He picked up some of the money. He turned it over in his hand. “Where did you get this?”
“Customers.”
“You didn’t ask for this, did you?”
“I didn’t ask for anything,” she said.
“They like you, Al,” said his wife.
“But it’s not mine,” he said. “Some of it goes to Sarah Ida.”
“No,” she said.
“We’ll see about it,” he said. “When I’m back on my feet, we’ll see about it.”
“When will you be back on your feet?” asked Aunt Claudia.
“Well, I got a bad place here.” He put a hand to his ribs. “But I’ll be back at work sooner than you think.”
Al was back at work in a week. He and Sarah Ida were working side by side again. Old friends and customers were stopping to talk.
“We didn’t get much done,” Sarah Ida said to Aunt Claudia that evening. “It was like a party. Everybody was glad to see Al.”
“How is he?” asked Aunt Claudia.
“Not quite as quick as he was,” said Sarah Ida. “I know his side hurts sometimes. But he’s all right, with me to help him.”
They had finished dinner and were sitting at the table. Sarah Ida looked at the clock. “Rossi is coming over. Shall we do the dishes now, before she gets here?”
“I’ll do them later,” said Aunt Claudia. “I want to talk to you—about a letter I had today.”
“From my mother?” asked Sarah Ida.
“From your father. He wants you to come home.”
“I’m not going,” said Sarah Ida.
“It’s not long till school starts,” said Aunt Claudia. “You’ll be going then, anyway.”
“I can go to school here,” said Sarah Ida, “and after school and on weekends I can help Al.”
“Your mother and father haven’t been writing you all that happened at home,” said Aunt Claudia. “They didn’t want to worry you. But they need you.”
“They never needed me before.”
“That isn’t true. And they need you more now. Your mother is ill. She’s going to have to be away for a while—maybe a long time. She’ll be in a hospital not far from home. You can see her every day. She and your father want you with them.”
“Did they say that?” asked Sarah Ida.
“Yes. At a time like this they think the family should be together. And you can make things easier for them. In a way, you’ll be making a home for your father. When you first came here, I’d have said you wouldn’t be able to do it. Now I think you can.”
Rossi came. She had brought a big cardboard box. “I got a kit,” she said. “It’s to make a lampshade. It looks like colored glass, only it isn’t really. I thought we could put it together.”
They went up to Sarah Ida’s room. They sat on the floor and spread the pieces of colored plastic out on newspapers.
“Isn’t this fun?” said Rossi, as they cut and glued.
“Yes,” said Sarah Ida.
“You’re awfully quiet,” said Rossi.
“I’m thinking,” said Sarah Ida.
They finished the lampshade. Rossi held it up and let the light shine through it. “Isn’t it pretty? It would look good here. Why don’t I give it to you, and you can put it on that little lamp?”
“No, it’s yours,” said Sarah Ida. “Anyway, I may not be here much longer.”
The Package
* * *
She and Al talked about it. After work the next afternoon they had chocolate cones at Pearl’s Ice Cream Shack, and she told him about her father’s letter.
“I have to go, don’t I?” she said.
“Looks like it,” he said. “Maybe you don’t want to, but if you do go, you’ll feel better in after years.”
It made her feel sad to hear him say “in after years.” She said, “You never know what’s going to happen, do you?”
“That’s right. You never know. All you can do is try to be ready for whatever does happen.”
“What if I go on Monday? That way I could help you through the weekend.”
“Monday would be fine.”
“I hate to leave when you’re just out of the hospital—”
“I’ll get along.”
“Maybe you can find someone to help you. Someone like Kicker.”
“Maybe. I think he’d like to work for me now. He saw what a good thing you made of it. But I’m in no hurry to find anyone.”
There was something she had to ask, even though she did feel foolish. “That apron you got for me to wear— Could I—could I have it?”
“It’s a dirty old apron now. What do you want it for?”
“I just want it.”
He didn’t say yes or no, but after her last day at Shoeshine Corner, he said, “Roll up your apron and take it with you, if you want it.”
On Monday morning Sarah Ida packed her things, and Aunt Claudia took her to the station. Rossi came along in the taxi. “You’ll be riding all day,” she said. “I made you some cupcakes so you won’t get hungry.”
They waited for the train. All at once, Sarah Ida looked up, and Al was there!
“Why aren’t you at the stand?” she asked. “You’ll miss a lot of customers.”
He looked a little embarrassed. “I just thought I’d take a few minutes to see you off.”
The train came in.
Aunt Claudia and Rossi said good-by. Al said, “You get on, and I’ll help you with your things.”
He handed up her suitcase. He had a little package wrapped in brown paper, and he slipped it into her hand.
She found a seat by a window. She looked out and saw the three of them on the platform—Rossi, Aunt Claudia, and Al. They were waving. She waved back, and they were gone, and Palmville was gone.
She opened the little package Al had given her. Inside was something that looked like an old, dull coin. It was Al’s medal.
She closed her eyes. For a long time she sat there, while the train carried her along. She seemed to hear Al saying, “The thing to do is try to be ready—”
She said to herself, I’m ready. I think I’m ready, and she felt the star on the medal she held in her hand.
Excerpt from A Lion to Guard Us
I
The Sailor Man
On a February morning in the year 1609, a small, thin-faced man made his way over London Bridge. He wore a leather jacket and a blue wool stocking cap. His clothes were splashed with mud, and mud sucked at his shoes. He could hardly see for the cold rain in his face.
He had been looking for Fish Street, and here it was, at the end of London Bridge. Now he was looking for a house on Fish Street—a great stone house not far from the bridge.
Here was one with tall chimneys and many windows. It must be the house, he thought. He went around to the back.
A plump, pretty maid opened the door.
“Would this be the Trippett house?” he asked.
She looked at his muddy clothes. “What do you want?”
“A word with Mistress Freebold, if she’s about.”
“Mistress Freebold? Oh, you mean Annie. You can’t see her,” said the maid. “She’s sick abed.”
“Could you just let her know there’s someone here from America—?”
“America?” The maid stared into his face. “Then you must be—” She was gone. He heard her crying out, “Amanda, Amanda!”
Someone came running. Someone cried, “Father!” and a girl was there. She looked no more than ten or eleven—a pale little thing with great, dark eyes.
She stopped. She said in bitter disappointment, “You’re not my father.”
“I shouldn’t think so,” said the man.
“Ellie said you were from America, and she thought—I thought—”
“So you’re James Freebold’s girl,” he said.
“One of them. I’m Amanda.” She asked quickly, “Do you know my father?”
“I do, and I saw him not many weeks ago. We were togethe
r in America, in the colony of Virginia. I’m a sailor, you see, and my ship was there—”
“And you saw him.” Her eyes were bright again. “Was he well? What did he say?”
“He was well enough, for all I could see. He’d built a house in Jamestown. That’s the only town there. When my ship sailed, he asked if I’d stop for a word with his family in London. He thinks of you each day. He prays you will all be together before another year is out.”
Tears came to her eyes. “When you see him, will you tell him—?”
“I’ll not be seeing him again,” the man broke in. “It’s a long, hard voyage to Virginia. I’ll not be going back.”
“Oh,” she said.
Someone was calling, “Amanda!”
“You’re wanted,” he said. “I’ll take my leave.”
“But you’ll come again?”
He shook his head. “I’ve told my tale. Good-day to you.”
He left her. He was gone, and she didn’t know his name or where to find him again, and there were a hundred things she hadn’t asked. She hadn’t even said thank you.
She took a step after him, but Cook’s voice called her back. “A-man-da!”
She closed the door. She went down the long, cold hall and into the kitchen.
Cook was at the table, beating eggs. Her face was red. Her cap was over one eye.
“Who gave you leave to stand in the door and talk all day?” she said. “Who was that man?”
Ellie the maid came out of the pantry. “Oh, Amanda, was it your father?”
The door to the back stairs opened. A small boy put his head out. “Was it Father?” he asked.
“Jemmy!” cried Amanda. “You know you’re not to come in here. No, it wasn’t Father.”
His head disappeared, and the door closed.
Amanda told Cook and Ellie, “It was a sailor man back from Virginia. He saw my father there. He talked to him. Father is well—and he’s built a house— and he thinks of us—”
Cook gave a snort. “He does, does he? He thinks of you so much that he sails off and leaves you for three whole years.”
“Oh, that’s cruel!” said Ellie.
“Hold your tongue, miss,” said Cook, “and Amanda, you get back to your work.”
She went off into the pantry.
As soon as Cook was gone, Amanda opened the door to the back stairs. The small boy was sitting on the steps. A smaller girl sat beside him.
“It wasn’t Father. It was a sailor man,” Amanda said. “But he saw Father. Just think of that. I’ll tell you about it tonight.”
“Will it be a story?” asked the boy.
“It will be like a story,” said Amanda, and she shut the door.
About the Author
CLYDE ROBERT BULLA is one of America’s best-known writers for young people. The broad scope of his interests led him to write more than fifty distinguished books on a variety of subjects, including travel, history, science, and music. He received a number of awards for his contributions to the field of children’s books, including, for Shoeshine Girl, awards in three states—Oklahoma, Arkansas, and South Carolina—the winners of which were voted upon by school children.
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By Clyde Robert Bulla
THE BEAST OF LOR • BENITO
CONQUISTA! (WITH MICHAEL ROBERT SYSON)
DEXTER • THE DONKEY CART
DOWN THE MISSISSIPPI • EAGLE FEATHER
THE GHOST OF WINDY HILL • GHOST TOWN TREASURE
INDIAN HILL • JOHN BILLINGTON, FRIEND OF SQUANTO
JOHNNY HONG OF CHINATOWN • LAST LOOK • MARCO MOONLIGHT
THE MOON SINGER • MY FRIEND THE MONSTER
OLD CHARLIE • OPEN THE DOOR AND SEE ALL THE PEOPLE
PIRATE’S PROMISE • POCAHONTAS AND THE STRANGERS
RIDING THE PONY EXPRESS • THE SECRET VALLEY
SHOESHINE GIRL • SONG OF ST. FRANCIS
SQUANTO, FRIEND OF THE PILGRIMS • STAR OF WILD HORSE CANYON
THE SUGAR PEAR TREE • SURPRISE FOR A COWBOY
THE SWORD IN THE TREE • VIKING ADVENTURE
WHITE BIRD • WHITE SAILS TO CHINA • THE WISH AT THE TOP
A LION TO GUARD US
Copyright
SHOESHINE GIRL. Copyright © 1975 by Clyde Robert Bulla. Illustrations copyright © 2000 by Jim Burke. All rights reserved under International and Pan-American Copyright Conventions. By payment of the required fees, you have been granted the nonexclusive, nontransferable right to access and read the text of this e-book on-screen. No part of this text may be reproduced, transmitted, downloaded, decompiled, reverse-engineered, or stored in or introduced into any information storage and retrieval system, in any form or by any means, whether electronic or mechanical, now known or hereinafter invented, without the express written permission of HarperCollins e-books.
* * *
Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data
Bulla, Clyde Robert.
Shoeshine Girl / Clyde Robert Bulla ; illustrated by Jim Burke.
p. cm.
Newly illustrated ed.
Summary: Determined to earn some money, ten-year-old Sarah Ida gets a job at a shoeshine stand and learns a great many things besides shining shoes.
ISBN 0-06-440228-2 (pbk.)
EPub Edition May 2013 ISBN 9780062290649
[1. Friendship—Fiction. 2. Behavior—Fiction. 3. Shoe shiners—Fiction.] I. Burke, Jim, ill. II. Title.
PZ7.B912Sh 2000 99-20063
[Fic]—dc21 CIP
* * *
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