Can Charlie Brown Trust Pretty Peggy?

Charlie Brown thinks Peggy Jean is the prettiest girl he’s ever seen, prettier even than the little red-headed girl.

Charlie on Monday is sitting next to Peggy Jean on the edge of a dock at summer camp, and the balloon-headed kid of “Peanuts” comic strip fame cannot know the ordeal that fate holds for him.

He has no hint that his romance will include the most severe test, conjuring images of the treacherous Lucy, the double-crosser who for years has yanked the football away just as Charlie is about to kick it.

It is not for the sawtooth-sweatered character to know that during the next four weeks, Peggy Jean plans to put Charlie’s affection to the ultimate test--on the football field.

Could she do that? Pull the ball away? After all, Peggy Jean has assured Charlie that “pretty girls are human, too.” On the other hand, he thinks, she just might be human like Lucy.

What’s going to happen?

An urgent telephone call to Charles Schulz, creator of the famed comic strip, was in order.

“I’m not going to tell you . . . that would be foolish,” insisted the cartoonist to a reporter who promised the confidentiality of a Watergate “Deep Throat.”

“It’s a fairly upbeat story than the ones I usually do,” Schulz assured, refusing, however, to disclose Charlie’s fate.

Will Charlie’s new love pull the football away at the last instant? Will he be left flat on his back by the sweet Peggy Jean with the red ribbon in her hair?

And what does Linus think back in the city during his hushed daily telephone talks, giving advice to the uncertain Romeo of the piece? It certainly was a blooper when Lucy got on the line, Schulz said.

“You think she’ll pull it away like your stupid sister?” Charlie asks Linus.

“Who’s stupid?” snarls Lucy, as matters quickly go downhill.

“Oh, sorry,” says flustered Charlie, backing away, his favorite direction. “I have the wrong number.”

What is known is that sometime during summer camp, Peggy Jean seems to get to like Charlie, who naturally bares his soul. She decides to see if he’s toying with her. She’s going to test the depth of his commitment.