The Hand-Me-Up Russell Michaels was six years old His home was an apartment building in New York City The best thing about living in an apartment building was that his best friend Teddy lived there too Russell lived on the second floor with his parents and his little sister Elisa Teddy lived with his parents and his big sister Nora on the seventh floor Teddy was seven a year older 9
than Russell Sometimes Russell wished he were just the same age as Teddy But most of the time he was glad to be the age and size that he was It made him proud to have an older friend in second grade About twice a year Teddy’s mother would sort through all his clothing and set aside everything that was too small for Teddy Then she would put the outgrown outgrown but not worn-out clothes into a big shopping bag or a box and bring them downstairs to the second floor for Russell If something was too small for Teddy it was likely that it was just the right size for Russell The night before after Russell was asleep Teddy’s mother had brought a big box of Teddy’s outgrown clothes down to Russell’s apartment 10
Hand-me-downs said Russell’s mother with delight when she showed the box to Russell the next day Mrs Michaels If we lived upstairs over Teddy instead of downstairs below him would these be hand-me-ups Russell wanted to know laughed I never thought of it that way but I guess they would she agreed She took everything out of the box and held each piece of clothing up against Russell There was the winter coat with toggles that Teddy had worn last year There was a T-shirt with a picture of Mickey Mouse and another one with a picture of Superman Teddy had neat clothes and Russell was glad that he could wear them It’s too bad that we can’t give any clothing clothing to Teddy in return said Mrs Michaels 11
