Jimmy's trip to Roundtree was without incident. Actually, it was easy
once he had hurdled the ticket-seller with his forged note and the
five-dollar bill from the cashbox in his father's desk. His error in not
making it a ten was minor; a larger tip would not have provided him with
better service, because the train crew were happy to keep an eye on the
adventurous youngster for his own small sake. Their mild resentment
against the small tip was directed against the boy's father, not the
young passenger himself.
He had one problem. The train was hardly out of the station before
everybody on it knew that there was a five-year-old making a trip all
by himself. Of course, he was not to be bothered, but everybody wanted
to talk to him, to ask him how he was, to chatter endlessly at him.
Jimmy did not want to talk. His experience in addressing adults was
exasperating. That he spoke lucid English instead of babygab did not
compel a rational response. Those who heard him speak made over him
with the same effusive superiority that they used in applauding a
golden-haired tot in high heels and a strapless evening gown sitting
on a piano and singing, _Why Was I Born?_ in a piping, uncertain-toned
voice. It infuriated him.
So he immersed himself in his comic books. He gave his name politely
every five minutes for the first fifty miles. He turned down offers of
candy with, "Mommy says I mustn't before supper." And when dinnertime
came he allowed himself to be escorted through the train by the
conductor, because Jimmy knew that he couldn't handle the doors without
help.
The steward placed a menu in front of him, and then asked carefully, "How
much money do you want to spend, young man?"
Jimmy had the contents of his father's cashbox pinned to the inside of
his shirt, and a five-dollar bill folded in a snap-top purse with some
change in his shirt pocket. He could add with the best of them, but he
did not want any more attention than he was absolutely forced to attract.
So he fished out the snap-top purse and opened it to show the steward his
five-dollar bill. The steward relaxed; he'd had a moment of apprehension
that Holden Senior might have slipped the kid a half-dollar for dinner.
(The steward had received a quarter for his share of the original
two-fifty.)
Jimmy looked at the "Child's Dinner" menu and pointed out a plate: lamb
chop and mashed potatoes. After that, dinner progressed without incident.
Jimmy topped it off with a dish of ice cream.
The steward made change. Jimmy watched him carefully, and then said,
"Daddy says I'm supposed to give you a tip. How much?"
The steward looked down, wondering how he could explain the standard
dining car tip of fifteen or twenty percent of the bill. He took a
swallow of air and picked out a quarter. "This will do nicely," he said
and went off thankful that all people do not ask waiters how much they
think they deserve for the service rendered.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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