"Are you sure the sick boy hasn"t anything he can pa.s.s on to Sunny Boy?" asked Mrs. Horton, a little bit worried as she tied up a bundle for them to carry. "You are sure it is only a cold?"
"Sure," said Grandpa Horton. "Positive. The poor lad is as hoa.r.s.e as a crow. Got the New Year cakes and the candy canes, Sunny Boy? Then I think we are ready to start."
Sunny Boy had found seven candy canes on his Christmas tree and he had wrapped each one separately. There would be a cane for each Parkney child. Harriet had helped him make seven little packages of cakes.
And, with Daddy"s help, the night before he had picked out a toy for each child. He could not go to sleep until he had chosen the toys.
Though, of course, he did not have anything especially for girls, he thought they would like the games and the jack-in-the box, and Mother Horton said she knew they would.
It was lucky that Sunny Boy and Grandpa Horton liked to walk, for the Parkneys did not live near a car line. There was only one trolley line that went through the River Section, anyway, and they lived many blocks from that. Grandpa Horton carried a large bundle in one hand and a basket Harriet had packed in the other. Sunny Boy had his toys and candy and cakes.
"Here is the house," said Grandpa Horton, stopping suddenly before a house that looked so old and dirty and shabby you would not think people could live in it. The shutters were missing from most of the windows and the door stood wide open.
"Now stay close to me," said Grandpa Horton. "It is dark in the halls, and I don"t want to lose you."
It was dark in the halls and dark on the stairs. They pa.s.sed many doors and they heard people talking, but they saw no one. Sunny Boy followed Grandpa till they had climbed three flights of stairs and were on the fourth floor of the house. Then Grandpa Horton knocked on a door.
"Come in," called a man"s voice.
Sunny Boy clung to Grandpa Horton"s coat and stared around him. They had stepped into a room that did not look like any room he had ever seen before. There were no chairs at all and only one table. A stove in one corner had a good fire in it, and a man, with one arm in a sling, sat near it, on a soap box.
"How do you do, Mr. Parkney?" said Grandpa Horton cheerfully. "This is my little grandson, Sunny Boy. He wanted to see your children and wish them a Happy New Year."
The man smiled at Sunny Boy and Mrs. Parkney came out of the other room when she heard the voices.
"I believe I"m better," Mr. Parkney declared. "And I"ve decided to go to the doctor as you said, Mr. Horton. Perhaps if I get this arm well and get a job, I can pay back all you"ve done for me."
"Why, certainly you can," said Grandpa Horton. "Or you can give some one else a lift, which will be better. Now I want to talk to you and Mrs. Parkney a few minutes. But where are the children? Sunny Boy has something for them."
"They"ve all gone out, except Bob, of course," replied Mrs. Parkney.
"Well, then, Sunny Boy, suppose you go in and wish Bob a Happy New Year," suggested Grandpa Horton. "Take him his candy and cakes and the baseball game you brought him."
"You come, too," whispered Sunny Boy.
"You"re not bashful, are you?" laughed Grandpa Horton. "Well, I"ll go with you and introduce you to Bob, then I"ll have a talk with you, Mr.
Parkney."
Bob Parkney was lying on a mattress propped up between two chairs, not a very comfortable bed for a sick boy. But Sunny Boy did not notice the bed. He stared at Bob and Bob stared at him.
"Well, for goodness" sake!" cried Bob Parkney. "Where did you come from?"
CHAPTER VII
THE OTHER GRANDPA
"Why, Sunny Boy!" said Grandpa Horton, much surprised, "do you know Bob?"
"He"s the boy--" Sunny Boy began in such a hurry that he choked. "Oh, Grandpa, he"s the boy that pulled me off the ice!" he finished in one breath.
"Well, I never!" said Grandpa Horton, in astonishment. "I never thought of that, and Bob didn"t mention ice to me. Is that what gave you this fine cold, young man?"
Grandpa Horton tried to frown at Bob, but he only succeeded in smiling.
And Bob smiled back.
"I did catch a little cold," the boy admitted. "You see, my feet were sort of wet. But it"s most gone now."
"I hope it is. But you"re hoa.r.s.e yet," said Grandpa Horton. "So you"re the lad who kept his head and brought my Sunny Boy safely ash.o.r.e. There are a number of folks at our house, Bob, who would like to tell you what they think of you. We looked everywhere for you the next day and for several days afterward."
"Don"t let anybody come!" croaked Bob in his poor, hoa.r.s.e voice.
"Please, don"t let "em come, sir. It was nothing to do. I only kept the lunatics from walking on the little chap. I hate people making a fuss."
"There, there, no one shall make a fuss," Grandpa Horton promised him.
"Don"t tire your throat with talking. I want to have a word with your mother and father, Bob, so I"ll leave Sunny Boy to entertain you. He can do enough talking for two boys when he gets started."
Grandpa Horton went into the other room, and left Sunny Boy and Bob alone. There was no chair for Sunny Boy to sit on, so he stood beside Bob and talked to him. He told him about the "other grandpa" and the funny mistake the short man who wore gla.s.ses had made. And he told Bob what the tall policeman had said about good boys not being afraid of the police.
"And he said you were good to pull me off the ice," added Sunny Boy.
"Shucks, that wasn"t anything to do," said Bob. "I wasn"t afraid of seeing a policeman, either. But they always tell you to get a move on or to go on where you"re going, or something like that. I just don"t have any use for a policeman."
"You"ll get your throat tired," said wise little Sunny Boy, who saw that Bob was excited over the mention of the policeman. He sat up in bed and his cheeks were very red. "I"ll show you how to play the baseball game. You don"t have to talk to play that."
They were having such a good time playing the baseball game that neither one of them heard Grandpa Horton come into the room. He said it was time for him and Sunny Boy to go home, but Bob was so eager to finish an inning that Grandpa Horton said he would wait a few minutes.
Bob won, and this seemed to please him very much.
"I"ve going to leave word at Doctor Stacy"s as we go past his office,"
said Grandpa Horton, b.u.t.toning Sunny Boy into his coat. "He will drop in to-day to see your father and look you over, Bob. We won"t try to pay you for what you did for Sunny Boy, but you must understand that you have made at least four good friends for life--Sunny Boy"s father and mother and his grandma and grandpa--and we claim the right of friends to look after you. Your father has taken the sensible view, and we"ve arranged matters so that you will all be more comfortable till your father"s arm heals. Then, when he has a job and you"re rid of that cold, you must go back to school. Sunny Boy"s father may have a place in his office this summer for a boy who goes to school regularly through the winter."
Bob positively grinned with delight as Grandpa Horton and Sunny Boy shook hands with him and said good-bye. He looked so happy that Sunny Boy asked his grandfather, when they were out in the street, if Bob wanted to go to school.
"I don"t know about that," replied Grandpa Horton, "though I think he does. But Bob"s mother told me he is wild to get in an office. He wants to learn to use the typewriter. The poor lad has been staying out of school trying to earn a little money since his father hurt his arm. That is why he is afraid of policemen, Sunny Boy. He is really playing hookey, though not for his own pleasure. Still, we must see that he stays in school and has a fair chance."
Though Sunny Boy was in a great hurry to get home and tell his mother and his grandma and Harriet about Bob, he was willing to wait while Grandpa Horton stopped at the doctor"s office and left word with the nurse there to have the doctor stop at 674 White Street. That was the house in which the Parkney family lived.
What a lot Sunny Boy and Grandpa Horton had to tell when they reached home!
"I never heard anything so lucky in my life," declared Harriet, who always was counted one of the family. "Mrs. Horton, don"t you think I ought to make some chicken soup for that boy? If he has a cold he is probably all run down and needs nourishing things to eat."
"I wonder if I would have time to knit him a sweater before we go home Friday," said Grandma Horton. "I could start it anyway, couldn"t I, Olive? I would love to knit a pure wool sweater for Bob."
"I must see that he has good clothes to wear to school," said Mrs.
Horton.
Grandpa Horton listened and laughed a little. He was sitting before the fire, and he held Sunny Boy on his knee.
"What would you like to do for Bob, laddie?" he asked his grandson.
"If you can think of something I"ll give you the money to buy it and you and I will go downtown and shop to-morrow."