, so I quit, and said, "Who's coming for dinner
tomorrow?" wondering if it might be some of the gang, and hoping it
would be. I didn't know a one of the gang that would notice whether
the dishes sparkled or not, although most of the gang's _Moms_
probably would.

"Oh--a surprise," Mom said.

"Who?" I said. "My cousin Wally and his new baby sister?" As you know,
if you've read _A New Sugar Creek Mystery_, I had a homely, red-haired
cousin, named Walford, who lived in the city, who had a new baby
sister. Mom had been to see the baby, and also Pop, but I hadn't, and
didn't want to, and certainly didn't exactly want to see my red-haired
cousin, Wally, but _would_ like to see his crazy Airedale dog, and if
Wally _was_ coming, I hoped he would bring the wire-haired dog
along....

"It's a surprise," Mom said, and right that minute there was a whistle
outside our house and at our front gate. I looked over the top of my
stack of steaming dishes out through a clear place in the frosted
window, and saw a fat-faced barrel-shaped boy standing with one hand
which had a red mitten on it, holding onto a sled rope, and he was
lifting up the latch on our wide gate with the other red-mittened
hand....

There was another boy there, who, I could tell without hardly looking,
was Dragonfly, on account of he is spindle-legged and has large eyes
like a dragonfly's eyes are. Dragonfly had on a brand new cap with
ear-muffs on it. As you maybe know, Dragonfly was always getting the
gang into trouble, on account of he always was doing such crazy things
without thinking. He also was allergic to nearly everything and was
always sneezing at the wrong time, just when we were supposed to be
quiet. Also, he was about the only one in the gang whose mother was
superstitious,--such as thinking it is bad luck if a black cat
crosses the road in front of you, or good luck if you find a horseshoe
and hang it above one of the doors in your house.

Just as Poetry had the latch of the wide gate lifted, I saw Dragonfly
make a quick move, step with one foot on the iron pipe at the bottom
of the gate's frame and give the gate a shove, and jump on with the
other foot and ride on the gate while it was swinging open, which was
something Pop wouldn't let _me_ do, and which any boy shouldn't do, on
account of if he keeps on doing it, it will make the gate sag, and
maybe drag on the ground....

Well, for a jiffy I forgot there was a window between me and the
out-o