PIECES OF LAUGHTER AND FUN Read Online Free PDF Page B

declared. "We can roll the underwear up above our knees! Nobody will know the difference, and our stockings will be smooth again."
    "What's going to keep the long underwear from falling down? We need something to fasten it up with."
    "I bet the underwear would just stay there. Our stockings would help hold it up." After thinking for a while, Sarah Jane added, "I guess we could tie a string around each leg, just in case. Why don't we try it out before we go to bed tonight so we'll know what to do in the morning?"
    The more we thought about it, the more workable the plan seemed. We agreed to start the next day.
    In the morning, it took me much longer to get dressed this odd way. I had to hold the long underwear up tight with one hand and try to tie the string around with a few fingers of that hand and the other free one. Finally ma called to me from the kitchen. "We're ready to eat breakfast, Mabel. Aren't you dressed yet?"
    "Almost," I said. "I have to fasten my shoes."
    Soon I was hurrying down to the kitchen, the bulky underwear wadding together between my legs as I walked. This wasn't going to be very comfortable, but it was a small price to pay for looking beautiful.
    The family was seated, waiting for me. Pa prayed, and we began to eat.
    Ma looked at me closely. "Mabel, are you planning something that I should know about?"
    "No, ma. I'm not planning anything," I replied innocently. I wasn't planning anything, I told myself, I'd already done it.
    "Your lessons are all finished, aren't they?"
    "Oh, yes. I did those at school yesterday."
    Pa laughed. "What are you worried about, ma? Has Mabel done something strange besides come late to breakfast?"
    "No, I guess she hasn't. But I can always tell when she's about to do something strange. Goodness knows I've had enough practice."
    "It's beginning to thaw," pa remarked. "Looks as though we may have an early spring. Won't be long now before the snow will be gone."
    "I hope you're right," ma replied. "The boys have gone through two pairs of mittens apiece, and I'm going to have to start on another pair of stockings for Mabel."
    I hastily tucked my feet back under my chair as far as they would go, hoping that ma wouldn't look at my legs and notice the absence of wrinkles. She was at the stove when we bundled into our coats and scarves and grabbed our dinner pails.
    I met Sarah Jane at the end of the lane. "Did you do it?" she asked at once.
    "Of course I did." I looked down proudly at my smooth stockings. "Don't they look nice?"
    "They really do. And it feels better, too," Sarah Jane said. "Did you get by without your ma noticing?"
    "She was suspicious. But she didn't see anything, so she didn't know what she was suspicious about. How about you?"
    "I almost didn't make it," Sarah Jane admitted. "Ma asked me what I had under my dress."
    "Oh, no! What did you say?"
    "I said it was my petticoat.... It was my petticoat, wasn't it? I didn't say what else it was. Anyway, she just said to pull it down smooth. Wait until the other girls see what we figured out," Sarah Jane added happily. "They'll be sorry they didn't think of it."
    Unfortunately the other girls saw what we had figured out before we got a chance to tell them.
    Miss Gibson called our class to the front for arithmetic. "Each of you take a problem and put it on the board," she directed. "When everyone is finished, we'll correct them."
    I was absorbed in my problem when I heard the sound of snickering behind me. I turned around to see what was funny, and saw one of the little girls pointing at Sarah Jane. I knew at once what had happened. One of the underwear legs had come down below her dress!
    Miss Gibson spoke to her quietly. "Sarah Jane, would you like to be excused?"
    She left hastily, and the rest of us sat down. Miss Gibson went on as though nothing had happened.
    When Sarah Jane returned, she slid into the seat beside me.
    "What did you do?" I whispered to her.
    "I had to put my underwear back where it belonged," she