(A "tooter," says Aunt Rosie, to keep him from becoming an "ignoramiss.") And it could be a worse fate than David ever imagined, maybe even worse than Rittenhouse: his stern, elderly Aunt Annie volunteers for the job. McKelvie (who, incidentally, calls David "laddie-buck").īut mild exercise turns out to include more than lounging around reading books about pirates, sneaking into theaters to see "the new films that actually talk" (this being right before the Depression), and writing up clever cartoons about the "Sea-Fox," the devilishly devious scourge of the Spanish Main. David (also known as "Bax," "Skeezix," "Skinamalink," Snicklefritz," and "First Sergeant," depending on which grownup is doing the addressing) decides that he'd be more than happy to wile away his days with some fresh air and "mild exercise," as prescribed by Dr. ("New Monia," as his Aunt Rosie called it with her heavy British accent, not unlike the "Spanish Influenzo.") But all that bed rest would have been worth it if it meant he could escape Rittenhouse Academy and continue on among the rogues' gallery of eccentric friends and relatives that passes through his family's Philadelphia home. Eleven-year-old David nearly died of pneumonia.
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