Harry whirled in his chair to see the sulky fat boy directly behind him, glowering down at him. His steady blue eyes measured the other with a long look of quiet contempt and indifference. Then he turned his back squarely upon the disgruntled boy and went on eating his dinner.
[CHAPTER VI]
AT THE END OF THE DAY
“Well, how did you get along this afternoon?” was Harry’s greeting, as the two boys met on the corner after work. It was fifteen minutes to six. The store closed at half past five o’clock, but the boys of the store were obliged to form in line in the assembly room and pass out of the building, reporting their numbers at their special time desk as they went.
“Oh, pretty good. Better’n this morning. Got a call down first thing,” confessed Teddy.
“You did! I’m surprised.” Harry didn’t look in the least surprised. “What could you possibly do to get a scolding?”
“Aw, quit teasing me,” retorted Teddy. He related his first disastrous errand to the wrapping desk. As might be expected, Harry laughed. He had a mental vision of Teddy parading down the aisle in his granite-ware helmet, his arms full of kitchen utensils.
“You wouldn’ta thought it was quite so funny if you’d seen that great tall giraffe comin’ down the aisle at you,” grumbled Teddy.
“I don’t suppose I would,” Harry regarded the red-haired boy smilingly. “Still, you couldn’t blame him very much. You’d better be careful about calling people pet names, though, Ted.” Harry grew serious. “You got me into trouble by calling Mr. Barton a crank, then you called that fat boy an elephant. I must say, the name suits him, only it’s rather hard on the elephant. Now you’ve named another man a giraffe. First thing you know, you’ll have a zoo, and when they hear you calling their names the whole menagerie will come at you and gobble you up.”