Manhunt. Volume 9, Number 2, April 1961

Mama says it’s been a long time since she cooked herself, but she is starting to remember how all over again. Henry said he wished she’d hurry up about it, and Jack knocked him down right on the floor, which made Patsy smile and me laugh, only now Henry seems to have a black hatred for the both of us girls. It’s all right with me, I am never going to ask Henry to help do my homework no matter how high Henry’s marks go in school. And speaking of school, Mama says we are missing too much of it, so she has started reading to us in the mornings. Yesterday Jack recited the whole list of presidents by heart, but today he couldn’t remember them at all, so we played house with Teddy while Mama and Henry and Patsy did sums. For supper we had chicken only Mama burnt it and Henry said again he wished Mrs. Wagner was here. He knew it was all right because Jack wasn’t listening to anyone right then. Mama said that all cooks were ingrates.

Jan. 24th, my room.

Today was terrible. Jack took the scissors and cut all the buttons off Henry’s clothes and then tried to cut the head off Henry’s canary Chrissy, but Mama saw him in time. What excitement, Mama got so mad she locked Jack in his room. And he jumped out the window. Henry said too bad the snow was there or he would have broke his neck. We watched while he got up and wandered around in the snow. Mama was crying like anything and kept saying I don’t know what to do. Henry suggested letting him freeze and I tried to knock him down like Jack did, but he weighs too much for me. Then Jack came up to the window where we were and Mama opened it and tried to pull him in, but he pulled away and ran out to the woodshed. I could see his face getting blue already from the cold, and so could Mama because she cried some more and then locked us all in our rooms and said she was going out to get Jack. That was this afternoon. She’s not back yet and I’m getting awful hungry. It must be past supper time by now.

Jan. 25th, the kitchen.

I stayed in my room like Mama said to, but Henry didn’t. I heard somebody walking out in the hall and I called Mama through the door, but it was Henry. He said Mama was gone too long and he was going out to see why. He sounded scared, and I said he ought to stay in his room, but he went down stairs. I can’t see the woodshed from my window, so I didn’t know what was happening until I heard somebody coming up stairs later on, and then the key in the lock and what a surprise. It was Jack who opened the door! He looked cold as anything, and said let’s get Patsy and Teddy and have some supper. He had the keys to all the rooms and we got Patsy and Teddy who were both in Patsy’s room. Patsy wanted to know where Mama and Henry was, but Jack wouldn’t say. We went down to the kitchen and Jack made a great big supper for us without burning a thing. We had hot dogs.

After supper Pat and me washed the dishes and we put Teddy to bed and then the three of us played parcheesy until we got tired. It was lots of fun, only Patsy kept asking where was Mama and Henry. Jack finally said they went to town to find out what happened to Papa, and he was to take care of us until they got back. Patsy said when would that be, and I wish she hadn’t because it set Jack off again on one of his bad spells. He just sat there and cried and cried and cried. I hope Mama won’t be long.

Jan. 26th, my room.

Here’s a puzzle. Patsy is gone too. When I woke up she already left. Jack said he didn’t know where she went, but we found a note on the kitchen table, from Patsy. It said she was going to try to walk over to the Jensen’s house. I don’t think it was a smart idea, because they live way down the road, and the snow is awful deep. Jack was just wonderful today and he played hide and seek with Teddy and me all morning. After lunch he read to us and then we played some more parcheesy, only that wasn’t so good because Teddy is too little for it. We put Teddy to bed right after supper and played Old Maid six times. It was just like playing house all day, for real. Now I am going to bed. Mama should get back tomorrow. Anyway, I hope so. It would be nice if someone came to call on us, but the snow is coming down again, so I guess that’s out. I bet one really good hot day would melt everything. But you can’t expect a hot spell in Jan, I suppose.

Jan. 27th, the kitchen.

Nothing happened all day, except the snow stopped again. We used most of the fire wood so I told Jack I was going out to the woodshed for some more. He got real excited and nasty and went out to get it himself. He said if I put one foot outside the house I’d be sorry. If Mama doesn’t come tomorrow I’m going to start worrying.

Jan. 28th, my room.

No Mama, but we played the loveliest and noisiest games all day long, I clean forgot about worrying. It was nice not having any one yelling at us to stop.

Jan. 29th, my room.