CHAPTER XVIII MICKEY GAFFNEY

 Brother and Sister were very fond of playing school. They carefully saved all the old pencils and scraps¹ of paper and half-used blank books that Grace and Louise and Jimmie gave them, and many mornings they spent on the porch "going to school."

 

Neither had ever been to school, and of course they were excited at the prospect² of starting in the fall. Brother had had kindergarten lessons at home and he was ready for the first grade, while Sister would have to make her start in the Ridgeway school kindergarten.

 

"I wish summer would hurry up and go," complained Brother one August day. "Then we could really go to school."

 

"Well, don't wish that," advised Louise. "Goodness knows you'll be tired of it soon enough! Sister, what are you dragging out here?"

 

"My blackboard," answered Sister, almost falling over the doorsill as she pulled her blackboard—a gift from Grandmother Hastings—out onto the porch.

 

"Come on, Grace, we'll go in," proposed Louise, hastily gathering⁴ up her work. "If these children are going to play school there won't be any place for us! We'll go up to my room."

 

"I thought maybe you would be the scholars," said Brother, disappointed. "We never have enough scholars."

 

Louise was halfway⁶ up the stairs.

 

"You can play the dolls are scholars," she called back.

 

Mother Morrison had gone over to Grandmother Hastings to help her make blackberry jam, and Louise and Grace had been left in charge of the house.

 

"Let me be the teacher," begged Sister, when her blackboard was arranged to her liking⁷. "I know how, Roddy."

 

"Well, all right, you can be teacher first," agreed Brother. "But after you play, then it's my turn."

 

Sister picked up a book and pointed⁵ to the blackboard.

 

"'Rithmetic class, go to the board," she commanded.

 

Both she and Brother knew a good deal about what went on in classrooms, because they had listened to the older children recite.

 

"How much is sixty-eight times ninety-two?" asked Teacher-Sister importantly.

 

Brother made several marks on the blackboard with the crayon.

 

"Nine hundred," he answered doubtfully.

 

"Correct," said the teacher kindly⁸. "Now I'll hear the class in spellin'."

 

"I wish we had more scholars," complained Brother. "It's no fun with just one; I have to be everything."

 

"There's that little boy again—maybe he'd play," suggested Sister, pointing to the red-haired, barefooted little boy who stood staring on the walk that led up to the porch.

 

He could not see through the screens very clearly, but he had heard the voices of the children and, stopping to listen, had drawn⁹ nearer and nearer.

 

"That's Mickey Gaffney," whispered Brother. "Hello, Mickey," he called more loudly. "Want to come play school with us?"

 

Mickey came up on the steps, and flattened¹⁰ his nose against the screen door.

 

"I dunno," he said doubtfully. "How do you play?"

 

Sister pushed open the door for him, and Mickey rather shyly looked about him.

 

"It's nice and shady in here," he said appreciatively. "You got a blackboard, ain't you?"

 

"You should say 'have' a blackboard and 'ain't' is dreadful," corrected Sister, blissfully unaware¹¹ that "dreadful" was not a good word to use. "You can use the chalk if you'll be a scholar, Mickey."

 

Mickey was anxious to draw on the blackboard and he consented to play "just for a little."

 

As Brother had said, two scholars were ever so much better than one and they had a beautiful time playing together. Mickey, in spite of his ragged¹² clothes, and bad grammar, knew how to play, and he suggested several new things that Sister and Brother had never done.

 

"I been to school," boasted Mickey.

 

The children were anxious to have him stay to lunch with them and Louise, who had heard his voice and who came downstairs to see him, also invited him to stay. But he was too shy, and shuffled¹³ off just as Nellie Yarrow bounded up the front steps.

 

"Wasn't that Mickey Gaffney?" she asked curiously¹⁴. "I shouldn't think you'd want to play with him. His folks are awful poor, and, besides, his father was arrested last year."

 

"Mickey isn't to blame for that," retorted Grace quickly. "Don't be a snob¹⁵, Nellie; Brother and Sister had a good time playing with that little red-headed boy."

 

"But hardly any of the children play with him," persisted Nellie, who of course went to the public school. "You see last term Mickey was in my room, and he only came till about the middle of October—maybe it was November. Anyway, soon as it got cold he stopped coming.

 

"The teacher thought he was playing hooky, and she told Mr. Alexander, the principal. And he found out that the reason Mickey didn't come to school was 'cause his father didn't send him."

 

"Why didn't his father send him?" asked Sister.

 

"He wouldn't work, and Mickey didn't have any shoes to wear," explained Nellie. "Mr. Alexander got somebody to give Mickey a pair of shoes, but he wouldn't pay any attention to his lessons, and I know he wasn't promoted. I suppose he'll be in the first grade again this year."

 

Brother and Sister thought a good deal about Mickey after Nellie had gone home. They wondered if he wanted to go to school and whether he wished the summer would hurry so the new term might open.

 

"He liked to play school, so I guess he likes to go, really," argued Sister. "Playing is different," said Brother wisely. "He didn't have any shoes on this morning, did he?"

 

"No, that's so," Sister recalled. "And his clothes were all torn and dirty; maybe he hasn't any new suit to wear the first day."

 

All the Morrison children had always started school in new suits or dresses, and Mother Morrison had promised Brother a new sailor suit and Sister a gingham frock when they started off in September.

 

"Miss Putnam would say he 'scuffled,'" giggled¹⁶ Sister, remembering that was what Miss Putnam thought all children did with their feet.

 

"I wonder who really did put the tar³ on her porch?" murmured Brother. "She'll always think we did it, unless someone tells her something else."

1 scraps   

油渣

参考例句：

• Don't litter up the floor with scraps of paper. 不要在地板上乱扔纸屑。
• A patchwork quilt is a good way of using up scraps of material. 做杂拼花布棉被是利用零碎布料的好办法。

2 prospect   

n.前景，前途；景色，视野

参考例句：

• This state of things holds out a cheerful prospect.事态呈现出可喜的前景。
• The prospect became more evident.前景变得更加明朗了。

3 tar   

n.柏油，焦油；vt.涂或浇柏油/焦油于

参考例句：

• The roof was covered with tar.屋顶涂抹了一层沥青。
• We use tar to make roads.我们用沥青铺路。

4 gathering   

n.集会，聚会，聚集

参考例句：

• He called on Mr. White to speak at the gathering.他请怀特先生在集会上讲话。
• He is on the wing gathering material for his novels.他正忙于为他的小说收集资料。

5 pointed   

adj.尖的，直截了当的

参考例句：

• He gave me a very sharp pointed pencil.他给我一支削得非常尖的铅笔。
• She wished to show Mrs.John Dashwood by this pointed invitation to her brother.她想通过对达茨伍德夫人提出直截了当的邀请向她的哥哥表示出来。

6 halfway   

adj.中途的，不彻底的，部分的；adv.半路地，在中途，在半途

参考例句：

• We had got only halfway when it began to get dark.走到半路，天就黑了。
• In study the worst danger is give up halfway.在学习上，最忌讳的是有始无终。

7 liking   

n.爱好；嗜好；喜欢

参考例句：

• The word palate also means taste or liking.Palate这个词也有“口味”或“嗜好”的意思。
• I must admit I have no liking for exaggeration.我必须承认我不喜欢夸大其词。

8 kindly   

adj.和蔼的，温和的，爽快的；adv.温和地，亲切地

参考例句：

• Her neighbours spoke of her as kindly and hospitable.她的邻居都说她和蔼可亲、热情好客。
• A shadow passed over the kindly face of the old woman.一道阴影掠过老太太慈祥的面孔。

9 drawn   

v.拖，拉，拔出；adj.憔悴的，紧张的

参考例句：

• All the characters in the story are drawn from life.故事中的所有人物都取材于生活。
• Her gaze was drawn irresistibly to the scene outside.她的目光禁不住被外面的风景所吸引。

10 flattened   

[医]（水）平扁的，弄平的

参考例句：

• She flattened her nose and lips against the window. 她把鼻子和嘴唇紧贴着窗户。
• I flattened myself against the wall to let them pass. 我身体紧靠着墙让他们通过。

11 unaware   

a.不知道的，未意识到的

参考例句：

• They were unaware that war was near. 他们不知道战争即将爆发。
• I was unaware of the man's presence. 我没有察觉到那人在场。

12 ragged   

adj.衣衫褴褛的，粗糙的，刺耳的

参考例句：

• A ragged shout went up from the small crowd.这一小群人发出了刺耳的喊叫。
• Ragged clothing infers poverty.破衣烂衫意味着贫穷。

13 shuffled   

v.洗（纸牌）( shuffle的过去式和过去分词 )；拖着脚步走；粗心地做；摆脱尘世的烦恼

参考例句：

• He shuffled across the room to the window. 他拖着脚走到房间那头的窗户跟前。
• Simon shuffled awkwardly towards them. 西蒙笨拙地拖着脚朝他们走去。 来自《简明英汉词典》

14 curiously   

adv.有求知欲地；好问地；奇特地

参考例句：

• He looked curiously at the people.他好奇地看着那些人。
• He took long stealthy strides. His hands were curiously cold.他迈着悄没声息的大步。他的双手出奇地冷。

15 snob   

n.势利小人，自以为高雅、有学问的人

参考例句：

• Going to a private school had made her a snob.上私立学校后，她变得很势利。
• If you think that way, you are a snob already.如果你那样想的话，你已经是势利小人了。

16 giggled   

v.咯咯地笑( giggle的过去式和过去分词 )

参考例句：

• The girls giggled at the joke. 女孩子们让这笑话逗得咯咯笑。
• The children giggled hysterically. 孩子们歇斯底里地傻笑。 来自《简明英汉词典》