Modern Fairy Tales, Part 6

This part takes place a little more than five months after Part 5.

Modern Fairy Tales, Part 6

By Kris

"Beep beeeeep! Beep beeeeep!"

On a beautiful Saturday morning in late July, sixteen-year-old Trixie Belden glanced out the window to see her best friend driving toward Crabapple Farm in a new silver Mustang convertible.

"Honey!" Trixie shouted, dashing out the front door and down the steps. "You got your own car!"

Honey Wheeler parked and waved both hands in the air. Her brother Jim Frayne sat in the front passenger seat, smiling broadly. "Yeah, she picked this to impress the car guys like Brian," he teased.

Honey rolled her eyes in response. "No, big brother, I picked it because it's SOOOO COOOOL!" She jumped out of the car and hugged Trixie, both girls jumping up and down with excitement.

Jim climbed out more slowly, and hung back a little. He and Trixie had been getting along pretty well this summer. Their relationship had been tense before Jim broke up with his college girlfriend. Even though things weren't quite as comfortable as they been before he left for college, he and Trixie and Honey were still like the three musketeers (or Mouseketeers, as Mart sometimes teased them), and he wasn't about to miss Honey's first joy ride with her best friend.

"Oh, Honey, I love your pony car!" Trixie squealed. But as fast as her good mood came, it went. "I suppose your dad finally traded the old Bob-White station wagon, huh?"

"Yes, Trixie, I'm sorry, but the Bob-Whites will still be able to travel in one car," Honey told her.

"But Moms doesn't like us to take her van out too often, and Mart and Dan can't afford their own cars yet...." Trixie trailed off as she noticed her friends grinning at her. "Okay, what gives?" she demanded.

Jim leaned against the car with his hands in his pockets, his grin returning. "We can only tell you the first part of the story. Basically, our family replaced all of its cars in about an hour!" he announced.

Giggling at Trixie's dumbfounded look, Honey interrupted him. "Tom and Ms. Trask convinced Daddy that I'm a good enough driver now to have my own car. Tom drove our whole family to the dealership in the sedan yesterday afternoon. I couldn't figure out why we didn't take the limo for so many people, and why Mother wanted to come, or Jim either!"

"I could tell something was up," Jim put in. "Boy, was I right!"

"Anyway, Daddy starts swooning over a bright yellow Thunderbird roadster, and before we know it, he's traded the sedan for it! Then Mother declares she's tired of the old-fashioned limousine and wants to buy some new stretch Expedition she saw in New York Living magazine! So Daddy agrees to leave the old limo in the City to use just for business, and orders Mother an SUV limo!" Honey rolled her eyes.

Jim put an arm around Honey's shoulders. "So by this point, Tom and I were wondering if Honey was ever going to get her car. Tom asked for a Mustang and sent Honey and me out on a test drive. When we got back, we learned the wagon had been traded for her convertible! We drove two cars home, and Tom and Regan had to make another round trip to drop off the wagon at the dealership!"

Jim chuckled. "Now, I'm not suggesting our folks are having a mid-life crisis, but man..."

Trixie shook her head in wonder. "Hey, what about the pick-up Regan uses to tow the horse trailer? He wouldn't be too happy if that got traded for some fancy SUV!"

"The Chevy's safe, Trixie. Tom wouldn't let Dad even consider it!" Jim reassured her, his eyes twinkling in amusement. "If I hadn't stayed out of the way, they might have traded me in, too!"

"Cut it out, Jim!" Honey laughed. "Climb in, Trix. We're going to meet Mart and Dan at Di's house!" Honey tipped the driver's seat forward, allowing Trixie to slip into the cramped back seat. At 5'4", Trixie fit fairly comfortably.

As Jim opened the passenger door, he saw a shadow pass over Trixie's face. He winked at her, knowing she had nothing to worry about.

"I still don't see how the Bob-Whites can all ride together. It's not like we'll drive the new limo." Trixie's voice betrayed her confusion.

Honey didn't answer, and headed off to the Lynch estate. As she pulled into the driveway, the threesome could see the other Bob-Whites, except Brian, hovering around a shiny new black Escalade in the driveway. Diana skipped forward to meet them, singing "Happy Birthday to Me, Happy Birthday to Me!"

Soon all three girls were jumping up and down while hugging each other. The guys tried to play it cool, but they couldn't stop themselves from climbing into the Cadillac to fiddle with all the high-tech gadgets.

"Oh, Di, this is so great! But I thought you wanted a convertible," Trixie finally gasped. All three girls had passed their driver's tests weeks ago, but like Honey, Diana had to prove her driving skills before her wealthy parents would buy her a car of her own.

"I used to want a Corvette, but it only seats two people, and I decided it would be much more fun for all of us to be able to cruise around together." Diana smirked at the guys. "Look at them. All you have to say is the word TRUCK, and they go crazy!"

Trixie abruptly sat down on the grass, cradling her chin in her hands. "But we're not all together anymore anyway, so what does it matter?" she asked sorrowfully.

Jim and Brian both could have gone to Columbia University in nearby New York City, but they decided to go to separate colleges further away for different reasons.

Jim wasn't fond of city life, so he chose Cornell for its education and business programs, and its location in beautiful upstate New York. Money was no object anymore, of course, so he decided not to accept the scholarship he'd been awarded from the University of Rochester, which was even farther away.

Brian, on the other hand, made his decision based on monetary concerns. He had been offered a partial scholarship at Columbia, but even so the tuition was staggering. Realizing that he'd get deeply in debt paying for medical school, Brian opted to pursue his undergraduate degree at a public university for a quarter of the cost. He had no regrets: the biology department was top-notch, he didn't have to hold a job during the school year, and he actually got to have some fun in addition to studying.

Now Dan was preparing to leave for Connecticut next month, and in another year, Mart would leave, too. It was bad enough having two of their seven members gone for most of the year; Trixie just couldn't bear the thought that soon only the three girls would be left in Sleepyside.

"Hey, isn't it a little premature to get all maudlin on us, little sister?" Mart asked cheerfully. "The BWGs are 4-members strong for a whole year more, and the other guys get home pretty often, especially in the summer."

"Easy for you to say. You aren't getting left behind for as long as we are," Trixie muttered, climbing to her feet.

Trying to lighten the mood, Jim said, "What'd ya say we take the girls' new wheels on an initiation trip to Wimpy's?" Everyone agreed enthusiastically, and began to buckle themselves in.

Honey tried to hide her disappointment when Trixie chose the third row seat of Diana's SUV. She realized Trixie didn't want to appear like she was hovering around Jim.

Dan glanced over at Honey, then told her he had to see just how tiny the back seat of a Mustang was. Jim and Mart guffawed as they watched Dan try to fold himself into the tight space.

"They should call this a shelf, not a seat," Dan shot back good-naturedly.

On the way into town, they passed Brian driving home from work. He turned around and followed them to their favorite hangout. Before long, the seven old friends were crowding into the largest booth, calling out, "The usual, Mike!"

When they all had polished off their early lunch, Mart announced that he and Trixie had to get moving.

"I could run you over there and come back," Honey offered.

"No, how about you two take my Jeep?" Brian suggested. "I've finished my shift, so I'll just catch a ride home. That way I can check out the Caddy--oh, and the Mustang, too," he added hastily, as everyone else cracked up.

"Truck, truck, truck," the girls chanted.

As they left the diner, Mart intoned, "Your chariot awaits, Beatrix," gesturing grandly. Trixie snorted and climbed into the driver's seat. Responding to Mart's jibes of "Mind the shrubbery" with her own snooty "Minding the shrubbery," Trixie drove fairly confidently to Mrs. Vanderpoel's house.

Rather than wait tables, babysit or clerk at chain stores in White Plains like many of their friends from school, the almost-twins had decided to turn their years of chores at Crabapple Farm into a profitable summer business.

Just after Trixie's sixteenth birthday they formed their own yard service, mowing lawns, planting, weeding and doing other odd jobs busy suburban homeowners might need. The siblings found they loved working outside in the fresh air instead of being cooped up inside, they could set their own schedule, and they were making good money. They also enjoyed each other's company much more than either expected.

Occasionally, Dan gave them a hand when he was between the roofing and house painting jobs he'd taken on in addition to his assistant gamekeeper duties. All three harbored the secret hope that they'd be able to afford wheels of their own some day, although saving for college expenses came first. As much as they loved horses, a car meant freedom to the teenagers.

"Thank goodness Bobby is old enough to do more chores at home now," Trixie remarked as they hauled Mrs. Vanderpoel's aging lawn mower out of her garage.

As if she hadn't spoken, Mart said, "Man, Di's SUV is sweet. I wish I could afford something like that."

Trixie stared at him in surprise and curiosity. "Since when? You aren't a car guy any more than Jim is. I thought you planned to get a used pick-up so you could haul stuff."

"Yeah, I can just imagine taking Di out in an old pick-up," Mart mumbled.

Trixie frowned. She didn't like what Mart was implying. Diana's family hadn't always been rich. Diana understood.

Working comfortably together, Mart and Trixie mowed, raked, weeded and watered. Two hours later, Mrs. Vanderpoel waved from the front porch, offering homemade lemonade and windmill cookies to her young helpers.

"Woo-hoo!" Mart exclaimed. "I knew there was a good reason we went into this business."

"We're lucky Tad doesn't live here anymore, or he'd have eaten all these cookies already," Trixie joked.

Later, as they drove home, Mart asked Trixie when her boyfriend was returning to the States. Soon Yong, who also was Brian's college roommate, was spending the summer in Seoul with his family. Trixie corresponded with him daily by e-mail.

Trixie blushed. "His parents have to be back in Binghamton a week before school starts. He said he might be able to visit Sleepyside over Labor Day weekend, though." My boyfriend? Wow, I guess he is, she thought, feeling both shy and pleased.

"You miss him?" Mart asked casually. "You don't talk about him much."

"I don't talk about him around my brothers, you mean!" Trixie answered slyly. "So how about you and Di? Do you have any plans to go out again without the rest of us tagging along?"

"Well, I haven't actually asked her yet," he answered. "But you know, we've made a lot of dough this summer, so I thought I'd take her to an early dinner at the Russian Tea Room in the City, and then to that new musical on Broadway."

"Wow, how romantic!" Trixie answered. "But you know, Mart, you don't have to spend a lot of money to impress her. Di has known us practically her whole life. She'd probably be just as happy with pizza and a movie."

"Nah, Cinderella deserves better than that." Mart turned into the driveway of Crabapple Farm, smiling to himself when he saw Brian and Honey holding hands on the porch.

"Wait, what did you call her?" Trixie was so surprised she didn't even notice her oldest brother and her best friend.

"I guess I've always thought of her as Cinderella," Mart admitted. "She started out with next to nothing, living in a tiny apartment, buying her clothes at thrift shops, and suddenly, like magic, she's living the life of a princess."

"And you want to pick her up in a golden carriage instead of a pumpkin," Trixie finished for him.

Mart colored but nodded. "Yeah, well, she's knows I'm not rich, but geez...."

"You know what? If Brian would only ask her out, Honey would gladly go anywhere with him, even if he still drove that rust bucket," Trixie told him. "Wake up, Mart. Girls aren't as superficial as you think--even the beautiful ones."

"Looks like Brian's finally done it after all."

Thinking Mart was just trying to change the subject, Trixie whipped her head around. Suddenly, she realized that Brian and Honey were sitting close together, looking embarrassed. "Oh, Mart, can we get out of here? I don't want to interrupt them!"

"Too late now," Mart chuckled. "And watch what a gentleman I've become. I'm not even going to say anything about it until Honey leaves!"

Climbing out of the Jeep, Mart waved and tossed his older brother the keys. "Thanks for the wheels, Bri."

"No problem," Brian answered.

Honey stood up. "I have to get going. I'll see you guys later. See you tonight, Brian." Still blushing, Honey winked at Trixie, hopped into her new car, and drove away.

The three Beldens waved back, then turned to each other.

"It's about time!"

"Now don't start!"

"I'm so happy for you!"

"Hey! How come I'm the only one doing any work around here?"

Bobby's hollering from the garden got their attention, and they all laughed. The siblings hurried to finish their own chores in record time.

"Only five for dinner tonight, Moms," Brian said as he took the stairs two at a time.

"Oh?" Helen raised her eyebrows behind her son's back. She had seen him and their pretty neighbor on the front porch. It's about time, she thought to herself.

* * * *

Later that evening, as Brian backed down the driveway to pick up Honey for their first real date alone, his Jeep died. He jumped out and lifted the hood, hoping that he'd be able to fix it quickly. He hollered to Trixie to call Honey and tell her he'd be delayed.

Half an hour later, Brian entered the kitchen to wash his hands. He was hot and frustrated. "I'm going to need some parts I don't have, and everything is closed. Can I borrow your car, Dad?"

"I'm sorry, son, it's already loaded up for my trip to the state bankers' convention tomorrow. I'm sure you can take the van, though," Peter answered.

Brian bit his lip. He couldn't pick up Honey in the Voyager, could he? Just what I had in mind for our first real date. Joe Cool in a minivan. Not.

Trixie understood his hesitation. "Why don't you just let Honey drive? She's so excited about her new car, anyway," she suggested.

"I can't do that! I asked her out, and besides, I'm the guy, and--OW!! Stop hitting me!" Brian rubbed his shoulder, where Trixie had smacked him with her palm.

"YOU stop the cave-man act and march up that path to Manor House right now! Honey's been waiting for half an hour. Going out with her, that's the important thing." Trixie grabbed a wooden spoon and jokingly threatened to smack Brian again.

"She's got a point there, bro. It's not the carriage that matters, it's the prince, right, Trix?" Mart arched a brow at his sister. Their parents couldn't hide their grins.

Brian shrugged and headed out the door. "Don't wait up!" he called over his shoulder.

Bobby followed his oldest brother out onto the porch. The rest of the family heard Bobby's shrill voice calling out, "Brian and Honey sittin' in a tree, k-i-s-s-i-n--OW!"

Chortling, Mart leaned out the front door. "What happened, Bob?"

"Brian threw a cushion at me!" Bobby waived a deck chair cushion over his head, his eyes wide with surprise.

Patient, mature Brian? Trixie thought.

"It's about time!" Mart and Trixie chorused.

The End