Henry and Ribsy (Henry Huggins #3)(12)

Henry did not answer. He wiggled his teeth and kept an eye on Scooter.

“You keep quiet,” Scooter said to Robert. “I asked him first.”

“He’s more my friend than he is yours,” answered Robert.” We’re the same age and we’re in the same room at school.”

Henry wiggled his teeth and let the boys argue. While they were arguing, Mary Jane, Beezus, and her little sister Ramona came down the street. Henry could tell they had been to the store, because Mary Jane was carrying a jar of mayonnaise, Beezus a carton of milk, and Ramona a pound of butter, which wouldn’t break if she dropped it.

“Henry has two loose teeth at the same time,” Robert announced to the girls.

“Let’s see,” said Beezus eagerly.

“Oh, it’s nothing,” said Henry modestly, and bared his teeth. He wiggled first the right tooth and then the left tooth while the girls watched and admired. If he kept them busy looking at his teeth, they might not say anything about his hat.

“If you’ll tie strings to them, I’ll be glad to pull them for you,” said Beezus.

“Hey, I asked first,” Scooter reminded Henry.

“Nope,” said Henry.

“Henry Huggins, you better pull them out,” said Mary Jane. “My dentist says if you leave loose teeth in too long it makes your grown-up teeth come in crooked.”

Henry scratched at the bits of hair down his back as he thought this over. “Nope,” he said, to keep the argument going, “I’m going to keep them.”

“If you tie strings on them and tie the other ends to a doorknob and slam the door, they come out without even hurting,” said Beezus.

“He could eat a whole bunch of chewy candy. That would pull the teeth out,” suggested Mary Jane.

“That’s no fun,” objected Scooter. “Besides, he might swallow them.”

“He could tie a string to each tooth and then tie rocks to the other ends of the strings and throw the rocks in the river.” Robert looked pleased with his suggestion.

“I know a better way,” said Scooter. “He could tie the rocks to his teeth and walk along a railroad track until he came to a high trestle, and when he got to the middle he could throw the rocks off. Boy, that would really pull them out!”

“I know,” said Robert. “He could tie the other ends of the strings to the back end of a fire engine, and when it took off—yow! Would his teeth come out in a hurry!”

“He could tie them to a skyrocket and set off the rocket. Zowie! That would really be something to watch.” Scooter looked proud of himself for thinking up this idea.

“Now you’re being silly,” said Mary Jane. “Anyway, the Fourth of July is past.”

“Say, whose teeth are they, anyway?” demanded Henry. Was Scooter eyeing his hat? He couldn’t be sure, so he continued. “Besides, I don’t want to lose the teeth for keeps. I want to put them under my pillow at night and find dimes instead of teeth in the morning. Anyway, I’ll think of a way to pull them myself.”

“How?” everyone wanted to know.

“You just wait,” said Henry. “It’ll be a good way, a way nobody ever pulled teeth before.” Then he wished he hadn’t said it. Now he would have to think of a way to pull the teeth, and he already had enough troubles. He scratched his back where the loose hair made him itch and wished his mother would hurry up and call him in to dinner.

“What do you keep scratching for?” Scooter asked, glancing at Henry’s hat.

“I itch,” said Henry coldly.

“Ramona!” shrieked Beezus suddenly. “Now look what you’ve done!”

Ramona was busy eating the pound of butter, which she had unwrapped and was holding in her grimy little hands. Ribsy finished licking the greasy paper and moved closer to help Ramona finish the butter.

“Ribsy!” yelled Henry, and grabbed his dog by the collar. He couldn’t have Ribsy eating the Quimbys’ butter. Beezus’s mother would be sure to complain if he did. The Quimbys might eat butter that had been licked by Ramona, but they probably wouldn’t eat butter licked by Ribsy even though he was a nice clean dog.

Ribsy strained so hard toward the butter that Henry had to hang onto his collar with both hands. Ribsy coughed and pawed the air with his front feet. “Cut it out, Ribsy,” ordered Henry. “Do you want to get me in trouble?”



“Ramona, just wait till Mother sees this butter,” scolded Beezus, as she pried at her little sister’s slippery fingers. “Look at it. It’s all squeezed and dirty.”

Out of the corner of his eye Henry saw Scooter raise his hand. Henry let go of Ribsy’s collar, the dog bounded forward, and Henry clapped his hands to his head an instant too late. Scooter had snatched the sailor hat.

“You give me that hat!” yelled Henry, trying to cover his hair with one hand while he grabbed at his hat with the other.

“Try and get it,” taunted Scooter, and began to laugh. “Boy, oh, boy! Look at the haircut!”

“Ribsy!” screamed Beezus.

“I’ve got him,” said Robert, grabbing Ribsy by the collar.

“Henry Huggins, what happened to you?” Mary Jane was horrified. “You look all chewed.”