The Red Trailer Mystery

pigtails hurried out of the trailer. She was wearing faded blue jeans and a shirt that was so much too small for her that Honey and Trixie could plainly see her protruding shoulder blades as she bent over and scooped Sally into her arms, puppy and all.
    "Never mind, darling," they heard her croon as Bud broke away and ran to Honey. "You’ll have another puppy someday. One all your own."
    "I want him," Sally wailed, hiding her teary face in her sister’s neck. "He’s mine."
    And then the shaggy-haired man came hurrying back from the hot-dog stand with a paper plate of sandwiches and a quart of milk in a container. He was frowning darkly as he set the food inside the trailer and reached out a long, muscular arm to snatch Sally away from her sister.
    "Get inside, all of you," he muttered in a harsh, bitter undertone. "Quick!"
    The tired-faced woman cringed as though she had been slapped, and she meekly obeyed, taking the two babies with her. But Joeanne stood defiantly for a moment, staring at her father as though she had never seen him before, and as they glared at each other Trixie thought she had never seen two people who looked more alike.
    Both of them were deeply tanned with taut, wiry muscles, and, Trixie reflected with an inward laugh, if the father didn’t do something about his shaggy black hair soon, he would have to braid it into two pigtails to keep it out of his eyes.
    "I’m sorry about all this," Joeanne was saying quietly over her shoulder to Trixie and Honey. "My little sister doesn’t understand. We had a black cocker puppy once, but he died." Then, with a toss of her long, black braids, she marched stiffly inside the Robin behind her father and slammed the door.
    One of the babies began to cry, but there was no other sound inside the red trailer. No one spoke, at least not loud enough for Trixie or Honey to hear what he or she said.

Sobs in the Night • 2

    HONEY STARED at Trixie. "Did you ever hear of such a peculiar family? There they are, all inside that trailer, and no one is speaking to anybody else. I hope they give that baby some milk soon. It sounds as though it were starving."
    "They all looked starved," Trixie said. "And yet they must have plenty of money if they own that big red trailer. I caught a glimpse of the inside just before Joeanne closed the door, and it looks as though it must have cost almost as much as the Swan did. It has double-deck bunks made of maple and newly painted shelves and shiny floors and everything." She stopped, frowning thoughtfully. "You know, Honey, I think I’ve been inside that trailer sometime or other, but I can’t remember when or where."
    "You may have seen pictures of it in some magazine," Honey suggested. "Ours has been written up lots of times along with ones owned by movie stars. As a matter of fact," she finished, "the Swan originally belonged to a movie star who got bored with it and sold it to Dad. He bought it for Mother’s birthday last year, but she doesn’t like it."
    But Trixie wasn’t listening. She was thinking about the shaggy-haired man and his hungry family. "Do you suppose that man is a mean old miser?" she asked Honey. "Like Jim’s great-uncle was? Old Mr. Frayne used to go around looking like a scarecrow, and he never had enough to eat"
    "I don’t know what to think," Honey admitted. "I liked that girl with the pigtails—Joeanne. She was the only one who didn’t act afraid of her father."
    "Oh, look," Trixie cried. "She dropped one of her hair ribbons." She stooped and picked up the faded bow of frayed blue sateen. "I’m going to take it back to her. It’ll give me a good excuse to see inside the Robin. Then maybe I’ll remember where I saw it before."
    "You’ve got more nerve than I have," said Honey, giggling nervously. "I’m scared of that long-haired man. He looks mean enough to bite."
    Trixie ignored her and hurried across the space between the two trailers. She rapped on the door, and it was opened immediately by Joeanne herself. "You dropped this," Trixie began, but the little girl quickly took the ribbon and closed the door again before Trixie could say another word.
    "Well," Trixie said as she joined Honey on the Swan steps, "I got another glimpse, and you know what? They were sitting on the bunks, staring into space, except for the father. He was holding his head in his hands."
    Honey laughed. "Now, don’t tell me that wailing baby was sitting on a bunk. It’s too young for one thing and probably much