Notes for #20 The Mystery Off Old Telegraph Road © 1978
| Page # |
Quote |
| 13 |
- Honey: "I want to have as much
time as possible at the art fair, and Ben said he'd only wait
half an hour to give us a ride home."
- Trixie thought about how much things had changed since Honey's
cousin Ben Riker had been staying with the Wheeler family.
|
| 14 |
- Trixie: Ever since Ben Riker arrived
last month, Honey and Jim have been so busy trying to keep him
out of trouble that there hasn't been time for anything else.
- Ben's jokes had been harmless enough until a few months before,
when he had fallen in with a bad group at the expensive boarding
school he'd been attending.
|
| 15 |
- With his grades slipping and his behavior getting him closer
and closer to real trouble, he had been sent to stay with the
Wheelers for a while.
- Trixie: All he's done since he
came is to get in with a crowd that's as bad as the one at his
boarding school.
- Honey: "Sometimes I think Ben
really would like to be helpful and to get along better with the
rest of us, but he's afraid to show it."
|
| 16 |
Honey: "You've
never had to go to one of those dreadful boarding schools. You get
so lonely that feeling that you belong to a group becomes dreadfully
important. You don't want to do anything that will make your group
lose respect for you." |
| 18 |
There were only a few tables around
the center of the gym and a few exhibits of paintings and drawings
along the walls. |
| 19 |
Amy Morrisey, a girl Trixie knew from
her English class, was standing behind the (pottery) table. Amy:
"I've only been at it for two years, and with just one wheel
in the art department, I haven't had as much practice as I need." |
| 23 |
A collection of pen-and-ink drawings
were hanging around the wall. Trixie: "There's
Town Hall and there's Hoppy." |
| 24 |
Trixie: (reading
signature) "Nicholas William Roberts the third. Is that you?"
she asked the serious-looking, dark-haired boy standing nearby. |
| 25 |
Nick: "I
work from a photograph. That way I can work for as long as I have
to, without being bothered by changes in light." |
| 26 |
Nick: "I've
already done a pencil sketch of Glen Road Inn, and now I just trace
over the pencil and fill in the details with the pen." |
| 27 |
Nick: "I
want to go on to art school after I graduate, but no good school will
take me on the basis of these drawings. I need samples of work in
other media. I'll be a senior next year, so that's my last chance." |
| 29 |
Ben Riker and three of his friends:
Mike Larson, Jerry Vanderhoef, and Bill Wright. Jerry:
"He (Ben) has to play chauffeur to his cute little cousin and
her freckle-faced chum." Mike: "I
think Ben's got a crush on tomboy Trixie." Bill shove Ben back,
knocking him into the table that held the display of pottery. |
| 31 |
- Nick: "I know your (Ben) type.
You've had everything handed to you on a silver platter, and you
think you can bail your way out of anything with money."
- Ben, still angry at Nick's tongue-lashing, drove Mr. Wheeler's
car fast and recklessly.
|
| 32 |
They went up to Honey's bedroom to change,
Trixie into a pair of jeans and a T-shirt borrowed from her friend.
|
| 33 |
Honey: "My
grades are better here than they ever were before. Although they still
aren't very good." |
| 35 |
- Trixie: "I'm laughing because
your way of explaining things is just as jumbled as mine is. It's
a good thing we know each other so well, because we'd never be
able to understand each other otherwise." Honey:
"Jim sometimes says, 'I don't know whether you've been listening
to Trixie too long or the other way around, but pretty soon I'm
not going to be able to understand either one of you.'"
- Trixie: "A bikeathon. Right through
the game preserve. It's so beautiful right now, with the first
leaves on the trees. A lot of the kids at school have asked me
what the preserve is like."
|
| 37 |
Brian: "I
just wish you'd come up with your idea before now, when I'm a senior.
Drawing is an excellent way to learn anatomy. But from what I've heard
about the art classes, they just aren't good enough to sacrifice something
else I need." Mr. Belden: "You
know, Trixie, your mother was an art major, and I think she could
tell you about the high cost of art supplies." |
| 38 |
- Mrs. Belden: "Even back then,
paints and brushes were very expensive. In fact, I practically
gave up my artwork when your father and I were first married because
we didn't have very much money. And, then when you children came
along, I got involved with other things, and I just never got
back to painting."
- Brian: "It sounds as though Ben
was on the defensive because of the way his so-called friends
acted. I don't think Ben is a bad guy. He just needs to do some
growing up."
|
| 39 |
- They decided that the bikeathon should be held as soon as possible,
before school let out for the summer.
- Dan: "I know just the route we
should take."
|
| 40 |
Dan: "Starting
at the school, we can go along Old Telegraph Road to the Albany Post
Road, then along Glen Road to Lytell's store. Then we can go along
the path through the game preserve to Mr. Maypenny's and have a rest
stop there. Finally, we'll ride along the other path that goes from
Mr. Maypenny's through more of the preserve, between Di's and the
Manor House, and back out to Glen Road and into Sleepyside." |
| 41 |
- Jim: "I'll ask Sgt. Molinson
for a police escort so that nobody will get hurt by cars on the
highway."
- About halfway between Glen Road and Albany Post Road, Di
Lynch: "Look! What's that?" A gravel drive branched
off the road to the north. Tall hedges hid what was along the
drive.
|
| 42 |
- Pulling into the driveway, the Bob-Whites saw a large clearing
on which stood a deserted-looking frame house and a shed.
- Jim: "Sgt. Molinson will probably
know who the owner is. I'll ask him about it at the same time
I ask for a police escort. Tomorrow's Saturday, so everybody will
have time to carry out their assignments."
|
| 43 |
Jim: "I
hereby invite everyone over to the Wheeler boathouse tomorrow evening
for a picnic lunch, at which time we will all report our progress." |
| 45 |
But on Saturdays, Mrs. Belden demanded
— and got — the full cooperation of her three oldest children
in tackling the major chores. The week's fair weather signaled the
beginning of spring-cleaning. |
| 46 |
Trixie paused in front of a landscape
that showed a narrow stream lined with bare-branched willow trees.
She'd always noticed the signature, Helen Johnson, which was her mother's
maiden name, and the date. The sky was cloudy with just a hint of
chilly-looking sunlight breaking through, and the water in the stream
had the same muted, cloudy look to it. |
| 47 |
The trees were slender, but their trunks
seemed well rounded, sturdy but supple. Trixie:
It's quite good. Moms must have had a lot of talent as an artist. |
| 49 |
- Trixie: "We may have the first
bikeathon in history where the bikers will gain weight!"
- Jim: "Sgt. Molinson has agreed
to provide a police escort for the length of the bikeathon route.
He also told me who owns the abandoned house. It's a gentleman
by the name of Mr. Matthew Wheeler."
|
| 50 |
Jim: "It
seems that the house belonged to a small farm that bordered the game
preserve. About a year ago, Dad found out that the owners wanted to
retire from the farm and move to town. He bought the farm immediately,
since he'd been wanting to extend his property all the way to the
road. Dad's also volunteered to let us have Tom Delanoy's help, and
the big car, to pick up any cyclists who get tired or have bike trouble." |
| 51 |
Jim started the fire in the fire bowl
that the Bob-Whites had made for their cookouts. |
| 52 |
Di was the prettiest of the three girls.
She was aware of her good looks, and she was far more concerned with
watching her figure than Honey and Trixie. |
| 54 |
Ben: "I
wouldn't knock myself out for any art department. Art students are
all just a bunch of dabblers anyway." |
| 61 |
Trixie: "I
didn't realize you were such a baseball fan, Honey. I guess I'll just
have to take care of everything alone." When Honey did respond,
it was in an icy tone that Trixie had never heard her use before. |
| 62 |
- Honey: "I think you're more worried
about getting a lot of attention from organizing the bikeathon
then you are about helping anybody."
- Trixie's hot temper was well-known by all the Bob-Whites. They
knew that their friend spoke without thinking — and often
without feeling as strongly about things as her words would seem
to indicate. For that reason, they tended to respond by teasing
Trixie out of her bad mood, rather than taking it seriously.
|
| 68 |
The two-story frame house had once been
white. There was a small brick stoop on the front of the house. |
| 69 |
In the back, Trixie discovered that
the house had an old-fashioned cellar, with the heavy wood doors to
the outside built parallel to the ground. |
| 75 |
Bobby: "You
'splained that if I would eat a whole cooked carrot, you would give
me a s'prise after dinner. And I asked for the vegetables first 'cause
I want the very smallest carrot." |
| 76 |
Mart: "That
funny-looking piece of paper is in fact a fifty-deutsche-mark note." |
| 82 |
Nick: "The
school board will just use that as an excuse to cut the art department's
budget back even more." |
| 83 |
The young art teacher, whose name was
Mr. Crider, was very friendly and welcomed Trixie's offer to help. |
| 84 |
Mr. Crider:
"I have two classes of first-year art students. I can give them
the posters and pledge cards to do as an assignment." |
| 86 |
Mr. Crider:
"I don't know Nick well either. I do know that he's had some
unfortunate experiences. Nick and his family moved to Sleepyside just
last year from New York City. His mother's health isn't very good,
and her doctor suggested it might improve if she were away from the
pollution of the city. Nick's father is a master engraver, and he
was in demand in the city, but there isn't much call for his talents
in a small town like Sleepyside. He has a little shop downtown, where
he sells engraved trophies and plaques. And, although Mrs. Roberts's
health has improved since they moved here, the medical bills that
they ran up have put them pretty deeply in debt. Nick tries to help
out by working evenings and weekends as a sign painter." |
| 87 |
Mr. Crider:
"He resents having to take so much time away from his serious
work." |
| 90 |
Honey: "I
was trying to pretend to watch the baseball game. I was just staring
at the baseball field, not really seeing it, when suddenly everyone
started to cheer. I saw a runner crossing home plate, and I jumped
up and yelled, 'Touchdown!' And that's not all. When I jumped up,
I forgot that I had a glass of pop in my hand." |
| 91 |
- Honey: "I emptied the whole glassful
of cold, sticky pop on Ben's head! You should have seen the look
on his face." Trixie: "Oh,
Honey, we don't dare fight anymore. It's too dangerous!"
- Honey: "Jim has decided we should
start riding with Ben. He thinks it might keep him out of trouble."
|
| 99 |
Trixie: She's
probably waiting, just as Mart is, for Ben to do something so awful
that the Wheelers will have to admit defeat and send Ben away for
good. If that happens, Honey will always feel guilty because she wasn't
able to give him the help he needed. |
| 101 |
Di: "Trixie
only has trouble with math problems in class. When it comes to one
of her pet projects, she has no trouble at all." Trixie:
"That's what I've been trying to tell everybody, especially when
I bring home my report card." |
| 102 |
Trixie: "There's
nothing wrong with my answers in math class. It's the problems that
are wrong!" |
| 104 |
The other Bob-Whites all knew that Mart
Belden had a special feeling for Di Lynch, a feeling that Di returned.
Trixie's feeling for Jim was well known, too, and Honey liked to do
as much as she could to encourage it. |
| 107 |
Honey borrowed a pair of Trixie's jeans
and a T-shirt. Honey: "You know Trixie,
our families aren't so different after all. At least, we both change
clothes before dinner." Trixie: "Only
at your house, you have to change into a dress, and here
you have to change out of it!" |
| 110 |
Mr. Belden:
"The article was about counterfeiters. Because West Germany money
is so valuable right now, it's become very popular with counterfeiters." |
| 118 |
Di: "I'd
rather face a gang of counterfeiters than visit my dentist, which
is what I have to do. The toothache that kept me home from school
on Monday still isn't much better." |
| 120 |
Trixie: "It
was very nice of you (Bobby) to let me take your surprise in to the
police. He told me especially to say thank you." Bobby:
"That means that I holped solve a mystery, doesn't it?"
Mart: "Oh no. It would appear that
the Beldens have another would-be sleuth in their midst. What's to
become of us!" |
| 125 |
Di: "If
you tell anybody what you suspect, it will just cause hard feelings
if word of it gets back to Nick or Ben." |
| 127 |
Trixie: "I
thought we could use woodsman's symbols like the ones Jim taught us
when we first met him — bent twigs or piles of pebbles —" |
| 130 |
Mart: "The
way the road to her (Mrs. Vanderpoel) house wanders around in the
woods, we'd better find a place for an arrow about every ten feet." |
| 131 |
Mrs. Vanderpoel:
"Now Mart, don't you go throwing your twenty-five-cent words
at me." |
| 136 |
Jim: "I
know you pretty well, Trixie Belden — and I like what I know
about you." |
| 140 |
The Bob-Whites were all very proud of
the jackets, and they decided that any member who appeared in public
with his or her jacket in less than top-notch condition would have
to pay a fine of ten cents a day. Mart, with his love of food, was
frequently caught with some remnants of his last meal or snack on
his jacket. Trixie seemed always to be caught with a torn seam or
a missing button. Jim, Brian, and Dan were less concerned with keeping
their jackets clean and in good repair than they were with outgrowing
them. Honey had told Trixie secretly that new jackets might well be
good Christmas presents for the boys. |
| 144 |
Mr. Roberts:
"We carry ribbons for first through fourth place, and they're
fifty cents a piece." |
| 145 |
Mr. Roberts:
"I don't sell ribbons in such small quantities. A minimum order
is a dozen of each." |
| 148 |
Trixie: "If
all the riders finish the route, we'll have raised close to three
thousand dollars." |
| 153 |
Dan: "Somebody
destroyed Mr. Maypenny's game cart last night. It was right out in
front of the house, and when I went out this morning, there it was
looking as though someone had taken a sledge-hammer to it." |
| 160 |
Trixie was doubly awed by the (Manor
House) library, with its towering floor-to-ceiling bookcases lined
with leather-bound books. |
| 161 |
Ben: "Being
questioned by the police really shook me up. I think — I hope
— it knocked some sense into me. I've always liked practical
jokes — I still do. But if my pranks, and the people I hang
around with, are going to get me into trouble with the law, they just
aren't worth it. I haven't been
a very good person. I'm going to try to change that now. And while
I don't expect you to forgive and forget right away, I hope you'll
give me a chance to prove myself to you. In time, I hope we can all
be good friends." |
| 164 |
- Brian: "Mart, would you make
a list of the things that don't affect your appetite?
I'll engrave it on the head of a pin."
- Ben: "It's (Sleepyside) a good
school. I like most of my teachers, and I feel that I'm learning
a lot more than I ever did at the expensive boarding schools I
went to. It's harder to make friends though. At a boarding school,
you're with the same people twenty-four hours a day. You eat your
meals with them, line up to get your mail with them."
|
| 165 |
Ben: "It's
just easier to get to know people in a situation like that. At Sleepyside,
everyone goes home after school, and you generally don't see your
classmates until the next day. I just didn't know how to cope." |
| 172 |
Mrs. Belden:
"Bobby's locked himself in the house. Apparently he put the chain
lock on when I stepped out for a moment, then couldn't remember how
to unlock it when I wanted to get in. He didn't realize the front
door was already locked. Now he thinks he's trapped, and he's too
frightened to listen to my instructions on how to work the lock. |
| 183 |
Small bad guy:
"We thought we'd have trouble with you before now. That's why
we kept away from you with our threats and tire slashing." |
| 184 |
Nick: "You
all seem to be such insiders, and I've always felt like an outsider
since we moved to Sleepyside." Trixie:
Just like Ben Riker. I bet Nick would never believe me if I told
him that Ben felt exactly as he does. |
| 195 |
Nick: "My
father is a very old-fashioned man, in many ways. He has an old-fashioned
pride in his work that I've always respected very much. I think that's
why I got involved in art — I wanted to do something that I
could feel as proud of as he does." |
| 200 |
Jim settled her (Trixie) in the car,
and she was almost asleep, with her head on his shoulder, before the
other Bob-Whites got in. |
| 204 |
Tom Delanoy:
"I know all about cars, but those ten-speed bikes are a mystery
to me. I couldn't fix them." |
| 205 |
Ben: "I've
always enjoyed sketching. I just do little doodles on my notebook
covers or on the message pad by the phone. I was always too afraid
that I'd be teased if I took it seriously, so I've never really worked
at it." |
| 207 |
Nick: "If
I work hard enough next year, I can put together a portfolio that
will be accepted by any art school in the country. Now that I'm sure
of that, I just know I'll be able to scrape together the tuition somehow." |
| 209 |
Mart: "I
can't think of a more appropriate pose in which to draw Trixie Belden." |
| 210 |
The sketch Nick had drawn was on of
Trixie, biting her lower lip and looking contrite, and Sgt. Molinson,
towering over her and looking stern. Honey:
"You haven't known any of very long, Nick, but when you have,
you'll know that that's a pose Trixie seems to find herself in fairly
often." Trixie: "I'm going to
hang this picture in my room and stare at it thirty minutes every
day to remind myself of what happens when I don't listen to Sgt. Molinson's
advice." Nick: "Someday, though,
I'd like to do a really nice drawing of you. I owe you a piece of
artwork remember?" Jim: "Well,
if Trixie doesn't want it, I do. I plan to hold you to your promise
of drawing a really nice portrait of her, Nick." |
