The Circus Comes to Town | Page 6

you had it."
"I guess mebbe he would," Jerry responded.
"You just keep it to yourself and enjoy the circus," Mr. Barton advised
him and went on to the store.
Jerry trudged slowly back toward Mrs. Mullarkey's, thinking intently.
The gloom that pervaded the house was so deep that Jerry perceived it
as soon as he opened the door. Danny sat glowering by the window;
Celia Jane was weeping unashamed, while Chris and Nora were trying
not to show their disappointment.

So Mother 'Larkey had not yet been able to make both ends meet--those
troublesome, refractory ends that made her life a continual round of
hard work--and there were no fifty-cent pieces for the children to buy
tickets with to see the elephant jump the fence. Jerry hugged himself
just to feel the half-dollar in his blouse pocket and a glow of exultation
ran over his body at the thought that he was going to get to see the
circus.
Mrs. Mullarkey, looking tired and worn, was ripping apart the dress for
Mrs. Green that she had just finished at noon. Baby Kathleen sat at her
feet, playing with the old rag doll that had once been Nora's and was
now claimed by Celia Jane.
Jerry entered the room slowly and took a seat on the chair without a
back. He said nothing at all and finally Mother 'Larkey looked up at
him.
"Why don't you ask for fifty cents, too?" she inquired. "Don't you want
to see the circus?"
"Yes'm," replied Jerry, "but I ain't got no mother."
"What difference does that make?" she asked, in a voice sharper than
she was accustomed to use in speaking to Jerry. "Haven't I done
everything a mother could--"
"Yes'm," Jerry interrupted hastily, for he didn't want her to think he
thought that. "But it said to ask your mother for fifty cents and I ain't
got none to ask."
"Sure and you haven't, you blessed boy," said Mother 'Larkey. "If I had
it to give, you wouldn't need a mother to ask it of. I wish I could send
all of you to the circus and go myself."
"We never get to go no place," muttered Danny gloomily.
"It costs money to go to places," his mother explained, "and there's no
money in the house. It's all I've been able to do to put enough food in

your hungry mouths to keep soul and body together and to get enough
clothes to keep you looking decent and respectable. I was counting on
some money from Mrs. Green to-day, to buy a little meat for supper
and get some more cough medicine for Kathleen, but she wasn't
satisfied with the dress and I've got to do part of it over before she will
pay me."
"Is Kathleen's cough medicine all gone?" Jerry asked, suddenly feeling
hot and uncomfortable.
"Yes, and she ought to have some more right this minute. Summer
coughs are bad things for babies."
Jerry went to Kathleen and she welcomed him by raising her arms and
gurgling at him. He put his face gently against hers and she patted his
head and tugged at his hair.
And all the time Jerry felt guiltier and guiltier and the half-dollar in his
pocket seemed to become bigger and heavier. He was relieved when he
heard Celia Jane, recovered from her crying, asking:
"Did you ever see a circus, Mother?"
"Yes, once. Dan took me to see one in the city right after we were
married. If he was living, he would find a way to take you all and him
liking the fun and the noise and the crowd and all."
"Some day I'll be big enough to earn lots of money and take us all to
the circus," asserted Danny. "And Jerry, too."
"Sure and you will," his mother said. "And now, if you children will
pick me some gooseberries, I'll make you a gooseberry pie for supper."
Jerry did not join the rest in the scamper for cups and a pan nor follow
them out into the back yard. He patted Kathleen's head and then went
into the kitchen when he had heard the screen door slam and knew the
Mullarkey children were all out of the house. He took down a bottle
from the shelf by the table and slipped quietly out to the street.

When he was out of sight of the house he looked to see if the
half-dollar were still in his pocket. The sight of it made him recall
vividly all the joys that he would miss if he didn't get to see the circus.
He took the coin out of his pocket and looked at it and the longer he
looked the slower grew his pace. Then he thought of Kathleen and the
summer cough that