the laces They were waiting at the door when Mommy and Daddy came Daddy smelled of shaving lotion and he carried a briefcase Hurry hurry said Teddy Or they’ll be all finished Even if they finish drilling they’ll have to do something with the hole promised Mommy As usual when they were in a rush the elevator took them up before they went down But at last they reached street level Nora and Teddy pushed ahead There directly in front of their building was a hole As they stood looking about they could see four other holes already dug and men beginning to make a fifth nearby
It’s the trees Mommy cried out with delight These are holes for the trees Over a year ago there had been a campaign along the street to collect money to plant trees And now at last it looked as if there would really be some results Good-bye Daddy said laughing as he kissed everyone I’ll look for you all in the forest when I come home Nora you can be Little Red Riding Hood Will wolves come with the trees asked Teddy He looked excited not scared Of course not Daddy is just joking said Mommy The drillers moved on and the number of holes on the street continued to increase Before the morning was over
Nora counted twenty-two holes There were eleven on each side of the street Mommy wanted to go upstairs and make the beds but Nora and Teddy refused to leave the excitement Luckily it was a beautiful morning and that plus the drilling drew all the neighbors out of their apartments Mrs Wurmbrand came out of their building and into the sunshine Every day when the weather was fine she went out for a walk How lovely it will be to have the trees at last she said to Mommy I’ll watch them grow like your children Next door to Mrs W lived another woman whom Nora had once nicknamed Mrs Mind-Your-Own-Business Only she never did
What is this mess grumbled Mrs Mind-Your-Own-Business when she came out of the building If you want trees move to the country She never seemed happy and today was no exception She was the only one who was annoyed by the activity on the street Everyone else was very pleased Mommy met and spoke with people she hadn’t seen all winter even though they lived only a few yards down the street Mrs Dworsky came pushing a carriage with her new baby a girl named Elizabeth There was more excitement when another truck arrived with the trees The trees looked small and sad just branches without any leaves But even big trees didn’t have leaves in March Mommy reminded Nora The roots were wrapped
