“I should think you could have a little!” exclaimed Jan. “I know what I’m going to do. I’m going to ask my mother to bake a chocolate cake special for you, Hal Chester.”
“That’ll be fine!” laughed the lame boy. “What I can’t eat I’ll give to some of the other boys and girls.”
They walked on to the farmhouse, and the Curlytops noticed that their grandfather looked worried. They could tell this, as Jan said afterward, because his face was just like her father’s the time his store burned down.
“I guess he’s worried ’cause he’s poor,” whispered Ted.
“Or maybe the cherries aren’t getting ripe fast enough,” said Janet. So she asked: “Grandpa, will the cherries soon be ready to pick?”
“Oh, yes—yes—there’ll be plenty of cherries.”
“Then can’t you sell them for a bushel of money?”
“Well, my dear, I’m afraid I have too many cherries. I never saw the trees so full of them. I never had such a crop! The only trouble will be to sell them before they all spoil. I’m afraid I have too many—the price will be very low. I won’t get much for them. But don’t you little Curlytops bother about me. I guess I’ll be all right, even if I can’t give money to the Home as I’ve done before. Don’t worry about me.”
But Ted and Jan did worry, even when Grandma Martin not only promised to make a big chocolate cake for the Home but also one for Hal. Still the Curlytops did not see what they could do to help.
“But when cherry-picking time comes we can help cart ’em from the grove in the goat wagon,” said Ted.