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who’s right and who’s wrong. In fact, probably nobody is right or wrong. They just have different opinions, because they want different things. It’s—It’s as if you and I went to the store and I wanted a vanilla ice-cream cone and you wanted a chocolate ice-cream cone. I wouldn’t be wrong because I wanted vanilla, and you wouldn’t be wrong for wanting chocolate. We’d just be different. You see?”
    Bobby nodded his head. Then his forehead puckered again in a frown, and he shook his head. “When you want vanilla and I want chocolate, we can both get what we want. But if Mr. Wheeler wants to sell and Mr. Maypenny doesn’t want to sell, they can’t both get what they want, can they?”
    Trixie shook her head. “It’s as if there were only one ice-cream cone left in the whole world, and it has to be either chocolate or vanilla,” she said sadly.
    “Oh,” Bobby said. “That’s bad.”
    “It sure is,” his sister agreed.
    Bobby stood up. “Thank you for ’splaining it to me, Trixie,” he said solemnly.
    “You’re welcome,” Trixie replied. She watched Bobby walk out of her room, carefully closing the door behind him. She flopped back on the bed and closed her eyes. “Chocolate or vanilla,” she said to herself. “I wonder which it’s going to be.”
    The next morning, Trixie dawdled as she got ready for school. Although she had a constant problem with running late, she knew that this was a different feeling. The strain of riding on the bus every morning with her friends and not mentioning International Pine was getting to be too much. It was uppermost in their minds, and they all knew it, but they knew, too, that the only way to keep the peace was not to talk about it. Everyone worked hard at inventing small talk, but the lively chatter they all used to share was gone. Before, the bus ride had been too short to get everything said that they wanted to say. Now it was too long.
    Trixie tried to line up some safe topics of conversation as she walked to the bus stop with her older brothers, but she found, as soon as she settled into her seat next to Honey, that it wasn’t necessary.
    “Guess what?” Honey asked her excitedly.
    “What?” Trixie said, feeling her own excitement start to grow immediately.
    Instead of answering, Honey turned to Dan. “Go ahead, Dan,” she said. “It’s really your news.”
    “Mr. Maypenny’s nephew has arrived!” Trixie shouted. “Is that it?”
    The other Bob-Whites all laughed. “My sibling the sleuth,” Mart said, making a teasing gesture of introduction.
    “I’m sorry,” Trixie said. “I spoiled your news.”
    Dan grinned. “Well, there’s more. I guess I’d better tell it right away, before you beat me to it again.” Trixie blushed as Dan continued. “David Maypenny got in late last night. And Mr. May-penny says that you’re all to come over tomorrow afternoon for a cookout, so that you can meet him and he can meet you.”
    “Neat!” Trixie exclaimed. “Oh, Dan, I can’t wait to meet him. What’s he like? Does he look like Mr. Maypenny? Is he nice? Do you like him?”
    “I only met him last night, and then just for a minute, because I had homework to do. It’s too soon for me to tell whether I like him or not,” Dan replied. His voice was casual, but Trixie thought he looked nervous as he spoke. His gaze, which was usually direct, went from the window to his schoolbooks to a spot somewhere above Trixie’s head.
    Oh , dear , Trixie thought. Dan doesn’t like David Maypenny. I just know it. But I wonder why not. She found herself looking forward to the cookout the next afternoon, when she’d have a chance to see David Maypenny and judge him for herself.

Two Visitors ● 5

    HURRY UP, BRIAN! Mart!” Trixie shouted up the stairs. “We’ll be late for the cookout at Mr. May-penny’s!”
    Brian came down the stairs, laughing. “Turnabout is fair play, they say. But I never thought the day would come when you’d be calling up the