The Mystery of the Screech Owl (4 page)

“I like it,” said Benny. Any place that served nothing but sweets was okay in his book.

“It is good,” Grandfather agreed. “But we need water or something to drink.” He tried to catch the waitress's eye, but she avoided him. After a few minutes, he walked over to her and asked for some water.

Berthilde stomped back, carrying five glasses of water. She set the glasses on the table so hard, water sloshed out.

Jessie mopped the spilled water with her napkin. “The waitress is as nice as pie to those other customers, but she sure doesn't like us.”

“She's never seen us before,” said Grandfather. “Maybe she's tired of tourists who don't talk to her. It's hard being a waitress.”

When Berthilde returned to clear their plates, Henry said, “We enjoyed visiting the sugar bush today. We're staying just outside of Nibelle, at Broken Moon Pond.”

Berthilde dropped Henry's plate with a clatter. “Broken Moon Pond! That's the old Dupré camp, is it not?”

“Yes,” replied Grandfather. “I used to come here as a boy. Now the camp is for sale.”

The waitress made a dismissive sound. “No one will buy that place. It's haunted!”

CHAPTER 4

“
Do Not Go Back!
”

“H
aunted!” Violet cried loudly. “How?”

Berthilde lowered her voice dramatically. “Strange noises have been heard after dark. And things appear and disappear. It must be the work of a ghost!”

“There
is
a ghost!” Benny breathed. “I knew it!”

“Do not go back to Broken Moon Pond!” Berthilde warned. “Get in your car and drive home.”

“The camp is not haunted,” Grandfather said reasonably. “You know ghosts aren't real, Benny. Anyway, we're staying for the sugar festival.”

Outside, the children began speaking all at once.

“Suppose the camp
is
haunted,” Benny said.

“We did find a boat,” Violet added. “But when we tried to show it to the Anderson kids, it was gone.”

In the car, Grandfather spoke firmly, “I'm sure there is a logical explanation for everything.”

“That's what I think,” Henry put in. “What was strange was the way that waitress acted.”

“Henry's right,” agreed Jessie. “She didn't want to serve us, that's for sure. And when she did, she dropped things and forgot our drinks.”

“Maybe she's new at that job,” suggested Grandfather as they drove into Nibelle. “I'm going to stop at the market and pick up something for dinner.”

He parked in front of the real estate agency. The children decided to wait outside.

“Look,” Benny said, pointing to a blue station wagon next to them. “That's the Andersons' car.”

“And here they come out of the office,” said Violet. “I wonder if they bought Broken Moon Pond. Let's go talk to them!”

Patty met them with a glum face. “Hi, guys. We didn't buy the camp yet.”

“Why not?” asked Jessie.

“Mr. Cartier couldn't find the phone number of one of the guys selling the camp,” Aaron answered.

Jessie could tell he was disappointed. “Mr. Cartier isn't very organized,” she said. “He gave us the wrong keys because his assistant is away. His files are a mess, I bet.” If Jessie worked there, she'd be able to find every single piece of paper.

“I have a weird feeling about all of this,” Patty said.

“What kind of weird feeling?” Violet asked.

Patty shrugged. “I'm not sure. But something isn't right. People in this town treat us like — well, like they don't want us here.”

The Alden children looked at one another. Then Henry said, “It's funny, but we have the same feeling — that people don't want
us
here, either.”

Jessie had been mulling over the events of the last few days. “Strange stuff has been happening ever since we got here. First, we found that notebook —”

“What notebook?” inquired Jacob.

“A field journal,” Henry said. “We believe it was kept by a kid years and years ago.”

“Can we see it?” Aaron asked.

“Sure,” said Jessie. “When we get back to camp. Here comes Grandfather now. Let's meet by the dock later.”

James Alden stopped to speak briefly with Mr. and Mrs. Anderson. Then he put a sack of groceries in the trunk and got into the car.

Shaking his head, he said, “That's too bad about the Andersons. They are anxious to buy the camp and now there's a delay with the paperwork.”

“Can you help them?” Benny wanted to know.

“I'll see what I can do,” said Grandfather as they drove toward Broken Moon Pond.

Back at the camp, the kids put away the groceries.

Jessie retrieved the field journal from her dresser, then made sure everyone had sweaters in case it became chilly again.

They ran outside and down to the pond. The sun was out, dappling the water with golden sparkles.

Patty, Aaron, and Jacob were waiting by the dock.

“Emma's taking a nap,” Patty said. “She's a good kid, but she's too little to hang out with us. Is that the journal?”

Jessie held it out. “Be careful. It's really old.”

Patty took the book and slowly turned the pages. “Wow. This kid was a good artist. Look at that owl. It looks real.”

The owl picture was Benny's favorite, too. The artist had drawn the owl flying against a full moon. The bird seemed as if it were swooping off the page.

At the top, a wing feather had been sketched in detail. Beneath the feather was a single word. Benny was about to ask what the word was when Patty turned the page.

The next drawing showed a wildcat with long, thick fur and tufted ears.

“What is that?” asked Violet, trying to read upside down. “A lynx? I've never heard of it.”

Henry nodded. “I have. It's related to the bobcat, only more rare. People used to hunt them for their fur. I wonder if the kid who drew this actually saw one.”

“He must have,” said Violet. “This drawing wasn't made from a photograph. It was done fast, as if he were watching the cat from someplace high. See the angle?”

Now that Violet pointed it out, Jessie could see the cat was sketched quickly but expertly. Still, the energy of the cat came through in only a few pencil strokes.

“Let's take a hike,” suggested Jacob. “We haven't done much walking since we got here.”

“We haven't, either,” said Henry. “Excellent idea.”

Jessie tucked the field notebook in her pocket and they walked around the pond and onto a path just beyond the camp.

“Boy, it's creepy in here,” Benny remarked as they entered the woods.

“Canadian forests are pretty dense,” Aaron said. “The evergreen trees make it dark in here.”

Just then something rustled in a nearby shrub.

“Look!” Patty cried.

A brown animal with a white stomach, long ears, and huge feet bounded out of the brush.

“That's the biggest bunny I've ever seen!” Benny exclaimed.

Henry chuckled. “It wasn't a bunny, Benny. That was a snowshoe hare.”

“Hair?” Puzzled, Benny tugged at his own bangs.

“No, a hare,” Henry explained. “It's related to the rabbit, but different. The babies are born with fur and their eyes open. Baby rabbits are born without fur and their eyes shut.”

“There's a picture in the journal,” said Jessie, pulling the notebook from her pocket. “Here it is. You're right, Henry. That was a snowshoe hare. The artist drew it in its spring phase, it says. Brown and white. In the winter, it would be all white, to blend in with the snow. And in the summer, it's brown.”

“This notebook is great,” Aaron remarked. “I never knew so much about animals before.”

As they walked on, they made other discoveries. Violet spotted the tiny tracks of a deer mouse on a snowy bank. They knew the tracks were made by a deer mouse because the artist had drawn them in the notebook.

“I wish we knew who this person was,” Jessie said wistfully. “I feel like we know him, through his drawings.”

“How come you say ‘he'?” asked Patty. “It could be a ‘she.'”

“I don't think so,” said Jessie. “I don't know why, but I feel like the person who kept this notebook was a boy.”

Violet was watching a flock of geese fly overhead, heading north.
Has there ever been a prettier sight
? she wondered. It was so peaceful in the woods, with birds and animals around.

Then she had a thought.

“I think the person was here,” she said suddenly.

“Where?” Henry asked.

“Right here, in these woods,” Violet answered. “I can't explain it. Like Jessie, it's just a feeling I have.”

“Do you think his ghost is here?” Benny asked fearfully.

Violet patted her little brother's shoulder. “No, not his ghost. It's like the feeling we get when we're in an old house. You can tell it's been lived in by other people a long time ago. I believe the journal-keeper walked where we are years and years ago.”

The kids stopped at a fork in the path.

“Which way?” asked Jacob.

“Let's go that way,” said Henry, pointing right.

He didn't know why, but he had a feeling that something important was at the end of the trail.

The path wound around a steep hill. Then the dense woods opened up into a clearing.

The children pushed brambles away, staring with round eyes.

In the center of the clearing stood an immense black maple tree with wide-spreading branches.

And nestled among the sturdy branches was a wondrous sight.

CHAPTER 5

The Amazing, Fantastic Tree House!

V
iolet gasped. “Wow!”

“Amazing!” said Aaron, awestruck.

“Fantastic,” was Jessie's reaction.

Benny summed it up. “It's an amazing, fantastic tree house!”

And it was. None of the children had ever seen a tree house like this one.

Sheltered by the welcoming branches of the maple, the tree house had been built on three levels. The main part curved around the trunk, with the tree growing out of the center of the roof. A catwalk surrounded the larger structure on all four sides.

Above the main section were two smaller additions, one above the other. They were reached by stairs. Each section had a slanted shingled roof and glass windows. A large railed platform topped off the fantastic dwelling.

“What a neat place!” Benny exclaimed, running to the bottom of the tree. “How do we get up there?”

Henry glanced around for a ladder or handholds. But nothing was nailed to the bark of the huge maple.

“I see a hole cut in the platform,” he said, tipping his head back. “But where is the ladder?”

Violet noticed a wooden stick near the base of the tree.
That's funny
, she thought. The branches started way up. Why was one growing so near the roots?

Then she saw the knobby top of the branch had been carved like an owl's head.

“Look,” she said, touching the owl's head.

As she did, a ladder dropped from the platform overhead. The ladder was made of thickly woven rope.

Jessie stared at her sister in astonishment. “How did you do that?”

“I don't know,” Violet replied, amazing herself. “All I did was pull this carved thing.”

Aaron and Henry studied the owl's-head stick.

“Pretty cool,” Aaron pronounced. “This is really a lever. A line runs up the side of the tree, but it blends in with the bark so you can barely see it.”

“When you pulled the stick, it tripped some mechanism on the platform,” Henry added. “And that caused the ladder to fall down.” He pushed the lever backward. The ladder was whisked up and hidden from sight.

“Cool,” said Benny. “Let me try.” He pulled the lever and the rope ladder fell down again.

“Who wants to go first?” asked Jacob.

“Not me,” Patty replied, backing away. “I don't like heights.”

“This ladder could be rotten,” Henry stated. “I'm the heaviest, so I'll test it.”

He put one foot in the lowest rung and bounced a little. The ladder held. Then he climbed up cautiously and pulled himself onto the platform.

With a thumbs-up signal, he said, “Who's next?”

Now everyone was eager to climb the ladder, even Patty. When they were all up on the platform, Jessie twisted the knob on the door.

“It's not locked,” she remarked.

“Who would rob a tree house?” asked Benny. “Especially one that you can't get up into.”

“Good point.” Jessie pushed hard on the door. The hinges creaked with disuse. One by one, they all stepped inside.

No one spoke for a minute.

“This house,” Henry pronounced, “is absolutely perfect.”