| Mommy always wanted me
to be happy and do the things that little girls like to do-like
looking at the birds, red birds especially, and playing and dancing
and singing and having parties and lots of lovely books.
When I wanted to see my little friend Ford, we went all the
way up to Block Island. When Ford and I saw each other, we were
a little bit shy at first because it had been a long time since
we had seen each other. But then we remembered all our fun and good
times together, and we ran all over the top of Mohican Bluffs. I'm
glad we went, for I never saw him again. Mommy and I went to Martha's
Vineyard too, and we took the big ark Granddaddy gave me with Noah
and the dove and all the animals in it. We picked bayberry, and
we rode all around the island. It was beautiful. Granddaddy and
Grandmommy both gave me lots of presents: a music box and beautiful
figures in china for my room
Granddaddy teased me a lot, but we loved each other. He always
brought me boxes of lollypops and presents when he bought his detective
stories magazines that he liked so much. Granddaddy was always joking,
and he liked to make fun dancing the Highland Jig. He'd hop and
twirl his foot around and roll his eyes and whirl his fingers in
the air and call out, "Hooray!" He liked to tell all kinds
of jokes and make people laugh.
He liked little children a lot, and he understood Mommy's great
love for me. She couldn't stand to see me or any other child unhappy
around her.
So she always gave me parties and let me play with my friends,
and she wanted me to have pets. The pet I liked best was Squeaker.
She was my dog, and I named her after a little pig in "Little
Pig's Picnic." She grew up from a puppy into a very big dog.
When Mommy and I went to Baltimore for a visit, while Daddy was
in the navy, Squeaker was run over, and Mommy was afraid to tell
me. So Cammy told me, and it hurt me worse than if Mommy had told
me. I told her that. I said, "But Mommy, why didn't you tell
me?" She said then she would never again hide anything from
me. We both loved Squeaker, and Mommy was very unhappy.
When we were getting ready to leave for Baltimore, Mommy said,
"Squeaker, go over and sit near Linda." Squeaker put her
paws on Mommy's knees, looked in her eyes, and came over to sit
near me swinging on my swing and nodded back to Mommy. Squeaker
was like a person and loved us very much. I wrote a
story about all my pets.
I loved Squeaker so very much. When she was a very little puppy,
my Daddy carried her home to me. She was the baby of a neighbor's
Springer Spaniel, and a Collie. The Marcus Goldman family on Michigan
Avenue in Urbana gave us Squeaker.
There was a big sheepdog named Flash a few doors away. Flash
and Squeaker were very close friends. She ran on trips with Flash
all the time while she was growing up, and Flash's master taught
Squeaker to run with him and Flash while he rode his bicycle. Flash
was much older and slow. Squeaker was happy running. But I wish
she hadn't gotten run over. We had a wonderful doghouse made for
her, but she wouldn't stay in it. Mr. Spencer, the carpenter, made
it out of plywood Mommy had, with a green shingle roof, and we put
straw and a blanket in it.
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