“Yes, but you just ran away and left them.”
“I’ll go and tell them that you want to see them,” said Pee-wee, starting to go.
“Don’t you do anything of the kind. But it would have been proper for you to have asked them to come up with you.”
“If you want to meet them I’ll tell them so,” Pee-wee said relentlessly; “only I don’t think they’ll come up, because they stick up for me and they haven’t got any use for you on account of you being a deserter. Gee whiz, those fellers have no use for deserters, that’s one thing.
“But anyway I’m not mad at you. I bet you have to admit those fellers can play tennis. Everybody likes them, that’s sure. Pocahontas Gamer, she’s a camp-fire girl, down at our house, she says she likes them because they’re reckless. They’re pals with me, those fellers are, and do you know what we’re going to do next week? I bet you’ll say we’re crazy. We’re going to hike to Westover, that’s down beyond the Snailsdale branch, and we’re going into the ticket office and we’re going to point to one of the pigeon-holes where there are tickets and we’re going to buy three tickets out of that pigeon-hole and then we’re going to wherever those tickets say—even if it’s to—to—to—the North Pole—we don’t care, because we’re happy-go-lucky, see?
“And when we get out at the station, do you know what we’re going to do? I bet you don’t know. We’re going to go to the third house and stay there for a week. Because the way you have the most fun is not knowing where you’re at—that’s what they said. See? That’s why you’re not having any fun, because you know where you’re at.
“You know how it is with scouts? When they go camping they’re supposed not to take any stuff that they don’t need, because it’s a nuisance. And you’re not supposed to carry a lot of plans in your brains either, because they weigh a lot and they’re only in the way. That’s what those fellows said. And, gee whiz, you can see they’re right because if you’re top heavy with a lot of ideas and plans and things in your head, that means you’re more likely to tumble off cliffs and precipices and things, aren’t you?
“That’s what they said, those fellers. And my mother said I could go with them no matter how far it is. And we’re going to stay a week when we get there only we don’t know where, because destinations are a nuisance. Gee whiz, I’m never going to bother with those again. That’s one thing I have no use for—destinations.”
Pee-wee seemed to have been completely converted to this new and novel theory of travel. He was resolved that never again would he know where he was going, if he could prevent it. He had even thrown away his compass (which was of no use anyway) and he studiously averted his gaze whenever he saw any moss near a tree.
“Do you hate destinations as much as you hate quitters?” Hope asked, rather wistfully.