Balloon Blow-Up (5 page)

“Me!” Joe said. “As long as they don't have blueberries. I hate blueberries in my pancakes.”

After a late breakfast it was time to get to work. Frank and Joe were dropped off in front of Sammy's house, where they walked straight to the front door.

“Remember,” Joe whispered as he rang the doorbell. “We're nutty for Nutty.”

Sammy himself opened the door, still wearing his furry squirrel hat.

“We'd like to join your club,” Joe declared.

Sammy raised a suspicious brow. “I thought you were Green Crawler fans,” he said.

“Not anymore,” Frank said.

“The Green Crawler balloon popped,” Joe added. “What superhero has a wimpy balloon?”

“We want Nutty back in the parade too,” Frank said. “That's why we're here.”

Sammy seemed to think about it. He then stepped aside and said, “Okay. Come on in.”

“All riiiiight!” Joe said. He snuck Frank a thumbs-up as they followed Sammy up the stairs. They were in!

Upstairs in Sammy's room Frank and Joe were not surprised to see several Nutty posters and bobbleheads, along with the other Nutty club members.

“Frank and Joe have finally wised up,” Sammy announced to the group. “They're Nutty fans now.”

The other club members, some wearing squirrel hats, cheered their approval.

“Now that we're in the club,” Frank said casually, “what did you guys do today?”

“Not so fast,” Sammy said. “You can't join until you pass a test.”

“Test?” Joe cried. “But it's Saturday!”

“We'll take it,” Frank said quickly. “What do we have to do?”

A third grader Joe recognized as Cara Lund stepped forward.

“Just like Nutty, you have to stuff your mouth,” Cara explained, “while answering questions about the show.”

“With nuts?” Frank asked.

“Marshmallows,” Cara said. “I'll ask Mrs. Kernkraut for a bowl.”

After Cara left the room, Frank said, “Joe will go first. He's got a big mouth.”

“Thanks.” Joe smirked.

“Okay, Joe,” Sammy said, tossing him a gray squirrel hat. “Sit in that chair and get ready.”

“Sure,” Joe said. He turned to Frank and whispered, “Look around for clues while I take the test.”

“On it,” Frank whispered back.

Joe put on the hat. He sat in the chair, rubbed his hands, and said, “I love marshmallows. Bring 'em on!”

Cara stepped into the room, carrying a bowl. “Your mom was out of marshmallows, Sammy,” she said. “But she had plenty of fresh mushrooms.”

Mushrooms? The only thing Joe hated more than blueberries was mushrooms.

Joe gagged several times. He clapped his hand over his mouth to try to keep from hurling.

“What's with him?” Sammy demanded.

“Joe's being funny!” Frank said quickly. He couldn't let Joe eat all those mushrooms. He had to think of something—fast!

Frank made sure there was no TV in the room before saying, “There's a Nutty the Squirrel special on TV today.”

“Seriously?” Cara gasped.

“It's in 3-D, but you don't need glasses,” Frank said. He pointed to a Nutty clock on the wall. “And it's on now!”

“What are we waiting for?” Sammy asked the others. “Downstairs to the den!”

In a flash the club was out the door. Joe slumped forward and said, “Thanks, Frank.”

“Sure,” Frank said. “Now let's look for clues before they realize there is no show on TV.”

The first place they looked was Sammy's desk.

“There!” Frank said. He pointed to the computer screen. The desktop picture showed the club and someone dressed as Nutty the Squirrel. A banner above them read
MEET NUTTY THE SQUIRREL
with the date.

“That's today's date,” Joe pointed out.

“It looks like they were at the arcade,” Frank said. “So that's what the club did this morning. They met Nutty the Squirrel!”

Suddenly—

“There they are!” a voice shouted.

Frank and Joe turned to see Sammy and the rest of the club at the door. Alongside Sammy was his little sister, Sadie. Her eyes narrowed as she pointed at Frank and Joe.

“There they are!” Sadie shouted again. “The
spies
!”

G
reat,” Joe groaned under his breath. Maybe he should have given Sadie his Green Crawler claw.

“They were in the park,” Sadie went on. “They were asking me silly questions about the club!”

“We should have remembered they were detectives,” Sammy told the club.

“What do you want from us?” another member asked.

“We just want to find out who ripped the Green Crawler balloon,” Frank said.

“What makes you think we ripped the balloon?” Sammy demanded.

“You didn't want the Green Crawler balloon in the parade,” Joe explained. “And we saw you guys in the park this morning.”

“We were walking through the park to get to the arcade,” Sammy explained. “That's where Nutty was today!”

“The arcade is only three blocks from this house,” Frank pointed out. “Why did you take the long way through the park?”

“We wanted to see if the parade was using the Nutty balloon after all,” Cara said. “Too bad they weren't.”

Joe took the hat off as he huddled with Frank. He whispered, “We saw the club go over to the balloon. They just looked at it and kept on walking.”

“Unless they came back,” Frank replied.

Joe shook his head. “There's a clock in the picture,” he said. “It was eight o'clock when they posed with Nutty.”

“We saw the club at about seven forty-five,” Frank said, doing the math. “They would need about fifteen minutes to walk from the park to the arcade—”

“Quit whispering about us,” Sammy cut in. “And there was no Nutty cartoon on, either. You tricked us!”

“What do you expect from spies?” Sadie said, crossing her arms.

“The parade people were blaming Frank and me for ripping the balloon,” Joe said. “We had to do something!”

“We know you didn't rip the balloon,” Frank told the club. “Sorry.”

The club members traded understanding looks.

“It's okay,” Sammy said with a shrug. “You were just trying to find the person who really ripped the balloon.”

“You can still join the club, if you'd like,” Cara said. She picked up the bowl and smiled. “We've got plenty of mushrooms!”

Joe clapped his hand over his mouth. “Frank,” he murmured through his fingers. “We've got to get out of here.”

Quickly Frank thanked the club, then excused himself and Joe. The brothers raced past Sammy, Sadie, and the rest of the club.

“You're greener than the Crawler!” Frank said when they were outside. “Do you want to go home?”

Joe took a deep breath of fresh air. He shook his head. “I'm okay,” he said. “Just don't mention . . . you know what.”

“Hey, Frank, Joe!” someone called.

The brothers turned to see their friend Phil Cohen. Phil had a knack for inventing all kinds of gadgets. This time he was holding a long rod. At one end was a wheel-shaped handle. At the other end was a metal box with green and red lights.

“What's that?” Joe asked.

“My latest invention,” Phil said as he came closer. “The King of Ka-Ching Coin and Metal Detector!”

“A metal detector?” Joe repeated.

“It's for finding stuff that people dropped,” Phil explained. “Like jewelry, money—maybe buried treasure.”

“I've seen metal detectors before, Phil,” Frank said. “What makes this one so special?”

“I made it myself!” Phil declared proudly.

Frank and Joe watched as Phil waved the device over the sidewalk. It began to beep. Phil smiled as he picked up a quarter.

“See?” Phil said. “It's already paying off!”

Frank and Joe watched as Phil continued up the street.

“What will Phil think of next?” Frank said.

“Hopefully, a Who Ripped the Balloon gadget,” Joe joked. “We could use one of those right now!”

Suddenly—
ROOOOOOOOOOAARRRRRRRRR!

What was that? The brothers spun around and gasped. Zooming up the middle of the sidewalk was a red motorbike.

Frank grabbed his brother's arm. The motorbike was speeding straight toward them!

“Joe!” Frank shouted. “Look out!”

F
rank and Joe jumped back in the nick of time. They watched the red motorbike zoom by. The driver wore a black helmet and jacket.

“Jeez, Frank!” Joe cried as the bike careened around the corner. “Who just tried to run us over?”

“I don't know,” Frank said. “I couldn't see the driver's face under the helmet.”

“Didn't we see a red motorbike in the park earlier this morning?” Joe asked. “Maybe it belonged to someone working on the parade.”

“Why would someone in the parade want to run us over?” Frank asked.

“Let's figure that out somewhere else,” Joe said, glancing over his shoulder, “in case that crazy driver decides to come back.”

The brothers hurried home and straight to their tree house. Joe sat in his favorite beanbag chair, while Frank stood by the dry-erase board.

“Why?”
Frank said, writing the word on the board. “Why would anyone from the parade want to run us over?”

“Maybe it was a warning,” Joe said. “The driver might have heard us tell Kevin we'd look for the balloon ripper.”

“Or maybe they
read
about it!” Frank said.

“Read about it?” Joe repeated. “What do you mean?”

“We forgot to erase the six
W
s we wrote on the basketball court,” Frank said. “They had the suspects' names and everything!”

“How would they know it was us?” Joe asked.

“There aren't many ‘detectives' in town—maybe they heard us when we told Lynn and Kevin we would find the real suspect,” Frank said.