the next afternoon, when ted, jill, and randy arrived home from school, mrs. kenton told them that the repairmen had taken care of the leak in the drain. it seemed that the hole had been partially stopped up so that the water had collected and frozen in it, causing the pipe to crack.
jill had been impatient to talk ever since she had gotten in the house. now her chance had come. “mother, you know what mr. garland wants us to do?” she asked eagerly.
mrs. kenton smiled. “what does he want you to do?” she asked.
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“he wants us to bring yank to school for a demonstration lesson in martian zoology,” ted broke in.
jill’s face clouded over with disappointment. “i wanted to tell her,” she muttered.
“sorry!” ted said. “i didn’t know it was a secret.”
jill slapped at him playfully, but ted ducked in time.
“you little clowns stop performing and get ready for supper,” mrs. kenton said. “we’re eating early because i have a surprise for you.”
“a surprise!” jill echoed. “what is it?”
her mother smiled secretly but did not answer. jill ran off to her room and the boys went to theirs. when the children had dressed and washed, they seated themselves at the dining-room table. mrs. kenton brought in a large platter of real roast beef.
“this is the surprise!” jill said.
“if it isn’t, i’ll settle for it!” ted put in.
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beef was a rarity on martian tables. it was brought in only occasionally on the rocket supply ships. most meat was of the dehydrated and cube variety that took less space.
“no, this is not the surprise i was talking about,” mrs. kenton said, “although it was to me when the supply boat drove up this morning with special rations.”
“do you mean there is still another?” jill asked.
her mother nodded and went on. “the beef took only a few minutes to roast in the electronic oven. i remember my grandmother making so much of a pressure cooker. she probably would never have believed there would be an oven of the future that cooked in even less time than the pressure cooker and without any heat whatsoever.”
when the main course of the meal was over and apple pie was brought in, the children were sure this was the surprise mrs. kenton had promised. she said the supply boat had brought the fresh apples with the meat. but even the treat of apple pie was not the special surprise.
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when supper was over mrs. kenton conducted the children into the living room and had them gather around a recording machine owned by their father. mrs. kenton set a spool of wire rotating and told them to listen.
“hello, kids!” came a voice.
“father!” jill exclaimed.
they listened to a message addressed especially to them. when it was over, mrs. kenton explained that their father had called by remote broadcast from his distant work during the day. then he had had her make a special wire recording for them so that they could hear it later. mrs. kenton told them this was the surprise. the children admitted that this was an even greater one than the beef and the apple pie.
“i thought father sounded sort of sad or disappointed,” jill commented.
“you were right, dear,” mrs. kenton replied. “their work hasn’t gone along as well as they expected. they had a small landslide that buried the best of their diggings, which will take larger machinery than they’ve got to unearth. on top of that, the tracks they thought would prove to be a clue to the disappearing martians aren’t human at all but belong to a group of animals they have already classified.”
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“gee!” ted murmured sympathetically, remembering how enthusiastic his father had been before he had left. now the greatest mystery on mars—that of the disappearing martians—was just as baffling as before.
“because of this,” mrs. kenton said, “they’re ending the expedition ahead of time and coming home.”
“that’s why he said he’d be seeing us shortly,” randy said.
“i’m glad to hear that, anyway,” jill murmured.
“when will he be back?” ted asked.
“within two or three days, he said,” his mother replied.
“that will be before the class goes on the ...” jill burst out, then covered her mouth with her hand as she caught herself.
“before the class goes on what?” mrs. kenton asked.
“we’ll have to tell her now,” jill said lamely to the boys.
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“the class is going on a sight-seeing rocket-plane tour of mars next week,” ted explained.
his mother looked at jill curiously. “but why such a secret about it?”
“we just thought you wouldn’t be especially interested,” jill said, “since we weren’t going.”
“don’t you want to?” mrs. kenton asked.
“oh, yes!” jill said. “only....”
a knowing look came into mrs. kenton’s eyes. “i see! you didn’t tell me about it and show your interest because you didn’t want to leave me here alone! that’s it, isn’t it?”
mrs. kenton threw an arm around each of her children. “that was a very unselfish thing for you to do,” she said. “but now that father will be back sooner than he expected, you’ll be able to go after all.”
“can we really, mother?” jill asked enthusiastically, her eyes full of stars.
“will it be dangerous?” mrs. kenton asked cautiously.
“there have been lots of these trips made already,” randy volunteered. “there hasn’t been any trouble yet.”
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“well, you have my permission,” mrs. kenton said, “but your father will have to agree too.”
“but tomorrow’s the last day we can make reservations!” jill protested. “if we wait until he comes, we can’t make it!”
“go ahead and make your reservations then,” her mother said. “i don’t believe your father will object if i don’t. but if he does, you can cancel your seats.”
“we’ll lose our money if we do that,” ted said, “but i guess that can’t be helped.” suddenly ted looked fearful. “dad did leave the check-book, didn’t he?”
“yes, he left it,” his mother assured him with a smile.
“pops is coming out here tonight for a visit,” randy said. “now that you and jill are going on the trip, ted, i think i’ll ask pops to let me go along too!”
“that’ll be great!” ted said. “all three of us will go together.”
the next morning the children got yank up at an early hour so that he could go off to school with them.
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“you’d better be on your good behavior today,” jill warned the color bear as they climbed into the boat. “if you cut up like you do in the house, mr. garland may flunk us!”
yank looked at her solemnly as though he understood. but then his broad mouth widened in a grin as if he were telling the girl that he had no intention of taking her remarks seriously! as soon as the boat moved down the waterway, yank stood up.
“sit down, yank,” randy told him. “you’re rocking the boat!”
yank paid no attention to this reproof. he was enjoying himself.
“stop him!” jill squealed. “he’ll turn us over!”
randy rose unsteadily to his feet and moved toward the rear. he made a lurch at him, but yank leaned out of his reach and looked back, grinning merrily.
“you naughty bear!” jill cried, half in fear and half in anger.
randy leaned forward again and pulled yank back on top of himself with a fierce jerk. as randy went down, the bear rolled off him and up on the edge of the boat.
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yank went over the side with a splash.
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randy lunged at him, but yank’s fur slipped from the boy’s fingers. yank went over the side with a splash into the frigid water. as soon as yank touched the water, randy made a grab at him and caught one of his forepaws. yank screeched in shock and fear at the sudden freezing plunge.
ted slowed the boat down and turned the wheel over to jill while he helped randy pull the martian animal aboard again. yank looked thoroughly beaten as he flopped, dripping and cold, into the bottom of the boat. his round little ears were drooping sadly, and the corners of his mouth were turned down. he looked more like a polar bear now, because crystals of frost were growing all over him.
in spite of themselves, the children had to laugh at their little pet’s predicament. as the shiny spikes of frost popped out on his face, yank would brush at them furiously with his paws. even his eyebrows were growing icy. this further increased the laughter of the children.
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“i guess that’ll teach you to behave, yank!” ted chuckled, and offered to take the wheel back.
“let me drive the rest of the way,” jill said.
ted yielded to her, and he was pleased at the skill with which she drove and docked at the science building.
the children were a little ahead of time, and this gave them a chance before class to tell mr. garland about their wish to make the trip with the others. randy had gotten his father’s permission the night before.
mr. garland frowned as he looked over his list, and ted had a sinking feeling.
the teacher looked up. “two of you can go, but not all three, i’m afraid. yesterday i thought that quite a few more could go, but i found out last night i had omitted several names from my list. which one of you wants to drop out?”
