Moans and Groans and Dinosaur Bones (6 page)

The Pee Wees were speechless. This might be the most embarrassing thing they had ever done as a group, thought Molly. She was sure people were arrested for things like this.

“Not so fast,” said Roger. “You may be
a fast talker, but how do we know you aren’t the crook? Maybe you’re lying. Maybe you’re a con man. Let’s see that necklace.”

Leave it to Roger to make a bad situation worse, thought Molly. Mr. Peters and Mr. Duff quickly took Roger aside and held on to him while they gave him a private lecture.

“What in the world can we do to make up for this?” Mrs. Peters was saying to Mr. Ross. She was straightening the tablecloth.

“The manager might throw us all out of the hotel,” said Mary Beth worriedly. “I just hope it’s not on the news tonight, or in the newspaper: ‘Pee Wee Scouts Cause Trouble in Center City.’”

Mr. Ross was very kind about the mistake, but the hotel manager did not look pleased.

“The Scouts meant well,” said Mr. Ross. “After all, it is a good thing for them to try to rid the city of crime.”

“I think we have learned a valuable lesson here,” said Mr. Duff. “We must not jump to conclusions, and if there is trouble, it is best to let the authorities handle it. It is not good to take matters into our own hands.”

Mr. Duff glared at Tim and Roger. Molly felt just as much at fault. After all, she had trusted Tim’s feeling. Tim had been right so often. But it just proved that no one was right all the time. Molly would have to write that down in her notebook and remember it.

Mrs. Duff picked up the gift box that had fallen onto the floor. She brushed it off and set it on the table. “I can’t tell you how sorry we are,” she said. “And now I
think we should just get out of your way and let you try to go on with your dinner and your evening.”

“I think you should all join us,” said Mr. Ross. “It would be more festive that way. It will be an evening Betsy and I will never forget.”

“And Roger,” said Sonny. “He won’t forget it either.”

Now everyone was laughing. Mr. Ross ordered another dessert for all the Pee Wees because their sundaes had melted. Then he handed Betsy the gift box with teeth marks in it. “Will you marry me?” he asked.

Betsy leaned over, gave Mr. Ross a kiss, and said, “Of course I will.”

Tracy and Lisa had tears in their eyes. “It’s just like in a play or a movie,” said Lisa.

The necklace that Mr. Ross fastened
around Betsy’s neck was gold, but it was not the museum necklace. It was smaller and had gold links and one little diamond hanging in the middle.

“It’s wonderful!” said Betsy. “And I’ll remember this night always.”

Then the Pee Wees dug into their dessert.

“I wonder who really did take the necklace at the museum,” said Tim.

“I don’t think anyone did,” said Mr. Ross.

“But it was gone,” said Molly.

“Maybe they took it out to clean it,” said Betsy.

“But it was on TV,” said Tim.

“That was just an announcement about some new artifacts that arrived at the museum,” said Mr. Ross. “I saw that on the way into the dining room.”

The Pee Wees groaned. It seemed to Molly they hadn’t been right about anything on this trip!

“i
wonder why Roger the dog tried to get that box out of your pocket,” said Kevin to Mr. Ross.

“Well, it is sort of bone-shaped,” said Betsy. “And it made a bulge in his pocket that probably attracted Roger’s attention. He’s a curious dog, and he probably had to find out what it was.”

Finally, after more apologies from the Duffs and the Peterses and the Pee Wees,
they all went to their rooms and left the couple to celebrate their engagement in peace.

On the elevator, Mr. Peters told the Pee Wees, “We’re lucky that Mr. Ross didn’t press charges. This whole incident could have been much worse.”

The Pee Wees hung their heads. They realized they were lucky. They deserved some kind of awful punishment, Molly knew.

“I think all of you have learned a lesson here,” said Mrs. Duff. “You don’t need any punishment to help you remember.”

Her mother was reading her mind. Something like the way Molly had read Tim’s. But of course Molly had been wrong. This time, anyway.

“Hey,” said Jody, wheeling down the hotel hallway. “If Betsy marries Mr. Ross, she’ll become Betsy Ross!”

Most of the Pee Wees looked puzzled. Lisa said, “So what?”

“Betsy Ross made the first flag,” said Kevin.

“I knew that,” said Rachel.

“So did I,” said Mary Beth.

“Hey, they should get married on Flag Day!” said Roger.

“She should have a red-white-and-blue dress!” said Tracy.

“Or a cake in the shape of a flag!” said Molly.

“They could decorate it with stars and stripes,” said Patty.

“A lot of women don’t take the man’s name anymore,” said Rachel. “I’ll bet Betsy will just stay Betsy Wright.”

That ended the Pee Wees’ wedding talk. There were no funny Betsy Wright stories. And no historical stories about that name.

Mrs. Peters clapped her hands together and said, “Tomorrow is a big day. We have to see the rest of the museum and then come back here and pack up and get the train to go home. Right now we all need a good night’s sleep.”

Most of the Pee Wees were yawning. It had been a full day. A lot had happened, thought Molly. Trains and museums and bones and necklaces and mistaken identity. No matter what tomorrow brought, it couldn’t be as eventful as today had been.

Molly slept soundly and didn’t wake up until the sun came streaming through the hotel window. The sun looked brighter and seemed to rise earlier here in Center City than at home.

Before long there was a noise in the hall. It was Roger chasing Sonny with a rubber spider he had bought in the gift shop at the museum.

“When do we eat?” asked Sonny when Mrs. Duff put the spider in her pocket.

“Right now,” said Mrs. Peters. “Let’s get down to the dining room before the rush.”

When the Pee Wees were seated, they noticed Mr. Ross and Betsy across the room. They waved. It was hard to believe
that the scene the night before had really happened, thought Molly. Everyone looked so respectable in the morning. Even Mr. Ross, who had looked like a crook just yesterday. Molly wondered why they had ever thought he was a crook. He still had the hat and the tattoo, but he did not look sinister. He looked like a nice, friendly man eating breakfast.

Sonny and Roger each ate six pancakes and then wanted more.

Mr. Peters shook his head. “We have a lot to do and see today,” he said. “And all those pancakes will slow you down.”

“That’s disgusting,” said Mary Beth to Molly. “Those pancakes are as big as Frisbees.”

When everyone had finished breakfast, Troop 23 set off for the museum. This time they went to rooms they had not seen
the day before. They saw treasures from a shipwreck, an airplane flown by the Wright brothers (no relation to Betsy, Mr. Duff was sure), Native American ceremonial costumes and jewelry, and even a live baby shark swimming in a big tank.

The morning flew by, and after lunch in the museum’s cafeteria there was talk about checking out of the hotel and getting to the train station on time.

On the way out of the museum, the Pee Wees walked past the room with the Egyptian jewelry in it. Tim was heading for the gift shop to get his own rubber spider and seemed to have forgotten all about the missing necklace.

“Hey,” said Kevin to Molly. “Let’s go in and see if the necklace is back.”

They walked toward the big case. In the case was the velvet pillow, and on the
pillow was the necklace! It looked exactly as it had before—as if it had never gone anywhere.

“Maybe we did imagine it was gone,” said Molly.

Kevin shook his head. “It was gone,” he said. “But I guess it wasn’t stolen.”

A new attendant smiled at Molly and Kevin. “This just got back,” she said, nodding. “It was gone for cleaning and polishing yesterday.”

Molly felt relieved. There was no thief involved, but it hadn’t been her wild imagination playing tricks on her! The necklace really had been gone for cleaning, just as Betsy had suggested.

When the Pee Wees got back to the hotel, Mr. Peters suggested they take a little nap while the adults packed, so that no one would be overtired and irritable on the trip home.

“Like Sonny and Roger,” whispered Mary Beth to Molly. “They’re the only babies that need a nap.”

Molly couldn’t sleep. Now that the trip was almost over, all she could think about was choosing her favorite thing in the museum to write about. She had so many favorite things! She could write a paper about each one of them.

“What are you going to write about?” she whispered to Mary Beth, who wasn’t sleeping either.

“The baby shark, I think,” Mary Beth said. “Probably no one else will choose him. I like his name, Scamper.”

Soon the Pee Wees had checked out of the hotel and were headed toward the train station. The adults kept a sharp eye on Sonny this time, and they all got on the right train together. There was a lot of conversation about what they had seen on
the trip, but Molly curled up on her seat and closed her eyes. She liked to think about good times by herself and remember what she had done and how she had felt. That was even more fun than talking about it.

And then, before long, the trip was over and the Pee Wees were home.

“R
emember,” said Mrs. Peters as the Pee Wees got off the train and into their parents’ waiting cars, “have your papers and pictures ready by Tuesday! Tuesday is badge day!”

Molly’s mind was spinning. Maybe she should write about the necklace. But many of the Pee Wees would choose that, she
thought. She wanted something different.

The shark? That was Mary Beth’s choice. She didn’t want to be a copycat.

The mummies? Too grisly. Dead bodies were no fun.

In the morning Molly woke up with an idea. Morning ideas were always good. She had a perfect thing to write about. The only problem was, how could she get it all on one sheet of paper? She would have to write very, very small. Perhaps she could use the other side of the paper too. Mrs. Peters had said one sheet of paper. But she hadn’t said they couldn’t use both sides of it!