Full Speed Ahead: My Journey with Kit

I’m about to click the camera when I overhear Mrs. Kittredge say she doesn’t think I’m spoiled at all, just overwhelmed and shy. She’s glad to give up her room. I’m a wish come true, arriving just in the nick of time. They need me.

Need me? Or Cousin Lucille? I bury my face in Buddy’s fur. Nobody has ever needed me before, let alone a whole family. I decide to stay and help however I can, then carry Buddy downstairs.

Only Kit is in the dining room, gathering breakfast dishes for the kitchen. Not knowing what else to do, I set Buddy down and start clearing dishes, too.

Kit says I’m a guest and don’t need to help. I tell her I want to, that I can share her chores, maybe even her room. She shakes her head. Sharing chores and room might mean Uncle Hendrick won’t pay for me to stay. I’m a paying boarder, and her family needs the money.

So that’s why they need me, money. It’s never worried me, thanks to Mom’s job, but the Kittredges clearly need what Uncle Hendrick pays. Feeling strange about being needed for money, I ask why. Kit looks down and admits her father lost his job to the Depression.

I’m confused. Did he lose his job because he’s sad? Kit explains again. People got nervous about money and stopped spending, so even more people lost their jobs. It’s happened where I live, too.

Kit’s dad sold cars, but people stopped buying them. He kept the dealership open as long as he could, even paying workers from his own savings, until he ran out of money and had to close. So Mother started taking in boarders. Now the family depends on that rent to cover the twenty-dollar mortgage, plus food and bills.

Now I understand why Mrs. Kittredge called me a wish come true. Kit adds that Uncle Hendrick thinks the boardinghouse is a bad idea, but she’s proud they’re trying, though the crowded house sometimes bothers her. And now I’m one more person in it, Buddy, too.

Kit says she’d like having us as boarders, and she’d hate for Hendrick to stop paying them just because they treat me like family instead of a guest.