“I’ll wear boots and my raincoat and cape. My dad’ll say yes, for sure.”
“Then I’ll see you there! And bring the ledger book. I want to see the part you’re talking about. Meet you in our office in twenty minutes.”
Ronnie went to find his father to get permission. “Now how in the world would I know where he is?” Mrs. Butler protested. She had just arrived and was removing her plastic raincoat and hat. “Go look in the barn. He generally works there when the weather’s bad like this.”
Ronnie dashed across the yard and sailed through the open barn doors. He found his father at his workbench cutting tomato poles from old boards on his power saw.
“Sure, go ahead,” Mr. Rorth agreed. “A little rain’s not going to hurt anybody.”
Ronnie ran back to the house. He went up to his room and got the ledger. Then he got his boots, raincoat, and rubber raincape from the hall closet. Phil appeared from the kitchen. “Where are you heading for, Ronnie?” he asked.
“I’m meeting Bill down at the village. Want to come?”
Phil looked at Ronnie as if his brother had asked him to go to the moon. “Are you kidding?” he laughed. “I wouldn’t go out in this weather if the house was on fire.”
Ronnie slipped the ledger under his raincoat where it would be protected from the weather. “Say,” Phil demanded, “what’s that?”
“Just a book,” Ronnie answered. He wasn’t going to take the time now to explain. Besides, Phil knew so little about what had happened during the past few days that Ronnie would have to start at the beginning if his brother were to understand how important the book was.