Henry and the Clubhouse by Beverly Cleary Read Free Book Online Page B

pesty girls?” Murph asked.
    Henry could only shrug. There was no easy way to get rid of Ramona.
    Finally Henry decided he had to get up his courage to go back to the Kellys’, or Mr. Capper would start asking him why he had not finished collecting.

     
    This time Mrs. Kelly met him at the door with a baby balanced on her hip. “Oh, it’s you again,” she said for a second time, glancing over her shoulder toward the kitchen, where Henry could hear an automatic washing machine running. “Come in while I find my purse.”
    Henry stepped into the living room, which was scattered with toys, children’s clothing, and crumpled pages torn from magazines.There was a bowl of soggy breakfast food on the coffee table. A little boy who was sucking his thumb and holding an egg beater looked out of the kitchen door.
    “Don’t pinch your fingers in the egg beater, Kermit,” said Mrs. Kelly. She looked wearily at Henry.“Would you mind keeping an eye on the children while I go find my purse? They are all in the kitchen. Kermit, Bobby, Lisa, and her little friend.”
    “Sure.” What else could Henry say?  Anything to collect and get back to his clubhouse. He stepped into the kitchen where the washing machine was busily swish-swashing. Lisa and her little friend, who turned out to be Ramona, were kneeling on chairs at the kitchen table, cutting circles out of Play-Doh with cookie cutters.
    “I know him,” said Ramona to Kermit and Bobby. “That’s Henry Huggins.”
    “Let’s cross him out,” suggested Lisa.
    Laughing wildly, the two little girls made big crisscross motions in the air in front of Henry.
    “There,” said Ramona.“I guess we crossed him out.”
    Henry did not know what to make of this and did not have time to give the matter much thought, because Bobby started to crawl out of the kitchen. Henry did not know how old Bobby was, but he knew he couldn’t be very old, because he was wearing diapers, plastic pants, and a T-shirt. In one hand he carried a piece of toast. Henry had never seen a baby drool as much as Bobby. As he crawled he left little puddles on the floor.
    Henry heard Mrs. Kelly’s footsteps going up the stairs. Bobby dropped his toast on the floor. Lisa and Ramona giggled over some private girl joke. Kermit spun the egg beater and made a noise like machinery with his mouth. The washing machine churned. A dog walked into the kitchen, picked up Bobby’s toast, and dropped it again. It did not look as if anyone would get into trouble, but just the same Henry hoped their mother would hurry back. He was a paper carrier, not a babysitter.
    Bobby picked up the soggy toast the dog had dropped and began to chew it. “Hey,” said Henry feebly. He was pretty sure babies were not supposed to eat toast that had been in a dog’s mouth. Gently he tried to take the toast from Bob, who clung to his crust and uttered a piercing scream. Henry backed away. Bobby put the toast back in his mouth and gnawed contentedly. Oh well, thought Henry, it looks like a pretty clean dog.
    Then Henry discovered Kermit was missing. He stepped into the living room, where Kermit was twirling the egg beater, in time to see the dog lap up the soggy breakfast food in the bowl on the coffee table. “Cut that out,” said Henry even though it was too late to do any good.
    The washing machine stopped swish-swashing and was silent as if it was resting up before starting to spin.
    Mrs. Kelly called down from upstairs, “Kermit, what did you do with my purse?”
    “I put it under the bed so Bobby wouldn’t get it,” answered Kermit.
    Henry heard a chair being dragged across the kitchen floor. Followed by Kermit and the dog he went back to investigate.

    Ramona was standing on a chair in front of the washing machine. She was not actually doing anything wrong, but knowing her, Henry was not taking any chances. “You better get down from there,” he said.
    “Pooh,” said Ramona.
    The washing machine gave a loud click and