“What a dreadful racket!” he complained. “There’s no need to break the door down”

T

he weather was freezing, and the sidewalks on Sunny Lane were icy. Mr. Krankowitz, who had a great fear of falling, declared he was staying indoors until the cold weather ended. Seeing there was no sign of that happening any time soon, the neighbors kindly offered to do his shopping.

The Morrises went first. Mrs. Morris bought a fresh loaf of bread for the old man as requested, and sent Moishy to take it over. Moishy knew Mr. Krankowitz was hard of hearing, so he knocked loudly. Rap, rap, rap!

The door flew open, and Mr. Krankowitz stood there, scowling.

“What a dreadful racket!” he complained. “There’s no need to break the door down.”

He took the bag from Moishy without so much as a thank-you. Moishy shrugged as he headed home. A mitzvah was a mitzvah, wasn’t it? But he made sure to tell his mother that whoever went next should knock gently.

Next up were the Friedmans. Fishel and Faivish were sent to buy kippers. They found the fish shop fascinating, as there were so many different shapes and sizes of fish. They drove the fishmonger crazy with their questions, until Fishel suddenly looked at his watch and gasped.

“Yikes! It’s late. We’d better hurry.”

As they went slipping and sliding up the path to Mr. Krankowitz’s house with the kippers, Fishel accidentally skidded into Faivish, sending him crashing into the front door.

“What do you think you’re doing, pushing me like that?” yelled Faivish.

“I didn’t push you!”

“Did!”

“Didn’t!”