SMART KID

Auckland Star, Volume LXIX, Issue 65, 18 March 1938, Page 15

SMART KID

Short Story

By STELLA HARRISON

Ct can eay what you like," J excla nnod Harry impressivelv. as though anyone had attempted to contradict liim. "kids learn to use their brain* down thei=e parts. You've ?ot to be quick on the uptake if you're not to lie bested."' The little man with watery eyes blew 011 hi* cup of steaming coffee, took a gulp, and nodded sagaciously. *'1 hut's what I says."' lie murmured. 1 he hot drink had induced in him a. rare mood of acquiescence. '"lake young Ada." said Harry, "my j sister Nellie's youngest girl. You know. II told you about my brother-in-law. Johnnie Simmons, him with the eight kids. Ada's the last hut one. There's not two penn'orth of her. though she turned 111 last Aii<riir>t Bank Holiday.! Little pa«ty faced thing slie is. turns the | scale at about mx stone. l!ut she's got ' it there, all right." And he tapped liis forehead twice with his left foreliirrer. j "Ada. wasn't lucky enough to fall into I ft regular job when' she first left school | flier big sister'* fixed her up mm ), so i she used to go into Killer's tish and chip | sliop to ? i\- e them a hand of a Thursday j and Friday, them being their btisv davs. i Biller's is downstairs of where th.-v live.! '"Nice woman, Mrs. Killer is. you know.' a proper good sort. When thincs were | bad, Johnnie out of work and that, she ! always Used to send my sister Nellie up a nice plate of fish of a Friday, and very welcome it. was with eight mouths to feed, not counting Nellie and Johnnie. So it was only natural young Ada should lend a hand when they were extra busv. '"this time I'm telling you of wits when the Ginger Red gang were busy all round the Ka*t India Dock Road, you know, one of tTiose crowds of rough* who made shopkeepers' lives not worth living. '"One of them held up that Klite Hairdressing Saloon where our Ada's ichool chum Mas apprenticed. He just marched in and pointed a gun at them, or *o the girls in the shop thought, and made them hand over their bags. "There were two young women having perms, and of course they couldn't move with those machines on their heads, and the others who were attending to them were too frightened, so the chap got clean away. "They used to threaten the stall-hold-ers down Crisp Street, too, and oxerturned their stalls if they didn't get their palms greased to keep away. It was a regular menace to society til! it was put a stoj) to once and for all. * * * « "Well. I was telling you about our Ada. She went downstairs to Biller's as per usual on Thursday evening, and they pot very busy, which is what they generally expected, being early closing. You see, there's no meat or anythingJo be got, even for such as have trie ha'pence to do any shopping by a Thursday. and the fi*h shops come in for what trade there is. "Somehow things seemed to be busier than usual about eight o'clock. A lot of their regular customers who might come in at half-past or a quarter to nine in the ordinary way. all came crowding in round about eight. "Mrs. Biller couldn't think why. till someone put her wise that Jesste Mat-

thews was singing on the wireless at halfpast, eight, and they all wanted to be back at home to listen-in. "it so happened that the young chap who did the gutting and cutting up was down with 'tin. and they were shorthanded. Mrs. Biller was doing the frying at the same time as looking after the cash. and Biller was .mtting up down in the yard. Our Ada was running about j serving at the tables (they do a big sit- ; ting-down trade besides the counter \ trade), and making herself generally ! useful. j "When the customers all started comI i'ig in in a rush, Mrs. Biller shouts to •lack 1o hurry up and cut tip some more ! rock salmon. Whether it was that he j wasn't in the. way of handling the bij* jtish choj/per, or whether lie didn't keep! jliis mind 011 what he was doing for the! 'minute. Jack gives a swipe at a whacking | j groat rock salmon and snips the top off | his finger. i I "Of course, then the fat was in the; | lire. Mrs. Biller got more excited still. I running down to do his finger up in a | bit of bandage, and running up again! 1 with the fish and the bucket of raw chips. She's on the stoutish side anyway, and | j what with one thing and another she'd! had about enough of it by the time the i customers were all served. * * » • "By about nine there wasn't a soul in 1 the shop, so Mrs. Biller says to our Ada: j | " 'Look here, Ada. you keep your eye I on the shop, while I run down and make j that big fool of a Biller bathe his hand in boiling water. He might get blood poisoning or anything with a nasty cut like that.' " '0.K..' says Ada. 'You want some more chips up here, too, when you come up.' "Mrs. Biller goes downstairs and j leaves Ada alone in the shop, and the] minute her back's turned a young fellow comes lounging in with his hands in his pockets. 'What's ready,' he says. " "Cod, fillets of plaice, rock salmon,' says Ada. " 'Xo haddock?' he says. " 'I could fry you a nice thrappennv one.' says Ada. "It wouldn't take many minutes.* '■'Right-o.' he says. "With that Ada picks up a small haddock by the tail, dips it in the batter, and she's just bending down to lay it in the fryer, when this fellow snaps at her: "'Now then! •Stick 'em up!' "Now, when that kind of thing happens. you don't stop to ask questions, you do what you're told. She was all <111 her own. and there wasn't so much jas a stray cat passing in the street; it i was such a pouring wet night. She put

up her hands, holding on to the haddock ] all dipped in batter, and in less time' j than it would take you to say 'Jackji Robinson,' this fellow nips r ound the 1 business side of the counter, opens the! till and starts helping himself. I wi/Lenc e—sst. dli: j "I suppose he must have thought he 1 was pretty smart, watching for when 1 a pasty looking shrimp like Ada. was looking after the shop on her own. But J Ada wasn't such a fool as she looked. "She remembered what her young pal! had told her about the raid on the Eliej Hairdressing Saloon, and how the girls . thought the fellow was pointing a. gull! at them from inside his jacket pocket, j "And she knew it's not lawful to carry] i firearms, into the bargain, so she reck-I i oiicd this young fellow probably wouldn't ! risk it, in which case he was onlv! ' bluffing. J "Anyway, this all crossed her mind in a flash while the young fellow was helpling himself from "the till. So she brings j her hand down, with the haddock in, jand dips it in the fryer, holding it by : the tail all the time. I "'Here, keep 'em up!' sava the follow. I " 'All right, keep your hair on.' says | Ada. 'It's all the same to you if I start 1 my supper cooking, isn't it?' "And with that »he brings the haddock out of the boiling hot oil and •flams it across his face. You should have heard 1 him-yell! He nearly screamed the plau; down. "'Help!' he shouts. 'I'm blinded.' *'I heard him myself, because H so happened I was round at Nellie's having a game of whist with Johnnie and a • couple of neighbours. * » • • ell. he got all the help he wanted by the time Johnnie and Biller had finished with him. "'That'll learn you.' says Johnnie, 'to come sneaking in when there's nobody but a kid about, you big !' "He was real mad, Johnnie was. It was as much as we could do to keep him from slaughtering him, and the whole time he was yelling fit to split yonr eardrums: "'Help. police! Help! I'm being murdered!' I "I reckon he could have kissed thatcopper when he did arrive," Harry laughed at his recollection of the s< rry sight which had greeted the representative of law and order. "Well 'e asked fer it," commented the little man with watery eves. "Course he did." agreed Harry. "Only what I'm trying to point out to you is the way young Ada used her \. its. There's no going away from it, the kids are real smart down these parts. They've got to be, or they wouldn't stand a chance."