The Boxcar Children Mysteries: Books One through Twelve (50 page)

“Now, Mike,” said Benny. “Mr. Carter won’t believe you, if you say millions.”

“Well, dozens, then,” said Mike.

“Good for you, Mike,” said Mr. Carter laughing. “I do believe you, for I have eaten many of those pies myself.”

“Well, there you are,” said Mike. “Everyone likes Ma’s pies and everyone will buy them.”

Then Mr. Carter said, “I think you are wasting time telling me about this plan. Why don’t we go ask your mother? She is the one to decide.”

Mrs. Wood was surprised when they all came back to Mrs. Smith’s blue house.

Henry said, “Hello, Mrs. Wood. We want you to come up to the office at the uranium mine for a few minutes.”

“All right,” said Mrs. Wood. “I’d like to go. I know the night watchman up there, and I’d like to take him a cherry pie.”

“You mean you’ve made another pie already?” asked Violet.

“I made four more,” said Mrs. Wood. “They are for the kind people who helped me get out of my burning house. One is for your Aunt Jane, Benny. My neighbor gave me the shortening and filling for the pies, and I will pay her back in washing.”

Mike winked at Benny. “Maybe, yes,” he said. “And maybe, no.”

The children talked and laughed all the way to the mine. They could hardly wait to show the room to Mike’s mother. At last they all stood in the big empty room.

“See this room going to waste!” cried Benny. “Now if you had a nice stove—”

Mrs. Wood put her arm around Benny. “What a kind little boy you are, Benny!” she said in a low voice. “I begin to see now what you are all planning for me.”

“You mean you like the idea of making pies for a living?” asked Jessie. “Wouldn’t you get tired of making pies?”

“I’d never be tired of making pies, my dear!” cried Mrs. Wood. “I love to mix them up, and roll them out, and fill them with cherries, apples, peaches, or blueberries. And best of all I like to see people eat them.”

A man behind them said, “I’d rather eat them than watch other people eat them.” Everyone turned around.

“The night watchman!” cried Mike. “Hello, Mr. McCarthy!”

“Hello yourself, Mike,” said the man.

“Oh, Mr. McCarthy,” said Mrs. Wood. “Here’s a cherry pie I made for you. I hope you will like it.” She gave him the cherry pie.

“Is there anyone in the whole world that doesn’t like your pies?” asked Mr. McCarthy. He looked at the children. “What’s this I hear about selling pies?”

Mike began to jump around. “See this room!” he shouted. “Ma can have a stove in that corner. She can bake her pies in it. She can sell them at that big window and we will all help her.”

“Well, well,” cried Mr. McCarthy. “And which of you thought of this?”

“My sister Jessie was the first to think of it,” said Benny. “But I was next to the first, wasn’t I, Henry?”

“Yes, you were,” said Henry. “We have to buy a sink and a refrigerator, Mr. McCarthy. And we have to ask Mr. Gardner, the boss, for the use of the room.”

“We can ask Grandfather to let us buy the sink and things,” said Violet.

“Suppose this grandfather of yours won’t let you buy all that?” said Mr. McCarthy. “After all, it will cost a lot of money. Not many men would trust children with this plan.”

“My grandfather will,” said Benny. “We were all alone in the Boxcar. We didn’t know Grandfather then. And we did all right.”

Mr. Carter nodded at the night watchman. He said, “Mr. Alden trusts these children. He always tries to help them with their ideas.”

The night watchman looked at Jessie with a funny little smile. “I can’t understand why you children want to work at all. Don’t you own the mine? Your grandfather ought not to let you work.”

Jessie shook her head. She said, “That’s not the way Grandfather thinks. He has lots of money already. But he says everyone ought to work. Nobody can be happy unless he has some work to do. We know he is right, for we were very, very happy when we didn’t have any money at all. Only $4! When we get through school, Grandfather wants us all to go to work for a living.”

“There are not many grandfathers like that,” said Mr. McCarthy, shaking his head. “And I know well that Mr. Alden works very hard himself.”

“What do you think of this pie business, Mr. McCarthy?” asked Jessie.

“I? Hm-m, I think the men will want so many pies, that one woman can’t make enough.”

“Maybe you’ll tell the men about the pies?” said Henry.

“Tell them? I won’t need to. The minute they see a sign here saying PIES they will all come over.”

“Sign?” cried Benny. “Did you say a sign? I’ll tell you a good sign.
Mike’s Mother’s Place!”

“Oh, I’ll paint the sign!” cried Violet.

“Wonderful!” said Jessie. “And what a wonderful name for this place!”

Mrs. Wood smiled and smiled, but she had tears in her eyes. “Yes,” she said, “the men all know Mike, and they will soon know his mother.”

“We can take pictures of this place when it is all set to go,” said Henry. “They will put them in the paper, maybe.”

Mr. McCarthy went over to the big window. “Yes,” he said, “this big window will be good for selling pies.”

Mike went over to Mr. McCarthy. He said softly, “Did you see my fire?”

“No,” said the watchman, “I missed it.”

“It was a terrible fire,” said Mike. “Everybody went to see it. Why didn’t you go? Aren’t you interested in fires?”

Mr. McCarthy looked at Mike. He said, “Well, son, I was certainly interested. In fact I started to go. But you see my duty was here. I’m a watchman.”

“Too bad,” said Mike. “It was a sight.”

“I know,” said Mr. McCarthy. “But I thought I saw somebody near the mine. So I stayed right here. I looked all around but I couldn’t find anybody.”

“Come on, Mike!” called Benny. “What are you talking about?”

Then Mike surprised everyone. He began to jump up and down and yell, “The blue hat! The blue hat!”

“What in the world is the matter with you, Mike?” asked Henry.

Mike answered, “I think I know how to find out who wore the blue hat,” he yelled.

Mr. Carter stared at the little boy. “Do you indeed!” he said. “You ought to join the FBI.”

A
ll the children begged Mike to tell what he knew about the man in the blue hat.

“No,” said Mike. “I can’t tell you now. I want to talk to Ben about this. I want to see Ben alone.”

“This is very important, Mike,” said Mr. Carter. “If you know something it is your duty to tell me.”

“Oh, I’ll tell you all right,” said Mike. “Only you’ll have to wait about one hour.”

“Why all the mystery?” asked Mr. Carter.

“Because I’m not sure,” said Mike. “I’m not really sure of anything. I want to see Pat, too.”

“Well, let’s go back to the ranch,” said Henry. He did not think Mike really knew anything about the stranger.

“We have hardly seen Aunt Jane,” said Violet. “We have been away almost all the time we have been here.”

“That was because there was a fire,” said Benny. “We had to see about Mike’s fire.”

Mr. Carter took the five children to Aunt Jane’s house. Then he drove away. He said he had other business. Watch and Lady ran out to meet the children. The dogs were very glad to see them.

“Well,” said Maggie, “you are not late. But I thought you were going to be. And we have a very funny lunch.”

“What is it?” asked Benny.

“Hot dogs,” said Maggie. “Your Aunt Jane says all young people like hot dogs.”

“We do!” cried Benny. “And we don’t get them very often. Hurrah for Aunt Jane!”

“Tell me all the news about the fire,” said Aunt Jane. She sat at the head of the table. She gave the hot dogs to the children, but she did not eat them herself.

“I don’t like hot dogs,” she said smiling. “I like eggs better.”

The children took turns with the news. They told Aunt Jane all about the fire and meeting Mr. Carter again. They told her the plans for Mrs. Wood. Mike was very quiet. He did not talk very much.

“Mike is scared of you, Aunt Jane!” said Benny.

“I am not scared!” said Mike. “Miss Alden wouldn’t hurt a fly. My brother Pat said so.”

“I certainly wouldn’t hurt a nice boy like you, Mike,” said Aunt Jane laughing. “You must go up and see your new room. It is right next to Benny’s.”

Maggie said, “We have been working on it all morning. A nice clean bed, and a big empty closet for your things.”

“I haven’t many things,” said Mike.

“Haven’t you any old birds’ nests and stones and model airplanes?” asked Maggie.

“Oh, can I keep that kind of things?” cried Mike.

“Certainly,” said Aunt Jane. “There’s no good living here, if you can’t have your own things.”

“Oh, oh!” cried Mike. “Can I have Spotty, too?”

“Yes,” said Aunt Jane. “Lady always stays in my room.” She stopped. “But what will Watch say?”

“I don’t think he will say much,” said Mike. “They didn’t fight on Surprise Island.”

“That’s right,” said Henry to Aunt Jane. “They got along all right.”

“I’ll be fine if I have Spotty,” said Mike.

“He mustn’t get up on your nice clean bed,” said Maggie.

“Oh, no, he sleeps down the cellar when he’s home,” said Mike.

Aunt Jane said, “He won’t sleep down the cellar here. You can have him in your room, but Maggie says not on your bed.”

Then Mike was quiet again. He seemed to be thinking.

After lunch, Henry telephoned to his grandfather miles away in Greenfield. He told Mr. Alden all about the fire. He didn’t know that his grandfather knew it already. Mr. Carter had already called Mr. Alden.

“You say you know this boy Mike?” asked Mr. Alden.

“Yes, he used to go to school with Benny. We invited him to the picnic on Surprise Island.”

“Oh, I remember,” said Mr. Alden. “He had a brother who was almost drowned.”

“Good for you, Grandfather!” cried Henry. “You never forget anything. Mike’s mother hasn’t any home now, and we want to give her that big empty room at the mine to make pies in.”

Mr. Alden said, “Is that all you want, Henry?”

“Almost,” said Henry. “We’d like to buy a stove, and a sink, and a refrigerator for the room. We can buy them all here.”

“Go ahead, Henry,” said Mr. Alden. “It’s your money and your mine. It’s a fine idea and a kind one. I had a plan for that room, but it can wait. This is more important. If you need anything more, ask Mr. Carter. And how is Watch?”

“Watch is right here, looking at me,” said Henry. “You speak to him, Grandfather.”

“Hello, Watch!” called Mr. Alden.

“Bow-wow!” answered the dog. He put his feet up on the telephone table and wagged his tail.

“I heard him bark,” said Mr. Alden, laughing. “And now I’ll talk to the others.” Mr. Alden always did this. He talked with Violet, and Jessie and Aunt Jane and Benny.

“I’m the last one, Grandfather,” said Benny. “But I was the next to the first to think of the stove.”

“I’m sure you were, Benny,” said his grandfather. “You be a good boy, and take good care of the girls.”

“Yes, I will,” said Benny. “You know what? They want a blue refrigerator! I want a white one, but I’ll give in.”

“Good boy,” said Mr. Alden. “Good-by for now.”