“True.” Kate responded with a little giggle. “At least you had salad for lunch! I had the chocolate-covered chicken!” Kate began to list all of the different chocolate-covered items she’d seen on the menu, and Alex just laughed.
They entered the building and Kate smiled as she saw both of the sisters working behind the counter. Each had pulled her bleach-blond hair into a hair net. They wore bright pink uniforms with the Twisted Twins logo on the front pocket and an embroidered pretzel below. Their earrings looked like silver pretzels and so did their necklaces. In fact, their charm bracelets were filled with little pretzels too.
Kate smiled as soon as she saw them, then glanced Alex’s way and whispered, “See! I told you!”
“They’re definitely twins,” Alex said. “And they do look just alike! But do they always wear pink?”
“Yes. And just wait till you see the inside of the factory!” Kate’s mom explained. “Everything is pink, even some of the machines. And everything has the Twisted Twins logo on it.”
“Wow,” Alex’s mom laughed. “Very girly.”
Kate giggled. What fun! And to think the sisters were older than her parents and still liked bright pink!
Kate’s mother made the introductions. “This is Penny,” she said, pointing to the first sister. “And this is Candy.” She turned to the other one.
“Get it?” The first sister asked, the soft wrinkles around her eyes showing even more when she smiled. When Alex shrugged she said, “Penny candy.”
“Penny candy?” Alex looked confused.
“Back when we were little girls, you could buy candy for a penny,” the second sister explained, her rosy cheeks growing even rosier as she got excited. “And our mom loved sweets. So when she found out she was having twins, she decided to name us Penny and Candy.”
“Ooo.” Alex nodded. “I see. Very clever.”
“Yes, we come from a long line of clever people. Our family is…” Penny’s smile quickly vanished. Just as quickly, it returned. “Well, never mind all that. Now, what can we do for you today? We’ve got some of our large cinnamon-sugar pretzels, still warm from the oven. They’re soft and chewy…and you never tasted anything so sweet.”
“Yum!” Kate’s mouth began to water.
“Cinnamon-sugar pretzels are my favorite!” Dexter said. “Next to the cheesy ones, I mean. And the pepperoni ones. And the chocolate chip ones.”
He went on an on, listing all of his favorites, which amused everyone. Before long both families were laughing and talking about the flavors of the pretzels.
“We’ll buy some after the tour,” their mother explained. “Right now we’d like to show our friends your factory.”
“You’re just in time,” Candy said. “The three o’clock tour begins in ten minutes. I’m leading it, so you’ll get the best tour guide of all!”
Penny groaned, but didn’t say anything. Kate laughed. She loved these two sisters. They were so much fun!
“Oh, just wait till you see how awesome the pretzel factory is, Alex,” she said. “Then you’ll know why I’m so excited.”
“I’m crazy about all kinds of pretzels,” Alex said with a nod. “The crunchy kind from bags and the soft, chewy kind you buy at ball games.”
“The Twisted Twins make both kinds,” Kate explained. “And they’re so yummy!” She leaned over to whisper in Alex’s ear. “And here’s a little secret…at the end of the tour, they always give away samples in different flavors. I love the cinnamon sugar ones, but the garlic and butter ones are great too.”
“Kate, stop! You’re tempting me!” Alex giggled.
Dexter pouted and muttered something about not wanting to wait for a pretzel, but Penny’s voice rang out, interrupting him.
“It’s almost time for the tour,” she said, clasping her hands together. “But before we do that, I want to tell Kate something,” Penny looked her way. “Candy and I have decided we want to sponsor you in the Young Inventors’ Festival. What do you think of that idea? Brilliant, right?”
“Sponsor me?” Kate repeated, not quite believing it. “Really?”
“What does that mean?” Alex asked.
“It means we cover any fees to enter the competition, and we put our company’s logo on your booth and encourage our customers to visit you,” Penny explained. “It’s really good for our business…and for Kate—especially if she wins.”
“You are going to win, aren’t you?” Candy asked, her brow wrinkling more than ever.
Kate laughed. “Well, I can’t be sure, of course, but my invention is getting great reviews. And one of the officials from Hershey liked it a lot. He stopped at my booth this morning and told me so in person.”
“I think he’s going to hire her someday,” Alex said.
“Humph. We’ll see about that.” Candy folded her arms and narrowed her eyes. “We might have to fight him for you!”
Kate giggled.
Penny clapped her hands. “But don’t you see, sister! Our instincts were right. We have a winner here. And who knows…one day maybe Kate will work for us. We need a whipper-snapper to tell us what the young people like to eat. She can help us come up with more pretzel ideas.”
“What do you think, Kate?” Candy asked.
“Sounds great.” She smiled. “But promise you won’t be too disappointed if I don’t win. I hope it doesn’t hurt your business or anything.”
“No. It couldn’t possibly hurt our business,” Penny said. “Why, we’re the best in the county.”
“Yes, we might not be the biggest, but we are the best,” Candy added, looking more confident than ever.
“Some people say that bigger is better,” Dexter commented.
Penny shook her head.
“Just because a company is huge doesn’t mean it’s the best,” she said. “Quality has nothing to do with size. I wish all of the pretzel eaters of the world would understand that.”
“They will soon enough, sister,” Candy said, patting her hand. “We’ll show them.”
“Kate’s mom told me about another pretzel factory in the next town,” Alex said. “A really big one. With a funny name.”
At once, Candy’s smile vanished. “Do you mean the Bender factory?”
“Um, yes.” Alex looked nervous. “Why? Do you know them?”
Penny nodded. “I supposed you could say we know them. Very well, in fact.” She opened her mouth and started to say something but then stopped.
Kate could tell from the look on Candy’s face that something was wrong, but didn’t ask what. Thankfully, Alex didn’t ask any more questions.
Just then a bell rang and Penny reached for a microphone. “Ladies and gentlemen, the tour is about to begin. Please line up behind Candy, your tour guide.”
Dexter rushed to be at the front of the line and motioned for the girls to join him. Kate and Alex stood directly behind him. Before long, more than twenty people were ready to take the tour.
“Follow me, please,” Candy said. “Our facility isn’t very big, so the tour won’t take long, but I will stop along the way and explain the pretzel-making process. You may take photos and videos, but please don’t give away any of our Twisted Twins secrets.”
Alex turned on her video camera and held it up as they walked together.
Candy led them down a long hallway where the main offices were housed. Then came the exciting part. They walked into the factory, and Kate looked down on a production room, filled with large ovens and conveyor belts.
“Wow, I thought you guys said the company was small,” Alex said, looking through the glass to the workroom below. She turned the video camera to capture the action.
“Well, small in comparison to their competitors, maybe,” Kate’s mother said. “But still a nice-sized company, don’t you think?”
“Definitely.” Alex nodded. “I’m impressed.”
“Me too,” her mother said. “And look at those pink machines! They’re so colorful and bright.”
Candy began to explain the process of pretzel making and Kate and Alex stood together, watching through the glass. Kate gazed at the large machines below and watched an older man with white hair twist each pretzel and put it on the conveyor belt.
“We still hand twist our pretzels here at Twisted Twins,” Candy explained. “Unlike other larger factories.” She cleared her throat. “We still believe in the hands-on approach. If we want the pretzels to look just right, we have to work hard to make it so.”
“Wow, the man twisting the pretzels is really fast!” Dexter began to move his hands, imitating the man, but couldn’t keep up.
Candy laughed. “That’s Mr. Whipple. He’s been working for us for more than twenty years. He’s the best pretzel-twister in the county.”
She muttered something under her breath about how the Bender factory didn’t have anyone to compare, but Kate wasn’t paying much attention. Instead, she was focusing on Mr. Whipple, who seemed to move at the speed of lightning.
Unfortunately, the elderly man seemed to grow weary after just a few minutes. He stopped to yawn…and then stretch. Kate couldn’t help but wonder how he kept going under such circumstances. Must be hard to stand there all day and twist, twist, twist!
As they continued to watch, the machine halted. All of the workers looked around with alarm, especially Mr. Whipple.
“Something’s gone wrong down there,” Candy said, pointing to the large machine. “They never stop production unless there’s a problem. That’s only happened a couple of times since the factory opened twenty-five years ago.”
Kate and the others continued to watch as several workers ran over to the machine. Mr. Whipple worked on the machine a few minutes and finally got it going again. He stood near the conveyor belt as pretzels came through and reached to pick one up, examining it closely.
“Something must be wrong with the pretzels,” Kate said. “They’re stopping the machine again.”
“I wonder what it is,” Alex said, reaching for her video camera again.
Just then Candy received a call on her cell phone. Kate overheard some of the conversation. “Yes, I’ll end the tour now.”
Candy hung up the phone and looked at the group and sighed. “I, um, have to stop the tour. The problem is bigger than we thought.”
“What’s wrong?” Alex asked.
The wrinkles around Candy’s eyes grew deeper. “The pretzels are going flat.”
“Going flat?” Kate looked back down through the glass. From here, it was hard to tell what the pretzels looked like.
“Yes.” Candy looked more concerned than ever. “Pretzels are supposed to rise before baking and for whatever reason, they’re not rising. They’re as flat as pancakes.”
“Strange,” Kate said as Candy led the group back to the front of the factory. “Soft pretzels are supposed to be warm and puffy. What good would they be if they didn’t puff?”
“Exactly.” Alex shrugged. “Very odd.”
Candy looked more concerned than ever. “I’ll lead the tour group back to the store at the front of the factory, then I’ll go down to the factory floor to check on the machine. Sorry for the interruption, folks.”
“No problem,” Kate’s mother said. “We’re just sorry for your troubles.”
They followed Candy to the store in front of the factory. Kate watched Candy race to Penny’s side and whisper something in her ear. Penny picked up the telephone and made a call. Seconds later, she hung up and shrugged. “Bud…er, Mr. Whipple, says the pretzels aren’t rising. Very odd. Very odd, indeed.”
At once Kate grew suspicious. She turned to Alex and whispered, “It sounds like sabotage!”
Alex nodded, her eyes wide with excitement.
“But who would want to sabotage a pretzel factory?” she asked. “It doesn’t make sense.”
Kate pulled her to the side. “The obvious choice would be a competitor. You saw the look on Candy’s face when you mentioned the other pretzel factory…that Bender place. I knew right away that something was wrong, didn’t you?”
“Yes.” Alex nodded. “But I never thought about sabotage.”
“Good thing I brought my gadgets and gizmos,” Kate whispered. “Looks like we’ll need them if there’s a mystery to solve, especially if we have to go to the other factory to get some answers.”
“Right.” Alex shrugged. “But I wonder if we’re off track, Kate.”
“What do you mean?”
“Maybe it’s not a competitor at all. Maybe someone has a grudge against the owner. Someone is mad about something.”
“Good point.” Kate nodded. “Maybe it’s an unhappy customer. Maybe the pretzels made someone sick.”
“Oh wow. We’ll have to let the Camp Club Girls do some research.”
Off in the distance, something distracted her. Mr. Whipple walked through the room. His shoulders slumped forward and his thin white hair stood up all over his head. As soon as he saw Penny and Candy, he ducked his head and looked at the floor. He passed with his shoulders slumped forward.
“He looks exhausted,” Alex whispered.
“Do you blame him?” Kate whispered back. “The poor guy twists pretzels around the clock. I never saw anyone work so fast.”
“Still, I think he’s acting strange,” Alex said. “Did you notice he wouldn’t look Penny or Candy in the eye? That’s usually a sign of guilt.”
“Maybe, but what’s he guilty of?” Kate didn’t want to accuse the exhausted old man of anything when they had no proof. Just because he was acting odd around his bosses didn’t mean he was trying to sabotage the factory.
On the other hand …
Kate watched as he turned to look at Penny strangely then shuffled back to the hallway, his gaze on the floor.
Kate snapped back to attention when she heard her brother’s voice. “Are we going to stand here all day talking about broken machines, or are we going to eat pretzels?”
Dexter pointed at rows and rows of pretzels behind the glass case, his eyes wide as saucers.
“Thank goodness these pretzels were already baked before the machine broke down!” Kate drooled as she stared at the assortment of pretzels.
Alex drew near, pointing at a tray of yummy-looking pretzels. “Look Kate. Garlic flavored.”
“Yes.” Kate nodded. “And look at this one: Pepperoni Pizzazz!” On and on they went, discussing the different flavors. “Yum! There’s Sour Cream ‘n Onion, Sugar & Spice, and even Blazin’ Raizin.”
“Our top seller is still the Salty Pretzel,” Penny explained. “But we’re trying some new things too, especially with our soft mini pretzels.”
“Oh?” Kate looked at her, more curious than ever. “Like what?”
“Well, let’s see…” Candy’s eyes sparkled with excitement. “We’ve got birthday cake flavored ones, as well as cinnamon roll.”
“Cinnamon roll…yum!” Dexter licked his lips.
“Yes.” Candy nodded. “I agree. It’s one of my favorites. I also love our spinach-flavored pretzel bites.”
Dexter made a face.
“But my all-time favorite is the grilled cheese,” Candy said. “There’s just something about that melted cheese on the inside that gets me every time.” She grinned and for a moment looked much younger than her sixty-something years.
“Grilled cheese sounds fantabulous,” Kate agreed, her stomach rumbling at the very idea.
“Oh, if you think that’s good, you should try our cookies and cream pretzel bites,” Candy said. “And the toffee crunch is great too.”
“Oh wow,” Kate said with a nod. “I’ll have to try some of these in my Turbo Heat-Freeze. I never thought of toffee crunch before.”
“It’s great,” Candy said. “And you just haven’t lived till you’ve had one of our pretzel dogs.”
“How will we ever decide what to order right now?” Alex asked, gazing through the glass case at all of the pretzels inside.
“We’ll just have to try several different kinds!�
� Kate’s mom said. “Are you kids okay with that?”
“Are we ever!” Dexter practically shouted.
Kate’s mom ordered several pretzels for the group, and before long all of the girls’ questions about the faulty machinery were behind them. As they nibbled on warm sweet pretzels, Kate had only one thing on her mind—asking for more.
Before long, as they climbed back in the family’s large van, Kate began to again ponder the mystery of the flat pretzels.
“If we’re going to figure this out, we’ll need the Camp Club Girls to help us,” she whispered to Alex. “That means I have to send them an email.”
She reached for her wristwatch. “I can send an email on my smartwatch,” she said. “And if any of the girls are near their computers, we can do an internet chat right away.”
“I think it’s so cool that you can get on the internet on your watch,” Alex said, giving her an admiring look.
“Yes, it’s great for sending short messages,” Kate said with a nod.
“One of my robotics students invented it,” Kate’s father added. “Hopefully it will be on the market soon and everyone can own one!”
“Very cool.” Alex nodded.
Kate quickly sent a note to the Camp Club Girls and within minutes all of them had responded.
“Okay, we’re good to go,” Kate said. “They can meet us in five minutes in the chat room.” She glanced up to the front of the car. “Dad, is it okay if we use your new laptop?”
“Sure.” He nodded. “It’s right there in the backseat.”
“But how can we get on the internet out here, in the middle of nowhere?” Alex asked.
“No problem,” her father said. “It’s got a built-in card that picks up internet signals no matter where you are. Just handle the computer carefully, please.”
“I will. Thanks, Dad.” Kate pulled his tiny new laptop out of its case and showed it to everyone.
“Wow. That’s a laptop?” Alex’s dad asked.
“Sure is.”
“It’s no bigger than a CD case,” Alex said, reaching to hold it for a moment. “How do you type on it?”
“Easy.” Kate unfolded the keyboard and it popped into place.
“Oh wow,” Alex said. “That’s so cool.”
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