A Complicated Surprise

After all the ceremonies were completed at the airport, the boys and their parents returned to town and were entertained at dinner by Dr. and Mrs. Morrison. All the trimmings were included, ending up with ice cream and cookies. Nuthin’ leaned back in his chair and patted his belly. “If I’d go up in a plane now,” he remarked jocularly, “The ship would sink like a rock, I feel so heavy.”

The boys laughed heartily. Bobolink said, “That’s nothing. If I got into a plane now, it wouldn’t lift off the ground.”

Some more laughter and a few more clever remarks. Then Ken asked, “Well, what’s on our program now?”

William replied, “Now that we are real pilots, we are going to do some real flying.”

“Not for a few days,” interposed Paul. “We have a swimming match for this coming Saturday and we have to practice up a bit.”

“Yes,” spoke up Jack, “and this time we are going to give that Slavin bunch a good beating.”

“You say that as though you intended to do them physical battle,” remarked Wallace, with a twinkle in his eye.

“Oh, no,” Jack hurried to make himself perfectly understood. “We are going to do it fairly and squarely. The Slavin group is a nice bunch and I don’t hold anything against them.”

“Except that they won the ball game,” said Wallace.

“They deserved it,” added William. “They played a mighty fine game, and Ted has never pitched as well as last Saturday.”

“W-w-what a-about Ken?” demanded Bluff. “He p-p-pitched m-m-marv-v-velously.”

“You said it,” agreed Paul. “I’ve never seen Ken pitch better ball than last Saturday.”

Ken said, “If it wasn’t for the boys backing me up as well as they did, it would have been just too bad.”

“Well, why do you think we were out in the field?” asked Bobolink. “Just for ornamentation?”

“Let’s cut the discussion,” announced Paul. “I for one feel tired, and I imagine that all of us are just a bit winded. So let’s break it up, go home and meet tomorrow morning for swimming practice.”

“Agreed!” cried William.

Everybody else seemed to feel that way. As a matter of fact, for the past half hour or so, the boys had begun to squirm in their seats and showed signs of nervousness and anxiety. So it was quite a relief for all of them to rise from the table and go their way. Ostensibly, each one was going home.

About half an hour later, Paul was walking down Main Street. He was all spruced up—wearing his new suit, a bright tie, his shoes shined to a gloss and his hair combed neatly. At Rogers Street he turned to the right. He walked along snappily and whistled a cheerful tune.

At the middle of the block, he met Paul face to face. Surprise showed on both their faces and their eyes almost popped at seeing each other. Quickly, each boy put his right hand behind his back. Finally, after a very embarrassing silence, one of the boys asked, “What are you doing here, Jack? I thought you had gone home.”

“What about you, Paul? I thought you were tired and were going to bed early?”

Silence. The boys squirmed and wriggled. One of them turned and looked at the house they were in front of. The other boy did likewise. Finally Jack asked, “What are you hiding there behind your back?”

Paul fidgeted. “Nothing. What about you?”

“Nothing.”

Again silence and the boys looked around with embarrassment. “You still didn’t tell me what you’re doing here,” remarked Jack.

“Just taking a walk,” replied Paul. “And you?”

“Also taking a walk.” He looked up at the sky and at the horizon. “Beautiful evening, isn’t it?”

“Yes,” replied Paul. “Where did you say you were walking to?”

“Right here. And you?”

“The same.”

The two boys looked at each other, their eyes met and slowly a grin spread over their faces. Finally they laughed and slapped each other on the back. Then Jack said, “Well, let’s go in.”

Paul shook his head. “No, wait a minute.” He noticed someone approaching. “Let’s hide behind the corner of the house.”

Jack and Paul retreated. Half a minute later, a boy came along and without any hesitation, started to cross the lawn to the house. The two boys jumped out of their hiding place. “Where do you think you’re going?” demanded Paul.

William jumped and went pale. Seeing, however, who his assailants were, he gritted his teeth and barked, “Say, what do you think you’re doing, scaring people?”

The two boys smiled. Jack said, “Now don’t get too fresh or we’ll pummel you. Where are you going?”

William made believe he was still angry. “Follow me and you’ll find out.”

“And what’s that little package you have there?” asked Paul.

“Wouldn’t you like to know, though?” was the retort.

“A nickel to a penny it’s a box of candy,” said Jack.

But William was not to be bluffed. “Seems to me,” he remarked dryly, “that you fellows are not carrying flowers in your packages.”

He had guessed right, and the three of them joined in laughing heartily. But just then another boy came up to them. He had approached quietly and had been a witness to the previous scene. “Well, well,” exclaimed Wallace, “are you fellows holding a meeting here tonight or are you just congregating here to be a nuisance? Answer yes or no and don’t be flippant about it either.”

The three boys stared at the new arrival. Jack cried in irritation, “This has gone about far enough. Arline told me that she was inviting only me tonight. What are you guys doing here?”

Wallace held up his package majestically. “Now, Jack, don’t get excited.” He poked a finger at his friend. “She told me the same thing,” he assured the doubter.

“Same here,” echoed Paul.

“And me, too,” added William.

“And who else?” demanded Jack.

The boys shrugged their shoulders and shook their heads. But they were not to be mystified much longer. Just then, Bobolink marched up. He saw the boys but it didn’t ruffle him in the least. He nodded to them and said, “Hello, fellows. Sorry I can’t stop to chew the rag awhile, but I have an important engagement.”

“Is that so?” exclaimed William. Grabbing Bobolink by the arm, he held on to him and informed the last arrival, “So have we all. Just stick around.”

Bobolink shrugged his shoulders. “Well,” he said, “if I must, I must.”

In due time, Bluff and Nuthin’ arrived and joined the crowd. Only Ken was missing. They decided to wait for him because they had no doubt he would also turn up. However, a few of the boys became a little impatient and they decided to ring the bell. Several seconds elapsed and then the door opened and beautiful Arline Blair came marching out to the boys on Ken’s arm. The boys were startled, then they began to hurl all sorts of flippant and good-natured epithets at him. Two of the boys even started to pummel him in fun. Suddenly a command rang out “Fall in!”

The boys fell into formation. Paul approached Arline, saluted her and said, “Miss Blair, Fox Patrol bids you good evening.”

The young lady made a bow. “Good evening, boys,” she replied sweetly.

“And the boys furthermore ask leave to present you with tokens of their affection.”

Paul gave her his box of chocolates. Then each, on down the line, presented her with his gift. When all that was done, Paul sang out his commands. “Attention! Forward, march!”

As the boys marched forward to go into the house, Paul took Arline by the arm and led her away in the opposite direction. When the boys realized it, they broke formation and ran after him. “Hey, you, come here,” cried William.

Arline tilted back her head and laughed merrily. “I’ve never had so much fun in all my life,” she said.

“Yes,” complained Jack, “but where’s our fun?”

“We are coming to that,” she told him. “I wanted to surprise you all.”

“You certainly did,” William ventured to say.

“And,” continued the young lady, “if you’ll come in, you’ll find everything prepared for a most enjoyable party.”

“Then what are we waiting for?” asked Nuthin’.

“For no reason that I know of,” replied Arline. “Let’s go in. The girls—”

“The girls!” exclaimed each boy separately.

“You didn’t think that I was going to entertain all you boys by myself, did you?”

“No, but—”

“So I invited my friends to help me. Let’s go in, now.”

They all entered and in spite of the complications of the half hour before, they had a most enjoyable evening.