The War that Saved My Life by Kimberly Brubaker Bradley

thing. I’ll write to your mother right away, to ask her permission. I can’t
imagine she’ll object. Meanwhile Dr. Graham’s fetching a pair of crutches for
you.”
Crutches were long pieces of wood you stuck under your armpits, so you
could walk using the crutches and one good foot. Your bad foot, if you had
one, didn’t have to touch the ground at all.
Crutches didn’t hurt.
The doctor said, “See? I knew she could smile,” and Miss Smith shook her
head and said, “I don’t believe it.”
The doctor’s place was right in town, near the train station. On crutches I
didn’t need a taxi, so we walked right down the main street. I walked down
the street, bad foot and all, and nobody stopped me. We went into the shops
and bought meat and veg and groceries. I went into the shops and nobody
turned me out. At one point Miss Smith said, “Ada, would you hand me three
of those apples?” I’d been careful not to touch anything up until then, but
when she asked I figured it must be okay, and I did it and it was. The
shopkeeper didn’t even look at me.
The shops had so much stuff in them they gave me a jittery feeling. There
was too much stuff to see. And I’d never known anyone to buy as much food
as Miss Smith did, all at once. She paid for it too, straight up, with cash. Not a
thing on tick. I nudged Jamie, and he nodded. Miss Smith was rich.
On the sidewalk, Miss Smith counted her remaining coins and sighed. She
led us into a stern-looking brick shop. The inside was just people standing
behind counters. You couldn’t tell what they were selling at all.
“What’s this place?” Jamie asked.
“It’s a bank,” Miss Smith said. “You’ve been to banks before.”
I didn’t know why she’d think so. I’d never even heard of a place called a
bank. Miss Smith scribbled on a scrap of paper and gave it to one of the men
behind the counter, and he counted out money and gave it to her.
“A money store,” Jamie whispered, eyes wide.
I nodded. We sure didn’t have one of those on our lane.
We were back wearing our clothes from the day before—we couldn’t have
gone into town wearing only Miss Smith’s shirts—but Miss Smith had
washed them so we looked and smelled nice. She marched us into a store that
sold clothing anyhow, and bought us each a new set of clothes, top and