“Just think how jolly it’ll be when you and I play football together!”
The “football” did catch his ear. It made him smile. Yes, he would try to think about football, as Blue bade him. What if they should cut him in pieces! They would put him together again! If only Mrs. Corrigan hadn’t said—never mind, others had borne it and he could!
The parting between Doodles and his mother threatened to be tearful on both sides; but it was arrested by Blue’s shout that the car was there, and in a moment the small boy was at the window waving his good-byes.
CHAPTER XXVI
“DR. POLLY”
At ten o’clock Doodles was taken to the hospital and carried directly to his little white room. Everything was novel and pretty to the boy’s eyes, but prettiest of all was the white-capped, smiling nurse who received him. He was undressed at once and put into a soft bed, where he had two little pillows at his head. He watched the nurse as she hung some of his clothes in the white wardrobe and folded others and laid them away in the little white bureau. How strange it seemed to go to bed right in the middle of the day while the sun was shining!
Presently the nurse brought writing materials, and began to ask him questions,—where he lived, where he was born, his age, his mother’s maiden name, her native town, and many others. Finally she inquired:—
“What doctor sent you here?”
“No doctor. Polly Dudley told Mr. Gaylord that she thought her father could make me walk, and so he wanted mother to let me go to see him, and that’s how it came about.”
“Then I shall have to put it down ‘Dr. Polly,’ shan’t I?”