Dotty’s Suitcase Read Online Free PDF Page A

“If I’d been there, I would’ve gotten it,” she said. “I would’ve written it down in my head. How much money did they take?”
    â€œI don’t know, Dotty. Plenty, I guess. The bank has offered a reward for any information leading to the capture of the men.”
    â€œOh, boy!” said Dotty. “How much?”
    â€œI don’t know. Don’t believe they said. Turn on the radio and let’s see if anything new has developed.”
    After a minute or two they heard the news. “The robbers made their getaway in what was believed to be either a Buick or a Studebaker at least ten years old,” the announcer said in a cheerful voice. He seemed to be enjoying himself. “They are armed and dangerous, according to police.” The announcer lowered his voice and became quite sober and important. “Anyone having any information leading to their capture please call the police immediately.”
    â€œHow exciting!” Mary Beth said, her cheeks red, her eyes sparkling. “I never knew anything like this to happen around these parts. It’s like living in a big city, Chicago or New York. That old Village Café will be crammed with folks talking about this tomorrow, you can bet your bottom dollar.”
    â€œThis town will never be the same,” Laura predicted. “This robbery will set this town on its ear for the next six months, if not longer, you mark my words.”
    â€œI bet those old robbers are lickety-splitting down the road right this minute at about a hundred miles an hour,” Dotty said.
    â€œA boy in my class is the son of the president of that bank,” Laura said. “He’s not stuck up or anything. But his father is the president of that bank. Imagine!”
    â€œI bet they’re counting that money and chuckling, laughing enough to split their sides,” Dotty went on, “telling each other how smart they were. I bet they’re planning on how they’re going to spend it. If I had that much money,” she said dreamily, “I know what I’d buy, first crack out of the barrel.”
    â€œ I’d buy that wedding gown on the cover of the magazine,” Laura said firmly.
    â€œAnd I’d buy the lace veil the color of cream,” said Mary Beth. “It’d be perfect with my coloring.”
    Dotty put her chin on her hands and said nothing. But later, much later, she remembered their conversation and smiled ruefully to herself.
    â€œWell, Dorothea,” Mr. Fickett said, after the older girls had gone off to wash their hair and to decide whether creamed chicken or filet of beef would be better wedding fare. “Come here, Dotty, and sit by me,” he said. “If you had all that money, what would you buy with it?”
    He passed his hand over her hair, just grazing her face. All his daughters were dear to Dan Fickett, but somehow Dotty, his little one, reminded him so of his dear wife that every time he looked at her the tenderness rose in him, and the pain, and he longed to smooth her hair and pet her and tell her how much he loved her, but the words wouldn’t come. He was not a man to express his feelings. After he’d turned seven, his own father had never again kissed him, and his mother had kissed him only when he got married and left home. And then only a peck on the cheek.
    â€œWell, first,” said Dotty, leaning against her father’s side, making a warm spot there, tasting her words, “first, if I had that money, I would buy me a suitcase.” She kept her head down as she said this, because somehow it seemed a shameful admission that with all those dollars in her hand she wanted such a small thing. “A suitcase with a brass lock and D. F. F. on it so everyone would know it was mine. No one else’s, mine.”
    â€œYes.” Her father agreed. “I can see that would be a fine thing, to have a suitcase of one’s