Iggie's House Page 4

  Glenn cleared his throat and took a deep bow. “Introducing,” he said … “Introducing Woozie Garber.”

  Winnie stared down at the shaggy, white dog who sat scratching himself at her feet. She shook her head and mumbled, “Woozie … Woozie … Woozie. What a name! It’s almost as bad as Smreg!” The dog looked up and barked at her. “Okay … okay,” Winnie told him soothingly, while patting his back. “Woozie is a lovely name. Lovely! And you’re a lovely doggie! Where’d you ever get a name like Woozie anyway?” she asked Glenn.

  Tina looked at the ground and shuffled her feet. Herbie and Glenn smiled. “Go ahead Tina,” Herbie insisted. “Go ahead and tell Winnie.”

  “Okay, okay,” Tina said softly, still looking down. “See, when I was real little I had this stuffed dog that I used to take to sleep with me and I called him Woozie and …”

  “You’ve still got that old thing Tina,” Herbie accused, interrupting his sister. “I saw you with it the other night.”

  Tina put her hands on her hips and looked straight at Herbie. “Oh sure I’ve still got him. But I don’t use him anymore. He’s in this box in my closet and sometimes I like to take the box down and JUST LOOK AT HIM. That’s all!”

  Herbie and Glenn laughed some more. Tina chewed her bottom lip. Winnie felt sorry for her. “That’s not so funny,” she told the boys. “When I was little I had an old blanket I dragged around. I dragged it around for years, till it fell apart. And I called it Blangley. Anyway, I changed my mind. I think Woozie is a great name for him. He looks like a Woozie.” Tina smiled a private thank you to Winnie. Woozie jumped up and barked his approval. Then he suddenly took off like a rocket and ran down the block.

  “You naughty old doggie! You come back here!” Tina hollered after him. But Woozie had already run up the Landon’s front walk. She poked her brother. “Go get him Glenn.”

  Glenn looked at Herbie. “Herbie can run faster than me. Go get him Herbie.”

  But Herbie looked at Tina. “Let Tina get him. She’s the youngest and she’s always complaining about how she NEVER gets to do anything. Right, Tina?”

  Tina looked at Winnie pleadingly. “Well, I see I’m elected dog catcher,” Winnie said. “I’m not scared of Germs, Incorporated!” She popped a fresh piece of gum into her mouth, pulled her sailor hat down over her ears, and ran to the Landon’s house.

  She paused before continuing up the front walk, wondering why Woozie decided to visit the worst possible house on the block. She looked around. No Woozie. She thought hard about where he might be, then snapped her fingers, remembering the Collie that lived behind the Landon’s. At that moment Clarice opened the door and stepped out onto the front porch. She was sucking an ice cube and it was dripping onto her pink and white dress. Winnie nodded at her and cracked her gum.

  “Hi Winnie. Want to play?” Clarice asked timidly.

  Winnie shook her head from side to side and cracked her gum louder. “That’s disgusting Winifred!” Clarice said between slurps.

  “So’s sucking on an ice cube!” Winnie answered.

  “Well, if you don’t want to play, what are you doing here?” Clarice asked.

  “Oh, just looking for a dog is all,” Winnie said.

  “What dog?” Clarice wanted to know.

  And that was when Woozie chose to show himself. He appeared around the corner of the house, ran over to Winnie, looked up at Clarice and began to bark furiously.

  “Mommy!” Clarice screamed. “Mommy! There’s a big dog after me! Help, Mommy … HELP!”

  Winnie grabbed Woozie by the collar and tried to persuade him to leave quietly with her. But Woozie kept barking and Clarice kept screaming until Mrs. Landon came to the door. Clarice hid behind her mother’s back.

  “Winifred Barringer, what are you doing on our front walk with that dog?” Mrs. Landon asked.

  Oh boy, Winnie thought. Here we go! She stood up straight and faced Mrs. Landon. “He ran away and I’m just trying to catch him, is all.”

  “Ran away from whom, Winifred? Exactly whose dog is he?” Mrs. Landon demanded.

  “He’s the Garbers’ dog,” Winnie said, biting her lip.

  “The Garbers’ dog! I see. Please get him out of here, Winifred. I could report the Garbers for letting their dog run loose. I could very well do that.”

  “Oh, please don’t, Mrs. Landon. They just got him and it was my fault … really.” She would do something like that, Winnie thought. She just would!

  “Very well, Winifred. I see no reason to be nasty.” Out came the smile. “But I never want this to happen again. Is that clearly understood?”

  “Yes, Ma’am. Clearly.”

  Woozie meekly followed Winnie down the Landon’s walk as if he had understood all of what Germs had said. She never even raised her voice, Winnie thought. She can be rotten without even trying!

  chapter five

  The next morning Winnie got up at eight. She read over the letter she’d started to Iggie. It sounded stupid. She ripped it up and started again:

  Dear Iggie,

  How are you? I’m fine. You’ll never believe this but the Garbers (our new neighbors) who moved into your house got a sheep dog. Anyway, his name is Woozie and today he ran off and where did be run to of all places? You guessed it—the London’s!!! Well, Mrs. Germs was really mad. Actually, she was really mad because she doesn’t like the Garbers. Well, it isn’t exactly that she doesn’t like them because she doesn’t even know them. It’s just that she doesn’t want them around because they’re Negro. (They say black.)

  “Winnie! Breakfast,” her mother called.

  Winnie folded the letter and put it under her school papers in her middle desk drawer.

  Later that morning Winnie, Herbie, Glenn and Tina sat on the curb, in front of the sewer grating that was next to Iggie’s driveway. Winnie reached over and picked up some pebbles from the hole at the foot of the driveway. Iggie’s folks had been planning to fix up that hole in the fall. Winnie threw the little pebbles into the sewer, one by one. They made a clinking sound.

  The Garbers looked glum. Nobody had anything to say. Winnie wished she had stayed home and slept all morning. “What’s eating you guys?” she finally asked.

  “Nothing much,” Glenn answered.

  “Well, it must be something,” Winnie said.

  Herbie jumped up, imitating his brother. “Oh nothing much … nothing much is wrong … like fun it’s nothing much!” His voice got very gruff and his fingers automatically went up to his mouth. He started gnawing away at his nails and it was hard to understand what he was saying. “Just a little old piece of paper with a lot of names on it telling the Garber family to get lost. That’s about all! Nothing much!”

  The petition! They knew about Mrs. Landon’s petition. Winnie didn’t know what to say. “I’m uh … I mean I … uh …” she stammered.

  Herbie slapped his leg. “Didn’t I tell you? Didn’t I tell you she wouldn’t be surprised. I told you she’d know about it!” he said to his brother.

  Glenn held up his hand. “Don’t try to explain, Winnie. Please! We don’t want to hear a lot of excuses.”

  Explain! That was funny. How could she explain a Mrs. Landon? How could she explain why her own mother didn’t want them on her block? How could she explain anything? She didn’t even understand it herself. “How did you find out?” she asked.

  Glenn reported, “Germs, Incorporated paid us a little visit last night. My mother invited her in.”

  “But didn’t you tell her about Mrs. Landon? About how she told Clarice not to play with any …” Winnie stopped.

  “Well, go ahead. Go ahead and say it!” Herbie shouted. “Any colored kids!” He spit the words out.

  “Leave her alone Herbie. It’s not her fault.”

  Winnie spoke to Glenn, ignoring Herbie. “But why didn’t you tell your mother? You should have warned her.”

  “We should have, but we didn’t. She’s so jumpy lately that we decided not to give her the news.”


  “So your mother just let her in. Just like that?”

  “Yeah,” Herbie said, joining the conversation again. “Mom thought Mrs. Landon was being polite and calling on her new neighbor.”

  “You should have seen old Germs,” Glenn said. “She was taking it all in. Couldn’t look around fast enough. Then she announced that she wants to talk privately to my folks. That means me and Herbie are supposed to take off.”

  “What about Tina?” Winnie asked.

  “I was in the bathtub,” Tina sighed. “I always miss everything!”

  Glenn continued. “So me and Herbie slammed the back door, pretending to go out into the yard. But we really stayed in the kitchen and we heard the whole thing.”

  “What’d she say?” Winnie asked.

  “Oh, how she’s sure we’re lovely people and that it’s nothing personal, but we’d be happier somewhere else. For the children’s sake and all that jazz.”

  “Then what?” Winnie asked Herbie.

  “Then my father says he’s heard enough. And would she please leave. All very nice and quiet.… Man! You’d have thought they were talking about the weather or something. Then Mrs. Landon says, ‘Oh, I almost forgot … we’ve gotten a petition together so that you can see how we really feel about the situation.’ And she hands it over to my father.”

  “Did you see the petition?” Winnie asked. She’d absolutely die if her parents signed it.

  “Yeah,” Herbie said. “I snitched it out of my father’s desk this morning.”

  “How many signed it?” Winnie was petrified.

  “Only nine,” Glenn said.

  “ONLY?” Herbie raised his voice.

  “Nine out of thirty two … that’s not a lot,” Glenn argued.

  “Man! It’s enough!”

  “Do you remember all the names?” Winnie whispered. She’d faint if her family’s name was on it.

  Herbie picked up a handful of pebbles and threw them into the sewer. “If you want to know if your parents signed it … they didn’t!”

  “I never even thought of that, Herbie Garber!” Winnie hollered. She hoped the relief she felt didn’t show. “What are you going to do about it?” she asked.

  “I know what I’d like to do,” Herbie said. “For a start I’d break up some windows on the Germ House. Then maybe I’d dump some paint on that nice green grass. And I’d train Woozie to make on all her bushes!”

  “And what would that prove, big shot?” Glenn asked.

  “Maybe nothing. But man! It would sure make me feel good!”

  “I meant what are your folks going to do about it?” Winnie asked.

  Herbie scratched his head. “Who knows? They don’t let us in on anything. We’re not supposed to know about the petition. It’s called ‘protect the children from everything bad in the world.’ Just close your eyes and it’ll all go away.”

  “I know the feeling,” Winnie admitted. “Do your parents whisper a lot at night … when you’re all supposed to be asleep?”

  “Yeah,” Glenn said.

  “Why can’t they ever be honest?” Winnie muttered.

  “Who knows!” Herbie said. “Who can figure out parents.”

  Winnie stood up and brushed off her shorts. “Well, we can’t just sit here all day. What do you guys want to do?”

  “How ’bout the park?” Tina asked.

  “Too crowded on Saturdays,” Winnie answered.

  “We could take Woozie out for a walk,” Herbie suggested.

  “Say! I know … Iggie’s tree house,” Winnie said. “Have you guys discovered it yet?”

  “What tree house? Where is it?” Tina asked.

  “In your yard, silly. Come on … follow me.” Winnie and Tina ran into the backyard. Glenn and Herbie followed slowly. The tree house was practically invisible among all the leaves of Iggie’s tall trees. “Iggie’s father built it for us last summer. All by himself, except for me and Iggie. We helped him,” Winnie said, pointing it out.

  “Do you have binoculars?”

  “What’s binoculars?” Tina asked.

  “Binoculars are what you look through to see things far away. It makes everything look close. Right, Glenn?” Herbie asked, turning to his brother.

  “Right, Herbie. But I don’t think we have any,” Glenn said.

  “Okay. Wait here and I’ll go get mine,” Winnie told them, running off toward her house. She was in and out in about two and a half minutes. Just long enough to dash up the stairs, take her binoculars lovingly from the dresser drawer, where she kept them hidden under her pajamas, and fly back down the stairs and out the kitchen door with them. When she got back she sniffed in the delicious smell of Iggie’s mom’s flowers. They were all in bloom. She hoped Mrs. Garber would take good care of them.

  “Hello down there,” Glenn sang out.

  Winnie looked up. Herbie and Glenn were already in Iggie’s tree house. Winnie felt kind of funny about it. It used to be her’s and Iggie’s special place. But she guessed Iggie wouldn’t mind. Probably her father was busy building her a new tree house in Tokyo. If they had trees there!

  “Where’s Tina?” Winnie asked the boys, as she climbed up the rope ladder to the wooden planks that made up the floor of the tree house.

  “She went inside for a minute, with our Dad,” Herbie said. “He’s off on Saturdays. Isn’t your father?”

  “No. Saturday’s a big day for hardware stores.” Winnie said. She never thought much about Mr. Garber. She had only seen him once. That day she was spying on them when they moved in.

  “Well, here’s my binoculars,” Winnie announced. “Want to see?”

  Herbie took them and held them up to his eyes. He moved them around and handed them back disgustedly. “Some fun. All I see are tree tops and leaves.”

  “Oh Herbie,” Winnie laughed. “You’re not looking in the right places. Here Glenn, have a turn.”

  Glenn put the binoculars to his eyes. He moved them around and adjusted the focus. “Boy! These are really powerful!”

  “I know it.” Winnie agreed. “Iggie gave them to me for my birthday last year. They used to belong to her uncle who’s in the Marines. Here, give them to me a minute and I’ll show you something.” Glenn handed them to her. Winnie stood up and waved her free hand around, while holding the binoculars in the other. “Points of interest up and down Grove Street are …” she announced in a deep and dramatic voice.

  “Number one: The man who lives behind here and three doors down. I forget his name, but he mows his lawn in a red bathing suit every week. On Thursdays, I think. And he’s real fat and his belly jumps all around when he pushes the mower. He’s not out today … too bad!

  “Number two: Pay attention please, Herbie Garber.” Herbie took his fingers out of his mouth and looked at Winnie, who then continued her speech.

  “Three doors down and on the right. Mrs. Axel’s yard. Completely fenced in. Nobody knows what Mrs. Axel does all day in her fenced-in yard but me and Iggie. You want to know? Well, she sunbathes in there. Sunbathes and talks on the phone. She’s got this outside phone connection and she gabs, gabs, gabs all day long. You know what she wears? A towel! That’s it. Just a towel and the telephone. That’s Mrs. Axel!”

  Winnie turned and faced the other way. She pointed with one hand as she peered through the binoculars. “Number three: Billy Mesler. One and a half years old. We just discovered him this summer. He climbs out of his playpen which is in the middle of his yard. He crawls into the flower beds and eats. He eats flowers, dirt and stones. Sometimes all three at once. Mrs. Mesler comes outside screaming when she discovers Billy is out of his playpen. She finds him eating dirt and stuff and then she starts to cry. She picks him up, washes out his mouth, puts him back into his pen and pretty soon the whole thing starts over again.”

  “You sure do know a lot about what goes on around here!” Glenn said.

  “Yes, I sure do!” Winnie agreed.

  The back door slammed and Tina and Woozie came out
. “Hello down there,” Winnie called to them.

  “Hi Winnie,” Tina answered. “Come on down here for a second. I want to show you something.”

  Winnie handed her binoculars to Glenn, instructing both boys to be very careful with them, but to holler if they saw anything special. She climbed down the rope ladder and ran over to Tina and Woozie who were still standing by the back door. She bent down to scratch Woozie behind the ears but backed away. “Yick! What’s the matter with him. He smells funny and his fur’s all sticky!”

  “That’s what I wanted to show you. It’s this stuff called No-Shed. Daddy got a bottle of it for Woozie ’cause his fur is shedding all over the house already and we’ve only had him one day! So I rubbed it all over him. And now look—he’s a mess! What do you think?”

  “I think you’re right. He’s a mess. You better ask your father about him,” Winnie suggested.

  Tina yelled into the house. “Daddy, could you come out for a second?”

  “What is it now Tina?” a deep voice called up from the basement.

  “It’s Woozie, Daddy. I think he needs you!” Tina hollered.

  Winnie heard heavy steps coming up from the cellar. Then Mr. Garber appeared, looking both hot and tired.

  “Daddy, this is Winnie, from down the street,” Tina said, still staring at her dog.

  “Hello Winnie,” Mr. Garber said, glancing from Winnie’s face to Woozie’s sticky fur.

  “Hi Mr. Garber,” Winnie answered as Tina’s dad bent down to inspect Woozie.

  “Whatever happened to him?” Mr. Garber asked, looking up at Tina, from where he kneeled beside the dog.

  “Oh Daddy!” Tina sniffled. “I wanted to help take care of him so I rubbed the whole bottle of No-Shed on his fur. To make him stop shedding Daddy. So Mom wouldn’t be mad at him for messing up the house.”