Set a Purpose

Find out why Squeaky spends so much time with her brother Raymond.

I don’t have much work to do around the house like some girls. My mother does that. All I have to do in life is mind my brother Raymond, which is enough.

Sometimes I slip and say my little brother Raymond. But as any fool can see he’s much bigger and he’s older, too. He needs looking after cause he’s not quite right. If anybody has anything to say to Raymond, they have to come by me. I don’t believe in standing around doing a lot of talking. I’d much rather just knock you down and take my chances even if I am a little girl with skinny arms and a squeaky voice, which is how I got the name Squeaky. And if things get too rough, I run. And as anybody can tell you, I’m the fastest thing on two feet.

There is no track meet that I don’t win the first place medal. The big kids call me Mercury cause I’m the swiftest thing in the neighborhood. Everybody knows that—except two people who know better, my father and me. He can beat me to Amsterdam Avenue with me having a two fire-hydrant head-start and him running with his hands in his pockets and whistling.

But that’s private information. So as far as everyone’s concerned, I’m the fastest. That goes for Gretchen, too, who has put out the tale that she is going to win the first-place medal this year. Ridiculous. In the second place, she’s got short legs. In the third place, she’s got freckles. In the first place, no one can beat me and that’s all there is to it.