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grin.  I know all about Peru. He began to chant:
  There was a young man from Peru,
Who dreamed he was eating his shoe.
He awoke in the night
With a terrible fright
To find it was perfectly true! 
Cherry laughed and went into the bathroom to wash
the glass straw in hot, soapy water. Then she flushed it
with alcohol and rinsed away the bitter taste. She taught
Timmy how to drink his juice lying down. He thought
it was great fun but preferred blowing bubbles.
70
SCUTTLEBUTT 71
At last Mrs. Crane took over.  I ll see that he drinks
every drop of it, she promised Cherry.  We ve taken up
far too much of your time already.
 I ve enjoyed it, Cherry said.  Just keep at the flu-
ids, will you? He should have at least four ounces every
half-hour, if possible. She sighed. She didn t envy
helpless little Mrs. Crane the job of forcing fluids into
mischievous young Timmy.
As she wearily left the room Timmy was pretend-
ing he was a whale and was spouting pineapple juice
through the glass straw.
Back in her own little cabin she had hardly started to
unpack when there was a tap at the door.
A young woman in a crisp, stewardess s uniform smiled
at her in the dim light of the narrow passageway.
 I m your neighbor in the next cabin, she told
Cherry.  Helenita Browning is my name, but everybody
calls me Brownie.
 I m Cherry Ames, Brownie. They shook hands
briefly.  Come in for a minute, won t you? Cherry
invited.
Brownie took one step across the threshold and then
gave a gasp as she saw Cherry s Christmas presents
spread out on the bed.
 Oh, how lovely, she cried, snatching up the red-rose
taffeta bathing suit.  Yummy-yum, will you ever look
lovely in this on the beach at Piscadera Bay.
 Piscadera Bay?
Brownie nodded and draped the soft terry-cloth
robe Cherry s mother had given her over her shoulders.
72 CHERRY AMES, CRUISE NURSE
 That s at Curaçao. It s only a few minutes bus drive
from the port of Willemstad. If we can wangle shore
leave at the same time, I ll show you the ropes.
As Cherry hung things in the closet, Brownie curled
up on her bed, rambling on:
 Willemstad is a fascinating Dutch city; as pictur-
esque as though a bit of Holland had been lifted out
of Europe and set down smack in the Caribbean Sea.
There s a fabulous pontoon bridge which swings back
as ships come into the harbor. You ll get a big thrill
when we sail right down the canal so close to the Hotel
Americano you can almost touch the people sitting out
on the veranda.
 Sounds like something out of a movie, Cherry said.
 Tell me more, please.
 Well, Brownie went on willingly,  when people
on the bridge see us coming they run like anything to
get to shore because sometimes it stays open for more
than half an hour. They can, of course, cross in Verboot
which means ferryboat; it runs while the bridge is open.
The buildings in Willemstad are fascinating; you ll love
the eighteenth-century governor s palace and all the
churches and the little bright-colored, gabled houses,
pink and yellow stucco mostly. We ll visit the market
where Venezuelan natives keep shop in boats along the
shore.
Brownie scrambled to her feet.  We d better get
going. It must be time for dinner. You ll meet the other
girls in this section then. They re all swell. We were
wondering why you didn t show up for lunch.
SCUTTLEBUTT 73
As they left Cherry s stateroom, Brownie said in a
carefully lowered voice,  Scuttlebutt says the purser s
safe was broken into. Have you heard?
 What do you mean, scuttlebutt? Cherry asked.
 Oh, it s just a seagoing expression. Means the same
as saying,  Gossip hath. The Old Man doesn t like
gossip, so I m not saying anything more. In fact, she
admitted ruefully,  I don t know anything more. I ll bet
it s just one of those yarns, anyway.
She tucked her arm through Cherry s as they strolled
up to the promenade deck. Every now and then they
lurched with the roll of the ship and almost tripped
each other up.
 We re going to catch it tonight, Brownie said.  I pity
you. Seasick passengers are a pain in the neck.
In the grill Cherry met three other stewardesses.
They all sat at one big table and, ignoring the Captain s
orders, gossiped throughout the meal. Cherry felt like
a prig, but she could not violate her professional ethics
and discuss Bill s accident. Nor did she divulge that
she had been in the purser s office when Ziggy discov-
ered the safe had been broken into.
 I wonder what was stolen, Miranda, a pretty young
stewardess, kept asking.  That safe must be crammed
full of jewelry. There are signs in every stateroom
advising the passengers to check all valuables with the
purser.
 If this little bit of scuttlebutt ever reaches the pas-
sengers ears, the Old Man will have a fit, Brownie
said.  Some of the women on this ship came aboard so
74 CHERRY AMES, CRUISE NURSE
laden down with platinum and diamonds under their
mink coats I don t see how they managed to stagger up
the gangplank.
Cherry saw Dr. Monroe dining at a near-by table
with two ship s officers. He smiled at her swiftly with
his eyes and then did not look in her direction again.
Cherry knew that he must have heard the scuttlebutt
by now and wondered if he suspected her of gossiping
with the other girls.
Then she realized with relief that he couldn t do that,
for she hadn t even mentioned it to him. And Ziggy
must have told the ship s surgeon that Cherry was with
him when he found the safe had been rifled.
 I was tempted to discuss the mystery with him,
Cherry remembered.  But I m glad I didn t.
Dinner over, the stewardesses hurried away to
resume their duties. Cherry went down to the Crane
suite, planning to stay with Timmy while his mother
had her dinner in the big, al fresco dining room.
 It ll do you good to have a little change from these
four walls, Cherry insisted when Mrs. Crane pro-
tested that she could eat on a tray with Timmy.  And
don t hurry back. Timmy s due for another inhalation
and more aspirin at eight anyway. I ll take his tempera-
ture then, too.
The word temperature decided Mrs. Crane. That
was one thing she wasn t even going to attempt to
cope with. She looked rather worn and harried after
a long afternoon with a fretful little boy, and gratefully
thanked Cherry for relieving her.
SCUTTLEBUTT 75
Cherry noticed with amusement that in spite of her
exhaustion, pretty Mrs. Crane took the time to shower
and change into a lovely, clinging evening gown of
pale sea-green chiffon. When she was ready to go she
leaned over the bed to kiss Timmy good-bye. But he
pushed her away crossly:
 I don t like all that red stuff on your mouth. It gets
all over me and my pajamas and the sheets. Then
somebody might think I was a sissy.
Cherry quickly took in the fact that Timmy felt
nowhere near as well as he had earlier. She laid her
hand on his forehead and took his pulse. Yes, his
temperature had undoubtedly gone up, but that was
to be expected at this time of the evening. She called
after Mrs. Crane:
 About what was his fluid intake? Did you manage
to get a pint into him?
 Oh, nothing like that, Mrs. Crane admitted.  He [ Pobierz całość w formacie PDF ]