The White Elephant Mystery Part 18

"Yes, there is," Tommy said. "He's on the top floor, on the left-hand side."

"Whyn't they put his handle on the direc'ry, then?" one of the men said peevishly.

"I wouldn't know," Tommy answered as he and Djuna started toward the street. Djuna was frowning as he looked back over his shoulder at the two men, now making their way toward the stairs at the back of the arcade with the tank for Dr. Hammer. Then he turned to stare at them, until Tommy, who had walked on ahead, called back, "Come on, for Pete's sake! It'll be time to go home before we even get to the beach!"

"That's funny," Djuna said to himself, and then he ran after Tommy.

Ten minutes later they left Tommy's bike on the beach parking lot. Down on the beach they shed their Basque shirts and sneakers and a few moments later they were at the edge of the surf. The waves were about three feet high as they came crashing in on the beach. When Djuna saw a woman come up gasping after a wave had rolled her over and over he looked back over his shoulder at the tanned life guard who sat in his little tower back from the water's edge, and then he looked at Tommy. "How do you get out where you can swim, without getting rolled around like that?" he asked.

"Oh, it's easy," Tommy scoffed. "You wait until after a wave breaks and when it starts to flow back you run into it and then take a shallow dive through the next one as it's breaking. It'll be deep enough to swim in, and if there is another wave breaking right behind the first one you just duck your head and dive through that, too, until you get out where there are just rollers. When you get ready to come in, you just swim and ride on the wales. If you time it right, the last one will bring you right up on the beach. Then you scramble out before another one hits you. Watch!"

Tommy stood back as a wave broke on the beach. As it began to recede he raced into the water and just before the next one broke he dove through it. His head popped up on the other side of it and then he ducked his head and went through another one that began to break. After that there were just rollers and he turned over on his back and nonchalantly waved a hand at Djuna to show how easy it was.

Djuna, who could swim like a muskrat, followed Tommy's instructions and was soon out beside him. They turned on their backs, wiggling their hands and feet just enough to stay afloat in the exhilarating waters, and gazed up lazily at the blue arc of heaven above them. A formation of ungainly pelicans overhead lumbered south to cast their shadows upon the beach; and behind the beach coconut palms swayed in the gentle breeze.

"Jeepers," Djuna said. "It doesn't seem possible that I was shoveling snow, only day before yesterday!"

When they had had enough of the water they rode the waves back to the beach and Tommy remembered that his mother had told him to remind Djuna to put on his shirt when he came out of the water so he wouldn't get too much of a sunburn on the first day. Tommy, whose skin was the color of saddle leather, didn't have to worry.

They started to wander up the beach and Tommy groaned as he saw a little girl of about ten coming toward them. When she was only about a dozen feet away Tommy whispered, "Oh, for Pete's sake, here she comes!"

Djuna followed Tommy's gaze and saw a plump little girl with a round face dotted with innumerable freckles. Her skin was of the strawberry blonde variety that didn't tan, but just burned. She was almost as red as a boiled lobster, but it didn't seem to bother her any. When Tommy said, "h.e.l.lo, Rilla," she didn't answer him. She didn't even look at him. She had her gaze on Djuna from the moment he saw her and she just continued to stare at him. When she had stared at him so long that Djuna began to squirm, she spoke. But before she spoke she put one hand partially over her mouth trying to hide the unflattering braces that she was wearing to straighten her teeth. She was carrying an orange bag in one hand and a stick in the other.

"You're the boy with the funny name that Tommy told me was going to visit him, aren't you?" she lisped. "Djuna-that's the funniest name I ever heard of."

Djuna didn't say anything, because he knew he shouldn't say what he wanted to say. He endured her inspection as well as he could, although he felt like turning and running to get away from it. When he couldn't stand it any longer, he racked his brain trying to think of something to say. Finally, because she had spoken about names, he asked, "What's your name?"

"Amaryllis," she said promptly and with great pride. "Mama says that when I was a baby I was the most bee-yoo-tiful baby she had ever seen so she decided she would name me after a bee-yoo-tiful flower, and she did."

Djuna fought to suppress a snicker. Not because of the silly thing the girl in front of him had said but because of what Tommy was doing. He had managed to edge around in back of Amaryllis so that she couldn't see him but Djuna couldn't help seeing him. Tommy had put his forefingers in the corners of his mouth to spread it wide and at the same time he was wiggling his ears with his thumbs, just behind her back.

To keep from laughing Djuna remarked, "That's a pretty name."

"Of course it's a pretty name," said Amaryllis. "That's why my father named his yot after me. He named it Amaryllis, too. I bet you haven't got a yot."

"Sure he has," Tommy scoffed as he took his fingers out of his mouth. "He has two-one in each pocket. He-"

"Ho! Ho! Ho!" Amaryllis shouted in derision. "One in each pocket. That's the silliest thing I ever heard of, Tommy Williams!" She turned her attention back to Djuna and said, "I asked Tommy to bring you over to see our house and Mama's flower gardens. We have the biggest house in Dolphin Beach, and my father has three automobiles, too."

"Horsumpphat!" Tommy said.

"What did you say, Tommy Williams?" Amaryllis asked, whirling on him. "What did you say that for? You know we have!"

"Horsumpphat!" Tommy repeated.

"Don't you say that again, Tommy Williams," Amaryllis said, and stamped her foot in the sand. "Don't you make fun of me!"

"Horsumpphat!" Tommy said again. "Horsumpphat! Horsumpphat!"

Amaryllis clenched her teeth and managed to turn her back on Tommy and said to Djuna, "Would you like to walk up the beach and go sh.e.l.ling with me?" She lifted the cloth bag she was carrying and rattled the sh.e.l.ls in it.

"Well, I guess not," Djuna said. "We've got a lot of things to do and-"

"I'll take you over to our house afterwards," Amaryllis interrupted to say.

"Horsumpphat!" Tommy whispered in her ear.

Amaryllis jumped and then she swung the bag of sh.e.l.ls at Tommy's head. Tommy ducked and said, "Horsumpphat!" as she swung it again. He danced out of the way.

"Oh, you!" Amaryllis spluttered. She was shaking with fury as she turned her back and walked away as fast as she could walk.

"Horsumpphat!" Tommy called after her and she broke into a run.

Djuna and Tommy both threw themselves on the beach and rolled with laughter. When he could speak Djuna said, "What does that word mean that you kept saying to her?"

"It doesn't mean anything, but she thinks it does," Tommy said. "One day when she was telling me about all the things she and her father have I didn't know what to say so I made up that word and just kept saying it until she got so mad she couldn't talk any more."

Djuna giggled and said, "Who is she?"

"Pop says she's Mr. Hamilton's worst mistake," Tommy told him.

"Oh, her father is the man in the bank?"

"Yeah," Tommy said. "She's awful!"

"She is pretty bad," Djuna agreed. "Does her father really have a yacht?"

"It's a cruiser, about the size of that one we saw going up the Inland Waterway yesterday," Tommy said. "He keeps it over in Captain Andy Jackson's boat yard when it isn't in the yacht basin. Captain Andy is painting it right now."

"Could we go see it?" Djuna asked.

"Sure," Tommy said. Then he made a condition. "But if she's there, I won't go near it!"

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Copyright 1950 by Little, Brown and Company.

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