As Officer Krugle drove us into the town, I began to wonder exactly where he’d take us. I didn’t have long to guess. We stopped right in front of a sign that said, Tingle Town Police Station.
I waited for Mrs. Penn to make her move, and apparently she was delaying her departure for Officer Krugle. Only after the buggy shifted as his weight left the box seat, and then the buggy door opened, did Mrs. Penn get up. Then she acted like a lady, taking his hand as if she couldn’t dismount on her own. I came next, since I was the sandwich filling between two little boys, neither of whom were willing to leave the buggy until I did.
I dismounted gracefully, but Frey almost knocked me over in his excitement because I was finally getting out of the buggy. If I’d had a clean shirt on, the grass green slime of his friendly snort would have smeared it, but as it was, you could hardly tell it had dirtied me any. His nickers were a flooding of relief, telling me he’d been worried about me. Maybe in his mind, being in a buggy was the equivalent of being kept in a jail cell.
“Let’s go into the office. Will your horse wait for you without a halter? There’s no pasture anywhere around here,” the officer said, like I couldn’t see that with my own eyes.
I nodded. “He’s used to standing around while I clean houses or weed gardens.” Immediately, I wished I hadn’t volunteered that information. What was with my overly eager flapping mouth?