“Yes, and we’ll take turns tending store,” added Sue. “’Cause I don’t want to be doing the buying all the while.”

“Yes, we’ll take turns,” agreed Bunny.

Soon the children were in the kitchen, keeping store with different things from the pantry that Mary, the cook, gave them to play with.  Unopened boxes of cinnamon, cloves and other spices; some cakes of soap in their wrappers just as they had come from the real store, a few nuts, some coffee beans, other beans, dried peas and a bunch of vegetables made up most of the things with which the children played.  After they had finished their fun everything could be put back in the pantry.

Bunny tore some old newspapers into squares to use in wrapping the “groceries.”  Mary also gave the children bits of string for tying bundles.

The store counter was the ironing board placed across the seats of two chairs in front of a table, and on the table back of this ironing board counter the different things to sell were placed.

“What are we going to do for money?” asked Bunny, when the “store” was almost ready to open.

“I’ll give you some buttons,” said his mother.

Bunny was given a handful of flat buttons of different sizes and colors to use for change.  He placed them in his cash box.  Sue also had other buttons to use as money in buying groceries.

“Now we’re all ready to play,” said Bunny, looking over the store.  “You must come and buy something, Sue.”

“Yes.  And then I want to keep store,” said the little girl.

“All right,” her brother agreed.

Bunny took his place behind the counter and waited.  Sue went out into the hall, paused a moment, and then, with a little basket over her arm, came walking in, as much like a grown-up lady as she could manage.

“Good morning, Mrs. Snifkins!” exclaimed Bunny.  He always called Sue “Mrs. Snifkins” when they kept store.

“Oh, good morning, Mr. Huntley,” Sue replied.  She always called her brother “Mr. Huntley,” when they kept store.  Perhaps this was because he used to pretend to hunt for things on the make-believe shelves.

“What can I do for you this morning, Mrs. Snifkins?” asked Bunny, rubbing his hands as he had seen Mr. Gordon, the real grocer, do.

“I want some prunes, some coffee, some eggs, some sugar, some salt, some butter, some——­” ordered Sue all in one breath.

“Stop!  Stop!  Wait a minute!” cried Bunny.  “I can’t remember all that!  Now what did you say first?”

“Prunes,” replied Sue.

There were some real prunes among the things the children were playing store with, and Bunny wrapped a few of these in a paper.

“Now some sugar,” Sue ordered.

As real sugar was rather messy if it spilled on the floor, Bunny had some bird gravel, which was almost as good, and he pretended to weigh some of this out on an old castor that was the make-believe scales.  Some real coffee beans were also wrapped up for Sue, and then for eggs Bunny used empty thread spools.