by Blanche Sims
She wrapped the movie paper around it.
She picked it up with two fingers.
She wasn’t taking any chances with that poison.
She ran back to the movie house. It was cool inside. It was dark too.
She couldn’t see Arno.
She couldn’t see Candy either.
Jill was there, though. She was sitting near the back.
Dawn could see her green plaid bows.
Dawn tiptoed down the aisle. She slid into a seat next to Jill.
The A-to-Z book was still in her hand.
She leaned over and dropped it on the floor in front of her.
Then she sat back.
The cushions were scratchy on her legs.
She moved around trying to get comfortable.
A moment later, music blared. A picture of a fat alligator came on the screen.
Someone in front clapped.
“Yuck,” said Jill. “Who’d clap for an alligator?”
“Arno, maybe,” said Dawn.
She stood up to take a look.
“Will you sit still?” a woman in back of them asked. “You’ve been wiggling around since you got here.” Dawn ducked down. “Sorry.”
A voice was telling everyone about alligators. “The female lays her eggs in the grass,” it said.
“I’m never going to take my shoes off again,” said Jill.
“Ssh,” said the woman in back of them.
“About fifty eggs are laid,” said the voice. “The young alligators are about nine inches long when they hatch.”
“I can’t look anymore,” said Dawn.
Just then a hand tapped her on the shoulder.
She jumped.
It was Candy, in the aisle. She had a bottle of soda in one hand. She had a chocolate bar in the other. “Want a sip?” she asked.
Dawn shook her head. “No, thanks. Too many bubbles.”
“Good grief,” said the woman behind them.
“I have your book,” Dawn whispered. “The poison one.”
The girl looked down at the book.
She dropped the bottle of soda on the floor.
Soda sprayed over the seat. It spilled onto the carpet.
“Get me out of here,” Candy said. She began to scream.
CHAPTER FIVE
DAWN LOOKED DOWN.
Soda was running all over the floor.
The book was a soggy mess.
She wrapped the movie paper around it again, scooped it up, and dashed outside after Candy.
The woman with the rose in her hair was kneeling in front of a bush.
Dawn hoped she wasn’t cutting any flowers. She’d be in a lot of trouble.
“Wait for me,” Jill yelled.
They looked around. Candy wasn’t in front of the movie house. She wasn’t on the path either.
“Where did she go?” Dawn asked.
Jill’s lip was quivering. “Don’t worry about her,” she said. “Worry about us.”
Dawn glanced down at the book in her hand. The poison was soaking through the wet paper.
Detectives had to face danger, she thought.
That’s what her detective book said.
That’s what she was doing.
Maybe the soda had drowned the poison.
She spotted Candy. She was bent over a drinking fountain.
She was scooping water and splashing it over her feet.
At the same time she was hopping up and down.
“I’ve been poisoned,” she yelled.
“Let’s go,” Dawn told Jill. “We’ve got to find out what’s going on.”
At that moment the door of the movie house burst open.
Something flashed by.
It crashed into the bushes.
Jill grabbed her arm. “What was that?”
Dawn looked back over her shoulder. “Something yellow. Arno?”
Jill raised her shoulders in the air. “I guess so.”
“Never mind him now,” Dawn said.
She raced over to Candy and grabbed her arm. “Stop jumping for a minute, will you?” she asked.
“Don’t touch me,” Candy said.
Dawn tried to be calm.
Detectives are always calm.
“Tell me about your book,” she said. “Why is it poisoned?”
“My book?” Candy screeched. “My book?”
Dawn nodded. “Your book.”
Candy backed away from her. “It’s not mine. I never saw it before.”
Dawn shook her head. “I don’t understand.” She blinked. “You said you lost—”
“My purse.” Candy held it up. “I left it on a bench.”
She took another quick step away from Dawn. “Don’t come near me. Crazy kid. Trying to give me a poison book. Trying to poison me! I ought to call the police.”
Dawn stood there looking as she dashed away. “Ridiculous,” she said.
Then she grinned at Jill. “Good. The mystery’s still not solved.”
“Do you hear what I hear?” Jill asked. She looked as if she were going to cry.
Then Dawn heard it too.
Horrible noises. Grunts. Snuffles.
“What’s that?”
“It sounds like an animal. A horrible . . .” Jill began.
They started to run.
They didn’t stop until they had passed the snake house.
They stopped for a quick breath.
“Something’s gotten loose,” said Jill.
Dawn looked around.
People were wandering around all over the place.
No one else seemed to be worried.
“Maybe it was something in a cage,” she said.
“Maybe it wasn’t,” said Jill.
“I think we should go sit with Noni,” Dawn said. “Just in case. I think we should look at this book again too. We may find another clue.”
Just then the woman with the rose raced by.
The rose had fallen down over her ear.
“Have you seen a boy?” Dawn began.
The woman shook her head. “Have you seen a dog?”
“No, sorry,” said Dawn.
The woman turned the corner and disappeared.
CHAPTER SIX
“ARRRR-NO,” DAWN SCREAMED at the top of her lungs. “It’s lunchtime.”
She waited a minute. “Arrrr-no Eliot.”
Jill tapped her shoulder. “Even Noni’s going to hear you screaming.”
“That kid is the worst pest,” said Dawn. “Too bad about him.”
They went down the path.
Dawn carried the book with two fingers.
Noni was still sitting on the bench. She was bent over her crossword puzzle.
She looked up when she heard them.
Dawn and Jill sank down on the bench. Dawn dropped the book underneath it and wiped her hands. Then she took a breath.
Noni wasn’t going to be happy when she heard Arno was missing.
“I have to tell you—” Dawn began.
“I have your favorite sandwiches,” Noni said at the same time. “Peanut butter and jelly.”
“Bll-ech,” said a voice behind them.
“Arno,” Dawn said.
He sat down on the end of the bench. “Sardine sandwiches are my favorite,” he said.
“I think I’m going to be sick,” said Jill.
Noni stood up and poured juice for everyone.
“Too bad it’s not the red kind,” said Arno. “I’m not too crazy about orange.”
Dawn crossed her eyes. “I’m not too crazy about him either,” she whispered to Jill.
She took a bite of the sandwich Noni gave her. “Deee-licious.”
She leaned back against the bench and tried to think. How was she going to solve this mystery?
“I think I need some dessert now,” Arno said.
Noni frowned. “You didn’t eat much of your sandwich.”
Arno shook his head. “I’m saving it for my friend Fred. Yo
u don’t have any crackers, do you? Fred loves them.”
Jill looked up. She had peanut butter all over her mouth. “Did he find his mother yet?”
“Nope,” said Arno. “He’s hanging around the alligator pool, waiting.”
“I hope he doesn’t go near—” Noni began.
“Don’t worry,” said Arno. “He’s not as smart as I am . . . but he isn’t that dumb.”
Dawn finished the middle of her sandwich. She hated crusts. “What does he look like?”
“Fred?” Arno looked up in the air. “Brown hair. Runs around a lot. Kind of nasty till you get to know him.”
Dawn rolled her eyes at Jill. “He’s not the only nasty one,” she said under her breath.
Arno reached into the picnic basket. “Bananas? For dessert? I don’t even like bananas to begin with. I bet Fred will hate them.”
He stood up, grabbed two, and stuck his sandwich in his pocket. “See you later.”
“Whoa,” said Noni. “Wait a minute. You have to stay with the girls.”
Arno took a step. “I’m just going to the alligator swamp. It’s safe as anything.”
Noni closed her eyes. “It doesn’t sound safe to me.”
“It is,” said Dawn. “Really. It has a high fence.”
“Well . . .” Noni nodded.
Arno took off down the path.
“Now I can think,” said Dawn.
She picked up the book. The only way to solve this mystery was to look inside.
That’s what she had to do.
Poison or no poison.
“You don’t have any gloves,” she asked Noni, “do you?”
“Gloves?” said Noni. “It’s eighty degrees in the shade. I’m dying of the heat. Why would I—”
“Never mind,” said Dawn.
“I know what you’re thinking,” said Jill. “I know exactly . . .”
Dawn drew in her breath. She flipped the book open with one finger.
She looked at the stop sign and the P-S-N bottle for a moment.
Then she stared at the initials. R.L.
Dawn squinched her eyes together. “Maybe his name is Richard.”
“Or Robert?” Jill twirled a braid with one finger.
“I went to school with a Ruth,” said Noni. “She had yellow boots and a silver bracelet.” She looked up at the trees. “What was her last name, anyway?”
“Yes. It could be a girl,” said Jill. “Rachel.”
“It could be anything,” said Dawn. She bent over and flipped to the next page.
“What is that mess?” Jill asked. She looked over Dawn’s shoulder.
“Two arrows,” said Dawn. “Two thick pieces of paper pasted in like boxes. Two D’s.”
She reached for her private eye box. She opened it and fished around for her magnifying glass. “Let me take a look. . . .” she began.
“Two of everything,” said Jill.
Noni picked up her crossword puzzle. “Just like twins.”
“And nothing else in the rest of the book,” said Jill.
“Wait a minute,” said Dawn. She dropped the magnifying glass back in the box. “I just thought of something.”
CHAPTER SEVEN
DAWN AND JILL HURRIED up the path.
“Stop at the alligator swamp,” Noni called after them. “Make sure Arno’s all right.”
Dawn waved back. “Don’t you see?” she asked Jill.
“No.” Jill tossed her braids in the air.
“One,” said Dawn. “No poison.”
Jill stopped at a fountain for a quick drink.
“How do you know?”
Dawn sighed. “I’m a detective. I figured it out. Those boxes. They were thick. Pasted on.
Jill raised one shoulder.
“Paste,” said Dawn. “White paste. All those gritty little things . . .”
“They were paste?” Jill asked.
Dawn nodded. “Now we’ve got to look for something else.”
“Arno.”
Dawn stood on tiptoes. “I have to get up that hill across from the snake house. Then I’ll be able to see—” She broke off. “No, not Arno.”
They started up the hill.
“What are we looking for?” Jill asked.
A whistle blew.
It blew a second time.
Dawn turned around.
“Off the hill,” said a voice.
It was the woman with the tan uniform. “You’ll mess up the grass,” she said.
“No, we won’t,” Dawn promised. “We’ll tiptoe. We have to look for balloons. Two of them. Red ones.”
The woman looked up in the air. Then she nodded. “Go ahead.”
Dawn led the way up the hill.
Jill puffed behind her. “I don’t understand,” she said. “I just don’t—”
“Two boxes,” said Dawn. “Two boys.”
“Of course,” Jill said. “Two boxes. Two boys.” She shook her braids. “What does that mean?”
They reached the top of the hill.
Dawn shaded her eyes with one hand. “Now listen. First we were on the path. Then we found the book. Right?”
“I guess so.”
“So who was on the path? Who could have dropped it?”
Jill pulled on her braid. “Candy.”
“Yes.”
“The woman with the dog and the rose in her hair.”
“Yes.”
Jill nodded. “And that’s it.”
Dawn shook her head. “No.”
“You can’t count us,” said Jill.
“What about—” Dawn began.
Jill grabbed her arm. “You’re right. There was somebody else. Two other people.” She pointed. “And there they are.”
Dawn looked across the zoo from the hill.
There was a crowd in front of a building.
Above the crowd two red balloons were floating along.
“Twins,” said Jill. “Twins were on the path too.”
“Good thinking,” said Dawn. About time, she said to herself.
They raced down the hill, over the rocks, and back onto the path.
The balloons disappeared.
“Inside,” said Dawn. “They’ve gone inside.”
Dawn darted in between a group of people. “Bat house,” she said.
“Not me,” said Jill. “If you think I’m going near those bats, you’re crazy.”
Jill plunked herself down on a bench. “I’ll wait right here.”
Dawn took a breath.
She didn’t think bats were so bad.
Not nearly as bad as snakes.
She opened the door to the bat house.
Inside, everything looked red.
“Special lights,” said the guard. “Bats sleep in the daytime. With these lights, the bats think it’s night. They stay awake so you can see them flying around.”
Dawn nodded. She stopped to look at a few bats hanging upside down.
It almost looked as if one were winking at her.
She winked back, just in case.
Ahead of her, she saw the balloons.
Carrying them were the twins.
“Wait up,” she yelled. Her voice echoed in the huge room. “I’ve found your book.”
CHAPTER EIGHT
THE BOYS TURNED TOGETHER.
They looked mean.
Dawn held out the book. “Is this yours?”
Blue Eyes took the book. “What a piece of junk,” he said.
He began to turn the pages.
He looked at the arrows and the two boxes.
He picked at one of the boxes. “Look,” he said. “There’s money underneath. A dollar.”
“Look under the other box,” said Brown Eyes.
“Wait a minute,” Dawn said. She put out her hand. “That’s not your book.”
“Sure it is.” Blue Eyes winked at his twin.
Dawn grabbed the book. She started to run. She darted around a bat case and out the door.
�
��Get her,” shouted Brown Eyes.
Dawn raced up the hill.
Where was Jill?
Where was the woman in the tan uniform?
Dawn didn’t see the rock in front of her.
She felt herself falling, rolling.
The book flew out of her hand.
“Grab it,” yelled Blue Eyes.
“No you don’t!” Jill yelled from somewhere.
Dawn reached out for something to slow her down.
Nothing was there, though.
Any minute she’d hit the iron fence at the bottom.
She saw things in a blur.
Something brown on the path. Green trees.
Someone was calling.
Then arms reached out for her.
“Are you all right?” a voice asked.
Dawn looked up. She saw the woman with a rose dangling from one ear. “It’s you again,” she said.
The woman pushed at the rose and smiled. “I remember you, too.”
Jill slid to a stop next to them. “I’ve got the book,” she yelled. “Don’t worry.”
Dawn sat up, rubbing her head. She could see the twins. They were racing away.
“Not their book,” she said. “Definitely not their book.”
“I didn’t think so,” said Jill.
“Are you all right?” said the woman.
“I guess so,” Dawn said. She brushed off her knees. “I was trying to solve a mystery, but . . .”
The woman was looking around. “I can’t imagine where that dog—” She broke off. “Glad you’re all right.” She started toward the bat house calling, “Fifi, come back.”
Jill sank down next to Dawn. “I’m worn out. All this running. Up and down. Back and forth. I haven’t even seen one anteater.”
“I know.” Dawn sighed.
Then she sat up straight. “Just a minute. I just thought of something.”
Jill sighed too. “I wish you wouldn’t think. I wish you’d just forget about this whole thing.”
“R.L.,” said Dawn. “RRRRRR. LLLLLLL. And P-S-N.”
“And ABCDEF,” said Jill.
“Don’t be silly.” Dawn tapped Jill on the shoulder. “I think I just solved the mystery.”
“Good,” said Jill. “Now how about going to see the anteaters?”
Dawn shook her head. “No. Just follow me.”
They started up the path.
They passed the seal pool.
“Will you please tell me what’s going on?” Jill asked.
“I’ll show you,” Dawn said. “In about half a minute.”
