Barefoot and almost naked the children ran across the yard.  Mama was calling them to dinner, and you never lagged when Mama called.  When they got close enough to the house, they saw Daddy's car in the driveway and ran faster.  Daddy wasn't home much, and when he was (and if he was in a good mood), he might be persuaded to part with a quarter.  The girl got to the door first and scrambled inside, throwing her arms around Daddy.  He patted her back and said hello while the boys hung back shyly.  They were less sure of Daddy's love and good will, and Daddy didn't hug boys.  When the girl ran to the bathroom to wash for dinner, the boys followed single file, by age.  The children did everything by ages.
     In the small bathroom, they washed their hands and pretended to wash their faces.  When they thought themselves presentable, they filed back to the dining room.  They were subdued at the table, Daddy didn't like rowdy children at dinner.  They waited for Mama to fill their plates then ate methodically.  You dared not eat fast when Daddy was home.  When the youngest boy had finished his dinner, the children left the table and went to the living room to wait for Daddy.
     Finally Daddy rose from the table and went to the bathroom.  After an eternity, he opened the door and moved through the dining room to the couch.  The girl moved Pepper, her dog, to sit beside him and smiled shyly.  It was up to her to get the quarter, and she was always shy about asking because if he said no, her feelings would be hurt for days.  Finally she asked, “Daddy can we go get some penny candy for desert?”
     Daddy looked at her and grinned around his toothpick, “Candy?  Whatcha gonna do with candy?”
     “Eat it,” she whispered.  “We can put it in a bowl.”
Daddy stretched and put his hand in his pocket, and the boys’ eyes lit up to match the smiles on their faces.  It had worked.  Daddy looked through the change in his hand and gave the girl two quarters and a dime.  “Bring me a pack of cigarettes.”  Daddy only smoked about two cigarettes a day.
     The girl took the money eagerly and kissed Daddy.  She jumped off the couch and was out the front door in a flash.  She got halfway across the front yard, then slowed for the boys.  “Thirty-five cents!”  she told them.  “That's six cents each and we'll get five for Mama.”  The girl always tried to divide the money evenly and Mama or Daddy always got the extra pennies.  Mama didn't mind being shorted a penny here and there, and if necessary, the girl would short herself a penny.  Thirty five cents was not enough to put the candy in a bowl.  She only did that when Daddy gave her a dollar.  She would carefully dump all the candy into a bowl and set it on the coffee table.  Then they could eat until it made them sick.
     She gave the dime to the oldest boy.  She would buy her own candy and Daddy's cigarettes first, then buy candy for the other two boys, that way there would be no tax due.  The children hated having to pay tax.
     When they reached the store, the boys solemnly walked back and forth in the candy aisle looking at all the sweets.  The girl picked out six pieces of candy for herself, then walked to the counter.  Placing her items carefully on the counter, she told the clerk, “Daddy needs a pack of Winstons.”
     The man took the cigarettes from the shelf behind him and put them on the counter and rang up the purchase.  “That'll be thirty-one cents, Ruby Lee.”
     She handed him the two quarters and he counted the change back to her, “Thirty-two, three, four, five, forty, and fifty cents.”  Ruby Lee smiled shyly and waited while the clerk put the items in a small bag, then returned to her brothers.  She gave Paul a nickel and a penny.  At eight, he could handle his own money.  Eric walked back to the other three with his little bag in one hand and four cents in the other.  Mikey was six, and still needed his big sister's help, even though he could count just as well as she.  When he had his candy picked out, she walked him to the counter.  While he put his sweets where the clerk could see them, Ruby Lee carefully counted out six pennies.  The patient old man took the pennies and put Mikey’s candy in a bag, too.  They waited until Paul had paid for his candy, then Ruby Lee rushed the boys out the door so she could concentrate on buying Mama and Daddy's candy.
     Daddy had to have at least two Tootsie Rolls and a Peanut Butter Log.  She also picked out two butterscotch candies and two Root Beer Barrels.  Mama would want at least one bubble gum.  Two Kisses were carefully added to her choices, followed by a lemon drop.  She took the candy to the counter and handed over the dime and penny.  She put the candy in the bag that held her own choices, and said good-bye to the clerk.
     Outside, the boys stood patiently waiting for her.  They wouldn't eat any candy until they got home.  She gave a Kiss to Mikey, the bubble gum to Eric, and the other Kiss to Paul.  These were their gifts to Mama.  They hurried home, with the older two walking side by side in front while the younger two followed.  Eric and Ruby Lee were not just brother and sister, they were best friends.  When they got to their own front yard, they could contain their excitement no longer and raced to the porch.
     Daddy was laying down on the couch and Ruby Lee plopped down in front of him, handed him the cigarettes, and opened her bag.  She picked out the Tootsie Rolls and the Peanut Butter Log, then the lemon, butterscotch, and root beer hard candies.  “TWO Tootsie Rolls!”  Daddy exclaimed.  “I like Tootsie Rolls.”
     Ruby Lee left Daddy and joined Mama and the boys in the kitchen and handed over the other two hard candies.  Then she took another candy from her bag and gave it to Mama.  “Oh honey, that's enough for me, you keep that one.”  Mama could count, too.  Mama was finished with the dishes, and they all trooped into the living room.  Mama sat in the arm chair and Paul and Mikey took their positions on either arm.  “Turn on the TV, Ruby Lee,” Mama said.
     Ruby Lee was the only child allowed to turn on the TV when Mama and Daddy were around.  She importantly switched on the set and picked up the pliers that waited on top of it.  “Which channel?”
     “There's a new show on 2, let's watch that.”
     Ruby Lee used the pliers to change the channel.  The TV had been given to them by a relative who had bought a color TV and the channel knob was broken off.  When she finally found the right channel, she put the pliers back on the TV and laid in the floor next to Eric.  Pepper jumped off the couch and curled up in the small of her back.  She spread her candies on the floor in the order she intended to eat them.  Eric already had his lined up and as soon as Ruby Lee picked up her first candy, he opened his favorite.  Ruby Lee always saved her Tootsie Roll for last.  The TV show was about a scientist who had been looking for a cure for the Common Cold and had managed to turn himself into a super hero instead.
     When the show was over, Mama announced bedtime and the children quietly stood and went to their rooms.  Ruby Lee had her own room in the front of the house, next to Mama and Daddy's room.  She liked it because she didn't get into trouble as much as her brothers.
     The boys had a bedroom at the back of the house with bunk beds for Eric and Paul and the twin that matched Ruby Lee's for Mikey.  Every night the boys would lie in their beds and tell jokes and start giggling.  When the giggling got too loud Mama would warn them.  The next time the giggling got loud, she would take the belt or the switch and go turn their giggles into tears.  Ruby Lee knew it was for their Own Good, but it always made her cry anyway.
     After the boys had been punished for their giggles, and Mama had settled in to watch TV, Ruby Lee moved Pepper over and pulled her book out from under her pillow and propped it in the window to read.  Some nights, the moon was bright and Ruby Lee could read her book easily.  Other nights there was no moon and the girl had to depend on the headlights of passing cars to light the words.  She would be whipped if caught, but Ruby Lee loved to read and the books were worth the punishment. When the girl had read exactly one chapter about the Hollister children, she hid the book, snuggled with Pepper, and went to sleep.