No new shoes! Jimmy and Janet looked at Mother and said, “You told us we were ready for new shoes.”
Mother sighed. “Mothers can be wrong sometimes,” she said. That made Jimmy and Janet feel better—a little, but not much.
Mr. Markle looked disappointed, too. He sniffed and rubbed his eyes with his fists and looked so silly that Jimmy and Janet almost smiled.
Janet leaned against Mother. “I won’t have a surprise for Mr. Lemon today,” she said and looked very, very sad. “Mr. Lemon likes me to surprise him.”
“We’ll think of another surprise,” said Mother.
“But it won’t be new shoes,” said Janet.
“I want new shoes,” said Jimmy.
“Now, Jimmy,” said Mother. “You’re a big boy.”
“No, I’m not!” said Jimmy. “My feet didn’t grow up.”
“How would you each like a balloon?” asked Mr. Markle.
Jimmy and Janet took the balloons, but they did not really want balloons. They wanted new shoes.
“You know something?” said Mr. Markle. “We have some boots on sale.”
“We can’t buy boots to fit old shoes,” said Mother.
“These boots stretch,” said Mr. Markle. “They will fit old shoes and new shoes, too. And you know something else? These boots are red.”
Red boots. Jimmy and Janet looked up at Mother.
“Good,” said Mother. “Let’s buy new boots.”
“For me?” asked Jimmy.
“For me?” asked Janet.
“For both of you,” said Mother.
Mr. Markle brought out bright red boots, which fit the old shoes. “There you are, kids,” he said. “Just what the Easter Bunny ordered.”
Jimmy and Janet thought Mr. Markle was such a silly man. They knew Easter was a long time ago.
Jimmy wore his boots, but Janet carried hers in their box. The twins were so happy they didn’t even stop to pet the hobbyhorse on their way out the door. Mother remembered to say “Thank you” to Mr. Markle.
When Mother and the twins returned home, they found Mr. Lemon had already delivered the mail. Janet hid her box of boots in the closet. “I’m going to save my boots to show Daddy,” she said, “and tomorrow I will surprise Mr. Lemon.”
“Jimmy, don’t you want to take off your boots?” asked Mother.
“No,” said Jimmy and ran out into the yard. In a little while he came back. “I can’t find any puddles,” he said.
“Of course there aren’t any puddles,” said Mother. “It isn’t raining.”
“When is it going to rain?” asked Jimmy.
“I don’t know,” answered Mother. “There aren’t any clouds, so it won’t rain today.”
“Will it rain tomorrow?” asked Jimmy.
“I don’t know,” said Mother. “I don’t think so.”
“The next day?” asked Jimmy.
“I don’t know.” Mother sounded tired as she made sandwiches for lunch.
New boots and no puddles. Jimmy pretended he was walking in puddles, but he wanted real puddles with real water. Janet waited and waited for Daddy to come home so she could show him her red boots in their box.
When Daddy came home he was surprised once to see Jimmy wearing new boots and surprised twice when Janet opened her box to show him her boots. After the surprise, Janet put her boots on, too.
“Our feet didn’t grow up,” said Jimmy, “and Mother said they did.”
“Don’t worry. They will,” said Daddy.
Jimmy and Janet wore their boots while they ate their dinner. Their feet were hot, but they didn’t care. At bedtime they pulled their boots on over the feet of their sleepers.
When Mother said they could not sleep with boots over their sleepers because their feet would be too hot, they slept with their boots on their hands.
In the morning Jimmy and Janet pulled their new boots on over their old shoes. “My goodness,” said Mother. “You will wear your boots out before we have any rain.”
This morning Daddy put on an old pair of pants and a sweatshirt.
“Are you going to stay home today?” asked Jimmy as he watched Daddy shave. He liked to watch so he would know how when he was old enough to shave off whiskers of his own.
“Yes. Today is Saturday,” answered Daddy.
Janet, who knew she would never have whiskers like Daddy, was in the kitchen with Mother. “I wish Mr. Lemon would hurry up and come,” she said.
After breakfast Jimmy said to Daddy, “If we went for a walk, maybe we could find some puddles.”
Daddy smiled. “I’m afraid not, but I know what we can do. Come outside with me.”
“I’m going to sit on the front step and watch for Mr. Lemon,” said Janet.
Daddy backed the car out of the garage. Then he turned on the hose and started to wash the car. Water ran down the driveway. “Puddles!” shouted Jimmy and began to splash. Janet decided Mr. Lemon would be surprised to see wet boots when the sun was shining, so she splashed, too.
Mother stood in the doorway watching her twins have fun. Daddy turned the hose on the grass and made a big puddle. Jimmy and Janet squished and splashed in the wet grass. Their boots were wet, but their shoes were dry.
Janet was sitting near mother when they saw Mr. Lemon coming down the street with his leather bag full of letters and catalogs. “You stay here,” Janet told Jimmy. “I want to surprise Mr. Lemon.”
“Okay,” said Jimmy. He went on stomping and splashing.
“Say!” said Mr. Lemon when Janet ran to meet him. “Look at those red boots and all those wet footprints when the sun is shining.” Janet was happy because she could see Mr. Lemon was really surprised.
When the mailman reached their house, Jimmy stopped splashing to explain, “My feet didn’t grow up. They are still the same size inside my boots.”
“Don’t worry,” said Mr. Lemon. “Before you know it, your feet will be bigger than mine.”
“They will?” Jimmy looked at Mr. Lemon’s feet. They were even bigger than Daddy’s feet.
“And do you know something?” asked Mr. Lemon as he handed Jimmy the catalogs to carry. “When you get new shoes, those boots will grow to fit.”
Now it was Janet’s turn to be surprised. “How did you know?” she asked Mr. Lemon.
“I’ve learned a thing or two in my lifetime,” said Mr. Lemon.
Jimmy and Janet splashed in their puddle. “We have growing-up feet!” they shouted. “We have growing-up boots, too!”
Mr. Lemon said so, and he knew a thing or two.
4
Janet’s Thingamajigs
“I can’t find the thingamajigs,” Mother said when Jimmy fell down and skinned his knee. “What happened to the thingamajigs?”
Thingamajigs was a word Mother sometimes used when she was excited or in a hurry. Janet enjoyed finding out what thingamajigs meant each time her mother used the word. This time it meant Band-Aids.
While Mother took care of Jimmy’s knee, Janet found a red plastic paper clip, a little wheel, and a shiny bead. They were just right to hold in her hand. “Are these thingamajigs?” she asked.
Mother laughed and said, “Yes, you could call those thingamajigs.”
Janet carried her things around all morning. She showed them to Mr. Lemon when he brought the mail. “See my thingamajigs,” she said.
“Well, what do you know? Thingamajigs!” Mr. Lemon sounded surprised.
At lunchtime, Janet laid her plastic paper clip, her little wheel, and her shiny bead on a chair in the living room and said, “I don’t want Jimmy to touch these things.”
“They’re just old stuff,” said Jimmy, who wanted very much to touch them, so he did. He touched them every time Janet wasn’t looking. He liked to hold them, too.
He touched them until Janet caught him at it and said, “Jimmy, those are my thingamajigs.”
“No,” said Jimmy, holding on to them.
“Mother, Jimmy won’t give me my thingamajigs,”
said Janet, “and I asked him in a nice, polite voice.”
“I’m not hurting them,” said Jimmy, who could be stubborn.
“Jimmy, give me my thingamajigs!” yelled Janet. Her voice was not polite at all.
“No,” said Jimmy and turned his back. Janet pushed Jimmy. Jimmy yelled, “Janet is pushing me!” Then he pushed Janet.
“Children!” cried Mother as she came out of the kitchen. “Stop this at once. Jimmy, give Janet her little things. You can find toys of your own.”
Jimmy threw Janet’s things on the floor. “I don’t want other toys!” he shouted.
Janet picked up her things and put them back on the chair. “I don’t want Jimmy to touch my thingamajigs,” she said.
Mother said, “Janet, you cannot leave them on that chair. When Daddy comes home, he wants to sit on the chair. He doesn’t want to sit on your toys. If you don’t want Jimmy to touch your things, you should put them away.”
So Janet found a paper bag in the kitchen. She put the red plastic paper clip, the little wheel, and the shiny bead into the bag, wrapped a rubber band around the top, and put it on her little bed. “Now Jimmy can’t touch my thingamajigs,” she said.
“I don’t want to touch Janet’s things,” said Jimmy, but he did want to touch them, more than anything.
The next day, Janet found a spool, a doll’s shoe, and a smooth green stone. She carried her new little things around while Jimmy pretended to put air in the tires of his dump truck. She showed them to Mr. Lemon who was surprised all over again. Then she laid her little things on a chair and went into Mother and Daddy’s room to help Mother make the big bed. When she came back, Jimmy was not playing with his dump truck. He was holding her spool, her doll’s shoe, and her smooth green stone.
“Jimmy is touching my thingamajigs!” Janet cried. “He took them from the blue chair!”
“Children, I am at my wit’s end,” said Mother.
“What does ‘at my wit’s end’ mean?” asked Janet.
“It means I don’t know what to do,” answered Mother. “Jimmy, give Janet her things.”
Jimmy threw the toys on the floor. “I am too big for those things,” he said. “They’re just junk.”
“They are not junk,” said Janet. “They are my treasures.”
Jimmy only pretended to play with his dump truck while she picked up her treasures and laid them on the blue chair again.
“Janet,” said Mother, “you cannot leave your things on the blue chair. I do not want to sit on your toys. I told you if you don’t want Jimmy to touch them, you should put them away.”
“I am at my wit’s end,” said Janet. Then she found another paper bag in the kitchen. She put her spool, her doll’s shoe, and her smooth green stone into her paper bag. She put a rubber band around the top of the bag and put it on her little bed. “Now Jimmy can’t touch my thingamajigs,” she said.
The next day the same thing happened with a feather, a piece of pink yarn, and an old lipstick case. And the day after that the same thing happened with a little stick, a pretty leaf, and an empty snail shell. Every day Janet found little things, and every day she put them into paper bags on her bed, where Jimmy could not touch them.
One day Mother said, “Janet, your bed is full of paper bags. When you go to sleep, you rustle like a mouse in a wastepaper basket. Don’t you want to share some of your paper bags with Jimmy?”
“No,” said Janet as she climbed over the rail of her little bed. “These are my paper bags.”
“Oh, dear, what are we going to do?” asked Mother. “Janet’s bed is so full of paper bags she rustles like a mouse in a wastepaper basket. There is scarcely room for her to sleep. What are we going to do?”
“Paper bags are silly,” said Jimmy as he climbed over the rail of his bed. Neither twin would let Mother remove the sides of the little beds. Climbing over the rail was fun.
“Paper bags are not silly,” said Janet. “Paper bags are nice.”
“But, Janet, you have too many,” said Mother. “We will have to find another place for all your paper bags.”
“I like being a mouse in a wastepaper basket,” said Janet, and she went right on finding little things and putting them in paper bags on her bed. Every night she said, “Squeak-squeak. I am a little mouse.”
“Grr-grr. I am a fierce bear,” said Jimmy. He did not sound like a fierce bear. He sounded like a cross boy.
Then one morning Mother said, “Today we are going to have a surprise.”
“Is it strawberries?” asked Jimmy.
“Is it a nice soft kitten?” asked Janet.
“No, it isn’t strawberries or a nice soft kitten,” answered Mother. “You wait and see.”
Jimmy and Janet thought and thought, but they could not think what Mother’s surprise could be.
“If you watch out the front window, you will see it sometime this morning,” said Mother.
Jimmy and Janet watched out the front window. “When is it going to come? When is it going to come?” they asked over and over. They saw a boy riding a bicycle, a girl skipping rope, and a lady carrying a shopping bag. They saw cars, a tow truck, and a school bus, but they did not see a surprise. After a while they grew tired of watching and turned their little table upside down and pretended it was a boat.
And then, when the twins happened to look out the window, a big delivery truck came slowly down the street, paused, and turned into the driveway—Jimmy and Janet’s driveway. Two men got out of the truck. They opened the back, lifted something out, and set it on the grass. It was a bed.
They lifted out another bed and set it on the grass, too. Grown-up beds!
“Beds!” shouted Jimmy and Janet. “Mother, are these beds for us?”
“Yes,” answered Mother. “You are growing up. It is time for you to have big beds.”
The men carried one bed into the house and set it on Janet’s side of the bedroom. They carried the other bed into the house and set it on Jimmy’s side of the room. “There you are, kids,” one of them said. “Sleep tight, and don’t let the bedbugs bite.”
Jimmy and Janet bounced up and down on their new grown-up beds while Mother stood in the hall and watched.
“What—will—you—do—with—our—little—beds?” Janet asked Mother as she bounced.
“Maybe we could have a garage sale,” Mother answered. “Or send them to Goodwill.”
Then Jimmy stopped bouncing. “What is Janet going to do with her paper bags?” he asked. “They will fall off her bed.”
Janet stopped bouncing. She took her paper bags from her old little bed and piled them on her new grown-up bed. When she climbed back on her bed, paper bags slid off allover the floor.
“Ha-ha,” said Jimmy.
“Jimmy can have my old paper bags,” said Janet. “I am not a mouse. I am a big girl, and I sleep in a big bed.”
“I don’t want Janet’s paper bags,” said Jimmy. “I am too big to play with little junk.”
“So am I,” said Janet.
The twins began to bounce again. “We are big! We are big!” they sang while Mother tried to gather up all of Janet’s paper bags.
Then Jimmy and Janet heard Mr. Lemon poking letters and catalogs through the slot in the front door. They jumped off their beds and ran to meet him. “Mr. Lemon! Mr. Lemon!” they shouted when they opened the door. “We have big beds! We have big beds!”
“Wow! Big beds!” said Mr. Lemon. Jimmy and Janet could tell he was really surprised.
“Say, you are growing up!” said Mr. Lemon. “I never would have guessed.”
Growing-up—that was what Jimmy and Janet wanted more than anything in the whole world. “We’re growing up!” they shouted. “We’re growing up!” Mr. Lemon said so and he had learned a thing or two in his lifetime.
About the Author
BEVERLY CLEARY is one of America’s most popular authors. Born in McMinnville, Oregon, she lived on a farm in Yamhill until she was six and then moved to Portland. After
college, she became a children’s librarian in Yakima, Washington. In 1940, she married Clarence T. Cleary, and they became the parents of twins, now grown.
Mrs. Cleary’s books have earned her many prestigious awards, including the American Library Association’s Laura Ingalls Wilder Award, presented in recognition of her lasting contributions to children’s literature. She has also received the 2003 National Medal of Arts from the National Endowment for the Arts. Her Dear Mr. Henshaw was awarded the 1984 John Newbery Medal, and her Ramona and Her Father and Ramona Quimby, Age 8 have been named Newbery Honor Books. In addition, her books have won more than thirty-five statewide awards based on the votes of her young readers. Her characters, including Henry Huggins, Ellen Tebbits, Otis Spofford, and Beezus and Ramona Quimby, as well as Ribsy, Socks, and Ralph S. Mouse, have delighted children for generations.
Visit Beverly Cleary on the World Wide Web at www.beverlycleary.com
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Also by Beverly Cleary
BEEZUS AND RAMONA
DEAR MR. HENSHAW
ELLEN TEBBITS
EMILY’S RUNAWAY
IMAGINATION
FIFTEEN
A GIRL FROM YAMHILL
HENRY AND BEEZUS
HENRY AND THE CLUBHOUSE
HENRY AND THE PAPER ROUTE
HENRY HUGGINS
THE HULLABALOO ABC
JEAN AND JOHNNY
THE LUCKIEST GIRL
LUCKY CHUCK
MITCH AND AMY
THE MOUSE AND THE MOTORCYCLE
MUGGIE MAGGIE
MY OWN TWO FEET
OTIS SPOFFORD
PETEY’S BEDTIME STORY
RALPH S. MOUSE
RAMONA AND HER FATHER
RAMONA FOREVER
RAMONA THE BRAVE
RAMONA THE PEST
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