This is the second Janet Lennon book I've read and I remember being hesitant to get it because the title sounded so strange. I've read it once and I remember really liking some parts of it but getting bored quite a bit too.
Janet has been invited by her Aunt Bee to spend the summer on an old family ranch. Aunt Bee is actually a distant cousin of Mrs. Lennon and she doesn't have any close family. She's been visiting the Lennons for a week and has taken a liking to Janet, something which Janet finds irritating as Aunt Bee seems to always be at her heels.
Bee has recently inherited her uncles twenty acre farm in Texas which was her childhood home, and she asks Janet to go with her there for the summer. Janet doesn't like the idea of spending 3 months with her 50 year old aunt at her heels but with no good excuse to say no she accepts. Aunt Bee buys a car and the two soon set out on the long drive from California to Texas.
Janet worries about the two of them, a young girl and older woman, being alone but aunt Bee soon proves how tough she is when at a dinner a bum tries pushing her to give him a ride. She nonchalantly threatens him with her steak knife in a way that sends him retreating in fear.
When they arrive at the ranch the place is terribly run down to the point that Janet gets tears of disappointment. When the two make an exam of the place they walk into the bedroom to see a man jump out of bed, kick out a window, and jump out and run for it. Bee tries making light of the situation but both are shaken. Was the man a simple transient or was Bee's mention of a local penitentiary indicative of something?
They pull the furniture, which is broken and filthy, into the yard and burn it, then board up the broken window and head to town to buy furniture, groceries, and cleaning supplies. When they arrive home Janet is pretty sure the board across the broken window looks different but decided against telling Bee as she can't be completely sure.
As the two are cleaning Janet notices a door in the kitchen. Aunt Bee tells her it's to the basement and she opens it to hear scurrying below. Bee says it's rats and Janet, feeling uneasy, stuffs a chair under the doorknob just for a sense of security. However she wakes up that night to the sound of footsteps below the floor and someone trying to open the basement door from the inside. Janet is terrified and regrets having put the chair under the knob. She doesn't want to wake Aunt Bee as she worried her tough Aunt will face the stranger head on. So she creeps out of bed, moves the chair and opens the door to the back yard then rushes back to her room and locks her door. She soon hears the stranger leave and looks out the window to see a small man in a suit and hat hurrying away.
The next morning she tells Aunt Bee who is disappointed with Janet's actions. Bee says she would have preferred to get the sheriff out there to grab the stranger instead of letting him free. The two head down into the basement and see bricks removed from one wall. Bee acts nonchalant over it but Janet thinks something might have been hidden in the basement and Aunt Bee is keeping it secret.
Aunt Bee purchases more thing for the home including windows with locks and a revolver. After more cleaning she takes a nap and Janet uses the time to explore the surrounding area. Seeing a path leading into the wild she follows it and comes to a ranch owned by the Angel family. Seeing kids her own age Janet stops to introduce herself and ends up causing their hogs to stampede, break a fence, and escape. Janet helps round them up, making friends with the Angels in the process.
Aguilermo and Aurelia are 15 year old twins who speak semi-fluent English, as does their little sister, Maria. Mr. and Mrs. Angel only speak Spanish and although all conversation between them and Janet has to be translated through the twins, they still get along wonderfully.
When some of the Angel's goats jump the fence and go onto the neighboring property, which belongs to a judge, Janet has to go rescue them as the landowner has forbidden the Angels from going onto the land. Janet runs into a ranch hand chasing the goats and he explains he's been directed to shoot any goat or hog that wanders on his land from the Angels. Janet is appalled by this.
The twins then explain that their father had bought the hogs before he could afford to buy a fence and then later bought goats before an appropriate fence for the hogs had been bought. So the animals wandered around and caused damage to the judges land. After repeated times he took them to court and they were fined to pay for the damages. The Angels find this unfair because the judge has more land then them and they think he should share it. The judge has also denied Mr. Angle's application for citizenship.
Janet marches into the Judges office the next day and demands to know why he is bullying the Angles. The judge explains that he had been patient at first about the wandering animals and had talked to Mr. Angel, who he thinks is a good man, about it yet nothing was ever done to fix the problem and the animals were using up all his grazing land that the judge needed for his own cattle.
He explains that after the third time he had given the Angels 6 months to get a fence erected before taking them to court. The Judge then explains that Mr. Angel's citizenship was denied because he still had an unresolved legal case open because he had not yet finished putting up a fence and because he had made no effort to know any English or US law which had resulted in the legal problems over the fence.
Now that Janet understands the situation she tells the twins that their father will be granted citizenship if he finishes his fence and learns a little bit of English but Aguilermo is still hesitant, feeling that his father should be allowed to ignore laws that they were allowed to ignore in Mexico which prompts Janet to ask why did they come to America if they want things the same as in Mexico.
Janet, the twins, and Maria explore an abandoned schoolhouse which gives them an idea; Janet will teach the twins everything Mr. Angel will need to know for his citizenship interview so they can teach it to their father and in return they will teach Janet more advanced Spanish. This is agreed upon by everyone, including Mr. Angel, and they start adding their lessons into their days of carefree playing.
One day while rolling down hills inside a truck tire Janet is bounced off course and crashes into a makeshift shack made of scavenged items. Before she can extract herself from the tire the male occupant of the shack runs away. Amid the shambles Janet see two apricot cans exactly like the two that had been stolen from aunt Bee's groceries the night before. Because of the previous experiences with a prowler Janet feels shaken and worried but as Aguilermo points out "he's more afraid of you then you are of him".
They keep up with their lessons, always in the old schoolhouse which becomes their home base as it's located in-between the friend's houses. As a thank you to Janet Mr. Angel gives her a bulldog pup from a litter they had bred to sell. His name is Toughie and he is overflowing with energy which keeps him active day and night. In an effort to spend his energy Janet takes him for long walks and usually ends up in the schoolhouse where she practices her Spanish while Toughie runs around chasing rabbits.
On their recent trip there Toughie gets a hold of the schools bell pull and sets off one long ring from the large bell, a signal among Janet and her friends to come to the school house immediately. Soon Aguilermo shows up out of breathe and Janet has to explain it was Toughie who accidentally summoned him. They hang the rope pull over the coatroom door then each head to their own homes.
On the way Janet hears a distant siren and when she comes into view of the house she sees Aunt Bee waving to her frantically. Once there Bee explains that it's the penitentiary siren and it indicates trouble. She has them get inside, even Toughie who she had previously banished outside permanently, and has all the doors and windows locked. On the radio they hear that there has been an escape and three armed and dangerous men are on the loose.
In the middle of that night Toughie gets restless and makes a fuss wanting out so Janet lets him outside where he lays down against the screen door. While trying to fall back asleep Janet hears him start to emit a low and menacing growl and becomes fearful. She looks out the window but sees nothing in the moonless night. Not until he stops is she able to fall back asleep.
She stays inside for the next three days until an announcement comes that two of the prisoners were captured and the third was spotted 100 miles away. Free to go back outside Janet takes Toughie for a walk and goes to the old schoolhouse. Inside she notices the rope has been dislodged from the coatroom door but doesn't care to place it back up at the moment. As she's standing at the blackboard working on her Spanish she senses someone in the room. Thinking it's Aguilermo trying to scare her she jumps around yelling "Boo!" just to come face to face with a disheveled man in a prison uniform.
He begins asking her questions; who is she, why is she there, is anyone else meeting her there. She announces she must leave but is stopped and soon another man appears up the ladder from the school's basements; the man who she had seen jump out the house window, run away from the house after leaving the basement, and run away from the shack after she crashed into it.
The men start discussing the situation; Jamie is an escaped convict and Pop is his father who has helped him break out of jail. Pop was staying in Aunt Bees empty house looking for a large amount of money it is rumored her uncle had hid in it. He had to leave when the girls showed up and without any money he hasn't been able to get clothes for Jamie so they can make an escape.
They've decided Bee must know where the money is and Jamie, who is in charge, orders Pop to go to the house, grab Bee, and force the money from her. Pop insists he has to bring Janet with him to show Bee he means business but it's understood by all three that he wants Janet to come because if she is left alone with Jamie he will, without a doubt, kill her.
Jamie agrees that she should go along but instructs Pop to either bring them back to the schoolhouse or kill them once he has the money. Once outside Pop becomes more evil, keeping a gun in Janet's back and marching her back to the house. Aunt Bee is lounging outside and is quickly ordered in. They go in the house and in calmness and with total composure Bee asks what he wants and informs him she hasn't found any hidden money. She offers him $50 cash from her purse to leave them alone but he forces them in the basement to continue looking behind the bricks.
Bee makes an attempt to wrestle the gun away from him but it narrowly shoots her in the face. Once all the bricks have been removed and no money is found Pop begins up the stairs with the gun still on them and Janet believes their time has come. He instead instructs them back up and asks Bee where the money is which is when she reveals it's in a bank in New York as no one would be dumb enough to leave it in an abandoned house.
For a moment Pop weakens saying he doesn't want to kill anyone and he just wanted his son out of prison. Seeing Bees gun on the kitchen shelf and the car keys hanging on the wall give him strength and he declares Jamie will have to do his own killing thus marching the girls back to the schoolhouse.
Once there Pop is sent to go purchase clothes for Jamie with Bees $50 then after nightfall they'll kill the women. While they sit waiting for Pop's arrival Toughie comes bursting in and immediately jumps at the rope causing the bell to give out one long ring; the help signal.
After being informed someone would now be coming Jamie drags Bee into the bell tower and has Janet stand at the blackboard and shoo away Aguilermo, who is approaching. Janet tells him nothing is wrong and to leave her alone while writing "No hable Vd. espanol! hombre, pistola, en salon, Trae Vd. policia.". Aguilermo acts snubbed and leaves.
Waiting for the police or Pop, whoever gets there first, Janet is horrified to see little Maria walk in. Soon police sirens are heard and scores of policemen show up telling Jamie to "let the Lennon girl go". He tells the police to do as he says or he'll kill Janet and instructs them to have a police car on and ready for him to make a hasty escape in. He then plans to exit the schoolhouse with Maria in front of him and Janet behind but Maria won't cooperate.
When he forcibly picks her up she bites his ear which causes him to throw her to the floor and just as he's about to beat her with the grip of his gun Janet throws herself at his back knocking him over and causing his gun to go flying right to the feet of Aguilermo who has snuck in through the basement window.
Aguilermo grabs the gun but Jamie is quick to pull Bee's revolver from his pocket and aim it at Janet. Aguilermo is forced to drop the gun under threat of Janet being shot but just as he does that Bee jumps down from the bell tower right onto Jamie and the second gun goes flying from his hand. Janet grabs it and runs outside to call the police in.
Once Jamie is taken away its reveled that upon Aguilermo leaving the schoolhouse Aunt Bee had slipped her legs through the bell tower railing to signal to him that she was up there. He ran home and, with his father, went to the police station. At the store across the street aunt Bee's car was parked and knowing she's in the bell tower things didn't add up.
That night Janet asks her aunt how she is always so calm in dangerous situations to which Bee informs her she's been a policewoman for the last 20 years. Janet simply never thought to question her assumption that her aunt was a secretary. The book ends with Mr. Angel receiving citizenship and all of them having a fiesta.
- One part of this book that I had remembered is when Janet takes a bath in a wooden tub in the kitchen. It's filled with pails of cold water and heated with a tea kettle. I thought this was so fun and old fashion. Same with the way they store foods that need refrigeration in the well.
- An effort is made to not have the Angels be Mexican stereotypes but unfortunately they still are. It's explicitly stated that the stereotype of the "lazy Mexican" are false and also noted that the Angels are not crop workers or illegal immigrants. However their struggles with the English language and minimal education is solely because they're Mexican and not explained as them being new to the country or something. Janet is, in fact, impressed when she see Mr. Angel do basic math or read a Mexican newspaper.
- The twins tells Janet some Mexican folklore that they were told from their parents. This is used to show that the Angels are super smart, the same way that reading a newspaper and doing basic math is used to show the Angels are very smart. Honestly this is kind of offensive. Would Janet considered an American super smart because they can read and do math? I doubt it.
- I think the setting of this is really fun. The trio spends their days playing in the wilds and old school house. It seems isolated and like their own little world.
- I loved the revel of Aunt Bee being a policewoman. She is so clam and tough throughout the book. It fits perfectly.
- I really don't like that the last time we see Toughie he is being kicked by Jamie before running out of the school house. Was he ok? Did Janet take him home to California after the summer? I wanna know!
Overall it was ok. The problem I have with this book is that at first it' all about the prowler and seems suspenseful and a mystery but then it completely changes to being about the Angels and Mr. Angel's refusal to learn English. Then it switches back to mystery and suspense just to try and switch back to Mr. Angel for the last few pages. I really didn't like that because it was like two different stories and it switched whenever I already got invested in one.
