A Missing Coverlet
Veve was happy as a lark, humming a Brownie song as she stripped
cherries into her pail. Now that she had learned the trick of pulling
the fruit from the trees, it was much easier for her to keep up with
the other pickers.
Furthermore, she had a secret! In fact, two of them.
“What makes you so chirpy this morning?” demanded Connie, who was
picking in the next tree.
“Oh, I’m just feeling top-notch!” laughed Veve. “Thinking of that good
lunch we’ll soon be eating!”
“That’s not entirely the reason,” insisted Connie. “You’ve been pepped
up ever since we drove out here this morning. In fact--you acted as if
you saw something on the way that gave you a big lift.”
“Maybe I did.”
“Well, I didn’t see anything different than usual.”
“Then you couldn’t have looked where I did,” Veve teased. “I saw it
right close to Pa Hooper’s farm--at the first one down the road.”
“Carl Wingate’s place?”
“Goodness, no. I mean the house on this side of the road.”
“Well, I didn’t see anything,” Connie declared. She brushed a strand of
hair from her eyes. “Stop teasing me, Veve! What did you notice?”
“A quilt hanging on the line!” Veve announced, her eyes sparkling.
“Oh, it was a beauty, Connie! Even from the road I could see that the
pattern was unusual--all stars and wheels in blue and white.”
“I must have been looking the other direction. I didn’t see it.”
“None of the Brownies did. It was flapping there on the clothesline as
much as to say, ‘Come and get me, Veve!’ That’s what I intend to do! At
lunch time, I’m going to slip over to that house and ask the lady if
she’ll let me have the quilt for our show.”
In her enthusiasm, Veve did not realize that she was talking in a loud,
shrill voice. Jane Tuttle, who was working in the next tree, heard the
conversation. She became so interested that for a minute or two she
forgot to pick cherries.
“I guess I won’t be a tail-ender after all!” Veve declared in
satisfaction. “I’ll beat Jane!”
The little girl said no more about the quilt. However, when at last
Miss Gordon signaled the Brownies that it was time to knock off for
luncheon, she was off her ladder in a flash.
“See you later!” she called to Connie. “Save me some lunch, if I’m
late.”
Miss Gordon was directing the girls and their mothers to the big oak
where lunch was to be served. In counting noses, she failed to see Jane
Tuttle.
“Why, I wonder where she is?” she inquired aloud. “Come to think of it,
I haven’t seen her around for the last fifteen or twenty minutes.”
“Jane went to the shed awhile ago to weigh in her fruit,” Sunny
informed. “I never saw her come back though.”
At that very moment, one of the girls sighted the missing Brownie. She
came walking jauntily through the gate, pigtails swinging. Her shoes
were quite dusty, an indication that she had tramped along the road.
“Oh, girls! Guess what?” she greeted the Brownies. Jane looked directly
at Veve as she spoke.
“Where have you been?” Veve demanded suspiciously.
Jane laughed. “Off looking for a quilt!” she informed saucily. “Found
one too!”
“You found a quilt for the Brownie show?” Veve asked in a weak voice.
“At the farm next to this one! Oh, it’s a dandy! Blue and white. It’s
called the Ship’s Wheel pattern. The lady who owns it says she’ll be
glad to let me have it for the display.”
“She’ll let _you_ have it!” Veve cried. “But that was _my_ quilt!”
“It wasn’t yours until you had it promised,” chuckled Jane. “The early
bird catches the worm, you know! You’re a pretty late bird, Veve.”
“You heard me tell Connie about the quilt!” Veve accused. “Then you
sneaked off before I had a chance and asked for it.”
“So what?” laughed Jane. “You can get another quilt. Only of course,
this makes you the tail-ender!”
Miss Gordon, who had heard the girls arguing, came over to ask what was
wrong. Veve told her what had happened.
“Why, Jane,” the Brownie leader said in surprise. “I didn’t think you
would do a thing like that. It doesn’t seem quite honest or fair.”
“I only wanted to get ahead of Veve,” Jane said, now feeling ashamed of
herself. “Oh, well! I’ll give her the old quilt.”
Veve, however, was too proud to accept it.
“No, thank you,” she said. “I will find another one--a much nicer
pattern.”
The other Brownies did not tease Veve about being a ‘tail-ender.’ In
fact, they very carefully avoided talking about the Ship’s Wheel quilt.
Jane knew that the girls felt she had been unfair in taking Veve’s
quilt. She was sorry now that she had done it, but she did not know how
to make amends.
The girls and their mothers ate lunch under the oak tree. While they
rested, Miss Gordon brought out the mysterious package Veve had seen
her slip into the car that morning.
“Here’s the surprise,” the Brownie leader announced. “Our
quilt--entirely finished!”
As the teacher carefully spread the quilted coverlet on the grass the
girls exclaimed in delight.
The quilt might be “crazy” in pattern, but never had they seen such a
splash of gay colors! Blue, gold, red, green, yellow and every hue of
the rainbow.
Altogether, the quilt was so beautiful that the girls disliked
the thought of selling it. Of course they would, however, for the
organization needed money.
“How did you finish it so quickly?” Connie inquired.
“I had many willing helpers,” Miss Gordon explained. “Last night we had
a quilting bee at my home.”
“What’s a quilting bee?” questioned Sunny curiously.
“A quilting party,” Miss Gordon explained. “I invited teachers from
the Rosedale School and a number of my other friends. First we tacked
the quilt onto wooden frames. Then we put a backing on it and filled
in a layer of cotton. Finally, we tacked it down and took it from the
frames.”
“My, that must have been a lot of work!” exclaimed Rosemary. “Even more
than making the quilt blocks.”
“It was,” admitted the teacher. “But finishing such a fine quilt was
well worth while. Don’t you all feel that way about it?”
“Oh, yes!” agreed the Brownies.
Miss Gordon showed the girls the lower right-hand corner of the quilt.
In tiny red stitches, the Rosedale Brownie Troop name had been etched
in.
“Oh, I like that!” Connie cried. “Now, even though someone else buys
our quilt, the Brownie name always will be on it.”
“It’s almost like having an autograph quilt,” declared Veve.
While the other girls chattered excitedly about the coming quilt show,
Jane Tuttle had nothing to say.
In truth, she felt quite ashamed of the way she had acted.
“Don’t feel bad, Jane,” Veve said to cheer her. “It’s all right about
the quilt. I’ll find another.”
Jane brightened at that. “I’ll help you get one, Veve,” she promised.
Then she added: “You know something? While I was at that next-door
house, I learned some interesting things about Mr. Hooper.”
“You did?” Veve was eager to hear all about it.
“His house burned down nearly three years ago, the lady said. And guess
why he never rebuilt it!”
“Maybe he didn’t have the money.”
“That’s not the real reason,” replied Jane. “He didn’t rebuild the
house, because he’s afraid he will lose his entire orchard.”
“Lose it? How? Doesn’t he have enough money to pay the taxes?” Veve
had heard her mother say that to hold property one had to pay taxes
regularly.
“Oh, it isn’t that!” Jane explained impatiently. “He’s afraid he will
have to turn the place over to Mr. Wingate.”
“To that old demon!”
“It’s because of a will or something,” Jane said vaguely. “The lady
told me, but I didn’t pay close attention. Anyway, Pa Hooper and Mr.
Wingate have had a lot of trouble. They’re cousins, but they dislike
each other.”
“I can’t blame Mr. Hooper for not liking Carl Wingate,” Veve declared
with feeling. “Why, it would be dreadful if he would get both orchards.”
“The quilt lady seemed to think that’s the way it will turn out. She
said Pa Hooper is afraid this harvest is the last one he’ll ever get
from his orchard. And he may lose most of it too!”
“Why will he lose his cherries, Jane?”
“Because the fruit is ripening so fast. He expected the Mexican pickers
two days ago, but they’re still at the Wingate place. Mr. Hooper can’t
get them until they’ve finished Wingate’s picking.”
“He has us.”
“But you know we’re not fast pickers, Veve. A good stripper can get
almost 300 pounds a day from a tree. Mr. Hooper needs two experienced
pickers to every acre. At least that’s what the quilt lady told me.”
“I wish the Mexicans would leave Mr. Wingate’s place and come here.”
“So do I, but they have to finish their contract first. Mr. Wingate
has a heavy crop, and he won’t let the pickers move on until they’re
completely finished.”
As the girls talked, Miss Gordon called that it was time to return to
the orchard. Before leaving, she carefully folded the quilt inside out
and left it lying on the grass not far from the picnic baskets.
During the afternoon, the Brownies and their mothers picked steadily.
The work seemed much easier now. Even so, everyone began to grow a
little tired about four o’clock.
Mrs. Davidson had just finished filling her bucket when, without
warning, the breeze began to freshen.
Two or three strong gusts swept through the orchard, blowing papers and
stirring the limbs of the trees.
“Girls, better come down from your ladders,” Miss Gordon called. “It
looks as if we’re in for a wind storm.”
Scarcely had the girls descended, however, than the wind died away as
quickly as it had come.
“False alarm,” laughed Miss Gordon. “We may as well go back to work.”
Mrs. Davidson said it was time for her to go home and start supper. She
was the first to leave, taking Sunny with her.
After that, Mrs. Williams had to go and so did Eileen’s mother. They
promised, however, that if the weather remained favorable, they would
return the following morning.
“Mr. Hooper really needs every picker he can get,” Miss Gordon said
soberly. “He tells me his entire crop must be harvested before the
end of the week. Otherwise, much of the fruit will be rejected by the
cannery as over-ripe.”
One by one the mothers left the orchard, taking their daughters with
them. Miss Gordon was among the last to depart.
“Girls,” she said to Veve and Rosemary, who were to ride with her,
“will you bring the lunch baskets, please?”
Hand in hand, they raced to the oak tree where lunch had been served.
All but two of the baskets already had been loaded into other cars.
“I’m glad there’s not much to carry,” Veve said.
She picked up one of the baskets and gave the other to Rosemary.
At the parked car, Miss Gordon shoved the hampers into the rear luggage
compartment.
“There, I guess we have everything,” she declared. “My, but I am tired.”
“So am I,” yawned Veve. “After this picking job is over, I’ll go to bed
and sleep a million years!”
The two girls curled up on the back seat, intending to relax during the
ride into Rosedale.
A truck from the canning factory had blocked the entrance gate to Pa
Hooper’s property. Not until it had moved on with its load of fruit,
was Miss Gordon able to drive out into the main road.
The automobile had traveled perhaps a mile toward the city when the
Brownie leader thought of an important matter.
“By the way, I don’t recall packing the Brownie crazy quilt,” she said.
“Did either of you look after it?”
“Not I,” said Rosemary.
“Neither did I,” returned Veve. “I didn’t even see the quilt under the
tree when we picked up the lunch baskets.”
“Maybe one of the mothers took it,” suggested Rosemary.
Miss Gordon now was rather troubled.
“I should have thought about the quilt, but it slipped my mind,” she
said, slowing the car. “It may have been left under the tree. I believe
we should drive back there to make certain.”
The Brownie leader turned the automobile around and returned to the
Hooper orchard. This time she went with Rosemary and Veve to the oak
tree where they had eaten the picnic lunch.
However, they could not find the crazy quilt.
“One of the Brownie mothers may have taken it,” Miss Gordon decided.
“Oh, well, I wanted to be sure the quilt wasn’t left behind. Odd, I
didn’t see anyone carry it to a car.”
En route back to Rosedale, the Brownie leader did not have a great deal
to say. Veve and Rosemary could not tell whether she was uneasy about
the quilt or was thinking of other matters.
Miss Gordon dropped Rosemary off at the Fritche home. Mrs. Fritche
said she had not seen the crazy quilt either.
“Perhaps Mrs. Davidson has it,” she suggested. “As I recall, she was
one of the first to leave.”
“I’ll telephone all the mothers,” the Brownie leader said. “Someone
must have the coverlet.”
Before taking Veve home, Miss Gordon stopped at her own residence. From
there she called Mrs. Davidson.
Sunny’s mother reported that she had not seen or taken the crazy quilt
from beneath the tree.
In turn, Miss Gordon called all the mothers who had attended the
picnic. Mrs. Williams was the last name on her list.
“Why, no,” replied Connie’s mother, in answer to the Brownie leader’s
question. “I did not take the quilt. For that matter, I didn’t even
notice that it was under the tree.”
Miss Gordon turned away from the telephone, very much discouraged.
“Veve,” she said, “how can I tell the Brownies? After all our work, the
crazy quilt is gone! While we were so busy picking, I’m afraid someone
took it!”