Henry Huggins Read Online Free Page B

can find something in the basement.”
    So Henry and his father rummaged through the basement until they found a gallon jar Mrs. Huggins used for making dill pickles.
    â€œThis should do,” said Mr. Huggins. They carried it upstairs and washed it. Mr. Huggins filled it with hot water and carried it into Henry’s room. “Now when the water cools we can move some of the little guppies. They can’t live in cold water right out of the faucet. They need water that has stood or hot water that has cooled. While it’s cooling, we can make a net.” He found a piece of wire and bent it into a circle. Mrs. Huggins took an old stocking and sewed it to the wire to make a little fish net.
    Henry and his father took turns catching the tiny fish with the net and moving them into the pickle jar. Henry was surprised that such small fish could swim so fast.
    The next day and every day after that Henry looked at his guppies the first thing in the morning. When he came home from school he looked at his guppies before he went into the kitchen for something to eat. His fish grew and grew. As the weeks passed the big guppies had more little guppies. The little guppies grew up to be big guppies and had little guppies of their own. Henry had hundreds of guppies. He couldn’t find any more pickle jars so he started using his mother’s quart fruit jars. He couldn’t keep many fish in a quart of water.
    Henry had jars on his dresser. He had them on the table by his bed. He put jars on the floor all around the edge of his room. When he had one row of jars all the way around the floor, he started another row.
    â€œGoodness, Henry,” his mother said, “pretty soon you won’t be able to walk in here.”
    â€œIf you keep all your guppies,” said his father, “by the end of the year you’ll have over a million fish in your bedroom!”

    â€œGolly!” said Henry. “A million fish in my bedroom!” Wouldn’t that be something to tell the kids at school!
    Henry was glad when summer vacation started. It took him so long to feed his fish that he no longer had time to play with the other children on Klickitat Street. He spent all his allowance on fish food, snails, and plants for his jars. He slept with his windows shut if he thought the night were going to be cold. He wasn’t going to have his fish getting sick if he could help it.
    All day long the boys and girls in the neighborhood rang the doorbell and asked to see Henry’s fish.
    Finally his mother said, “Henry, this can’t go on. You must get rid of some of those fish. You’ll have to give them to your friends.”
    Henry liked each fish so much he couldn’t decide which one he liked best. They were all so lively, swimming around in their fruit jars. Henry didn’t see how he could part with any of them, but now that he was on the third row of jars around his room, he decided to try. He started asking his friends in the neighborhood if they would like to have some fish.
    Scooter didn’t think he had time to take care of fish. He delivered the Shopping News two days a week.
    Mary Jane said her mother wouldn’t let her have any fish. Mary Jane’s mother was very particular.
    Robert said he would rather come over and look at Henry’s fish than take care of guppies of his own.
    Finally Beezus said she would take one fish. Beezus’s real name was Beatrice, but her little sister Ramona called her Beezus and now everyone else did, too. Beezus and Ramona already had a cat, three white rats, and a turtle, so one fish wouldn’t make much difference. It took Henry a long time to decide which guppy to give her.
    Then one morning Mrs. Huggins came home from the Supermarket with three lugs of apricots in the backseat of the car. When Henry helped her carry them into the house, she said, “Henry, run down to the basement and bring up about twenty quart jars. These apricots are so