Cindy Jones by Margaret Pearce Read Free Book Online Page B

he’s doing.”
    â€œHow do people act when they’re in love?”
    â€œYou ask the stupidest questions, Cindy.” Gretta flushed up to the roots of her untidy hair. She put away her appointment book and checked the instruments, bottles, and tubes in her bag.
    â€œWell, I wish he wasn’t marrying her,” Cindy grumbled, as she followed Gretta out to her car.
    â€œYes,” Gretta muttered back in a low voice as she yanked open the door of her old station wagon.
    Cindy picked up her bike. She blinked. Miss Hopkins suddenly stood beside them, holding the limp form of Horace. Cindy hadn’t seen her arrive. She was just there!
    â€œGood morning, Cindy and Gretta.”
    â€œGood morning Miss Hopkins.” Gretta looked uncomfortable.
    â€œWhat’s Horace been up to?” Cindy asked.
    â€œHe keeps visiting me,” Miss Hopkins explained. “When I pick him up, he goes completely limp as if there’s something wrong with him.”
    â€œHe won’t stay home,” Cindy explained, as she took his limp body. “There’s so much upheaval at our place now, he keeps leaving.”
    â€œSensible of him,” Miss Hopkins agreed. “But he can’t stay with me. He will swim in my laundry trough, and he’s flooding me out.”
    Gretta looked at her watch. “I have to go. Put him in one of the runs, Cindy. I’ll check him over this afternoon.”
    She drove away. Miss Hopkins walked off. Cindy ran around the back of the surgery and gently locked Horace into an empty pen.
    â€œYeeow,” Horace spat as he realized where he was, but Cindy was leaving.
    That afternoon, Gretta looked harassed as she confessed she couldn’t find anything wrong with Horace. “I’ll do a few more tests overnight and bring him around tomorrow night if he’s all right.”
    Cindy rode her bike home. It didn’t look like her home anymore. The outside had been painted white and reared stark and clean among the nakedness of the front yard. After she fed the animals and cleaned out cages and pens, it was time to leave for the Barrys’ flat.
    Mrs. Barry had cooked roast beef and dumplings with baby carrots and beans, followed by cheesecake. Even Cindy in her most sullen and critical mood had to admit that Mrs. Barry was a marvelous cook, and her father was enjoying every mouthful.
    The professor had a second helping of cheesecake with his coffee. He and Mrs. Barry then retired to the lounge room to listen to Elizabethan ballads.
    Cindy washed dishes in an efficient, bored silence. Constance was in an almost friendly mood. Prunella burst out with the reason for the friendly atmosphere.
    â€œYour pool is getting refilled, and Mother said we could have a pool party if the professor doesn’t mind.”
    â€œHe doesn’t like noise or racket.”
    â€œHe wouldn’t mind if you invited your friends as well,” Constance suggested.
    â€œI don’t have any friends interested in pool parties.”
    â€œYou do so.” Prunella itemized them on her fingers. “There’s Jennifer Morgan, Gretta Carson, Thumb, Jim Plumstead, and Thumb’s little sister, Carrots.”
    â€œHer name is Bettina,” Cindy corrected.
    It was true that Thumb’s little sister had flaming red hair and freckles, but only her friends were allowed to call her Carrots.
    Cindy thought about the idea of a pool party as she wiped down the sink. It was another way to throw her father and Jennifer together. Her father liked swimming.
    â€œWe could have it on Sunday. Do we invite people to eat as well as swim?”
    â€œAsk the professor,” Constance urged. “Perhaps we could have a barbecue with fresh bread and salads and make plenty of lemon cordial.”
    Her father looked pleased when Cindy asked about having the guests for a barbecue. “A very good idea. I’ll get out the barbecue,” he promised.
    Prunella and