Great Turkey Heist (3 page)

“There must be every color in the rainbow here,” Jessie said. “How will we ever choose?”

Violet admired all the many shades of purple. It was her favorite color.

“This one matches your hair ribbons and your shoelaces,” Benny said, pointing to a pretty shade of violet.

Violet smiled. She often wore something purple with each of her outfits. “Yes, it does, Benny. And look! This color matches your shirt.” Violet showed her brother a golden-yellow paint.

“That yellow would certainly brighten up the food pantry,” Jessie said.

“I agree,” Henry added.

“Can I help you kids?” A dark-haired man in a flannel shirt stood in the aisle. “I’m Mr. Carroll. Are you the Aldens?” he asked.

“Yes,” Jessie answered. She introduced her sister and brothers. “We’re here for some paint.”

“Mr. Grayson told me you would be stopping by. Did you pick out a color?”

“We think this golden-yellow would brighten up the walls,” Jessie said.

“That’s a good choice,” Mr. Carroll agreed. “I’ll get you started with a few cans. If you run low, you can come back for more.”

Mr. Carroll grabbed a cart. He mixed the paint. Then he put the cans in the cart. He also put brushes, rollers, and paint trays in the cart.

“Wow!” Benny said. “That’s a lot of stuff. I can’t wait to paint! I’m going to paint one whole wall by myself!”

Mr. Carroll laughed. “You might need your brother to help you with the high places,” he said. “But if you are going to be painting, I think you need one more thing.” Mr. Carroll pulled a box down from a shelf.

“What’s that?” Benny asked.

“These are painter’s overalls,” he said. “I think I have some small sizes in here. Here, try these on, Benny.”

Benny slipped into the overalls. They were a little too long. Jessie rolled up the pant legs for him.

“Look at me!” Benny cried. “These even have a pocket in the front. I can put my brush in there!” Benny grabbed a brush from the cart and stuck it in the pocket. Everyone laughed.

“There’s a pair for each of you here,” Mr. Carroll said. “Help yourselves.”

“Thank you,” Henry said. “But we don’t want to run Mr. Grayson’s bill up too high. We should just get the paint and the brushes. We’ll be careful not to get paint on our clothes.”

“I insist,” Mr. Carroll said. “I am donating all this to the food pantry.”

“That is so kind. Thank you,” Jessie said.

Mr. Carroll patted his round stomach. “I sure like to eat,” he said. “I don’t like to think of anyone being hungry. This is my way of helping. I will stop by later to see how you are making out.”

The children thanked Mr. Carroll and carried their supplies back to the food pantry. The little yellow cat was waiting for them.

“Can we let the cat in again?” Benny asked.

“Sure,” Jessie said. “She certainly seems to like you.”

The cat rubbed itself against Benny’s legs.

“Come on, Sunny. Come on,” Benny said. He picked the cat up and held her in his arms.

“How do you know her name is Sunny?” asked Violet.

“That’s easy!” Benny said. “She is yellow and she feels warm!”

Everyone laughed. Soon, they were all hard at work. Henry fixed the holes in the wall with material he found at the hardware store. Jessie took the wooden sticks Mr. Carroll had put in her bag and stirred the paint in the cans. She laid a blue tarp on the floor in the corner. Violet started outside, putting a nice, bright coat of paint on the door.

“You can start here, Benny,” she said. “And I will start at the other end of this wall.”

“Okay,” Benny said. “And then we’ll meet in the middle!”

When Violet was done with the first coat on the door, she came inside. She took a small brush and started to paint on an empty wall. “How does this look?” she asked.

“Violet! That’s wonderful,” Jessie said.

Violet had painted
Greenfield Food Pantry
on the wall. Beneath it, she had painted a bright bowl overflowing with fruits and vegetables.

“But I thought you were going to paint it on the door,” Benny said. “And all the fruits and vegetables are yellow.”

Violet laughed. “So is your nose, Benny!”

Benny had paint splattered on his overalls. There was a dab in his hair and a bright yellow spot on his nose. He rubbed his face.

“It’s okay, Benny. It will wash off your nose,” Violet said. “I was just practicing on this wall. I will paint my sign on the door when it is dry. Then I will use all the right colors.”

“But what about that?” Benny asked. He pointed to Violet’s painting. “Now there are yellow strawberries on the wall. That doesn’t look right.”

“I’ll show you!” Violet took a large brush and painted over her picture. It disappeared in a minute.

“I’m going to do that too!” Benny painted a small dog on the wall. “It’s Watch!” he cried. The cat mewed. “Don’t be scared, Sunny. It’s just a picture. Besides, Watch would never hurt you. He is a friendly dog.”

Benny took a big brush and painted over Watch. “Now he’s gone!”

Henry was standing on a ladder. “Look at mine!” he called. He had painted a baseball player holding a bat. Henry was very good at sports.

Soon, the children were painting pictures all over the walls. As soon as they finished each one, they painted over it. They made it into a guessing game. It was easy to guess what Violet had painted. Her art was very lifelike. Some of Benny’s pictures were just a jumble of lines that made everyone laugh. “It’s a rocket ship landing on the moon,” he said of one of his pictures. “See? Here is the astronaut. He is flying.”

Jessie smiled at her little brother. He had only made a yellow circle and a yellow rectangle. But Benny had a very big imagination.

Drawing pictures and painting over them made the work fun. Time flew by quickly.

Henry was just moving his ladder when he heard shouting outside.

“Helloooo! Hellooo! Anybody still in there?”

“It sounds like Mr. Carroll,” Jessie said, rushing to open the door.

“Hello, children,” Mr. Carroll said. “I didn’t want to knock. The door still looks wet.” He looked around the room. “You’ve done a great job so far. Would you like some help?”

“Yes, thank you,” Henry said.

“I’ve brought something that should make the work go quickly.” Mr. Carroll had a small machine. It had a long wand attached to it. He poured paint into the machine.

“Okay, Benny,” Mr. Carroll said. “I need your help. Can you push that button for me?”

When Benny pushed the button, a motor whirred. Paint sprayed from the wand onto the walls. In no time at all, Mr. Carroll had finished all the painting.

After all the brushes were cleaned, everyone stood and admired the room. It looked bright and cheerful.

“Now all we need is to fill up the shelves,” Violet said.

Jessie noticed Benny’s droopy eyes. He was yawning. “We should get home,” she said. “It’s late. Thank you for all your help, Mr. Carroll.”

“It was my pleasure,” Mr. Carroll said. “I’ll walk out with you.”

But when everyone went out into the alley, they were surprised.

Four bicycles were lying on the ground, and the tires were flat! Someone had cut holes in them all!

“Oh no!” Jessie cried. “Our bicycles! Who would do such a thing?”

Benny pulled a note from the basket on his bicycle. “St . . . stay away,” he tried to sound out the words. “Min . . . Min . . .” He handed the paper to Jessie.

“STAY AWAY! Mind your own business!” Jessie read.

After dinner, Henry, Jessie, Violet, and Benny sat in chairs around the fireplace. Mrs. McGregor had set a fresh batch of ginger cookies and a pitcher of milk on the end table.

“It was nice of Mr. Carroll to give us a ride home,” Violet said.

“He is very kind,” Jessie agreed. She passed two large cookies to Benny.

Benny bit into the warm ginger cookie. “Do you think the shop put the new tires on our bikes yet?”

“I hope so,” Henry said. “We’ll need them to ride around town and distribute the flyers.”

Violet sat with her sketch pad in her lap. She was drawing a picture of a turkey for the flyer. “We will need to be careful when we put the flyers up,” she said. “Someone does not want us to help the food pantry.”

“You’re right, Violet,” Henry said. “But who could it be?”

Jessie pulled out her notepad. When the Aldens were faced with a mystery, Jessie often took notes. “Do we have any clues at all?” she asked.

“What about the man who knocked into Mr. Grayson in the street?” Violet asked. “I don’t think it was an accident. And he seemed very angry.”

“I wish we had gotten a better look at him,” Jessie said. “I agree that he pushed Mr. Grayson on purpose.” She tapped her pencil on her pad. “Anyone else?”

“What about the lady who owns Harvest Restaurant, Ms. Matthews?” Henry said. “She called Mr. Grayson a liar right in the Green Fields restaurant.”

Benny took a long drink from his glass. He had a big milk mustache. “That’s right!” he said. “She called Mr. Grayson a fraud. What is that?”

“A fraud is someone who pretends to be something that he is not,” Jessie explained.

“Do you think Mr. Grayson is pretending, Jessie?” Benny asked.

Jessie watched the fire crackle in the fireplace. “I don’t know, Benny. Mr. Grayson is Grandfather’s friend, and he seems very sincere.”

“We will have to keep our eyes open tomorrow when we are in town,” Henry said. “Maybe we will find more clues.”

The next day, Grandfather drove the children to the bike shop. Their bicycles all had brand-new tires. The first place they rode was to the office store. Violet handed her flyer to the lady at the copy center.

“Why, this is wonderful!” the lady said. “I didn’t even know that we had a food pantry in town. I have a friend whose husband has been very sick. He has not been able to go to work for a long time. This food pantry could be just the thing to help her family.”

“There is not much food in the food pantry yet,” Jessie explained. “We are hoping that these flyers will help us get more donations.”

“I’m sure they will,” the lady said. She introduced herself. Her name was Colette. “It is a beautiful flyer. Whoever did it is a very good artist. It will get people’s attention.”

Violet’s face colored. “Thank you,” she said shyly. “I drew it. Do you know how much it will cost to copy the flyers?”

“It will not cost anything,” Colette said. “I would like to donate these flyers to help the food pantry. And I will hang the first ones up right here in my store.”

Henry, Jessie, Violet, and Benny thanked Colette. They put the flyers in their baskets and rode down Chestnut Street. Their first stop was at Mr. Carroll’s hardware store. Mr. Carroll was happy to see them. “I’m so glad your bicycles are fixed,” he said. He gave the children a roll of tape and told them to put up as many flyers as they wanted in his front windows.

The woman in the dress shop and the man in the bookstore were also very excited about the food pantry. They each helped to tape up flyers in their windows and on their front doors.

“Look!” Violet said. “The grocery store. That would be a perfect place for our flyers.”

Higgins’s Grocery Store had big display- windows. Outside, boxes were filled with pumpkins for sale. And there were beautiful mums in every color, all in a row. The children walked inside. The store was busy with shoppers.

“Excuse me,” Jessie asked a cashier. “Would it be all right if we put these flyers up in your windows?”

Before the cashier could answer, a man came rushing over to the children. “What do you want in here?” he asked. “If you are not here to buy anything, you must leave right now.”

“We’re sorry to disturb you,” Jessie said. “We were just wondering if we could put these flyers in your window.”

“Flyers? Let me see those.” The man grabbed the stack of flyers from Jessie’s hand. His face seemed to grow dark when he read the flyer. “I’ll think about it,” he said. He stormed off into his office. He slammed the door so hard that his brown hat and scarf fell from the hook on the back of the door.

The cashier looked at the Aldens. She shrugged. “Sorry, kids. That was Mr. Higgins. He owns this grocery store.”

The children walked back outside to their bicycles.

“He took all my flyers,” Jessie said. “And I don’t think he’s going to hang them up.”

“I don’t think so, either,” Henry said. “But why would he be angry about the flyers?”

Henry, Jessie, Violet, and Benny continued down the street. They stopped in many stores and offices. Everyone was very kind and very excited about the food pantry. Mrs. James in the shoe store hung up the flyers and also gave Henry twenty dollars for the food pantry. Anthony in the tailor shop even offered to donate clothes to anyone who needed them.

“The people in Greenfield are very generous,” Jessie said. The children were standing at the end of the street. Right in front of them was Harvest Restaurant—the restaurant owned by Ms. Matthews.

“Do you think we should go in there?” Violet asked.

“I don’t know,” Henry said. “Ms. Matthews does not seem to like Mr. Grayson.”

Violet looked thoughtful. “I think that we should go in,” she said. “Maybe Ms. Matthews does not like Mr. Grayson, but she should not be against a food pantry. And if she is, maybe we can try to find out why.”