Notes for #6 Mystery in Arizona © 1958, 2004
| Page # |
Quote |
| 6 |
- The boys and girls belonged to a secret society and called themselves
the B.W.G.'s, short for Bob-Whites of the Glen. Brian, aged sixteen,
and Mart, who was eleven months older than Trixie, were treasurer
and secretary respectively. Honey was vice-president and Trixie
and Jim were co-presidents.
- Honey: "What did Miss Jones (guidance
counselor) tell your parents?" Trixie: "I'm
not passing math and English."
|
| 9 |
The Wheelers were very rich and before
they bought the Manor House they had spent a lot of time traveling.
One summer they had spent several weeks touring the whole state of
Arizona in a trailer. |
| 11 |
They brought their trays to a large
table which had just been vacated by a group of lofty seniors. Jim
and Brian had jobs in the cafeteria kitchen and usually ate their
lunch there. |
| 18 |
- Di: "It has something to do with an ancient
Mexican Christmas rite called La Posada which takes place on Tuesday
evening.
- Mr. Lynch, like Mr. Wheeler, commuted daily to his office in
New York City.
|
| 20 |
Di: "Dad is flying
to the coast on Monday which means he can be with us as far as Tucson.
Mother won't let me go without him." Honey:
"We could fly out in care of the stewardess, you know."
Di: "You could, but not me. My mother is not
as sophisticated as yours. She won't even talk about my flying unless
Dad goes along." |
| 24 |
Bobby was waiting beside the mailbox.
He had entered the first grade that fall. |
| 27 |
Honey: "Miss Trask
says she'll drive us to Peekskill. There's a big store there where
we can buy all the dude ranch clothes we'll need." |
| 28 |
Di and Honey would be able to buy plenty
of expensive dude ranch clothes. Would she, Trixie, stick out like
a sore thumb if she didn't wear things like real cowboy boots and
a ten-gallon Stetson hat? |
| 34 |
The only time Trixie had ever been away
from home for more than a day or so had been when she and Honey and
Miss Trask had gone off in the Wheelers' luxury trailer to find Jim
after he had run away. |
| 36 |
Suddenly Trixie felt very weak-kneed.
After all, she had never flown before in her life. |
| 37 |
The stewardess stopped beside their
seats then and introduced herself. "I'm a full-blooded Apache
Indian. Barbara Slater is my American name. My Indian name is too
long to remember. So won't you please just call me Babs?" Di:
"You look divine in that trim navy-blue uniform. When I'm old
enough I'm going to try to get a job as an airline hostess." |
| 46 |
Honey: "Jim has
been studying up on Arizona ever since he inherited that money from
his uncle. You know, he's thinking seriously of having his boys' school
in that state." |
| 58 |
The plane circled above Tucson and came
down to land at the Municipal Airport. Mr. Wilson was not much taller
than Jim but he was so thin that he looked taller. Like his sister,
Di's mother, he had very blue eyes. |
| 62 |
Di: "The Orlandos
are a Mexican family who work for him." Mr. Wilson:
"The señora is my housekeeper; her husband, Señor
Orlando, is my major-domo. Their sons and daughters serve as waiters,
waitresses, and maids. Their daughter-in-law, Maria, is my cook." |
| 63 |
Mr. Lynch: "Mr.
Wilson's many guests have paid him in advance. Most of them are asthma
sufferers and stay out here for eight months." Mr. Wilson:
"And I did have the good fortune to hire a friend of Maria's,
a full-blooded Navaho girl who for some reason has left the Indian
school here in her senior year. Maria calls her Rosita." |
| 64 |
Mr. Wilson: "It
is strange that the Orlandos would want to miss La Posada. I think
you know that it is based on ancient Mexican-Spanish tradition, which
holds that Joseph and Mary spent nine days during their journey from
Galilee to Bethlehem searching for a posada which is the Spanish word
for lodging. Here in Tucson La Posada is staged on only one night,
but in Spain and Mexico it is celebrated for nine days." |
| 70 |
Uncle Monty: "Welcome
to my humble home. It started out as an adobe hut. Then during the
Civil War when Arizona had little or no military protection from Apache
raiders, it became a small fortress. |
| 73 |
Uncle Monty: "This
is Rosita. Her father is a famous silversmith and her mother makes
exquisite jewelry." |
| 80 |
Trixie: "He (Mart)
and Brian learned how to make tamales in camp last summer." |
| 84 |
Jim came through the swinging door expertly
balancing a tray on the fingers and thumb of one hand. He was dressed
in what appeared to be a bullfighter's costume: a white silk shirt
with flowing sleeves, a richly embroidered red velvet vest, and tight-fitting
pants to match." |
| 85 |
Rosita: "They
catch on quickly your brothers. Especially Jim and Mart. They like
to act. I think they could have a career on the stage as comedians.
Brian-he has natural grace and skill with his hands." |
| 92 |
Tenny: "I'm Lionel
Stetson; no relation to the famous hatter, but because of which I
go by the name of Ten Gallon-Tenny for short." |
| 95 |
Maria Orlando: "You'll
have to get used to it. Everything in the Southwest is on a large
scale." |
| 99 |
Maria: "It is
true that Mrs. Sherman is so fat that she is wise to take only black
coffee for breakfast. But that is no reason for her to act so bored.
We call her Lady Astorbilt." |
| 100 |
Maria: "Miss Jane
Brown came here to have fun but she does not know how to enjoy herself.
She does not care for Mexican food, and so of course she is sulky
and cross. Your Mr. X-Diana-his name is Wellington-does nothing but
sit around all day with the saddest expression in is eyes. He had
reserved a family-sized cabin, but he arrived alone Saturday." |
| 106 |
The "uniforms" turned out
to be white blouses heavily embroidered with all the colors of the
rainbow, and gay, multi-colored dirndl-type skirts. |
| 114 |
Jane Brown: "I'm
an orphan. For the past ten years I've been working as a stenographer
in a big Chicago firm." |
| 125 |
Diana: "He (Mr.
Wellington) has two sons and a daughter who are all in their teens
and are at boarding schools in the East. At the very last minute they
changed their minds. The girl's roommate is giving a house party and
that's where they're all going." |
| 130 |
Brian: "Don't
be silly Trix. The kid is simply letting his imagination run a way
with him as you so often do." |
| 143 |
Uncle Monty: "Isabella
is the direct descendant of an Aztec noble. And Rosita's grandfather
was a great Navaho chief. She's (Trixie) as poor as a church mouse." |
| 146 |
Calammy's mousy-brown eyes were wide.
"I've never been wanted by anyone since my parents died when
I wasn't much older than you Trixie." |
| 165 |
Di: "… how
many peckled pippers…" |
| 173 |
Trixie: "The lacquer
will protect you from the silver. It's a trick I learned from my Aunt
Alicia. Moms makes house dresses and aprons and dish towels out of
our chicken-feed bags." |
| 182 |
Tenny: "Mr. Wilson
knows that I'm working for my Ph.D. at the University. There's an
assistant-professorship waiting for me at the University when I get
my degree." |
| 187 |
Trixie thinking, People who own
horses and ponies in the East are usually very rich. |
| 189 |
Trixie: "The opera
house?" Tenny: "That's what cowboys call
the top rail of the breaking corral." |
| 202 |
Mart: "Trixie
made history in grade school by falling off the stage during a play
when she was supposed to be a dancing daffodil." Trixie:
"You know perfectly well the Wheelers weren't living in the Manor
House when I was in the third grade." Di: "I
remember it all very well because I was the daffodil right behind
her. First her paper skirt fell off, then she tripped on it, and the
next thing we knew she was practically in the lap of the teacher who
was playing the piano." |
| 203 |
Trixie: "I won't
be responsible for the consequences." Jim: "I
will. As my partner you will be the most graceful lady on the floor.
What a great guy he (Tenny) is. Maybe some day he'll teach at my school
during a summer session." |
| 205 |
Jim grabbed Trixie's hand, Brian crooked
his arm at Honey, and Mart bowed low in front of Di." |
| 214 |
Uncle Monty: "Before
you go home, we'll take a trip across the border to Nogales in Sonora.
No visas are required. You just step across the street from Arizona
into Old Mexico." |
| 219 |
Jim: "Maria and Petey have gone. She
left this note for your uncle, Di. All it says is 'Tell the patron
I am sorry.'" |
| 223 |
Trixie: "Now I know why you (Mrs. Sherman)
kept saying you hoped Maria would leave. You like to cook." |
| 224 |
Honey: "Jim's
as mad as anything. He always laughs like that and pretends to be
meek when he's really wild with rage." |
| 227 |
Honey: "In the book on Mexican customs
which I've been studying, I discovered that there is a special fiesta
called Dia de los Muertos, the Day of the Dead. The Mexicans bring
a sort of picnic lunch to the graveyards and spend the day there
feasting. When they go home they leave behind all sorts of delicacies
for the dead. |
| 228 |
Jim: "I happen to know that Dia de
los Muertos is on November first." Trixie: "Maybe their own special
family Day of the Dead is today or tomorrow." |
| 230 |
Trixie: "The Orlandos
might be celebrating an event which dates back to the days of Montezuma." |
| 231 |
Trixie: "Something
nobody outside of the family knows anything about." |
| 233 |
Dere Trix. I fee th cikens ver day.
I go ridn. lov ROBERT BELDEN |
| 235 |
Uncle Monty: "A
great gal is my Jane Brown." |
| 242 |
"I'm Sally Wellington and I can
guess who you all are from the descriptions Dad gave us in his letters.
Bob is Mart's age and Billy is a little older than Jim. And as you
can see, they're both as dark as Brian." |
| 245 |
Sally's present was a tiny silver bobsled
to put on her charm bracelet. |
| 246 |
Bob: "Sally was
born vain and we've been trying to cure her of it ever since she was
in the playpen stage." She (Sally) had Honey's coloring-hazel
eyes and golden brown hair. |
| 249 |
Sally: "Let's
don't say goodbye at the end of the holidays. Our schools aren't far
from where you live in the Hudson River Valley." |
| 250 |
Sally: "Maybe
you'll invite us to spend a weekend with you and maybe next summer
you'll come and spend some time with us in our home." |
| 252 |
Honey's gift - It was a tiny sewing
basket complete with minute spools of thread and even a strawberry
pincushion. |
| 254 |
Trixie's gift - It was a miniature magnifying
glass. Di, who so often got words mixed up, received a tiny dictionary.
She looked hurt for a second, then laughed with the others. Jim received
a plastic puppy that looked so much like his springer spaniel that
he was amazed. Brian, the embryo doctor, found that his package contained
a miniature stethoscope. Mart, whose current ambition was to attend
an agricultural college, received a set of tiny garden tools. Mrs.
Sherman: "Look at what I got. A skillet, no less, the
size of my thumbnail." |
| 255 |
Jane's little cowgirl seemed made to
order for riding Tenny's bucking bronco. Mr. Wellington had been presented
with a miniature jolly old elf. |
| 257 |
Uncle Monty: "It all dates back to
the middle of the sixteenth cntury when the founder of the Orlando
family set off with Coronado to find the mythical Seven Cities of
Cibola. He was a lad of eighteen, the son of an Aztec noble who had
been a member of the great Montezuma's court. The boy's mother was
Dona Isabella of a royal Spanish family, so when the child was baptized
he was given the name Pedro and her illustrious last name, Orlando.
It is his birthday which his descendants celebrate every year in
the ruins of the ancestral home." |
| 259 |
Jim: "You (Trixie)
did work hard at your assignments and I hereby give you a double E
for Excellent Effort." |
