The Clue in the Recycling Bin (3 page)

“No,” said Benny, “but we saw it yesterday when we were here.”

Chad looked at the shelf, then at the bin, then at Kayla. “What happens when this bin gets full?” he asked.

“Trucks come twice a week,” Kayla explained. “Every Wednesday they take the glass, plastics, and newspapers. Every Saturday they take more glass, plastics, and newspapers. On Saturday they also take the cardboard and everything from the Other Stuff bin.”

“You're very interested in recycling,” Jessie said to Chad.

He frowned. “I guess I am,” he said. Then Chad turned to Kayla again. “Where do the trucks take the bins?” he asked.

“To a recycling plant in Watertown,” said Kayla as she turned to pick up a box of glass jars. “Benny and Jessie, can you show Chad how to sort the recycling?”

Jessie took the box from Kayla. “Sure,” she said. “The glass bins are over here,” she told Chad.

But Chad just stood there.

Kayla went back to work in her shed. Jessie and Benny began dropping the bottles and jars into the correct bins.

Benny stood on his tiptoes and looked into the bin for brown glass. Still, he could barely see over the top.

Jessie laughed. “Here's a wooden box to stand on,” she said. She turned the box over and put it down near Benny.

“I see a plastic bottle,” said Benny. “It doesn't belong with glass.”

Benny stood on his tiptoes on the wooden box, but he still wasn't tall enough to reach inside the bin.

“Here,” said Jessie, “I can reach it.”

She reached into the bin for brown glass and pulled out a plastic bottle. The green label read Doo-Dah Tea. Benny knew that the green label meant the tea was mint flavored. Benny took the bottle from Jessie and walked over to the plastics bin. He threw the bottle into the bin.

“The bottle was in the wrong place,” Benny said to Chad. “Somebody threw plastic into the Dumpster for brown glass.”

Chad suddenly looked interested. “What?” he asked. “What did you just say?”

Benny repeated what he had said.

“Hmmm,” said Chad. “That could be it. It could be in the wrong place.”

“
What
could be in the wrong place?” Jessie asked.

“Hmmm,” said Chad again. He didn't say anything else.

“Are you ready to help recycle now?” Benny asked.

“No,” snapped Chad. “I have something else to do.”

Jessie and Benny watched Chad walk away. He didn't say good-bye to them. He didn't say good-bye to Violet or Henry, either, when he walked past where they were working.

“What a grump,” said Jessie.

“Maybe he's just hungry,” said Benny.

Jessie laughed. “Oh Benny,” she said. “I don't need a watch when you're around, do I?”

“Why not?” asked her brother.

“Because when you're hungry in the middle of the day, I know it's time for lunch.”

The children finished sorting recycled materials and rode their bikes home along the bike path.

As they were pedaling, Violet heard footsteps behind them. She could tell they were the footsteps of somebody running very fast.

Before Violet could even turn around to see who was running, she heard somebody say, “Hi Benny! Hi Violet! Hi Jessie and Henry!”

It was Ethan. He waved his hand as he raced past them.

Violet saw that today Ethan was wearing shorts and a tank top.

“Ethan sure can run fast,” said Benny as he pedaled his bike.

“Yes,” said Jessie. “I'll bet he runs track. That looked like a track uniform he was wearing.”

When they arrived back home, the children propped their bikes against the garage and walked into the sunporch. Benny patted the big green frog and looked up at his bull piñata, which Henry had hung from the sunporch ceiling.

Mrs. McGregor was in the kitchen, reading the newspaper and drinking a bottle of tea.

Jessie noticed that the bottle had a green label. It was mint-flavored Doo-Dah Tea.

“What's in the news?” Jessie asked Mrs. McGregor.

“What's for lunch?” asked Benny at the same time.

Everybody laughed.

“I'll answer both questions after you all wash the recycling dirt off your hands and sit down. I've already set the table.”

After the children had washed, Mrs. McGregor brought out a plate full of vegetables and another plate full of kebabs—small pieces of chicken on skewers. Finally, she gave each of the children a bowl of dipping sauce.

“Chicken!” said Benny. “I love chicken.” He dipped a carrot into the sauce. “I love carrots, too.”

“This is so good,” said Violet. “Thank you, Mrs. McGregor.”

Mrs. McGregor smiled. “You're welcome,” she said.

“So,” said Jessie, pointing to the newspaper Mrs. McGregor had been reading, “what's in the news?” All the Aldens loved to read and get information, but Jessie loved it the best.

“Well,” answered Mrs. McGregor, “the police still haven't caught the person who robbed Jonah's Jewelry Store a few weeks ago. Somebody broke into the store around midnight, stole a bag of diamonds, and got away before the police arrived.”

“Did the store have a burglar alarm?” asked Henry.

“Yes,” said Mrs. McGregor, “but the thief must have moved very quickly—just like Benny is moving for more chicken!”

Indeed, Benny was in the middle of piling more kebabs onto his plate.

“If there's food around, Benny will eat it,” Henry kidded.

Then Henry also reached for more chicken. So did Jessie and so did Violet.

“Maybe the thief was Ethan,” said Benny. “Ethan moves very, very fast!”

Jessie explained to Mrs. McGregor who Ethan was.

“So,” asked Mrs. McGregor, “what will you children be doing the rest of the afternoon?”

“We're going back to the recycling center,” said Violet. “We have a mystery to solve.”

“A mystery?” asked Mrs. McGregor. “What kind of mystery can there be at a recycling center?”

“Somebody is breaking in at night and opening bags of leaves,” Benny explained. He stopped eating long enough to make a big circle with his arms, to show how big the bags of leaves were. “And they tipped over a big Dumpster, too,” he added. “The one your frog came from.”

“And my notebooks,” said Jessie.

“And Benny's piñata,” said Henry.

After the children had eaten lunch and helped Mrs. McGregor with the dishes, they pedaled back to the recycling center. Everything at the center looked neat and clean. All the bins were lined up, and except for the bags of leaves and grass in the corner, all the trash was off the ground.

“Mrs. Wickett should be happy with how neat this looks,” said Violet.

“Yes, but we worked all morning to help sort the bags and boxes,” said Henry. “After the center closes, people start leaving more boxes and bags out on the sidewalk. That's what gets Mrs. Wickett upset.”

Jessie and Benny hadn't met Mrs. Wickett, but Henry and Violet told them what had happened earlier that morning.

“I wonder why Kayla won't leave the center open at night,” Jessie said. “That way people could bring their recycling inside.”

“She said she doesn't want people going into her studio,” said Violet.

The center was very quiet. The children went to see if Kayla was in her studio.

The door was open and Kayla was inside, reading the newspaper.

“Oh, hi,” Kayla said when she heard them. She stood up quickly and spread the open newspaper across the top of a bench.

Jessie noticed that Kayla had placed the newspaper on top of something sparkly.

“I didn't expect you again until tomorrow morning,” Kayla said.

Jessie noticed that the page Kayla had been reading showed a picture of Jonah's Jewelry Store.
She's reading the same article that Mrs. McGregor was reading
, thought Jessie.
The one about the stolen diamonds.

“We can sort more recycling,” said Henry. “And we promised we would find out who's breaking into the center.”

“Oh.” Kayla frowned. “Well,” she said, “there's no more sorting to do this afternoon.” She glanced at the newspaper she had spread across the bench. “I'm very happy with the work you did,” she told the children. “Ethan didn't come in this morning, so I really needed the four of you.”

“We saw Ethan today,” said Benny. “He was running.”

“Yes,” said Kayla with a smile. “Ethan runs track and jumps hurdles. He goes to college on a track scholarship. He's always training.”

Suddenly Kayla clapped her hands. “You know what?” she asked the Aldens. “If you want, I can show you how I make jewelry from scrap. It's my own little way of recycling.”

“Yes, please,” said Violet. “I would love to see.”

Her brothers and sister were also interested in seeing how Kayla made jewelry from scrap.

“As you can see, my work space is very small,” said Kayla. “But I'm very organized.” She pointed to one end of her workbench. “That's where I keep tin cans. I make pins and earrings from them. I also make mobiles, like that one.” She pointed to a mobile of five colorful airplanes. “Each of those planes is made from a tin can.”

“Wow!” said Benny. “I like it!”

Kayla smiled. “This pile contains small pieces of brass, copper, silver, and gold. You'd be surprised how much metal is thrown away. I use the small pieces to make rings or bracelets or key rings.”

“These are beautiful,” said Violet, looking at some rings.

“Where do you sell your jewelry?” asked Henry as he looked at a key ring. “You don't have any signs outside that tell people you sell jewelry. How will they know about it?”

Kayla frowned. “I wanted Jonah's Jewelry Store to sell my rings and bracelets and pins,” she said, “but Mr. Jonah called them junk. All he cares about are diamonds.”

Then Kayla looked at Henry. “You've given me an idea,” she said. “I should put a sign on the outside of this shed. Maybe it should say ‘Recycled Jewelry,' or something like that.” Kayla seemed lost in thought.

Benny saw the sparkly thing under the edge of the newspaper that Kayla had put on the bench. “What's that?” he asked, pointing. “Is it a diamond?”

Kayla pulled the piece from underneath the newspaper.

Jessie noticed that Kayla pressed the newspaper down around whatever else it was covering.

“This is a key ring,” said Kayla, handing it to Benny. “The sparkling thing is just a piece of glass I found and polished.”

“It looks just like a diamond!” said Benny.

Kayla laughed. “Yes, it does,” she said.

Henry asked if he could see the key ring, and Benny gave it to him. “This is cool,” said Henry. “May I buy it?”

“Oh, I don't know,” Kayla mumbled.

“I really like it,” said Henry. He held the square of metal in his hand. He liked the way the piece of glass was set in the center. He saw that Kayla had drilled a hole into one end of the metal and put a key ring through the hole.

Finally, Kayla told Henry how much she wanted for the key ring.

Henry paid her. Then he put his keys on the new key ring and put the key ring on his belt.

“Well,” said Kayla, “Jessie has notebooks,Benny has a piñata, and Henry has a key ring. Every Alden except Violet has something from the recycling center.”

Kayla looked at Violet. “Have you seen anything you would like?” she asked.

Violet smiled shyly. “I'm still looking for something purple,” she said.

CHAPTER 4

Tamales and Tea

T
hat evening Grandfather and the children went out to Tío's Tacos for dinner.

Grandfather parked the car, and the five of them walked two blocks to the restaurant.

“Look,” said Jessie as they neared the restaurant. “There's Jonah's Jewelry Store. It's right across the street from Tío's Tacos.”

“I didn't know you were interested in jewelry,” Grandfather said to Jessie, who was already looking at the jewelry in Jonah's window.

“I'm interested that Jonah's Jewelry Store got robbed a few weeks ago,” Jessie explained. “I never noticed the store before.”

Violet and Henry and Benny looked in the window, also.

“I like Kayla's jewelry better,” said Violet.

“Me too,” said Henry. “And it's recycled.”

“I like Tío's Tacos,” said Benny, looking across the street at the restaurant.

“Okay, okay,” Grandfather said with a laugh. “Let's all cross the street.”

After they crossed the street, Benny stopped in front of the door to Tío's Tacos. Even though the Alden family visited Tío's Tacos often, Benny sometimes didn't pay attention to signs. This time he noticed a sign in the window. Because Benny was just learning to read, he wanted to read it. “Open,” he read. “Until. One a.m.” Benny frowned. “What does
a.m.
mean?” he asked.