The Mystery off Old Telegraph Road

staring at the wall.
    Following his gaze, Trixie saw that he was looking at one of the bikeathon posters that Mart had put up earlier.

Mysteries • 9

    AS TRIXIE WATCHED in frozen silence, Nick continued to stare at the poster. Then, in one swift, sudden movement, he reached out and tore the poster off the wall, ripped it in half, and hurled it to the floor. Next he turned and ran off down the hall.
    Trixie remained motionless until he was out of sight. It was only then that she realized she’d been holding her breath. She exhaled in a slow whistle of surprise. What was that all about? she wondered. Can Nick really be that opposed to the bikeathon?
    Trixie realized that, short of finding Nick and asking him point-blank why he ripped down the poster, there was no way for her to know why he had acted as he had. And 1 certainly have no desire to corner him on it if he’s that angry, she thought as she hurried to her locker. He looked as though he might tear me in half as he did the poster.
    Trixie got her math book from her locker and hurried back outside to the parking lot. When she got there, Jim and Honey were waiting in the station wagon.
    “Brian and Mart have already left in Brian’s jalopy, Trixie,” Jim told her.
    “Somehow Mart seemed to think it made much more sense for them to go ahead and give Di a ride home,” Honey added, her eyes twinkling. The other Bob-Whites all knew that Mart Belden had a special feeling for Di Lynch, a feeling that Di returned.
    “That means you’re stuck with us, Trixie. Hop in,” Jim said.
    As Trixie walked around to the passenger side of the car, Honey got out and held the door so that Trixie could slide across the front seat next to Jim. Honey then took her place next to the door. Trixie’s feeling for Jim was well known, too, and Honey liked to do as much as she could to encourage it.
    “Why so quiet, Trix?” Jim asked after they’d driven a few blocks.
    Trixie started guiltily, realizing that she’d been lost in thoughts about Nick Roberts. She debated briefly about telling Jim and Honey what she’d just seen in the deserted corridor, then decided she wouldn’t. I don’t want to risk turning everyone against Nick, and possibly the whole bikeathon idea. Aloud she said, “I guess I’m tired. You would be, too, Jim, if you’d just finished explaining the bikeathon over and over and over and over again.”
    “It really was exhausting,” Honey agreed. “Sometimes I’d have barely finished telling someone in great detail how the pledge cards work, when someone else would walk up to the table, pick up a pledge card, and say, ’What’s this?’ It made me want to scream.”
    “I had a couple of similar experiences with the posters,” Jim said. “I’d walk into a store, and someone behind a counter would say, ’Can I help you?’ I’d explain all about the posters and the bikeathon, and, when I’d finished, that person would say, ’You’ll have to talk to the boss about putting up a poster in the store.’ I’d have to find the boss and start all over again. It’s tiring, all right.”
    Trixie nodded absently, her thoughts returning to Nick.
    When Jim pulled into the Belden driveway, Trixie turned to Honey and said, “Honey, why don’t you stay for dinner and spend the night? You haven’t stayed over for ages!”
    Honey hesitated, knowing that slumber parties on school nights were usually frowned upon by both sets of parents.
    “Go ahead, Honey,” Jim said. “I’ll clear it with Miss Trask. I know you girls have a lot to talk about.”
    Jim’s tone was casual, but Trixie knew that he’d had some inkling of the fight between Trixie and Honey and understood their need to have some time alone to talk. “Thanks, Jim,” Trixie said sincerely. “Come on, Honey, let’s go!”
    When the girls walked into Trixie’s house, the delicious smell of Mrs. Belden’s pot roast was already wafting through the house. Trixie burst into the kitchen with Honey right behind her. “Moms, can Honey stay for dinner and sleep over? Jim is going to ask Miss Trask.”
    “That sounds fine, dear,” Mrs. Belden said. “In fact, with all of you home from school so late, I can use the extra pair of hands to get dinner on the table by the time your father gets here.”
    “Gleeps, that’s right! This is the night that Daddy gets back from his business trip. I can’t wait to see him! Honey, let’s hurry upstairs and change clothes. We’ll be right back,