Full of Beans

Beans gets the idea to prompt all the kids of Key West to join in the volunteer efforts, but though he gets Ira, Pork Chop, and Too bad to go along with him, they cannot convince anyone else. Later, sitting and keeping Kermit company, Beans watches him fuss over which piece of Mrs. Albury’s abundant divinity to select. This gives him another idea: Bribe the kids of Key West with divinity. Dozens of boys gather to volunteer at the office, and Dot arrives with a group of girls. Soon the children are sweeping, shoveling, planting, painting, and ridding the beach of seaweed. They also make souvenirs; Johnny Cakes provides cigar boxes, and the kids glue seashells to them. Once the children begin to work on the town, “there was a new energy” (161) in other people to volunteer. Even Murray and a group of lepers come out at night to plant flowers. Soon, the town is waiting anxiously for the tourists to arrive: “Before we knew it, it was opening night for our town” (162).

Tourists arrive in a contented invasion in Key West. They fill the Casa Marina hotel and eat at Mrs. Soldano’s newly constructed lunch counter, built on federal dollars as part of paid repairs to her house, which Beans convinced Mr. Stone to make happen. Avery paints more pictures for the restaurants and businesses and tells Beans to join his new art classes. Poet Robert Frost visits, and Beans lets him know that their resident writer, Ernest Hemingway, lives there; “he’s not very good, though” (166). Poppy comes home to share the news that he found a job working highway construction north of key West; no move to New Jersey will follow. The Keepsies regain their standing as champs in marbles. Beans gets a great idea to start a babysitting service for mothers on vacation called “The Diaper Gang.”

Six months later, Beans pulls three babies in the wagon. He recounts the success of Key West in the months since it opened for tourism. The town plans to build more restaurants and hotels; the economy is improving, and people are more optimistic and happier. The Diaper Gang business, with Beans at the helm and Pork Chop and Ira as helpers, is booming, so Beans satisfyingly refuses Winky’s offer to collect cans for him. Mr. Stone promotes positivity and a welcoming spirit among all Key West residents. Too Bad still wants in the gang, so Beans allows him to try changing a diaper on one of the babies, but the baby startles Too Bad, and he loses his balance; the soiled diaper hits Beans in the chest. Kermit must agree to nap daily, and Termite is still Beans’s dog. Dot begins an all-girls marbles team and offers to play the Keepsies, but Beans refuses. In the last frame of the story, a man arrives in an old Model-A Ford pedaling a hair regrowth tonic. Beans scoffs at the offer and reflects on the various kinds of lies people tell, recalling the importance of “never, ever get[ing] Winkied” (179).

Brief historical notes follow the narrative. The author explains that Key West’s “real-life” recovery during the Depression did result from Julius Stone, Jr.’s idea to turn Key West into “the Bermuda of Florida” (182), that volunteer efforts transformed the setting and the spirit of the local community, and that artists came to town to provide images for posters and brochures. The author also comments on the historical details of the danger of fire in the town, the child actors popular in the day, and the lepers that called a few lanes of Key West home in the period. The author follows up the historical notes with a list of “Beans’s Favorite Kid Actors,” “Pork Chop’s Best Sayings,” Official Rules of the Diaper Gang,” and “Resources to Keep the Conversation Going.”