Miss Gordon’s Surprise
Connie’s birthday came on Thursday. The little girl rolled out of bed
and went down to breakfast feeling rather blue.
“Happy birthday, dear,” said her mother, giving her a kiss.
“Why, Mother,” laughed Connie, suddenly feeling quite cheerful, “I
thought you had forgotten. And Daddy too!”
“Look beside your plate if you think that,” teased her father.
Connie ran into the breakfast room. Beside her plate was a small
package wrapped in tissue paper.
“It’s a birthday present, isn’t it?” she said, untying the pink ribbon.
Of course she knew it was.
“A gift for the nicest little girl in the world,” declared her mother,
smiling.
Connie couldn’t guess what her parents had given her. She pulled away
the tissue paper and a ring popped out. On it was a design of a dancing
Brownie, and her own initials.
“Oh, a Brownie ring!” cried Connie, doing a dance of her own on the
carpet. “Just what I wanted!”
Connie was very proud of her new birthday ring. She showed it to the
mailman when he brought the morning letters, and to the Brownies at
school.
Only one thing bothered Connie. She had received no package from her
Grandmother and Grandfather Williams. When she returned home at three
o’clock, she asked her mother if a gift had arrived.
“Not yet, Connie.”
“Do you suppose they forgot my birthday, Mother?”
Mrs. Williams replied she was quite certain they hadn’t. She thought
the package possibly had been delayed in the mail and might arrive the
next day.
“But tomorrow won’t be my birthday,” said Connie. “I would so much
rather have the present today.”
“Tell me, has Veve seen your new Brownie ring?” asked her mother
quickly.
“Not yet,” Connie replied, wondering why her mother had asked the
question.
“You may go over for a while,” suggested Mrs. Williams. “But don’t stay
longer than half an hour.”
At the McGuire home, Veve acted almost as if she had expected Connie.
She wore a bright new pink gingham dress, and her dark curls had been
brushed until they shone. However, she still had a trace of her cold.
“Why are you so dressed up, Veve?” Connie asked curiously. Usually Veve
paid little attention to her clothes and liked to wear jeans with an
old sweater.
“You’ll find out later,” laughed Veve. “Maybe I’m going somewhere.”
Connie showed Veve the new Brownie ring. Veve tried it on her own
finger and then said she would rather have a bracelet for her birthday.
“What else did you get?” she asked.
“That’s all,” Connie admitted. “My Grandfather and Grandmother Williams
forgot.”
“Maybe you’ll get something more later on,” hinted Veve.
For half an hour the two girls played together. Connie kept talking
about the Brownies and their good times. She didn’t intend to annoy
Veve, but she scarcely could keep from thinking about Miss Gordon’s
“surprise.”
“Now what do you suppose she meant?” she asked aloud. “Wouldn’t it be
grand if all the Brownies could go on a trip?”
“It’s four o’clock,” said Veve quickly. She had been watching the
clock. “Let’s go over to your house.”
Arm in arm, the girls crossed the yard. Connie started toward the
kitchen door, only to have Veve catch her hand and pull her toward the
front porch.
Even then Connie didn’t suspect a thing. She opened the door and stood
still. The living room fairly overflowed with her schoolmates.
All the Brownies were there, Jane, Rosemary, Eileen, Belinda and Sunny,
whose smile stretched from ear to ear. Several other classmates also
had been invited to the party. Miss Gordon was in the kitchen, helping
Mrs. Williams make fancy sandwiches.
“Happy birthday, Connie!” everyone shouted. “Surprise! Surprise!”
Connie really was surprised. For a moment she couldn’t say a word.
“I knew about it all the time,” declared Veve, “but I didn’t dare tell.
And here’s something for you.”
Although it wasn’t time to offer gifts or unwrap packages, she thrust a
tissue-wrapped box into Connie’s hand. All the other girls had presents
for her too.
“You see, we didn’t forget,” laughed Veve. “We were only waiting for
the party to start.”
The girls played games which Miss Gordon directed. Connie’s mother
brought in a huge paper pie with strings attached. Each girl pulled out
her fortune.
“Mine says I’m going on a long trip!” announced Eileen, reading her
slip. “Oh, Miss Gordon, does that mean just me, or all the Brownies?”
“Tell us the surprise,” the other Brownies chorused.
But Miss Gordon only smiled and said not a word.
When the party was nearly over Mrs. Williams served sandwiches, ice
cream and cake. Each little girl received a paper hat and a horn that
made a loud toot.
Then it came time for Connie to open her presents. Jane had given her a
nylon hairbrush. Belinda’s gift was a pair of Brownie woolen sox while
both Sunny and Eileen gave handkerchiefs with the same Brownie design.
Rosemary had shopped a long while to find a pretty mirror.
Veve’s present was a bright red hair ribbon. The other girls gave an
assortment of books, pins and games.
“Such wonderful gifts,” declared Connie, opening them one at a time.
She thanked everyone. “I’ve never had a nicer birthday!”
“Our Brownie troop soon will have a birthday,” Miss Gordon reminded the
girls. “Then we must celebrate again.”
Connie liked best of all the gifts with Brownie emblems, but she was
too polite to say so. She did not show that any present pleased her
more than another.
At five o’clock the party was over. One by one the girls went home,
until only Veve and the Brownies were left. They offered to help Miss
Gordon and Mrs. Williams straighten up and carry the dirty plates to
the kitchen.
“Did you have a nice time, Connie?” asked her mother.
“Oh, yes, Mother! This has been my very nicest party--only--”
Connie started to mention again that her Grandmother and Grandfather
Williams had forgotten to send even a birthday card.
Before she could speak, her father’s car rolled onto the driveway
with a loud crunch of gravel. A moment later he came into the house,
carrying a large package.
“Special delivery for Miss Constance Williams,” he called in a loud
voice. “Anyone here by that name?”
Connie laughed aloud, for although her name really was Constance, no
one ever thought to call her by it.
The package was long, narrow, and very large.
“Is it from my Grandmother Williams?” Connie asked eagerly.
She tried to untie the cords on the package but they were very firm.
Her father finally had to cut them with his pocket knife.
While the Brownies and Veve gathered around, Connie unwrapped two
layers of heavy brown paper. Next she removed a covering of tissue
paper.
Two long, narrow boards with leather straps clattered to the floor.
“Why, what are they?” asked Connie. She could not hide her
disappointment.
“Skis,” announced Veve. “But how can you use them when there isn’t any
snow?”
“I’m afraid Grandmother forgot about our mild weather,” admitted Mrs.
Williams. Then to cheer Connie, she added: “Before spring, we’ll surely
have another snow.”
Connie gazed out into the muddy yard and couldn’t say a word. The other
Brownies knew just how discouraged she felt.
The room was very quiet. Then, unexpectedly, Miss Gordon took a letter
from her pocket.
“Girls,” she said, “I know this isn’t a Brownie meeting, so perhaps I
should wait. But I do have important news.”
“Tell us,” chorused the Brownies.
“You remember the question I asked you to think over?”
“Oh, yes,” agreed the Brownies. The skis now were forgotten and
everyone listened hard.
Veve was the only one who acted as if she did not care to hear the
news. She pretended to be looking at Connie’s presents on the table.
“Girls,” said Miss Gordon, coming directly to the point, “how would you
like to spend a week at Snow Valley in Minnesota?”
For a second, the room was absolutely still. Then the girls began to
chatter excitedly. Miss Gordon had to hold up her hand in the Brownie
signal for silence.
“Before anyone answers, I’ll explain the entire plan,” declared the
troop leader. “I haven’t told you about it before, because I was
uncertain how matters would work out.”
“Please, Miss Gordon, tell us now,” pleaded Sunny.
“As you may know, my Grandmother and Grandfather Gordon have a farm at
Snow Valley,” the teacher explained. “The house is large and there are
beautiful snow-covered hills for coasting and skiing.”
“And we’re all invited to spend a week there?” Connie asked, her eyes
shining.
“Yes, Grandmother wrote today saying she has room for six little
Brownies. I’ve already talked to your parents, who have given their
consent providing you care to go.”
“Oh, we do! We do!” cried Jane, capering across the floor.
“Will it mean being away from home on Christmas?” asked Eileen soberly.
“I don’t think I would like that.”
“This is the plan,” explained Miss Gordon. “If we make the trip we will
go by train, leaving the day school vacation starts. Grandfather Gordon
will meet us at the station with his big bobsled. We’ll stay at the
farm a week and be joined by your parents for Christmas.”
“You mean everyone will be there?” repeated Connie, looking relieved.
“Oh, I’d like that! May I go, Mother?”
“I’ve already given my consent,” said her mother.
“We’ll have a wonderful week of winter sports, climaxed by a grand
Christmas reunion,” declared the leader of the Brownies. “However, I
realize some of you never have been away from home for an entire week.
So, I’ll not ask anyone to decide now.”
“I’d never be homesick!” insisted Sunny. “If Mother has said ‘yes’, I
want to go!”
“So do I!” cried Rosemary.
“Me too,” chimed in Eileen, though she looked a trifle troubled. She
never had been away from home longer than two days at a time and
wondered if she might be homesick.
“I’ll be there with bells when that old conductor yells: ‘Snow
Valley!’” laughed Belinda.
Connie strapped on her new skis and skated across the living room rug.
“I’ll take these with me!” she cried. “Oh, we’ll have a wonderful time
in Minnesota!”
Eagerly, the girls plied Miss Gordon with questions. They wanted to
know how deep the snows were at the valley, how far the Gordon farm was
from the station, and what luggage they should take.
Everyone was so interested in hearing about Snow Valley that for a
while no one gave a thought to Veve.
She hadn’t said a word, because, of course, she wasn’t a member of the
Brownie troop.
Finally, when the other girls had quieted down, she edged toward the
door.
“I--I guess I’ll go home,” she said in a limp little voice.
“It’s been nice having you at the party,” declared Connie’s mother, for
she saw Veve was about to cry.
“Oh, Veve!” cried Connie. “I wish you were a Brownie so you could go
with us to Snow Valley!”
Veve started to reply and choked on the words. She ran out the door,
letting it close hard behind her.
Miss Gordon then was sorry that she had mentioned the trip in the
little girl’s presence.
“It was thoughtless of me,” she apologized, “because naturally Veve
would like to go with us. I only wish she were a member of the troop.”
“Perhaps she’ll join before the Christmas holidays,” said Connie
hopefully. “I’ll ask her.”
Miss Gordon smiled and shook her head.
“We want Veve to belong to the troop for its own sake and not because
we are planning an outing. Besides, even if she should join now, I’m
afraid we couldn’t take her along without making special arrangements.”
“Why is that, Miss Gordon?” Connie inquired.
“Grandmother Gordon has accommodations for only six Brownies.”
“Then Veve can’t go?”
“I don’t see how she can,” Miss Gordon replied regretfully.
No one said any more about the matter until the Brownies were putting
on their wraps in the hallway.
Then Jane, tucking yellow braids under the hood of her snowsuit,
remarked:
“It serves Veve right! She should have joined the Brownies long ago.”
“That’s true,” declared Belinda, and the others agreed.
All, that is, except Connie, who knew Veve would be very lonesome if
her friends went away during the Christmas holidays.
The next few days at Rosedale passed quickly. Connie and the other
Brownies dashed to and from school with open coats flapping in the
December breeze, for the weather had turned quite warm.
“How cold will it be in Minnesota?” Belinda asked Miss Gordon.
“So cold you may turn into a big icicle,” laughed the teacher. “But
if you do, Grandmother Gordon will know how to thaw you out at the
kitchen woodstove.”
Belinda never before had made a train trip longer than twenty miles.
She was excited and a little worried. Another matter troubled her too.
“Are you sure we’ll get our presents and see our parents on Christmas
Day?” she asked the Brownie leader.
“According to the plan, your parents expect to arrive at Grandfather
Gordon’s farm no later than the twenty-fourth,” replied the teacher.
“Of course, something could go wrong.”
All the Brownies were so thrilled at the thought of going to Snow
Valley, they could talk of little else. They were kept busy too,
preparing for the journey.
Buttons needed to be sewed on and suitcases brought down from attics.
Nearly every day after school Connie went downtown with her mother to
buy little things she would need on the trip.
So busy were all the Brownie Scouts that they scarcely had time to talk
to Veve. However, Connie noticed that her playmate looked very unhappy.
And then, on the final day before school was to be dismissed for the
holidays, she came upon Veve sobbing in the cloakroom.
“Why, Veve!” she said in surprise. “Is anything wrong?” She thought
perhaps the teacher had sent the little girl to the cloakroom as a
punishment.
“Nothing’s wrong,” Veve replied, dabbing at her eyes.
“Yes, there is too,” Connie insisted. She slipped an arm about the
other girl’s waist. “Tell me!”
Veve shook her head. Pulling away, she ran down the hall.
Miss Gordon entered the cloakroom just as the child darted through the
doorway. She asked Connie why Veve was so upset.
“She wouldn’t say,” replied Connie, picking up a coat Veve carelessly
had brushed to the floor. “I think though, she’s disappointed because
she can’t go to Snow Valley with the Brownies.”
Now Miss Gordon and Mrs. Williams already had guessed that Veve longed
to go with the troop, and had discussed the matter with Mrs. McGuire.
So, with scarcely any hesitation, Miss Gordon was able to say: “I think
it can be arranged.”
Connie wondered if she had heard correctly. Had the Brownie leader
actually said Veve might go to Snow Valley?
“Only this afternoon I learned that Belinda will be unable to make the
trip,” Miss Gordon explained. “Grandmother Gordon is expecting six
little girls, so perhaps we can include Veve.”
Now this was astonishing news for Connie. Though she had noticed that
Belinda’s desk had been vacant all day, she hadn’t known why she was
absent from school.
“Belinda has a severe cold,” Miss Gordon explained. “It’s nothing
serious, but her mother feels she should remain at home.”
Connie was sorry to learn that Belinda would be unable to go with the
troop to Snow Valley. On the other hand, she was pleased that Veve
might be able to take her place. “Of course, Veve isn’t a Brownie,”
Miss Gordon remarked, thinking aloud. “She might not care to go with
the troop. Or she might not have a good time.”
“Oh, I’m sure she would have a wonderful holiday!” cried Connie. “When
will you invite her?”
“I’ll talk with her mother again tonight,” Miss Gordon promised. “Yes,
I am hopeful everything can be arranged.”
Early the next morning, Connie knew the Brownie leader had talked to
Mrs. McGuire, for Veve came flying over to the Williams’ home. She
squeezed through the bars of the back yard gate and banged hard on the
kitchen door.
Connie, who was finishing her breakfast, ran to let her in.
“Oh, Connie, guess what?” she cried, stomping into the kitchen. In her
excitement, she hadn’t bothered to put on her coat or a cap. “I’m going
to be a substitute Brownie!”
“And go to Snow Valley?”
“That’s right! How did you know?”
“Miss Gordon told me. Oh, Veve, I’m so glad!” Connie gave her an
affectionate hug. “We’ll have a grand time, and maybe--”
Connie started to say that perhaps before the girls returned to
Rosedale, Veve would decide to join the troop. Veve was so excited,
however, she cut her short.
“Can’t stop to talk now,” she declared, whirling around to open the
door. “My suitcase isn’t packed!”
“Miss Gordon says not to take too much luggage,” Connie advised her
friend. “I’m packing two Brownie uniforms and a pair of sweaters and
skirts. And one dress for nice in case we have a party.”
“Not your new skis?”
“Oh, yes,” laughed Connie, “but I’ll wear them on my feet, not my back!”
“Do you suppose I could take my sled along?”
“Not unless you check it in the baggage car, Veve. Anyway, Miss Gordon
said there will be sleds at the farm. She told the Brownies that
Grandfather Gordon made a bobsled that would carry six persons at one
time!”
“Connie, is the kitchen door open?” Mrs. Williams called from the
breakfast room. She could feel a cold blast of air.
“I’m going now,” said Veve. “Good-bye, Connie. See you later after I’m
packed!”
She ran off home, allowing the door to bang hard behind her.
“Dear me,” remarked Mrs. Williams as Connie came to the breakfast
table. “Veve is so high-spirited, I wonder if Miss Gordon won’t be kept
busy looking after six Brownies.”
“Five Brownies and a substitute,” corrected Connie, reaching for a tall
glass of orange juice. “Veve may make more trouble than all the others,
but she’s lots of fun.”
Early the next morning, all the Brownies except Belinda were taken to
the railroad station by their parents. The luggage was checked straight
through to Deerford, the nearest town to Snow Valley. Miss Gordon took
charge of the tickets, but allowed each girl to keep her own baggage
check.
“Here comes the train!” shouted Veve suddenly.
Connie began to feel shivery inside. For just a minute she wasn’t
certain she cared to leave her parents and travel to Minnesota.
“Have a good time, dear,” said her mother, stooping to kiss her. “It
will only be a few days until we come for you.”
Other parents were saying good-bye to Rosemary, Jane, Eileen, Veve, and
Sunny. Then the train rumbled into the station.
“Hurry or we’ll be left,” urged Veve as passengers began to alight.
“We have plenty of time,” replied Miss Gordon. “Please, girls, don’t
shove.”
Although the Brownie leader said “girls,” she really meant Veve, who
was trying to bore a hole through the crowd.
After all the passengers were off the train, Miss Gordon went aboard
with her six charges. Mr. Williams helped her find seats for everyone.
“I think you will be quite comfortable,” said Mr. Williams. “Your train
is due to arrive in Deerford at seven tonight.”
“Oh, Daddy, hurry and get off before the train starts,” Connie said
anxiously. “You might be taken along.”
“I have plenty of time,” he replied. “But I’ll say goodbye now.”
He kissed Connie and left the car.
Connie and Veve, who shared a seat, pressed their faces against the car
window. Their mothers were standing near the train, watching.
“Goodbye!” the girls called out together.
They waved from inside the window. Their mothers waved in return and
blew kisses. Then the train began to move.
Connie and Veve and the Brownies were on their way to Minnesota.