The Boxcar Children Mysteries: Books One through Twelve (96 page)

“Neither can I,” said Henry. “We’ll let Benny tell Max when we get home what a dull time we had.”

“You seem to be very sure you will have an adventure,” said Grandfather, his eyes twinkling. “What happens if it is dull, just as Max said?”

“Let’s try it anyway, Grandfather,” said Jessie. “If it is dull, we won’t mind.”

Violet said, “I’ll take my watercolors. I love to paint the sea.”

Henry winked at Benny and said, “We’ll find something to do. We can always fish.”

Just a week later Henry drove the station wagon into the fishing village of Port Elizabeth. The tide was out. It was exactly as Max had said. There was the old hotel with six rooms, the schoolhouse, and a small store. They knew that the storekeeper, Mr. Fenton, owned the hotel. He had rented them three rooms by telephone.

“Shall we go to the store first?” asked Henry.

“Yes, I’m sure Mr. Fenton will have the keys. We can let him know we have arrived,” said Grandfather. “I hope the beds are comfortable.”

Everyone was surprised when Mr. Fenton opened the door of the first room. They had not expected anything so pleasant. There were two comfortable beds. The floor was bare except for two handmade rugs near the beds.

“Very good, very good,” said Mr. Alden nodding his head at the storekeeper. “I can see that we are going to enjoy this.”

“It’s lovely,” said Violet. “It’s just right for us.”

“Now,” said Mr. Fenton, “I’m going to show you something I don’t show all my guests. It’s a kitchen.”

He opened another door at the end of the hall, and, sure enough, there was a small kitchen. There was a large table in the middle of the room. The sink and stove were old fashioned, but the refrigerator looked new. There were cupboards full of dishes.

“It will be a pleasure to let you use it,” Mr. Fenton said. “There’s no place to eat in Port Elizabeth, and you’d have to go to Northport for your meals—and that’s thirty miles away.”

“Oh, aren’t you kind!” cried Jessie, “A kitchen like this is just what we need.”

“Can you cook?” asked Mr. Fenton.

“They all can cook, even Benny,” said Mr. Alden, laughing. “I tell them they can make something out of nothing.”

“Good,” said Mr. Fenton. “I thought you people looked as if you could take care of yourselves. I’m pretty good at guessing what people are like. Don’t often make a mistake. That’s why I showed you the kitchen.”

“Today we brought our own supper,” said Benny. “We didn’t know about the kitchen.”

“That’s fine,” said Mr. Fenton. “You must be tired. You have had a long drive. Maybe you’ll go to bed early and start up again tomorrow.”

“We’ll just drive around and see the town first,” said Mr. Alden.

“It won’t take you long,” said Mr. Fenton with a laugh. “It’s a very small place.”

Henry drove slowly along the sandy road by the ocean. Two large wharves stood out in the water. The sardine factory could be seen in the distance, but it was closed for the day. Some boats were tied up there. Beyond the factory was a high cliff, and on top was a very large and beautiful old house.

“I wonder who lives in that house,” said Benny. “Isn’t it huge? Must be a big family. I guess there are twenty rooms.”

“It looks to me like an old family mansion,” said Grandfather. “It is certainly not new. The house seems to be closed, too.”

It was not, but the Aldens did not know that until later. The road curved around past the cliff, past the store and a row of fishermen’s houses, and back to the hotel. That was all there was to see, except for the schoolhouse. A great many bushes and trees stood between the schoolhouse and their hotel.

The schoolhouse had once been painted white, but much of the paint had worn off. On top there was a belfry with a bell in it.

“Listen!” said Benny. “Is that the school bell ringing?”

“Oh, Benny!” Jessie said. “What an imagination!”

Violet looked hard at the building. She said, “I think it’s a pretty little school. That big chimney is a queer shape, isn’t it?”

And so it proved to be.

“We have done the town,” said Grandfather. “That is all there is. Maybe Max is right, Benny, and it is dull.”

“Well, maybe,” said Benny. “We haven’t been here very long. Anyway I’m hungry.”

“You shouldn’t be hungry,” said Jessie. She looked at her watch. Then she looked up in surprise. “It’s half past five!” she exclaimed. “I thought it was about three o’clock.”

“It’s a long time since we stopped for lunch,” said Henry. “Let’s get unpacked and have supper.”

The girls were delighted. They put the straw basket on the kitchen table and opened it. They took out chicken sandwiches, pickles, cheese, doughnuts, and potato chips. Benny ran over to the store to get cold milk.

Grandfather had hardly had time to unpack when he heard Violet call, “Supper!”

The children sat on long benches, but Grandfather had a chair at the head of the table.

“This reminds me of Surprise Island,” said Henry. “Only there we didn’t have a real table. We used two barrels with a board across them.”

“One thing is the same,” said Benny. “I’m starved. Let’s begin!”

Everyone else must have been hungry, too. The food was soon gone. Then the boys went to their room to unpack, and the girls to another. Grandfather had a big room alone.

The hotel was so near the ocean that the splash of the waves kept them awake for a while. But they loved the sound of waves and quickly fell asleep.

The Aldens did not know that soon they would meet a wonderful friend and find some people who were not friendly at all.

T
he next day the Aldens began in earnest to learn more about Port Elizabeth.

First they walked over to the little store. They found that they could buy almost any kind of food there. The girls bought enough food to last for a few days. Then Benny asked Mr. Fenton, “Who lives in the big mansion on the cliff?”

“Well,” said Mr. Fenton, “Miss Gray lives there. Miss Elizabeth Gray. She is the last of her family.”

“She lives alone in that great house?” cried Benny.

“No, not really alone. She has a woman to get her meals and a man to mow the grass and shovel snow in the winter. But she has no family. Her grandfather built that house, and twelve children grew up there. But some of them died and some left. She hasn’t anyone close to her. People say she writes books.”

Jessie said, “I should think she would be very lonesome. Does she ever go out?”

“No,” said Mr. Fenton. He shook his head. “Almost never. Nobody calls there, either. She is shy, and people don’t feel comfortable with her. She has plenty of money, and she has done a lot for the town. Her grandfather built the schoolhouse many years ago. He called it the Elizabeth Gray School for his wife, Miss Gray’s grandmother. Miss Gray is the one who has the schoolhouse cleaned in the fall, and she keeps the keys. But she stays by herself.”

“I’m sorry for anyone like that,” said Benny. “She must miss a lot of fun.”

As the Alden family talked with the storekeeper, a red-haired boy and girl came in together. They looked alike and were certainly twins.

The island children did not look at the Aldens. In fact, they looked the other way. But Benny thought, “They must have looked us over before they came in.”

“We want some flour,” said the boy. “And Ma wants some more tea.” His voice was as rough as his looks. His sister looked rough, too. Her hair hung in wisps around her face.

The girl counted out the money carefully, but she did it slowly. It seemed hard for her, so at last Mr. Fenton helped her. When they had gone, Mr. Fenton said, “To tell you the truth, Mr. Alden, I’m sorry for the children who are brought up here. Living is hard on this island, and the people have no education. The children never have a chance to learn any other way to live. They don’t even have TV. They don’t see magazines, and they never go off this island.”

“Oh, dear,” said Jessie, “I shouldn’t think they would know anything about the world.”

“They don’t,” said Mr. Fenton. “As soon as they’re old enough, they work in the sardine factory. Those two are the Moss twins. They work in the factory whenever it is open.”

“Then they earn some money,” said Benny.

Mr. Fenton smiled. “I can see you don’t know what the island people are like. The children don’t ever see that money. The fathers take it and keep it. They don’t spend much. All these people save all the money they can, but they never put it in the bank. They put it in an old stocking.”

“That’s a queer thing to do,” said Benny. “They might lose it that way.”

Mr. Fenton gave a short laugh. “Yes, they certainly might,” he said. “And then again, they might not! Here’s something funny. A strange man came here last summer and he gave Mr. Moss ten dollars for an old quarter. He gave me three dollars for an old penny, but I didn’t trust him.”

Suddenly Grandfather was interested. “What was this man’s name?” he asked.

“Mr. Fred Willet,” said Mr. Fenton. “He said he would come back this summer.”

“Well, if he does,” said Mr. Alden, “I hope to see him.”

“You will,” said Mr. Fenton. “Everyone will see Freddy Willet if he’s around. He’s very friendly. I’ll say that much for him.”

Then Jessie paid for the groceries and thanked Mr. Fenton for telling them about the island. Henry and Benny raced home to the hotel to put the food away.

Violet said, “Imagine how it would be to live on this island and not know anything else.”

“I can’t imagine,” said Jessie. “I don’t blame that girl if she can’t count very well.”

When the boys came back, they and the girls went down to the beach. Mr. Alden did not go this time. He had to write some letters.

As the young people walked along, Violet said, “I have a funny feeling that people are staring at us.”

“Me, too,” said Benny. “And how is it we don’t see any men around? I see kids and some women, but not a single man. I thought a lot of fishermen lived here. But where are they?”

Henry looked all around. “You’re right, Ben. I hadn’t really noticed. But I think I know the answer. If the men are fishermen, they must be out in their boats.”

“Let’s go down to the wharf and see what is going on,” said Benny.

There were people on the beach. There were many children of all ages and some mothers. Some of the older girls and boys were sitting on the sand working on nets. They tied knot after knot. They all worked fast. They did not look up when the Aldens went by.

Little children were playing in the water. They all swam like fishes. Some boys dived off the wharf into deep water.

“Aren’t you afraid to be under water?” Benny asked a small boy.

“No, I like it. I can always come up,” the boy said. He seemed surprised that anyone would ask him such a question.

“I can see you are a fine swimmer,” Benny told him. “Probably you’ve been swimming all your life.”

Henry laughed. He said, “Probably all these children can swim as soon as they can walk.”

Jessie smiled and said hello to a woman who was knitting. The woman answered gruffly, but she quickly looked the other way.

When the Aldens went home for lunch, Jessie said to her grandfather, “These people aren’t very friendly, are they?”

“No,” said Mr. Alden. “They don’t trust strangers. I’ve seen people like this before.”

Benny frowned. “What have we done wrong?” he asked.

“Nothing,” said Mr. Alden. “You’ll just have to get used to the idea that these people have different ways.”

Benny said, “Well, even if they do, I should think they could smile.”

“Do you want to go home?” Grandfather asked.

“Oh, no, not yet!” said all four Aldens together. Then they laughed, for they had all agreed to keep trying.

Grandfather smiled. He liked to see his grandchildren stick to something that was not easy.

It was lucky that the Aldens could not hear what people were saying about them. The people had watched them quietly ever since they had come.

One girl said, “They’re stuck-up rich kids. Look at their clothes! I bet those girls never had to work.”

Some of the older people said, “Summer people! We’ve seen plenty of them. I wish we had half the money they spend.”

“That car is air-conditioned,” said a big boy. “Showing off, they are.”

But his mother spoke up. “I don’t think they’re stuck-up. And I don’t think they’re showing off. They all smile and act friendly. You are just jealous.”

It was true. The island children wished they were like the Aldens with nothing to do. They watched them every minute. They could hear the four young people laughing and talking together as they went around the town.

But as time passed, things began to change. People began to like the Aldens. They were such pleasant visitors. The island children really wanted to be friends, but not one of them knew how to say so.

I
t was a few days later, and the girls were getting lunch. Grandfather came in from the store. He said, “While you were at the beach Mr. Fenton told me that the fishermen get up at three o’clock in the morning to take their boats out. That’s why we never see any men in the morning.”