  “Peter Piper picked a peck of pickled peppers; a peck of pickled peppers Peter Piper picked; if Peter Piper picked a peck of pickled peppers, where’s the peck of pickled peppers Peter Piper picked?” “A perfect peck of pickled peppers, Peggy,” said Miss Linden, the elocution instructor, “except that you picked them a trifle too quickly. That’s the big temptation of tongue twisters; you always want to show that you can rip them out at great speed without making a mistake. What I want you to do this time is to say the same thing, but to concentrate on a normal rate of delivery that will allow your voice to carry to the rear of a hall without becoming blurred. Distance, you know, tends to make sounds run together. Now, Peggy, if you don’t mind....” More slowly this time, and concentrating on making her words reach the back of some huge, imaginary hall, Peggy once more spoke the tongue twister. “Much better. Much better,” Miss Linden approved. “Now, John, will you please read ‘round and round the rugged rock the ragged rascals ran,’ and try to read it as if it had a meaning, as if those ragged rascals were at the end of their endurance, as if you were one of them, almost. Make the words clear, project them, and at the same time give me a note of urgency and a feeling of near-exhaustion.” John, a handsome boy whom Peggy had already judged vain and stupid and who, she suspected, had gone into acting on the strength of his appearance, struggled with the assignment. Peggy tried to maintain an interest in what he was doing, but her mind was on her coming lunch meeting with Randy Brewster. What on earth was she going to suggest? Why had she volunteered to undertake the search for a theater with such confidence? It had been bothering her since she had awakened this morning, and the more she thought about it, the less likely it seemed that she would come up with an idea worth pursuing. Still, there must be some angle that Randy and Mal hadn’t thought of, some idea that would occur to her, with her reporter’s training, that had escaped them. That all sounded very good, she commented to herself, but what was the angle? Miss Linden’s tongue twisters were child’s play compared to this puzzle. Before her turn came to read again, it was time for the elocution class to end and time to go, empty-headed, to meet Randy. Peggy had never in her life felt so stupid, nor so embarrassed, for having made the boast last night that she could find what they had missed. Amy, sensing the reason for Peggy’s gloomy silence, didn’t question her about it. Without a word, the two girls moved through the crowded corridor to the elevators, rode downstairs, and stationed themselves at the front door. Finally Peggy spoke. “Oh, Amy, I hope he doesn’t think I’m a complete fool! I like him so much, and I’ve made him take this special trip to bring me his list of theaters, and if I don’t come up with an idea that makes sense, I won’t blame him for thinking I’m a dope!” “Are you trying to find a theater or a boy friend?” Amy asked with a sly smile. Blushing, Peggy stammered, “Why, Amy, I ... I just met him last night ... the same as you ... and ... Oh dear! Here he comes now, and I look like an embarrassed lobster!” “Don’t worry,” Amy said with a laugh, “with his red hair and your red face, you make a lovely couple!” Before Peggy could answer, Randy had reached them and either did not notice, or gallantly pretended not to notice Peggy’s confusion. He greeted them with a smile, and gaily waved a large paper bag. “I took the liberty of ordering for you, ladies,” he announced in the manner of a musical-comedy headwaiter. “The caviar, pÂtÉ de foie gras, and pheasant under glass are not of the best quality today, so I decided instead to get ham on rye, pickles, and potato chips. I also have two cartons of milk of a superior vintage. We dine on the terrace by the lake.” In the laughter, Peggy regained her self-possession, and the three of them started for the park where, Randy told them, they would be joined by Pip and Connie. At the mention of Pip, Amy said, “I was wondering how, with a name like Peter Piper, Pip ever got through that tongue-twister stuff. It must have been terrible for him!” “Ask him to do it for you sometime,” Randy replied. “He’s learned that the best defense is a good offense, so long before he came to the Academy he had that one perfected. He can do Peter Piper in any accent or dialect you ask, and can even do it in a rapid-fire stutter! It’s funny enough so that nobody ever kidded him about it. In fact, he’s got it worked up into part of a first-rate comedy bit.” On their arrival at the lawn by the lake, they found that Randy had brought a large paper table-cloth and some oversized paper napkins for the girls to sit on. As she helped set out the lunch, Peggy was impressed by this extra display of thoughtfulness, and felt that she had been right in thinking Randy Brewster was a special kind of person. She had just finished setting the “table” when Connie and Pip joined them and added their own lunches to the spread. When they were all settled comfortably, Randy opened the conversation with the question that Peggy had been fearing all morning. “Well, Peggy, I brought the list of theaters we’ve seen, and now will you tell us what you have in mind?” When they were all settled comfortably.... Much to her surprise, Peggy found herself answering as smoothly as if she had known all along what she was going to do. “The first thing,” she said, “is to make use of all the city records. Since a license is required to operate a theater, there must be a list of all the places in the city that have been licensed. I’m going to go to City Hall, find the list, and copy the names and addresses of every theater that has been opened in the last fifty or sixty years.” “Are you sure the city will let you see the records?” Connie asked. “Of course,” Peggy answered. “They have to. Anything in the city files that doesn’t concern individuals is a matter of public record. I learned that from my father. He always said that the city or town archives of any place were the best reference books a reporter could want.” “I think that makes good sense, Peggy,” Randy commented. “But it’s going to be a long list. What are you going to do when you’ve got it?” “I’m not sure,” Peggy admitted, “but I think the best thing to do would be to cut the list down before I start to work with it.” “I see,” Randy said. “That’s why you wanted the list of theaters we’ve already visited, so you could eliminate them.” “Right. The next thing to do, I think,” Peggy went on, with a dreamlike feeling that she did not know at all what she was going to say next, “is to look up theaters in the classified telephone book. All the ones that are listed, I’ll eliminate from my list, on the theory that they’re probably being used by somebody right now.” “Peggy, you’re a smart girl,” Pip said admiringly. “You sure are,” Connie echoed. “I won’t dispute that,” Randy agreed, “but I’m still a little puzzled. When you’ve eliminated all the theaters listed in the phone book from the theaters listed by the license bureau, what will you have?” “What I’ll have,” Peggy said triumphantly, “is a record of all the places in New York that started out to be theaters and aren’t theaters now!” “Wonderful!” Amy said. “Then you and I will go to visit all the addresses and see if any of the places aren’t being used, and if they’re for rent!” “It makes a lot of sense,” Randy admitted. “But you know, it’s going to take a lot of work and a lot of walking. And disappointment, too. You won’t be able to find even a trace of many of those theaters.” “On the other hand,” Peggy answered, “we may be able to find a hidden theater that nobody even knows is there! And wouldn’t that be grand?” “I can see it all now,” Pip said in a hollow voice. “A huge, haunted opera house of a theater, its hangings in tatters, its chandeliers covered with dust and its stage peopled by the ghosts of players long gone! There it sits, undiscovered, unknown, hiding behind a Chinese restaurant just a block east of Broadway!” “Don’t tease her, Pip,” Randy said. “I think Peggy has a good idea, and it would be a pity to discourage her before she gives it a try. Maybe she won’t find a theater, but at least this is the most sensible way I’ve heard of yet to start looking for one.” A little shamefaced, Pip said, “I didn’t mean to tease. You know me; I always want to turn everything into a comedy routine. But, seriously, I think this makes sense and, Peggy, if you need any help in tracking down places, you can count on me!” All the others chimed in their agreement, and Peggy thought proudly, and with some surprise, that she had gotten herself out of a spot quite well. At least Randy didn’t think she was a fool, and that was something to be pleased about. When lunch was finished, and the last crumbs had been fed to the ducks, it was time to return to the Academy. Peggy said good-by to Randy and went up to her afternoon’s work. Only by dint of the most intense concentration on the study of Elizabethan drama did Peggy keep her attention from the theater-hunting problem. But the minute the class was ended, all other thoughts fled from her mind. “Come on, Amy!” she said. “I’m heading for City Hall right now!” “I’m sorry, Peggy,” Amy said, “but you’ll have to count me out today. I didn’t know that you’d have any plans, so I made a date to have a soda with Mallory Seton. I’ll go with you tomorrow, though.” “And you accused me of looking for a boy friend instead of a theater!” Peggy said with a grin. “If anybody around here should blush, I think it’s you, Amy Shelby Preston!” “Why, Ah don’t know what yo’ talkin’ about!” Amy said, in her best Southern belle manner. “Mistah Seton asked me to join him, an’ Ah scarcely thought it would be ladylike to refuse the gentleman!” Then both girls dissolved into very unladylike giggles, and Peggy made a dash for the elevator. “See you tonight,” she called. |
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