Read Online Jean and Johnny by Beverly Cleary - Free Book Online Page B

breakfast dishes, looked out the kitchen window into the gray morning. “Poor Daddy, delivering mail in this awful weather.”
    â€œâ€˜Neither snow, nor rain, nor heat—’” beganJean, as she carried her plate from the breakfast nook into the kitchen.
    â€œâ€˜â€”nor gloom of night stays these couriers from the swift completion of their appointed rounds,’” finished Sue and her mother in unison. Mrs. Jarrett plucked a couple of dead blossoms from the brightly blooming African violet on the windowsill.
    â€œI’ll have a pot of hot coffee waiting for him when he gets home this afternoon,” volunteered Jean.
    â€œThat’s my good girl.” Mrs. Jarrett smiled at her younger daughter. “Have you thought what you are going to serve in the way of refreshments this evening?”
    Jean was happy to have the conversation turned to the evening that lay before her. “I had thought of that dessert made of chocolate cookies with whipped cream between, because it is supposed to stand awhile before it is served, and I could make it after lunch,” she said, as Sue began to wash the breakfast dishes. “Or is that too expensive?”
    â€œI think we can manage.” Mrs. Jarrett opened a cupboard, took down a canister, and pulled out some of the housekeeping money, which she handed to Jean. “This should be enough. Youmight even buy a small jar of maraschino cherries, too.”
    â€œThank you, Mother,” said Jean. “I’ll make enough so we can have some for supper, too.” It did not seem right to use so much of the housekeeping money for herself and Johnny.
    â€œAnd, Jean,” Mrs. Jarrett continued, “be sure to plan some way to entertain him. You might get that old Chinese checker set out of the garage and set it up on the coffee table.”
    â€œOh, Mother,” protested Jean. “Nobody plays Chinese checkers anymore. That went out with bustles.”
    â€œNot quite,” said Mrs. Jarrett. “Johnny doesn’t have to play if he doesn’t want to, but it might make things easier if you had something on hand in case you need it.” Mrs. Jarrett set her empty coffee cup on the drainboard for Sue to wash. “I hope Johnny has a good time this evening. I am so glad boys are beginning to come to the house.”
    Jean felt that her mother’s use of the plural was a little optimistic.
    â€œWhat are you going to do today, Sue?” asked Mrs. Jarrett.
    â€œStraighten our room and then go downtown to the main library to gather material for my termpaper,” answered Sue. “‘Should Capital Punishment Be Abolished?’”
    â€œI didn’t know high-school students were still abolishing capital punishment,” remarked Mrs. Jarrett, as she opened the back door. “Well, good-bye, girls. I’ll try to catch the five thirty-three bus so we can have an early supper.”
    â€œGood-bye, Mother,” answered Jean. “I hope you sell lots of remnants.”
    Jean set to work cleaning the living room and dining room, and soon discovered it was much more fun to clean house for a boy than for her family. She forgot about the weather and set about trying to make the living room attractive. She ran the vacuum cleaner and used an attachment to remove Dandy’s hair from the chair he slept in when no one was looking. At ten o’clock she turned on the radio to hear the Hi-times broadcast and sat, toying with the vacuum-cleaner attachment, lulled into a daydream by the smooth flow of Johnny’s voice. It was too bad the program wasted time playing records—she would much rather listen to a full fifteen minutes of Johnny.
    The day grew so dark that Jean had to turn on the light to dust when Hi-times was over. She had not realized the shabbiness of the furniture untilnow, when she tried to see her house through Johnny’s eyes. She turned the cushions of the couch to find the