Butch was very interested in the cake baking, but Janie discouraged him. She ordered him out on the back porch. She stamped her foot at him and shoved him, but he’d only come back again. He watched everything she did, and when she bent over to light the oven, he saw his golden opportunity. He jumped up on the table and added his contribution to the cake. He had watched Janie shake a little of this and a little of that into the cake, so he picked up a shaker marked PEPPER and looked at her out of his beady eyes. She was still fussing with the oven, so he quickly shook the can into the cake batter and hurried back to his post of exile at the kitchen door.
With this piece of mischief out of the way, he was content to sit and watch. After the shining flour sifter and the fascinating egg beater had been put away, he ran in to Mom’s chair in the library, and peered over her shoulder offering advice as she wrote letters. Mom bounced him in a hurry.
“Go away, you heathenish creature, or I’ll give you to the zoo.”
Jane shook her head and laughed. “You certainly are a problem, Butch. We’ve never had a two year old who caused so much commotion.”
“Or was so much fun,” added Mom.
Janie ran down the street to say good-by to Dor, and when she got back the back porch was half filled with suitcases, packing boxes, bundles of all descriptions, and even house plants.
“Goodness, Mom,” exclaimed Janie. “Where are we going to put all this stuff? Where will we sit?”
“Daddy’s going to hire a trailer for this trip, dear. Now don’t forget to remind me to turn off all the lights, and don’t let’s forget about this big basket. It’s our supper.”
Billy whistled. “Oh boy! Two picnics in one day.”
Butch was just as excited as the children. He hopped from Davey to James and from Billy to Jane. He had his own suitcase. It was an old doll suitcase that used to belong to Jane. Davey had packed it with Butchie’s few little toys and belongings. There was a whistle, a top, a bellboy’s hat, and a toothbrush. You, perhaps, never heard of a monkey with a toothbrush, but Butchie imitated the boys, and his toothbrush was his especial pride.