Teddy charged down the hallway on his hobby-horse; albeit, he charged very quietly as father had already arrived home and was seated in his chair in the parlor with his head surrounded in a cloud of pipe smoke. Father was “not to be disturbed” when he sat in his chair and Teddy knew that if he made so much of a peep, Mother would send him outside to play. Under different circumstances, Teddy would not mind playing outside—Mitchell and Drew had a swell new kite he wanted to try his hand at—but he had torn the seat of his short pants rescuing that very kite from the apple tree this morning and he didn’t want to draw attention to that particular fact.
Perhaps Mother had a few cookies left from her Ladies Group! Teddy decided that checking the cooky jar was a very quiet activity. Nudging his hobby-horse to turn left into the kitchen, Teddy moseyed around the table just in time to see is sister, Sophie, run out the kitchen door and let it slam shut behind her. Sophie was always in a hurry to visit her friends. Teddy hoped Father wouldn’t think that he had slammed the door!
The breeze from the door had sent something shiny scooting across the kitchen table and that something was now wafting to the floor. What could it be? wondered Teddy. Taking his hobby-horse by the reins, he walked over and picked up the sandwich-sized piece of heavy paper. It was gold on one side with black scrolling lines and silver on the other. This is perfect! thought Teddy. It will make a wonderful cutlass for my soldier!
Teddy spent nearly an hour working on the cutlass. First, he thought out exactly what he wanted the weapon to look like—this was not the kind of paper that you could erase your pencil marks from and he would have no second chances. Then, he meticulously drew the curved, sweeping blade and the finely detailed handle.
He had just made the final cut with Mother’s sewing scissors when he heard a scream behind him. Dropping the scissors he turned around to see his sister standing in the doorway in a towering rage. With another wordless scream she flew at him and grabbed the cutlass and the remaining scraps of paper out of his hands. “Mother!” she shrieked, “Look at what he did!” Sophie went into a full blown tantrum—at sixteen! “I was going to go and May belle promised me her pink silk dancing slippers and I’ve never been to one and Teddy has gone and cut up the invitation!” She ended her tirade with another piercing shriek, brushed past Mother (who was, by now, standing in the doorway) and stomped up stairs to her room.
Teddy looked helplessly at Mother. She had a stern look on her face; but, oddly, her eyes looked like she was laughing. Father still hadn’t left his chair, so Teddy was starting to wonder how firm and fast the rule was about Father and his chair.
Mother sat down in a chair and pulled Teddy into her lap. “Sophie is very disappointed that you cut up her invitation. This was to be her first party and everything about it was very special to her—especially the invitation.”
“I didn’t know it was an invitation, Mummy.” Teddy said, “Do you think I could make her a new one?”
“That’s a start. Can I have the sword and the scraps? Maybe I can piece them back together.”
Teddy and Mother worked side by side on their projects. Mother finished hers first and then worked on supper while Teddy laboriously formed out the letters on the paper that Mother had given him. When he was finished, this is what it said:
Der Sophie,
i am soree i cut yore papr. plz dont be mad. Yu kin com to my partee. We can dans and mebbe Mother will bake a cake if i ask.
Luv,
Teddy
When Sophie came down to supper, with her eyes all red and puffy, the two invitations were resting on her plate. Teddy had decorated his with dancing slippers and swords. Mother had repaired the other with clear plastic tape. Sophie eyes ran over Teddy’s invitation, then looked at him and smiled.
“What is that foolscap doing on the supper table!” blustered Father. He had no idea what had happened that afternoon while he was “not to be disturbed.” Teddy and Sophie exchanged a secret glance of amusement—perhaps that rule was more for Mother!
Delightful!!