Here's a Penny (11 page)

Suddenly, the water around the boat was full of crabs. Peter scooped them up, one after another, as fast as he could. In no time at all, the boys had caught about fifty crabs.

"Aren't they beauts!" cried Peter.

"They're the biggest crabs I have ever seen," said Penny.

Peter looked across the water toward the house on the cliff. Then he said, "Lunch is ready. Minnie has put the signal out."

At mealtimes, Minnie always hung an old red sweater on the clothesline. This was the signal to come home.

"Well, we made a good haul," said Penny, as Peter began pulling on the oars.

When the boat was secured to the dock, the boys lifted the basket of crabs out of the boat.

"They're lively critters, aren't they?" said Peter, watching the big green crabs.

"They sure are the biggest crabs we've caught all summer. They must all be granddaddies," said Penny.

The boys carried the basket between them to the back door.

"Look, Minnie!" cried Penny. "Look at the beautiful crabs we caught."

"Crabs!" cried Minnie. "What made you catch crabs? What are we going to do with crabs when we're going home on the two o'clock train?" Minnie came to open the screen door to let the boys in.

"Goodness!" she cried. "All those crabs! How many have you got there?"

"About fifty," said Peter.

"Fifty crabs!" cried Minnie. "Fifty crabs, and we're going home on the two o'clock train."

"But they're beautiful crabs, Minnie," said Penny. "You never saw such beautiful crabs. Look how big they are."

"I'm looking at them," said Minnie. "But what I want to know is what you're going to do with them."

Just then, Mother came into the kitchen.

"Look, Mother!" cried Penny. "Look at the beautiful crabs we caught."

"But what are we going to do with them?" asked Mother.

"That's just what I want to know," said Minnie.

"We can take them home with us," said Peter. "They will be all right in this basket. We can put more seaweed over them. They'll be all right in the train. And I love crabs."

"So do I," said Penny.

Minnie grunted. Then she said, "Come along. Lunch is getting cold. Never know what you boys will bring into the house."

"Well, the boys will have to carry the basket of crabs," said Mother. "In fact, they will have to take full charge of them. Minnie and I have enough to take care of."

"Okay!" said Penny. "We'll take care of them, won't we, Peter?"

"Sure!" said Peter.

Mother had the one remaining suitcase packed and Minnie had a large black leather bag and a shopping bag. In the shopping bag she had odds and ends. It was filled with half-empty packages of flour, cocoa, sugar, cornstarch, and raisins—things that Minnie would use up when they got back home. Also, into the shopping bag went Minnie's favorite gadgets, such as the can opener, knife sharpener, and apple corer. Sticking out of the bag were the long handles of the pancake turner and the soup ladle. The bag was sitting on the kitchen chair when Mother came out into the kitchen after lunch.

"Why are you taking the pancake turner and the soup ladle, Minnie? We have others at home," said Mother.

"Well, I just got awful fond of them," said Minnie. "Somehow, I think I'm going to need them. The pancake turner's nice and limber and the soup ladle's not too big."

Finally, the taxi was at the door to take them to the train.

Penny put Really and Truly into their traveling bag. There was a great deal of mewing as Penny placed the bag in the taxi. Then Peter and Penny carried the basket of crabs out and put it in the taxi.

"You boys are sure there is plenty of seaweed in the basket with the crabs, aren't you?" asked Mother.

"Oh! Sure, sure!" said Peter. "We put in a lot of seaweed, and the crabs are very quiet."

"Well, that's good," said Mother, as she climbed into the taxi. "Here's hoping they keep quiet!"

Minnie, with her bags, climbed in beside the taxi driver.

"I've traveled with lots of things in my day," said Minnie, "but this is the first time I've traveled with fifty crabs."

"But they're beautiful crabs, Minnie," said Penny.

"Oh, sure, sure! They're beautiful crabs," said Minnie. "I just hope they take a nice long nap on the train and don't get into trouble."

"What trouble could they get into?" asked Peter. "They're so quiet you wouldn't know they were in the basket." And then, as a shuffling sound came from the basket, Peter added, "Almost."

"Well, I just hope for the best," said Minnie. "I just hope for the best."

This made Mother laugh and she said, "Oh, Minnie! Don't be so gloomy about the crabs. They are quite all right in the basket."

Minnie sighed. "I just hope for the best," she said.

When they reached the station, the train was rapidly filling with passengers. Mother carried the suitcase in one hand and Really and Truly in the other. The boys carried the basket of crabs between them and Minnie brought up the rear with her black bag and the shopping bag.

Carrying the basket of crabs up the steep steps of the car was not easy, but the boys managed it slowly.

Mother led the way to four vacant seats that faced each other in the center of the car. The suitcase she stowed away on the rack overhead. The bag containing Really and Truly she placed on the floor.

"Now, boys," she said, "you will have to put the basket of crabs between the seats and do the best you can with your feet and legs. After all, the crabs were your idea."

"Okay!" said Peter, as the boys reached the seat. "Put it down, Penny."

Penny dropped his end of the basket so suddenly that it startled Peter, and before you could say "Boo!" the basket of crabs had tipped over and nearly all the crabs and the seaweed lay sprawling in the aisle.

The excited crabs began scrambling in all directions. Women and children, nearby, jumped up on the seats to get out of the way of the pinching crabs. The children yelled and squealed. The aisle was blocked and people couldn't get through. When they saw the crabs scurrying around in the aisle and under the seats, they fled out of the doors of the car.

Minnie started to cry, "Goodness! Goodness!"

Peter righted the basket while Penny jumped up and down and cried, "Oh, Mummy! Oh, Mummy! Oh, Mummy!"

"Be quiet, Penny. Minnie, stop yelling and do something," said Mother. "Here, give me the pancake turner."

Mother pulled the pancake turner out of the shopping bag and went after a nearby crab. She scooped for it but it slid right off. Meanwhile, the other crabs were getting farther and farther away. Everyone in the car was either kneeling or standing on the seats and they were all watching the crabs.

"Oh, dear!" said Mother. "This will never do. Here, give me the soup ladle."

Minnie handed over the soup ladle. With the pancake turner under the crab and the soup ladle pinning it down on top, Mother was able to lift one crab back into the basket. And then, the crabs in the basket started such a commotion as their fellow crab returned. Mother went after another.

By this time, most of the crabs had hidden under the seats. They could be heard scratching their claws on the floor.

"I think I can get them, Mother," said Peter. "I can get under the seats more easily."

Meanwhile, Minnie had gathered up the seaweed. She kept muttering over and over, "I never did trust crabs. They're just plain wicked."

The aisle was now cleared of everything but Peter and Penny, who went crawling up and down looking for crabs. Peter had the pancake turner in one hand and the soup ladle in the other. Every once in a while he would chase a crab out from under a seat, put the pancake turner under it, the soup ladle on top of it, and drop it into the basket. Many a time he dropped the crab and had to begin over again, but by the time the train had gone halfway home, all of the wandering crabs had been caught and were safely back in the basket. They had settled down under the seaweed.

Once, Penny looked down at the basket and said, "I'm glad we didn't lose the crabs, aren't you, Mummy?"

"Well," replied Mother, "it would have been better to have left them in the ocean."

"Oh, but Mother," said Penny, "they are such beautiful crabs!"

"Beautiful crabs!" muttered Minnie. "Just full of meanness, that's what. Nothing beautiful about them."

At the end of the journey, Mother asked the conductor if he would lift the basket off the train. Peter and Penny carried it safely to a taxicab.

At last they reached home and Mother and Minnie breathed a sigh of relief.

"I won't trust those crabs until I get them in the pot," said Minnie. And without taking off her hat, she put a big kettle of water on the stove.

When the water was boiling, she threw the crabs in one by one. As she did so, she muttered to herself, "Beautiful crabs! I just hope I never travel again with crabs. The most awful good-for-nothing nuisance in the world is a crab."

When they were done, Minnie laid the big fat crabs out on the kitchen table. Penny came into the kitchen. Minnie stood back and admired the crabs. Then a broad grin spread over her face. "My! Oh, my, Penny!" she said. "Aren't they beautiful crabs?"

C
AROLYN
H
AYWOOD
(1898–1990) was born in Philadelphia and began her career as an artist. She hoped to become a children's book illustrator, but at an editor's suggestion, she began writing stories about the everyday lives of children. The first of those, "
B" Is for Betsy,
was published in 1939, and more than fifty other books followed. One of America's most popular authors for children, Ms. Haywood used many of her own childhood experiences in her novels. "I write for children," she once explained, "because I feel that they need to know what is going on in their world and they can best understand it through stories."