*all ages

The Movie

by Anna

"Trix, I’d love to go to a movie with you, but I’ve got studying to do. Maybe another night?"

Trixie kept silent and remained on the phone. Jim had done this to her last weekend and the weekend before. This weekend was perfect because Brian and Mart were out with Honey and Di, and Bobby was spending the entire weekend with Larry and Terry Lynch. Her parents wouldn’t even be around because they were spending the week with Uncle Andrew in Missouri. This left her home on a Friday night, hoping to go out on a date with her boyfriend, Jim.

"Trix? Are you there?"

"Yeah."

"What’s wrong?"

"Well, Jim, I guess I just don’t see why you have to study all the time. It’s summer vacation, for crying out loud." Trixie clutched the phone hard. She knew where this was going.

"Trix, you know why I have to study. I’m trying to get as many cre…"

"Credits so you can whip through college like how you whipped through high school," Trixie finished for him. "Yeah, yeah, yeah, I know. I just thought it would be a good idea to go do something for a change, but I guess I’ll just go clean my room or occupy myself some other way."

"Come on, Trixie," Jim said pleadingly. "You know how important this is to me. The boy’s school is just around the corner and…"

"Skip it, Jim." Trixie’s eyes filled with tears of frustration. "Washing my hair will be more exciting than some dumb movie anyway. See ya." Trixie hung up.

She stood there, staring at the phone halfway expecting it to ring. If it did ring, she would pick it up, and it would be Jim telling her that his studies could wait and that he would pick her up in five minutes. But it never rang.

Maybe Dan would like to go somewhere and do something? He can’t possibly be doing much tonight. She picked up the receiver and dialed Mr. Maypenny’s number.

"Y-ello." Mr. Maypenny’s friendly, aged voice came from the other end.

"Hi, Mr. Maypenny. It’s Trixie."

"What can I do for ya?"

"Is Dan there?" A small part inside of her hoped Dan was there, but most of her hoped he wasn’t.

"Nope, the lad’s not here," Mr. Maypenny said. "Did you need something?"

"No, thanks. I was just seeing if he would like to do something tonight…with Jim and I."

"I’ll certainly let him know you called. Good night, Trixie."

"G’night." Feeling a bit embarrassed about her attempt to ask Dan to a movie, she blushed and turned away from the phone.

BRRRRRIIIING-A-LING-A-LING!

BRRRRRIIIING-A-LING-A-LING!

Trixie stopped dead in her tracks. "Jim?" she wondered aloud, and then picked up the phone.

"Hello?" she said calmly.

"Trixie, can you meet me in five minutes down at the clubhouse?"

"Okay, Jim." Trixie hung up the phone. What in the world could he possibly want me down at the clubhouse for? Trixie’s face lit up as she thought of the possibilities. Romantic Dinner? She laughed at the absurd thought. Naa, not in the clubhouse. He has the entire Manor House to himself. That wouldn’t make sense. Maybe he’s gonna… Nope, not the right timing, and Jim knew it. Maybe he just wants to say he’s sorry. Could be. But why couldn’t he come down here, or ask me to come over there?

"Well, I guess the only way I’m going to find out, is to just go." She grabbed her ‘B.W.G.’ jacket and headed out, letting the screen door bang shut behind her. From the path to the Manor House, she could see Jim walking down the driveway, cutting across the Wheeler property and into the small little clubhouse. He looked like he had something under his arm.

Taking her time, Trixie strolled along down the hill to the clubhouse. Soon, she reached the door and opened it. Jim sat at the conference table, in his usual spot, with a black three-ring-binder lying before him.

"Hi," she called to him and shut the door. Taking her usual seat next to him, her eyes became glued to the notebook.

"Hi Trix," Jim began. "I wanted you to come down here so we can just talk."

Trixie felt a rock hard lump in her stomach at the sound of those words. Nothing good ever came from ‘we can just talk.’

"Okay, Jim. About what?" She was still curious what could be in the notebook.

As if reading Trixie’s mind, he picked it up and started to open it, but closed it again. "Trix, I want you to know that I constantly think about our future and that I am working very hard to achieve goals. You want a detective agency, and I want a boy’s school."

"Yes, we both want those things." Trixie folded her hands in her lap, leaned back in her chair, and looked up at him. "What’s your point?"

"My point, Trixie, is that if I didn’t work this hard, neither one of us would be achieving what we want."

"What’s that supposed to mean?" Trixie cocked her head at him. "I work just as hard as you do, Jim, and you know it."

"Yes I know you do. You work very hard, and I appreciate that." Jim ran a freckled hand through his red hair. "But we want these things right away, and I’m doing everything in my power to get them right away."

"Correction, Jim. You want your school right away. You don’t see me burning myself out on school just so I can start the agency next year." Trixie crossed her arms in front of her, and stared at him stubbornly. "Who ever said that we wanted these things right now?"

"Trixie, if you think about it, it only makes sense to do what I’m doing. Here," he opened up the notebook and unfolded two pages, taped together to create a banner, and presented a timeline, "this represents our lives. Trixie, you are in the blue, and I am in the red."

The chart mapped out in front of her didn’t make any sense, but she was patient enough to stick around to find out. "Okay."

"Now, the way I figure it is like this. I finished high school a year early. That put me in college a year ahead. If I can finish college a year early, that puts me in Graduate school two years ahead." Jim ran his finger down the timeline. "If I can finish Grad school a year early, that gives me a three year head start on my school."

"Okay, Jim," Trixie said, getting the hang of the chart. "Let’s do my timeline now. Here’s where I am now, right?" She pointed to a tic mark drawn on the line with the words, "sophomore in college" above it. Jim nodded. "All right. A year from now, I’ll be a junior, since I know I don’t have a prayer of finishing anything early." Her sarcastic remark made Jim wince, and she saw it. "After that, I’ll be graduating college. By that time, you’ve already finished Grad school. Okay, fine and dandy. Now I’m going on to law school with Honey. Four years down the road, you’ll have already had your school up and running because of your three-year jumpstart. Assuming Honey and I can get funding for our agency, we should be all set to go."

"What do you mean, if you get the funding. I’m sure with my inheritance, and I’m sure Dad’ll want to help, you and Honey should be able to work things out just fine."

"Ah-ah, Jim." Trixie shook her head ‘no’. "Bob-White rule: No hand-outs. We work for our money."

"Fine, Trixie, if you want to be silly about this, go ahead. Be silly. I have a plan for my life, and I thought I was being helpful in showing you how the two of us can be together, through thick and thin." Jim snapped the notebook shut and stood up.

"Goll, Jim. Get over it." Trixie rolled her eyes. "Besides, you can’t go making such detailed long-term plans like that, and expect to live up to them. What if you don’t make your goal? It’s better to just make a general goal, and work towards it." Trixie reached for the notebook and opened it to the timeline again. After reaching over to the pencil cup in the middle of the table, she drew a tic mark and labeled it ‘movie with girlfriend on a Friday night’. "I guess your whole plan might go ‘boink’ if something so silly as a movie took you away from your studies." Trixie calmly stood up and walked out of the clubhouse.

*     *     *

Dan leaned up against the open doorway of the darkened stable, enjoying the peaceful night. It was a cool night, and was just the right thing. He had been helping his Uncle Regan muck out the stalls and tidy up the tack room. Normally, Regan would have all Seven of the Bob-Whites helping with the chore, but he understood when they started to get older and needed more time for themselves…and each other. Dan didn’t have a girlfriend since Hallie ended their relationship and Regan felt bad about that, but knew that a good-looking kid like Dan wouldn’t be alone for long.

The cool breeze blew through the leaves of the trees, and the frogs down at the Wheeler’s lake chirped loudly. Suddenly, from down the hill, the clubhouse door opened and a figure came out, heading towards Crabapple Farm. Dan could only guess that it was Trixie since he knew that Brian and Mart were out that evening and Bobby wasn’t home. A huskier figure followed and locked the door.

"Trixie!" The figure shouted and Trixie turned around to face him. "If a movie’s really all that important to you, then we’ll go."

"NO!" Trixie spun around and screamed at him. "I’m not interested in any dumb movie, at least not with you. I’d hate for our future to get all messed up because you took two hours off to relax!"

"Trix, it’s not like that. Next weekend, I promise!" Jim clenched his fists and glared at her.

"That’s what you said last time! What makes this time any different?" Trixie stormed away.

"Trixie!" Jim shouted after her. He waited there until she had made it back to her house, and slammed the door with extra force.

Dan stood in the dark shadows, calmly sipping his Coca-Cola and watching the whole scene play out before him. Should I talk to him? No. He’s mad and needs to cool down. I can’t ignore the situation. Yes I can ignore it because I don’t know what led up to this point. I’ll just let them cool down, and then if I need to, I’ll talk to them. Suddenly, a thought came over Dan’s mind. Why should I talk to them at all? How many times have we curbed Jim’s temper? Maybe she’ll see his true colors and realize…Dan shook his head. Trixie was a great girl, and at the present, almost a best friend to him.

When he came to Sleepyside, she already had feelings for Jim, and he wouldn’t interfere with that. Besides, he didn’t necessarily get along with her at the time either. Turning around and heading back into the stable, Dan silently vowed to himself that he wouldn’t do anything to harm what Trixie and Jim have.

Regan was still in his office filling out paperwork and had his radio on to Sleepyside’s ‘Oldies but Goodies’ station.

*     *     *

Trixie slammed the door behind her and stomped through the living room to the kitchen. Not even bothering to take her jacket off, she whipped the refrigerator door open and took out a can of soda. It was a nice cool object to take the beet red fury off her face.

She opened the door to her bedroom, and sat down on her bed. The room was too quiet. Reddy’s bark wasn’t even frequent around the Farm anymore because he was quite elderly and rarely had the energy to bark anymore the way he used to. Her family had gone separate ways since Mart and Trixie graduated from high school, and Bobby began doing things with the Lynch twins. Moms barely cooked much anymore, and it just seemed that whenever everyone was together, there was someone who was having a problem. Things just weren’t where they should be.

Feeling like it would take the edge away from her argument with Jim, she turned her radio on to WQRZ, a small radio station from Sleepyside that played older hits, fun lovin’ songs that would maybe cheer her up.

*     *     *

Jim tossed the notebook on the long dining room table and stalked up stairs to his room. Passing Honey’s room, he thought he could hear giggles and laughter coming out of it, but after stopping by her room, he realized he was just imagining things. He remembered when Trixie would spend the night with Honey, and he would press his ear up against his bedroom wall hoping to hear a simple, but sugar-sweet confession when the girls would stay up all night and talk about boys.

Their relationship bloomed in Hawaii, when he shared his first kiss with Trixie. It had been a powerful moment in their relationship, because this meant they were together. Upon arriving home, they tried to be quiet about it until the Bob-Whites had called a meeting to order, not telling Trixie and Jim what it was about.

 

"It has come to our attention," Brian began solemnly, "that there are two of us who are holding secrets from the rest of the gang."

The other Bob-Whites pretended not to know what Brian was talking about, while Trixie and Jim merely looked around.

"Secrets?" Trixie asked her brother.

Brian looked at her direction in a very professional manner. "Yes Miss Belden. I’m sure you know all about secrets."

Trixie stared at Jim, hoping he could give an answer to rescue her from the situation, but all he did was simply smile at her in a way that could make her heart melt. Feeling goose bumps on her skin again, she turned on Honey and Brian. "We’ll come clean with it if you do to, Mr. Belden and Miss Wheeler."

Brian sat there blushing, not able to say anything. He hadn’t wanted all this to come out so soon, but Trixie was right. Why should she and Jim have to come forward about their relationship while Honey and Brian stayed secretive?

"Trixie’s right, Brian," Honey said tactfully. "But as long as we’re ALL admitting things, I would like to know about Dan and Hallie."

Brian and Honey, Jim and Trixie, and Dan and Hallie looked at each other and started laughing. That was the moment when the final secret had been let out, and the ties that would bind them together as families would never break.

Walking down to the next door, he opened it and let himself in to his room. Feeling like nothing could ever heal the wound he created, he flipped through his CD’s to find something to calm his nerves. Aerosmith? No, too much ‘cryin’ and ‘dyin’ happening. Bon Jovi? Bryan Adams? No, every song he had reminded him of Trixie. Right now, he just wanted to calm down and forget their little feud ever happened.

Knowing that the station he had the stereo set for would blare out the same songs he had in his own CD collection, he flipped it to AM and turned the dial to 1340, Sleepyside’s Golden hits. Something cheery and optimistic was bound to come out.

*     *     *

 

Don’t want bread and butter
              (No No No No!)
Don’t want toast and jam
              (No No No No)
That’s what baby feeds me
I’m her lovin’ man

 

"Can’t believe stuff like that was ever popular, Uncle Bill," Dan grinned and called to Regan.

"Neither can I," Regan answered, laughing the whole time.

"Stupid song," said Jim to himself as he lay on his bed, staring up out the window at the moon above.

"Stupid song," Trixie said aloud opening her can of soda.

The cheerful voice of the Friday night deejay blasted out as the previous song ended. "I always laugh myself silly when I hear that one, folks, but hey, it’s a good one. Here’s another good one. This one comes to us by request from Sabrina in White Plains and goes out to her husband Rick, who she says if it weren’t for this song, they never would have thought twice about a little argument they had thirty-six years ago. Happy thirty-fifth anniversary Sabrina and Rick!"

You're going to lose that girl
You're going to lose that girl
If you don't take her out tonight
She's going to change her mind
And I will take her out tonight
And I will treat her kind

"What kind of stupid love song is that?" Trixie shrieked at the radio. "It’s not even romantic." She took another sip of her soda and began to laugh at the thought.

You're going to lose that girl
You're going to lose that girl
If you don't treat her right, my friend
You're going to find her gone
'Cause I will treat her right, and then
You'll be the lonely one

Jim rolled his eyes and laughed until his whole body shook. "Yeah, whatever. Arguments aren’t solved over some dumb song."

You're going to lose that girl
You're going to lose that girl
I'll make a point
Of taking her away from you, yeah
The way you treat her what else can I do?

It was those thoughts again. They were back. Dan stopped shoveling to peer out into the dark night. I don’t know what the fight was about, but it looked pretty serious. In fact, every fight of theirs was serious, until Jim humbled himself, and she forgave him. Well, soon would be her breaking point, and she wouldn’t forgive him anymore. He remembered that he heard Jim mention something about a movie. Wonder if she still wants to go to that movie?

If you don't take her out tonight
She's going to change her mind

Feeling a tear come down her cheek, Trixie thought back to the argument. "Over a dumb movie. I should really go talk to him," she said to her empty room and set her can of pop down.

And I will take her out tonight
And I will treat her kind

Dan quietly leaned the shovel against the wall and checked on Regan. He was busy and hadn’t even noticed that Dan was in the doorway. Good. He’ll take her to any movie she wants to see, even if it was some dreadful sappy, tear jerker, ‘true love never dies’ type of movie with a gorgeous hunk in the lead role.

You're going to lose that girl
You're going to lose that girl

Jim sat up in his bed and stared at the stereo. I won’t lose my Trixie, will I? Reaching for his coat, he stopped to listen to the last line.

You're going to lose that girl

"Shut up, Lennon!" Forgetting his coat, Jim raced down the hallway, down the stairs, past the stables, and down the pathway to Trixie’s house. He skidded to a stop on the slope because Trixie was tearing up the pathway full speed toward the Manor House.

Both stopped and stared at each other for a minute. Forgetting what the argument was all about, Trixie lunged forward in Jim’s arms, holding him tightly. He also held her close and tight, vowing to himself to never let her go.

"How about that movie?" He asked her calmly, wrapping one her curls around his finger and kissing her forehead.

"As long as I get to watch it, at your house, snuggled up to you and eating ice cream."

Jim laughed and led her up the pathway to the Manor House.

*     *     *

Dan quickly ducked back into the stables upon seeing Jim and Trixie emerge from the pathway. Sighing from relief, he picked his shovel back up again, and headed for another stall. He wouldn’t have been able to ask her anyway.

 The End

5. I referenced to my own story, "The Mystery in Hawaii". Used entirely without my permission J

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