The Mysterious Code

and
other dishes from the table. When the coffee was percolating merrily at Mrs.
Belden’s right hand, and the cups waiting, hot cocoa or milk in all the
children’s mugs, the girls brought in generous servings of pumpkin pie.
     
    In the big living
room the fire roared up the chimney, sending a rosy glow over the old, shabby
room. Chairs and sofas were drawn to face the fireplace, and huge cushions were
placed on the floor for the little boys.
    The Bob-Whites
banished Mr. and Mrs. Belden from the kitchen and attacked the mounds of
dishes. They weren’t even aware of what they were doing, it was so much fun to
do things together.
    Trixie, remembering
the time that afternoon when Diana and Honey had seemed so impatient with her
and had told her she was no fun anymore, looked around at their happy faces and
was encouraged.
    “I just wish I
needn’t ever be so bossy,” she thought to herself. “What would I do without
Honey and Di? I guess maybe especially Honey, for she’s my very best friend in
the whole world.”
    Something similar
must have been going through Honey’s mind, because she put her arm around
Trixie and hugged her. “I love you so much, Trixie,” she whispered, “and
everyone in the Belden family.”
    When they went into
die living room, Mr. Belden was playing Simon Says Thumbs Up with Bobby, Terry,
and Larry. They were falling all over themselves on the cushions, laughing so
hard they couldn’t obey one of the “Thumbs Upl”
    “Thumbs Down!”
commands. “You are supposed to obey me only when I say ‘Simon says,’”
Mr. Belden explained. “Try again now, boys.”
    When the Bob-Whites
joined the group around the fireplace, Mr. Belden decided they would add
forfeits as a penalty for failing to obey Simon’s commands. To make it easier,
the forfeits wouldn’t apply to any of the little boys.
    “Simon says Thumbs
Up!” Mr. Belden said. All the thumbs went up. “Thumbs Down!” he ordered. Honey
and Mart put their thumbs down.
    “Simon didn’t say
it,” Mr. Belden explained. “Mart and Honey must pay forfeits. Will you take the
forfeits?” he asked Mrs. Belden.
    Within half an hour
every Bob-White had contributed something—a shoe, a barrette, a wrist-watch, a
ring, a tie, or a bracelet.
    Redeeming the
forfeits was lots more fun than the game itself, especially with the forfeits
the girls gave.
    “I know what to tell
Trixie to do,” Bobby whispered in his mother’s ear.
    “Trixie’ll never do
that, Bobby,” his mother said, smiling.
    “She’ll have to, or
she won’t get her ring back,” Bobby insisted. “Go on, Trixie!”
    So Trixie stood in
the middle of the floor and sang “The Star-Spangled Banner.” Her voice was
true, and she did fairly well until she came to the high notes. “And the
rockets’ red glare...” she tried. Her voice crackled and failed, and she
dropped to the floor, laughing as hard as Bobby.
    “Now you tell me
what penalty to give Diana,” Mrs. Belden said to Terry. The little boy
whispered in her ear.
    “I’m really going to
enjoy this one,” Mrs. Belden said and looked over to where Mart sat on the
sofa. Then she leaned over and whispered the penalty in Diana’s ear.
    Diana, blushing to
the ends of her fingertips, leaned over and brushed Mart’s cheek with a kiss.
    That was the high point of the forfeits. Everyone was laughing so hard they couldn’t go on. Mart, who
teased everyone else all the time, had finally had the tables turned on him by
the little Lynch twin.
    After that they
knelt in a circle in the center of the room. Mr. and Mrs. Belden knelt, too.
    Trixie started the
game.
    “I went to New York today,” she said.
    "What did you
buy?” Jim, next to her, asked.
    “A fan to fan
myself,” she said and waved her hand back and forth.
    “I went to New York today,” Jim then said to Diana on his other side.
    “Did you really?”
Diana asked. “What did you buy?”
    “A rocking chair and
a fan,” Jim said and rocked back and forth while he fanned.
    Down the line it
went, each one adding a purchase and acting it out Most of them wobbled and
fell and dropped out of the game. Terry and Larry and Bobby were tumbling all
over themselves trying to rock and fan and do half a dozen other things.
    Patch and Reddy ran
around the boys, barking and adding to the general confusion and fun.
    They wouldn’t excuse
Mr. Belden, at the end of the line, from trying, so he fanned, rocked, held an
umbrella, smelled a rose, winked his eyes