Note: These characters are the property of Random House. I’m just borrowing them. I’m not making any money off of them, nor do I want to.

COMING HOME

By Jill (Franollie)

Diana Lynch took the clip out of her shoulder length black hair, leaned the broom against the wall, rolled her violet eyes and sighed. “Jeepers,” she said, “how could a class of sixth graders make it look like a tornado came through here?” The stout, gray-haired woman at the desk looked up from a pile of orange and black construction paper and smiled.

“Really Miss Lynch, how long have you been a part of this class? Eight weeks? How can you be surprised? It’s Halloween, dear, tornado is all part of the deal!”

“I know I shouldn’t be surprised Mrs. Harris, but aren’t they supposed to be growing up? I thought that my new sweater would be all right on the back of my chair, but look at it! I think Sam spilled apple cider while trying to balance his plate.” Diana said.

“It’ll come out. Anyway, that shade of navy isn’t really your color.” Mrs. Harris paused, “Now you have an excuse for another new sweater…maybe purple this time?”

“Very funny! Just because you’ve known me for years doesn’t mean that you know exactly what I like to wear!” Diana laughed.

“Tell me, Diana,” Mrs. Harris said, “Are you going to the Sleepyside Homecoming celebration tonight?”

“Yes,” Diana replied, “All the former Homecoming Queens are riding on a float to celebrate the centennial of the school.” She paused, “I wonder if my old crew will come. I know that they all got invitations, being alumni, but they’re all so far away.” A smile crept over her face, “All except Mart, of course.”

“Ah, yes,” A voice said from the classroom door, “That splendid, handsome, impeccably dressed and extremely suave Mart.”

Mrs. Harris and Diana looked around to see a lanky blonde-haired young man standing in the doorway with his hands behind his back. “I don’t know Mr. Belden, right now all you look is sneaky,” Mrs. Harris chuckled, “I’m not sure I want to see what’s behind your back!”

“A gift,” Mart said graciously and bowed, “Moms said that this would be the latest craze in sixth grade classroom decoration.” With that he produced a large green and apparently unripe pumpkin!

“Mart!” Diana giggled, “Don’t you remember anything you learned here? Pumpkins are ORANGE!”

“Not this one my dear, it’s a new hybrid that Moms and the Garden Club are experimenting with. Even once it ripens in the classroom, it will still have verdant streaks on it,” Mart explained, “You know, Di, we really should go. Could I take her away from her student teaching duties, just a miniscule amount of time prior to her scheduled departure, Mrs. Harris?”

“You know, Mart, I remember stressing the importance of vocabulary, but I never thought you’d take me so seriously!” Mrs. Harris turned her twinkling eyes back to the colored pages on her desk, “I guess every student teacher needs some time off. Now go before I change my mind and make you grade these mystery stories the students wrote. I’ll never forget the one Bobby wrote a couple years ago. It was something about seeing some long lost cousin of Jim Frayne’s appearing out of nowhere and then turning out to be some other man’s niece and Jim’s real cousin ended up having amnesia and living in Holland…” She trailed off and shook her head, “Great imagination and ideas, but the grammar…. anyway, I digress. I’ll see you at the parade tonight, kids. Save me a seat on the float, Diana! We’ll see if I still remember how to wave!”

After promising she would, Diana picked up her leather bag and her sweater, took Mart by the hand and fairly danced out the door. “She let me go half an hour early! That’s great. I’ll have time to get ready without rushing around crazy.” Di nodded her thanks as Mart held the door for her and they walked down the steps.

The Sleepyside sky was a brilliant blue and the leaves on the trees looked as if they had been colored with crayons fresh out of the box. “This weather has been gorgeous. It’s totally perfect football weather, I hope that the game lives up to tradition.” She paused, “OK, I have to ask, have you heard anything from Trixie? Will she be there tonight? Honey called last night and said that she didn’t know if she could make it. Then she asked me if any of the Beldens were coming because she didn’t want to cause any ‘uncomfortable feelings.’ You know, if I knew what in the world they fought about, I’d try to make some sense of this situation.

Mart shook his head as he opened the car door and held it for her, “All I know is what you know, on the night you girls graduated, Trixie came flying into the house, slammed the door and said, ‘I’ll never talk to that Honey Wheeler as long as I live!’ Brian and I tried to talk to her, but we didn’t get anywhere. As far as I can tell, she’s kept her promise and has even included Jim in the ‘Honey Wheeler’ category.”

Mart had hoped that Trixie would speak to their mother, but Trixie hadn’t mentioned a word about the situation to anyone. Honey hadn’t called Crabapple Farm, though Jim had tried, but Trixie wouldn’t come to the phone, despite his and Brian’s best diplomatic efforts. “Brian got someone to cover for him at the hospital. He and Jim are driving up from Philadelphia this afternoon. I’ll be there; you’ll be there; Dan is coming out from the city. If Honey shows, it’ll be a regular reunion.” They both thought about that possibility in silence as they traveled along Glen Road. Mart turned the car into the Lynch driveway, “I’ll have your carriage here at 6:30 my lady. Be ready.”

Trixie Belden threw the textbook onto the floor. Hard. She rubbed her eyes until she saw spots. “I never knew you could break the law in so many different ways. There must be a million types of ways to steal something,” she said.

“Oh come on, Trix, don’t exaggerate.” Trixie’s roommate Emily said, “Look, I’ll make you some tea or hot chocolate. That always makes you feel better.” Emily unfolded her long legs from the chair and stood up.

Trixie wrinkled her nose, “No thanks, Em. I’m leaving for Sleepyside after I take my mid-term and hot tea or cocoa would make me want to curl up in this bed and not get out until Monday.”

“You’re going to go, huh? What if you run into Honey?” Emily asked. “Or are you past your anger?”

“I’m definitely past my anger. Now I just want to know why. Truthfully, I was fine with her not wanted to go into the ‘detective business’ with me. I mean, we were just kids when we dreamed it. But to tell me that she didn’t want me around Jim if I insisted on sticking with the sleuthing plan…. What nerve! You know, if she had just waited until I got into college, I would have changed my mind about detective work anyway and switched to law. I know that Di still talks with her and Brian lives with Jim.” Trixie shook her head and her blue eyes filled with tears as she continued, “But the way she treated me, Em, it was like I would infect her family with the plague.”

“You really miss her, Trixie. You miss Jim, too. Would it really be so bad to just bend, just once? I’ve talked with Dan. I know how you used to be. I’m glad that you’ve been able to stay friends with some of your old group and make friends here—I don’t know what I’d do with out you—but you and Honey and Jim, that was a friendship for the ages. Maybe this Homecoming could be a time to start over.” Emily looked at her friend. She knew there was a part of Trixie that was still hurting from a comment made four years in the past.

“Yeah, maybe. Listen, I’ve gotta go. Dr. Sinclair will take ten points off the top if I’m late.”

Honey Wheeler’s slim hands rested on the steering wheel of her car. The radio was playing some sort of “I love you, but you left me, but now you’re back” kind of song. She reached over and turned the knob. She hated that junk. Sleepyside looked the same after almost four years in Manhattan. Her parents didn’t understand why she didn’t want to come back to the Manor House for holidays, but they were more than willing to celebrate at the apartment in New York, or drive with Honey to Philadelphia to spend them with Jim. Yes, it looked the same: small, quaint and peaceful, but knew what kind of underworld existed here. It was far from peaceful. She glanced into her rearview mirror. The car was there. She knew it would be.

Bobby came crashing down the steps of the farmhouse three at a time, “Moms! Dad! MOMS! DAD! She’s here! Trixie made it! Come on Max! Let’s go meet Trixie!”

Helen Belden looked up from her recipe box, “Fine Bobby, go meet Trixie, but for Heaven’s sake, don’t slam the…”

“Too late, dear,” Peter Belden laughed as the door banged shut behind Bobby and the family’s golden retriever, “You think after living with us for so many years, you’d understand how it works.”

Bobby dashed across the porch and vaulted over the railing, right into a pile of leaves, freshly raked by Mart. The sucker that he had been eating sailed out of his hands and Max leapt up and snatched it. “Aw man! Raspberry and vanilla is my favorite flavor!”

“That was an impressive display of agility, young masculine sibling, now clean up the mess you made or Dad’ll take your bike away. Just because you’re in high school now doesn’t mean your chores are over. I don’t quite comprehend how I was roped into raking in the first place. I am only visiting our lovely abode for the festivities of our school’s centennial Homecoming.”

“Ease up Mart, he’s just happy to see me!” Trixie called impishly from the car, “How much time before the parade and game?”

“Just enough time for you to hop in the shower and have some of Moms’ chicken corn soup. Get a move on, I’m picking Di up at 6:30.”

The parade lasted about an hour and Trixie, Mart and Di were able to find good seats in the stands. They could see Bobby warming the bench at the side of the field, but Trixie swelled with pride just thinking about the fact that Bobby was good enough to qualify as any part of the Varsity team. The whistle blew and the game began.

About five minutes into the first quarter Di shouted, “Dan! Brian! Jim! Honey!” She shot a quick glance at Trixie, “We’re up here.” The four climbed the stairs and sat in the spaces available in front of them. Trixie thought about Emily’s advice for the next part of the game. When the band marched onto the field for halftime, Honey stood and said, “I need a cup of hot chocolate.”

“Well,” Trixie thought, “Hot chocolate makes everything better. Now is as good a time as any to try to mend some bridges.” Trixie raced to keep up with Honey. In her haste she stumbled and fell against a spectator bundled up in a sweatshirt at the bottom of the bleachers. “Sorry,” she gasped.

“Watch where you’re going, missy,” the man growled. “I didn’t come here to be assaulted.” The man glared at Trixie, but she darted away to catch up with her friend.

Honey was already in line for a drink. Trixie waited until one of the band boosters had given her a steaming mug of cocoa. It was now or never. She approached Honey cautiously. “Hi,” she said, “Um…how’ve you been?”

Honey took a sip from her cup and began coughing. After she caught her breath, she replied, “Fine,” and began walking back toward the stands.

“Madeline Wheeler, I want you to stop this instant and talk to me!” Trixie shouted.

Honey shot a cool look at Trixie, “People are staring, please don’t make a scene. I’ve said what I needed to say. In fact, I hear you promised you’d never speak to me again. Maybe you should keep that promise.”

Trixie froze in her tracks, “I know that I was the one who swore I’d never speak to you again, but I can’t live without knowing why you treated me like you did! Not only did you ask me to give up my dream, but you also commanded me to stay away from your family! I think I deserve an explanation!”

“Fine,” Honey said shortly. She glanced around. “Let’s go over the parking lot so that we won’t be the talk of the game.” The two young women walked away from the sounds of the band and the fans. The lights of the stadium faded behind them. Finally Honey stopped, “What do you want?”

“I want to know what happened to you,” Trixie began, “We were all set to go to school together and then you basically banish me from your family, you go to some sort of graphic design place in the city, you barely talk to Brian anymore. What happened?”

“I happened,” The man Trixie had bumped stepped out from behind a pick up truck. Jonesy. Before Trixie could draw breath to scream, he pulled a small pistol from his pocket and pointed it at her, “Don’t make a sound Miss Nosy. You can’t leave well enough alone, can you? Yeah, I found pretty Miss Wheeler here the night of your graduation and spent some time in deep conversation. We struck a bargain she and I. I would let all you little birdies and your families live if she would convince you to see the error of your sleuthing ways. You see, I got out of jail for good behavior and wanted to make sure that I could live my life the way I wanted. There’s lots of “business opportunities” here in Sleepyside, but I knew if you were still teamed up with your chum and my-good-for-nothing-should-have-been-burned-to-a-crisp stepson you’d have discovered my new employment. You never even suspected me! Guess you weren’t as good a detective as you thought, huh?”

Trixie looked over at Honey. Her face was white and tears ran down her face. Her hands were clenched into fists at her side. She had never looked more frail. “Don’t you dare!” She whispered. “Don’t you dare say things like that about my brother or Trixie. She changed her mind about her career anyway, not because of your blackmail or me! Now she wants to keep criminals in jail where they belong. You’re going back!”

Suddenly Honey rushed forward and tackled Jonesy. The gun went flying into the night. Forms pushed in from all sides helping Honey to keep Jonesy down. In seconds, the figures of Mart, Dan, Brian, Jim and Diana were visible. Trixie turned as she heard more footsteps running toward the group. Sergeant Molinson puffed his way to Jonesy. “We’re going to guarantee you don’t ever show your face around here again. Thanks for the call, Honey. For once somebody had the sense to let the professionals handle it.” He fastened handcuffs on Jonesy’s wrists and led him off.

They looked at each other. There was silence. “Thank you Honey. I’m sorry you had to deal with him at all. I’m glad you let the professionals handle it. You must be a professional martial artist now.” Then Trixie started laughing and they all joined in. The Bob-Whites were together again.