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Show rj Jackie's Best 0 World 1- ' By Richard Hill Wilkinson THE DAY BEFORE. Darling's three-ring circus, largest to ever ev-er visit New England, came to Dexter, Silas Ledbetter called his 12-year-old son in from the barn and said: "Look here, O Minute Jackie, you've O Fiction been a Pretty 1 J good boy this summer. Guess you deserve bein' on hand with the other boys at that circus when it gets here tomorrow." The Ledbetters were poor as church mice, and Jackie hadn't dared even let himself think his pop would let him attend the circus. cir-cus. Consequently, his round blue eyes grew even rounder. Old Silas grinned and swallowed swal-lowed a lump In his throat. He dug down into his pocket and brought out a shiny, new silver sil-ver half-dollar. Jackie carefully placed the half-dollar half-dollar in a pocket of his tattered overalls, pulled his straw hat well over his ruddy face, puckered up his lips and began to whistle. He whistled all that afternoon and was still whistling when he came in from the lower lot for supper. Once upstairs, Jackie carefully took off his shirt and then felt in the pocket of his overalls for the half dollar. He'd better sleep with it under his pillow, he reasoned, like he'd read about folks doing. It was right then that Jackie's heart sank, right then that the world turned black and there was a horrible, terrifying, empty feeling feel-ing in the pit of his stomach. The half dollar was gone! Jackie wanted to cry, but he was too much of a man for that. He searched through the other pocket very carefully, and then looked in his shoes, and under the bed and about everywhere that the half dollar might have been. But it was gone, completely vanished. And so Jackie, his heart aching ach-ing with misery, crawled into bed. And then he couldn't help it he cried. But all the time he kept telling himself he was a man now and he'd better stop crying before mom came up to tuck him in and kiss him good night. If mom found him crying she'd feel bad and probably cry, too. And Jackie didn't want that' to happen. HE COULDN'T, he decided, even ev-en let mom know that he had lost the half dollar. Or pop either. That wouldn't be fair. He'd just go off by himself tomorrow afternoon and make them think he was at the circus all the time. He wouldn't want them to know for anything. There wasn't any one in the world had a better pop and mom than he. .l1 Jackie carefully placed the half-dollar In a pocket of his tattered overalls. Jackie fought to keep back the tears. He didn't wait long after breakfast and set out with his pitchfork over his shoulder and a whistle on his lips. Once out of sight of the house, the whistle died. The ache and misery in his heart just wouldn't let it go on. Still, he was going to see the parade anyway, and pop and mom would think he was going go-ing to the circus. It was comforting comfort-ing to know that pop and mom were happy. Jackie reached the lower lot and began to shake out the hay as pop had asked him to do. He couldn't loaf on the job, he told himself, because if he did pop wouldn't think him very grateful for the half-dollar. Jackie turned the hay in one windrow and started on the next. But all the while his heart fairly sobbed with misery. And then abruptly ab-ruptly that same heart almost ceased to beat. Jackie stared and stared at something round and shiny that lay in the stubbles under un-der the forkful of hay he'd just picked up. After a long time, it seemed, his heart began to thump again. He felt goose pimples breaking out all over his body. He wanted to eiy and shout and do all sorts of things. And then Jackie remembered that he'd been vorking here on the afternoon before, and the half-dollar must have slipped out of his pocket. He picked up the coin, squeezed it lovingly and, holding it tightly in his clenched fist, went to shaking out the hay again. The best mom and the best pop in the world, he told himself joyfully. |