“I guess no one will do any better than that!” she said triumphantly and handed in the list of names to Miss Owen.
“But Elizabeth Ann was supposed to go with you,” the teacher protested. “She can’t get any cakes, now. She doesn’t know any people to ask and if she did she couldn’t go round alone and ask them.”
“She can ask her Aunt Grace,” said Catherine stubbornly.
Elizabeth Ann, of course, meant to ask Aunt Grace to bake a cake for the fair. But that would be only one, and Catherine had twenty-four cakes written down on her list, also the kinds, such as “caramel” and “chocolate” and “cup cake.”
“If I were you,” Doris announced indignantly, after she had heard what had happened, “I wouldn’t have anything to do with the silly old fair. Or else ask Miss Owen if you can help me get some dolls. The girl who is my partner is afraid to ask people, and so am I.”
At first Elizabeth Ann thought she would do that. But Uncle Hiram and Miss Owen said no, when she asked them. They said that it was “high time” that Doris learned how to ask people for the things she wanted.
“She can’t have you to help her all her life,” said Uncle Hiram to Elizabeth Ann.
“I’d rather Doris and Helen Anderson did their own struggling,” Miss Owen declared, smiling at Elizabeth Ann. “They’ll have to learn to ask for things sooner or later and now is an excellent time to begin.”
“I have a plan,” said Elizabeth Ann a morning or two later. “I know what I’d like to do for the fair. It’s a secret, Doris, but I’ll have to tell Miss Owen, and if you promise not to tell anyone, I’ll let you listen, too.”
Doris promised quickly and she and Elizabeth Ann went up to their class room to find Miss Owen. The teacher listened while Elizabeth Ann explained her plan. There was no one else in the room for it still lacked twenty minutes of nine and Miss Owen liked her class to stay out and play till the warning bell sounded.