BINGO COMES TO LIVE WITH CHARLIE
ONE morning Charlie woke up suddenly because his kitten Topsy had jumped on his bed and was tickling him under the chin!
Charlie woke up, and somehow he felt different—he felt most awfully old—and then he remembered why!
“I’m five years old!” he shouted and jumped out of bed. With Topsy on his shoulder, he ran downstairs to the kitchen where his Mother and his Auntie were getting breakfast ready.
“I’m five years old!” he shouted again, and jumped into his Mother’s arms. “I’m a great big boy now.”
His Mother said, “Yes, indeed, you are a great big boy now, think of it! It takes all the fingers of one hand to tell how old you are!” And his Mother hugged him hard and his Auntie hugged him hard too and they both wished him “Many happy returns of the day.”
Then Charlie ran upstairs again and started to dress himself. He could dress himself quite easily, but sometimes when he was lazy he would pretend that he could not and call out for his Auntie to button him up.
But as he was five years old to-day Charlie was going to show everybody what a big boy he was. So he brushed his hair and cleaned his teeth and buttoned all the buttons and came out of his room at the same time as his Daddy came out of his.
“Oh, what a big boy you are!” said his Daddy. “I can hardly lift you.” But he did lift him all the same and carried him down the stairs and into the dining room on top of his shoulder!
And when they got into the dining room Charlie scrambled all down his Daddy without waiting to be put down—for there were the most ex-cit-ing looking parcels on the table beside his plate, and one of them was so e-nor-mous that it took up half the room on the table!
Charlie could not wait one minute, he started right away to take the wrapping paper off the great, e-nor-mous parcel.
It was tied with blue ribbons just like the other parcels, for all that it was so e-nor-mous. Charlie pulled and he tugged and at last the wrapping paper was all off. And what do you think it was? You never can guess! No one could ever guess that such a thing could be on the breakfast table beside a little boy’s plate, even though it was the little boy’s birthday and he was five years old. It was an automobile! Yes, it was an automobile that Charlie could sit in and pedal with his feet, and it would go just like a real automobile. Charlie’s Daddy lifted it to the floor and Charlie ex-am-ined it all over. It had real lights and a wind shield and a steering gear. It was the most beautiful automobile that any little boy ever had!
There were a lot of other parcels beside his plate, and they were all interesting. There was a new suit for Charlie, and it was a sailor suit, just like those that big boys wear. It had a lanyard and a whistle, and it had a red stripe and an emblem on the sleeves. Then there were two new cars for his electric train, and a pair of scissors with blunt edges, so that Charlie could cut things out himself and not always have to ask his Mother or his Auntie to do it for him. There was an express wagon that he could haul stones and grass in, and there was a new battery for his flashlight!
Charlie was still looking at all his beautiful presents, when there came a ring at the door and a loud whistle. It was the postman! Charlie ran to the front door and opened it. And he said to the postman, “I am five years old, and I’ve got an automobile and a whistle just like yours, and a lot of other things.”
And the postman said, “I thought that you had grown a lot taller since I saw you yesterday. It’s fine that you have got a whistle like mine. There is nothing to prevent you from being a postman yourself now, is there? Then you can carry your own mail. Look what a lot of letters I have brought this morning—and they are all for you!”
Yes, indeed, the postman was right, all the letters were for Charlie, and every letter had a beautiful card in it wishing him “Many happy returns of the day.” And there was a letter from Uncle Jim; it had a whole dollar bill in it, and the dollar bill was for Charlie! Yes, the dollar bill was all for Charlie, and his Mother said that she would take him down to the stores and he might buy whatever he liked with it.
Then his Daddy said, “What are you going to buy with the dollar?”
And Charlie said, “I am going to buy a present for Mother and a present for Auntie and a present for you, then we will all have presents on my birthday!”
Well, it took such a long time opening all his presents and looking at all his birthday cards that it seemed as if Charlie would not get any breakfast at all that day. But at last he had all his presents spread out on the table in front of him, so that he could look at them while he was eating his breakfast; that is, all except the automobile, and that was on the floor beside his chair.
At last he finished his breakfast and he went into the kitchen to give Jane and Topsy their breakfast, when—what do you think? Jane wasn’t there! No, Jane was not in the kitchen at all, or in the dining room, or upstairs in any of the bedrooms, nor was she in the yard. Jane had ab-so-lute-ly disappeared!
Charlie and his Mother and his Auntie called, “Jane, Jane, Kitty, Kitty, Kitty!” all over the house and all over the yard, but no Jane came.
Never before had Jane been late for breakfast, but now that she did not come Topsy had to have breakfast all by himself.
Charlie felt very sad that Jane had disappeared on his birthday. He loved Jane very much, nearly as much as he loved Topsy. He sat down on the floor and began to play with his new toys, but every few minutes he got up and went to the window to see if Jane was coming back. Yes, Charlie went to the window three, four, five times, and there was no Jane. The sixth time that Charlie looked out of the window, what do you think he saw? He saw Jane coming down the garden path, and she was carrying something in her mouth. It was something big and heavy, four times as big as a mouse! It was so big and heavy that Jane had to drag it along the ground.
Charlie rushed to the door and called out, “Mother! Auntie! Come quick! Jane has come back and she has something e-nor-mous in her mouth AND IT’S ALIVE!”
Then he opened the front door just as Jane reached it, and Jane dropped the thing that she was carrying in her mouth. What do you think it was?
You never can guess. IT WAS A LITTLE, TINY PUPPY! Yes, a little baby puppy, so little that it could hardly walk!
Jane had been so sad at not having any baby kitten to play with any more, now that Topsy had grown to be such a big kitten, that she had found a baby puppy instead, and she had brought it home on Charlie’s birthday so that it could be Charlie’s puppy too.
Oh, but Charlie and his Mother and his Auntie were excited! They picked up the baby puppy and they stroked Jane and told her what a good cat she was.
Then Charlie’s Auntie took the puppy into the kitchen and tried to feed him with some warm milk, but he was so little that he had not learned how to drink yet!
So Charlie’s Mother said, “I will go to the toy shop, and I will buy a doll’s baby bottle. Perhaps the puppy will be able to drink out of that.”
And she did. Yes, Charlie’s Mother put on her hat and coat and she went to the toy shop. She was not gone five minutes. She hurried so fast, because she was afraid that the puppy might be hungry.
When Charlie’s mother came back with the doll’s baby bottle his Auntie heated some nice warm milk and put it in the bottle, and the puppy sucked and sucked just like a baby. Yes, he sucked and sucked until he had drunk all the milk that was in the bottle!
Then Charlie’s Mother put the puppy into Jane’s basket and Jane got in also and the puppy snuggled up close to her and went to sleep.
The Puppy Drank All the Milk
Topsy was so interested in the baby puppy that he tried to get into the basket also, but there was no room for him. So he sat outside the basket and every now and then he patted the puppy with his paw, but very gently so as not to wake him.
When Charlie’s Daddy came home in the evening, he was most interested and most excited to hear that Jane had brought a puppy home to live with them.
He said to Charlie, “What are you going to call the puppy? Of course, he is really Jane’s puppy, but I think Jane means him to be partly yours, as she brought him home to you on your birthday. Anyway, Jane cannot choose a name for him that we would understand.”
So Charlie thought for a minute. Then he said, “I think I will call the puppy Bingo. The iceman has a dog and his name is Bingo. I think he is such a nice man, and Bingo is a beautiful name.”
Charlie’s Mother and his Auntie and his Daddy thought it a beautiful name too, so the puppy was called Bingo. He slept in a basket with Jane and Topsy, for Charlie’s Auntie got another basket that was big enough for the three of them. And he took his meals out of the doll’s baby bottle. Jane washed him all day long and she was as happy, as happy could be, now that she had a darling little baby of her own again. In fact she was as happy as if it was her birthday instead of Charlie’s.
