After this she made two cornucopias that were big enough to hold candy, and some little ones beside. And she cut the flowers out and pinned them to branches, too. And she made lanterns, and a big, big star, and some pendants. Crow had thoughtfully put a long roll of tinsel in the drawer of The Happy Shop table and Jimsi made loops of the tinsel to hang them on the tree. She had to sew these on with a needle threaded with fine cotton that was from Aunt Phoebe’s workbasket.
The Christmas-Tree Decorations That Were Made of Wall Paper
The tree was half trimmed at luncheon time and the little maid who worked for Aunt Phoebe didn’t put the lunch on the big, lonely dining-room table. She brought it to The Happy Shop.
Just as Jimsi was swallowing the last mouthful of apple sauce and was going to take a bite of cake, the telephone bell rang in the study. Jimsi hopped up to answer it.
“Hello!” came the voice over the telephone. “Is that you, Jimsi?”
Why, it was Aunt Phoebe’s voice! And Aunt Phoebe’s voice sounded very far away at first. It grew more clear. “Jimsi,” it said, “I can’t wait to tell you, so I called you up by long distance. The firm that makes toys wants to buy the idea of the motion picture shadow play. They will pay Joyce a whole hundred dollars for the model that she made, and give her royalty after it is published. Royalty means that Joyce will get money on every toy sold. They are a big firm, and there will be more than enough money for the hospital. I’ll tell you more when I get home. Are you all right? It can be patented.”
“Oh! Oh,” gasped Jimsi. “Oh, I’m so happy! Yes, Aunt Phoebe, I am all right. Everything’s all right!”
Then the wire buzzed. Aunt Phoebe had gone.
That time, Jimsi couldn’t go back to work. She walked around just as excitedly as Aunt Phoebe did when the story wouldn’t go the way she wanted it to go. She could think of nothing but how glad Joyce would be. How she longed to put on hat and cloak and run over there. But she didn’t. She had promised Aunt Phoebe to stay indoors.