Full Speed Ahead: My Journey with Kit

I’m nervous about going to Uncle Hendrick’s house. So as Kit and I walk along, the camera bouncing against my chest and Buddy bouncing behind my feet, I ask how Uncle Hendrick told the Kittredges that I would be coming. Kit explains that he wrote her parents a letter and he enclosed a letter to her, too. She pulls it out of her pocket.

I ask if I can read it. I’m hoping I’ll be able to tell from the letter whether Uncle Hendrick has ever met the real Lucille. Kit hesitates. It’s a gruff letter. I can tell she’s trying to protect me. I tell her not to worry. No matter what it says about me, it won’t hurt my feelings. Kit sighs and hands me the letter. I unfold it and read:

201 Chestnut Court
Cincinnati, Ohio
August 25, 1933

Kit,

It is the most annoying and inconvenient, but my distant grand-niece, Lucille, is coming to Cincinnati. I have no interest in hosting her, and since she's your age it would be better for her to stay with your family. You and that pipsqueak boy Stirling can amuse her. It will give you a chance to do something useful for a change. I have far too many things to do, and all of them are far more important than playing mother hen to some silly young girl, you can be sure!

I'll pay for Lucille's room and board, which I am sure your parents will welcome since they're desperate for money and since they're foolishly and stubbornly insisting on pursuing your mother's terrible idea of running a boardinghouse. You mark my words: the boardinghouse will never earn enough money to pay the mortgage or send your brother Charlie to college.

Sincerely,

Uncle Hendrick

Wow. Gruff is right. Kit says that I know how Uncle Hendrick is. The truth is I don’t, but I can’t tell Kit that. For all I know, Lucille has met Uncle Hendrick hundreds of times. I ask what he means about paying the mortgage. What is a mortgage, anyhow? Kit explains a mortgage is like rent, only you pay it to the bank each month. The Kittredges’ mortgage is twenty dollars a month, and if they don’t pay it, they’ll get kicked out of their house.

That’s awful! The Kittredge family is on the verge of being homeless. I ask what Uncle Hendrick means about Charlie and college. Kit says that Charlie was supposed to go to college to study English literature. But he couldn’t because there’s no money to pay his tuition. I say it’s unfair, and Kit simply says there’s nothing fair about the Depression. But President Roosevelt is trying to make things better. He started lots of programs to give people jobs. Charlie works for one of them, the Civilian Conservation Corps. He joined up and went to Montana to work at Glacier National Park. He sends home money every now and then. His leave will be over soon, and Kit will miss him terribly.

All of a sudden, I miss my mom. I’ve never really thought about money before, and I’ve always stubbornly resented how much my mother works. But now I understand how hard my mom works to give me everything I could ever need or want. I can’t imagine how scary it must be to live in constant fear of homelessness, like the Kittredges.

Just then, I have a brainstorm. What if I go back to my own time and gather up all the cash I can find and bring it back for Kit’s family? They need the money, and I don’t. No one cares how I spend money. I’ve got thirty-five dollars of birthday gift money for my grandmother in my piggy bank, with plenty of spare change.