by Judy Delton
“It’s Sonny,” said Mrs. Peters. “Have any of you seen Sonny since we came out of the rest rooms?”
The Pee Wees looked around. Sonny was not with the group. He was not at the door to track seven with the crowd. And he was not running and sliding with Roger.
Mr. Duff ran back to the model trains and spoke to the man. Molly could see him describing Sonny and holding his hand up to show how tall he was. But the man shook his head.
Now the crowd at the door to track seven was getting bigger. The light went on over the door, and the man in charge opened the door and began to check tickets.
“Stay here and don’t move,” said Mrs. Peters to the Scouts as the four adults went to search.
“Rat’s knees, we are going to miss the train!” said Molly, watching as the people began to walk through the door, along the platform, and onto the train.
“Last call for Smoky Junction, Argyle, Rochester, and Center City,” called the deep, gravelly voice. “Track seven.”
Now all the Pee Wees were anxious, except Roger. He was begging Jody for a ride in his wheelchair.
As the last passenger went through the door, the Duffs and Peterses returned—without Sonny. Suddenly the deep voice of the announcer came on again. “Will Sonny Stone please come to track seven,” he said. “Sonny Stone, track seven.”
“He can’t have gone far in just a few minutes,” said Mr. Duff, trying to reassure everyone.
“He’ll be here in a minute when he hears that announcement,” said Mr. Peters. “After all, he was the one who was afraid of being late.”
The Pee Wees heard a loud train whistle. They heard wheels turning. Then, through the open door, they saw their train pull out of the station. And pressed against the back train window, looking back at them, Molly saw a familiar face. It was Sonny!
“Sonny is on that train!” shouted Molly. Everyone looked where she pointed. The train was moving slowly out of the station.
Mr. Duff and Mr. Peters dashed through the door and out to the track. It was too late. The train was gone, and Sonny was on it.
Mrs. Peters ran to the desk and explained what had happened.
“He’s too young to travel alone!” she cried.
“Don’t worry,” a man in a railroad uniform reassured them. “These things happen all the time.”
“All the time?” asked Mrs. Duff.
“Well, every once in a while,” the man said. “We’ll just call ahead, and you can meet him at Smoky Junction. He’ll be perfectly safe. He’s probably pretty worried by now, but we know how to handle these things.”
While the Peterses were thanking the man, the Pee Wees were muttering.
“Special care, that’s what Sonny needs full-time,” said Tracy in disgust. “He can’t be trusted away from his mother.”
“He can’t be trusted with his mother,” said Lisa. “He’s such a baby.”
“Now, you folks will have to take the next train out of here for Smoky Junction, and it doesn’t leave until …” The man ran his finger down the schedule. “Until noon.”
The Pee Wees groaned. Three hours to wait because they’d missed the train that Sonny was on. What was worse, that meant three hours in the train station with Roger.
The adults looked relieved, thought Molly, but Mrs. Peters’s lips were narrow, the way they got at meetings when there was trouble—when she’d “had enough.”
“How did he get on without a ticket?” asked Kevin.
“How did he get through the door when it was closed?” asked Jody
“Now we’re going to get to Center City late,” said Rachel. “And miss lots of stuff. Our whole weekend will be gone before we even get there.”
But Mr. Duff cheered everyone up by starting some word games. They played I Spy, and Molly won. She was used to playing that game in the car on trips with her grandma.
Kevin won Twenty Questions. “Your dad’s a lot of fun!” he said.
Molly felt good for a moment that her father had come. Kevin liked him! And he was right, Mr. Duff was a lot of fun. And her mother had not done anything embarrassing yet. Maybe having her parents along wouldn’t be as bad as she’d imagined.
The time finally passed, and the Pee Wees got on the train. When it stopped at Smoky Junction, a conductor swung Sonny aboard. Sonny was eating a candy bar and drinking a can of soda pop. He had an engineer’s cap on his head and did not look upset about having been alone on the train.
“Hey, you guys, I told you you’d miss the train! I was the only one that didn’t.”
Mrs. Peters had a wild look in her eye. Molly thought she looked as if she’d shake Sonny if it were legal.
“I got to sit with the engineer,” said Sonny. “This is really a fun trip.”
“For you, maybe,” said Kenny.
“You are so selfish,” said Rachel.
It did not seem to Molly that Sonny should be rewarded for being a big baby but he was. He was the center of attention too, which was just what he liked.
“I knew you guys were going to miss the train. I told you so,” said Sonny. “So I snuck down to the tracks through another door and got on the train early. Do you know they don’t ask for your ticket until the middle of the trip?”
Mrs. Peters and Molly’s mother took Sonny aside and talked to him quietly. Sonny was not smiling as much when they finished.
“I’m hungry,” said Roger. The other Pee Wees said they were hungry too.
“We’re lucky that the dining car will serve us all lunch this late in the day,” said Mr. Duff. He started on the trek between cars, on his way to feed the hungry brood.
“Center City!” called the conductor, walking through the train. “Next stop, Center City!”
Passengers scrambled to get their bags together. Molly could see buses and taxicabs and cars from the train window. It felt exciting!
“This is a big city,” she said to Mary Beth.
Mary Beth agreed.
“This is small compared to New York, where my cousin lives,” said Rachel. “You should see the museums they have there! I’ll bet they have a million.”
Inside the station, Mr. and Mrs. Peters walked ahead of the Pee Wees. The Duffs walked behind them, to be sure that no one wandered off.
“Where are we going first, Mrs. Peters?” asked Patty when they were all standing out on the noisy street.
“To the Ritz Hotel,” said their leader. “When we get there, I’ll tell you our itinerary.”
“What’s a tinnery?” asked Sonny.
“A place where they make tin cans, dummy,” said Roger.
Rachel looked disgusted. “That’s itinerary. It’s a travel plan,” she said.
At the Ritz men and women with briefcases were pushing in and out through revolving doors. Molly could see people eating and drinking in a fancy restaurant that had one whole wall of glass windows. The diners all seemed to be laughing and talking and having a good time.
“This is a fancy place!” said Kenny looking across the huge lobby. It had a grand piano in the middle and lots of tall potted plants and trees.
“When you walk on this rug, you sink into it!” said Tim.
“How can those trees grow inside?” asked Lisa. “And what happens when they touch the roof?”
Mr. Peters and Mr. Duff checked everyone in. They had to have several rooms for a group the size of the Pee Wees.
On the elevator a woman in a red velvet dress carried a little dog wearing a red coat and matching red boots.
“Those are mother-daughter outfits,” whispered Tracy.
“I’ll bet they’re in the circus,” said Roger. Mrs. Peters frowned at him.
When they got to their rooms, Molly was relieved to find that she didn’t have to spend the night in the same room as her parents, or worse, Roger. Mr. Duff and Mr. Peters were in charge of the boys. And in Molly’s room, Mrs. Peters took charge of half the girls. Mrs. Duff stayed in another room with the rest of the girls.
Having her parents on the trip was not
so bad, thought Molly. It appeared she had worried for nothing. So far her parents had caused no trouble or embarrassment, and in fact all the Pee Wees seemed to be entertained by her father.
In the first room, the Pee Wees found more things to do and see. There were big, bouncy beds, little bars of soap and bottles of shampoo, and a real hair dryer built right into the wall.
“That way no one can steal it,” said Rachel.
“Hey, look at the little refrigerator!” shouted Sonny. “It’s filled with candy and stuff!”
“You have to pay for what you take out,” warned Jody. “It’s not free.”
After all the bags were in the right rooms, Mrs. Peters tried to get the Pee Wees to be quiet so that she could discuss the plans. But they were so wound up with excitement, no one could listen.
“Even though we got a late start,” said Mrs. Peters above the noise, looking at Sonny, “we are going to the museum. Because of our delay, we have to get a move on. The museum is a large place, and it will take at least two trips to see it all.”
The Pee Wees moaned. “Can’t we stay here?” said Sonny. “Can’t we go exploring in the hotel?”
“There’s a swimming pool on the tenth floor, Mrs. Peters,” said Rachel. “I think we should take advantage of it. It comes with the rooms.”
Mrs. Peters looked a little tired, Molly thought.
“We didn’t come here to see the hotel, boys and girls! We came here to see things of historical interest—things we can’t see at home.”
The Pee Wees groaned. The museum had sounded like fun when they were at home. But now it didn’t seem as much fun as exploring the hotel and going swimming on the tenth floor, high above Center City.
“We can’t see a hotel like this at home!” shouted Sonny. “I think for my badge I’ll draw a picture of the swimming pool!”
“Forget the museum!” exclaimed Roger. “There’s a TV in the lobby with a screen as big as a movie theater! And Spider-Man was on!”
The boys cheered and started toward the door. But Mr. Duff stopped them and herded them back. “TV is something we have at home,” he said. “And no one gets a badge for drawing a picture of the swimming pool!”
Molly began to see why they had to have four adults along on this trip.
“We have no time to waste. We have to get to the museum right away” said Mrs. Peters.
All the other Pee Wees looked at Sonny. It was his fault they couldn’t have a swim or go exploring in the hotel. But Sonny didn’t look as if it bothered him at all.
Everyone began to get ready to go to the museum. They used the bathroom and brushed their hair and washed their hands and faces. They got back on the elevator while Mr. Duff studied the city map.
“These elevators tickle my stomach!” said Molly.
“Mine too,” said Mary Beth.
When they got off in the lobby Tim said, “Hey, look at that guy over there.” He pointed to a sofa partly concealed by a flowering bush.
“What about him?” asked Patty.
“He looks suspicious,” said Tim. “He’s got shifty eyes and a tattoo of a snake on his arm.”
“My cousin’s got a tattoo,” said Lisa. “And he’s no crook.”
“Lots of people have tattoos,” said Kevin. “My uncle’s got one and he’s nice.”
But Tim was not convinced.
Molly agreed with Tim. This man could be dangerous. He had a hat on, even inside the hotel. Almost no men wore hats. Maybe this guy was staking out the hotel. What if he was the leader of a band of criminals? Would the Pee Wees be in danger? Molly could save them!
Then Molly remembered her wild imagination. It was running away with her again. Her imagination often got her into trouble.
Anyway, that man was probably someone’s uncle. Or a dentist or a doctor or a bus driver or even a policeman!
“He’s trouble,” said Tim. “I’m telling you now, that guy’s a crook!”
“He’s probably an FBI agent or something,” said Jody
“Or maybe he’s a regular guy,” said Rachel. “A boxer or a wrestler.”
But even allowing for her imagination, Molly thought Tim might be right. Tim wasn’t exactly a fortune-teller, but he often knew about things that were going to happen before the other Pee Wees did. He knew what people were like just by looking at them. It was a talent.
As they passed the man on the way out, Molly could see that Tim’s crook looked nervous. His hands were shaking, and he seemed to be blushing as if someone had caught him doing something bad.
As the Pee Wees passed him he put his newspaper in front of his face. Molly had the feeling he was just pretending to read. She had the feeling he was hiding. But from what?
The Pee Wees climbed onto a city bus and rode for blocks. There was a lot to see in Center City. Molly felt as if she could write ten papers about what she saw. But if she wanted her badge, she had to write about what she saw in the museum.
The Pee Wees got off the bus in front of a large building with statues on either side of the front doors. Big letters overhead said SCIENCE AND HISTORY MUSEUM. In the huge lobby full of echoes a guard in a uniform smiled at them.
Mr. Duff asked a few questions at the main desk and then led everyone to a room that had ancient treasures in it. There were pieces of broken dishes with colors still bright on them and cave paintings done with berry juice.
“This tells us a bit about how people lived thousands of years ago,” said Mr. Duff.
“Why did they use such old stuff?” asked Sonny. “Couldn’t they afford to get stuff that wasn’t all cracked up?”
Mary Beth rolled her eyes at Molly. “He is so dumb,” she said.
Mrs. Peters was patient and explained to Sonny and the others that when these people had lived, these things had been new. There were no department stores or discount stores to shop in. “They had to make their own dishes out of clay from the earth,” she said. “These people lived a very, very long time ago.”
Molly studied the treasures and found it hard to believe anything could be that old.
“And here is the exhibit of mummies,” said Mrs. Duff, reading the sign that told how the ancient people preserved the bodies. There were rows of mummies, wrapped in white cloths and lying in fancy decorated boxes.
“That’s a real person!” said Jody. “Just think of that!”
The Pee Wees did think. There was a lot to think about here.
“Mrs. Peters,” said Lisa, “why did they preserve the mummies and not the daddies?”
Mrs. Peters smiled at the question. Molly didn’t know why she was smiling. It was a good question—one Molly had wanted to ask herself. Why did you have to be a mother in order to be preserved?
“Mummies are not necessarily mommies,” said their leader.
This was not very clear. The Pee Wees frowned.
“That is, some mommies did become mummies, but so did some daddies. We don’t know for sure if these mummies are men or women.”
“You can’t be a mommy if you’re a man,” said Tracy firmly.
Mrs. Peters explained that mummy did not mean “mother.” It meant a body that had been preserved after death by being wrapped in cloths and herbs and other solutions. “After a while, it becomes mummified,” she said.
“It’s spooky!” said Patty. “Think how old they are!”
“Where did the mummies and the treasures come from, Mrs. Peters?” asked Tim.
“That’s a good question, Tim,” said Mrs. Peters. “Men and women called archaeologists dig through ancient ruins to find them. They have found palaces and whole buried cities complete with the people who lived there and all their supplies. It just needs to be dug up very carefully That’s how they find dinosaur bones too.”
“When we get home, I’m going to dig in my backyard,” said Tim. “I might find some valuable stuff I could sell to this museum, and then I’d be rich.”
“There are no mummies or palaces or ancient ruins in this country,” scoffe
d Roger.
“There could be,” said Mr. Duff. “We don’t know for sure who was here thousands of years ago. Tim might find a mummy or two, but they’d be buried pretty deep. He’d need a pretty big shovel!”
“Mrs. Peters, I’m hungry!” said Sonny.
The other Pee Wees groaned. “How can he think of food when we’re looking at these old dead mummies?” asked Mary Beth.
“Well,” said Mrs. Peters, looking at her watch, “we can get you something at the snack bar downstairs, and then we’ll have to move on to the dinosaur room. Time is flying.”
When they got to the snack bar, they all stood in line. Sonny got a hot dog, and the others had soda pop.
“How do you know that hot dog didn’t come from some old tomb?” said Roger to Sonny. “It could be a million years old!”
“They didn’t have hot dogs a million years ago,” said Rachel. “Anyone who knows history knows that.”
Roger made a face at Rachel.
On the way out of the snack bar, Molly noticed a man leaning against the pop machine. He was reading a newspaper. He looked familiar.
“It’s him!” whispered Tim to Molly. “Look! It’s the crook with the shifty eyes from the hotel!”
“What’s he doing here?” said Tracy.
“He’s probably just sightseeing like we are,” said Mrs. Peters when Tim told her about the man.
“He’s not a Pee Wee Scout,” said Tim. “And he isn’t here to sightsee. He’s a crook.”
“You can’t go around calling everyone a crook just because you don’t like the way they look,” said Rachel to Tim.
Rachel was right, thought Molly. And yet … she trusted Tim’s feeling. She was more and more convinced the man was no one’s kind old uncle.
The Pee Wees followed the Peterses and the Duffs into the dinosaur hall. Molly tried to forget about the man. If he was a troublemaker, the adults would handle it. That was their job.
In the middle of the room stood a huge dinosaur skeleton. A sign said it was a Tyrannosaurus rex and explained its size and where it had lived and what kind of food it had eaten.
