The Berenstain Bears and the Ghost of the Auto Graveyard (2 page)

“Oh, sure,” said Queenie McBear. “And a cheese sandwich is better than an ice cream sandwich.”

“Bonnie is
not
a cheese sandwich!” said Brother.

“Then she must be an ice cream sandwich,” said Queenie.

“In a shiny wrapper!” added Barry. “Wow! Look at
that!
”

A gleaming silver car had just pulled up at the front gate. Bonnie was in the backseat, and one of Squire Grizzly's chauffeurs was at the wheel.

“It's a beauty!” said Barry, wide-eyed.

Ferdy Factual was polishing his glasses with a monogrammed handkerchief. Now he put them back on, looked at the car, and frowned. “But that's not one of Squire Grizzly's Grizzillac limousines,” he said. “What kind of car is it, Barry?”

Ferdy Factual, cub genius, asking Barry Bruin a question? It might have seemed odd if the other cubs hadn't known them both so well. Ferdy was indeed a genius about math, science, geography, and lots of other subjects. But there were a few things he admitted knowing almost nothing about. Cars were one of them. He could describe in great detail the operation of the internal combustion engine under a car's hood. But when it came to recognizing the year and make of the car itself, he was lost.

Barry Bruin, on the other hand, knew a lot about cars. Not because he was a genius. Far from it. His friends liked to joke that Barry had asked his mom to sew nametags in all his clothes so that if he forgot his name he could look it up. But although he didn't even know what the word “combustion” meant, Barry could recognize the year and make of any car from a hundred yards away. He had spent countless hours making miniature models of classic cars. And he owned the largest collection of classic-car collector's cards in all Bear Country.

“What
is
it?” said Barry in a shocked tone of voice. “You don't recognize
that?
”

“Don't be cute,” said Ferdy with a bored yawn. “Just tell us what it is.”

“It's a 1927 Bearcedes touring car!” breathed Barry.

“Is it an antique?” asked Lizzy.

Barry laughed. “No, it's a
brand-new
1927 Bearcedes touring car. Of
course
it's an antique!” He seemed pleased that someone else looked like a dummy for a change.

“It may be an antique,” said Cousin Fred, “but it's in beautiful condition.”

“Squire Grizzly has a collection of classic cars, and he keeps them all in beautiful condition,” said Barry. “I'll bet he's going to enter some of them in the classic car show this weekend.”

Bonnie, who had just come skipping up, confirmed what Barry had just said. “Uncle's going to put the Bearcedes and three other cars in the show,” she said. “He wants to win all three prizes, so he's entering four cars just to make sure. One of them is in the shop right now. But it'll be ready in plenty of time.”

“What's wrong with it?” asked Brother.

“Not much,” said Bonnie. “It needs a tune-up and a new fan belt.”

“To qualify for the show,” Barry explained, “a car must be authentic
and
in perfect running order.”

“Yeah,” said Too-Tall Grizzly, who had been listening in with his gang. “That's why there wouldn't even
be
a car show without my dad!”

Too-Tall's father, Two-Ton, owned a business called Parts R Us, on the outskirts of town near Birder's Woods. On his vast lot, among the hulks of wrecked cars and trucks, were piles and piles of used auto parts.

“With all due respect to your father,” said Ferdy, “I fail to see what an auto graveyard could possibly have to do with magnificent classic cars.”

“Auto graveyard?” growled Too-Tall. “Take that back, you little twerp, or I'll put
you
in the graveyard!”

Quickly, Brother stepped in between Too-Tall and Ferdy. “Easy, big guy,” he said. “I don't think Ferdy meant to insult your dad.”

With another bored yawn, Ferdy said, “Insulting your father was the furthest thing from my mind. It's just that I can't see what his smelly dump has to do with the noble scientific achievement of the internal combustion engine.”

“
Smelly dump?
” roared Too-Tall, balling up his huge fists. “Lemme at him! I'm gonna combust that little nerd right in the nose!”

Brother moved away as Too-Tall raised a fist at Ferdy.

“Aren't you going to protect Ferdy?” Bonnie said with alarm.

Brother just shrugged. “I already tried,” he said. “If Ferdy wants to commit suicide, that's his business.”

Fortunately, Queenie stepped in to calm down her on-again, off-again boyfriend. “He didn't mean it,” she cooed, taking Too-Tall's arm. “You've got to remember: His IQ may be off the charts, but his SQ is zero.”

“SQ?” said Too-Tall, puzzled.

“Sensitivity quotient,” said Queenie.

Too-Tall still looked just as puzzled
and
just as angry. But by now Trudy Brunowitz had darted in to pull her genius boyfriend away from danger. The other cubs could hear her lecturing Ferdy about consideration for others. “Even big bullies like Too-Tall have feelings!” she scolded.

Truth was, Too-Tall and Ferdy were both right. Two-Ton's place of business was indeed an auto graveyard and a smelly dump. But it also had a lot to do with keeping Bear Country's classic cars running. At the front entrance was a big sign that said
PARTS R US: IF WE AIN'T GOT IT, WE'LL GET IT!
That pretty much told the story. There was hardly a classic car anywhere in Bear Country that didn't have at least one part supplied by Two-Ton. Squire Grizzly himself sometimes went looking for parts at the “auto graveyard.” In fact, the 1927 Bearcedes that had just brought Bonnie to school was running on a camshaft that the squire had dug out of one of Two-Ton's wrecks.

Of course, Too-Tall and Ferdy, opposites in so many ways, were exactly alike when it came to arguments. Neither was about to admit that the other might have a point. And though Ferdy was a genius and a nerd, he was no coward. One time he had stood up to Too-Tall when the big guy had gotten all riled up over Queenie making eyes at Ferdy. “If you don't watch out,” Too-Tall had snarled, “I'm gonna give you a bloody nose!”

“Oh, yeah?” said Ferdy. “If
you
don't watch out,
I'm
going to give
you
a bloody fist!” Too-Tall got so confused that he forgot he was angry.

This time, however, Too-Tall seemed so angry that the other cubs were afraid he might actually hurt Ferdy. So Queenie and Trudy made sure to keep their stubborn boyfriends occupied until the morning bell rang and everyone filed into school.

Chapter 3

A Not-So-Hidden Treasure

In class that morning, the cubs found out that Mr. Honeycomb, the school principal, had put Teacher Bob in charge of the school's role in the classic car show. Teacher Bob, who liked classic cars himself, was excited. He immediately called an after-school meeting for that very day to recruit cubs for various tasks. He was so excited, in fact, that he couldn't wait until after school. Instead, he held the “after-school” meeting during the day's final school period.

The first thing Teacher Bob did was form a student committee, with Barry Bruin, the car expert, as chairbear. Brother Bear was appointed deputy chairbear. Because of her modeling experience, Bonnie Brown was chosen to pose with her uncle's 1927 Bearcedes touring car for the show poster. Babs Bruno was selected to write press releases and radio promos, which Harry McGill would print out on his computer. And last but not least, Too-Tall and his gang were assigned to direct visitor parking.

As the cubs filed out of the classroom at the final bell, Queenie McBear hurried up to Teacher Bob. “You forgot about me!” she said. “What am
I
in charge of?”

After a moment's thought, Teacher Bob said, “Er … uh … you're in charge of keeping Too-Tall in line.”

As disappointed as Queenie was, that's how thrilled Barry Bruin was. Not only was he the head of a committee for the first time in his life, he was suddenly ten times more popular than he'd ever been. A knot of cubs crowded round him on the front steps of the schoolhouse. Each cub had a family car in mind for him to check out. But it was Brother Bear who got his attention first.

“You should take a look at Papa's red roadster,” Brother told Barry. “I think it's pretty old, but I'm not sure it's classic enough for the show.”

“Roadster, eh?” said Barry. “Oh, sure. I've seen it around town. Let's go check it out.”

So Barry walked home with Brother, Sister, Lizzy, Cousin Fred, and Bonnie Brown.

“Hmm,” said Barry when he saw the roadster in the tree house driveway. “I've never really taken a close look at it.”

This time he did. He looked it up and down, over and under, and every which way.

“Well?” said Brother. “Is it a classic?”

“Yes” was Barry's answer.

“Yahoo!” cried Sister. “Wait'll Papa hears!”