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Show page 218 flutter of wings, began pecking at his eyes. Willie t r i e d to cover his face, but he sank to the floor holding his injured eye. Miss L i l l i e delivered the coup de grace with a small jar of plum j e l l y . Willie rolled over on his back. The knife fell from his hand. Salem walked around him, jumped up on his chest and flapped his wings. " I t ' s a bad night, mate," the bird said, shifting his weight from foot to foot. Miss L i l l i e put W i l l i e ' s knife away, then stepped to Salem and picked him up. Salem rubbed his head against her. Still holding him, Miss L i l l i e said to Hutch. "We won't be needing a watchdog." Miss L i l l i e , with t e a r s in her eyes, pulled Willie Earl up to the t a b l e . Hutch got him black coffee and a sheaf of headache powders, even offered him the dish of left-over green onions near Miss L i l l i e ' s elbow. "Hutch," she said, "please put those onions away. They're making me cry." To Willie she said, "Can you make i t to the shanty under your own power, or shall I drive you down?" Willie stood, walked to the basket of groceries, picked it up and looked at Miss L i l l i e sheepishly. Hutch laid the remaining onions in the basket. Willie, clutching the basket of groceries and green onions, disappeared through the door, while Salem Daylight called from his perch on the kitchen table, "Onions are good for the scours, matey!" Miss L i l l i e and Hutch looked at each other with a degree of understanding regarding Salem Daylight. In time Salem was held in as much esteem as the new pointer. |
