Someone to watch over me

said. “I have the feeling he wasn’t ever happy to be sharing our deception. He understood why, I know. But we dragged him into the act. He’s too honorable a man to have liked deceiving the townspeople he’s known all his life. So, Jack, you’ve wasted your breath on us. You’ll have to fire up your indignation all over again and present your ultimatum to Mr. Prinney.“ He made a dramatic twirl with the cold cigar.
    “Now that we’ve sorted that out, I want your help,“ Lily said. “I want you both to go to the movie house this evening. Jack, it’s The Public Enemy.“
    “ Why does a movie that’s been running since last year in New York City take this long to get to Voorburg?“ Jack grumbled. This meeting wasn’t going the way he intended.
    “It’s got James Cagney, you know,“ Robert said. “You could swan around in your checked jacket looking like him.“
    “I’ll see it tomorrow. I’m still too tired.“ He’d hoped they’d ask him about the Bonus March, but they seemed to have forgotten where he’d been.
    “But you must go tonight. Just to stand in front for a little while, if nothing else. You’ll be surprised by the entertainment,“ Lily said.
    “What’s this about?“ Robert asked.
    “You’ll see,“ Lily said smugly. “It’s a little project I took on. Now, Jack, tell us about the Bonus March. You look as if you had a very bad experience.“
    “Not as bad as the others,“ Jack said, glad Lily hadn’t actually forgotten. “But I’d rather you just read my reports in the paper. I’ve divided them into four sections. One for each Monday and Thursday, this coming week and the next.“
    “Can’t you even give us a hint?“ Robert asked. “We heard and read so many conflicting views and information.“
    “I’d rather let you read my columns first, if you don’t mind.”
    Agatha yelped slightly as Lily pulled a burr out of the hair near her ear.
    “What are you doing to that poor dog?“ Emmaline Prinney asked as she came in the library and subsided on a chair by the French doors and fanned herself with a wide wooden spatula.
    “Just cleaning her up,“ Lily said. “Did you fix enough to have Jack to dinner?”
    Mrs. Prinney said, “You know me. How could you ask? He must eat with us.“
    “And after dinner, we all have to go to town and stand in front of the movie house,“ Lily said.
    “I don’t know how Elgin will feel about that,“ Mrs. Prinney said, frowning. “He doesn’t like gangster films.“
    “He doesn’t have to go inside,“ Lily said. “Curiouser and curiouser,“ Robert said, rubbing his hands together.

    Lily shouldn’t have worried about encouraging a crowd. It was the first showing of the long-awaited film, and townspeople had lined up early.
    “Who are those deliciously pretty girls?“ Robert asked.
    “They’re a girl band,“ Lily said. “They have permission to play before the movie and at the intermission while the reels are rewound.”
    Robert studied the girls, who were setting themselves up on the edge of the road in front of the movie house. They were all dressed up infancy frocks. One of them had a violin case. The cute little curly-blond one had an empty cigar box covered with flowery wallpaper and little bows.
    Suddenly he looked at Lily. “Aren’t those girls wearing your dresses? Some of them look familiar.”
    Lily nodded. “And my hats and shoes. The dresses didn’t fit anymore, and they needed them more than I do.“
    “And I presume you set this up with the owner of the movie house as well?“
    “Well...“
    “You are such an interfering woman,“ Robert said, giving her a little hug. “Where did you find the girls?“
    “They’re hoboes.“
    “No! They sure clean up good,“ Robert said with a laugh.
    “I’ve never heard them play, though. We may all be in for a horrible surprise.”
    Lily assumed Judy’s music education had been classical and they’d do some sort of “high-toned“ music, and was surprised when their first piece was a rollicking version of “Turkey in the Straw.“ Judy was using the violin like a country fiddle, grinning and sawing it enthusiastically. The harmonica accompaniment was perfect. All three—violinist, singer, and harmonica player—wiggled, and smiled, and tapped their high-heeled feet in time to the music.
    The smallest hobo girl, Josephine, wearing Lily’s ruffled pink dress, was tottering through the crowd as if she were simply listening, but making sure