Part 2 (2/2)
”I would love it, Penny! But it's practically a waste of words to ask Mother. We're going to my grandmother's farm in Vermont for the holidays, and I'll have to tag along.”
Since grade school days the two girls had been inseparable friends.
Between them there was perfect understanding and they made an excellent pair, for Louise exerted a subduing effect upon the more impulsive, excitable Penny.
Inactivity bored Penny, and wherever she went she usually managed to start things moving. When nothing better offered, she tried her hand at writing newspaper stories for her father's paper. Several of these reportorial experiences had satisfied even Penny's deep craving for excitement.
Three truly ”big” stories had rolled from her typewriter through the thundering presses of the _Riverview Star_: Tale of the Witch Doll, The Vanis.h.i.+ng Houseboat, and Danger at the Drawbridge. Even now, months after her last astonis.h.i.+ng adventure, friends liked to tease her about a humorous encounter with a certain Mr. Kippenberg's alligator.
”Pine Top won't be any fun without you, Lou,” Penny complained.
”Oh, yes it will,” contradicted her chum. ”I know you'll manage to stir up plenty of excitement. You'll probably pull a mysterious Eskimo out of a snow bank or save Santa Claus from being kidnaped! That's the way you operate.”
”Pine Top is an out of the way place, close to the Canadian border. All one can do there is eat, sleep, and ski.”
”You mean, that's all one is supposed to do,” corrected Louise with a laugh. ”But you'll run into some big story or else you're slipping!”
”There isn't a newspaper within fifty miles. No railroad either. The only way in and out of the valley is by airplane, and bob-sled, of course.”
”That may cramp your style a little, but I doubt it,” declared Louise. ”I do wish I could go along.”
The girls talked with Mrs. Sidell, but as they both had expected, it was not practical for Louise to make the trip.
”I'll come to the airport to see you off on your plane,” Louise promised as Penny left the house. ”You're starting Thursday, aren't you?”
”Yes, at ten-thirty unless there's bad weather. But I'll see you again before that.”
All the next day Penny packed furiously. Mr. Parker was unusually busy at the office, but he bought his daughter's ticket and made all arrangements for the trip to Pine Top. Since Mrs. Weems also planned to leave Riverview the following day, the house was in a constant state of turmoil.
”I feel sorry for Dad being left here alone,” remarked Penny. ”He'll never make his bed, and he'll probably exist on strong coffee and those wretched raw beef sandwiches they serve at the beanery across from the _Star_ office.”
”I ought to give up my vacation,” declared Mrs. Weems. ”It seems selfish of me not to stay here.”
Mr. Parker would not hear of such an arrangement, and so plans moved forward just as if his own trip had not been postponed.
”Dad, you'll honestly try to come to Pine Top for Christmas?” Penny pleaded.
”I'll do my best,” he promised soberly. ”I have a hunch that Harvey Maxwell may still be in town, despite what we were told at the hotel. I intend to busy myself making a complete investigation of the man.”
”If I could help, I'd be tickled to stay, Dad.”
”There's nothing you can do, Penny. Just go out there and have a nice vacation.”
Mr. Parker had not intended to go to the office Thursday morning until after Penny's plane had departed, but at breakfast time a call came from DeWitt, the city editor, urging his presence at once. Before leaving, he gave his daughter her ticket and travelers checks.
”Now I expect to be at the airport to see you off,” he promised. ”Until then, good-bye.”
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