“Everyone knows what she’ll ask for!” teased Louise. “Her desires are always the same—a bigger weekly allowance!”
Penny smiled as she drew a dipper of water from the wooden bucket.
“How about the good deed?” she inquired lightly. “I’ve done nothing worthy of a demand upon this old well.”
“You helped your father round up a group of Night Riders,” Louise reminded her. “Remember the big story you wrote for the Riverview Star which was titled: The Clock Strikes Thirteen?”
“I did prevent Clyde Blake from tricking a number of people in this community,” Penny acknowledged. “Perhaps that entitles me to a wish.”
Drinking deeply from the dipper, she poured the last drops into the well, watching as they made concentric circles in the still water below.
“Old well, do your stuff and grant my wish,” she entreated. “Please get busy right away.”
“But what is your wish, Penny?” demanded one of the girls. “You have to tell.”
“All right, I wish that this old Marborough property could be restored to its former beauty.”
“You believe in making hard ones,” Louise laughed. “I doubt that this place ever will be fixed up again—at least not until after the property changes hands.”