“Veracity means truth, Penny. Now your story is very interesting, but I think you may have placed your own interpretation upon certain facts.”
“For instance?”
“Well, according to John Munn’s statement, he fell from the bridge and was not pushed.”
“But I saw it with my own two eyes, Dad.”
“The night is foggy. You easily could have been mistaken. As for the octopus tattoo, what is so strange about it? Sailors compete in striving for startling decorative effects.”
“Dad, you could rationalize the national debt,” accused Penny. “Very well, since you scorn my story I’ll give it to the High School paper!”
“An excellent idea. That is, if your editor favors highly colored journalism.”
Penny made a grimace, knowing that her father was deliberately teasing her. It was a constant source of irritation that a boy named Fred Clousky had been elected editor of the Riverview High School Chatter instead of Penny by the margin of one vote. She disapproved of Fred, his pimples, and particularly the way he blue-penciled the occasional stories which she submitted.
“The Riverview High Chatter is just as silly as its name,” she announced. “If I had that sheet I’d make it into a real paper.”
“Sour grapes?” inquired her father softly.