Notes for #18 The Mystery of the Phantom Grasshopper © 1977
| Page # |
Quote |
| 14 |
Mart: "Ever
since Moms told you (Trixie) about talking to that old weather vane
on top of Town Hall, you've gone bananas." Both boys (Jim and
Brian) were seventeen. Brian: "When
Moms was a little girl, she and her mother always used to say hello
to the weather vane when they passed the common. My grandmother said
that it brought good luck." |
| 15 |
Honey's wealthy father had given the
station wagon to the young people after buying a new car for himself.
Each of them owned one seventh of the car. |
| 17 |
Jim and Trixie were co-presidents. Vice-president
Honey. Brian was a charter member. Mart was the secretary-treasurer.
Diana Lynch and Dan Mangan were also members of the club. |
| 18 |
Town Hall: Tall and narrow, the two
story white clapboard building was one of the oldest landmarks in
Sleepyside. Three wooden steps led to the heavy front door. There
were many tall, small-paned windows, and a slanted roof that rose
sharply, coming to a high peak where a cupola was set. The bell that
had once hung in the old bell tower had been gone for many years,
but the original weather vane shaped like a grasshopper, was still
perched atop the cupola. |
| 19 |
Jim: "At
fifteen you (Mart) have a long way to go." |
| 20 |
Miss Lawler was a new teacher's aide
at school. She assisted Miss Craven in social studies classes. All
of the Bob-Whites were in Miss Craven's class at various times during
the day. Trixie and Honey were together in the same class during the
last period of the day. Trixie: "She's
(Miss Lawler) been showing the class some of the old coins from Mr.
Quinn's collection and explaining how much you can learn about history
from coins." |
| 21 |
- Trixie: "I'm sure glad that Dad
talked Mr. Quinn into lending his coin collection to the school."
- It was a beautiful October night.
|
| 23 |
Trixie: "Hoppy's
the copper grasshopper up there on top of Town Hall. He's over two
hundred years old." |
| 24 |
Brian: "It
might have been Mr. Perkins, the radio station manager. Sometimes
he has a helicopter shuttle service fly him to the city and back." |
| 25 |
- Miss Lawler: "I don't drive."
- Trixie tuned in WSTH, the local radio station that belonged
to Mr. Perkins. The station was the favorite of everyone in town
because of the wide variety of music played. Mr. Perkins had a
large collection of old jazz and swing recordings that the adults
loved. His son Jeff, away at college, saw to it that the station
also had all the current rock and popular hits that the young
people enjoyed. Various times of the day were devoted to one type
of music or the other.
|
| 26 |
- Requests from listeners for specific songs were always welcome.
- Trixie: "I think there's something
kind of —" "— strange about Miss Lawler,"
the other Bob-Whites chorused.
- Di: "Trixie did you know the
button is missing from your right jacket cuff?" Mart:
"Remember the club rule about keeping our jackets neat and
clean?"
|
| 27 |
Mart: "As
secretary-treasurer, I hereby impose a fine of ten cents a day until
the button is replaced." |
| 30 |
Printed above five of the stalls were
the names of the Wheelers' horses. There was no name above the sixth
stall. |
| 31 |
Regan's Irish blue eyes were twinkling.
With a great flourish, he threw open the door to the sixth stall.
A small Shetland pony stood there. A little boy dressed in a scarlet
riding coat was standing beside the pony. Bobby:
"Trixie … everybody … meet Mr. Pony. It was a secret,
and I never told anybody — 'cept Moms and Dad."
Regan: "I've been training this pony
for a friend of your father's, Honey. And I needed a small rider to
help me. So I taught Bobby to ride." |
| 33 |
Bobby: "It
was nice of you to ride with me." Trixie:
"I wanted to. You ride very well." Bobby:
"I have another secret. And I'm going to tell you." Trixie:
"Remember, a secret isn't a secret anymore if you tell it."
Bobby: "I have a tree house. Regan
found the tree, deep in the woods, and we built the house." |
| 34 |
Trixie: "You
can't even tell there's a road over there on the left, behind the
trees." |
| 35 |
- Trixie: "What made you decide
to build a tree house?" Bobby:
"I had to. Moms was mad at me 'cause my room was
a mess. She says I collect too much junk, but it's not junk! My
collections are full of real valuable stuff!"
- Trixie stepped gingerly onto the platform floor of Bobby's tree
house. Many of the leaves had fallen from the nearby trees, and
Trixie was surprised to see that the old dead-end road was even
closer that she thought.
|
| 36 |
Bobby: "Here
are my collections." A coffee can filled with bottle caps, a
mound of "lucky" stones, a lopsided ball of string, a bag
full of baseball cards, and a tin can full of buttons. Regan had built
a covering over the collections to protect them from the elements. |
| 39 |
Regan: "This
summer they (crazy kids) were using the road for drag racing. Finally,
I told them I'd call the police if I ever saw them back there again.
A couple of times while I was building Bobby's tree house, I saw cars
drive down the road. I wonder if those kids removed the 'Dead End'
sign at the entrance to the road." |
| 41 |
Bobby: "I
wasn't riding on Mr. Pony when he ran away. He was parked." |
| 46 |
- Trixie and Honey hurried off to their homeroom. Di and the others
ran down the corridor to their own.
- A glass display case with a nameplate engraved RONALD QUINN
stood beside the table.
|
| 50 |
Miss Lawler:
"I was … uh, ill a while ago, and I - I tire easily. But
please, don't tell anyone what I've told you." |
| 51 |
Both girls looked up to see a young
man, leaning against a battered old yellow pickup truck. He seemed
to be about Brian's age, tall and slender, with curly black hair and
a friendly, likeable smile. |
| 52 |
Miss Lawler:
"Why, Sammy! I didn't expect to see you so soon." Sammy:
"Hi, Cis." |
| 53 |
Trixie: "Sam,
Sam, the Medicine Man. He's just what the doctor ordered!" |
| 55 |
Trixie introduced each of the others
at the table. "We're the Bob-Whites." Miss
Lawler: "That's the name of their club, Sammy." |
| 56 |
Sammy: "I'm
nineteen, and I'm finished with school." |
| 57 |
Sammy: "I
hope Hoppy is as pretty as Di." |
| 62 |
Mr. Belden:
"I know where Sammy might find a job. I was talking to Mr. Johnson,
the Town Hall custodian. he said the town council has authorized him
to hire someone to help him. The roof needs work and the weather vane
is loose." |
| 64 |
Miss Lawler:
"Sammy is very good at maintenance work." |
| 66 |
With the Wheelers' permission, the Bob-Whites
had all worked to clean and repair the gatehouse. |
| 68 |
Trixie: "Mr.
Johnson says that Hoppy needs to be replated with new copper." |
| 69 |
Trixie: "How
about a walk-a-thon? We've never tried that before." |
| 70 |
Honey: "My
father is a good friend of Mr. Perkins." |
| 72 |
Miss Lawler:
"Sammy's a pretty accomplished numismatist." |
| 81 |
Mart: "Moms,
how do I get a catsup stain out of my jacket?" Mrs.
Belden: "The same way I get the catsup stains out of all
your clothes." |
| 84 |
Mrs. Belden reeled off a string of tongue
twisters that amazed everyone. Brian: "Maybe
we should start a family television show." Mr.
Belden: "I think a family circus would be more our style." |
| 97 |
Trixie: "Hoppy's
a valuable antique." |
| 105 |
Mart: "Real
smart. If the only thing in the room had been an open window, would
you have defenestrated yourself?" |
| 106 |
When Trixie, Brian, and Mart entered
the kitchen, Bobby was singing "Meet me in St. Looey" in
a high squeaky voice. |
| 107 |
Trixie: "Who
taught Bobby that old song?" Mrs. Belden:
"The radio. WSTH has played it several times today." |
| 109 |
Radio report: The weather vane is about
three feet long and weighs sixty pounds. It is over two hundred years
old and believed to be one of the grasshopper vanes made by Shem Drowe,
a Colonial coppersmith who crafted the famous grasshopper for Faneuil
Hall in Boston. |
| 114 |
Honey: "Last
night I telephoned Mr. Perkins. I told him we were canceling our walk-a-thon,
since Hoppy is missing, and that we wouldn't be making the announcement
on his radio station. And Mr. Perkins told me that he wants us to
make another announcement for him, instead. He's going to offer a
reward of one thousand dollars for Hoppy's return, and he wants us
to announce it!" |
| 115 |
- Honey: "It'll be on the evening
news."
- The radio station was housed in a new brick and glass building
on the outskirts of Sleepyside.
|
| 117 |
Mr. Perkins was a small man with snow-white
hair and a neatly clipped moustache. Mr. Perkins:
"I haven't lived in Sleepyside for too many years." |
| 125 |
Bobby: "Hey,
everybody, come and look at me. I'm an invalid!" |
| 126 |
One of his eyes was bruised and swollen
almost shut, and he wore two bandages on the side of his face. Bobby:
"Mr. Pony got scared and runned away — and he tossed me.
I didn't cry though. I just got up and caught him the way you did
Trixie." |
| 131 |
Honey: "My
mother's birthday is this week. Do you and Di want to come with me?"
Di: "I can't. I have a piano lesson
this afternoon." |
| 133 |
Brian: "Where
did he find this (coin), Moms?" Mrs. Belden:
"On the common. We were crossing the green to the parking lot." |
| 134 |
Miss Lawler:
"This is a Seated Liberty silver dollar. It's at least one hundred
years old." |
| 135 |
Trixie: "We
all thought Sammy was your brother. He calls you Sis —"
Miss Lawler: "That's short for Cecilia,
my first name. Sammy is just — a friend." |
| 137 |
Trixie: "I'm
kind of glad Di couldn't come." Honey:
"We always do think best when the two of us are together."
|
| 141 |
Sgt. Molinson:
"Thanks for the information, anyway. It's more than I've had
to go on so far." |
| 142 |
Honey had no trouble choosing presents
— a beautiful scarf and a delicate china figurine. |
| 143 |
Trixie: "I
can hardly wait to take driver training. No more depending on someone
else to drive me around." |
| 146 |
Bobby: "Don't
worry, Trixie. You and Honey are real good 'tectives. You'll find
Hoppy." |
| 149 |
Miss Craven:
"I saw a light as I drove past, and I'll never forgive myself
for not stopping to investigate." |
| 150 |
Sgt. Molinson:
"What time did you drive past the school and see the light, Miss
Craven?" Miss Craven: "I believe
it was around four or perhaps a little after four." |
| 152 |
After school on Friday, all seven members
gathered at the clubhouse. After Jim called the meeting to order,
Trixie took over. |
| 154 |
Trixie: "We'll
have to tell him (Molinson) what we saw. I guess Honey and I will
have to stop at the station on Monday after school." |
| 155 |
Dan: "Sorry,
I'm out. I'm still cutting firewood. Mr. Maypenny can't handle that
anymore." |
| 159 |
Trixie: "Honey
and I both have dental appointments in the morning." |
| 161 |
Mr. Lytell:
"That yellow truck was up and down here all summer long drag
racing on the old Louis Road." |
| 164 |
They washed Bobby's lucky stones, and
Trixie dropped them all into the bottom drawer of the cabinet. Trixie:
"The junk drawer." |
| 165 |
Radio announcer:
"A young man, recently employed as assistant caretaker, discovered
the weather vane in a small room directly beneath the belfry. Raymond
Perkins will be presenting the assistant caretaker with a check tomorrow."
Trixie: "That's impossible! I was in
that room on the day after Hoppy was stolen, and it was completely
empty!" |
| 168 |
Jim: "I
guess it's a good thing I went up to the Manor House this morning
and brought over your bike." Honey:
"Thanks Jim! I'm so glad we adopted you." |
| 173 |
Trixie was called almost immediately.
An examination revealed no cavities and a quick cleaning was all she
needed. Half an hour later, they were on their way. |
| 174 |
- The public library was on the edge of the common, directly across
from the medical building. The big white building was originally
one of the first homes in Sleepyside.
- Librarian: "Mr. Quinn's Oriental
coins are all Chinese. This is a Japanese yen. But that is a coincidence.
I believe a Japanese yen was one of the artifacts placed inside
the weather vane."
|
| 175 |
Librarian:
"That's another reason why the weather vane is so valuable. It's
really a sort of time capsule of Sleepyside." |
| 176 |
Newspaper article: In 1878, the weather
vane was taken down to be replated. At that time, a small copper cylinder,
engraved with the words LUNCH FOR GRASSHOPPER, was placed inside the
hollow body. A number of artifacts were inside the cylinder. |
| 182 |
Mart: "Tell
us about that 'big critter' that scared Mr. Pony."
Bobby: "It was a awful big huge a-nor-mous giant bug!" |
| 183 |
Bobby: "I'm
going downtown with Moms. I get to go to the barber all by myself,
while Moms has lunch with Dad." |
| 184 |
Trixie: "'Louis
Road - Dead End.' I never knew this road had a name." Jim:
"Dad told me that this section of the woods was once owned by
a family named Louis. They were French." |
| 201 |
Miss Lawler:
"Sammy, you've been doing so well since you left the halfway
house." |
| 203 |
Sammy: "You
(Lawler) lost control of your car and smashed into a tree. And your
poor brother was killed. You flipped out and had to spend some time
at a funny farm." |
| 205 |
Miss Lawler:
"This (the bell tower man) is Mr. Gibbons. He's a parole officer
from New York." |
| 206 |
Mr. Gibbons:
"I followed Sammy here after he jumped his parole in New York.
He and his partner were released from jail early in the year." |
| 207 |
Miss Lawler:
"I took a job as a counselor in a halfway house." |
| 208 |
Mr. Gibbons:
"Sammy had been in jail for theft." |
