three o'clock
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 . Gladdened by the thought that they might be in the city , he walked miles , watching the curb before stores where they shopped , searching for their car , and he told himself that if he found it , nothing could separate him from the steering gear until he sped past all regulation straight to his mother 's cupboard . He had wanted ham and chicken in the beginning ; later helping himself to cold food in the cellar seemed a luxury ; then crackers and cookies in the dining-room cupboard would have satisfied his wildest desire ; and before three o'clock , Junior , in mad rebellion , remembered his mother 's slop bucket . How did she dare put big pieces of bread and things good enough for any one to eat in feed for pigs and poultry ! If he ever reached home he resolved he would put a stop to that . At three to Mickey 's cheerful , `` Now we 'll find a job or make it , '' he answered : `` No we will find a square meal or steal it , '' and then he told .