The next morning he put on another hat, another pair of mittens and another pair of shoes. And the minute he put them on they changed to popcorn. 

So he tried on all his hats, mittens and shoes. Always they changed to popcorn the minute he had them on. 

83

 His hat was popcorn, his mittens popcorn and his shoes popcorn  

85

He went downtown to the stores. He bought a new hat, mittens and shoes. And the minute he had them on they changed to popcorn. 

So he decided he would go to work and clean cisterns with his popcorn hat, popcorn mittens and popcorn shoes on. 

The people of the Village of Cream Puffs enjoyed watching him walk up the street, going to clean cisterns. People five and six blocks away could see him coming and going with his popcorn hat, popcorn mittens and popcorn shoes. 

When he was down in a cistern the children enjoyed looking down into the cistern to see him work. When none of the slush and mud fell on his hat and mittens he was easy to find. The light of the shining popcorn lit up the whole inside of the cistern. 

Sometimes, of course, the white popcorn got 86 full of black slush and black mud. And then when Jason Squiff came up and walked home he was not quite so dazzling to look at. 

86

It was a funny winter for Jason Squiff. 

“It’s a crime, a dirty crime,” he said to himself. “Now I can never be alone with my thoughts. Everybody looks at me when I go up the street.” 

“If I meet a funeral even the pall bearers begin to laugh at my popcorn hat. If I meet people going to a wedding they throw all the rice at me as if I am a bride and a groom all together. 

“The horses try to eat my hat wherever I go. Three hats I have fed to horses this winter. 

“And if I accidentally drop one of my mittens the chickens eat it.” 

Then Jason Squiff began to change. He became proud. 

 Prev. P 30/79 next