Pet Shop Mystery

by Gertrude Chandler Warner

  Violet was worried. “They’re all confused. Let’s get Mrs. Tweedy’s handkerchiefs. We have to catch some of them before they hurt themselves bumping into things.”

  “Good idea,” Henry said.

  Each of the children grabbed a cloth to toss over the birds so they could catch them one by one.

  “There!” Henry said when he caught his third parakeet under a handkerchief.

  Violet floated a purple bandanna over a bright yellow parakeet. “We only caught a few birds, Jessie. Do you think any of them flew outside?”

  Before Jessie could answer, the girls heard Benny yell from the front of the store. “Come here, everybody! Wait till you see!”

  Everybody ran. What a surprise when they got to the front of the store! A flock of canaries and parakeets was crowded on the floor gobbling up birdseed.

  Henry gave Benny a pat on the head. “Smart boy, Benny. You used birdseed to get all the missing birds together.”

  “But, but—” Benny began.

  Jessie interrupted. “Thanks, Benny. It’s a lot easier to catch them this way. They are too busy eating to fly away.”

  “But, but—” Benny still couldn’t get a word in.

  “Whoa, Benny,” Henry said. “Looks like you got carried away with your good idea.” Henry looked up and down the aisle. Boxes of bird, fish, and turtle food were half opened. Food was spilled on the floor, on shelves, and on counters.

  “Why did you throw down so much food to catch the birds—even fish food?” Henry asked.

  “That’s what I was trying to tell you! I didn’t spill the food—it was spilled already. The birds found it by themselves,” Benny said excitedly.

  “I know you wouldn’t spill a thing if you could help it, Benny,” Jessie said. “We just thought you had a smart idea. In a way, whoever spilled this at least helped keep the birds in the store. With the door open, they might have escaped. Let’s get the rest of them into their cages.”

  The Aldens had no trouble rounding up the birds into their cages.

  “There,” Henry said when all the birds were safe and sound in the bird room. “Twenty-two parakeets and eight canaries and … Oh, no, wait. Look who’s missing.”

  “Rainbow!” Benny shouted.

  “George!” Violet said.

  They searched up and down every aisle. They checked under every counter. They didn’t spy the macaw’s rainbow-colored feathers anywhere or hear George’s little yips, either.

  “I guess they weren’t interested in birdseed. I’ll go outside and look around,” Henry told the others. “They might be in the storage building.”

  Violet was worried. “I hope they’re not outside. It’s so chilly.”

  Henry patted Violet’s cheek. “We’ll find Rainbow and George. Maybe Mr. Fowler was driving them to the Tropical Animal Society. We’ll keep looking, and we’ll make a few phone calls,” he added before heading out the door.

  Jessie pulled out the phone book. “Let’s see. Nothing under Tropical Animal Society. I guess it’s not close to Greenfield. I’ll call Mr. Fowler. Maybe he’s home by now.”

  Before Jessie could dial the number, the phone rang.

  “Who could be calling?” Violet asked. “Nobody knows we’re here.”

  Jessie picked up the receiver. “Yes, this is the Pretty Bird Pet Shop.” She paused. “Yes! Yes, we are missing a parrot from the shop. A rainbow-colored macaw. Is she all right? I’ll send someone right away. Just keep her safe so she doesn’t get away again. Oh, thank you. Thank you.”

  Jessie turned to the other children. She was smiling from ear to ear. “Guess what? The volunteer fire department has Rainbow! Mrs. Doolittle, that elderly lady who comes in here, spotted her in a tree and called the fire department.” Jessie stopped to catch her breath. “The firehouse is right nearby. So they got a ladder and some fruit and got her to come down.”

  By this time Henry had returned and overheard everything. “That solves half of our problem. I’ll go over to the firehouse with the big cage and bring her back.”

  Benny handed Henry his new baseball jacket. “Here’s my jacket.”

  Henry made a funny face. “What for? I’m not cold. And it sure wouldn’t fit me.”

  Benny made a funny face back at Henry. “It’s not for you, Henry. It’s to put over the cage to keep Rainbow warm.”

  “Good idea,” Henry said on his way out the door. “See you later.”

  “We’ll stay here and clean up,” Jessie told her brother.

  The four children knew where to find the brooms, dustpan, and a wastebasket. There was an awfully big mess to clean up.

  Soo Lee bent down with a dustpan and waited for Violet to sweep the spilled fish food into it. “Look at these teeny footprints, Violet,” she exclaimed. “They go all over the fish food.”

  The other children came over to see what Soo Lee was talking about. Sure enough, footprints, sometimes two, sometimes four, trailed through the powdery fish food.

  Now Jessie looked alarmed.

  “What’s the matter?” Violet asked her sister.

  “I think these footprints belong to George,” Jessie answered. “But George isn’t here. And now that we know Rainbow wasn’t with Mr. Fowler, that must mean George escaped, too.”

  Jessie was on the phone right away. “I’m sorry to bother you about another animal,” she said when she got through to the firehouse. “Could you watch out for a lost monkey? His name is George. He belongs to the Pretty Bird Pet Shop, too.” Jessie paused. “Thank you. Yes, I’ll be here.”

  “Rainbow!” Violet called out when Henry returned.

  Henry removed Benny’s jacket covering the large cage. “Here she is. I’m afraid she’s a little nervous with all the excitement. She dropped some feathers.”

  Violet opened the cage door to offer a sunflower seed to Rainbow, but the bird refused it. “She’s not hungry,” Violet said quietly. She gathered up several pretty feathers and gave one to Soo Lee and one to Benny. “Keep these so we’ll always remember Rainbow. I hope she goes to the zoo soon. She looks so sad.”

  Henry carried the cage to the bird room. “She’ll get nice and warm in here.” He helped everyone straighten out the store. “We’ll have everything shipshape for tomorrow when Mr. Fowler comes in. I want to ask him about Rainbow and George and why the store door was open this afternoon.”

  “What about Buster and Beau?” Jessie demanded. “Tomorrow we have a lot of things to talk about with Mr. Fowler.”

  “Fowler. Fowler,” Grayfellow said. “Fowler, Mr. Fowler.”

  CHAPTER 10

  Monkey in the Middle

  George was still missing the next day. The Aldens were under orders from Mr. Fowler. They were not to return to the Pretty Bird Pet Shop until the monkey was found.

  The Aldens asked every one of their newspaper customers about George. No one had seen him. They checked every yard they passed. But still, no George.

  Jessie began to roll up a newspaper to deliver. Something caught her attention on the front page. “Look at this!” She read an article out loud:

  Monkey Missing

  A Woolly South American monkey named George escaped from the Pretty Bird Pet Shop over the weekend. Mr. Walter Fowler, manager of the Pretty Bird Pet Shop, believes the monkey and a South American macaw both escaped when young employees of the shop left the store unlocked Sunday morning. The macaw was later recovered by the fire department. The monkey is still missing. Anyone with information about the lost monkey should call the Pretty Bird Pet Shop.

  “Oh, no,” Jessie said. “We didn’t leave the shop unlocked. Mr. Fowler did. Why won’t he give us a chance to explain how we found the keys and everything?”

  Henry put his arm around Jessie’s shoulder. “He’s probably afraid Mrs. Tweedy will fire him if he admits his mistake.”

  “If only he’d listen,” Jessie said. She kicked some leaves along the sidewalk on the way to Main Street.

  When the Aldens reached the corner, Mrs
. Doolittle spotted the children before they saw her. She marched over. Her shopping bag swung from one arm and her black umbrella from the other. “I understand you lost Mrs. Tweedy’s new animals!” she said before the Aldens could even say hello. “I told Mrs. Tweedy and Mr. Fowler the same thing. If they needed extra help in the shop, they should look for a responsible adult.”

  Benny tried to hold back what he had to say, but he couldn’t. “We didn’t lose George and Rainbow. Somebody forgot to lock the door.”

  Mrs. Doolittle looked at Benny over the tops of her glasses. “Indeed! I’ll have you know I went by the shop yesterday afternoon and looked through the front window. I saw you making a mess in there.”

  Why was Mrs. Doolittle always so upset with the Aldens?

  “We were cleaning up,” Soo Lee explained in her squeaky voice. “We didn’t spill the food.”

  “Nonsense!” Mrs. Doolittle said. “I was in the shop Saturday night. Everything was quite tidy until you children arrived yesterday.”

  The children were confused.

  “When were you in the shop Saturday night?” Henry asked. “We were there until it closed. We didn’t see you.”

  Mrs. Doolittle banged the tip of her umbrella on the sidewalk. “I’ll have you know that Agnes Tweedy gave me an extra set of keys. In fact, since Mr. Fowler lost his set, it was a good thing I had them so he could open up the shop this morning.”

  Jessie took a deep breath before saying anything. “We found some keys that were left in the lock sometime Sunday. Maybe that’s how Rainbow and George got out.”

  Mrs. Doolittle’s mind was made up. She picked up the newspaper in the wagon. “That’s not what this newspaper says. Rainbow got loose because children shouldn’t be allowed to do the work of adults.” With that Mrs. Doolittle put her umbrella under her arm and disappeared down the street.

  “Should we still go the pet shop now?” Violet asked Jessie. “Mrs. Doolittle and Mr. Fowler seem like friends. They don’t want us around.”

  Benny thought of something. “What if Mrs. Doolittle let out George and Rainbow?”

  The children looked at each other.

  “Hey, Benny, maybe you have something there,” Henry began. “We know Mrs. Doolittle had keys. And who found Rainbow anyway? She did. Maybe she knew where Rainbow was the whole time.”

  Jessie was frowning. “But why would she let out the animals? She’s always complaining that nobody knows how to take care of them except grown-ups. That doesn’t make any sense.”

  The Aldens thought about this the rest of the way to the pet shop. When they arrived, Grayfellow was on his perch in the front window. Mr. Fowler was feeding him. The minute Mr. Fowler saw the Aldens, he dropped the bag of birdseed, went over to the front door, and put up the CLOSED sign.

  “He shut us out,” Violet said, annoyed. “I want to see Rainbow.”

  Henry tried to calm Violet. “Rainbow might not even be in the store anymore. I know how much you want to see her. I hope she’s gone to the zoo like Mr. Fowler said. She looked pretty sick after we brought her back.”

  A truck from the pet food company pulled up. Mr. Peterson, the driver, recognized the Aldens. “Hey, my lucky day. Five pairs of hands to help me carry in some boxes. What do you say?”

  “Sure thing, Mr. Peterson,” Henry answered. “Show us what to bring in.”

  As the Aldens loaded up packages, Jessie whispered to everyone, “Good thinking, Henry. We’ll just follow Mr. Peterson. Now Mr. Fowler has to let us in.”

  Sure enough, as soon as he spotted the delivery man, Mr. Fowler unlocked the front door. “Come on in,” he said. “I put up the CLOSED sign when I saw some pesky customers outside. I had to catch up on some paperwork. Now that you’re here, we can go over next month’s orders.”

  Mr. Peterson carried several large boxes to the counter. “It was my lucky day. The Aldens were outside, so they’re helping me with my delivery.”

  Before Mr. Fowler could say a thing, all five Aldens trooped into the store.

  “Hey!” Mr. Fowler yelled. “What are you kids doing? Just leave the boxes on the floor. I’ll put them away.”

  Mr. Peterson looked confused. “Gee, Walt, it’s not every day you have five helpers who know what they’re doing. That gives us both plenty of time to go over next month’s orders. The Aldens know where everything goes.”

  “No, they don’t,” Mr. Fowler said. “They don’t know where the monkey went after they left my shop wide open yesterday.”

  Mr. Peterson was caught in the middle. “Tell you what. I’ll keep an eye out for George on my route. I guess I’d better be on my way.”

  After Mr. Peterson left, Henry brought over a stack of packing slips from the shipments. “We’re all done, Mr. Fowler, except for one thing.” Henry reached into his jacket pocket. “Here are the store keys.”

  Mr. Fowler’s eyes flashed with anger. “You took these keys and left the store unlocked?”

  Henry looked Mr. Fowler straight in the eye. “No, we didn’t take these keys. We found them. We saw you driving away just a couple of minutes before we got here on Sunday. Somebody forgot to lock up and left these keys in the lock.”

  The phone rang before Mr. Fowler had time to think of an excuse. “Out of here! All of you, out of here!” he shouted, picking up the phone.

  The Aldens filed out of the store. They had just left when Jessie remembered something. “My backpack’s inside. Wait here. I’ll be right out.”

  Mr. Fowler was yelling on the phone and didn’t see Jessie.

  “Can I help it?” Mr. Fowler asked someone. “Look, you said they wanted the animals right away. Then what happens? They changed their minds when I got there. And what am I supposed to do with a monkey after all the trouble we went through to ship it up from South America? Anyway, I brought back the animals. Then, wouldn’t you know that monkey made a mess of things, dumping boxes and opening cages? I guess he went wild.”

  Jessie couldn’t hear the person on the other end of the phone, but Mr. Fowler wasn’t finished. “The monkey will turn up. Just give me until Saturday,” Mr. Fowler said. “Only this time, make sure whoever you line up really wants the animals. See you Saturday night. Yeah, I’ll have both of them by then if I have to search day and night.”

  Jessie bent down to grab her backpack. She tried not to make too much noise. Could she get out of the store without Mr. Fowler seeing her? What was he planning for Saturday night?

  CHAPTER 11

  Monkey See, Monkey Do

  The Aldens searched Greenfield day and night for George. Now that Mr. Fowler didn’t want them in the shop they had a lot more free time. They put up notices around town. Even Grandfather Alden tried to help. Whenever his grandchildren got a call that the monkey had been sighted, he drove the children around to search for him. But when Saturday arrived, George was still on the loose.

  “I guess we should go home now,” Henry said after a long car search on Saturday morning. “George seems to get away just before we arrive. It’s so frustrating.”

  “He’s afraid of people,” Violet said. “That’s why he doesn’t stay in one place.”

  Jessie stared at every bush and tree they passed. “I just want to make sure we find George before Mr. Fowler does. I know he’s got something planned for tonight.”

  Violet gazed out the car window, too. George was somewhere out there. They just had to find him.

  Grandfather Alden turned into the driveway of his house. “I doubt Mr. Fowler will have any more luck than we have with George. After all, he’s in the shop all day.”

  When the Aldens got home, Mrs. McGregor was at the door. “Don’t take your jackets off. Just get over to Seventy-three Oak Street right away. A woman there found George in her garage. He was sound asleep in her car! Can you imagine? She saw your notice on the supermarket bulletin board and called here.”

  “It’s okay, Grandfather,” Henry said when Mr. Alden put his hat back on. “You don’t have to drive us. Oak Str
eet is only a couple of streets over. We’ll take our bikes—and Watch—this time. That way we can spread out in case George gets away again. And Watch will be a big help. When we have George for sure, we’ll call you to bring the car.”

  Watch barked twice as if he understood exactly what Henry had said. The children were on their bikes in no time. Watch followed along the sidewalk, staying right near everyone.

  “Stop sign,” Jessie reminded Benny and Violet when they got to the corner of Oak Street. “We take a right turn here. It’s just a few houses down.”

  At that very moment, a van screeched up to the other stop sign, then raced through.

  “Oh, no,” Jessie cried. “It’s Mr. Fowler! I hope he’s not coming from the house where George was found. Let’s get there, quick!”

  When the children arrived at the house, they jumped off their bikes and went straight to the garage. Watch sniffed around everywhere.

  “Where is he, Watch?” Jessie asked. “Do you see George?”

  Watch sniffed all the way down the driveway, then stopped.

  “George is gone, isn’t he, Watch?” Jessie asked.

  A young woman came out to the garage to find out what was going on.

  Henry introduced everyone. “Hi, we’re the Aldens. Sorry we went into your garage. We got your call about the missing monkey and came straight over.”

  The woman seemed confused. “But he’s not missing anymore. The manager from the Pretty Bird Pet Shop just picked him up.”

  “Oh, no!” Jessie cried. “That was Mr. Fowler. He said he’s sending him to a zoo, but we’re not sure. How did Mr. Fowler find out George was here? We came as fast as we could.”

  “After I left a message at your house, I called my neighbor over. My neighbor remembered a newspaper article that said the monkey was missing from the Pretty Bird Pet Shop, so I called there next. Wasn’t that the right thing to do?” the woman asked.

  Jessie didn’t want the woman to feel bad. “It’s okay. As long as George is safe, I guess he’ll be fine. Thank you for calling us.”

  The children said good-bye to the woman, when a surprise visitor appeared on the front lawn.