“why, ma, what’s the matter?” cried tommy, bursting into the house a little later. “what has happened? was there a fire?”
well might he ask, for the house, that was usually in such trim order, was now in confusion. the chairs were scattered about, and his mother was up on a step-ladder taking down the pictures from the wall, while out in the kitchen mrs. norah flannigan, the washerwoman, was doing up dishes in pieces of newspaper and putting them in barrels and boxes.
“what’s the matter, ma?” asked tommy again, pausing in the doorway.
“nothing, tommy, dear,” answered his mother. “we are going to move away, that’s all. get on your old suit, and you can help. oh, what has happened to your clothes?” she added as she looked more closely at him.
“i slid in the dust, playing ball. but, ma, are we really going to move away? where? when? i didn’t hear anything about it before. is this the secret nellie meant?”
“i guess so, dear. oh, that’s your best school suit, and now i’ve got to stop and scrub it, and it will never look the same again. oh, tommy!”
“i didn’t mean to, ma,” he answered, tossing his books down on a chair and looking for a good safe place in which[pg 17] to stand up the baseball bat. “i just slid. then i tried to clean the dust off with bunches of grass and my handkerchief. my handkerchief’s real clean,” he went on. “i washed it out in the brook.” and he pulled out a limp and damp rag to show.
“yes, and then you put it in your pocket all wet; didn’t you, tommy?”
“i—i guess i did, ma.”
“oh, what creatures boys are! no, mrs. flannigan!” mrs. tiptop suddenly called to the washerwoman, who was packing the dishes, “don’t put that big platter on top of the small cups. put the big dishes on the bottom of the box, and the light ones on top.”
“all right, mum. sure, movin’ is a terrible thing, isn’t it, mum?”
“indeed it is, mrs. flannigan. now, tommy, just slip on your old clothes and you can help. i wish nellie was here. i need her.”
“she’s coming—i just met her. but why are we moving, ma, and what’s the rush?”
“your papa has a new position in riverdale, and we are going to live in a nice large house there. we didn’t expect to go so soon, and i thought i would have more time to pack, but they want your father there right away, and so we are going to-morrow.”
“but i didn’t hear anything about it,” insisted tommy.
“no, we hadn’t quite made up our minds until last night, and we didn’t expect to move for a week. then word came this noon that we would have to be in riverdale by to-morrow, so your father had to go out and get some vans for the furniture. i told nellie about it this noon, but you rushed off in such a hurry after dinner that i didn’t get a chance to speak to you.”
[pg 18]
“i wanted to play ball,” explained tommy. “oh, say, i don’t want to move, ma!”
“why not?” and mrs. tiptop looked down on tommy from the step-ladder, carefully holding a picture she had just taken off the wall. “why not, my son?”
“why, i won’t know any of the fellows there; i’ll have to go to a new school, and i’ve just started a baseball nine here. oh, ma, can’t i stay here? i could board at patsie cook’s house. his ma is awful good, and she makes dandy cake! i don’t want to move.”
“well, i’m afraid you’ll have to go with us, tommy,” said his mother. “come now, help me. you’ll like it in riverdale, i’m sure, and you’ll soon get used to the new school. i dare say you’ll find just as nice boys there as there are here, and you can start a baseball nine there. come now, get on your old clothes, and you can wrap newspapers around these pictures, but don’t break the glass.”
“oh, dear! i don’t want to move!” exclaimed tommy, but there was no help for it.
his sister nellie came in a little later.
“pooh! now i know the secret!” exclaimed tommy.
“well, i knew it first,” said the girl, who was two years younger than her brother, but who sometimes acted as if she thought she was older.
“you’ve got to help ma,” went on tommy. “i wonder what it’s like in riverdale?”
“it’s nice there. grace reynolds has a cousin who lives in riverdale, and she’s going to be my friend, and sometimes grace is coming to see us.”
“i hope there are lots of fellows there,” said tommy. “i want to play ball.”
“that’s all you think of,” retorted nellie.
[pg 19]
“children, aren’t you coming down to help?” called mrs. tiptop from the foot of the stairs, for brother and sister were in their rooms, changing their clothes, and calling to one another through the walls.
once the shock of learning that he was going to move away from millton—where he had lived all his life—had passed away, tommy rather liked the idea of the change. he felt that it was quite an important event to move, and he began to plan how he would set about organizing his baseball nine.
“i guess i’ll call my nine the riverdale roarers,” he decided as he slipped on his old trousers. “if we could get jackets with ‘r. r.’ on, they’d look fine. i’m going to ask ma if i can.”
but when he got downstairs he found his father there, and listened to what his parents were talking about.
“the moving vans will be here the first thing in the morning,” explained mr. tiptop, “and the man says we needn’t bother to pack much besides the dishes and the kitchen things. they will attend to the rest. hello, tommy, how will you like it?”
“all right, i guess, pa, if i can play ball.”
“oh, you can play ball, i think. but now, come on. i want you to help me nail up some boxes.”
“then nellie must wrap paper on the pictures,” decided mrs. tiptop. and from then on there was a busy time in that house.
when the supper hour arrived, considerable packing had been done, and then, after the meal, they did more, so that by night they were almost ready for the vans.
tommy dreamed that he was playing ball inside of one of the big padded wagons, and that he tried to run around[pg 20] the bases, carrying a chair in one hand and a big platter in the other. then someone shouted:
“tommy, tommy! get up!”
“all right, i’m going to slide for home!” he answered, for he imagined it was one of his baseball companions shouting to him. then he awakened and realized that it was his father calling to him to get up.
“hurry!” said mr. tiptop. “the vans will soon be here, and we must get through with breakfast.”
“and no school to-day!” cried tommy in delight, as he hopped out of bed.
the confusion, which had started the evening before, was worse now, for everything seemed upset. mrs. tiptop managed to get a simple breakfast, and then there came a rumbling noise outside the house.
“it’s the vans!” cried tommy, running to a window. “hurry! now for some fun! whoop!”
“now, don’t get in the men’s way,” advised mr. tiptop, as he went out to speak to the movers.
then began an even more busy time. the men came into the house, looked over the things to be put in the vans, and began carrying out the piano and other heavy articles.
“i’m going to help!” cried tommy, as he seized a chair and started out with it.
“tommy! tommy!” cried his mother. “that’s too heavy for you!”
“no, ma, it isn’t,” he answered, as he thought of how he had often carried heavy logs when the boys were making a bonfire. “i can manage it.”
he went out with the chair to the vans, narrowly escaping a collision with two men carrying a big bureau.
“look out, youngster,” advised one of the men as they[pg 21] came out of the van after having put the bureau inside. “you might get stepped on.”
“by one of the horses?” asked tommy, anxiously.
“well, no, not exactly,” replied the man. “i meant by one of us. i wouldn’t mean to step on you, of course,” he said; “but i’ve got powerful big feet, an’ when i steps on anything something generally happens—not always, but generally. of course i wouldn’t want to step on you, but i might do it, accidental like,” and the man lifted up his foot and looked at it as though deciding what he would step on next. and, truly, it was a very big foot in a very large shoe. tommy did not like the appearance of it, and yet the man seemed kind.
“just don’t get in the way, so’s you’ll get stepped on, youngster, that’s all i advise you,” went on the man, and tommy promised that he would be careful. after that, when he carried out chairs and light pieces of furniture, he always looked to see if the man with the big feet was at a safe distance.
the moving men, even the one who was afraid he would step on tommy, were good-natured, and they worked well. nellie was helping her mother, and mr. tiptop was very busy also. tommy was carrying out a wash-bench, when several of his boy friends came along the street.
“what’s up?” asked sammie small.
“moving. going to riverdale,” replied tommy, proudly.
“aren’t you coming to school?” asked patsie cook.
“nope!”
“say, i wish we were moving,” added dan danforth. “want any help, tommy?” he asked, hopefully, thinking this would be an excuse for him to stay away from school.
“now, you boys run along,” advised one of the moving[pg 22] men, “or you might get stepped on,” and once more he looked at his big feet, raising one after the other slowly, as if to make sure he had not left any of them in the van by mistake.
“say, it’s too bad you’re going to move away, tommy,” spoke dan. “just when the baseball season is starting, too.”
“oh, i’m going to organize a nine in riverdale,” said tommy, as if he had organized ball teams all his life.
“you are?” cried patsie.
“sure!”
“then maybe we’ll get up a team and play you,” went on dan. “it isn’t far to riverdale.”
“i wish you would,” said tommy. “it will be great sport. say, now i’ve got to help carry out some more chairs. good-by, fellows, if i don’t see you again.”
they all called good-by to tommy and hurried on to school, looking back regretfully.
at last all the things in the house had been packed in the vans and the men were ready to drive off with them.
“everything out?” asked the head mover of mr. tiptop.
“i guess so,” he answered. “i’ll take a trolley car, and i think we’ll be there ahead of you. it’s only about a ten-mile drive to riverdale. i’m glad nothing got broken.”
“and i’m glad nobody got stepped on,” said the man with the big feet, as he looked first at tommy and then at his own large shoes. “i’m real glad of that.”
then tommy had an idea, as he saw the head mover climbing to the big seat, high up on the van.
“can’t i ride with him?” asked tommy, pointing to the man. “i don’t want to go in the trolley. it’s no fun. let me ride on the wagon, mamma.”
“shall we?” asked mrs. tiptop of her husband, doubtfully.
“oh, i guess it will be all right, if he isn’t a bother.”
“no bother at all,” the head mover assured mr. tiptop. the man seemed to have taken a liking to tommy. “i’ll look after him,” he went on. “the drive will do him good, and there’s no hurry. he’ll be safe.”
“and there’s no danger of him getting stepped on up there, either,” went on the man with the big feet, who seemed to worry about treading on someone.
“now for some fun!” cried tommy as he caught up his ball and bat, which he had refused to allow to be packed with the other things. “i’ll see you in riverdale!” he called to his mother, father and sister, as the head driver helped him up to the high seat.
and then, holding his ball and bat firmly in his arms, tommy waved his hands to those down below. the drivers called to their horses, the vans rumbled on, and mr. and mrs. tiptop gave one last look toward the house that had been their home for so many years. then they started for the trolley that was to take them to riverdale.
“do you play ball?” asked the head driver of tommy, on the seat beside him.
“yes, and i’m going to organize a nine in riverdale.”
“good! i’ll come to see you play. i used to like the game myself,” and the man cracked his whip in the air.
so tommy tiptop moved away from millton, and as he thought of the new home to which he was going he wondered whether he would have a good time there, and whether the boys would like baseball as much as he did.
