Chapter: 27
A Matter of Time
The Town Hall Meeting had certainly been exciting and enlightening. But whether it had actually been "fun" was still open for debate. Trixie had found the sparks of contention amongst the crowd quite exhilarating. While Honey, on the other hand, had found them incredibly draining. So much so that the pretty girl was glad when she and her friend were finally able to sit down.
Most of the local attendees had left the building. Mr. and Mrs. Belden, as well as Miss Trask and Mr. Lynch, were upfront laughing away with Sergio Zabatino, while Dan had gone to talk with Tad Webster, who was waiting on his brother Spider. Officer Webster's shift wouldn't be over until the Way Beyond crew was through. And as he killed time, he stood along the wall with the mayor's bodyguard, Mr. Wilcox.
Trixie had been so focused on the Baked-Potato-Heads that she hadn't even noticed that the plain-clothed security guard had been in the audience. And she gave herself a good scolding for this. As an experienced detective, Trixie should have been more observant. And the fretting girl began to wonder what else she'd missed.
Glancing about the room, Trixie studied Bobby and the Lynch twins, who were in an animated discussion with astrophysicist Taylor Troves. Ole Cap'n Brian was acting as the wee astronauts' watchdog. And his red-haired first mate had sailed along as the young scoundrels' interpreter.
Mr. Troves had been curious to hear more about Bobby's claim that the aliens had seven sisters and a boy cow. And he and Sergio's other experts were conducting private interview sessions with some of the town's more interesting U.F.O. witnesses. But Trixie's little brother wasn't the only member of the Belden family that they were talking to.
Sandy Ryan, whose specialty was Biophysics, was trying to get Mart to spill the beans about what was in that Miraculous Multiplier of his. But Trixie doubted that her tight-lipped brother would reveal his secret recipe. Mart had told his sister once that he and Mr. Sanderson were seriously looking into patenting the elixir. But she figured Mart would be more than happy to let the scientist perform tests on some of the oversized produce.
Mr. Zabatino's panel had also detained Mr. Ted Brown. And Trixie was beginning to wish that she and Honey hadn't taken chairs at the back of the room. The two young ladies had wanted privacy to chat. But this also meant they were less apt to "accidentally overhear" what was being said upfront. And this was a shame because former intelligence officer Emilio Ellando appeared to be giving the school teacher a mighty good grilling.
"I sure feel sorry for Allison Marx," Honey told Trixie as she cooled herself with her paper fan. "Mayor Murdock refuses to leave her alone. He seems pretty intent on selling his weather balloon theory, doesn't he, Trixie?"
"I'd say," the curly-haired girl agreed, wishing she was better at reading lips. "But after witnessing tonight's free-for-all, I'm not sure I blame him, Honey. The Baked-Potato-Heads are nuttier than I thought. Why, if people in town start buying into their lies, who knows what could happen!"
Honey checked over her shoulder to make sure Mr. Jackson had left the room, then confessed, "I've been worrying about that too, Trixie. I can't imagine how anyone could think that Daddy and Mr. Brandio are opening their new facility to help aliens rebuild their spaceship? Why the idea is simply preposterous."
"I agree," Trixie said. "And I find Mr. Brown's theory that an alien ship exploded over Sleepyside in the 1700s awfully far-fetched too. Still," the musing girl had to admit, "The idea is intriguing, isn't it? I'd like to poke around the Van den Boogaard place one of these days and see what I can come up with. I've got it from a pretty reliable source that there's a deserted cabin on the site. Though I seriously doubt the Van den Boogaards are the ones who built it."
As Mr. Brown strode by, Honey leaned in closer to Trixie. The school teacher had finished with Mr. Ellando and seemed irritated as he walked toward the exit. "Why's that?" the cautious young lady hissed under her breath.
Trixie waited until Ted had left, then said, "First off, if the structure had been built during colonial times, then abandoned, it'd likely be nothing but rubble by now. Plus, Moms explained to me once that the early Dutch settlers constructed their homes in the same manner as they had in the old country. If that's true, then the Van den Boogaards would probably have built a stone cottage with a rounded roof like Mrs. Vanderpool's. Not a log cabin."
"Oh, how smart of you!" Honey cried. "And that would mean someone must have erected the cabin later – possibly on the old stone foundation. It easily could have been the family who put up the loafing shed where Mr. Maypenny keeps Brownie when he's out at the Crop Circle. Maybe Daddy would let us look at the deed to the property sometime. He should have a copy of the plat somewhere too. You've got me curious now, Trixie. I'd like to do some digging."
Trixie grinned and then laughed. "I thought you were scared of the vampires?" she teased.
Honey chuckled. "I meant dig in the historical records," she clarified. "Not for pirate's gold, silly. Especially now that we've learned it might be radioactive."
Trixie still held some reservations there. The skeptical young lady felt that Mr. Brown should have stuck to his theory that the raining stones in 1745 had been meteorites. It was much more believable. And she told Honey so.
But her less certain friend's reply was drowned out by Bobby Belden's exclamation of, "Sos, you sees…."
The keyed-up child was headed the girls' way, and he was talking to Jim and Brian. Continuing, Bobby said, "…when you looks to space, you looks to the past. Sos, if you wants to go far, you gotta sets your clocks back. When Larry and I ares astronauts, they're gonna let us rides on their ship. And they're gonna shows us how they dos it. Then we cans dos it too. And holps 'em with stuff."
Jim let out a moan of befuddlement, and Trixie giggled. It seemed the boys' discussion with Mr. Troves had been an enlightening one. "And what kind of 'stuff 'do they intend to let you help with?" the red-haired boy asked, knowing full well he'd likely be sorry.
"I don't really knows?" Bobby confessed, scratching his head. "But it's real 'portants. And Larry and I are gonna holps them. On accounta we both agreed. We talked to ourselves abouts it."
"You mean you 'talked to each other about it'," Brian corrected his brother with a frustrated sigh. He and Bobby needed to have a few tutoring sessions in English before school started up again.
"OK, ifs you says so," Bob replied simply. Then, plopping down next to Trixie, he exclaimed, "Guess whats?!"
"You're going to be on T.V. again?" his big sister ventured.
Bobby nodded so hard his chair bounced off the floor. "Yeps!" he cried. "And this times everyone in the whole wide world can watches me!"
On Wednesday, just past dawn, Trixie was standing in the garden, plucking a pesky tomato horn-worm off one of the plants, when six hot-air balloons came drifting lazily across the sky. The colorful procession was nearly silent, and she might not have noticed it if it hadn't been for the occasion whoosh of the balloons' burners as they shot up flames to heat the air inside their vibrant envelopes.
Calling out to Mart, who'd just popped his head out of the hen house, Trixie pointed to the sky. One by one, the wondrous globes were now passing over the farmhouse. And as the spellbound pair watched, the pilots in the dangling gondolas waved down to them.
"Gleeps, I can hardly wait for tonight!" Trixie told her brother as the last of their un-tethered visitors slipped over the trees. "Jim says the balloons look almost like stain glass when they're all lit up for the night-glow. I sure wish it didn't cost so much to take a ride in one. Wouldn't it be wonderful to float through the clouds like that?!"
Mart let out a snort and tugged on one of his dreaming sister's curls. "Pray tell, what clouds?" he ventured smartly. "The ones in that muddled noddle of yours? There's nary a visible mass of condensed water vapor in the air, and if we are to believe the Farmer's Almanac, there won't be until mid-September."
Trixie frowned and told the young man not to be such a Debbie-downer. "At least it's perfectly perfect weather for the fair," she said optimistically. "The Bob-Whites couldn't have picked a better day to go. I do believe it feels cooler this morning, don't you?"
Mart, who'd taken the day off work, was forced to agree. And he was quick to add that he was pretty excited about the day's activities, as well. Since most of the events the Bob-White's wished to attend weren't scheduled until the afternoon and evening, Mr. Belden had decided to go into the bank that morning. But he planned to be home at noon.
Mrs. Belden had also invited everyone for a yummy lunch at the house before the fair. She hoped if she stuffed the ravenous bunch before leaving for town, they'd only have to snag snacks and something to eat for dinner. And, of course, no one had any objections to that idea. Who could pass up one of Moms' meaty club roll-ups or a heaping scoop of her macaroni salad? Certainly not the Bob-Whites of the Glen!
Why just thinking about the noon-time feast was making Trixie hungry. She hadn't had breakfast yet, and neither had Mart. So best they hurry and finish up with their chores.
But as the thoughtful girl got back to it, she now wished that she and her friends had been able to attend the morning's balloon launch. Mr. Masterson and several members of his ballooning club had lifted off from the soccer field in City Park just after sunrise. It would have been quite exciting to see. But Jim had promised the B.W.G.s that the evening's glow would be even more spectacular. And since they couldn't attend both, the Bob-Whites took his word.
And as it turned out, that was probably for the best. Mart seemed to be dragging this morning and not in the best of moods. Hopefully, he'd have time to rest up and snap out of his funk before twelve. Not that his sister didn't understand. The Comets had had their first game Tuesday night with Mr. Sanderson as acting coach. And, sadly, the team hadn't won. But the score had been close, and Mr. All-star was sure the Comets already had the next game chalked up. They just needed time to adjust to the farmer's more easy-going style.
Besides, it'd been an away game, and those were always harder to win. And Trixie and her other friends hadn't been able to attend the out-of-town competition to help cheer the young men on. But Mr. Wheeler had gone along as assistant coach, and Trixie's middle brother had told his sister that Jack Turner had refused to get on the bus with him.
That had defiantly hurt the team's chances of achieving a victory. But Jack's family would be moving at the end of the month when International Pine relocated. So the players might as well get used to not having the skilled boy in rotation.
Still, Trixie felt sort of sorry for Jack. He couldn't help that his father was Mr. Bank's C.E.O. Plus, it had to be pretty hard on the boy to be leaving his friends -even though one of them was that rotten Miles Murdock.
Why if she had to say goodbye to Honey and Jim, not to mention Dan, Trixie was just positive that her life would be over! Nope, that couldn't happen. Could it? The upset girl cleared her mind and went back to plucking caterpillars.
Later that afternoon, Trixie and Bob-Whites could have sworn that they'd been transported to another planet. Daddy called it "Ufoville, USA", which made his daughter and her friends laugh. The name certainly fit better than City Park. But it was so much more than that. Mr. Belden was in such a silly, jovial mood that it was becoming contagious! And who could blame him for feeling that way? Even Mart had perked up. For every which way the eye could see, wonderments awaited!
Mr. Lynch and the residents of Sleepyside had definitely pulled out all the stops. It was so exciting to see the Bob-Whites' vision from the brainstorming session come to life. Everything was there -from the vendor food carts offering tempting treats to the street mimes dressed in black leotards silently witnessing spaceships coming from the sky.
How much fun?! And the town council had expanded on the young peoples' ideas too!
Trixie never thought to hang banners and flags with images of the crop circle about the park. Nor to replace the globes on the lampposts with ones resembling big-eyed alien heads. Yet someone had. And what a sight they were to see!
"How do we decide what to do first?!" the giddy girl cried as a volunteer wearing a headband with springy antennas handed her a program with a map.
Brian looked over Trixie's shoulder at the schedule of events and then checked his watch. "We've got about half an hour before the show at the bandstand begins," he said. "What if we browse the souvenir stands first? I know that ten-dollar bill I gave Bob has got to be burning a hole in his pocket? Still want that ray-gun?" he asked his little brother.
"Oh yeahs!" the youngster cried, grabbing his big brother's hand. "I was gonna asks if we could go looks for one. I wants a reds one. You likes reds, don'ts you, Brian? Reds is his favorites color," the sneaky child went on to tell Honey. "He thinks your new swimsuit is reals pretty. Don'ts you Brian?"
As the eldest Belden boy nearly tumbled into the fountain, Trixie snickered. Matchmaker Bobby was definitely working overtime. And even Moms and Daddy seemed to be enjoying it. At least they were smirking, anyway.
"Umm, yes, it's very nice," the cornered boy mumbled, causing Jim to elbow him in the ribs and ask him to speak up.
"It's a very lovely swimsuit, Honey," the young man repeated more loudly, glaring at his laughing buddy.
To which the bashful girl quietly said, "Thank you," before graciously offering to buy everyone grape Man-eater Slushies.
At two o'clock, the Bob-Whites, a ray-gun armed Bobby, and his parents, gathered around the whitewashed City Park bandstand. There was already quite a crowd milling. And to Trixie's surprise, the swarm included Mr. and Mrs. Lynch and their two sets of twins.
Diana, however, was nowhere in sight. And the somewhat taken aback Miss Belden wondered if her one-time friend had been grounded again. The old Di always attended family outings. She simply adored them. Only Trixie wasn't so sure about the new cigarette smoking Miss Lynch. And that was so sad.
But as Mr. Lynch waved and motioned for his neighbors to join his brood, Trixie was about to discover Diana's whereabouts. Unbeknownst to the Bob-Whites, Di's name had been penciled into the program! She was planning to sing today!
"Isn't that wonderfully wonderful?!" Honey exclaimed as Bobby shot sparks of welcome at Terry and Larry, and Mr. and Mrs. Belden said their hellos to Phillip and Phoebe.
"I'll say," Trixie replied, again checking the schedule. "I knew Di was taking lessons, but wow! It takes a lot of courage to get up in front of all these people. I sure couldn't do it. I can't even carry a tune."
Mart snagged the paper from his sister's hand. "As non-disputable as that fact may be," he quipped, "you might do well to reconsider, oh one-of-little-talent. It says right here that the comedians are up first. And I do believe you'd fit right in. Why just your peculiar appearance on stage would send the masses into hysterics. And if you should suddenly burst into song…. "
"OK, lamebrain, knock it off," Brian warned, as the day's emcee took to the stage and welcomed the first standup comic. "I don't want to miss a word of Mr. Donahue's monologue. Got it? He's supposed to be on, right after this guy in the green makeup."
As the Bob-White's attention turned to the open-aired bandstand, a fellow in a ridiculous homemade alien costume came on stage caring a small parsons table. Setting it down in front of him, the man, who was calling himself Howard the E.T., then lugged over a huge burlap bag."
When a heckler in the crowd cried, "Whatcha got in there? An abductee?" the young "alien" pulled out a big ripe tomato. Setting it on the table, Howard then went to the edge of the platform, where his accomplice handed him a sledgehammer.
Taking it over to the table, the grinning man in face-paint cried out to the audience, "Experiment time!" Then, after raising the heavy implement above his head, the exuberant extraterrestrial brought it down atop the tomato, creating a juicy splat. As people softly chuckled, the not-so-funny comedian again went to his sack, and this time produced a cantaloupe.
"Uh-oh," Dan said, moving everyone in his group back. "I've seen this gig before. Unless you want a sticky bath, I'd avoid the front row."
Then, as Howard's hammer again came down, the seedy guts from the pungent melon sprayed toward the crowd, and their laughter increased.
But the heavy hitter wasn't done. Oh, no, he also had one of Mr. Sanderson's behemoth watermelons in that pack of his! Positioning it on the table next, the man in the sparkly space suit then put on a yellow rain slicker before raising his hammer once more. This time as the beastly tool came down, an explosion of green and pink pulp showered down upon the shrieking and fleeing spectators closest to the stage.
And even Trixie found that funny! Especially when she noticed that Susie Swanson, Miles, and Jack were among the silly alien's victims! Why just witnessing Miss Perfect picking watermelon from her lovely glistening hair was priceless.
Only Howard the E.T. had gone back to his burlap bag. Looking inside, he then called out to the now laughing crowd, "Ah, it's empty." But then the frowning alien's face lit up. "But I've got an idea!" he cried, again shouldering his sledgehammer. "We don't have any volunteers from the audience, do we? I've always wanted to experiment on Earthlings!"
As everyone around the Bob-Whites howled and cried out, "not me!" a gracious laughing Howard bowed and thanked the audience before he and friend began cleaning up the gooey stage.
"Gleeps, that was a riot, wasn't it?" Trixie cried to Dan, who was standing to her right.
Sure was, the beaming boy replied. "Did you see Mile's get it with that watermelon, Trix? What a kick! Anyone with half a brain would have known what was coming and gotten out of the way."
Once Howard had left the bandstand, Ms. Wilson, the announcer, brought on everyone's favorite butcher, Mr. Max Donahue. Accompanying Mr. Donahue on a set of electronic drums was his stepson Allen.
Taking his place at the microphone, the smirking butcher said, "Good Afternoon Ladies, Gentlemen, and those of you from distant planets. Have you heard the latest about International Pine?"
Though the crowd booed and hissed, they were clearly entertained, and the joking man when on, "Seems last week, one of the aliens walked into the furniture factory and asked Mr. Turner take him to his cedar."
As eleven-year-old Allen punctuated his father's awful one-liner with a drum sting of da-dum-bum-ching, Trixie heard Jack Turner call out from somewhere upfront, "Ah, that's not so funny!"
But the giggling girl had to admit it sort of was, and that's when Sleepyside's resident heckler called out, "So what happened next?"
"Well," the funning Mr. Donahue replied. "When Mr. Turner refused, it seems the alien tossed him on his spaceship, and then he took the elm."
Again came the familiar drum riff, and the crowd moaned and laughed despite themselves.
"I knew you'd like that oak," Mr. Donahue cracked into the mike, causing Trixie to wince as the comic's son once more let loose on his ba-dun-tss finish.
Only Jack Turner wasn't amused. And as he came storming the Bob-White's way with his pals in hot pursuit, Dan grabbed Trixie's arm and jerked her out of the enraged boy's path. Jack had apparently heard all he wanted to hear and wasn't sticking around for more. And once again, Trixie felt somewhat sorry for the boy. The butcher certainly hadn't said anything bad about Mr. Turner. Still, Jack's father was at the butt of Mr. Donahue's jokes. And Jack had taken people's laughter personally. And no one liked being laughed at.
After two more rib-tickling acts, Clarence Cornwall and his Velvet Saxes, fresh off the bus from Shady Rest Retirement Village, opened up the second half of the show with a jazzed-up version of The Violet Man-eater. Now christened the national anthem of Ufoville by the bopping along Bob-Whites, the ever-popular sing-along would be a hard act to follow.
But as luck would have it, that dubious honor was to fall on Diana.
As the silver-tongued Clarence and his gray-haired backup band were escorted off stage, following a rollicking encore, the more demure Miss Lynch took the spotlight.
Di, looking lovely as ever in a soft floral dress, appeared nervous as she took the stool that Ms. Wilson had placed in front of the microphone. In her arms, the softly smiling young lady held a curving acoustic guitar, and as she began gently strumming its strings, a hush fell over the crowd.
Humming along to the music, Diana started softly, but as she noticed her longtime friends in the audience, her smile deepened, and she began to sing. At first, weakly. But as Mart gave the shy girl a big thumbs up, her lilting voice found its strength, and it started flowing smoothly like the richest cream.
The melody wavered like an Irish folk ballad. And Di hit every note as if it came naturally to her. But as beautiful as the young woman's voice was, it was the lyrics to her song which held Trixie in their grip. And she listened with rapt attention as Diana sang hauntingly:
...
"Daddies' little girls and boys with silly smiles,
Come from a place called Never Land that lasts for but a while.
For little girls grow up too soon, and find themselves alone,
When silly boys refuse to see how much they've actually grown.
...
In Never Land, you cannot stay,
When love moves in, it ends the play,
But if I had the magic rhyme,
I'd do my best to turn back time.
I'd do my best to turn back time.
...
Daddies' little girls and boys with silly grins,
Come from a place called Never Land, a place that's never been.
For little boys grow up too soon and tire of all their toys,
And silly girls refuse to see they've lost their little boys.
...
In Never Land, you cannot stay,
When love moves in, it ends the play,
But if I had the magic rhyme,
I'd do my best to turn back time.
I'd do my best to turn back time.
...
Daddies' little girls and boys with silly smiles,
Come from a place called Never Land, with roads that stretch for miles,
But little girls and silly boys can love with all their hearts,
But someday soon, their paths will fork, and all will drift apart.
...
In Never Land, you cannot stay,
When love moves in, it ends the play,
But if I had the magic rhyme,
I'd do my best to turn back time.
I'd do my best to turn back time."
...
As Diana drew her melancholy song to a close with a string of fading chords, Trixie noticed that Honey was in tears. And while she was pretty close too, Trixie had pulled herself out of it by cheering and clapping as loudly as she could. Diana had blown Clarence Cornwall and his Velvet Saxes clear out of the park. Why, the talented girl had hit a home run to rival one of Mr. All-Star's!
But it was time to congratulate the young lady coming down the wooden steps. It mattered not that the teens were at odds. Besides, Di's song had hinted that perhaps she regretted the loss of the B.W.G.s' friendship?
Only as the Bob-Whites, Beldens, and very proud Lynches made their way toward the stage, Trixie noticed that Dan was pointing to the formal rose garden while whispering something in her middle brother's ear. Mrs. Carpenter, the flowers' caretaker, was there in her wide-brimmed straw hat chatting with the admiring passersby. And Trixie wondered what the boys were cooking up.
For Mart had just given the darker haired boy a quick slap on the back. And then, without asking for his parent's permission, he'd jogged over to where the retired woman was kneeling in one of the flower beds. Offering Mrs. Carpenter a crook of his arm, Mart then helped the gracious lady to her feet. And as Trixie watched on, the two spoke, as they strolled over to a patch of yellow roses which were tipped in pink.
There, Mrs. Carpenter snipped one of the filling buds and held it out to the crew-cut boy. Accepting it, Mart gave the kindly lady a sweet peck on her cheek. And then he turned to go.
With her mouth hanging open, Trixie spun on her toe and stared at Dan.
"What are you looking at?" he asked her shortly.
"You," she simply countered with a dismayed shake of her head - which Mr. Mangan responded to by shuffling a few steps, stuffing his hands in his pockets, and shrugging.
"What can I say?" he mumbled. "So I'm a hopeless romantic? What's the big deal? Besides, your bother may be a lot of things, Trix. But smooth he's not."
And Trixie had to laugh. That was certainly true. For Mart had just tripped over his own two big feet and landed at hers with a sheepish grin.
"A Peace Rose for the nightingale," he explained, as Trixie toed the crew-cut Romeo to get up. At least the big galoot hadn't destroyed his gift.
Then, as the trio joined their friends who were already conversing with Diana, Trixie heard Jim say, "You really blew me away, Di. I didn't even know you played the guitar?"
"I don't really," Diana replied modestly. "Well, not well, anyway. I've been trying to teach myself. Barb and Bob Hubbell suggested a few helpful manuals and websites. And they've been giving me pointers on my playing and songwriting during our video chats. But I'll never be as good as they are."
The Hubbell twins were a pair of accomplished teenage folk singers from Iowa. The Bob-Whites had first met the two musicians while visiting Uncle Andrew's farm over spring break. Later, the B.W.G.s would hook up with their friends again in New York City for a sightseeing tour. And that's when a hot-shot music producer would discover Barbara and Bob, and they'd sell one of their songs!
"Never as good as the Hubbells?" Mart repeated, handing Diana her rose. "I must agree, fair mademoiselle…but only because you have already far surpassed them."
As the flattered Delilah Lynch batted her long black eyelashes and held the fragrant blossom to her nose, Cosmo Mc Belden offered to carry her guitar, and Trixie giggled. It seemed in this mushy sequel to the Sinister Circle it was Dee Lynch who'd broken the alien's evil spell which had driven her and dear Cosmo apart. "And wouldn't you know it?" Trixie thought with another laugh. "The lovely purple princess hadn't even had to smash her guitar to do it."
Though, as Miles Murdock and his teenage tagalongs interrupted the "almost" reunion, Cosmo Mc Belden was tempted to bring the instrument down upon his alien rival's head.
"Who let in the hicks from the sticks?" Miles asked Di as he took the young lady's arm. "We didn't miss your spot, did we, Baby Doll? Run on home now, farm boy," he added to Mart with a sneer. "Jack, get the lady's guitar, will you?"
"Not another step, Turner," Mart growled hotly, causing the male members of the Bob-Whites to close in behind him. "I say it's up to the lady. Di?"
Pushing Diana back like a rag doll, Miles scoffed, "Just muzzle that big trap of yours Belden, and chuck up that instrument. The 'lady' has already made her choice. And it certainly ain't the likes of you!"
Overhearing with those sharp ears of his, Bobby Belden cried out, "Moms! Moms! That big means Miles just said the ain'ts word. He's not suppose to says that word, is he, Moms?!"
As Mr. and Mrs. Lynch chuckled, Mrs. Belden apologized, and Mr. Belden went to check up on the teenagers.
Meanwhile, having spied his father's approach, Mart begrudgingly handed over the sought-after guitar to Jack Turner.
"That's more like it," Miles told the ruffled boy. Then, in snatching the rose from Diana's hand, the bullying monster pricked his finger on a thorn, and he let out a curse as he tossed the innocent token back at Mart.
More may have come of it if Mr. Belden hadn't been there to intervene, and Mr. Murdock and his followers hadn't decided to make their escape down the fairway. Di, not so surprisingly, had gone along with them. But she hadn't looked too happy about it. And before she gone too far, the young lady had turned, smiled, and then waved goodbye to the Bob-Whites.
And Trixie had let out a sigh of relief. It was only a matter of time...
And there would be other roses.