The Clue in the Recycling Bin (2 page)

“Hi,” said Ethan as he kept raking. “Happy to meet you.”

“Does your recycling center take leaves?” Jessie asked Kayla.

“It does,” said Kayla. People who make their own compost come here and take the leaves and clippings.”

“What's compost?” asked Benny.

Jessie had learned about compost in school. She explained to Benny that compost is made of plants or plant parts that have decayed. Compost might also contain eggshells or coffee grounds. “The decayed parts are mixed into dirt to make it richer,” she explained. “Richer dirt helps grow better crops.”

Benny knew what crops were. They were plant foods like tomatoes, corn, and carrots. Benny loved all foods.

Violet didn't understand why the leaves and grass clippings weren't inside plastic bags already. She wondered why Ethan had to rake them up. “Did somebody throw their leaves all over the ground?” she asked Kayla.

Kayla frowned. “No,” she said. “People stuff their leaves and grass into plastic bags and drop them off here. But it seems that somebody is breaking into the center and then breaking open all the bags of leaves and grass.”

“That's terrible,” said Violet. “Why would anybody do something mean like that?”

Ethan raked so close to where Violet was standing that she had to jump away.

“I don't know,” said Kayla. “But thankfully Ethan has volunteered to clean up the mess. I don't know what I'd do without him.”

“Do you need more volunteers at the recycling center?” asked Henry.

“I sure do!” said Kayla. “You see those boxes and bags?” she asked, pointing to a large stack near the front gate. “I need volunteers to open those up and sort them into the proper bins.”

The Aldens looked at one another. “We would like to volunteer,” said Jessie.

Kayla looked at them. “Really?” she asked.

The four children nodded.

“Thank you,” said Kayla. “Thank you so much.”

“Ethan,” asked Kayla, “would you like one of the Aldens to help you rake up the leaves and grass?”

“No!” shouted Ethan. “I need to do this myself.”

Kayla stepped back. She seemed surprised by Ethan's sudden answer. “Well, okay,” she said.

“Henry, Jessie, Violet, and Benny, please wait for me by the front gate, right by that huge pile of stuff,” Kayla said. “I'll bring you each a pair of gloves.”

The children walked to the front gate and looked at the bags and boxes, each one filled with recyclables.

They noticed a woman standing on the sidewalk across the street. She had her arms folded across her chest. She was staring at them with an angry look on her face.

CHAPTER 2

Another Break-in

T
he next morning the children loaded their bikes with more recycling and pedaled to the Use It Again Recycling Center. Even though they had worked hard yesterday, they had enjoyed it. Helping other people felt good. And helping people recycle felt especially good.

When the Aldens arrived at the center, they saw more boxes and bags of trash on the sidewalk along the outside of the recycling center.

“Wow!” said Benny. “We worked hard yesterday, and now there are new bags and boxes to sort. There are more bags and boxes today than there were yesterday!”

Henry laughed. “That's good,” he said. “It means that people are really using the recycling center.”

The Alden children expected to see Kayla sorting through the bin marked “Other Stuff,” looking for what she called “treasures” and putting them on the shelf outside her shed. Violet in particular was hoping to find something purple to take home and reuse.

What they found instead was a big mess. The large Other Stuff bin lay on its side on the concrete. Things that had been placed inside the bin lay scattered all over the concrete. A man wearing a golf cap, a long-sleeved shirt, green pants, and hiking boots was bent over, picking things up off the ground and throwing them back down on the concrete. Kayla was trying to talk to him, but the man wasn't paying any attention.

Quickly, the children leaned their bikes against a bin.

“What happened?” Henry asked Kayla.

“There was another break-in last night,” Kayla answered. “This time the person tipped over my Other Stuff Dumpster.”

Henry looked at the Dumpster, which lay on its side. Then he looked at the fence behind the Dumpster. The top part of the chain-link fence was bent inward.
Whoever did this climbed the new fence
, thought Henry.

Jessie was looking at the Dumpster, too. “If we all help, do you think we can tip the Dumpster back up?” she asked Kayla.

“That's a good idea,” said Kayla. “Chad, do you think you can help us?” she asked the man in the golf cap.

The man didn't answer. He kept picking up and putting down all the things that had been in the Dumpster.

Kayla spoke more loudly. “Chad? Can you help us?”

“What?” he asked, straightening up.

“Can you help us turn this Dumpster upright, the way it should be?” Kayla asked.

Chad frowned. “Yeah,” he said. “Okay.”

The Aldens and Kayla and Chad all worked together to tip the Dumpster upright.

“Thank you,” said Kayla. “You kids have been so helpful!”

“And we can help today, too,” said Benny.

Henry spoke to the man in the golf cap. “We're the Aldens,” he said. “I'm Henry, and these are my sisters, Jessie and Violet, and my brother, Benny.”

The man frowned. “I've read about you Aldens in the newspaper. You're the kids who think you can solve mysteries,” he sneered. “Ha!”

“We know we can solve mysteries,” said Jessie. “You didn't tell us your name.”

The man glared at Jessie. “Chad Foster,” he grunted. Then he bent back down and began scooping things up and dumping them into the bin.

“Are you a volunteer?” Jessie asked him.

“Yeah. And I don't have time to chat,” he said.

Jessie thought Chad Foster was a very unfriendly man.

Kayla looked at the Aldens and shrugged her shoulders, as if to say she didn't know what Chad's problem was.

“I'm so glad you're here,” she said to the children. “May I split you up into two work groups?”

“Sure,” said Henry.

Kayla smiled. “Okay. Jessie and Benny, I'd like you to help Chad pick everything up and toss it back into the Dumpster.”

“No!” shouted Chad, straightening up again. “I don't need a bunch of kids around while I'm trying to work.”

Kayla walked up to Chad. “I expect everybody who volunteers here to treat one another with courtesy. If you can't do that, Chad, then you should leave right now.”

Jessie thought that Chad looked shocked by what Kayla had said. He blinked twice, then looked at her and Benny.

“Yeah,” he said at last. “All right. They can help.”

“Good,” said Kayla.

She smiled at Jessie and Benny. “After I show Henry and Violet what I'd like them to do, I'll come back and see how you're doing.”

As Jessie and Benny began to pick up the scattered trash, Kayla took Violet and Henry back toward the entrance to Use It Again. She led them past the gate to the lawn. The large pile of bags and boxes that the children had seen when they arrived were scattered on the lawn and against the curb.

“Usually I haul these in every morning as soon as I arrive,” Kayla said. “But this morning the first thing I saw was the overturned Dumpster. I stood there looking at it, and then this man—Chad—came in and said he'd like to help.”

Kayla looked over her shoulder to where Chad, Jessie, and Benny were working. “I wish he were more friendly, but the center needs all the help it can get. Somebody doesn't want the recycling center to be here.” As Kayla said this, she turned and looked across the street.

Henry and Violet turned to see where Kayla was staring. They saw a woman standing on the sidewalk across the street. It was the same woman they had seen standing there yesterday. She was wearing bright red rubber boots, corduroy pants, and a jacket. Her hair was white. In one hand she held a small garden trowel. In the other she held a plastic bottle.

Violet noticed that Kayla frowned at the woman, and that the woman frowned back at Kayla. Then the woman crossed the street and walked right up to them.

“It's past ten o'clock in the morning,” the woman shouted. “And your trash is still on the public sidewalk!”

As she spoke, the woman shook her plastic bottle at Kayla.

Violet noticed that it was a bottle of Doo-Dah Tea with a red label. Sometimes Violet drank Doo-Dah Tea. She knew that the red label meant the tea was raspberry flavored.

“Mrs. Wickett, I'm sorry about this,” said Kayla. “Ever since you complained, I've been coming to work early just to move everything inside.”

“Well, then why is the trash still there?” demanded Mrs. Wickett. Henry could see that she was very angry.

Without waiting for an answer, Mrs. Wickett continued. “I'm going to report you to the mayor's office,” she said. “I'm going to get this center closed down.”

“Somebody has been breaking into the center and tearing open bags of trash,” said Kayla. “And tipping over Dumpsters.” Now Kayla was angry, too. “I think you're the one who's breaking into the center,” she said. “You're the one who's against recycling!”

“What?!” shouted Mrs. Wickett. “Me, break into a recycling center? Don't be ridiculous.”

Henry watched as Mrs. Wickett unscrewed the top of her bottle and drank the rest of her raspberry tea. She screwed the top back on, then she carefully placed the bottle inside one of the open boxes. Henry noticed that the box she placed it in held other plastic bottles.

“Recycling is a good thing,” Mrs. Wickett told Kayla. “But leaving trash on public sidewalks is a
bad
thing. Look at this,” she said, kicking a cardboard box. “When the center is closed, people leave their recycling outside the fence. When I leave for work each evening, all I see are bags of trash! When I come home at midnight, all I see are boxes of junk!”

“But I explained—” Kayla started to say.

“No!” shouted Mrs. Wickett. “I'm going to call the mayor's office and complain!”

Henry and Violet watched Mrs. Wickett stomp across the street and into her own backyard.

“Wow,” said Henry. “Mrs. Wickett is one very upset person.”

Violet looked at all the bags and boxes. “I can see why she's upset,” said Violet softly. “There's a lot of trash here.”

“We'll take it all inside and start to sort it,” Henry told Kayla. “But Violet is right,Kayla. Isn't there any way you could keep the recycling center open until midnight so people can take their trash inside?”

“No,” said Kayla firmly. “If I left the center open that late, somebody could break into my studio.”

Kayla picked up two bags and carried them inside. Henry picked up a large box, and Violet picked up a smaller box.

“I think Mrs. Wickett is the person who's breaking into the center,” said Kayla as the three of them worked.

“If she is, we'll find out,” said Violet. “We will help you.”

Kayla stopped to look at Violet and Henry. “You will?” she asked.

“Yes,” said Henry. “We volunteer to help you sort recycled things, and we also volunteer to help find out who's breaking into the center.”

Suddenly Kayla smiled. “Okay,” she said. “You just might be the best volunteers ever!”

CHAPTER 3

Treasures from Scrap

J
essie and Benny helped Chad pick up everything that had been dumped out of the Other Stuff bin. During the whole time they had helped, Chad had not spoken to them at all. Jessie noticed that each time she or Benny put something into the bin, Chad walked over and looked into the bin.

Why is he looking at each thing we do?
she wondered.

Just as the three of them finished, Kayla arrived.

She smiled. “Thank you. This looks neat and clean,” she said.

“Where's the rest of it?” asked Chad.

Kayla looked confused. “The rest of what?” she asked.

“The rest of what goes in this Other Stuff bin,” he said.

“Oh,” said Kayla. “This is everything. There isn't any more.”

Chad shook his head. “There's got to be more. You must have a second bin marked Other Stuff.”

“No,” said Kayla. “We don't. But you can help Jessie and Benny sort all the dropped-off bags and boxes into the right bins.”

Kayla pointed to a stack of dropped-off recycling.

“I can show you how,” Benny said to Chad. “We did the same thing yesterday.”

Chad ignored Benny. “What happens to the things in the Other Stuff bin?” he asked Kayla. “Where do they go?”

“Well,” said Kayla, “each morning I look through the bin and take out anything thatlooks like somebody might want it. I put it on the shelf that runs along the shed. Or underneath the shelf, if it doesn't fit.” Kayla pointed to the shed.

Jessie noticed that all the things that had been on the shelf and under it yesterday were gone. The shelf was empty.

Chad looked toward the shelf. “Then what?” he asked.

“When people drop off their recycling, some of them look at what I have out there. Sometimes people take things home and reuse them. Yesterday, for example, I had an old caned chair out there. Somebody took it home with them,” said Kayla with a smile. “I'll bet they're going to weave new cane into the seat, and then they'll clean the chair and refinish it. Then they'll use it for years and years. Isn't that wonderful?” she asked.

“I think so,” said Jessie.

“Yes,” said Benny. “Henry can fix things and make them work. He fixed my bike.”

Chad stared at Benny. “Did your brother take the old chair?” he asked.