They let Dan rest for an hour and a half, and when Trixie and Honey returned to the clubhouse, they found Regan lounging in a chair and Dan sitting up on the sofa, his hair sticking up oddly from his nap. Both were smiling. I'm so glad Honey thought of talking to Regan and giving him time to think before he came thundering in here demanding to know what happened!
Clearly, Dan had been in the middle of discussing the events of the day with Regan, because the first thing they heard was, "I don't want to cause you trouble at school, Danny. I won't call the principal or this idiot's parents this time, if you don't want that. But, if something like this happens again, I'm not going to ask. Somebody hurts you, they're hurting me, your friends, and Maypenny too."
"I hope we're not interrupting, but we've come back with lunch for all of us!" Honey said tactfully.
"Turkey or ham for you guys? Honey and I like both."
Regan looked hopeful. "Me too? Really?"
Trixie laughed. "Yes, you too! We made six sandwiches and took a whole bag of chips. You never can tell who's going to show up around here and we wanted to make sure everyone had enough."
Trixie poured soda into paper cups because they had only brought three cans up from Crabapple Farm and didn't want to make Regan feel awkward about staying to have lunch with them.
"Turkey for me," Dan declared, happily taking a sandwich and digging in. "Turns out bicycling really works up an appetite."
Regan took a turkey sandwich as well, and grinned his thanks.
While they ate, Trixie tried to be patient, but she was dying to further discuss what had happened earlier in the day. She thought she was doing a pretty good job of not bringing it up and keeping a neutral expression, but apparently, she wasn't as good an actress as she thought.
"Do you want to share with the rest of us, or are you just going to hold it in until you actually explode?" Regan teased gently.
She sighed. "Was it that obvious? I was trying to be normal!"
"I know. Your trying face looks like, well ... like trying," Dan said apologetically. "It's okay, I talked to Uncle Bill and he's not going to storm Sleepyside Junior-Senior High on horseback in a suit of armor just yet."
"But," Regan interjected. "I can't promise that Mr. Maypenny won't drive that bizarre old car of his right up to the door and start questioning Stratton in his old-man Sherlock Holmes hat. Or leave a bag of burning forest scat on the van Kassel family's doorstep."
Dan almost spit out a bit of turkey sandwich at his uncle's unexpected joke, and the girls weren't faring much better.
Honey giggled and then managed to catch her breath. "And Mr. Maypenny could - could find something a bit more exotic than just standard doggie poo!"
The whole scenario was so unexpectedly funny that Trixie had yet to stop laughing. Tears were blurring her vision. Regan joking about Mr. Maypenny's hat, Honey engaging in bathroom humor ... she wiped at her eyes ineffectually.
It took a few moments for her to find her voice, and she knew she wasn't helping any of them to calm down, but she managed, "Horse leavings would lead right to you, Regan! He'd have to find catamount scat to make the right point!"
They all erupted into laughter once again, and Trixie did not regret her contribution to the hilarity, even if it did mean that the vision of Mr. Maypenny in his hat searching out just the right thing in the forest, gleefully lighting it aflame, and running to hide was a thing that would live in her mind forever. She giggled again.
It was Regan who was first able to be serious.
"I need to get back to the stables in a little bit. I want all of you kids to be extra careful. If this van Kassel kid gives you more trouble, tell someone. Your parents, me, Miss Trask, I mean it. And, we don't even know for certain yet that this is even connected to Jim's incident last night. An extra layer of vigilance is definitely called for whether it's one idiot and a bad driver, the idiot IS the driver, or it was targeted in some way. I don't want to see any of you walking around alone after dark. That means you too, Dan. Going home to Maypenny's after school or work, I want two Bob-Whites to walk you home so they can walk back together and if it's not possible, you have to tell me, and I'll do it."
Dan tried to protest, "But your job! You'll need to -"
Regan interrupted his nephew. "Nope. I'll need to make sure you're safe. I only have one nephew and I don't want him run into a ditch or worse, or his lights punched out by some jock with a chip on his shoulder."
Before Dan could say anything else in protest, Regan turned to Trixie and Honey. "You girls too, and your brothers. This isn't negotiable. This is my price for not calling this kid's parents right now and telling them what I think of their parenting skills. All bets are off if this kid hurts one of you again!"
Trixie smiled at him. "Of course, Regan. It's reasonable, and we'll tell the others when they get there. Poor Di! Think of all she's missed! We'll fill her in on everything when she gets here later this afternoon."
"Regan, do you remember much about the tires on Mrs. Crimper's big old sedan from when she hit you and made you hit the fire hydrant?" Honey asked, a small line of concentration forming between her brows.
He shook his head. "I was so rattled I'm lucky I remembered my name. I'm sure I don't need to say this, but as the only adult in the room, I feel like I need to. If this is going to be a case for the Belden-Wheeler Detective Agency, use your heads, okay? Try to minimize any sneaking around in the dark and consider keeping the rest of us in the loop as much as you can. I trust your brains to solve the problem, I just don't trust other people not to try to stop you."
Trixie nodded solemnly. "We've been doing better. Less sneaking, more talking and sharing the fun."
Regan smiled. "I'm glad to hear it."
He stood to leave, and ruffled his nephew's hair, making it stand up even more, assisted by static electricity from the blanket still wrapped around his shoulders. "And I'm sorry about your college fair. I know you were looking forward to that. Is there another one?"
"There are two more, I think? I think I - I mean, I think me and Jim are thinking along the same lines with going to school somewhere not too far away. I don't really want to take off after finally finding a family either. It would be cool to be able to come home some weekends and maybe even meet up for dinner sometimes, you know?"
When Dan said those words, Trixie saw Regan's face and knew that if he hadn't been trying to be the Adult in the Room, he might have shouted, "Yippee!" and taken a turn dancing around the clubhouse.
Instead, he grinned happily at his nephew and said, "Well, and here I thought you were tired of killjoy Uncle Bill all up in your business all the time!"
As happy as they were that Dan and Regan seemed to be getting along so well, neither of them missed what was buried in Dan's words. I think me and Jim are thinking along the same lines with going to school somewhere not too far away. I don't really want to take off after finally finding a family either. That meant that Dan and Jim had talked about it at some point, that they had had a conversation about not wanting to attend college far away, and that they wouldn't be losing at least two of the Bob-Whites to out-of-state colleges. Things would change, of course, when they all started going to school, but they wouldn't change so drastically right away, and that was a huge relief.