's, I mean."

I grab my coat and check to see if I've got money. Pop asks if I'm going
to bring her home for dinner.

"Gee, I don't know." I hadn't given a thought to what we'd do. "I guess
so, maybe, if her mother hasn't come by then. I'll call you if we do
anything else."

"O.K.," Pop says.

I go out and hustle through the evening rush-hour crowds to the subway.
The stores are all open evenings now, for Christmas, so the crowds are
going both ways.

I get to the right corner of Macy's, and I see Mary right away. Everyone
else is rushing about and muttering to themselves, and she's standing
there looking lost. In fact she looks so much like a waif that the first
thing I say is, "Hi! Shall we go get something to eat?"

"Yes, I'm starved. I was just going to get a doughnut when I found I'd run
out of money."

"Let's go home and you can have dinner with us then. But what about your
mother? Won't she be looking for you?"

Mary shifts her feet and looks tired. "I don't know. Probably if she came
and I wasn't here, she'd figure I'd gone home."

I try to think a minute, which is hard to do with all these people shoving
around you. Mary starts to pick up her two enormous shopping bags, and I
take them from her, still trying to think. At the subway entrance I see
the phone booth.

"That's the thing," I say. "Why don't you call your house and see if your
mother left a message or something?"

"Well...." Mary stands by the phone looking confused and in fact about
ready to cry. I suddenly decide the best thing we can do is get home and
sit down where it's quiet. Waiting fifteen minutes or so to phone can't
make much difference.

We get home pretty fast and I introduce Mary to Mom and Pop. She sinks
into the nearest chair and takes off her shoes.

"Excuse me," she says. "I just bought these heels, and it's awful wearing
them!"

She wiggles her toes and begins to look better. Mom offers her a pair of
slippers and Pop passes some potato chips.

Mom says, "Poor child, did you try to do all your Christmas shopping at
once?"

"Well, actually, I was having fun just looking for a long while. I have
two little cousins that I don't really have to get much for, but I love
looking at all the toys. I spent quite a while there. Then I did the rest
of my shopping in a rush, and everything is so crowded, and I got mixed up
on my money or the sales tax and only had a dime left, and I missed my
mother or she forgot."

She str