Moans and Groans and Dinosaur Bones Read Free Page A

…” The man ran his finger down the schedule. “Until noon.”
    The Pee Wees groaned. Three hours to wait because they’d missed the train that Sonny was on. What was worse, that meant three hours in the train station with Roger.
    The adults looked relieved, thought Molly, but Mrs. Peters’s lips were narrow, the way they got at meetings when there was trouble—when she’d “had enough.”
    “How did he get on without a ticket?” asked Kevin.
    “How did he get through the door when it was closed?” asked Jody
    “Now we’re going to get to Center City late,” said Rachel. “And miss lots of stuff. Our whole weekend will be gone before we even get there.”
    But Mr. Duff cheered everyone up by starting some word games. They playedI Spy, and Molly won. She was used to playing that game in the car on trips with her grandma.
    Kevin won Twenty Questions. “Your dad’s a lot of fun!” he said.
    Molly felt good for a moment that her father had come. Kevin liked him! And he was right, Mr. Duff was a lot of fun. And her mother had not done anything embarrassing yet. Maybe having her parents along wouldn’t be as bad as she’d imagined.
    The time finally passed, and the Pee Wees got on the train. When it stopped at Smoky Junction, a conductor swung Sonny aboard. Sonny was eating a candy bar and drinking a can of soda pop. He had an engineer’s cap on his head and did not look upset about having been alone on the train.
    “Hey, you guys, I told you you’d miss the train! I was the only one that didn’t.”

    Mrs. Peters had a wild look in her eye. Molly thought she looked as if she’d shake Sonny if it were legal.
    “I got to sit with the engineer,” said Sonny. “This is really a fun trip.”
    “For
you
, maybe,” said Kenny.
    “You are so selfish,” said Rachel.
    It did not seem to Molly that Sonny should be rewarded for being a big baby but he was. He was the center of attention too, which was just what he liked.
    “I knew you guys were going to miss the train. I told you so,” said Sonny. “So I snuck down to the tracks through another door and got on the train early. Do you know they don’t ask for your ticket until the middle of the trip?”
    Mrs. Peters and Molly’s mother took Sonny aside and talked to him quietly. Sonny was not smiling as much when they finished.
    “I’m hungry,” said Roger. The other Pee Wees said they were hungry too.
    “We’re lucky that the dining car will serve us all lunch this late in the day,” said Mr. Duff. He started on the trek between cars, on his way to feed the hungry brood.

“C enter City!” called the conductor, walking through the train. “Next stop, Center City!”
    Passengers scrambled to get their bags together. Molly could see buses and taxicabs and cars from the train window. It felt exciting!
    “This is a big city,” she said to Mary Beth.
    Mary Beth agreed.
    “This is small compared to New York, where my cousin lives,” said Rachel. “You should see the museums they have there! I’ll bet they have a million.”
    Inside the station, Mr. and Mrs. Peters walked ahead of the Pee Wees. The Duffs walked behind them, to be sure that no one wandered off.
    “Where are we going first, Mrs. Peters?” asked Patty when they were all standing out on the noisy street.
    “To the Ritz Hotel,” said their leader. “When we get there, I’ll tell you our itinerary.”
    “What’s a tinnery?” asked Sonny.
    “A place where they make tin cans, dummy,” said Roger.
    Rachel looked disgusted. “That’s
itinerary
. It’s a travel plan,” she said.
    At the Ritz men and women with briefcases were pushing in and outthrough revolving doors. Molly could see people eating and drinking in a fancy restaurant that had one whole wall of glass windows. The diners all seemed to be laughing and talking and having a good time.
    “This is a fancy place!” said Kenny looking across the huge lobby. It had a grand piano in the middle and lots of tall potted