Chapter Ten: Rehearsals and Responsibilities
This story is rated blue star and suitable for all ages.
Unfortunately for Trixie, in spite of Honey’s best and most tactful efforts, neither of their brothers was persuaded to make a stop at the theatre. It was of little comfort that Brian was genuinely regretful when he said no, or that Jim shot them a sympathetic smile.
“Sorry, we’ve just go too much to do at home,” Brian said, as he pulled out of the school parking lot, “and we really should ride tonight.”
“It’s hard to be responsible all the time,” Trixie said.
“How would you know?” Mart demanded. “And what’s the big deal anyway?” He looked from one girl to the other.
“Nothing,” Trixie said. “I just, we just…” she faltered, and Honey swiftly stepped in.
“We just wanted to make a last minute check for tomorrow, see that the stage is clear, and fill the urn I had Tom drop off today, things like that.”
Trixie flashed her friend a grateful smile.
“The urn was a really good idea,” Brian said.
“I thought people might like a hot drink tomorrow,” Honey said, then grabbed Trixie’s arm. “Whatever you do, don’t let me forget to pack tea, coffee and hot chocolate in the morning.”
Trixie raised her sandy brows. “You’re asking me to remind you about domestic stuff?”
Everyone laughed and Di added, “I’m sorry I can’t come, but I promised my folks I’d go to this lunch weeks ago.”
“And someone has to be on Bobby duty, even though technically that is one person’s responsibility in particular.” Mart tried to look annoyed, but they all knew he liked spending time with his little brother.
“We drew for it fair and square,” his sister said. “Besides, Dad said he needs both you and Brian first thing.”
“I can’t stay the whole time, but if I can borrow the station wagon, I can come in with you guys for an hour or so, then come back later with Brian to work on our number,” Dan offered.
“That would be great,” Jim said, turning around to face him. “You can help me get the lights and sound working while the girls are organising the stage for the acts.”
“I’ll be through helping Dad around twelve-thirty,” Brian said to Dan, “so swing by any time after that.”
Jim glanced at his watch as Brian backed out of the Lynches’ driveway, having dropped Di off. “Let’s get changed and meet at the stables in about thirty minutes,” he said. “That way we can get all the horses exercised in one go.”
The others nodded and Honey added, “I hate that we treat the horses like a chore when we’re busy, it seems disloyal.”
The boys all laughed, but Trixie didn’t join them. “I think Honey’s right,” she said. “I remember how much I wanted to learn to ride and to have my own horse and now, well, sometimes it seems like we take them for granted.”
“You can groom our horses and clean the tack for us, if it makes you both feel better,” Mart said with a grin. “That should show the horses how much you appreciate them.”
Trixie poked her tongue out, while Honey wrinkled her nose at him.
“I think the girls have got a point,” Jim said as Brian pulled into Crabapple Farm.
“Point or no point, the way this weather’s looking we’d better get a move on,” Brian said.
Dan nodded as he scrambled out of the car. “You’re right. I have a feeding station to mend, but I’ll see you after dinner for rehearsal.”
Honey gulped as she slid out after him. “Thanks for reminding me.”
Dan laughed and headed toward the Wheeler woods with a backwards wave of his hand.
“See you ASAP,” Jim said and grabbing his sister’s hand, pulled her up the hill after him.
By the time they were heading back to the Manor House, the sky was dark and the rain had set in. Honey pushed her wet hair out of her eyes. “Ugh, I’m absolutely soaked to the skin. Now I’ll have to take a shower and wash my hair straight away,” she said.
“I guess, just this once, your loving older brother could groom Lady for you,” Jim said, grinning as he guided Jupiter toward the stables.
Honey gave him an appreciative smile, but Mart just snorted inelegantly. “Why do girls have to make such a fuss about a little water?” he demanded. “And don’t even think about pulling that stunt on us,” he added with a quick glare at Trixie. “The trouble with Jim is that he hasn’t had a sister long enough to know how they operate.”
“I don’t care a bit about getting wet, but if I had hair like Honey’s I might be a little fussier,” Trixie said, defending herself and her friend at the same time.
“And I wish Honey had been my sister for a lot longer than she has,” Jim added. “She’s always doing things for me. I happen to like helping her.”
“Aren’t you going to weigh in too?” Mart turned to Brian, who had brought Starlight to a stop behind him.
Brian laughed and shook his own damp, dark head. “No, I’m getting used to this wet hair thing, so I think I’ll stay out of it.”
Honey bit her lip at this but the wink he gave her made her realise that he was only teasing and she grinned back.
They were soon hard at work currycombing the beautiful horses. Trixie was happy to do it. The well-kept, dark stables always made her feel happy and comfortable. She loved Susie, the little black mare, who technically belonged to Miss Trask, as much as if she were her own.
Mart shook his head. He’d finished grooming Strawberry and was already cleaning his tack. “These girls are going to require serious retraining once you two have decamped,” he said.
“Says you.” Trixie shook her own damp sandy curls.
“As the eldest remaining—” Mart began.
“Dan’s older than you are,” Trixie cut him off, “and that doesn’t mean anything anyway.”
“Belden,” Mart finished with a superior smile, “it’s up to me to keep my family members and their close associates in line.”
“Just try it,” Trixie sniffed. “After all these are the Wheelers’ stables and the Wheelers’ horses, so maybe you should keep your big fat—”
“Enough,” Brian said. “You two would drive a saint to distraction. I don’t want to have to come home to referee your slanging matches, and Moms doesn’t have time for it either.”
Jim moved from Jupiter’s stall to Lady’s and laughed at the look on his friends’ faces.
Trixie gave Susie a final pat and began cleaning the tack. “Sorry, we won’t make things difficult for Moms; I promise.”
“See,” Mart said. “The eldest speaks, and she automatically jumps to attention.”
“That’s because when Brian asks one of us to do something it’s not usually just to make his life easier,” Trixie returned, though she spoke calmly.
“Yes, before you’re given power you should make sure you’re not going to abuse it,” Jim said, green eyes twinkling.
Mart gave in. “Fine, and just to prove there are no hard feelings, I’ll clean Lady’s tack.”
In no time at all the three Beldens were in their kitchen cleaning up after another delicious dinner. In spite of her claims, Trixie had been happy to take the first shower when they got home and she even washed her hair, though quite wisely Mart made no reference to the fact.
“It's so close already. I feel like we need more time,” Trixie said as she stacked the dried plates and slid them into the cupboard.
Mart nodded. “I talked to Di just before dinner, and I think I’m going to run over there and rehearse my act. She said someone would come for me. I’ll drown if I try and walk tonight.”
“You could rehearse it here; we’d be happy to be a dummy audience,” Brian said.
Mart grinned, and his brother shook his head. “You know what I mean.”
“I know you guys want to practise your song tonight, and that Trix and Jim have worked out an opening speech as well as an intro for you. This way we all get to work on our acts.”
“But we want to see you and Di, too,” Trixie said.
“Well, maybe tomorrow night after you get home from the theatre, we can all have dinner here, and Di and I can show you how the professionals do it. Then maybe we can pop in on Sunday or Monday night to try out the space ourselves.”
“Sounds like a plan,” Brian said, before Trixie could react to the “professionals” crack.
When Dan, Jim and Honey arrived, they were bundled up in raincoats, and Honey carried a large umbrella. “It’s really coming down,” she said as she stood in the porch and started to peel off her wet garments. “I hope we don’t get a night like this for our benefit.”
“I’m sure the weather will co-operate.” Brian said as he took her wet coat and hung it on one of the hooks by the door. “And even if it doesn’t, we’ll have pre-sold our tickets, and we’ll have a supply of umbrellas just like this on hand so that we can help people from their cars to the theatre.”
“That’s a wonderful idea.” Honey smiled up at him. “Daddy has about a dozen umbrellas like this one, mainly because he hates carrying one around with him when he’s in the city. Every time it rains he just goes and buys another.”
“How’s the algebra coming?” Brian asked, looking from Honey to his sister who had just hurried over to meet her friend.
“It could be worse,” Honey said.
“Sure, it could be in Latin as well,” Trixie said.
“The problem is it’s so confusing,” Honey said. “I mean I thought I understood it—algebra, not Latin—then it all changed and got really complicated. It’s so illogical.”
Jim and Dan laughed, but Brian just smiled gently. “Illogical algebra, that’s new.”
“Mitch Taylor is worse than the algebra anyway,” Honey said. “He was so mean—” she broke off as Trixie grabbed her hand and with a quick “Hi” to Jim and Dan, pulled her away from her brother. The latter went through to the living room while Jim and Brian remained near the back door.
Trixie glanced around to make sure that she and Honey were alone. “I’m going to ask Mr. Saunders if we can see those original plans of the building,” she hissed.
“Why?” Honey asked, her hazel eyes curious.
“I just want to see if there are any likely places they could have hidden stuff from the robbery,” Trixie replied.
“But don’t you think they would have checked that out at the time?” Honey queried, trying to keep her voice low.
Jim and Brian had followed them into the kitchen but were standing together on the other side of the room. The looks on their faces suggested they found their sisters’ behaviour a little suspicious.
“I guess so,” Trixie conceded, “but I’m still going to check it out, even if you don’t want to—that’s what detectives do.”
“Fine.” Honey jabbed her friend in the arm. “I never said I wasn’t going to help.”
“Sorry.” Trixie glanced over at their brothers and lowered her head closer to Honey’s. “I’m just used to being doubted.”
“Not by me,” Honey countered, in a whisper.
Trixie squeezed her friend’s hand gratefully and nodded. She raised her sandy head and said as casually as she could. “We’d better get busy with this rehearsal. We have all weekend to talk about school.”
Watching from a cross the room, Brian raised his dark brows, and Jim shrugged his broad shoulders, unconvinced, but they soon joined Dan, Bobby and Mr. and Mrs. Belden in the living room. A little self-consciously, Trixie and Jim stood in front of their family and friends. They stumbled at first, but gradually their confidence grew and they were able to address their audience clearly, make eye contact and even dispense with their notes altogether.
“Very professional,” Peter Belden said, applauding. “You’ve highlighted the seriousness of the problem, and still managed to outline an entertaining evening. You also seem to be quite familiar with some of your acts already.”
Trixie breathed a sigh of relief, and she and Jim sank down to sit side by side on the floor by the fire. “I honestly think that’s going to be the hardest part. Jim and I agree that it makes perfect sense to have the acts all written down in order in our folders, so we’ll be able to at least consult those notes without looking like idiots.”
“You could never do that,” Honey said loyally. “You both sound really smart, and everything flowed perfectly.”
Trixie flashed her a grateful smile. Honey was right—she could always count on her support. “Well, at least it’s a start,” she said. “Why don’t you guys run through your song a couple of times, and then we’ll introduce you and you can actually perform it for us, the way you want to on the night.”
“I want to perform from here,” Honey said, only half-joking.
Brian laughed and, reaching out his hand, pulled her to her feet. “I’d feel pretty silly standing on that stage without you,” he said.
“Me, too,” Dan added as he took his seat at the piano. “Though I guess I’ll be sitting, not standing.”
The others were quiet while their friends practised their parts, then after a brief conference, they announced they were ready to “perform” their song.
Later, as they sipped hot chocolate, they all agreed that things were definitely taking shape.
“I can’t believe how right that song is for our benefit,” Trixie said. “The more you guys sing it, the more I think we couldn’t have chosen better.”
“And it suits Honey’s voice perfectly,” her mother added, as she handed around a plate of cinnamon and apple cookies.
“I think Brian sounds wonderful, too, and Dan’s playing makes it so much easier to sing,” Honey said swiftly, not wanting to take all of the credit.
The others grinned and Brian shook his dark head. “Behave, Miss Wheeler, and take the compliment.”
Dan nodded, “I agree we sound good together, but you’re the star of this act, Honey.”
At the look of consternation on his sister’s face, Jim reached over to pat her hand. “Don’t worry so much, everything’s going to be fine.”
Honey smiled at him. “I know, and if you and Trix can spend half the night up there, then I guess I can stand four or so minutes. Besides, I guess I’ve done a lot scarier things and lived to tell the tale.”
“Following my intrepid sister into who knows what kind of trouble, that’s an understatement,” Brian said.
“I don’t mean to put Honey and I in danger,” Trixie said with a frown. “It just—”
“Happens,” they all finished for her, and she laughed good-naturedly.
“At least this time, there’s no hint of anything like that.” Mrs. Belden sounded relieved, and she did not catch the guilty look that passed between the two girls.
Jim and Brian did notice, however, and both young men, after a brief exchange, were more determined than ever to keep an eye on the would-be detectives.
BSM:MAIN NEXT
Continued thanks to my patient editor, Dana. Without her there would be some very odd moments in my story.
Trixie Belden et al remain the property of Random House. No profit is being made from these scribblings.
