which road to turn off to get to
it. She knew that Bailey would
not be willing to lose any time
looking at an old house, but the
more she talked about it, the
more she wanted to see it once
again and find out if the little
twin arbors were still standing.
"There was a secret panel in
this house," she said craftily,
not telling the truth but wishing
that she were, "and the story
went that all the family silver
was hidden in it when Sherman
came through but it was never
found . . ."
wouldn't take over twenty
minutes."
Bailey was looking straight
ahead. His jaw was as rigid as
a horseshoe. "No," he said.
"Hey!" John Wesley said.
"Let's go see it! We'll find it!
We'll poke all the woodwork
and find it! Who lives there?
Where do you turn off at? Hey
Pop, can't we turn off there?"
The children began to yell and
scream that they wanted to see
the house with the secret panel.
John Wesley kicked the back
of the front seat and June Star
hung over her mother's
shoulder and whined
desperately into her ear that
they never had any fun even on
their vacation, that they could
never do what THEY wanted
to do. The baby began to
scream and John Wesley
kicked the back of the seat so
hard that his father could feel
the blows in his kidney.
"We never have seen a house
with a secret panel!" June Star
shrieked. "Let's go to the house
with the secret panel! Hey Pop,
can't we go see the house with
the secret panel!"
"All right!" he shouted and
drew the car to a stop at the
side of the road. "Will you all
shut up? Will you all just shut
up for one second? If you don't
shut up, we won't go anywhere.
"It's not far from here, I know,"
the grandmother said. "It
"It would be very educational
for them," the grandmother
murmured.
JOY FEELINGS | DECEMBER ISSUE
237