Pinky Pye by Eleanor Estes Read Free Book Online Page B

you Sam, after Sam Doody, the Boy Scout boy."
    Uncle Bennie happily wandered off with Pinky following furtively. He searched in all the clumps of grass around the cottage looking for another pet. He fell into what he hoped was not poison ivy. In case it was, he rubbed his hands off good on his legs, so he was sure he had rubbed the poison away. He just couldn't catch another cricket. But he didn't care. He had this one wonderful cricket.
    "Hello in there, Sam," he said to the inhabitant of his pocket.
    As Uncle Bennie returned to the cottage, Pinky bounded along behind him. Rachel caught Pinky up in her arms and spoke softly in the kitten's ear. "Where have you been?"
    Pinky purred. All day yesterday and so far this morning whenever Rachel came near her, Pinky purred. "She loves me," said Rachel.
    "Well, don't let her get my cricket," said Uncle Bennie.
    "Let's see it," said Rachel, looking in Uncle Bennie's pocket. The little brown cricket looked up at Rachel. "Oh, he's real cute," she said.
    "He sings," said Uncle Bennie proudly.
    Uncle Bennie carried the cricket around with him all day, and the cricket seemed to like it. Now and then he chirped. Uncle Bennie liked him.
    During the afternoon Papa worked very hard putting up a huge green umbrella he had bought from the Army and Navy store. It was oblong in shape, more like a roof than an umbrella, and strong ropes on all four corners tied to staves in the ground held it securely down. Papa had put it up on the ocean side of The Eyrie, and it was spacious enough for all the family and even some guests to sit under on a hot day and look out over the wide Atlantic. While Papa was finishing up, Uncle Bennie sat nearby on the sand and spoke occasionally to his cricket.
    Papa was very interested in the cricket.
He likes my cricket because, even though its not a bird, still it can fly,
thought Uncle Bennie.
    "In China," said Papa, "the boys have cricket cages and exchange crickets with one another, trying to get the best singer or fighter."
    "Mine is a good singer," said Uncle Bennie proudly. "I don't know about the fights."
    "Where are you going to keep him at night?" asked Mama, who was standing by with hammer and screwdriver to help Papa with the big umbrella.
    "Oh, I know where," said Uncle Bennie secretively.
    "We don't want Gracie or Pinky to get him," said Mama. "Cats love crickets and grasshoppers, but they are bad for the cats. They make cats thin and scrawny, too many of them do."
    "Well, the cats are worse for the grasshoppers," said Uncle Bennie. "To be eaten alive is worse than to be thin and scrawny."
    Uncle Bennie told about the faded sandy-colored grasshopper that had escaped. "They are not as green here as in Cranbury," he said. "Do you remember how green they are there?"
    Then Papa told about the greenest grasshopper he had ever seen in his life. It was out in California and, "I'm sorry to have to say it," said Papa, "but this very green grasshopper was the evening meal of that baby owl of Hiram Bish's I told you about; and that little owl ate up that green green grasshopper as though it were celery, with a cru-unch."
    "Oh-h-h," groaned Uncle Bennie. "Well, he can't get my cricket. Because he's there and we're here."
    In the evening, after supper, Uncle Bennie fixed up a little box for his cricket cage. He drew black bars on it so it would look like a real cage. He put some ants in it for the cricket to eat and a few drops of water in a tiny tin doll's plate for it to drink. "Pretend it's dew," he said to Rachel. He also put a little clump of grass in to make the cricket feel really at home. Then he whispered good night to his new pet and asked Rachel to put it up in the eaves for him, so Rachel put a chair on a table and climbed up. Then she shoved the cricket in his cage inside the little swinging doors.
    It was cool in the eaves, but Rachel had not noticed that nor had she noticed that the little porthole window was still open because she had not stayed up there