Stuffed Bear Mystery (3 page)

Benny looked up at Peggy. “Miss Sayer said kids shouldn’t help the sheep get sheared and that she isn’t even allowed to do anything.”

Peggy bit her lip. “Oh, dear. I do wish she would appreciate that Doc and I have helped her so much over the years with her bear business. But I can’t let her in on all my secrets. My Peggy Bears are special because we use wool from our own sheep. Not many teddy bear designers do that.”

“Is Miss Sayer a copycat?” Benny asked.

Peggy laughed. “Let’s say more like a copybear. She’s tried to copy other bears, too. Now she’s working on a talking bear, even though there are already talking bears available. Every year, Doc and I try to convince her to design a brand-new kind of bear instead.”

“Guess what, Peggy,” Benny announced. “We’re going to find out who took Doc’s missing Herr Bear.”

Peggy put down the wool in her hands. “Really? Now, how do you plan to do that?”

“We can keep an eye on people,” Benny said. “Like everybody who was in Doc’s hospital yesterday. And at the jamboree, we’ll see if anyone’s snooping around old bears too much.”

“Hmmm,” Peggy said. “You may get a chance to do that tomorrow. I was hoping you would help me set up my Peggy Bear booth at the Town Hall. Have you any suspects yet?”

Benny looked up at Peggy. “A few, but we’re not telling until we catch them.”

Peggy sighed. “I see. It would certainly put Doc’s mind at rest to find that Herr Bear soon. This mystery has him so upset.”

“Don’t worry,” Benny said. “We like solving mysteries.”

Peggy brushed all the wool fuzz from her coveralls and jacket. “Then good luck. Now I hope you don’t mind if I leave you for a while. I need to pack the station wagon for the jamboree. You’ve learned so quickly, I know you can finish up on your own.”

The Aldens worked quietly after Peggy left. They wanted to pay close attention and do a good job for Peggy and Doc.

“What’s that creaking?” Henry said a few minutes later.

“Hey, who just dropped hay on my head?” Benny asked when he felt some hay land on his hair. He started wiggling and scratching himself. “Some of it went down my neck, too.”

When the children looked up, they saw more strands of hay drifting down.

“The wind must have blown open the hayloft door,” Jessie said.

“I’ll go up and shut it,” Henry said. “We have to keep the barn warm for the sheep.”

“The ladder is outside,” Jessie reminded Henry.

The children followed Henry out. While Jessie held the ladder, Henry climbed up and shut the hayloft door. “There,” he said when he came down. “Now we’re safe from any more unexpected flying objects.”

The children decided to take a short break to visit the sheep in the main part of the barn. Soon they were surrounded by the Firmans’ flock with their new short hairdos.

“They like to cuddle with us because we’re warm,” Jessie said as one sheep after another nudged her and the other children with their noses. “They all want to be stroked and petted.”

“Okay, guys, that’s enough,” Henry told the nuzzling sheep. “We have to get back to work. Stop crying now.”

But the sheep didn’t stop crying. The Aldens could hear them bleating while they worked.

When Jessie returned to the skirting table, something was missing. “Where’s that nice big clean pile of fleece Peggy left for Mister B.? It was right here.”

Henry checked under the table. “It’s getting weird in here. First the door blows open for no reason. Now some of the fleece we cleaned just disappeared. Pretty strange, if you ask me. Listen, now the dogs are barking outside.”

“Maybe they want to come in where it’s warm,” Violet said.

The children ran out. They found Taf and Midnight growling at Miss Sayer’s yellow van.

Henry ran ahead and came back laughing. “Guess what they’re barking at? Chatter Bear! Miss Sayer has him in the van, but she can’t turn off his voice box. It’s pretty funny.”

The other children ran over to the van. Chatter Bear’s voice wasn’t low and slow now but as chirpy and fast as a chipmunk’s. “Imchatterbearandiliketotalk.”

“Stop that barking!” Miss Sayer told the Firmans’ dogs. “Goodness, children, take those dogs away before Chatter Bear gets any more upset. I went over a big bump, and that made his voice box break again.”

The Aldens tried hard not to burst out laughing. Instead they clapped and whistled to get the dogs away from Miss Sayer’s van. Only they weren’t quick enough. Midnight decided he wanted to sniff Chatter Bear and leaped up to the front seat.

“Down! Get down!” Miss Sayer screamed. “Get this dog down before he hurts my bear!”

Jessie ran over and grabbed Midnight’s collar. “Come on, Midnight. Let’s go for a walk.”

Those were the magic words. Midnight backed out of the van. Jessie reached in to straighten out Chatter Bear, who had tipped over sideways. “There,” she said after she fastened the seat belt over him. That’s when she noticed Miss Sayer’s big orange tote bag. Stuffed inside was at least enough clean silky fleece to fill a few nice bears.

“I smell maple syrup,” a voice said from under the covers in Benny’s bed.

Jessie sat up and sniffed. “I smell it, too. It must be coming from the sugarhouse. Peggy said that’s where they boil the sap from their maple trees to get syrup. Mmm. Maybe this morning we’ll get some of those delicious-tasting pancakes Grandfather told us about.”

“Baa,” the Aldens heard next as they slowly awakened. Smudge looked up from the basket of fleece by Benny’s bed. He wanted breakfast, too.

Soon more animal sounds joined the chorus. Rudy the rooster was crowing outside. Midnight and Taf were scratching and whining at the Aldens’ door.

“No use trying to sleep any longer,” Henry said. “It’s a zoo around here. I guess it’s time to get up.”

In no time, the children had dressed and tidied up Shepherd’s Cottage. Animals trailing, they headed toward the main house, where Peggy and Doc’s famous Woolly Farm breakfast was being served.

“Oh, look, there goes Miss Sayer with that tote bag of hers,” Jessie said. “Now it doesn’t looked all bulged out the way it did yesterday. But I still have a feeling she’s the one who took the special fleece Peggy set aside.”

“Should we ask her?” Benny wanted to know. “If she did take Peggy’s fleece, we should tell her to bring it back!”

Jessie hesitated. “I would, but I don’t want her to know we’re watching her—at least until we find the person who took Doc’s Herr Bear.”

“I could sit next to her at breakfast and drop a fork or something,” Benny said. “Then I could see if there’s any fleece sticking out of her pocketbook—or maybe even the Herr Bear.”

Henry picked up Benny by both arms and gave him a whirl. “Good plan, Benny. Just don’t let Miss Sayer take the bacon and sausages from your plate while you’re under the table.”

“I won’t,” Benny said, very certain of that.

The Aldens dropped off Smudge in the lamb pen, then came in the kitchen entrance of the main house. Peggy was at the stove, carefully stacking some golden pancakes onto a plate.

“Mmm. Good morning. Need any help?” Henry asked.

Peggy looked up. “Good morning, children. You’re just in time to bring this plate to Professor Tweedy. He’s the man at the corner table, with the glasses. Maybe you can keep him company by sitting at his table. He said his pancakes were too dry, so I made him some more.”

Benny sniffed the air. “These sure don’t look too dry. We were going to sit next to Miss Sayer, though.”

Peggy looked over the children’s heads. “Oh, she just sat down with some other bear people here for the jamboree. Professor Tweedy is our only guest this week who isn’t a teddy bear person.” She bent down to whisper to the children. “He’s very serious, but I’m sure he would enjoy meeting four polite children.”

Jessie looked up at Peggy. “Oh, we already met him at the toy hospital,” she whispered back. “He didn’t seem to think we belonged there.”

Peggy put down her measuring cup. “Professor Tweedy at the toy hospital? Doc didn’t mention that. I’m surprised. The professor usually avoids bear people.” Peggy dropped a pat of butter on the pancakes. “He told me he’s giving an important talk on American presidents at a nearby college. He checked in late last night, so Doc hasn’t seen him here yet.”

“There were a lot of people at the toy hospital,” Jessie mentioned. “That man was in the book room reading. Then we saw him looking around the Bear Den. I’m sure it’s the same man.”

Peggy’s eyebrows went up in surprise. “Goodness. You just never know about people.”

When the Aldens joined Professor Tweedy in the dining room, he didn’t look up from his magazine. He frowned as the children sat down.

“Peggy asked us to give you these,” Violet said when she set his pancakes on the table. “We’re the Aldens. We saw you at Doc’s toy hospital, remember?”

The professor finally peered over the glasses perched on his nose. He didn’t seem too interested in the four pairs of eyes staring at him. “Indeed.” Then he went back to stirring his coffee and reading his magazine, as if the children weren’t even there.

“We’re here for the Teddy Bear Jamboree,” Violet said. “It’s going to be fun. We have a bear we’re going to fix up. Want to see him?”

Mr. Tweedy speared a bite of pancake, ignoring Violet.

“Our bear is almost as old as our grandfather,” Violet said.

Professor Tweedy finally tore himself away from his pancakes and his magazine when he heard this. “Well, what year was it made? Where did it come from? What kind of bear is it?”

“The nice old kind,” Violet said in her soft, polite voice. “The kind we cuddle when we get sick or play with when we’re lonesome.”

The professor sniffed. “I don’t mean that! I mean where is this bear of yours from? What brand is it? Goodness, young lady, don’t you know anything about your bear’s history? If it’s an old bear, you should be taking care of it. The bear isn’t supposed to take care of you!”

When Benny heard this, he just had to say something. “We do take care of him. We’re going to help fix him up and everything.”

“That’s an expert’s job,” Professor Tweedy said. “Certainly
not
a job for children.”

Miss Sayer finally livened up the Aldens’ table a few minutes later. “Hello, I’m Hazel Sayer,” she said to the professor. “May I borrow the sugar bowl from this table? Are you a bear collector? I saw you at Doctor Firman’s hospital. Are you a seller or a buyer?”

“Neither,” Professor Tweedy said.

This didn’t stop Miss Sayer. She was as chatty as her own talking bear when it came to bears.

“What’s that you’re reading?” she asked, trying to get a closer look.

Mr. Tweedy closed the magazine partway. “A history magazine.”

Benny had been peeking at the professor’s magazine, too. “Wow, that looks like a fun history magazine, since it has all those toys in it.”

Professor Tweedy rolled up the magazine and stuffed it in the briefcase he carried everywhere. “It’s not a child’s magazine. Now, if you wouldn’t mind, I’d like to finish my breakfast. Talking while dining is bad for one’s stomach. And I have quite a bit of reading to do.”

Even Miss Sayer looked hurt when she heard this. She returned to her table without the sugar bowl.

The Aldens finished breakfast and didn’t dare speak to Professor Tweedy again. They decided to bring their own dishes into the kitchen to save Peggy from the extra work.

“Well, did you melt the professor’s heart?” Peggy asked with a twinkle in her eye.

“I don’t think so,” Jessie answered when she put her dish down. She told Peggy what the professor had said. “He even scolded Violet about not taking good care of Mister B.”

“Goodness, how did that come up?” Peggy asked.

“When I mentioned to him that we’d seen him at the toy hospital,” Violet said. “He asked a lot of questions after I said we had an old bear.”

Peggy looked at her watch. “Well, I’m sorry you kids didn’t have such a great breakfast. But you can still have a great day. You know, if you go over to the Town Hall now, I think you could work on my Peggy Bears booth. That would give me some time to wash and dry the other fleece I found for Mister B. After all, you want him to look handsome for the Best Bears Contest at the end of the jamboree.”

“And maybe win, even if Mister B. doesn’t know how to talk,” Benny said.

“Most of the best bears don’t talk—at least not with voices,” Peggy said. “They speak to us in their own way, just by being bears. Now, here’s the list of things to do when you get to the Town Hall. I left everything you’ll need in my space there—Row Eleven, Booth E. Give me a call if you have any questions.”

“I have a lot of questions,” Henry said after they left Peggy. “Why would somebody like Professor Tweedy, with no interest in bears, go to Doc’s toy hospital? And why would he ask us all about Mister B.?”

“Or lie about reading a magazine? I really think that magazine was about toys, not history,” Jessie added. “Let’s make sure to keep an eye on Professor Tweedy as well as Miss Sayer.”

“Mister B. can only keep one eye on them,” Benny reminded everyone. “That’s ’cause he’s only got one eye!”