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Chapter 26 — THE WRAPUP |
Later that evening, Mr. and Mrs. Walton, Mr. Long,
Aunt Essie, and Mrs. Stephens were stretched out in comfortable chairs in the Walton’s
living room. Jennifer, Marvis, Kenneth, and Candace were lolling about on the
living room floor. Mrs. Long had taken Mr. Nason home, and promised to stay
with him until he was asleep. Mrs. Kelly wanted to stay, but she said she
needed to get home to her children and relieve the babysitter. Mr. Kelly and
Mr. Sugihara were not yet back from the sheriff’s office.
The kitchen and the patio had been cleared and the hour was late, but no one
felt tired. There were long silences, but all were too keyed-up from the
experience of the evening to go off to bed.
“You children were marvelous,” said Mrs. Stephens.
“Well, you helped us figure out what to do,” said Candace.
“You were the ones who did it, though,” said Mrs. Stephens. “You confirmed my
belief that most young people will make good choices and act responsibly if
we’ll just show them the way, and trust them.”
“Weren’t you scared that Cousin Ellen would drink her drink and die right there
in front of you?” asked Jennifer, as she turned to Kenneth, her eyes wide.
“Oh, no, silly, I thought you knew better than that,” said Kenneth. “What I
poured didn’t really come from that medicine container. We gave all of that to
my dad so the lab could analyze it. But you saw how scared she was. It had to
be poison.”
Mr. Long had been silent through most of the evening. “Jennifer,” he said, “I
should have listened to you when you first told me about all that. It’s just
that. . .”
“I do have a great imagination,” interrupted Jennifer. “But as I told Kenneth
and Candace, I wouldn’t ever make up anything that would get anyone in trouble.
And maybe, from now on, I’ll just play it straight.”
** “If it were up to me,” said Mrs. Stephens, “I’d not want you to give up one
little bit of that great imagination of yours. There are lots of dull people in
the world, and we don’t need any more of them. As long as you know the
difference between what’s real and what’s not, I hope you’ll go on using that
wonderful imagination of yours, forever.”
Mr. Long waved his hand. “I’ll second that. And from now on, if you tell me
you’re playing it straight, I promise I’ll believe you.”
Aunt Essie let out a long sigh and all eyes turned to her. “That little
container. Hmm. I just thought it was a bit of trash someone had left on the
patio, and I threw it in the trash. To think it once contained poison. Too bad
that girl didn’t just ask me for what she needed. I’d have given it to her,”
she added.
Mr. Walton spoke up. “I don’t think she needed all that much. I just think she
wanted all she could get. I know a little about her business affairs, and I
don’t think she was in any kind of trouble. Just greedy.”
Aunt Essie sighed again. “I know she didn’t like her job all that much, but I
told her anytime she wanted to stay home and take care of my brother I’d pay
all the bills.”
“It sounds like the old story of killing the goose that laid the golden egg,”
said Mrs. Walton.
“Except, since I know a little bit about your finances, too,” said Mr. Walton,
gesturing toward Aunt Essie, “I think the goose would have gone on and on
laying golden eggs for a long time — whether you were dead or alive!”
“You know,” said Aunt Essie, “I think I’m going to see about putting what I
need in a living trust and doing some things with the rest. I know I can’t take
it with me, and I surely don’t plan to have a lot left around for Ellen when
she gets out of jail — if she ever does.”
“I have a suggestion,” said Candace, moving toward Aunt Essie. “I’ve been
thinking I might want to put some of the money I’ll get someday into a women’s
shelter — but if you did it now, that would be even better.” She glanced at
Marvis who smiled in return.
“My, girl, but that sounds like an interesting idea,” said Aunt Essie. “Let’s
talk about that sometime.”
Marvis took in a deep breath and shuddered. All eyes turned in her direction.
“Oh, sorry. Speaking of shelters, I was just thinking about being cooped up in
that toolhouse and feeling carpet threads across my face, and thinking there
were spiders in there with me,” she said. Candace shuddered, too.
“I’m so glad you’re going to stay here now,” she said to Marvis. “I hope your
mother can find an apartment in our district.”
“I’m sure I can help make that happen,” said Mr. Walton.
“I hate to think what might have happened if you were all in school on Monday,
or if Jennifer weren’t such an early bird,” said Aunt Essie.
“Speaking of that, maybe we’d better go home, Dad. I’ll probably be up before
sunrise tomorrow, and I ought to get to bed before the two days run together,”
said Jennifer, laughing. Mr. Long agreed, and with hugs for all, Jennifer
walked out the door behind him.
“Thanks for believing her,” said Mr. Long to Kenneth and Candace. “We should
have, too — at least we should have listened.” Then he turned to Aunt Essie and
said, “Would you like us to walk you home, or do you want to stay awhile more?”
“Oh, I’m so comfortable here, and I’ve had such a jolt this evening that I hate
to get up — but that would be best, I’m sure,” she said.
Mr. Long and Aunt Essie said goodbye and left.
Candace could hear Aunt Essie begin to say, “Do you suppose Jennifer could stay
over at my place. . .,” when the door clicked shut.
“Why don’t all of you go off to bed,” said Mrs. Stephens. “Kenneth and I can
wait here until his dad and Mr. Kelly get back from seeing the sheriff.”
Some minutes later Candace walked downstairs in her pajamas and robe. Mrs.
Stephens was curled up on the sofa thumbing through a magazine. Kenneth was
stretched out on the floor with a pillow under his head, half asleep, but he
opened his eyes when Candace came into the room.
Mrs. Stephens stretched a hand toward each of them. Candace took a seat on the
sofa, and Kenneth moved closer, sat up, and reached out. “You two have been
wonderful. You have really gone Beyond the Call,” she said.
“Yes. Kenneth wouldn’t let us give up. I hate to think what would have happened
if we had, and if Ellen had found Marvis instead of us,” said Candace.
“But Marvis deserves the most credit — more than either of us,” said Kenneth.
“She did do a lot, didn’t she? We may have to see about including her in our
group, since she’s going to join us at Walton,” said Mrs. Stephens, then she
tilted her head and stared into space for a moment.
“Funny, but I thought when we started that we’d be working with in-school
problems. It never occurred to me that any of you would be doing anything like
— preventing a murder,” she said.
Candace and Mrs. Stephens looked toward Kenneth, unsure what his strange
expression meant.
“I’m not going to complain anymore that nothing happens around me,” he said,
then he sighed. “Anyway, I expect the next problem we get into will be closer
to home, at least closer to school,” he added.
“I just bet it will be,” said Mrs. Stephens.
She’d have won that bet. And you can read all about it in the second book in
the Beyond the Call series. Look for it. It’s called Travis and Trish.
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The
Better Choices Idea for Chapter 26 is: When we use our imaginations
effectively we are making important and positive choices.
In Chapter 26 (see **), Mrs. Stephens encouraged Jennifer, saying, “There are
lots of dull people in the world, and we don’t need any more of them. As long as you know the difference
between what’s real and what’s not, I hope you’ll go on using that wonderful imagination of yours, forever.”
Think
about yourself. Could you be more
imaginative, or “do you go off the
deep end” in the opposite direction. Could you be more creative, or are you one of the very few
people who could reign in your creativity.
This
statement applies to you. Take it
seriously: “What I say I choose to
say; what I do I choose to do; the way I am I choose to be.”