Chapter 4 More Money Troubles.
Dr Doolittle and the animals were not the only ones happy with his new business.
His sister Sarah was also pleased.
At long last, they had money coming into the household.
She even bought a new dress to wear on Sundays.
The animals still upset her, though.
It was impossible to keep a clean house.
Some of the animal patients were so sick that they had to stay a week.
They would sit on chairs on the lawn or relax in the garden and too often, when the animals were feeling better, they did not want to leave.
They liked staying with Dr. Doolittle too much.
The doctor never had the heart to say no, so the number of pets at his house grew and grew.
One day while he was walking through town, he saw an organ grinder with a monkey on a string.
Right away the doctor noticed that the monkey's collar was on too tight.
He could see that the little animal was unhappy, so he gave the man a dollar and took the monkey away from him.
At first the organ grinder was angry.
He did not want to give up the monkey, but Dr Doolittle said he would call the police and report his cruelty.
The man realized he had lost the argument.
He took his dollar and left.
So the monkey moved in with Dr. Doolittle and all his pets.
The other animals named him Chi-Chi, which means ginger in monkey language.
On another day, the circus came to town.
A crocodile traveling with the circus had a bad toothache.
He escaped in the middle of the night and went to Dr. Doolittle.
The doctor could speak to him in crocodile language, of course.
He took the crocodile into his house and fixed the sore tooth.
As you might imagine, the crocodile did not want to leave.
He asked the doctor if he could live by the pond at the end of the garden if he promised not to eat the fish.
Of course, the doctor could not refuse.
The crocodile kept his word.
He was always quiet and gentle with everyone in the house.
When the circus men came to take the crocodile back, they saw that he was happy and calm.
They agreed with the doctor that the crocodile would be much happier staying there, so they left him behind.
However, the doctor's sister Sarah was not happy.
She was frightened of the crocodile.
She worried that other people would be frightened, too.
Unfortunately, she was right.
The old lady stopped bringing their sick poodles.
They were afraid the crocodile would eat their beloved pets.
The farmer stopped bringing their sheep for the same reason.
Dr. Doolittle tried talking to the crocodile.
He explained that he was losing patience because people were afraid.
The doctor told the crocodile that he would have to go back to the circus.
The crocodile wept big tears and begged the doctor to let him stay.
Of course, the doctor agreed.
He could not stand to see an unhappy animal.
This is the last straw, his sister said.
We were just starting to do well again.
We will be in the poorhouse again in no time.
That alligator must go.
It's not an alligator, Dr. Doolittle calmly replied.
It's a crocodile.
I don't care what it is, his sister said.
It's an awful thing to find under a bed.
He has promised me that he won't hurt any animal, said the doctor.
I trust him completely.
Trust him, she screamed.
Have you gone mad?
People have stopped coming because of that creature.
I've had enough.
Either he goes or I do.
So that was that.
Dr. Doolittle's sister Sarah packed up her things and left.
She moved to the next street and took a job as a housekeeper.
Eventually she married a very nice man and lived a quiet and happy life.
As you might suspect, her house was always neat and tidy.
Although Dr. Doolittle was very happy with his animals, it was still a difficult time.
His sister was right.
People were afraid of the crocodile.
He lost most of his patients.
Once again, the doctor had very little money.
Also, without his sister, there was no one else to help around the house.
He could not afford to hire help, so the animals did their best to pitch in.
Chi-Chi the monkey did all the cooking and sewing.
Tu-Tu the owl helped with the household accounts.
He was good with arithmetic, you see.
Dab-Dab the duck dusted and made the beds.
Gub-Gub the pig helped with the garden.
And Polynesia became the housekeeper.
This meant that she was in charge of the whole household.
She made sure that everything was done properly.
It took some time before the animals could do their jobs.
Watching Jip the dog sweep the floor with his tail was very amusing.
They were all determined to make it work, though.
They tried and tried until they could do it perfectly.
It was the least they could do for the doctor who had given so much to them.
Money continued to be a problem, however.
There were so many mouths to feed and so few patients bringing in money, so the animals set up a little stall at the side of the road.
They sold vegetables from the garden.
If Polynesia worried about not having enough money to buy fish for dinner, Dr Doolittle just shrugged.
"'You shouldn't worry so much,' he said.
"'You sound like my sister.'
"'As long as the chickens lay eggs and the cows give milk, we'll be fine.'
We can always make omelets for dinner.
Besides, winter is a long way off.
We'll have time to make more money.
But winter came much earlier than expected that year.
There were no more vegetables from the garden.
They had a nice big fire to sit around, but the animals were hungry.
They feared it would be a long and cold winter.
