Nonny did not see Papa very much. Every day he saw Mamma, Gramma, and his baby sister Lee-Lee. But Papa always had to be gone—sometimes here, sometimes there. Gramma said Papa was a very hard worker.

Sometimes Nonny liked to pretend that he was Papa. "I am a very hard worker," he would say. He showed Mamma and Gramma that he was a hard worker. He could take out the trash, and sweep the porch, and carry Lee-Lee’s tricycle all the way to her room. Whew! He worked so hard.

"Mamma," said Nonny, "When I’m big I’m going to go away and work hard for you, just like Papa. I will bring you lots of flowers when I come home." Mamma smiled. She liked flowers. She liked it when Papa gave her daisies sometimes.

Mamma said, "Nonny, you don’t have to go away and work hard. I like it when you work hard for me at home."

"Yes," said Gramma, with her soft voice (the kind you had to be quiet to hear), "Nonny is such a hard worker. What would we do without him?"

The next time Papa came home, Nonny jumped into his arms. Papa lifted him up and up, so high! Nonny could see everything in the room. He could see Gramma in her chair (she was making a blanket), and he could see Lee-Lee playing with her trucks, and he could see Mamma smiling at him from the kitchen.

When Papa sat down, Nonny came down too. He flew down like a bird from Papa’s shoulders and landed BOOM! in Papa’s lap. He liked it when Papa said "BOOM!"

"Papa," Nonny said, "I like it when you come home! I want you to work hard for us at home. That’s what I’m going to do. We will both work hard at home and bring Mamma flowers every day."

"I like to work hard at home too," said Papa. "I like to fix things, and build things, and paint things for Mamma."

"I want to paint!" said Nonny.

Papa laughed. "Someday you will paint, and you will fix things, and maybe build things."

"I will! I will build things," Nonny said. He was so happy, he jumped down and skipped all around the room.

Mamma was still in the kitchen. Nonny ran to her and hugged her legs as hard as he could! He liked to hug Mamma, because she smelled good, and she always put her hand on top of his head. He turned his head up and peaked between her fingers.

"Mamma! I’m going to build and paint, just like Papa!"

"Yes," said Mamma. "Someday you will be just like Papa." She lifted her hand up, up, up. "You will be this tall!"

"I will be taller than you!"

Papa laughed. "Maybe you will be taller than me!

"And then I will work hard, Papa! We will stay home and work hard," Nonny said. And he was so happy, he ran outside to sweep the porch and show everybody how hard he could work.

Gramma sighed. "Every little boy wants to be just like his papa."

"He wants me to work at home," said Papa, "but I cannot be home so much."

Mamma hugged Papa. "You are a hard worker. I miss you when you are gone, but I am also proud of you."

"Nonny is proud of his Papa," said Gramma. "He is glad that you take such good care of things. Someday he will understand that not all papas can work near home."

But Nonny did not understand. When Papa had to leave, Nonny cried. And then Lee-Lee cried too. Papa was very sad. A big van came with other papas. Nonny’s papa climbed into the van and he waved good-bye.

"No!" cried Nonny. "I do not want you to go!" But Papa did not look at Nonny, and the big van drove away.

Nonny ran to his room, threw himself on his bed, and cried and cried and cried! Lee-Lee climbed on his bed and held Nonny’s hand. She did not make any sounds, but she cried too. Nonny felt very sorry for himself, but he also felt sorry for Lee-Lee.

Mamma came to Nonny’s room and sat down on his bed. She held Nonny on one side, and Lee-Lee on the other. Nonny still held Lee-Lee’s hand because she was so sad.

"Mamma?" Nonny asked, "Why do papas have to go?"

Mamma thought for a minute, and then she said, "Some papas have to go because they work far away. Some papas do not get to see their families very much."

"I want Papa to be the kind who is home," said Nonny.

"He is a good papa," said Mamma. "I do not want him to be a different kind."

All of a sudden, Lee-Lee sat up and cried LOUD! She was very noisy, and very wet. Nonny ran to get her a tissue. He got one for Mamma, one for him, and two for Lee-Lee.

"Thank you, Nonny," said Mamma. Lee-Lee did not say anything. She stopped crying and sniff-sniff-sniffled. Nonny sniffled, and Mamma sniffled too.

Gramma came to Nonny’s door and looked at them. They were all sniffling and wiping their noses. She smiled, and then Nonny smiled, and then Mamma smiled…and then Lee-Lee smiled!

"We have noisy noses!" said Nonny. He laughed, because he felt silly when he said, "noisy noses!" He marched around the room and said it over and over. "Noisy noses, noisy noses, noisy noses!"

Everybody laughed and hugged, and then everybody wished Papa could have heard about their noisy noses.

"I will tell him when he comes home," said Nonny.

Lee-Lee jumped up. "I will tell him too!"

Nonny was so glad that Lee-Lee did not look sad any more. He said, "Papa will be home soon, Lee-Lee. We will show him we are hard workers."

"Yes," said Mamma. "We will all work hard just like Papa."

And so they did. And when Papa finally came home again, he thought "noisy noses" was the funniest thing he ever heard!