Sydney: 4-in-1 Mysteries for Girls

by Jean Fischer

  Drake clammed up again, and his face turned red. Sydney noticed that he looked very uncomfortable. “Drake, I’m sorry for not getting to know you sooner, and even sorrier that I was suspicious of you and your dad.”

  “Me too,” Bailey agreed. “I guess I let my imagination get the best of me.”

  Nate Wright took off his cap and scratched his head. “Imagination isn’t a bad thing,” he said. “Don’t be sorry for letting it go when it wants to run, but remember that you have to reign it in once in a while. Otherwise, it will get the best of you.”

  “I’ll remember, Mr. Wright,” Bailey said. “So, how about it, Drake, what are you going to do with the D-94?”

  Drake sat on some tires stacked in a corner of the shed. “Well,” he said. “Dad and the captain think I need to promote it. You know, get it out there in the ocean in the daytime and show it off. They both think people are living in Corolla Light who have the money to back my invention and get it into the hands of the right people.”

  “Like companies that build recreational water vehicles and race boats and stuff?” Sydney asked. An idea was beginning to form in her head.

  “Yeah, exactly,” Drake replied. “Know anybody?”

  It was a rhetorical question. He didn’t really expect an answer, but Sydney had one for him.

  “Mr. Kessler,” she said.

  “Who?” Mr. Wright asked.

  “The Kessler twins’ dad,” said Sydney. “They have a house near my grandparents’ place. Mr. Kessler runs a company that builds race boats and other water vehicles. I’m sure he’d be interested in seeing the Wright D-94 Wave Smasher.”

  “‘God works for the good of those who love Him,’” said Captain Swain, smiling. “Where can we find Mr. Kessler?”

  “They’re in the Village at the crab fest,” said Bailey. “The whole family is there. I think we should all go over there and find them, before the crab boil and all the stuff that goes with it is eaten up.”

  “And if you want an audience at the beach when you show off your invention, you only have to tell the Kessler twins about it. They’re terrible at keeping secrets,” said Sydney.

  The Wrights washed up in an old sink in the equipment shed while the girls and the captain waited.

  “I have a couple more questions, if you don’t mind,” said Bailey.

  “Go ahead,” Mr. Wright told her.

  “Well, are the words on your bus a secret code?”

  “Bailey!” Sydney scolded.

  “Why would you even think that?” asked Drake.

  Bailey felt a little embarrassed, but she wanted answers. “If you read the first letters of the words backward they spell Roswell, like that place in New Mexico where the spaceship crashed back in 1947. I thought maybe your invention was a UFO.”

  Drake laughed out loud.

  “Okay, call me silly,” said Bailey. “But what is that weird coffee mug that lights up inside. We heard you say that it belongs to you. I thought it was an alien weapon.”

  Drake looked at her wide-eyed. “A what! It’s no weapon. It’s my idea for a pinhole flashlight that’s magnetically powered,” he said. “It’s another invention I’m working on. I’m hoping someday it’ll be a fun thing for kids to use when they go ghost-crab hunting.”

  “Okay,” Bailey said, slapping him on the shoulder. “You’ve passed the Camp Club Girls’ interrogation. You and your dad are definitely not from outer space. Now, let’s go find the Kesslers.”

  The Wright D-94 Wave Smasher

  Hi, Camp Club Girls.

  Well, last night, at the Wrights’ equipment shed, we solved the mysteries of the UFO and Captain Swain. The Wrights aren’t space aliens, and Captain Swain isn’t a ghost.

  Drake has invented an awesome water vehicle called the Wright D-94 Wave Smasher (pictures attached). That’s what we’ve seen over the water at night. He’s been testing it. It’s also what made the footprints on the beach and whooshed by us that day. Captain Swain helped Drake get a patent on it. The D-94 can race like a speedboat, jump waves, and hover or fly about 30 feet over the water. And Drake invented a new water sport to go with it. He doesn’t have a name for it yet, but it’s played in the dark, and the lights on the vehicle have a lot to do with the strategy of how its played.

  Drake is really shy (Bailey says to tell you he’s really cute too). He was nervous about showing his invention to anyone. We convinced him he has to or else he’ll never sell it and become famous like his distant cousins the Wright brothers. So tonight he’ll demonstrate the wave smasher at the beach. One of our neighbors runs a company that makes racing boats. I introduced him to Drake last night, and he can’t wait to see the D-94 in action. Bailey and I are going to the beach now to watch.

  That’s all we know. Mystery solved. The only question that’s still hanging out there is: What really happened to the sailors on the Carroll A. Deering? Nobody knows for sure. Maybe you guys can all come here next summer, and we can crack that case together.

  All for now, Sydney

  P.S. from Bailey: I’m really sorry that I called Drake “Digger.” The captain said, “Do not judge according to appearances, but judge with righteous judgement.” I think Drake Wright and his dad are awesome! Oh, and we forgot to tell you, Captain Swain is the nephew of the old Captain Swain, the lighthouse keeper. He dresses like the old captain when he volunteers at the lighthouse. Syd says to tell you the lighthouse lady is on vacation. Aliens did not abduct her.

  Sydney put her binoculars and cell phone into her backpack, zipped it shut, and slung it over her shoulder. “Let’s go,” she said to Bailey.

  Bailey went into the bathroom to check herself out in the mirror. She smoothed her straight, black hair and applied strawberry lip gloss to her thin, pale lips. “Can I use some of your banana-coconut body spray?” she asked Sydney.

  “Sure,” Sydney agreed.

  Bailey spritzed some onto her arms and her neck. “So, do you think he’s going to buy it?” she asked.

  “Who?” Sydney wondered.

  “Do you think that the twins’ dad is going to buy Drake’s idea?”

  “I really think he might,” Sydney answered. “He sure liked the Wave Smasher when he saw it in the Wrights’ equipment shed, and since we gave the twins the job of spreading the word around Corolla, I think people will come out to see it.”

  Bailey took one last look in the mirror. Then she picked up her backpack and slipped her arms through its straps. “Okay, let’s go,” she said.

  At twilight, the girls walked down the beach to Tuna Street. A crowd was starting to gather. Families spread blankets in the sand and sipped bottles of water. Several big floodlights were there to illuminate the beach, and a small set of bleachers was set up for special guests who might want to buy Drake’s invention. The Wrights’ bus was parked at the end of the access road. Drake, his dad, and the captain were rolling the D-94 out of a trailer that was hitched onto the back bumper. When Captain Swain saw the girls, he tipped the brim of his cap. “Good evening, young ladies,” he said.

  “Hi, Captain. Hi, Drake!” Bailey said, brightly.

  “Hi,” Drake responded without looking up.

  “A lot of people are here,” Sydney said as she noticed more curious onlookers arriving in cars, on bikes, and on foot. Several men in business suits, looking quite out of place, stood at the end of Tuna Street talking with Mr. Kessler. “I guess Carolyn and Marilyn got busy getting the word out.”

  “I guess so,” Drake replied.

  Bailey saw that he seemed nervous. “Hey, just imagine you’re one of the Wright brothers,” she said. “I’m sure they drew a big crowd with their flying machine. It’s your turn now, Drake. Trust me. They’ll love you.”

  The corners of Drake’s lips curled into a tiny smile. “I don’t want them to love me,” he said. “I just want them to love my D-94.”

  “That too!” said Bailey.

  “My boy,” the captain said. “This is your shining moment. I don’t
think we should just launch the craft without a fanfare. Why, when they launch a ship there are speeches, and sometimes they even smash a bottle on the bow—”

  “I don’t want anything smashed on my invention!” Drake exclaimed.

  “No, no, I didn’t mean that.” The captain chuckled. “I just think that we should make this an occasion. Do you still have that megaphone in the bus?”

  Drake’s face turned beet red.

  “It’s under the driver’s seat,” Mr. Wright said. “I agree with you, Cap. We should make this special.”

  Drake gulped. “Do I have to do all the talking? I mean do I have to tell everybody about my invention?”

  “No,” said the captain. “I’ll introduce you as the inventor and give a brief account of what you are about to show them. I think, for now, we should keep the water sport part to ourselves. That’s something that you can discuss privately with Mr. Kessler and his friends. You can meet with them after the demonstration and answer their questions.”

  The captain went to the bus to get the megaphone.

  By now, the crowd was trying to push toward the Wrights to get a better look at the shiny machine. “Get back, please!” Nate Wright shouted. Everyone took a giant step backward. Before long, the beach security team showed up and stretched a line of yellow tape between two posts that they pounded into the sand. They patrolled the line, telling onlookers to stay behind the line. The Kessler twins showed up, and the officers let them through.

  “We told security that they’d better get down here,” said Carolyn.

  “We told them to hurry, because we needed crowd control,” Marilyn added. “Tons of people are here already!”

  The only time Sydney had seen the beach more packed was on the Fourth of July. “How many people did you tell?” she asked.

  “Hundreds!” said Carolyn.

  “At least!” added Marilyn. “When we got home from the crab fest last night, we printed up flyers on our computer. We told everyone to come down here at eight o’clock tonight because a UFO was going to be on the beach.”

  “We used up two big packs of paper—” said Carolyn.

  “And a whole black ink cartridge,” said Marilyn. “Then we got up early this morning and started putting them in all the mailboxes.”

  “And after that, we went to the shopping centers,” said Carolyn. “And we stuck flyers under the windshield wipers of all the cars in the parking lots.”

  “But then a guy came out and told us not to do it anymore, so we left,” said Marilyn.

  Captain Swain stepped out of the bus with the megaphone in his hand. He turned it on and pointed it toward the crowd. “Testing one, two, three, four. Testing.” His deep voice boomed across the beach. He turned the megaphone off.

  “I thought you didn’t like crowds, Captain,” Sydney said.

  “I don’t,” the captain replied. “But this is an historical day. Why, once people see the Wrights as serious twenty-first-century inventors, we can only imagine how their inventions will someday change the world.”

  As twilight faded to darkness, Mr. Kessler and his friends ducked under the yellow tape. The twins’ dad wore khaki shorts, a white tee shirt, and flip-flops. His friends were obviously not as prepared for the beach. They had taken off their suit coats, rolled their pants legs above their knees, and were barefoot. “Let’s get this show on the road,” Mr. Kessler said. “Are you ready, Drake?”

  “Yes, sir,” Drake replied.

  Mr. Kessler and his friends joined several others who were seated on the bleachers.

  Bailey was at Drake’s side now. She stood on her tiptoes and whispered to him. “You can do it. Just keep repeating to yourself, ‘I can do all things through Him who strengthens me.’ That’s what I did when I climbed the lighthouse.”

  Drake’s face turned redder than ever.

  The captain flipped a switch inside the bus, and floodlights wired from the bus turned the beach from darkness to daylight. He then walked to the front of the crowd and stood with the megaphone in his hands. “Ladies and gentlemen, boys and girls, may I please have your undivided attention?”

  A hush fell over the crowd.

  “I have the great privilege of introducing one of our own, Mr. Drake Wright!” He swept his left hand toward Drake.

  Bailey, Sydney, and the twins moved out of the way, leaving Drake by himself next to the Wright D-94 Wave Smasher. They began to clap loudly.

  “Let’s hear it for Drake!” Bailey shouted. Then everyone on the beach clapped and cheered.

  The captain continued, “Drake and his dad, Nate Wright, are well known around Corolla as inventors, and tonight Drake will show you an invention he has worked on tirelessly for the past several years. It is a recreational watercraft unlike anything you have ever seen. As soon as you have watched it in action, you will want a Wright D-94 Wave Smasher of your very own. I won’t take up your valuable time explaining the fine points of his amazing invention. I will, instead, let it speak for itself. Drake, my boy, take it away!”

  Drake climbed into the cockpit and pulled down the bubble-like cover. He started the engine and the soft whirring sound began. He pushed a button making the four snowshoe-like feet pop out of the bottom of the vehicle. Then another button raised the D-94 up on its legs. It started walking toward the water, and people in the crowd gasped.

  “You haven’t seen anything yet, ladies and gentlemen,” the captain said. “Prepare to be amazed.”

  When Drake got within several feet of the water, he let the D-94 lift and hover a few yards above the beach. Then it started rotating.

  “It walks. It hovers. It even spins!” the captain announced. “Around and around she goes!”

  Drake let his invention spin faster and faster until it looked like a top spinning out of control. The crowd oohed and aahed. Then, slowly, Drake let the craft rotate counterclockwise to a complete stop. He set it down in the ocean, just offshore. The legs and feet folded up into the bottom of the vehicle and it floated.

  “How about a game of leapfrog?” the captain asked the crowd.

  With the spotlights fixed on his craft, Drake pushed the control stick forward, and the D-94 sailed out to sea, leaping over waves that got in its way. The crowd went wild. Captain Swain flicked a switch, and all the spotlights went dark. “Keep your eyes fixed on the horizon,” the captain said. “The best is yet to come.”

  “Now what?” Carolyn asked in the darkness.

  “Yeah, now what?” Marilyn repeated.

  “Just watch,” Sydney answered. “He’ll make it look like a UFO.”

  “He’s so awesome,” Bailey remarked. “He can make the D-94 do just about anything.”

  Offshore, Drake turned on the signal light. It flashed bright white in a series of dots and dashes. “He says, ‘Watch this, Dad,’” Sydney heard Mr. Wright say as he stood nearby. “I’m so proud of you, son,” Mr. Wright said, although Drake couldn’t hear him.

  The Wright D-94 Wave Smasher lit up like a Christmas tree, first with red lights chasing around its middle, then with multicolored lights flashing on and off. As the crowd watched, Drake made the craft shoot like a bullet across the water. Its lights provided the only clue as to where it was. To make things even more interesting, Drake sometimes turned off all the lights and then changed places before turning them back on.

  “He’s over there!” someone in the crowd shouted.

  “No, he’s over there!”

  “Look at how fast that thing can move.”

  “You can’t tell if it’s on or above the water!”

  Drake put on an amazing show before bringing the craft back to shore. As he approached the beach, Captain Swain flipped the spotlights back on. The D-94 sailed to the water’s edge and lifted off the sand with a puff of air. It scooted across the beach to where the bus was parked, and then Drake set it down to rest in the sand. He killed the engine and pulled back the cover on the cockpit.

  “That was more wonderful than anything I could e
ver have imagined,” said Bailey.

  “Wow, that’s saying a lot,” Sydney replied. “You have the wildest imagination of anyone I’ve ever known.”

  “Ladies and gentlemen,” the captain shouted. “Let’s give a big round of applause to our resident inventor, Mr. Drake Wright!”

  Everyone on the beach applauded, and many tried to get past the yellow tape. “Stay back!” Mr. Wright shouted.

  “That’s all for tonight,” the captain announced. “There will be plenty more opportunities for you to see the Wright D-94 Wave Smasher in action. And before long, you might even have one of your very own.” He shut off the megaphone and climbed down the ladder.

  “Drake,” Captain Swain said, approaching the D-94, “you were incredible!”

  “Yes, you were!” Bailey agreed.

  “We think so too,” said Carolyn and Marilyn.

  Drake climbed out of the cockpit, and Sydney shook his hand.

  “You did that just like a pro,” she said. “I was praying for you the whole time.”

  “Thanks, Sydney,” Drake said with a lot more confidence in his voice. “I felt your prayers. I couldn’t have done it without you guys—”

  “And the Greatest Helper of them all,” said the captain, pointing up at the sky.

  “He means God,” Sydney whispered to the twins.

  Mr. Kessler had climbed down from the bleachers and was walking toward them.

  “Here comes our dad,” said Marilyn.

  “Drake.” Mr. Kessler said in a serious voice. “My associates and I would like to have a word with you and your dad. Over there, please.” He motioned to the bleachers where his friends were waiting. The Wrights followed Mr. Kessler through the sand.

  “What do you think will happen?” Sydney asked.

  “They’re going to set him up,” Carolyn said.

  “Huh?” said Bailey.

  “We overheard our dad talking on the phone this morning,” said Marilyn. “He said that if Drake’s demonstration went well tonight, his company will start manufacturing the Wright D-94 Wave Smasher.”