The Happy Hollisters and the Secret of the Lucky Coins
Contents 1 A Surprise Penny 2 A Funny Trick 3 A Mysterious Noise 4 A Walking Hat 5 The Tornado Box 6 A Treasure Coin 7 The Wishing Fountain 8 Cannonball Holly 9 Detective Work 70 10 A Fishhook Clue 80 96 11 A Startling Discovery 12 Follow the Leader 13 Bald Eagle Hill 105 115 14 A Telltale Sketch 123 133 142 15 Flying Kittens 16 A Happy Report 17 The Golf Ball Goof 18 The Oak Tree's Secret 151 158
CHAPTER 1 A Surprise Penny Ricky Holly I have a secret cried Sue Hollister Holding one chubby fist behind her back she ran along the sidewalk toward her brother and sister Holly six was two years older than Sue Her hair was braided in pigtails which usually were flying straight out At the moment Holly was walking slowly eating a vanilla ice cream cone Ricky was seven He had freckles red hair and an impish grin The strawberry cone he was eating was halfway gone Hi Sue he said when they came face to face What's your big secret I can't show anybody until I get home The lady said not to What lady Ricky asked impatiently The parakeet lady that's who Holly's tongue flicked out to catch a drip of ice cream Do you mean a lady parakeet she asked Oh no replied Sue shaking her head so that her black bobbed hair swished from side to side This lady wasn't a bird She had a bird Quickly the little girl explained that a pet parakeet had flown out of an open window The woman who
owned it was trying to coax the bird back into its cage when Sue came along The parakeet was sitting on a hedge Sue declared and I caught it in my hands Yikes That was keen Ricky said proudly But what's that got to do with your secret Sue explained that she had carried the parakeet into the lady's house and placed it in its cage Then I got a reward That's the secret Oh I know what it is Ricky said You're holding a nickel behind your back Sue giggled and replied No it's littler than that A penny Holly said When Sue had nodded vigorously Ricky nibbled at the edge of his disappearing cone and said What's so secret about a penny It's a lucky penny Sue replied But I'm not going to show it to you I'll give you two licks of my ice cream cone if you will Holly offered Sue accepted and took one lick Then she held out her fist and opened it In the palm of her hand was a copper coin much larger than the pennies the children were used to seeing Around the edge were thirteen stars In the center was a Liberty head and beneath it the date 1817 Ricky looked at the coin solemnly as if he knew all about 1817 pennies What's lucky about that big jumbo he asked popping the last bit of cone into his mouth
Daddy will know Sue retorted and bent forward to take another lick from Holly's ice cream Ow Holly complained You're taking a bite not a lick She pulled the cone back but the ice cream tilted out and dropped to the sidewalk Plop Oh Sue exclaimed I'm sorry Here take my penny No thanks Holly said I think your penny's unlucky Just then a beautiful collie dog ran out of the Hollisters driveway halfway down the block Here Zip Holly called The girl pointed to the spilled ice cream and the collie lapped it up eagerly I'm glad it wasn't wasted Holly declared as the three children with Zip bounding at their heels ran onto their front lawn The Hollisters home located in the town of Shoreham was a large rambling house The big lawn in front extended around both sides and the rear of the property bordered beautiful Pine Lake where a rowboat rocked at its mooring off the dock Halfway between there and the back of the house was a circular flower bed Kneeling beside it were Mrs Hollister and her two other children Pete and Pam They were helping their mother transplant marigolds to edge the garden Mrs Hollister a pretty slender woman with light hair stood up and pulled off her garden gloves Thanks for helping me Pete and Pam she said smiling
