XII
AT GRANDMA BASCOM'S
"The land sakes!" exclaimed Grandma Bascom, seeing him first.She was propped up in bed, and Mrs. Pepper was heating somegruel on the stove out in the shed. "What's the matter?" as Joelheld his arm out, and the blood was dripping down his littleblouse.
"Nothin'," said Joel, shortly; "where's Mamsie?"
"Out in the shed," said Grandma. "Now you show her your arm assoon as you can."
"Tisn't my arm," said Joel, "it's my hand," and he ran into theshed. "Come over home, Mamsie, do," he implored. "That old womanup to the minister's is at our house."
"I can't come," said Mrs. Pepper, not turning around, "till Ifix Grandma comfortable. And for shame, Joel, to speak so ofMiss Jerusha! Remember how good Parson Henderson is to us; andhis wife, too."
"That ain't Miss Jerusha," said Joel, setting his teeth together,and wishing his hand wouldn't ache so; "and she's talking awful,and Ben's sent us all out."
"Then she must be disagreeable," said Mrs. Pepper, beginning tolook worried. "Well, I'll soon have this done, then I'll be over.Ben'll have to bear it as best he can," and she sighed.
So Joel turned off and went out of doors, and the little streamof blood kept on trickling.
"Has he cut it bad?" asked Grandma, anxiously, when Mrs. Pepperbrought in the cup of steaming gruel a few minutes later.
"Who?" asked Mother Pepper, absently.
"Why--Joel. Hain't you seen it?" screamed Grandma, who, like agreat many deaf people, always spoke her loudest, especiallywhen she was excited. "The blood was all runnin' like everythingdown his arm. I guess he's most cut it off," she added with agroan, for Grandma always had a warm spot in her heart for Joel.
Mrs. Pepper's face grew very pale, and she set the cup of grueldown hastily on the little stand by the bed-head, where Grandmacould reach it. Then she hurried to the door. "_Joel_!" shecalled, prepared to run over home if he didn't answer.
"What?" said a miserable little voice, as unlike Joel's aspossible. There he sat crouching down under the big "laylocks,"as Grandma always called them.
It wasn't a moment, then, before Mother Pepper had him in thekitchen and the blood washed off, and as well as she could see,for the little stream that flowed again, she found out where thetrouble was, in the long zigzag cut down the fleshy part ofJoel's little brown hand.
"Mother'll fix you up all right," she kept saying. And Joel, whodidn't mind anything, now that he had Mamsie, watched everymovement out of attentive black eyes.
"Has he cut it bad? O dear me!" shouted and groaned Grandma fromthe bed.
"No," screamed Joel, "'tain't hurt at all."
"Oh, Joey!" reproved Mrs. Pepper, tying up the poor hand in abit of old cloth. "Now run in and show Grandma, and I'll ask herif she has got any court plaster."
So Joel ran in and sat on the edge of Grandma's bed, on top ofthe gay patched quilt, and recounted just how it all happened.
"Hey?" exclaimed Grandma, every minute.
"I can't make her hear nothin'," said Joel at last, in despair,turning to his mother. "What gets into folks' ears to make 'emdeaf, Mamsie?"
"Oh, it often comes on when they're old," answered Mrs. Pepper,who had been searching all this time in all the cracked bowlsand cups for the scraps of court plaster. "It will be such apiece of work to get her to tell me where it is," she said toherself.
"I ain't ever goin' to be deaf when I'm old," declared Joel, inalarm.
"You don't know whether you will or not," said Mrs. Pepper,rummaging away, "so you better use your ears to good advantagenow, while you've got 'em."
"I'll always have 'em," said Joel, putting up both hands to feelof these appendages and see if they were there. "I guess theycan't get off," and he shook his head smartly.
"How'd you cut it?" asked Grandma, shrilly, for the fiftiethtime.
Joel slipped off the gay patched bedquilt, and ran up to hismother, drawing a long breath.
"O dear me!" exclaimed Mrs. Pepper, seeing the bandage of oldcloth, which was quite red and damp. "Go and sit down and holdyour hand still. I must ask Grandma where that court plaster is.I know she has some, because when Polly cut her finger, you know,Grandma gave her a piece."
"You can't make her hear," said Joel, despairingly, and sittingdown as his mother bade.
"I must," said Mrs. Pepper, firmly; "and if a thing has to bedone, why it has to be, that's all; we've got to have that courtplaster."
So she put her ear close to Grandma's cap-border, and after agreat deal of explaining on Mother Pepper's part, and as manyinterruptings on Grandma Bascom's, who wanted everything saidover again, at last it was known that the court plaster laybetween the leaves of the big Bible, on the stand under the oldlooking-glass between the windows.
"I put it there so's to have it handy," screamed Grandma,leaning back in great satisfaction against her pillows again.
Mrs. Pepper, feeling quite worn out, got the court plaster andcut off a piece. "Now then, Joel," she said, coming up to him.
"The cloth's all wet and soppy," said Joel, beginning to twitchat the bandage.
"Don't do that, Joey," commanded Mother Pepper, quickly, "you'llmake it bleed worse'n ever. Dear me! I should think it was wet!"suppressing a shiver, as she rapidly unwound the old cloth, nowvery red. "Come here, over the basin." And presently the poorhand was washed off again with warm water, the long cut closed,and the strip of black court plaster stuck firmly over the wound.
"Why don't you put cold water on, Mammy?" asked Joel; "it wouldfeel so good."
"Is it cut bad?" Grandma kept screaming.
"You can go and let her see it, Joey, now that it's all done upnicely. There's no use in trying to tell her," said MotherPepper, clearing away the traces of the accident. So Joel hoppedup on the big bed again and displayed his wounded hand, andGrandma oh-ed and dear me-ed over it, and then she reached overto the little drawer in the stand at the head of the bed.
"Put your hand in, Joel," she said, "and take as many's youwant."
Joel's black eyes stuck out as he saw the big peppermint drops,pink ones and white ones, rolling round in the drawer the minuteit was pulled open. "Can I have as many as I want, Grandma?" hescreamed, hopping off from the bed to hang over the drawer.
"Yes," said Grandma, delighted to think she could do somethingto help, "'cause you've hurt your hand."
"I'm glad I hurt it!" exclaimed Joel. "O my! what a lot,Grandma!" which Grandma didn't hear, only she knew he waspleased by the sight of his chubby face; so she smiled, too.Mrs. Pepper found them so when she came up to the bed.
"I'm going home now, Grandma," she said. "I'll be over again byand by, or Polly will."
"Hey?" said Grandma. So Mrs. Pepper nodded and smiled andpointed to the door, and Grandma seemed satisfied.
"She told me I might have as many's I wanted," said Joel, withgreat satisfaction. "I like Grandma ever so much."
"Take care, Joey, you don't take too many," said Mrs. Pepper."Grandma's good to you, so you must be good to her, and comeright home from here. You may stay half an hour," pointing tothe old clock. "Miss Jerusha will be gone by that time," shesaid to herself with a grim smile.
"I'll come right home, Mamsie," said Joel, quite upset in hismind whether to take two white peppermint drops and two pinkones, or if it would do to take three apiece.
"And don't let any cold water get on that hand," charged Mrs.Pepper the last thing.
"Why, Mamsie?" asked Joel, looking up.
"'Cause it would be very bad," said Mother Pepper, shaking herhead warningly, "very bad, Joel. Remember, now."
"What would it do to me?" asked Joel.
"I don't know," said Mrs. Pepper; "it might almost kill you tochill it. Maybe you'd have lockjaw, Joel Pepper."
"What's that?" demanded Joel, deserting the peppermint drops fora minute to run to the door and seize his mother's gown. "What'slockjaw, Mammy?"
"I guess you'd find out if you had it," said Mrs. Pepper, grimly."Why, you can't open your jaw
s. Let go of my gown, Joel. I musthurry home." And with visions of Miss Jerusha in the littlebrown house, she hurried off as fast as she could down the lane.
"Huh!" exclaimed Joel, left quite alone staring after her. "Iguess I ain't going to have any old lockjaw. And I could open myjaws, too." Thereupon wide apart flew his two sets of whiteteeth, at such a distance that he seemed to be all mouth. Thenhe snapped them together again so quickly that it made him winkviolently; repeating this operation till he was quite convincedthat nothing should ever be the matter with his jaws. "And ifthey ever do get locked up, I'm goin' to keep the key myself."Then he ran back to his peppermint drops again, quite satisfied.Grandma Bascom was sound asleep.
Joel softly moved two pink peppermint drops over to one side ofthe drawer, and set two white ones next to them. "They're awfulsmall," he said to himself, and changed the pink ones for twoothers of the same color. Then the same thought occurring to himin regard to the white ones, those had to go back and twodifferent white ones take their places. Then he drew back, andgazed at them admiringly.
"I don't s'pose Mamsie'd care if I took one more, if 'twas alittle one," he presently thought. But the difficulty was, shouldit be a pink one or a white one? It took Joel so long to decidethis, that at last he put one of each over in his collection atthe side of the drawer, then hastily pushed the rest of Grandma'sinto a pile at one end. "There, she's got a lot," he exclaimed. Andas he looked at them, the pile seemed to grow bigger yet; so hepicked off one, a great pink drop, from the very top.
"Now I must get a white one to match it," he said, fumbling overthe pile till he had flattened it quite out. They looked so manymore when this was done, that Joel felt quite right in extractingthe last two. "It might a' made her sick. P'r'aps she's been eatingtoo many." And as this thought struck him, he pulled out two more,picked up the ones he had set to one side, slammed to the drawer,by this time realizing that Grandma could not hear, and ran outof the bedroom to the "laylock" bushes, where he sat down toenjoy the peppermint drops.
He had demolished the third one, eating as slowly as possible,in a way Phronsie had of nibbling around the edges to make itlast as long as possible; and then, with his cut hand, therewasn't anything he could do; when suddenly Mamsie's words, "Begood to Grandma," swept through his mind, with an awful twinge.Joel stopped eating and looked at the heap of pink and whitepeppermint drops he had laid down on the grass by his side; thenturned his back to them, and began his nibbling again. "She'sgot enough," he said, munching on. "She said, take as many's Iwanted. So there now!"
But in a minute he had hopped to his feet, and snatched up thepink and white pile, raced through the kitchen and into thebedroom, and twitching open the drawer to the little stand, hedumped his fistful in, all except one. Then, without trustinghimself to look at them, he slammed the drawer quite tight, andleaning over Grandma, he put his mouth close to her cap-borderwhere she lay snoring away. "I put 'em all back, Grandma," hewhispered, "except four."
Something made him glance up at the old clock. It was fiveminutes past the half hour, and Joel, with a dreadful feeling athis heart, for disobedience was a thing Mamsie never overlooked,fled over to the little brown house.