Taking a cue from their mother, the three young children surrounded the girls, fairly forcing them toward the trailer. Ted immediately started in the opposite direction.
“You come back here, Ted Wiegand!” Mrs. Breen called in a loud voice.
“I don’t want any dinner, Mom.”
“I know better,” Mrs. Breen contradicted cheerfully. “You’re just bashful because we’re having two pretty girls visit us. You stay and eat your victuals like you always do, or I’ll box your ears.”
“Okay,” Ted agreed, glancing at Rhoda again. “It’s no use arguing with you, Mom.”
Neither Penny nor Louise wished to remain for dinner, yet they knew of no way to avoid it without offending Mrs. Breen. Briskly the woman herded them inside the trailer.
“It’s nice, isn’t it?” she asked proudly. “We have a little refrigerator and a good stove and a sink. We’re a bit crowded, but that only makes it more jolly.”
A man in shirt sleeves lay on one of the day beds, reading a newspaper.
“Meet my husband,” Mrs. Breen said as an afterthought. “Get up, Pop!” she ordered. “Don’t you have any manners?”
The man amiably swung his feet to the floor, grinning at Penny and Louise.