“Oh, the ticket won’t cost you more than five or ten dollars,” teased Louise wickedly. “Your father should pay it.”
“He should but he won’t,” Penny answered gloomily. “Dad expects his one and only daughter to assume her own car expense. I ask you, what’s the good of having a weekly allowance when you never get to use it yourself?”
“You are in a mood today. Why, I think you’re lucky to have a grand new car.”
Louise’s glance caressed the highly polished chrome plate, the sleek, streamlined body which shone in the sunlight. The automobile had been presented to Penny by her father, Anthony Parker, largely in gratitude because she had saved his newspaper, The Riverview Star, from a disastrous law suit.
“Yes, I am lucky,” Penny agreed without enthusiasm. “All the same, I’m lonesome for my old coupe, Leaping Lena. I wish I could have kept her. She was traded in on this model.”
“What would you do with that old wreck now, Penny? Nearly every time we went around a corner it broke down.”
“All the same, we had marvelous times with her. This car takes twice as much gasoline. Another thing, all the policemen knew Lena. They never gave her a ticket for anything.”
Penny sighed deeply. Pocketing the yellow card, she squeezed behind the steering wheel.
“By the way, whatever became of Lena?” Louise asked curiously, slamming the car door. She glanced sharply at Penny.
“Oh, she’s changed hands twice. Now she’s at Jake Harriman’s lot, advertised for fifty dollars. Want to drive past there?”