“I guess they are pretty bad,” he muttered. “I can have them cleaned, though, can’t I?”
“I suppose so, but they’ll never be real nice again. You could wear them as a sort of second-best, Cal.”
“Y-yes. It’s sort of a bother, though, having two suits, I guess. You’d always have to be changing.”
But when he left her, bearing a message to Hoop, he went up to his room and composed a letter to his mother in which he explained the necessity for new clothes and asked her to send him twelve dollars. Cal had been to the village but once since his arrival at school and consequently he still retained most of his two dollars and eighty-five cents, and some of this, he calculated, could be added to the twelve dollars if necessary. In the matter of shoes he had been lucky. His own were showing signs of giving out, and when Dutch had offered him the loan of a pair of baseball shoes, with cleated soles, Cal had thankfully accepted. These he wore when he played football, so saving his own shoes a deal of hard usage. The reply to his letter came promptly two days later.
“You’ll be wanting other things besides a suit,” wrote his mother, “and so I send you fifteen dollars instead of the twelve you asked for. Don’t forget to have your hair cut every three weeks. It will soon be time for winter underwear and you are to put on the old ribbed ones first. They are very warm but won’t last long. When you come home at Christmas time I will get you another suit of them. Does Mrs. Linn keep your socks darned up for you? And do you need more socks yet, I wonder. There are some gray wool ones here that belonged to your father but maybe they would be too thick for you. Are your shoes holding out? You were always hard on shoes. Have them mended before they go to pieces. I am glad you are getting on so well with your studies and like your school so much. I wouldn’t play football very often. The papers are full of accidents to boys playing football. It must be a very rough game. Nancy is well except for a cold on her chest and sends love to you....”
There was no practice Friday afternoon, and Cal went shopping. He wanted to ask Ned where to look for his suit, but couldn’t bring himself to do it. He did ask Spud, but Spud had never purchased clothing other than boots and stockings and ties in Woodfield and his advice was vague.
“I guess I’d go to the big store opposite the Post Office,” he said. “I forget the name, but you’ll find it all right.”
