l mend china, glass, wood--anything. It says so on
the tube."

Jerry looked so sorry for having broken the sugarbowl that his mother
stopped being cross. "It was cracked anyway," she said consolingly.
"Now go get dressed. As long as you're up you may as well stay up.
Maybe I can get a little work out of you since you've got such an
early start on the day."

Jerry groaned. What a dreary word--work! Just hearing it made him feel
tired.

"I'll have pancakes ready in fifteen minutes," said his mother
brightly. "With real maple syrup," she added.

Jerry could tell that she was tempting his appetite so he would not be
tempted to go back to bed again. He did not mind. He was wide awake.
It would be a novelty to have breakfast so early on a Saturday. Almost
an April Fool joke on his mother.

"And to think that last Saturday I could hardly get you out of bed at
ten," said his mother as he left the kitchen.

At a little before nine Jerry had a broom in his hand. His orders were
to sweep off the front steps. He went at it in a very leisurely
manner. The sooner he finished the sooner his mother might give him
some other chore to do. Even though Laura, the pleasant
three-times-a-week maid, did most of the cleaning, Mrs. Martin
believed her children should have a few household chores. Cathy,
Jerry's twin sister, had to do the breakfast dishes on Saturdays, and
even five-year-old Andy, the youngest member of the Martin family, was
supposed to empty the wastebaskets.

Jerry's lazy broom finished the top step and began on the second. Then
it occurred to him that it had been some time since he had
investigated what was under the steps. He put down his broom while he
knelt and applied one eye to one of the holes bored in the steps. The
hole was big enough so if somebody dropped a dime just right it would
go through. No dimes down there today.

As Jerry got to his feet he looked with approval at the big white
clapboarded house where he lived. The morning sun made the small-paned
windows shine. The Martin house was on the very edge of northwest
Washington, D. C. It had been one of the original farmhouses when
that part of Washington had been country, not city. Now there were
houses all around, and it had been remodeled long before the Martins
had bought it. Jerry's father and mother were proud of the old
floorboards and wide fireplaces. Jerry especially liked the house
because it had an attic and a big garage that had been a barn