Al Capone Does My Shirts: Chapter 19: Daddy’s Little Miss Summary & Analysis

Scout ignores Moose the next day at school. Moose is writing a letter to Pete after he gets home when Theresa knocks on the door. She tells Moose and Natalie to come: Moose isn’t getting money from Piper, but Annie always buys candy and she’ll share. This piques Natalie’s interest, so she and Moose follow Theresa. Natalie sits down and begins matching buttons with stones and feathers, but Piper calls to Natalie: she needs Natalie to divide the earnings three ways and count out the shares. Natalie happily does so as Annie and Jimmy discuss what they’ll buy.

Mr. Trixle suddenly appears and says that the warden wants to see Piper, Moose, Jimmy, and Annie. Piper’s money is hidden already, but Jimmy and Annie’s piles are still on the dock. Theresa takes off her skates and cries since she can’t find her shoes, while Annie looks pale. Theresa insists she has to come, even if the warden didn’t ask for her, because she’ll be able to get the others out of trouble. Moose insists he’s not in trouble, but Theresa just tells Natalie to come with them. To Moose’s amazement, Natalie leaves her buttons and follows the group up the hill to Piper’s house.

In his library, the warden stares at the children for a moment before saying he’s very disappointed and then pulling out a letter. He reads it aloud. It’s from Del’s father, informing the warden of the laundry scheme and threatening to alert the mayor and the San Francisco Chronicle if something like this happens again. The warden then asks Annie to explain, and Annie says that it was Piper’s idea; she just put the clothes through with her laundry. The warden says he hates when people blame others, but Moose and Jimmy insist Annie is telling the truth. Piper just says that Annie is “not usually like this.” Shaking, the warden says everyone will be punished as Natalie repeats “one dollar and six cents”—and Theresa explains that’s what they each earned.

At this, the warden demands everyone’s money. Jimmy and Annie hand over theirs, but Piper doesn’t move. He then notes that money motivated almost all the criminals in Alcatraz, and he insists this will not happen again. If it does, he threatens to fire their fathers without severance, saying specifically that he expected more from Moose. With this, he dismisses everyone but Piper. Moose looks back and sees Piper whispering to her father. Clearly, she’s going to get out of this.