Part 9 (1/2)
Mandy reached over to take the handkerchiefs from Liza Ann, and at that moment the little colored girl saw something red and yellow among them.
”Oh, what a funny handkowitch!” she called, and the next moment they all saw the Calico Clown. Mandy took him out of the bundle.
”Oh, Mammy! I want him!” cried Jim.
”Nope! He's mine! I saw him, fustest!” exclaimed Liza Ann, and she reached for the Calico Clown.
”Wait a minute, now, chilluns. Wait a minute!” said Mandy, and she held the toy close to her breast. ”Dish yeah don't belongs to us.”
”But it come in de basket of wash, Mammy!” said Jim. ”Why can't we keep it?”
”'Cause tain't belongin' to us,” answered his mother. ”I can jest guess how it come in. Mirabell or Arnold, dey done drop it in dere Daddy's pocket, an' he didn't know nothin' about its bein' in. He took it out wif his hankowitches, and put it in mah basket of wash. An' I brung it home. My! My! It suah is funny how it happened!”
She held the Calico Clown up and looked at him.
”Oh, ain't he jest grand!” cried Jim, his eyes s.h.i.+ning with delight.
”He suah is a gay fellow all right,” said Mandy.
Liza Ann reached up and pulled one of the Clown's strings. Quickly his legs jiggled and he cut some funny capers.
”Oh, my! Dat suah is scrumptious!” laughed the little colored girl.
”Oh, Mammy, jest let us play with him a little while!” begged Jim.
”Den I'll take him back to where he belongs.”
”All right,” agreed Mandy. ”But be mighty keerful of him! If dat Calico Clown should get busted Mirabell or Arnold is gwine to feel mighty bad!”
You see she didn't know the Clown belonged to Sidney, and not to either Mirabell or Arnold.
”Come on, we'll have some fun wif him!” said Liza Ann to her brother.
And then, while their mother put the clothes to soak, the children played with the Calico Clown. They were good and gentle children, and the gay toy did not in the least mind clanging his cymbals for them or doing his funny dance. He jiggled and joggled his arms and legs, and went through such funny antics that Jim and Liza Ann laughed again and again.
”Po' li'l honey lambs!” said Mandy with a sigh, as she bent over the wash tub. ”I wish dey had some toys of dere own. But den I'se got good clean and soft watah to wash wif, an' dat's a blessin'! Lots of folks hasn't got only hard watah, what won't make no suds.”
After the clothes had been put to soak in a tub Mandy dried her hands and sat and looked at Liza Ann and Jim playing with the Calico Clown.
”Come now, you'd better get ready to take him back,” she said to Jim, after a while.
”Does you mean to take him back where you got de basket of wash, Mammy?” asked the colored boy.
”Yes,” his mother answered. ”You know de big green house. You's been dere befo', honey. You go dere now, Jim--tisn't late yet--an' you take back dis Clown. Tell Mirabell or Arnold dat it got in de wash wif dere daddy's pocket hankowitches.”
”All right,” said Jim, with a sigh. ”I will. But I suah does wish we could keep him!”
”So do I,” sighed Liza Ann in a low voice.
”Well, maybe some day I can make money enough to git you somethin' to play wif,” said their mother.