Pandemonium In The Big House!

 Having lived the free life on the mountain with her grandfather, Heidi was feeling closed up and needed to see the outside. The windows were too high up for her to see outdoors. So she asked the butler if he would open the door for her so that she could see outside. That he did. When Heidi walked outside all she could see were streets of stone and lots of chimneys. That is not what she wanted at all. So she decided to take a walk. She was sure that she would find flowers and mountains that would make her happy again. Sebastian was the butler's name. He had told Heidi that the building with the golden dome on a church was high enough that she would be able to see everything. It seemed like her search brought her nothing but more buildings and lots of people walking on the sidewalks. Then she saw the strangest thing. She saw a boy with an organ on his back and a strange monkey on his arm. She thought for sure that he would tell her where the building with the golden dome was. 

The boy with the organ and the monkey was called an organ grinder. Well, he would not tell Heidi where the church was unless she paid him twenty pennies. She had no money, but she told him that he would get paid when she got back to Clara's house.

When Heidi and the organ grinder boy finally arrived at the church she was surprised to find out that she had to pull a rope that rang a bell. In the mean time the organ grinder told her that now he wanted forty pennies to show her the way home.

Finally an old man opened the door and started yelling at Heidi. He said, "Can't you see this is only for people that want to see the tower?" Heidi told him that she too wanted to see the tower. The old man tried to slam the door in her face and told her not to come back again. For some reason he felt bad for her when he saw that her eyes were full of tears. He finally agreed to let her climb the many stairs to the very top. The old man opened up a window. Much to Heidi's disappointment once again all she saw was chimneys and roofs of houses. The old man told her that she must go now and never come back again.

On their way back down they passed a room where a large gray cat was sitting by a basket full of her kittens. Heidi was so excited to see the kittens. The kittens would jump in and out of the basket and play. The old man figured this was an easy way to get rid of the kittens. He loved the old gray cat. He had had her for many years. She was a fine mouse catcher. The old man smiled at Heidi and asked her if she would like to have a kitten to take home with her. She was so very excited when he told her she could have as many as she wanted. The old man knew Clara's parents and where they lived. He told Heidi that he would deliver the kittens there the next day. In the meantime he put a kitten in each one of Heidi's pockets. She couldn't wait to show Clara!

The boy knew where Clara's house was by the way Heidi described it to him. It seemed like in no time they arrived back to Clara's house. She pulled the rope to let the butler know that she was back. Oh my, the butler was upset. He said, "Hurry, Miss. They are all waiting dinner for you. Miss Rottenmeier looks furious! How could you run away? You must never do that again."

Heidi sat down at the table. Nobody said a word until Miss Rottenmeier said, "I will speak to you after you finish your dinner. You must never walk about until so late again." Miss Rottenmeier didn't like the name Heidi so she called Heidi by her Christian name which was Adelheid. It seemed to Heidi that that lady didn't like anything about her. She wanted to go home.

Grandma Lu grinned when she read that part. "I can remember being called my whole name when I was in trouble."

Heidi started to talk to defend herself when one of the kittens in her pocket said, "Meow!"

Well the butler ran from the room and Miss Rottenmeier said, "That's enough out of you. You leave the room this minute!"

Then a whole bunch of meows started and Heidi explained that the kittens were doing the meowing, and that she wasn't  being disrespectful.

Well that really set Miss Rottenmeier off. She started screaming and ran into the study and locked herself in. She was scared to death of cats and even the little kittens.

When Sebastian had finished laughing he came back into the room and saw such a beautiful sight. There was Clara and Heidi each petting and playing with a cute little kitten.

He promised the girls that he would fix the kittens a bed and that they also should get ready for bed.

After quite some time Miss Rottenmeier opened the door of the study just a couple of inches to make sure that the little kittens were gone. The butler assured her that they were. Miss Rottenmeier was exhausted to say the least and went to bed immediately. So Heidi was spared a good talking to that the housekeeper had promised her.

Grandma Lu chuckled at the pandemonium the kittens caused and thought, "I wonder what will happen when the old man delivers the rest of them the next day and what about the organ grinder; is he still standing outside waiting for his money? Guess I'll turn the page and find out. "