. He did not seem at all upset and apparently enjoyed the
program, though he yawned a few times before it was over.

Everybody said it had been a good program. In the car going home, Mr.
Martin said he could hear Cathy's voice above the other girls', sweet
as a bird. And Mrs. Martin said that Jerry had rung his bells exactly
on time and very nicely. They carefully avoided mentioning anything
about Andy's piece.

They were just getting out of the car when Andy broke into loud wails
of extreme sorrow.

"I said the wrong piece," he sobbed. "I said the wrong piece and
everybody laughed at me."

"Never you mind, son. Folks enjoy a good laugh," said Mr. Martin.

"There, there!" Andy's mother soothed him. "We all make mistakes. He's
getting a delayed reaction," she told the others. "And it's long past
his bedtime."

Jerry really felt sorry for Andy. "Tell you what, Andy, I promise I'll
take you to the zoo next Saturday. You'll like that, won't you?"

"I don't want to see the loud animals. I want to go see the quiet
ones," said Andy, sniffing though his sobs had ceased.

"Okay, I'll take you to the Museum of Natural History," agreed Jerry,
understanding that by "loud" Andy meant alive and by "quiet" he meant
stuffed animals.

"Ned Brooks hollered so loud my ears hurt. He sounded like this.
'Who's been eating _my_ porridge?'" Andy bellowed the words so loud
that his mother put her hands over her ears.

"Sometimes I think I would prefer quiet children," she said.

Andy began speaking for Baby Bear, his voice tiny. He was in high
spirits again. Jerry wished that all his fret and worry about the
charge account and getting change could disappear as easily as Andy's
sorrow. During the P. T. A. meeting Jerry had pushed his worries to
the background of his thoughts. Now he found them right up front
again. The next time his mother sent him to the store, where was he to
go to get change now that George the barber had failed him?

The family drank hot chocolate and ate cookies in the kitchen before
going to bed. The half-melted marshmallows on top gave Andy a white
mustache before his mother wiped his face with a napkin. He got in her
lap and snuggled against her while she sipped her chocolate. When you
were little like Andy you were easily forgiven for almost anything,
Jerry thought, his conscience troubled about the charge account.

Jerry was finishing his second cup of hot chocolate when an easy
solution to the change p