“Not go home! For goodness’ sake, why?”
“Well, I’d lose a whole week, wouldn’t I? You and Laurie will be here, won’t you?”
“Yes,” replied Ned, with a notable lack of enthusiasm. He and Laurie weren’t at all keen on remaining at school during the spring vacation, but it lasted only eight days, and as the journey to California occupied four, why, as Laurie put it, “they’d meet themselves coming back!”
“Sure,” continued Kewpie. “Well, I ought to stay, too, I guess, and get a lot of practice in. Don’t you think so, Nod?”
“Why, I don’t know.” Laurie looked startled. The prospect of seven long days with nothing to do but to catch Kewpie’s drops and curves seemed decidedly lacking in attraction. There were moments when Laurie’s determination wavered, and this was one of them. “I suppose it would be a mighty good idea, though,” he added listlessly. Ned’s mouth trembled in a smile.
“Absolutely corking, Kewpie,” he declared. “Of course, you ought to stay. But what about your folks? Won’t they expect you home?”
Kewpie nodded. “But I wrote yesterday and told them that maybe I wouldn’t be able to.”
“I’d like to have seen that letter,” chuckled Ned.
Kewpie grinned. “I just told them that I might have to stay here on account of baseball practice,” he explained innocently.