Chapter 5 Chapter 4 Miss Lark's Andrew

Miss Rucker is next door. Before telling the story, I have to tell you what kind of house is next door.The house is very big, it can be said that it is the largest in Cherry Tree Alley.Even Admiral Boom was said to be envious of Miss Rucker's marvelous house, though her own had a steamship funnel instead of a house one, and a flagpole in the front garden.People in the alley repeatedly heard him pass Miss Rucker's and say, "Damn it! What does she want such a house for?" Admiral Boom envied Miss Rucker's house because it had two yard gates, one for her relatives and friends, and one for the butcher, breadman, and milkman.

Once the bread delivery man went to the wrong door where Miss Rucker let her friends and relatives in and out, and Miss Rucker lost her temper and said she would never ask for bread again. But she forgave the bread delivery man in the end, because his family was the only one nearby that made small bread rolls with browned crusts.But after that Miss Rucker didn't want to see him, and when he came in he pulled his hat over his eyes to make her look like someone else.But she recognized him immediately. Jane and Michael always knew when Miss Rucker was walking in her garden or in the alley, because she wore so many pins and necklaces and earrings, and she jingled like a brass band.Whenever she met them, she always said: "Good morning!" (If it was after lunch, she said: "Good afternoon!") "How are we today?"

Jane and Michael never knew whether Miss Rucker's "we" was referring to them, or to her and Andrew. So they know how to say: "Good afternoon!" (Of course, if it is before lunch, say: "Good morning!") All day long, wherever the children were, Miss Rucker called out, "Andrew, where are you?" "Andrew, you can't go out without your coat on!" "Andrew, come to Mama!" If you didn't know, you'd really think Andrew was a kid.Really, Jane thought Miss Rucker was treating Andrew as a child.But Andrew is not a child.It was a dog, a shaggy little dog that really looked like a little fur collar as long as it didn't bark.But of course, you know it's a dog as soon as it barks.Little fur collars don't make that noise.Andrew now lives in such luxury that you'd think he was a Persian king in disguise.He slept on a silk mat in Miss Rucker's room; he drove to the beauty parlor twice a week to be groomed; he ate cream at every meal and sometimes oysters; he had four coats with checks and stripes of various colors. .Andrew usually has things most people only have for their birthdays.When it comes to its birthday, it puts two candles on its annual birthday cake instead of one.

All these practices make the neighbors hate Andrew.Everyone laughed at the sight of Andrew, covering his knees with a fur blanket, putting on his best coat, and sitting in the back of Miss Rucker's car on his way to the beauty salon.One day Miss Lark bought it two pairs of small leather shoes, so that it could go to the park on sunny or rainy days. People all over the alley came to the gate of the yard to watch it pass by, covering their mouths and giggling. "Bah!" Michael said one day when Michael and Jane looked at Andrew from the fence between Seventeen and the next door. "Bah, it's a fool!"

"How do you know?" Jane asked with great interest. "I know, because Daddy called it that this morning!" said Michael, laughing at Andrew very unceremoniously. "He's not a fool," said Aunt Mary. "That's all." Aunt Mary was right.Andrew is no fool, as you will soon find out. Don't you think it doesn't respect Miss Rucker.It's respectable.It even honors her in a tame way.Miss Rucker had been very kind to Andrew when he was a suckling-dog, and he could not help feeling a sense of gratitude to Miss Rucker, though Miss Rucker kissed him too much, and there was no doubt that Andrew lived a life that made him Can't stand it.It will be willing to give half of its happiness, if it has any, for a piece of red raw beef instead of the chicken breast or eggs and asparagus that it is always required to eat.

Andrew secretly longed to be an ordinary dog.It could not pass its genealogical sheet (which hung on Miss Rucker's drawing-room wall) without trembling with shame.When Miss Lark brags about its family tree, how much it wishes it had no father, grandfather, or great-grandfather. Andrew wants to be an ordinary dog, so he looks for an ordinary dog ​​to be his friend.At every opportunity he ran to the gate of the yard and sat there waiting for them to exchange glances with them.Miss Rucker saw it and cried, "Andrew, Andrew, come in, my little one! Get away from those dreadful bastards in the street!" Of course Andrew had to go in, or Miss Rucker would come out and lead him in and out. He blushed and went upstairs before his friends heard Miss Rucker call him baby, heart, and sweetheart.

Andrew's best friend is an ordinary dog.Because it was laughed at by everyone.It was a big brown shaggy with black spots and half retriever, and he had inherited the worst half of both.Dog fights on the road definitely had their share.It keeps getting the postman and the police into trouble.What it loves most is to sniff around in the stinky gutters and trash cans. It has indeed become the talk of the whole street. More than one person said, thank God, it is fortunate that this is not his dog.But Andrew liked it and waited for it.Sometimes they only have time to sniff each other in the park, and most fortunately and extremely rarely, they have a long talk at the gate of the yard.Andrew had heard all the wonders of the town from his friend, and he had only to see how wildly the dog laughed when he talked, to know that the things he said were not very good.

Suddenly Miss Rucker would be heard shouting from the window, and the dog would stand up, stick out its tongue at Miss Rucker, wink at Andrew, and walk away, waving its waiting legs as it walked, showing indifference. Of course Andrew was never allowed out of the yard gate unless Miss Rucker took him to the park, or one of the maids took him to a pedicure. So imagine Jane and Michael's surprise when they saw Andrew running past them alone, across the park, with his ears stuck to his back and his tail raised high, as if chasing a tiger. .Aunt Mary yanked the baby carriage over, fearing that Andrew would overturn the car and the twins in a fight.Jane and Michael yelled at it as it ran by.

"Hello, Andrew! Where's your coat?" Michael tried to imitate Miss Rucker's high, high-pitched angry voice. "Andrew, you naughty boy!" cried Jane, in a voice more like Miss Rucker's because she was a girl.But Andrew, looking at them with great pride, screamed at Aunt Mary. "Wow, woof!" Andrew called a few times quickly. "Let me see. I think it's going to your right first, and then to the house on the left," said Aunt Mary. "Wow?" Andrew asked. "No, no garden. Just a waiting yard. The gate is always open." Andrew barked again.

"I can't tell," said Aunt Mary. "But I think so. Usually home at snack time." Andrew raised his head and started running again. Jane and Michael's eyes were as round as saucers in amazement. "What did it say?" they asked in unison, breathlessly. "Just come out to play!" Aunt Mary said, and then she shut her mouth tightly, refusing to let out any more words.John and Barbara giggled in the stroller. "It's not!" said Michael. "It won't be that simple!" said Jane. "It's the same as before, of course you know best," Aunt Mary said proudly.

"It must be asking where one of you lives, and I'm sure it's..." Michael was about to go on. "You know why you ask me?" Aunt Mary sniffed. "I'm not a dictionary." "Oh, Michael," said Jane, "she won't tell us when you talk like that. Thank you, Aunt Mary, for telling us what Andrew told you." "Ask him. He knows, Mr. Know-it-all!" Aunt Mary nodded dismissively towards Michael. "Oh, no, no, I don't know. I admit I don't know, Aunt Mary. Tell me, please." "Thirty past three. It's time for snack," said Aunt Mary, turning the baby carriage around, shut her mouth like a closed door, and walked home without opening another mouth. Jane and Michael trail behind her. "It's all your fault!" she said. "Now we'll never know." "I don't care!" Michael said, pushing his scooter quickly. "I don't want to know." But actually he wanted to know.It turned out that he, Jane, and everyone knew before tea time. They were about to cross the road to go home when they heard the family next door yelling, and then saw a strange thing.Miss Rucker's two maids were running about the garden, looking under the bushes and up the trees, as if they had lost the most precious things.And Robertson A., number seventeen, was also frantically sweeping gravel along Miss Rucker's path with a broom, as if trying to find lost treasure beneath the gravel.Miss Rucker herself was running around in that garden of hers, waving her hands and yelling: "Andrew, Andrew! Oh, it's gone. My darling is gone! We've got to call the police. I've got to see the Prime Minister. Andrew's gone Yes! My God! Oh, my God!" "Oh, poor Miss Drac!" said Jane, crossing the road hastily.She could not help being sorry to see Miss Rucker so sad. But Michael reassured Miss Rucker.He was entering the gate of the seventeenth yard, turned to look down the alley, and saw... "Look, isn't that Andrew, Miss Rucker. Look over there, it's turning at Admiral Boom's corner!" Exactly, There was Andrew, walking slowly, as if he didn't care about anything.Next to it was a big dog, half black-spotted brown shaggy, half retriever, and heir to the worst half of both. "Oh, I'm relieved!" said Miss Rucker with a loud sigh. "A big stone hit my heart!" Aunt Mary and the children stood in the alley, waiting at the gate of Miss Lark's yard.Miss Rucker herself leaned over the parapet with her two maids.Robertson Ai stopped working and propped his upper body on the broomstick.Everyone watched Andrew go home in silence. Andrew and his friends walked towards the group quietly, waving their tails carefreely, and pricked up their ears. One look into Andrew's eyes showed that he was serious. "That dreadful dog!" said Miss Rucker, looking at Andrew's companion. "Hush! Shh! Go home!" she cried. But the dog crouched down on the sidewalk, scratched its right ear with its left foot, and barked. "Go away! Go home! Shhhhh, I say!" said Miss Rucker, waving at the dog angrily. "Andrew, come in right away!" she went on. "Going out alone without a coat on. I'm very angry with you!" Andrew barked lazily, but didn't move. "Andrew, what do you mean? Come in now!" said Miss Rucker. Andrew barked again. "It means," put in Aunt Mary, "that it won't go in." Miss Rucker turned to look at her proudly. "I want to ask, how do you know what my dog ​​said? Of course it will come in." Andrew just shook his head and barked once or twice in a low voice. "It doesn't go in," said Aunt Mary. "If you want to go in, its friends also go in." "Nonsense," said Miss Rucker angrily. "He wouldn't say that. As if I'd let a big mongrel like that through my gate." Andrew barked three or four times. "It says what it says," says Aunt Mary. "It also said that if it doesn't let its friends live with it, it will live with friends." "Oh, Andrew, you can't do that...you mustn't do that...I've been so good to you!" Miss Rucker was on the verge of tears. Andrew yelled and turned around.The other dog followed and stood up. "Oh, he means it!" exclaimed Miss Rucker. "I think he's serious. He's going." She wept into her handkerchief, blew her nose, and said, "All right, Andrew. I'll do as you please. This... this ordinary dog ​​can stay Next. Of course there are conditions, it sleeps in the basement where the coal is kept." Andrew barked again. "He insists it won't do, miss. His friend must have a silk mattress like his, and sleep in your room too. Or he'll go up to the coal-basement and sleep with his friend." Aunt Mary Say. "Andrew, how can you do this?" Miss Rucker moaned. "I will never promise this kind of thing." Andrew seemed to be leaving.The other dog wanted to go too. "Oh, it's leaving me!" screamed Miss Rucker. "Okay then, Andrew. Do as you want. He'll sleep in my room. But I'll never be the same again, never, ever. Such a nasty dog!" She tumbled off. "Andrew, I really didn't expect you to be like this. But never mind, whatever I think, I won't say more. This... well... I'm going to call this thing... a vagabond or a lost dog……" The dog looked at Miss Rucker angrily, and Andrew barked loudly. "They say you must call him Willoughby and nothing else," said Aunt Mary. "His name is Willoughby." "Willoughby! What a name! Bad, bad!" said Miss Rucker desperately. "What does it say now?" because Andrew was barking again. "He said that when he came back, you couldn't tell him to put on a coat or go to the grooming room...that was his last word," said Aunt Mary. There was silence for a while. "All right," said Miss Rucker at last. "But I'll take care of you, Andrew, and don't blame me if you catch a bad cold!" she said, turning and stomping proudly up the stairs, wiping the last of her tears. Andrew tipped his head to Willoughby as if to say, "Come on!" and they walked slowly side by side in a round dance along the garden path, tails waving like flags, and followed Miss Rucker into the house. "See, he's not a fool after all," said Jane, as we went upstairs to the nursery for tea. "No," Michael agreed. "But how Aunt Mary understands it is up to you." "I can't tell," answered Jane. "But she'll never, ever tell us, I know that..."