The Circus Comes to Town | Page 5

of seen you--"
"You wouldn't have run into me," finished Mr. Barton. "Of course not. There are a lot of things we wouldn't do if we could see what the results were going to be. Why, bless me, it's Jerry Elbow! Well, I guess there wasn't much harm done this time. You seemed to be in quite a hurry. Have I delayed you?"
"Yes, sir, I was in a hurry," Jerry answered. "Danny was running to ask Mother 'Larkey for fifty cents to see the circus."
"And what were you running for?"
Jerry started to get up as he replied.
"To see if she had fifty cents for Da--"
He stopped speaking and stopped getting up at the same time. A glint of silver on the sidewalk back of Mr. Barton caught his eye. It was a half-dollar! Jerry sank to a sitting posture and gazed in rapt wonder at this answer to an unsaid prayer.
"You are hurt!" cried Mr. Barton solicitously and stooped to help Jerry up. "Where does it pain you?"
"It's fifty cents!" cried Jerry, his lips unsealed at last, and he scrambled eagerly for the coin.
"Well, there's nothing very painful in that, is there?" laughed Mr. Barton.
Jerry rose, clutching the dirty half-dollar tightly, a light of joyful anticipation in his eyes.
"There's not much need of asking what you will spend it for," observed the drug clerk.
"For a ticket to the circus!" cried Jerry, his eyes sparkling at the thought of future delights.
"I guessed it the first time," said Mr. Barton. "I thought I heard something metallic fall on the sidewalk when you ran into me, but I had such hard work getting my breath back that I forgot all about it."
Such a harrowing thought now popped into Jerry's mind that unconsciously he closed his fingers entirely around the precious half-dollar. What if it were Mr. Barton's! Perhaps he had knocked it out of Mr. Barton's pocket when he ran into him. He had heard the clink of its fall just after the collision, as he lay on the ground.
After a short but sharp struggle with himself, Jerry looked up and held out the money to Mr. Barton. He tried to smile, but was conscious that the twisting of his lips didn't look much like a smile.
"It's yours, I guess, Mr. Barton."
"Mine!" exclaimed the surprised drug clerk. "You saw it first."
"Yes, but I heard it fall just after I ran into you. I must of knocked it out of your pocket. I didn't have no half-dollar."
"No more did I," replied Mr. Barton.
"You didn't!" exclaimed Jerry, and joy came unbidden back into his eyes and there was a very different feel to his lips. He knew that it was a real smile this time.
"Not this late in the week," Mr. Barton informed him. "It's too long after pay day for me to have that much money. I've got just thirty-five cents."
He drew some small coins out of his pocket.
"Yes, it's all here. The half-dollar must have been lying on one of the boards that you struck in falling. Let's see it."
He took the money and examined it.
"It was almost covered with dirt," he said. "So was one end of both boards. Hello! That's a funny black mark on the other side. Looks as though somebody had smeared it with black paint."
"That doesn't hurt it any, does it?" asked Jerry in trepidation.
"Not a bit! It's good for a ticket to the circus."
"If I hadn't of run into you, I wouldn't get to go," observed Jerry.
"That's so," responded Mr. Barton. "I wouldn't let any one know you found the money. Just sneak off to the circus when it comes and buy your ticket. Danny would find some way to get it away from you if he knew you had it."
"I guess mebbe he would," Jerry responded.
"You just keep it to yourself and enjoy the circus," Mr. Barton advised him and went on to the store.
Jerry trudged slowly back toward Mrs. Mullarkey's, thinking intently.
The gloom that pervaded the house was so deep that Jerry perceived it as soon as he opened the door. Danny sat glowering by the window; Celia Jane was weeping unashamed, while Chris and Nora were trying not to show their disappointment.
So Mother 'Larkey had not yet been able to make both ends meet--those troublesome, refractory ends that made her life a continual round of hard work--and there were no fifty-cent pieces for the children to buy tickets with to see the elephant jump the fence. Jerry hugged himself just to feel the half-dollar in his blouse pocket and a glow of exultation ran over his body at the thought that he was going to get to see the circus.
Mrs. Mullarkey, looking tired and worn, was ripping apart the dress for Mrs. Green that she had just finished at noon. Baby Kathleen sat at her