Balloon Blow-Up (3 page)

“Not a Green Crawler fan,” Kevin joked. He then introduced the brothers to someone much friendlier—Lynn Braun, the captain of the balloon handlers.

“How do handlers keep such huge balloons from flying away?” Frank asked.

“By getting a good grip,” Lynn said, “and pulling down hard on the ropes attached to the balloon.”

Joe flexed his arm. “We're just the guys for the job!” he declared.

“We'll go over the directions later,” Lynn said, chuckling. “But here's Brett with your handler uniforms.”

The guy named Brett carried two shopping bags over. One was marked
JOE HARDY
, the other
FRANK HARDY
.

The brothers looked inside their bags. Each had a green jumpsuit, thick work gloves, and a Green Crawler mask!

“The masks are cool,” Joe said. “But how will anyone know it's us under them?”

“Easy,” Brett said, and smirked. “You'll be the only little squirts handling the balloon.”

“Who are you calling squirts?” Joe complained.

“Kidding!” Brett said.

Joe could tell by Brett's eyes that he hadn't been kidding.

“May I take a picture of the Green Crawler balloon before it's blown up?” Frank asked Lynn.

“It's eight thirty,” Lynn said with a glance at her watch. “You have an hour until we blow up the balloon.”

“Cool!” Joe said. They were about to get up close and personal with the Green Crawler balloon!

“Just don't touch the balloon or step on it,” Lynn added sternly.

The brothers left their bags inside the tent. On the way to the balloon, Frank took a picture of the Bayport Boomerangs practicing a song. But where was Kit?

“Take a picture of me in front of the balloon, Frank!” Joe called, already running toward it.

But as the brothers approached the balloon, they saw a big lump moving around underneath the material.

“What's that?” Frank asked.

The weird lump started moving to the other side of the balloon. Then suddenly out from under crawled Kit!

Kit glanced around quickly before standing up and hurrying away.

“What was Kit doing under there?” Frank wondered.

“Who knows?” Joe shrugged. “Come on, Frank. I'm ready for my close-up!”

“Okay,” Frank said. “But remember what Lynn said. Don't step on the balloon!”

Joe was careful to stand inches away from the balloon. He pulled out his lucky claw and held it in the air. “Make sure you get this in the picture,” he said.

Frank was about to take the shot when—

“Say ‘cheesy,' loser!” someone jeered.

Joe gasped as a pitchfork-wielding scarecrow leaped in front of him. The scarecrow jabbed his fork in Joe's direction, making Joe stumble back.

“Whoooaaaa!” Joe cried.

His lucky claw flew out of his hand as he felt himself falling—back onto the balloon!

G
reat,” Joe muttered as he lay flat on the thick nylon material.

“Joe, are you okay?” Frank called.

“I'm okay,” Joe said, sitting up. “But is the balloon okay?”

Before checking the balloon, Joe glared at the scarecrow. He wore a floppy straw hat that covered most of his face. But when he laughed, Joe knew who he was.

“Adam!” Joe snapped.

“Ba-ha-ha-ha-ha!” Adam laughed, swinging his pitchfork. “Hope you had a nice trip, Hardy!”

Frank took a step toward Adam, but the bully was already running away.

Joe stood up. He bent down to pick up his Crawler claw. That's when a voice shouted, “I told you not to touch that balloon!”

Looking up, Joe saw Lynn running over, followed by Kevin and Brett.

“It was an accident,” Joe told them. “Someone scared me and I tripped.”

Brett pointed to Joe's Crawler claw on the balloon. “That toy of his probably ripped the balloon,” he accused.

“No, it didn't,” Joe said, lifting the Crawler claw. “I don't see any rips anywhere.”

“The balloon is made of thick nylon,” Lynn told Kevin. “I doubt the toy ripped it.”

“We'll find out,” Brett said, “when we blow up the balloon.”

Kevin waved to Joe. “Just get off the balloon carefully,” he said.

Joe was careful as he stepped off. Kevin, Lynn, and Brett were already heading back to the tent.

“It's a good thing you didn't rip the balloon,” Frank said. “Or we'd be out of the parade.”

“Thanks to Adam,” Joe said. “What was he doing here dressed as a goofy scarecrow?”

“The Taylor Smyth float,” Frank reminded him. “Adam probably volunteered to be on it.”

“Yeah, so he could make trouble.” Joe frowned.

The last thing Frank and Joe wanted was more trouble. Instead of looking for Adam, they headed to the snack table. There they spoke to more volunteers, including clowns, float drivers, and two other scarecrows.

Frank decided he would ask the scarecrows about Adam, but just then someone shouted, “Hey, everybody! They're pumping up the balloon!”

“All right!” Joe cheered.

The brothers followed the crowd to the Green Crawler balloon. A crew was pumping it up with helium from a huge tank.

Frank and Joe watched, wide-eyed. It took lots of helium to fill those green muscles, but soon the boys' favorite superhero was rising off the ground.

“Whoa!” Frank exclaimed.

The Green Crawler hovered a few inches above the grass—until he began shriveling right before everyone's eyes!

“Frank,” Joe gasped, “the Green Crawler is . . . shrinking!”

Fssssssss!
Everyone's jaws dropped as the Green Crawler collapsed to the ground with a hiss.

“The balloon
was
punctured!” Lynn exclaimed.

Brett pointed a finger at Joe. “Thanks to that kid!” he growled.

“What?” Joe cried.

“He told you,” Frank said to Brett. “It wasn't ripped.”

“Will the other volunteers go back to their floats, please?” Kevin called out. “Will the Bayport Boomerangs clear the area too?”

“Come on, kids,” Kit told the band. She smirked at the deflated balloon. “Maybe we won't have to learn that Green Crawler tune after all.”

Frank and Joe waited until the others had left.

“Maybe the balloon was ripped in the factory,” Joe told Lynn. “You said yourself it was made of thick nylon, so it would be hard for someone to rip it.”

“The balloon was checked for rips in the factory,” Lynn said. “And our handlers were very careful with it when they spread it out.”

Kevin heaved a sigh. “We saw you messing around on that balloon, Joe,” he said.

“But—” Joe started to say.

“I know you won the contest, Joe,” Lynn cut in, “but you and your brother did sign an agreement.”

“The one about disrespectful behavior?” Joe asked. He felt his heart sink. “Does this mean we're out of the parade?”

“I'm afraid so,” Kevin said with a frown.

“Oh no!” Frank groaned.

Joe opened his mouth to speak. He was so upset, nothing came out.

“Excuse me,” Frank said. “If Joe and I find the real person who ripped the balloon, can we march in the parade?”

“The real person?” Lynn repeated.

“We're detectives,” Frank explained.

“Good ones!” Joe added.

“Sure, sure,” Kevin said dismissively. “Go play detective.”

Frank and Joe both frowned.
Play?

“Can the rip be patched in time for the parade?” Kevin asked Lynn.

“Probably,” Lynn said. “But since the parade is tomorrow, we'll have to work fast.”

Frank turned to Joe and whispered, “So will we!”

F
rank and Joe turned in their IDs and handler uniforms—but they refused to lose hope.

“At least we still have a chance of being in the parade,” Frank said as he and Joe made their way out of the park.

“First we have to find the real balloon slasher,” Joe said. “Where do we start?”

“Where we always start,” Frank said. “The six
W
s—Who, What, When, Where, Why, and How.” The six
W
s system was actually five
W
s and one
H
, but it was a lot easier to call it the six
W
s.

The system had been taught to Frank and Joe by their dad. Mr. Hardy was a private detective and sometimes helped the brothers with their cases. He had also helped build them a secret tree house in the woods behind the house. The tree house had become the brothers' detective headquarters. It was where they wrote the six
W
s on a big dry-erase board.

“I don't want to wait until we're in our tree house,” Joe said impatiently. “I want to write the six
W
s now.”

“But we didn't bring any pens or paper,” Frank said as they passed the basketball court.

“Hmm,” Joe said, looking around. That's when he saw a girl drawing on the basketball court with colored chalk.

“Joe, wait up!” Frank called as Joe began running toward the girl.

The girl was putting the finishing touches on a butterfly she was drawing as Frank and Joe hurried over.

“Excuse me,” Joe said. “Can we borrow a piece of chalk?”

The girl pointed to the Green Crawler claw in Joe's pocket. “Sure,” she said. “If you let me play with
that
!”

“Okay,” Joe said. “Just be careful with it!” He exchanged the claw for a piece of green chalk. Green for the Green Crawler.

“Let's get to work,” Frank declared.

They kneeled on the court, where Joe wrote the word “What.”

“
What
happened?” Joe asked.

“Someone slashed the Green Crawler balloon when no one was looking,” Frank decided.

Joe wrote that out. The next
W
was
When
. That was usually the toughest!