Dangerous Hilarity: The Great Adventures of the Jackson Twins, Their Family and the Dogs in Their Lives, A Novel for Teens and Young Adults and All Those Who are Young at Heart. Sioux Dallas

to herself thinking she looked like a sweet grandmother.

      “Hello, love,” she said in surprise. “It’s my lucky day to have the most handsome man in town come calling.” Her head came to the middle of his chest as she put her arms around his waist to hug him, then turned twinkling blue eyes on the Jackson family. “Now who are these nice people?”

      “Mrs. Storch, I’d like to introduce you to these nice people who have come all the way from the state of Virginia across the United States and are on their way to Alaska.”

      “Saints alive,” she exclaimed.

      “This is Mrs. Jackson, her daughter Anna, and her sons, Tim and Tom.”

      “What a beautiful young girl and twins. How lovely. Such tall, handsome boys. How do you tell them apart?”

      “I’m the oldest,” Tom boasted.

      “Yeah, by four minutes,” Tim grumbled.

      Irene hurried to speak before the boys could get into an embarrassing verbal battle. “When they were small it was sometimes difficult. Of course, their father and I knew which was which, but they pulled some stunts on teachers and friends. Now they dress differently. Tom’s face is more oval while Tim has a square jaw line.”

      “Where is your mister?” Mrs. Storch asked as she led them into the living room, or as she called it, the parlor.

      “I’ll leave you folks to get acquainted. I must leave because I am on duty,” Officer Churchill stated. He wished the family a pleasant trip, saluted and left. He whistled to the mare who had wandered a few feet away eating some flower tops on the outside of the fence. The twins ran to the window as the horse came trotting obediently to him.

      “Gee whiz! Did you see that?” Tom yelped.

      “Tom, none of us are deaf. Inside voice, please,” Irene glared at him.

      Mrs. Storch chuckled. “I know how he feels. We, in this town, love to watch the Mounties and the horses. We never tire of seeing them. It’s unbelievable how those animals behave better than my wee ones ever did.”

      She started walking out of the room. “I’ll show you the rooms. If you want to share by twos, it’ll be fifty-five dollars which includes breakfast. If you want dinner, I’ll have to have three dollars each. I hope you have Canadian money. It’s not always easy to change money by the rates.”

      “Oh, yes,” Irene answered. “I changed when we first came across the border.”

      Anna smiled at Mrs. Storch. “We’ve been lucky this entire trip to get a motel room with two double beds so that we could stay together. We also have a dog.”

      “Have you kept the dog in your room each night?” Mrs. Storch asked in astonishment, “I didn’t think motels would allow animals,”

      “Our dog is well trained and kept clean,” Tim stated proudly. “We take good care of her and think of her as one of the family.”