughingly called, and
many customers were served this way.
But in spite of this increase in trade the worried look did not leave
Mrs. Golden's face, and, more than once, Bunny and Sue again saw her
counting up her money and looking at bills she owed Mr. Flynt.
"Will you have to sell the place now?" asked Bunny one day, coming in
with Sue to help tend store. The two previous days had been busy ones,
when many customers had bought things.
"Well, I don't know about it, Bunny, my dear," was the answer. "More
money is coming in, to be sure, but things cost so much I make hardly
any profit. Things still look black. But don't worry. You and Sue are a
big help. If Philip only gets that legacy, then I'll be all right!"
"I hope he does!" said Bunny Brown.
Several customers came in and the children helped Mrs. Golden wait on
them. Then one woman wanted flour, sugar, and potatoes sent to her house
on the other side of Main Street, a place where Bunny and Sue had never
been.
"But we'll load the things in the pony cart," said Bunny to Sue, "and
drive to our house. Bunker Blue is going to be there, for he's going to
cut the grass, and he can drive across Main Street to Mrs. Larken's
house."
"That will be all right," said Mrs. Golden. "It's very kind of you to
help me this way."
The children started out with Toby, and they were almost at their own
home when they heard a great shouting and racket behind them.
"Oh, Bunny!" cried Sue, "maybe we dropped something out of the cart and
they're calling to us to pick it up."
Bunny gave one look back over the way they had come. Then he pulled hard
on Toby's reins and shouted:
"No, we didn't drop anything, but here comes the fire engine!"
And, surely enough, dashing down the street was the shiny new engine
that had lately been bought for Bellemere.
"Oh, pull over to one side!" cried Sue, clasping Bunny's arm. "Pull over
to one side!"
"I--I'm trying to!" he answered. But Toby did not seem to want to go
over near the curb, and out of danger. Once in a while the Shetland pony
had a stubborn streak, and this was one of those times.
"Get over! Get over there!" cried Bunny, pulling on the reins.
But instead of swinging to the right Toby turned to the left, and down
the street, clanging and thundering came the fire engine.
"Get out the way!"
"Look at those children!"
"Pull over! Pull over!" cried people along the sidewalk.
One or two men ran out to grasp the bridle of Toby and swing him over,
for it seemed that all Bunny was doing had no effect. But before any of
the men could reach the pony Bunker Blue came dashing along. He was on
his way to the Brown house to cut the grass, and he saw the danger of
Bunny and Sue.
"What's the matter with you, Toby? What's the matter?" cried Bunker
Blue. The Shetland pony seemed to know the fish boy's voice, for he
allowed himself to be swung over to the curb and out of danger just
before the fire engine dashed by.
"Oh dear!" sighed Sue.
"Pooh! That wasn't anything!" declared Bunny Brown. "I could have got
him over. And, anyhow, the fire engine would have steered out! But I'm
glad you came, Bunker," he said, for this talk did not seem to show a
kindly feeling toward the fish boy who had been so quick to act.
"Yes, I guess you'd 'a' been all right," said Bunker, with a laugh. "But
that fire engine was going very fast. You've got to be careful of it."
And all the rush and excitement was for nothing, as there was no fire,
the alarm being a false one. Bunker took charge of the pony cart and
delivered the groceries before he cut the grass. Then Bunny and Sue
drove back to the corner store.
They saw Mr. Flynt talking to Mrs. Golden as they entered.
"It's of no use!" the cross man was saying. "I have bad news for you.
You'll have to give up the store, Mrs. Golden."
"Won't your company give me a little more time?" she asked.
"No," said Mr. Flynt. "We've been waiting and waiting, hoping you could
pay. Of course things are better than early in the summer. I guess these
children have helped you a lot," and he looked at Bunny and Sue. "But
you don't take in enough money to pay your bills. If you could pay up
you might get along, for you have a good trade now. But you can't pay
your bills, and so we're going to sell you out!"
"Does that mean close up the store?" asked Bunny timidly.
"That's what it means, little man," was the answer, and Mr. Flynt did
not seem so cross now. Perhaps he was sorry for what he had to do. "Mrs.
Golden will have to give up her store."
CHAPTER XXV
GOOD NEWS
Bunny Brown and his sister Sue looked at each other with sad eyes. After
all their work it had come to this. The store would be closed! They
would have no place to come and have good times during the long vacation
days! It was too bad! What was to be done?
Sue waited for Bunny to speak, as she usually did, and Bunny, after
thinking the matter over, asked:
"Are you going to close it up right away?"
"Within a day or so, unless Mrs. Golden can pay her bills," answered Mr.
Flynt. "We have waited as long as we can. I'm going to begin now to
close out her business, but it will take two or three days. If she can
raise the money in that time----"
"There's no use waiting or hoping--I can't do it!" sighed the old lady,
with tears in her eyes. "I've tried my best, but I can't do it, even
with the help of these dear children and the pony express," and she
looked out of the window at Toby, hitched to the little basket cart.
"It is too bad," said Mr. Flynt. "We know you've done your best, and if
you didn't owe so much you might get along now, with the start you have.
But it takes all you can make to pay your back debts. It's best that you
should give up the store. My company is sorry for you, but we've waited
as long as we can. You'll have to sell out, Mrs. Golden."
"Yes, I suppose so," she agreed. "But if I could only hear from Philip,
and if he could bring the money from that legacy, I could pay all I owe
and start a bigger store. But I don't suppose there's any use hoping for
that."
"No, I believe not," agreed Mr. Flynt. "Your son Philip doesn't seem to
have gotten that legacy. Have you heard from him?"
"Not lately," said Mrs. Golden, with a sad shake of her head. "I don't
know why he hasn't written. Perhaps because he has no good news for
me."
"Very likely," said Mr. Flynt. "Well, I must go. You had better arrange
to sell everything by the end of the week, and pay us what you can.
We'll have to wait for the rest, I reckon."
"Won't there be a store here any more?" asked Sue.
"Oh, some one else may start one. It isn't a bad place for a grocery and
notion shop," answered the black-whiskered man. "But Mrs. Golden can't
keep this store any more."
"Maybe she can if my father will help her!" exclaimed Bunny. "He said he
would!"
"Well, if some one would pay what she owes, of course she could keep on
with the store," agreed Mr. Flynt. "But we can't wait any longer. We've
got to sell her out."
When Bunny and Sue told at home that evening what had happened, Mrs.
Brown said:
"Walter, can't you do something for that poor old woman?"
"Yes, I must try," he said. "I meant to look into her affairs long
before this, but I've had so many other things to do that I let it go.
We'll save the store for her if we can."
"'Cause we like to help tend it," said Bunny. "Don't we, Sue?"
"Yes," answered the little girl.
Instead of going to his boat and fish dock the next morning, as he
nearly always did, Mr. Brown called to Bunny to get ready and go down to
the corner grocery with him.
"May I come?" asked Sue.
"Yes," her father answered. "You are in this as much as Bunny. We are
going to help Mrs. Golden if we can."
They found the old lady sitting sadly in her easy chair near the back of
the store where she generally could be found when no customers needed to
be waited on.
"Good morning, Mrs. Golden," said Mr. Brown. "I understand you are in
trouble."
"If owing a lot of money and not being able to pay it is trouble, then
I'm in almost up to my eyes," she answered, with a shake of her head.
"Like I was in the brook!" said Sue.
"Yes, I suppose so," sighed Mrs. Golden. "I'm afraid I've got to lose my
store."
"Tell me how much you owe," begged Mr. Brown.
And when he heard he shook his head, saying:
"It is more than I thought. If it had been only about a hundred dollars
I might have lent it to you, or found some one who would, but now I'm
afraid nothing can be done."
"Do you mean the store will have to close?" asked Bunny.
"I'm afraid so, Son," replied his father.
"Oh dear!" sighed Mrs. Golden! "If Philip were only here then I
might----"
"Well, here I am, Mother!" cried a voice at the front door. "What's the
trouble?" and in came big, strong, jolly Philip Golden. He had just
arrived on a train. "What's wrong?" he asked, for he could see that his
mother had tears in her eyes.
The trouble was soon told.
"Sell the store!" he cried. "I guess not much! Didn't you get my
telegram, Mother?"
"What telegram?"
"The one telling about the legacy. We have it--several thousand
dollars! It won't make us rich, but it will be enough to make you
comfortable for life. I heard the good news yesterday, and I sent you a
telegram telling about it so you wouldn't worry any more."