Tucker's Countryside by George Selden

Author:George Selden [Selden, George]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Farrar, Straus and Giroux (BYR)
Published: 0101-01-01T00:00:00+00:00

NINE

The Picket Line

Early next day Chester and Tucker were down beside the brook next to the stump, having their morning wash and drink. Their backs were toward the bank. “Good morning,” said a voice behind them. They both looked up, and there sat Harry Cat.

“What are you doing here?” said Tucker.

“Ellen and the little kids are out in the meadow,” Harry answered.

“So early?” said Chester.

“Yes,” said Harry. “Come on. I want you to see something.”

Tucker knew that something was wrong. Harry Cat had a way of flicking his tail to right and to left when he was upset or angry, and right now his tail was lashing like a whip. “What’s the matter, Harry?” said the mouse.

“You’ll see,” said Harry. “Just come on.”

No one spoke as they walked through Tuffet Country and Pasture Land. When they got to the foot of the hill, Tucker could see what was wrong. Up on top of it there was a picket line. Ellen and the little kids were marching around in a circle. Each one of them was carrying a sign, and they were marching right next to the hole the steam shovel had made yesterday, so that everyone could tell exactly what the signs referred to. Ellen’s sign said LET THE MEADOW ALONE. Nancy was carrying one with STOP BUILDING printed on it. Anne was holding up a sign almost as big as she was herself. It read DOWN WITH HOUSES. John was the little kid who most liked to sit beside the water and just look at the fishes and frogs and things. His sign said HELP THE BROOK. And Jaspar had demanded to carry the sign printed in the biggest letters of all: SAVE NATURE!

“Ellen spent all yesterday afternoon making those signs,” said Harry. “That’s the third set. She decided the letters in the first two weren’t big enough. And she also made those poles that the cardboard’s attached to. She hammered them together out of that wood we saw in the cellar.” Harry was speaking in a very flat voice. But Tucker knew there was stony anger inside him. “She got three splinters, too. Her mother had to take them out with a needle.”

The three animals looked at the children on the hill, marching in their picket line. “I hate Connecticut!” Chester Cricket burst out.

“Chester!” said Tucker Mouse in amazement. “You say you hate Connecticut? The way you love it—?”

“I don’t care!” said the cricket. “It’s not right when kids have to do things like that!”

“The mothers think so, too,” said Harry. He led the mouse and the cricket up the side of the hill.

On the other side of the road a little crowd had gathered. The mothers of the little kids were standing with Mrs. Hadley at the edge of the Hadleys’ front yard. Some big kids were there too, sitting on the grass. David, Jaspar’s brother, was fourteen years old, and he was definitely a big kid. He had taken a course in civics the year before in school, and he was very proud of all he knew about society.

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