“She told me I shouldn’t worry about dropping the wheel, because everyone knows what I was doing is wheely wheely hard to do!” He laughed. “It made me realize I was silly to be so worried about anyone noticing me drop the wheel. Benny was right: my catch was a good one.”
Benny agreed. “It was a good catch!”
CHAPTER 9
Skyride
The Aldens arrived at the gate to Stampede Park first thing the next morning. “I’d really like to go on the Skyride before we go home,” said Violet.
“We have a mystery to solve,” Jessie reminded her.
“But we need a break!” said Benny. “We can have a break and ride the Skyride.”
Stampede Park had a sleepy feel to it that morning as if the excitement of the first two days was over. “It’s almost like having the place to ourselves,” said Henry.
“Maybe we should take a break,” Jessie said, and she pointed to the ride. “Look at the line for the Skyride!”
“What line?” asked Benny.
“Exactly!” said Jessie.
Only three people were waiting for the ride, and the Aldens took their places behind them.
Soon they were up in the sky, Violet and Henry sitting together, and Jessie and Benny in the gondola behind them. Violet loved the feeling as they swept up into the air—like taking off in an airplane. The ride paused for a moment, and the seats bobbed up and down a bit. She didn’t feel too good about that, but then the ride started up again and went gliding over the fairgrounds.
Henry smiled at Violet. “All right?” he asked.
Violet gave a little wiggle of happiness. “Yes!”
Below them was a mosaic of colors. They could hear laughter and chatting, music and singing, and animals bleating and mooing. Smells of popcorn and hotdogs wafted their way.
“Hey!” called Jessie.
Violet had almost forgotten that Jessie and Benny were in the gondola behind. She turned to see her sister pointing down at someone.
Mr. Sutton was behind a building going through a garbage dumpster.
Violet twisted in her seat to watch him as the Skyride moved along.
Jessie and Benny were watching too.
“What do you think he’s doing?” Henry asked.
“I don’t know,” Violet said.
They watched until Mr. Sutton was out of sight.
“The ride is almost over,” said Henry. “We’ll try to find him.”
Everything looked a bit different once they were on the ground, but the Aldens set off quickly and managed to find the building they’d spotted on the ride. As they rounded the corner, Mr. Sutton was just disappearing around another corner, his shoulder bag looking heavy. He had another full bag in his hand.
“Follow him!” said Henry.
The Aldens followed Mr. Sutton through the crowds of fairgoers. The grounds had been almost empty when they arrived, but now the fair was filling up, so they had a hard time keeping their eyes on him. He was heading toward the Saddledome, the huge stadium shaped like a saddle. It was in a corner of Stampede Park that the Aldens had not yet explored.
Jessie chuckled and took his hand. “It’s a good thing our Mr. Sutton has on a dinosaursized cowboy hat, otherwise we’d never be able to follow him like this!
Mr. Sutton took a quick left through another long barn, and then another quick turn left between horse stalls. They children almost lost him, but Violet spotted him and called out, “Over there!”
Then they were all in front of the Saddledome with its red entranceway.
“Now what is Mr. Sutton doing?” said Jessie.
Mr. Sutton didn’t go into the building. He walked farther along and paused near a concrete column covered with posters. The Aldens moved closer and watched.
He was taking down a poster from the column. Then he took another. The children circled him.
“Mr. Sutton?” said Henry.
The old man started, but when he saw Henry, he smiled. “Isn’t this a nice one?” he said and held out the poster for the children to see. “Someone missed this poster,” he said, and Jessie looked closely at the thick, colorful paper to see what he meant. He pointed to the date on it. The date was from the previous summer. “Here, you hold it while I put this one back.”
She held the poster while he replaced the newer poster.
“This one,” he explained, pointing to the one he’d just put up again, “was covering that one. A poster left over from last summer is a treasure!” he said, his eyes shiny. He took it from Jessie and carefully rolled it up and slipped it inside a cardboard roll from his shoulder bag.
“What’s in your bag?” Benny asked Mr. Sutton. “Is it full of treasures?”
Mr. Sutton smiled. “Yes, it is.”
“Where do you keep all the treasures you find?” asked Henry.
“Somewhere we could see?” asked Jessie.
The old man looked at them. “You want to see my collection?”
The Aldens looked at each other. “We’d like that very much,” said Jessie. “Let’s find Aunt Judy, and she can take us. You can show us the way.”
“All right,” said Mr. Sutton. He sounded pleased.
They found Aunt Judy having lunch with Daisy at a picnic table by the river. They’d bought sandwiches for all of them and offered an extra one to Mr. Sutton too. They collected the sandwiches and headed toward Aunt Judy’s van.
Mr. Sutton directed her onto the highway leading to the far corner of town.
“I’m so pleased that all of you want to see my collection,” he said. “I love showing it. So many people just don’t care about artifacts.”
“We’re happy to see it,” said Aunt Judy.
“Wow! This sandwich is weird, but good,” said Benny from the back seat. “What is it?”
Aunt Judy laughed. “Deep fried jalapeno tofu on a bun, Benny,” she said. “I told you: it’s a competition here at the Stampede to see who can come up with the strangest food. That can mean deep-fried anything!”
Benny had to think about that for a moment. “Wow!”
Mr. Sutton directed Aunt Judy to pull into a driveway. “Here is my home,” he said. “Marian and her mother live upstairs and I live downstairs. I have a small barn out back.” He took them around to the back of the house to a little barn-shaped house.
He unlocked the door, and the Aldens were surprised to see a miniature museum inside. Cow Town Amateur Archives! said a sign hanging from the ceiling.
“These Stampede posters are just like the ones at the Glenbow Museum,” said Benny. “But some have water stains,” he added, looking closer.
“My little group of Cow Town Amateur Archivists rescued those from the flood,” Mr. Sutton said.
In the middle of the room were glass counters with shelves inside filled with coins, postcards, passes for midway rides, and all sorts of Stampede mementos.
“Oh, look!” said Violet, pointing to a large unfolded fan with a bucking bronco painted on it.
“This is amazing!” said Jessie, and Mr. Sutton smiled. Daisy was carefully looking through each item under the glass.
“Where does all this come from?” asked Aunt Judy.
“I’ve collected these treasures since I was a little boy going to the Stampede. I started the first year my father took me to the Stampede. My family didn’t have much money. My father would buy just the tickets to get in, and we couldn’t buy the special program with the descriptions of all the rodeo events and photos of the cowboys. I really wanted one of those. One day—I’ll never forget it—I found a program that someone had just abandoned on his seat. He hadn’t even bothered to throw it away in the trash. After that, I found all sorts of things. People don’t take care of treasures.”
“But you do,” said Violet. “And now all these treasures are here.”
“That’s right,” Mr. Sutton said.
“Oh!” said Aunt Judy from a corner. “Will you look at this!”
The children gathered around her. S
he was looking at a poster of herself on the far wall. Below the poster were some shelves with ticket stubs to her concerts, a funny old Stampede mug with her face on it, and an official Grandstand Show photo of Aunt Judy as a teenager.
On a nearby mannequin was a red-and-white child-size dress with a huge maple leaf in the middle of the skirt. Aunt Judy smiled. “That looks like a costume I wore years ago to celebrate Canada Day! Wherever did you find that?”
“Someone came across a box of costumes that were almost ruined by the flood,” replied Mr. Sutton. “She gave the box to me because she knows about my collection and the work of the Amateur Archives. I have a few friends who help me with this work.”
“We remember your float in the parade,” said Henry, and the rest of Aldens nodded in agreement.
“All these artifacts,” Jessie said slowly, “are things that need you to care for them.”
Mr. Sutton nodded. “Look at this!” he said, reaching into his pocket for something. Jessie had a feeling he was about to show the item his granddaughter had handed him on the riverbank the day before.
It was an ancient bottle cap from a bottle of Crush soda. “Marian found it to add to my collection,” he said gleefully. He motioned to another display, this one of bottle caps in all colors. Some looked very old.
Henry turned to his siblings. “I don’t think we’re going to find Daisy’s pin here.”
Mr. Sutton shook his head. “I never take things that don’t belong to me.”
Aunt Judy spoke up. “We know that. Mr. Sutton, thank you for showing us your collection.”
“Thank you,” he said. “I like when other people enjoy our collection.”
“But we still haven’t found my pin,” said Daisy.
Henry looked at his siblings. “Well,” he said, “if it’s not here, and Marian doesn’t have it…then there’s only one other person who would.”
Jessie spoke up. “And she likes costumes and anything to do with Young Canadians. Or being a Young Canadian.”
“I think we need to go visit down the street,” said Henry.
CHAPTER 10
The Other Greatest Outdoor Show on Earth
Mr. Sutton fetched Marian before the group set off down the street.
As they neared Clay’s house, they could hear music coming from the backyard. Daisy recognized it as a recording of one of the songs the Young Canadians performed. There was the sound of applause and cheering.
When the group rounded the corner of the house they found a low deck on the back of the house decorated to look like a stage. Somebody had painted props, including a barn and big, green chickens. Dried cornstalks lined the edge of the stage. A group of kids from the neighborhood were sitting on bales of hay in the yard below the stage.
Little Clay was taking bows onstage. The show was just finished, and some of the neighbor children drifted back to their own yards while a few of them stayed to play in a sandbox in the corner of the yard.
Little Clay saw the Aldens and their friends approach and climbed down the porch steps to meet them.
“Oh my,” said Aunt Judy when she caught sight of the pin on Little Clay’s shirt collar. “You have the pin.”
Little Clay looked at Aunt Judy and then at the rest of the group. She touched the pin. “Are you looking for this?” she asked. “I started to wonder about it. You were making such a big deal about Clay’s pin.”
Clay came out of the house just then and made his way over to the group. “What…?” he started to say as he saw his little sister undo the pin on her shirt.
She looked at the pin in her hands. “I found it on the floor,” mumbled Little Clay. Her voice was so soft they could hardly hear her. “I thought no one wanted it.”
“But it was in my locker,” said Daisy. She tried to keep her voice gentle but she felt frustrated. She was surprised Little Clay didn’t know not to take things that didn’t belong to her. Then Marian spoke up, and her voice was a whisper. “Little Clay is telling the truth,” she said. “It was on the floor. I know… because I was the one who dropped it.”
Daisy gasped. “Dropped it?”
Marian sounded miserable. “I was the one who picked it up when I saw your locker door open, Daisy. It was sitting there, and I…I just wanted to see it.”
Everyone stared at her, and she turned very red, reminding Henry of the first time he’d ever seen her.
“It’s like you said about making a mistake and trying to fix it,” she said. “I admit it crossed my mind to take it. But I thought I couldn’t do that because it wouldn’t be right. I started to put it back in your locker, Daisy. Then somebody came rushing through the room, ran by me, and knocked it right out of my hand. I searched everywhere, but I couldn’t find it!”
Clay looked at her. “I think that was me,” he said. “I was rushing around in a panic looking for my missing cowboy hat.”
Little Clay spoke up. “I saw the pin under the counter in the dressing room. It looked like it was forgotten. I thought having my own pin would make me into a Young Canadian too. It was just like Big Clay’s so I could return his.”
Clay spoke up and he sounded grumpy. “Can you just call me Clay?” he said. “I’m so tired of being ‘Big Clay.’”
Little Clay paused. “Okay. But you’ll have to call me Melody.”
“Melody?” asked Jessie.
“That’s my real name.” Melody stood straighter. “I’m going to be Melody from now on.”
“I think Melody’s a perfect name for a singer,” said Violet.
Melody looked at all of them. “I’m sorry,” she said. “I should have known somebody would be looking for this pin.”
“Give it to Daisy,” said Clay. “It’s hers.”
Melody handed it to Daisy, and Daisy pinned it to her own collar. Shyly Melody said, “It looks really nice on you.”
“Thank you,” said Daisy. “I’m glad to have it back. I’m even more glad to know that I don’t really need it—not like I thought I did. In fact, maybe I should think about giving it to the museum, like Mr. Sutton keeps saying.” She looked at Aunt Judy. “Would you be all right with that?”
Aunt Judy nodded. “I’m so happy you know you don’t really need it.”
Clay spoke up. “I think you should keep it, not for good luck, but because it was your aunt’s, and she’s a special person in your life.” He dug around in his pocket for his pin. “I found this at a yard sale. That makes it a great find, but not something really special for me. I think this one should go to the museum. What do you think, Melody?” he asked his little sister.
“That’s a good place for it,” she said.
“Hey!” said Aunt Judy. “Why don’t you and I and Daisy all sing a song together?”
“I only like to sing for my friends,” she said.
“Then think of us as friends,” said Jessie.
“Because we are your friends,” Violet added. It was true. She knew that she, Jessie, Henry, and Benny would never forget everyone they had met on this trip. They were so glad they’d come to Calgary.
Daisy reached for Melody’s hand, and they went up onto the deck. “Do you know the song about the cow in my soup?”
“That’s my favorite,” said Melody.
“Mine too,” said Aunt Judy. “I think the Aldens can sing with us.”
“And Mr. Sutton and Marian?”
“Everybody. You start us off, Daisy.”
And she did, loud and clear.
Turn the page to continue reading from the Boxcar Children Mysteries
CHAPTER 1
The Haunted Hollow
The Haunted Hollow Gift Shop, located on the first floor of a big yellow house with white shutters, was completely dark when Mrs. McGregor parked the car in front of it.
“I thought Mrs. Vanderhoff was expecting us,” Jessie Alden said, peering out the car window.
“She is,” said Mrs. McGregor, the Alden’s housekeeper. “I’m not surprised the shop is dark, since it’s clos
ed at night, but the lights in the upstairs apartment should be on.”
Ten-year-old Violet Alden rolled down the car window and leaned out. “I think there’s someone standing on the porch. It looks like a man in a cape, but he’s standing very still.”
Their dog, Watch, perched on Jessie’s lap, began to growl.
The youngest Alden, Benny, asked, “Can I see?” He stuck his head out and then jerked back in, bumping against Violet. “Roll up the window, quick! The man doesn’t have a head. It’s there on the ground!”
His older brother, Henry, took a flashlight out of the glove compartment. “It’s probably some sort of Halloween decoration.” He shone the light on the front of the shop. “It’s a scarecrow. He’s headless, all right, but the thing on the ground is just a carved pumpkin.”
Benny moved closer to Jessie. “The town of Sleepy Hollow is already turning out to be spooky.”
“There is something strange about that pumpkin head,” Violet said. “It’s all white.”
“Is it a ghost pumpkin?” Benny asked.
“I’ve seen white pumpkins at farm stands,” Jessie told him. “Some people like them because they’re unusual.”
“I think I like the orange ones better,” Benny declared. “No ghost pumpkins for me.”
“Are we sure this the right day?” Violet asked. “Maybe Mrs. Vanderhoff thought we were coming a different day.”
“No, I just talked to Gretchen on Tuesday. I told her your fall break started this Friday,” Mrs. McGregor said. The Aldens’ grandfather was away on a business trip, so Mrs. McGregor had brought them to the Hudson River Valley to visit one of her old friends, Mrs. Vanderhoff. The children were excited to see how the town of Sleepy Hollow celebrated Halloween, and they were looking forward to going on one of the new ghost tours run by Mrs. Vanderhoff’s daughter.
Henry Alden snapped on Watch’s leash and got out of the car with the dog. “Why don’t we ring the doorbell?”
The rest of them followed.
“The apartment door is on the side of the building,” Mrs. Vanderhoff said.
The Mystery at the Calgary Stampede Page 5
