Lucy is a widowed mother of Jerry and Chris. She lives with her best friend Viv who is the mother of Sherman. Lucy comes home one day to find the rest of the household in the basement trying to stop some leaking pipes. Lucy announces she has ticket for the military air show tomorrow and says they're all going camping at the lake that night to be there for the show. Viv worries about leaving with the pipes leaking but Lucy turns the hot water heater off and says it'll be fine that way.
They gather in the car to start on their 60 mile journey but before they're out of town Lucy's accountant stops her at a light and hands her $500, a debt that had just been paid back to her late husband. Viv worries about them carrying the money on them but Lucy insists it's fine.
Once they get closer to the lake and military base they are stopped and asked to pull over so some military vehicles can pass. One of them is a truck pulling a trailer with a missile on it. Lucy, thinking the missile is wobbling, pulls behind it to warn the driver but ends up following into the air force base.
They're immediately accosted by soldiers who bring Lucy in for questioning. Once in the office of Major Casey she explains her story and throws her invitations to the air show on his desk. Alarms soon start going off, signals of a surprise practice drill. So Lucy's harmless trespassing is overlooked and she handed her invitation and told to be on her way.
The group heads to the lake and sets up camp. While they're getting a fire ready for dinner a boy of about 19 appears. He's Dan Burr and explains that he lives on a farm on the other side of the lake and had hitchhiker a ride to the air force so he could enlist. However the base was closed and in total chaos, presumably because of the drill, so now he was trying to find a nearby motel for the night.
The moms are hesitant about him but Lucy decides he's nice enough an invites him to stay for supper. He leaves after in search of the motel and everyone goes to sleep, Lucy clutching her purse with the money. Around 5am Lucy awakes to a noise and steps out of the tent soon followed by her daughter, Chris. The girls hear the stealthy footsteps of two men and being worrying.
They wake Viv and plan to run to the car where the boys are sleeping and make a quick getaway. While doing this Lucy drops her purse and as she stops to grab it a flashlight is shined on her and she's told to not move. She immediately makes a run for the woods followed by the men followed by Viv.
The men end up running off a small cliff into the lake and Lucy tells Viv to go back to the kids and meet her at the highway. When Viv gets to the car Chris is behind the wheel and the horn is honking incessantly. Chris says it won't stop and that the car, being stuck in sand, won't move. They put some firewood under the tires and make a wild trip down the dirt road leading to the highway.
Seeing someone run out onto the road they swerve wildly before stopping. Viv gets out to see Dan Burr. He said he heard the horn and came to see what the trouble was. He reaches under the hood and gets the noise to stop before Viv pulls him into the car and continues their hasty drive down the road.
Soon the car breaks down. Dan manages to get it running but not well. When they finally hit the highway cars are backed up. The air force has a road block set up and is checking every car going by which makes Viv suspect they're looking for Lucy.
The story quickly switched over to the the air force officers Lucy had met. They claim Lucy had taken a piece of top secret information with her and are scouring the area for her with no luck.
Then it switches back the Viv and the children. With no sign of Lucy on the highway they begin to head towards the nearest town to find a policeman. The car, barely running at all, moves along slowly among the heavy traffic heading towards the town which is having a parade.
A bus passes them and to everyone's surprise Lucy is on it. Dan tries to coax the car to go fast but soon the bus is out of sight. When they arrive in town they walk towards the parade looking for an officer when they see Lucy riding atop a float. Furious, Viv sends the kids to go get breakfast while she stays along the float.
After Lucy had told Viv to meet her at the highway she ran off along the lake and hid in a boathouse until the 2 men passed. She then worked her way through the woods and to the highway. She worried she may have missed the group but just as she's about to walk back to the campsite they pass her without noticing. She decides to hitch a ride but soon a bus comes and she jumps aboard being forced to ride it all the way to town.
While waiting for her family by the parade route she notices a man staring at her then forcing his way through the crowd. Clutching her purse tightly she tries to get away through the crowd then decides to jump on the float where she knows she'll be safe and her family can spot her.
As the float arrives at the end of the parade route she is met by the three judges who had her a gift box and say she's won. She then see the float owner angrily coming towards her and hears a police whistle so she makes a run for it and comes across the pursuer. She runs from him and ends up coming across Viv and her next door neighbor, Harry, who happens to be there because he is in the Air Force Reserve. Feeling safe with Harry there they march their way back to the car where the kids are.
The group goes back to the campsite to get their things. The car is running very roughly and Dan
spends hours working on it as a storm rolls in.
Harry goes to the air force base where he is marched into the office because of his acquaintance with Lucy. He says the group is at the camp sight and he is brought out with Major Casey and General Kelso to find her.
The car starts working and just as the group is leaving the men show up. Thinking they're prowlers the group makes a fast and wild drive home. Once there Lucy's accountant shows up saying the FBI came to question him about her and she's apparently in trouble.
Soon the three military men arrive explain that Lucy had taken something important out of the office. She insists she didn't but they don't believe her. Then an FBI agent shows up and they begin arguing about who gets to take her in. Then the hot water heater explodes.
Lucy runs for the kitchen, and Kelso chases her slipping in the water and falling. Lucy grabs her purse and pulls out the air show invitation, opening it and seeing a strip of paper with a coded message stuck to the flap. This is the important missing item, it had got stuck to the envelope when she threw it on the desk. She gives it to Kelso and then the military men and the FBI agent mop up the kitchen and cellar and repair the broken pipes. The story ends a week later with Lucy and Vic about to go out on dates with 2 of the men.
- Viv's immediate worry that Lucy unknowingly took something from the base without realizing it is unfounded and kind of a give away.
- The cover is inaccurate as its not from any scene in the book. Maybe its from when they go back to the campsite a week later
- When they run from the prowler the first time Lucy is wearing her robe but then it changes to a jacket later with no explanation.
- I thought the temporary loss of the invitations was unnecessary.
This book was hard to summarize because of the non linear timeline, switch between characters, and slapstick comedy. It was pretty good, entertaining and a quick read. It's based on The Lucy Show which I haven't seen but I have seen I Love Lucy a lot and the characters of Lucy and Viv are interchangeable with Lucy and Ethel.
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