Moans and Groans and Dinosaur Bones (3 page)

“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!

“S
onny 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.

“C
enter 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.