"I have fully made up my mind to run away!" declared the rocker.
"What for?" asked the stove. "What in the world for? Don't you like it in this jolly house?"
"I like it well enough," went on the chair, "but—"
And just then there was a sound in the hall as if Grandma was coming back to mix the chocolate to put on the cake.
"Wait a minute—I'll tell you later!" whispered Racky.
ADVENTURE II
RACKY RUNS AWAY
While Gassy, the old stove down in the laundry, was waiting for Racky to give his reasons for wanting to run away, the rocker was listening up in the kitchen. The noise he had heard when he was in the middle of his story, he thought was made by Grandma coming back.
But it must have been a false alarm, for the old lady was still out in the hall, talking to the mother of Nat and Weezie. She had found out that the chocolate was on a shelf in the pantry, instead of being in the white, kitchen cabinet, where it was usually kept. But now Grandma was talking to Mrs. Trent, the mother of Rodney and Addie. Mrs. Trent had run over to bring a letter which the postman, by mistake, had left at her house instead of at the Harden home. And, so, knowing that Grandma would not come back to the kitchen for a few moments yet, Racky went on:
"I'm going to run away, Gassy, so I won't be broken to pieces!"