Read Online The Saturdays by Elizabeth Enright - Free Book Online Page A

ads, which they probably will—well, we’ll see.”
    â€œBoy!” cried Rush, in a burst of gratitude.
    â€œBoy!” echoed Randy, with a leap and two pirouettes.
    â€œYou’ve got to take good care of him, Rush,” commanded Cuffy. “I don’t want no fleas in this house. Nor no puddles on the carpets neither. Remember that! And when you’re finished with that dog you go upstairs and take a good hot bath yourself!”
    Rush gave Cuffy a squeeze around her ironclad waist that knocked the breath out of her.
    â€œGee, you’re swell!” he said. “You’re keen!”
    â€œJust as long as you can get something out of me,” Cuffy said, and gave him an affectionate shove. “Go on, now, get that animal out of here.”
    Really after he was clean and dry the dog looked very nice. He was a becoming shade of tan. The spaniel in him showed up to advantage; his ears were long and he had a feathery fringe around each paw.
    â€œHe turned out better than I hoped,” admitted Father. “He even has a certain style.”
    Everybody was pleased with him; but Cuffy made Rush leave him in the basement while they ate supper. Rush could hardly eat, he was so excited, and of course Cuffy had to catch him stuffing bread and bones into his pockets.
    â€œNow then,” said she. “No use to smuggle things and get them pants all greasy. That dog had a big supper, as you very well know. If you want bones you can come to the kitchen and ask for ’em; and remember, Rush, he’s going to sleep down cellar !”
    Nevertheless, it happened that after Cuffy was safely in bed, two feet creaked quietly all the way downstairs, and then up again with a few soft thumps and “ouches.” Only the keenest ears could have heard the accompanying patter of four paws. Then all was still.
    By and by there was a little tap at Rush’s door and Randy came in wearing her blue-and-white striped pajamas.
    â€œHow is he?” she said.
    â€œLook,” whispered Rush. He was on the floor gazing down at the dog who lay stretched out on an old quilt with a bone beside him and his paws crossed. The pads of his paws looked very leathery and careworn, as though they had walked a thousand weary miles. As Rush and Randy watched the dog his nose quivered nervously and he whimpered faintly from the distance of his sleep.
    â€œSee, he’s dreaming,” said Rush, looking as much like a doting mother as it is possible for a boy of twelve to look.
    â€œOh, I hope nobody claims him,” breathed Randy fervently. “I’m going to get down on my knees every night until it’s safe, and pray that nobody claims him. What will you name him if they don’t, and you can keep him?”
    â€œWhat will I name him?” said Rush. “I bet you’d never guess. First I was going to call him Siegfried, but then I changed my mind because I found him on my Saturday. I’m going to call him Isaac!”

CHAPTER IV
    Saturday Four
    Randy sat on her bed watching Mona get ready to go. Lunch was over and the dishes washed, but a faint odor of baked potatoes and lamb chops lingered comfortably in the house.
    Mona’s side of the room was covered with photographs of actors and actresses; some signed and some just cut out of magazines and thumbtacked to the wall. The most precious ones were framed and stood on her bureau with her brush and comb set, two artificial roses in a vase, and a bottle of perfume called “Night on the Nile,” which had never been opened. It was all very tidy and correct. The only thing about Mona’s side of the room which led you to suppose that she wasn’t a young lady was her bed. It was very flat (she never used a pillow) and at the head of it sat a giant panda, made out of plush, and an ancient cloth doll named Marilyn whose face had entirely disappeared.
    The sunlight came into the room and so did weaving branch shadows