Read Online One On The House by Mary Lasswell - Free Book Online

ourselves with soap…and anything else that might be useful on the trip. There is no way of predicting what lies ahead!”
    “Ain’t nothin’ but jersey an’ seersucker…dry tonight,” Mrs. Rasmussen said. “We gotta find out how far we can ride.”
    “After supper we’ll go down in the subway,” Mrs. Feeley said.
    “We could phone for free.” Mrs. Rasmussen pointed to the telephone on the table. Miss Tinkham got Information at the Pennsylvania Station.
    “Yes, please. The first stop.” She spoke softly.
    “And the time? Every half-hour? Thank you.” She hung up the receiver and started to open her mouth at exactly the moment Katy, Danny, and the baby walked in the front door.
    “How we have missed you!” she cried. “We cannot waste any of our precious remaining moments apart from you! So little time!”
    “What’s the matter?” Danny said. “You all look terrible! Are you sick?”
    “Who? Us?” Mrs. Feeley challenged with a brassy laugh. “Never felt better or had less!”
    The laugh that went up from her friends was not faked. Katy and Danny were mystified.
    “I know a run-around when I see one,” Danny said. “But if you say you are going tomorrow, that’s all there is to it. To get the truth out of you would be like trying to drink the Pacific with a fork.”
    “I’m surprised on you, Danny.” Mrs. Rasmussen’s voice was reproachful. “Can’t expect us to be happy at leavin’ after all the good time you showed us.”
    “An’ I never tell you nothin’ that ain’t the God’s truth!” his aunt blustered.
    “Yes, indeed!” Miss Tinkham smiled. “You know how we are, dear boy: penny pound, wise foolish!” Realizing she had said too much she began to warble “California, Here I Come.”
    “What I’m thinkin’…” Mrs. Rasmussen raised her voice.
    “It’s a long time between drinks!” Mrs. Feeley winked.
    “You must have had a highly convivial afternoon,” Katy laughed.
    “I have a strong feeling that someone is waving a handkerchief to hide a horse,” Danny said.
    “Horse!” Mrs. Feeley shouted and caught herself at a warning look from Miss Tinkham.
    “You interrupted Mrs. Rasmussen,” Miss Tinkham reminded her.
    “I was thinkin’ it might be a long time before we got a bait o’ them barbecued little-necks on the half-shell,” Mrs. Rasmussen looked wistful. “Got the hot sauce, an’ the green peppers an’ bacon…an’ my own secret mixture out in the icebox. Only we ain’t got no little-necks! Sure go good with the beer!”
    “We havin’ that roasted chicken stuffed with sausage tonight, ain’t we?” Mrs. Feeley said. “Them clams sure would be tender! Only thing they got here that’s better’n what they got in California.”
    “Come on, Kate,” Danny said. “I scent exit cues. The fish store for us.” Danny finished his beer and got up.
    “I’ll put up the chicken,” Mrs. Rasmussen said, “an’ lay out a few little snitters o’ this an’ that…little smoked salmon an’ lemon-mayonnaise; hardboiled eggs, an’ a few marinated herrin? Huh? While we wait for the clams to broil?”
    “All right.” Katy smiled and put her hat back on. “It will be the last really wonderful dinner we’ll have for a long time.”
    “You never said a truer word,” Mrs. Feeley muttered as she closed the door behind them.
    “We almost tore it a coupla times,” Mrs. Rasmussen said. “Good you hung up that phone. Miss Tinkham.”
    “An’ then them horses! I’m never gonna see one o’ them beasts again without wantin’ to kick the…”
    “I’m becoming allergic to them myself,” Miss Tinkham said.
    “Well, what’s the skinny? How far can we ride?”
    Miss Tinkham drew a long breath and closed her eyes:
    “Newark.”
    “New-ark?” Mrs. Feeley shouted. “What’s the matter with the old one?”
    “It’s under the river.”
    “Couldn’t think of a better place! An’ I hope we have a nice night for it!”
    “It’s in New Jersey…we go