It was Wednesday morning, and Benny was busy unpacking notebooks and writing paper. Mr. Fogg came over to him.
“I have a delivery for Miss Douglas. It’s a special order, and she’s in a hurry for it. You know where Woodland Path is, don’t you? I don’t want you to waste time.”
Toni had given Benny directions. He started out on his bike, sure that he would have no trouble. But it seemed that Woodland Path was almost impossible to find.
Benny reached the woods quickly, but finding the Path was a different matter.
“This looks like a path,” Benny said out loud to himself. He took the box from his bike carrier. He left his bike out of sight, but close to the path. He started to push tree branches and blackberry vines away from his face.
Several times Benny thought he must be on the wrong path. How could a small woman like Miss Douglas come through such a tangle?
Just as he was thinking of turning back, he saw a house. It was not at all the kind of house he had expected to see. Could Miss Douglas live here?
Benny found that the path had taken him to the back door of the house. He followed a walk around to the front of the house. There he read the words “Woodland Path” carved on a small signboard hanging from a post. He saw a lane leading through the trees. The way he had come was probably a shortcut, Benny thought.
Benny went to the front door. He had to make his delivery and get back to the store. He knocked at the screen door. He could see inside because the front door itself was open. In fact, he couldn’t help seeing inside.
What he saw amazed him. The living room was square, with a soft green carpet. Sun shining through a window lighted gold-and-white wallpaper. How could Miss Douglas dress so plainly when she lived in such a beautiful place?
Benny knocked again. He stepped back because he felt someone was watching him from behind a curtain. But no one came to the door.
“This is strange,” thought Benny. Then he was surprised to see a boy come around the corner of the house.
“She isn’t home,” the boy said, as if he knew what Benny was thinking. “Nobody’s home. You can leave the package by the door. It’ll be safe. I’ll tell her you left it. You’re from Furman’s Department Store, aren’t you?”
“Yes, but how did you know?” asked Benny. He felt taken by surprise, and he didn’t like it.
“Easy,” laughed the boy. “First, the box says ‘Furman’s’ in big letters. And second, she’s always getting things delivered here. Only the deliveryman usually comes down the lane.”
“I’ve got to get back,” Benny said, and looked at his watch. “I’m working. Thank you for helping me.”
“It’s OK,” the boy said. “Don’t worry about the box.” He sat down on the front step.
Benny walked around the house. When he was out of the boy’s sight, he ran down the path. As he picked up his bicycle he wondered if Toni knew what kind of house Miss Douglas had. And who was the boy? Benny wished he knew.
By the time Benny got back to the store, it was almost half past eleven.
“I thought we were going to close without you,” said Toni. “The store is only open half a day on Wednesdays. That makes up for the evening hours we have.”
Benny said, “I had forgotten all about that.”
“Your sisters are here,” Toni told him. “I think they’re shopping until you and Henry can go. Mr. Fogg has something he wants you to do. You’d better see him right away.”
Violet was on the second floor of the department store, looking at blouses. She was trying to find a blouse to wear with her new skirt.
She took a blouse off the rack and put it back. She was looking at a peach-colored one when she heard someone say, “No, no, my child, that style won’t do! And the color is all wrong.”
Violet turned around and faced a tiny woman. At first Violet wasn’t sure the woman was talking to her. But there was no one else in sight.
A salesclerk came over to help Violet. “This one should fit you, and it’s a good match for your skirt,” she said.
“No, don’t buy that blouse either,” said the small woman, who stepped between Violet and the salesclerk. “Not that blouse,” she repeated. “Look at those seams—that blouse won’t last more than a few washings.”
Violet didn’t know what to say. She could now see that the blouse was not well made. But why should anyone stop her from buying a blouse? And to look at this woman, no one would think she knew anything about clothes.
“Well, Miss Douglas, what should I get?” Violet asked, for by now she was sure who this was.
Maggie Douglas did not seem surprised that Violet knew her name. She just began talking, “You had the right idea in the first place. Get a pale lavender blouse to go with the darker lavender skirt. I’m surprised that Furman’s has been selling blouses that are so poor. I will have to talk to the manager about this.”
Just as suddenly as the woman had appeared, she was gone.
Violet looked at the salesclerk and they both laughed. Jessie heard the whole story when she joined her sister a few minutes later.
Jessie laughed, too. “I can see that the boys were telling the truth about Maggie Douglas. Let’s go downstairs and get the steam iron. It will be a surprise for Mrs. McGregor when she comes back from vacation.”
Just as they reached the counter with the irons, Violet tugged Jessie’s arm. “Look! There’s Miss Douglas. She’s the one talking to that man.”
The conversation grew louder. Miss Douglas was saying, “... but I want the Perfect toaster that does two slices, not this model that does four.”
“I’m sorry, it’s this or nothing,” said the man.
“You needn’t be rude with me, Mr. Fogg! If you really wanted to make a sale, you’d show me the catalog. It has several kinds of two-slice toasters. But never mind. I’ll see if you’re in a better mood when I come to the store tomorrow.”
Jessie was going to ask about the steam irons when Benny came up the stairs with a package. “This is for your department, Mr. Fogg,” he said politely.
“No, Alden, you’ve made a mistake,” said Mr. Fogg impatiently. “These are skillets, but they’re not electric ones. I wouldn’t have thought anyone with your family name would make a mistake like that. Take the box to the end of the next aisle. You’ll see the right place.”
Benny didn’t say a word, but his cheeks were red.
The two sisters looked at each other.
A buzzer made a loud sound. The girls heard a nearby clerk say, “Ten minutes until closing time.”
“Let’s buy this iron,” said Violet, pointing to one on the counter.
“I’m not sure,” Jessie answered. “We’ll have to talk to Mr. Fogg.” She quickly ran to where Mr. Fogg was standing. She did not let his cross look stop her from asking, “Can you help us choose an iron?”
“No, young lady. It’s closing time. I have to close out my sales book, and you should be leaving the store.” And with that, Mr. Fogg walked away.
Jessie turned around helplessly and started to walk back toward Violet. Mr. Furman came up to her and asked, “Do you need some help?”
“I guess it is pretty late to be shopping, but I do want to get a new steam iron today,” Jessie explained.
“That’s no problem,” said Mr. Furman. “Here’s your brother Henry. I’ll send him down for a new iron that just came this morning. You’d do me a favor to test it.”
Benny was waiting near the front of the store.
Mr. Furman laughed. “It takes the whole Alden family to make a purchase.”
Jessie paid for the steam iron and the Aldens were on their way home.
“I must say your Mr. Fogg is difficult,” said Jessie. “But I can see that Miss Douglas is even more of a character. Things can’t be dull at the store.”
“That’s for sure,” said Benny. “I like the work. I never know what will happen next. Most of the people have been pleasant, even when I make mistakes. They know I haven’t worked at the store very long and it’s easy to forget things. But you know, I never knew there were any problems in a department store. I thought the manager just ordered things and the customers came in to buy them.”
Jessie nodded. “I guess you have to work at a job before you know how much there is to it.”
“You can see Mr. Fogg is always grumpy,” Benny added. “I’m not going to let him get me down, though. That might ruin my appetite, and it’s lunchtime.”
The other Aldens laughed. They knew that it would take much more than Mr. Fogg to stop Benny from being hungry.
While he ate lunch, Benny thought about Miss Douglas and her house in the woods and about the boy he had met. Were these all pieces in a puzzle? Benny couldn’t make up his mind. He decided to keep his eyes and ears open, but nothing happened during the rest of the week—nothing except that Benny and Henry got their first pay envelopes.
“Now this makes it a real job,” Benny said with a smile. |