The Mystery at Maypenny's Read Online Free PDF Page B

you’re for the expansion?” Trixie asked.
    “I haven’t decided that at all, Trix,” Brian said. “I’m as much on the fence as ever.”
    “But you’re arguing for it in the debate,” Trixie reminded him. “Does that mean you’re for it but you’re not for it? I don’t understand.”
    Brian shrugged. “It’s really not that confusing, Trix. I think this debate is important. It’s the first time that the arguments for and against the expansion will really be laid out, side by side, so that people can listen to them clearly if they care to. When my social studies teacher asked for volunteers for the debate, the first two people who spoke up asked to take the negative side, opposing the expansion. They’re both smart kids, and I know they’ll do a good job.
    “That’s when I decided to take the affirmative side. I figured that with the information I can get from Dad, I can present some pretty convincing arguments. It will be an even debate. That’s all I’m concerned about.”
    “Methinks it will take perseverance to persuade Dan Mangan of the perspicuity of the positive position,” Mart said.
    “Dan’s in my social studies class,” Brian reminded his brother. “He looked pretty tense when I volunteered. But I caught up with him after class and explained it to him. I think he understands that it’s a sense of fair play that got me into this, not my personal opinion about the expansion. He can respect that, just as he can respect Jim’s need to stand by his father.” Brian paused and sighed. Then he added, “Still, I don’t think his respect for our positions makes him feel any less lonely right now, or any less worried about whether he’s going to have a place to live when the controversy is over.”
    “I think this whole thing has been harder on Dan than anybody else,” Trixie agreed. “He’s spent so much of his life trying to find a place where he feels that he belongs. He even got involved with that bad bunch in New York City—when he’s not a bad person at all—just because they seemed to take an interest in him.”
    Brian nodded. “When Regan finally brought him to Sleepyside, Dan found a great place to live with Mr. Maypenny. He also found a group of friends, the Bob-Whites, who like him for what he is without trying to force him to be rowdy or get into trouble.”
    “And now his abode is in jeopardy and his companions seem alienated,” Mart concluded.
    “Poor Dan,” Trixie said. “I think we should be extra careful to let him know he’s our friend, until this whole thing is over.”
    “I don’t think we ought to do that, Trix,” Brian said. “Dan is pretty good at noticing things. Being extra nice, for whatever reason, still boils down to treating Dan differently than we have in the past. It might make him even more nervous than he already is.”
    Trixie wrinkled her nose, annoyed at her own stupidity. “You’re right, Brian. We Bob-Whites are always teasing one another and pretending to fight. If all of a sudden we start being nice as pie to Dan, he’ll probably feel like an outsider again. I guess all we can do is try to keep things as much as possible the way they’ve always been. But it’s hard.”
    “Indubitably,” Mart agreed gloomily.
    Trixie helped her mother clear the table and wash the dishes, too busy thinking about Dan and Mr. Maypenny and Brian and Jim to do her usual chattering as she worked.
    When she was finished, she laid the dish towel on the counter absentmindedly and wandered out of the kitchen. From the living room, she could hear the murmur of voices, first her father’s and then Brian’s, as they talked about the debate. Occasionally Mart’s voice would come in briefly, too. Trixie smiled to herself. Nobody loved to argue as much as Mart did. She could imagine him pouncing on anything his father and brother said that sounded weak, tearing it apart the way the opposition would at the debate. This was one time when Brian would be grateful