Chapter 25

“Ready to go?” William said.

“You bet,” he said.

“Hester will serve dinner at eight thirty,” Mrs. Lane said.

“Thank you,” Tom said.

When they were all standing on the sidewalk, William said, “I’ll give you two choices: one, you can walk a long block to the car with me; or two, you can wait here for five or ten minutes while I retrieve the car and circle around the neighborhood to pick you up. Sometimes these one-way streets can be a bit of a nuisance.”

“I don’t mind walking a block,” Mrs. Webster said.

“Me neither,” Tom said.

On the way to the hospital, Tom said, “William, there’s no need for you and Henry to hang around waiting for us. We can take a taxi back to the house.”

“Don’t be silly,” William said. “Besides, Grandmother would be most annoyed with us if she thought we’d abandoned you folks.”

“I won’t tell her, if you won’t,” he said.

“How about a compromise?” Henry said. “We’ll drop you off, and come back for you at seven.”