Mr. Hobbs' Vacation

From the moment their vacation plans are first discussed Mr. Hobbs evinces misgivings about trekking off to an unfamiliar island on the New England coast, but the combined enthusiasm of wife Peggy and daughter Kate soon overwhelm his feeble opposition. Away they go to Rock Harbor, but they have no sooner reached their destination, crumpled and road-weary, than Mr. Hobbs' direct predictions begin to come true. Their house is an uncomfortable horror and its plumbing, as Mr. Hobbs quickly finds out, is a nightmare. The hope of having a good rest is further annihilated when daughter Jane and son-in-law Byron appear on the scene. Byron, an intellectual college professor, has precious little in common with his businessman father-in-law, but the arguments which ensue are insignificant in comparison to the annoyances which crop up when the Turners, the Hobbs' not-so-old friends of last year's vacation, come over for the weekend. Mr. Hobbs is forced to cope with an exploding hot water tank, dragged off on bird-spotting expeditions, shanghaied, into sailing a "spatterbox," turned into cook, bartender, dish washer and general provisioner and, as he teeters on the edge of exhaustion, obliged to join in the wee hours carousing of an irrepressible group of fog-bound sailing friends. Needless to say then, before long they are all ready and willing to head for home—if only to rest up from their "vacation."