I and Sproggy

by Constance C. Greene

  She nodded in his direction, not really seeing him. “I think rice might be nice,” she was saying as he left the kitchen. “But, on the other hand …”

  When Adam got to the lobby, a van had just pulled up outside. A man got out of the driver’s seat, ran around to the back, opened the door, and took out a folding wheelchair. He set it on the sidewalk. Charlie got out of the van, reached in, and lifted a woman in his arms.

  “Thanks, Herb,” he said. “Appreciate it more than I can say.”

  “My pleasure,” Herb said and drove away.

  Charlie pushed the woman slowly toward the front door. Adam opened it. “Hi,” he said.

  “Millie, this here is my friend Adam,” Charlie said. “The one I been telling you about all these long years. Adam, this is my wife Millie.”

  “How do you do?” Millie said, smiling at him. “I’ve heard so much about you I’m delighted to finally meet you.” She put out her hand and Adam took it in his as he would a very small and fragile bird that had fallen from a tree. He was afraid to shake it because it and she looked so frail he thought he might break her bones. On the contrary. Her handclasp was firm and strong. Her voice was rich and hearty and full of life. She sounded just like the woman Adam had pictured in his mind. Underneath her long skirt, he could see her tiny feet dangling from ankles so thin they couldn’t possibly have supported her. When she smiled, she showed pointy little teeth, like a child’s. Her smile was merry. That much had turned out right, at least. On either side of her mouth was a deep groove, an exaggerated dimple that must have come from years of smiling.

  Adam thought he might be able to see through her if the light was right.

  I wonder why Charlie didn’t tell me about Millie, Adam thought. Probably because she’s so happy, such a beautiful person, that Charlie forgets.

  As if a silent signal had gone out over the tops of the buildings, saying, “He’s here! Charlie’s here!” a group of kids, including Steve and Kenny, began to assemble. They milled around, waiting for some action, pretending they didn’t know something special was going on.

  “Hey!” Charlie said. “It looks like Old Home Week around here.” He pushed Millie into the lobby. Adam held open the door and scowled at the rabble on the sidewalk. “Take it easy,” he told them. “Don’t push, let them breathe.” He felt like an usher at Radio City Music Hall, holding back the crowd.

  “It’s lovely,” Millie exclaimed, “such a restful color. I like everything the same color. Very stylish.”

  “Didn’t I tell you?” Charlie said, smiling, his hand on her shoulder. “Like a blinking British pea souper, right?”

  The crowd pressed into the lobby. “Everyone, meet my wife Millie!” Charlie called out. “There’s more kids in this neighborhood than in any other of the five boroughs, I guess,” Charlie said. “They come out of the woodwork.

  “And here’s the little limey!” Charlie cried as Sproggy appeared.

  She was wearing a dress. “Mummy said I had to,” she explained to Adam.

  “Millie, this here’s the little girl from the other side I was telling you about,” Charlie said.

  “How jolly to meet you,” Sproggy said. “When I told Mummy about you being invited to a party at the Mayor’s house for educators, she said my Uncle Dickie might be there, too, as he’s president of a university in Sussex and should be in New York about this time. You might keep an eye out for him, Charlie. His name’s Richard Champion. He’s frightfully distinguished looking.”

  “So’s Charlie,” Adam said. Everybody stood back and admired Charlie’s appearance. He wore a black-and-white checked jacket and a yellow shirt with a red tie. “Isn’t he handsome?” Millie said.

  “You both are,” Adam said, touching upon a streak of gallantry he hadn’t known he possessed. Sometimes he surprised himself. Yesterday he’d been kind, today gallant. Who knew what tomorrow might hold?

  Charlie kept looking anxiously at his watch. “We don’t want to be late,” he said. “That would be terrible.”

  “On the other hand,” Millie said, “we don’t want to be early either. That would be worse.”

  “She’s got a point,” Charlie agreed. “I’m going to push you real slow so you can get a good look at everything.” He turned to the crowd. “She doesn’t get a chance to see the sights too often, right, Mil?”

  “I don’t want to miss a thing,” Millie said. “And when I get home tonight, I’m going to write it all down so I won’t forget one single detail.”

  “That’s what I do,” Sproggy chimed in. “I write in my journal every single night. That way I don’t leave out anything. It’s very easy to forget when you have so many things happening all at once. That’s what I find. I daresay it’s the same with you.” She and Millie smiled at each other. “Ever since I’ve come to America, so much has happened to me.”

  “I hope it’s all been good,” Millie said.

  Sproggy shook her head. “Not all,” she said. “Mostly it’s been good. But not all.”

  “That’s life,” Charlie said. “You got to take the bitter with the sweet, eh?” He started to push Millie in her chair toward their destination. “We’ll go across to East End and along the river. You’ll like the river, Millie. Always something happening there. And the park’s nice. You’ll like the park, Mil. And we can stand off and look at that big house and know that in a half hour or so we’ll be going there to a party. I don’t think too many people have that experience.”

  Charlie and Millie led the stream of children to the river. Like the Pied Piper, Adam thought. Chattering and laughing, the procession made its way along Eighty-eighth Street, down a couple of blocks to the park. Sure enough, there was a big striped tent set up on the lawn of Gracie Mansion.

  “Just look at that!” Millie said. “Imagine! I’ve always wanted to go to a party under a tent. What do we say, Charlie, when we’re introduced to the Mayor?”

  Charlied stopped pushing and became very solemn. “We say, ‘How do you do, Your Honor.’ That’s what they call him. Your Honor.”

  The entire procession listened, nodded wisely, agreeing with him. It wasn’t everyone who knew how to address the Mayor of the city. Looking back, Adam saw they’d picked up some late starters. A couple of women with chins, gloves, and hats asked, “What’s this all about?” and a young man in a three-piece suit said, “It’s a political rally. Just keep walking.” A young couple in blue jeans, with a baby bobbing sleepily on the man’s back in a knapsack, joined them happily. Adam imagined how the guard would look if they all followed Charlie and Millie through the gate and up the steps. His face would probably fall apart and he’d call for help on his special line.

  “It’s almost time,” Charlie said nervously. “I think we ought to head over, Mil.”

  She nodded. “Do I look all right, Charlie? Maybe I should’ve worn a hat.”

  He looked at her, studying her. “You’ll be the most beautiful woman there. And that’s the truth.”

  “Oh, Charlie!” she said.

  “Now you kids behave yourselves,” Charlie said. “I want to be proud of all of you. No acting up, no hollering or anything like that. Remember, you’re my buddies. If I get a chance, I’ll wave.”

  They nodded. It was a solemn moment. Charlie slowly pushed Millie toward the entrance and the tent and the glowing moment of triumph.

  “Bring me a souvenir,” Kenny said. “Nothing big or valuable. Just something I can show to my grandchildren.”

  “You want I should lift one of the Mayor’s nightshirts?” Charlie said, grinning.

  The children watched as the grownups went through the gate after the guard had inspected their credentials. Adam wondered how Charlie was going to get Millie and her wheelchair up the front steps. They huddled in a small group, faces pressed against the iron fence as if they were peering inside a toy store the week before Christmas.

  “I think that’s the Mayor shaking hands with Charlie now,” Steve said. “It looks like him. There’
s a bunch of photographers over at the side. What you want to bet Charlie gets on the evening news on TV? I wouldn’t be surprised.”

  Adam watched as a waiter came around with a tray of glasses, which he offered to Millie and Charlie.

  “I bet that’s champagne,” Sproggy said. “It looks like champagne to me.” Nobody questioned this. The lawn was filled with ladies and gentlemen. The party was in full swing.

  “I wonder how Charlie’s getting along,” Kenny said. “All those college presidents and educators.”

  “Don’t worry about Charlie,” Adam said. “He can hold his own anywhere.”

  Sproggy leaned forward, pressing her face against the fence. “I do believe that’s Uncle Dickie!” she exclaimed.

  “Where?” Necks craned to see Uncle Dickie.

  “That tall man in the striped trousers. The one getting out of that huge black car. It certainly looks like him. And Aunt Moggs.”

  “How can you tell from this far away?”

  “Hallo there! Uncle Dickie!” Sproggy’s voice rang out in a clarion call. “Hallo!”

  Uncle Dickie would have had to be deaf not to hear her, Adam thought, even above the noise of the crowd.

  The tall man peered in their direction. He took several steps across the lawn. “Why, Moggs,” Adam heard him say, “I do believe that’s Sproggy!” He and the lady walked toward the fence, a guard behind them.

  “Sproggy, my pet, what are you doing here?” he said.

  “Mummy said you might be here,” Sproggy said. “How lovely to see you. We”—she made a sweeping gesture to include everybody, including the baby in the knapsack and the two ladies who thought they were attending a political rally—“have a friend who is also at the party. His name is Charlie. He and his wife are going to night school, which is why he was invited. Her name is Millie. She’s ever so jolly. I hope you meet them.”

  “I say,” said Uncle Dickie through the fence, “how would it be if I spoke to His Honor and asked if you might be included? He’s a good chap, and what’s one more guest at a fracas this size?”

  “Darling,” said Aunt Moggs, “how’s Mummy?”

  “She’s fine, thank you,” Sproggy said. “She’s settling in very nicely. But, Uncle Dickie, there are such masses of people there, they won’t have room for me,” she said.

  “Precisely,” said Uncle Dickie. “What’s one more person when there are so many? I say”—he turned to the guard behind him—“would it be possible, do you think, for my god-daughter to attend the party? I haven’t seen her in ever so long, and I’m to be in New York only until tomorrow. You’d be doing me such a favor, old boy.”

  “I’ll have to check,” the man said. “Wait here,” and he went across the lawn and spoke to someone, who spoke to someone else.

  The man came back. “His Honor says, ‘Fine,’ and if the little girl wants to bring a friend, that’ll be all right, too.”

  “Top hole!” Uncle Dickie said. “Thanks, old chap. Come on now, Sproggy, come ’round to the front and bring a chum. I’ll be waiting for you there so there won’t be any hold-up.”

  Sproggy clasped her hands. “Oh, Adam,” she said, “will you come with me?”

  Adam was flabbergasted. In his wildest dreams, and there’d been some pretty wild ones, this is what had happened to him. He had marched up the steps to Gracie Mansion, the warm lights beckoning to him, and had been invited in by the Mayor, and the Mayor’s wife had fixed him, with her own hands, a peanut butter sandwich.

  “I don’t know,” he said. Faced with the real thing, he held back.

  “Come on!” Sproggy said, taking charge. “We may never have another chance. Besides, we’d better not keep Uncle Dickie waiting.”

  “Go on, dope,” Kenny hissed from behind. “You might miss the whole thing if you don’t go now,” and he shoved Adam.

  “Hey,” said the guard, “where you think you’re going, buddy? I got no time for you today. There’s a big blast going on inside. Lots of bigwigs. Come back tomorrow.”

  “He’s coming with me,” Sproggy explained. “There’s Uncle Dickie now.”

  After a few words with the guard, a policeman escorted them all—Adam, Sproggy, and Uncle Dickie—into the party.

  Adam’s last thought before he lost himself in the excitement of it all was:

  Boy, am I glad I wore my new sweater!

  The second person he saw was Charlie. The first was the Mayor.

  “There you are, Dick. So these are the young people, eh?” The Mayor put out his hand.

  Adam had seen his picture so many times he felt as if they were old friends. He shook hands with the Mayor and remembered to say, “Very nice to meet you, sir.” He got that “sir” in very well, it seemed to him.

  “Awfully good of you to let them come to the party,” Uncle Dickie said.

  “My pleasure,” said the Mayor. “How about some refreshment?”

  Adam caught sight of Charlie on his way to the tent. Charlie was talking to a very distinguished-looking man with a goatee.

  “Me and my wife Millie are very interested in education,” he was saying. “I myself quit school when I was … My God!” he said. “What are you doing here, Adam? You better get out before someone catches you.”

  The distinguished-looking gentleman smiled benignly.

  “I’m invited, Charlie,” Adam said. “We were watching you through the fence and Sproggy saw her Uncle Dickie and he got the Mayor to ask us in.”

  “Charming, charming,” the distinguished-looking gentleman said. “Such a wonderful country you have. Where else could something like this happen?”

  “Millie,” Charlie said, “look who’s here.”

  “I can’t believe it,” Millie whispered. Adam wasn’t sure whether she meant herself or him.

  “Me either,” said Adam.

  “Pardon me,” a man said to Charlie, “but are you Charlie Hagelstrom, the handyman who registered for night school classes?”

  “That’s me,” Charlie said proudly.

  “Well, we’re from Channel Nine’s nightly news,” the man said. “We’d like to take your picture talking to the Mayor. And your wife too, of course.”

  Charlie smiled. “That’d be fine with me,” he said. “Just let me check with my wife Millie. Millie,” he said, bending down to her, “this gentleman wants to put us on Channel Nine’s nightly news. That O.K. with you?”

  Millie sat up very straight in her chair. She ran a hand over her hair and said, “I think that would be very nice. If it’s all right with you, Charlie.”

  “Why not? It isn’t every day we get an opportunity like this. How about the boy, too?” he asked the man.

  “Is he a relative of yours?”

  “No, he’s a friend. A good friend.”

  The man frowned and said, “I think not, then. Just the two of you. If you don’t mind, I’m short on time. Just come over here out of the crowd for a minute and we’ll shoot you and the Mayor. Your Honor, would you be good enough to pose with Mr. Hagelstrom and his wife?”

  The Mayor smiled. “It’s my pleasure,” he said.

  Out of the corner of his eye Adam could see Kenny and Steve and the rest of them, faces still pressed against the fence, watching. He stood apart, bowed from the waist, then, straightening, waved both his arms high in the air, acknowledging their presence.

  A great roar arose from the watchers.

  “Yeh,” they cried, “yeh, yeh, yeh!” Then “Hip hip hooray!” they shouted.

  “Now, Your Honor, if you’ll just smile at Mr. and Mrs. Hagelstrom,” the TV cameraman said, “and say a few words.”

  “It’s a great pleasure for me to welcome such fine people to Gracie Mansion on such a wonderful day in such a wonderful city,” the Mayor said. “It’s people like Mr. and Mrs. Hagelstrom that make this country of ours what it is.”

  The Mayor was notoriously long-winded. He made a speech about how the Hagelstroms’ desire for further education epitomized the spirit of special
Continuing Education Week and was in the best American tradition. The TV cameraman began to twitch nervously.

  “Thank you, Your Honor,” he said several times. Finally the Mayor finished. Everyone shook everyone else’s hand.

  “Good-bye, Uncle Dickie and Aunt Moggs,” Sproggy cried, throwing her arms about them both. “Mummy will be so sorry to have missed you.”

  “We’ll be in New York again in a few months,” Aunt Moggs said. “We’ll see you all then.”

  “Good show!” Uncle Dickie said.

  “I’ve got to get home to watch the nightly news,” Adam said.

  “Me, too,” Charlie said. “Thank you, Your Honor, for a most memorable day. The most memorable day in me and Millie’s life. We’ll never forget it.”

  The Mayor said he felt the same way—although he must have had many memorable days in his life, Adam thought.

  “Your car is ready whenever you are, Mr. Hagelstrom,” the Mayor’s aide said.

  “Our car!” Charlie looked stunned.

  The man opened the door of a long, gleaming limousine. “We would have sent one for you and your wife to bring you to Gracie Mansion, but no one answered your telephone last night,” the aide said.

  “We were playing Bingo,” Charlie explained. “That’s all right. Herb brought us over.”

  The driver tipped his hat. “We’d better leave now if you folks want to catch yourselves on the nightly news,” he said. Charlie lifted Millie in his arms and put her in the wide back seat. Then he got in beside her as the driver folded Millie’s chair and put it in the trunk.

  “Good-bye, Charlie and Millie!” everyone hollered. “Good-bye and happy landings!” The limousine pulled out of the drive and into East End Avenue, headed for Charlie’s house. The neighbors, Adam felt sure, would be there, waiting when the Hagelstroms arrived home, celebrities, TV stars, everything.

  Kenny, his face marked where he’d rested it against the iron fence, came running as he saw Adam and Sproggy walking toward him.