Computer Clues (6 page)

Jody had answered her. He wanted her to write back to him. Rat’s knees, E-mail was fun! But Jody’s writing did not sound anything like the secret admirer’s writing. The admirer must be someone different.

Now Molly had sent a letter, and she had gotten a letter back. She printed both of them out, to take to the next Pee Wee meeting.

But what about that other letter? Should she answer it? Should she take a copy of that one to Scouts too?

And who in the world could her secret admirer be? If Molly’s ESP was worth anything, she should be able to figure out
who this admirer was. She closed her eyes and thought and thought. But no name came to her through the airwaves.

She called Mary Beth and asked her if she had sent her a joke E-mail.

“Of course not!” said her best friend. “I might send one to Roger, but not to you.”

“Maybe Roger sent it,” said Molly. “But he’d never admit it.”

Molly didn’t feel like writing or calling Roger. If it was him, or even if it wasn’t, he would just tease her and tell everyone that she liked him.

“It could be Tim,” said Mary Beth. “I think his favorite color is plaid.”

“But he’s not a joker,” said Molly. “And the message was written in real sentences.”

“How about Sonny?” her friend asked.

“It could be him. Or Kevin. Or Kenny,” admitted Molly.

“Well, I know it isn’t Rachel,” said Mary Beth. “She never fools around like that.”

The girls hung up the phone.

All week Molly tried to find out who her secret admirer was. All week she practiced ESP to see if it would help. But Tuesday came and still she had not been able to come up with anything.

At Pee Wee Scouts, Mrs. Peters looked at all the E-mails. Almost everyone had one. Some of the Pee Wees had two or three. Everyone but Rachel.

“Rachel?” said Mrs. Peters. “Do you have yours? I thought you would be the first one to bring in an E-mail and a reply.”

Hearing this, Rachel flung a piece of paper onto the table and burst into tears.

T
he Pee Wees were used to seeing Rachel in control of things. This was the first time they had seen her so upset.

“Maybe her mom is in the hospital,” Tracy whispered to Molly.

“Maybe her parents are getting divorced,” said Lisa.

“Her dad’s a dentist,” Kenny scoffed. “Dentists don’t get divorced.”

“Dentists can get divorced just like anybody else,” said Patty. “Who says they don’t?”

The paper lay on the table. No one touched it. Maybe Rachel was in trouble with the police, thought Molly. Maybe she had been caught shoplifting. No, that was silly. Rachel had all the clothes she wanted. But then Molly remembered hearing on TV once that most shoplifters don’t need the stuff they steal. They take things to get attention.

“Just read this!” cried Rachel. “He said I was stuck-up! He said my legs were fat! They aren’t! I have a dancer’s legs!”

Rachel put her head down on the table and wept. Mrs. Peters went over and put her arms around her.

“Of course you do,” Mrs. Peters said. She picked up the paper and read it. “This E-mail went to the wrong person. I forgot to warn you that mistakes can be made using E-mail. The writer meant to click on Roger’s name in the address book, but instead
he pressed Rachel’s. So Roger never got the message. Rachel got it instead.”

“And it’s all a bunch of lies!”

“Of course it is,” said Mrs. Peters. “And what’s more, those things are rude and impolite and should not be said to anyone. Especially in Pee Wee Scouts, where we are good to others.”

“There are worse things than having fat legs,” said Lisa. “It would be worse if Rachel had two heads or something.”

Rachel stamped her foot under the table. “But I
don’t
have fat legs!” she cried.

A hum was going through the room. Everyone was saying the same thing: “Who wrote that nasty letter to Roger?”

Wasn’t the sender’s name at the top of the letter? It should be. Unless, like the message from Molly’s secret admirer, it had been sent from the high school.

Soon everyone knew who had sent the letter, because all of a sudden Sonny turned bright red and ran from the room.

Mrs. Peters turned on the computer. She showed them how easy it was to make the mistake of clicking the mouse while the arrow was on a name above or below the name you wanted. “You have to take your time and double-check what you say and who your letter is going to. You have to be sure you are really ready to press
SEND
before you do. But even more important, it is never wise to say mean things about others.”

Rachel wiped her eyes and combed her hair. Mrs. Peters didn’t talk about the bad letter any longer. They went on to other things, then told about their good deeds and sang the Pee Wee song. They were just about ready for their treats when Mrs.
Stone came down the steps, dragging Sonny by his ear. Now Sonny was the one who was crying.

“Sonny has something to say to Rachel and to all of the Pee Wees,” Mrs. Peters said. Sonny looked as if he didn’t have anything to say. His mother gave him a nudge.

“I’m sorry!” he said. His mother nudged him again. “I wrote it to Roger, not Rachel.”

Now Mrs. Stone nudged him harder. “I don’t know why I said that stuff. Rachel doesn’t have fat legs.” Sonny sat down and put his head in his hands. Mrs. Stone went upstairs to get the cupcakes.

“He didn’t say she wasn’t stuck-up, though,” whispered Mary Beth to Molly. Her friend was right. But then, Rachel
was
stuck-up. Even though Sonny should not
have said so, it was true. It would be hard to take that back.

Mrs. Peters clapped her hands. “Watch your E-mail this week,” she said, “for clues about our treasure hunt. The treasure is hidden somewhere in the fairgrounds. Tomorrow you can start looking for it. Every day there will be parents there, in case you have any questions or problems. There won’t be any mistakes this time. There will only be E-mail messages full of good news! Each day there will be a new clue about where the treasure is hidden. Follow the clues, and by next week at this time, someone may have found the treasure!”

Molly had the feeling that she wouldn’t even need the clues. She had ESP. If she just closed her eyes and concentrated, she would find the treasure. All she had to do was think, think, think!

When Molly got home, she told her parents about Rachel’s E-mail from Sonny. They just shook their heads. Then Mrs. Duff said, “Sonny is taking a long time to grow up.”

Molly told her parents about the treasure hunt at the fairgrounds. “It’s an E-mail game,” she said. “All the clues will be on E-mail. One every day.”

The Duffs nodded. “We will be there on Saturday and Sunday while you are looking,” said her dad.

“I think I’ll be the one to find it,” said Molly.

“How do you know that?” her dad said, laughing.

“I just feel it,” Molly answered.

The next morning before school, Molly turned on the laptop. Sure enough, the first clue was already there!

“W
ater’s near, and a fence that’s white. Look for a building, on your right.”

Molly’s mind began to spin—water, white fence, a building. Was there a place at the fairgrounds that had all three things?

All day during school, the Pee Wees thought about where to look for the treasure. As soon as school let out, they sped out the door. They went home to get shovels and rakes and warm jackets.

“Be home before dark,” called Molly’s
dad. “Mr. Peters and Dr. Meyers will be there to answer questions today.”

Molly went with Mary Beth and Rachel and Kevin.

Jody’s dad took him in the van because of his wheelchair. After his father dropped him off, Jody went right to the carousel. “I found out from doing my report on carousels,” he said quietly to Molly, “that sometimes the horses are hollow. The treasure could be inside one of them.”

Jody had confided in her! Molly felt good about that, but she didn’t think Jody was right about the treasure. Her ESP told her that finding something inside one of the horses would be too hard. He might have to open up every horse!

While Jody searched the carousel, the four friends walked up and down the streets of the fairgrounds.

“There’s a white fence around the midway,” said Kevin.

“There’s no water near the midway,” said Rachel.

They waved to Dr. Meyers and Mr. Peters. They looked for the white fence and the water.

“The water could be in bottles or something,” said Kevin. “It doesn’t have to be a river.”

“That’s good!” said Mary Beth. “Because there
is
no river near here.”

Before long, the children got tired and hungry. “This isn’t easy,” said Molly.

“Tomorrow there will be a new clue,” said Kevin. “That will help.”

That night, Molly fell into bed, exhausted. The next morning she turned on the laptop. There was another E-mail. In fact, there were two E-mails. One of them had the high-school address at the top.

“Hi,” the message said. “Don’t you know who I am yet? I saw you looking for the treasure with Kevin and Rachel. But I am going to find it first. From your secret admirer.”

Rat’s knees, thought Molly! Which Pee Wee was it? She knew it wasn’t Kevin or Jody or Tim. That left Roger, Sonny, or Kenny.

Molly would have to worry about it later. Right now she had to read the clue and find that treasure before her admirer did!

“Look for a barn, and rides so dandy. Sometimes even cotton candy.”

Rides? Rat’s knees, what kind of rides? But
barn
, there was a word she knew! Molly closed her eyes and concentrated.

After school, the Pee Wees met again.

“I have an idea,” said Kevin. “I think
rides
means Ferris wheels and stuff, so it
must be in the midway, where the merry-go-round is.”

“And cotton candy!” said Rachel. “They sell that in the midway too.”

“But where is there a barn?” asked Kevin. “The animal barns aren’t near the rides.”

All of a sudden, Molly knew! And it wasn’t her ESP that told her. It was the computer information she had gathered for her report. She was probably the only one who knew that the snack bar in the midway had once been a farmer’s barn. That was where they sold cotton candy. And there was a water fountain there, and a white fence outside!

The Pee Wees all sped off in the direction of the Ferris wheel. But Molly knew where she was going. Straight to that snack bar!

The fair had been closed since the summer,
but most of the rides and buildings were still there. Molly saw Jody examining the horses on the merry-go-round. She wondered if she should ask him to come with her. Should she share her idea with him? He looked very busy. She decided not to disturb him.

When she got to the snack bar, a few other Pee Wees were digging in the leaves nearby.

“How big is this treasure?” asked Lisa. No one knew.

“Probably the size of a treasure chest,” said Tracy.

“Only pirates have treasure chests,” scoffed Sonny. “There are no pirates around here.”

Molly’s grandma always said, “Measure twice, cut once.” Molly had to be sure her clues were right. But it was all here, she thought. The barn that no one else
knew was a barn, the cotton candy, the water, and the white fence.

The door to the snack bar creaked as Molly pushed it open. Out of the corner of her eye, she saw Mr. Peters watching her from behind. Would he stop her and tell her the snack bar was off-limits? He started walking in the other direction.

It was dark inside. It took a minute for Molly’s eyes to adjust to the darkness. When they did, she saw something shine! She bent over and picked up a box from the floor. The box looked like a treasure chest, even though Molly knew there were no pirates around.

She gave a tug at the handle and the chest popped open. Inside, something even shinier sparkled at her! It was a big, glittery coin that looked like gold. And on the front of it were the words
PEE WEE TREASURE HUNT. CONGRATULATIONS
!