seem just the wisest thing to do. But the next morning he made
Twinkleheels kick a few times. "It's really good for him," Johnnie tried
to make himself believe. "He needs the exercise."




VI

PICKING CURRANTS


If there was one sort of work that Johnnie Green had always disliked
more than another, it was picking currants. Of course he didn't object
to strolling up to a currant bush and taking a few currants for his own
use, on the spot. What he hated was having to fill pail after pail full
of currants for his mother to make jelly and jam.

It was queer. He certainly liked jelly. And he liked jam. But he had
never found currant picking anything but dull. He always groaned aloud
when his mother told him that the currants were ripe enough to be
picked. And he always had a dozen reasons why he couldn't pick them just
then.

Now, however, currant picking didn't seem such a bore to Johnnie. When
his mother announced at the supper table one evening that Johnnie would
have to begin picking currants right after breakfast the next morning he
didn't make a single objection. And he had intended to go swimming the
next day!