noon
Empty and disheartened Junior squeezed the dime and hurried toward the nearest restaurant . But the transaction had been witnessed by a boy as hungry as he , and hardened to the street . How Junior came to be sprawling on the sidewalk he never knew ; only that his hand involuntarily opened in falling and he threw it out to catch himself , so he could n't find the dime . Before noon he was sick and reeling with sleeplessness and hunger . He was waiting when it was Mickey 's time to lunch , but he did not come , and in desperation Junior really tried the street . At last he achieved a nickel by snatching a dropped bundle from under a car . He sat a long time in a stairway looking at it , and then having reached a stage where he was more sick , and less hungry , he hunted a telephone booth and tried to get his home , only to learn that the family was away .