Ginger Pye by Eleanor Estes Read Free Book Online Page B

her claws in. And if he came pouncing on her during her nap she spit at him. But, all in all, her feelings toward the puppy were tolerant and kindly.
    In the bright light of morning it seemed nonsense to even remember about the mysterious footstepper. Nevertheless, Jerry rushed over to Mrs. Speedy's the first thing in the morning to find out who the fellow was who had also wanted to buy his dog. He wanted some idea, besides a hat, as to whom to be
on guard against. But instead of Mrs. Speedy leading the cows to pasture, he found Mr. Speedy.
    Mr. Speedy said Mrs. Speedy had been struck in the night with a stroke and would be in the hospital for some time. Mr. Speedy was not the friendly type. He did not like children standing around watching him milk or churn or mow. Anyway, with Mrs. Speedy being sick, Jerry could not ask him if Mrs. Speedy had ever told him the odd thing of two people wanting the same puppy, Jerry being the one, and the other being the mystery. So he raced back home, knowing nothing.
    This was Sunday and everyone was so interested in watching the puppy it was hard to do anything else. Rachel and Jerry were allowed to stay home from Sunday school this once, to play with the puppy. After all, they had spent yesterday in church—dusting pews, to be sure—but still in church.
    Rachel appreciated the permission to stay home. However, she thought she'd better go to Sunday school anyway in case it had been the minister who had stood in the doorway yesterday while she was dusting the pulpit, and not the mysterious footstepper. She was almost certain, no matter what Jerry thought, that it had been the minister. How would the footstepper ever have known she and Jerry were

    in church anyway? She didn't want to be cast out of the church for acting like a minister in a pulpit and she imagined that perfect attendance at Sunday school would lessen that likelihood.
    She bade a reluctant farewell to her family and the new puppy and arrived at Sunday school just as church, which came first, was letting out. Mr. Gandy was standing in the doorway shaking hands with all the people. The organ was still pealing joyously, and Rachel stood watching the congregation pour out and stream across the Green. It was remarkable how differently she felt toward her church and the congregation now she had dusted the pews. She didn't feel like the minister, exactly. But she felt a rather protective fondness for the church. It would have pleased her to stand by the minister in the doorway and shake the hands of those he missed.
    Had people noticed the special dusting the pews had had? Rachel wondered. She examined the back of Mrs. Widdemeyer's white cotton embroidered dress to see if there was any dust on it and there wasn't. She couldn't understand why they had to be so careful of Mrs. Widdemeyer's pew because Mrs. Widdemeyer always brought one of her husband's big white handkerchiefs along with her and spread it out on the pew before sitting down. You would think
they could skip dusting her part of the pew altogether, and likewise Judge Ball's, for he did the same with his handkerchief, not caring to get a speck on his black suit.
    Tall Sam Doody came grinning out of church with a dark blue-purple suit on. It was not anyway near as splendid a suit as the dark green one he had had first, but naturally Rachel would not tell him this.
    At last she went into the Parish House, wondering who had dusted it, and sat down in Miss Foote's class which was just coming to order. To counteract her behavior in the pulpit Rachel intended to make a good impression on the Sunday school teacher. But Miss Foote kept telling her please not to fidget so. The truth was Rachel could not take her mind off the puppy any longer and she was anxious to get home and see what cute thing he was doing now. Moreover, she had given the minister a good chance to cast her out if he wanted to cast her out. She had stood right in front of him, practically inviting him to cast