The Mystery at the Fair (4 page)

“Mother, I really don't want to enter another contest,” the girl said sadly. “I hate art competitions. It takes all the fun out of painting.”

“Fun!” the woman said loudly. “I'm spending a lot of money on art lessons for you, and you seem to care only about painting for fun?”

“Mother, I don't like to paint if I can't enjoy myself,” Kristie said softly.

“Pick out the supplies you need and let's go,” her mother replied firmly. “You have to be finished with your painting today. I want to make sure it has time to dry before you enter it in the fair.”

“Excuse us,” Violet said. Then she recognized the girl and smiled. “Hello there, Kristie. Jessie and Courtney, this is a classmate, Kristie Stephens.”

“Hello,” Kristie said. “Nice to see you again, Violet. This is my mother.”

Mrs. Stephens whirled around and frowned as she stared at Violet.

“I remember you, Violet,” Kristie's mother said. “You won the art competition last year at school. Kristie came in fourth.”

“Kristie's painting was lovely,” Violet said.

“Well, the judges seemed to like your painting much better,” Mrs. Stephens said. “Kristie has been taking art lessons, and her work has really improved. Hasn't it, Kristie?”

“I guess so, Mother,” Kristie said.

“Are you entering the art competition at the fair, Violet?” Mrs. Stephens asked.

“Yes, I'd planned to,” Violet said.

“Well, so is Kristie,” Mrs. Stephens replied. “But this time, things are to be different.”

“Well, good luck, Kristie,” Violet said. “I'll see you at the fair.”

Before Kristie could say good-bye, her mother took her arm and steered her up the aisle and out of the store.

“Goodness,” Jessie said. “I really feel sorry for poor Kristie.”

“Mrs. Stephens really wants Kristie to win the fair competition,” Courtney said.

“I know,” Violet said. “But Kristie didn't look like she was looking forward to it at all.”

“Well, girls,” Courtney said. “I see the wire we need for the earrings over there. We'd better hurry if we're going to finish our projects today.”

The girls picked up the silver wire and paid for their supplies. Then they returned to the boxcar and unwrapped their purchases. Jessie and Courtney carefully began stringing the beautiful African beads on the thin silver wire. Finally, the earrings were finished. Courtney tried on the necklace.

“You look like an African princess,” Jessie said.

“Thank you,” Courtney said. “This necklace makes me feel like royalty. Maybe one of my ancestors
was
a princess.”

“I hope the judges are impressed with our work,” Jessie said. “If they are, we're sure to win the $25 prize.”

CHAPTER 4

The Blueberry Pies

V
iolet was hard at work on her painting when Michael and Benny climbed inside the boxcar.

“Come and see our pies!” Michael said happily. “We're going to eat one of them after lunch.”

“Just a minute, Michael,” Violet said, “I'm almost finished.”

“Hurry,” Benny said. “Mrs. McGregor said we can't eat lunch without you.”

“Oh,” Courtney said with a laugh. “So that's the real reason you want us to hurry.”

Benny grabbed Courtney's and Violet's hands. Michael held hands with Jessie. The children ran to the house as fast as they could go.

“Hi,” Mrs. McGregor said as she wiped her hands on her apron. “I hope you've had as much fun with your projects as we've had with our pies.”

“We sure have!” Jessie said.

“I was just about to take our pies out of the oven,” Henry said.

“They smell delicious,” Violet said.

“I can't wait to taste it,” Jessie said.

“I'm not going to just taste my pie,” Benny said. “I'm going to eat a big piece!”

Henry carefully covered his hands with a pair of oven mitts. Then he took one of the pies out of the oven. One side of the pie stood up just right. The other side was flat.

“Oh, my,” Mrs. McGregor said. “The crust must have fallen down when you put it into the oven.”

“I'm sure the second one looks better,” Henry said.

He took the second pie out of the oven. The juice from the blueberries had bubbled up through the crust. It was a sticky mess.

“Oh, no,” Benny cried. “Our pie is ruined!”

Henry, Michael, and Benny looked very disappointed.

“I'm sure they taste wonderful,” Courtney said.

“If you turn the first pie a certain way you hardly notice that one side is up and the other is down,” Jessie said helpfully.

“I don't think it will win looking the way it does,” Henry said.

“Just try and see,” Courtney said. “You never know until you try.”

“Anything that smells that good is bound to taste good,” Violet said.

“I'm sure your pie will do just fine in the competition,” Mrs. McGregor said. “Now, let's have lunch.”

The children quickly finished their lunch. Then Henry cut a slice of the second pie for each of them.

“This pie is wonderful,” Courtney said. “Good job, boys!”

“See, I told you,” Jessie said. “It smells good and it tastes good, too!”

“Thank you,” Michael said. “We worked hard on our pies, didn't we, Benny?”

“We sure did,” Benny agreed.

“We couldn't have done it without Mrs. McGregor's help,” Henry said.

“I'm proud of all of you,” Mrs. McGregor said.

The next morning, the Alden children waited restlessly on their front steps for Courtney and Michael to arrive. Jessie had carefully placed the jewelry in layers of tissue paper. Violet had wrapped her painting in heavy brown paper. It rested beside her on the step. Henry and Benny had their blueberry pie in a bakery box.

“Where could they be?” Jessie asked. “If we don't hurry we'll miss the sign-up time for the competition.”

“Here they come,” Benny shouted.

“I'm sorry we're late,” Courtney said as she ran up the stairs. “Michael insisted upon having seconds of everything at breakfast.”

“It's a long time until lunch,” Michael said. “I was worried there wouldn't be anything to eat at the fair.”

“Oh, they have lots of good things to eat,” Benny said. “I remember the fair we had last year.”

“We remember it, too,” Henry said. “You ate so much cotton candy you had an upset stomach.”

“I won't eat too much cotton candy this year,” Benny promised.

“I'll eat half of whatever he buys,” Michael said helpfully. “That way, he can't eat too much.”

“Thank you, Michael,” Henry said. “That sounds like a good plan.”

The high school marching band was playing a merry tune when the children arrived at the fairgrounds. Brightly colored tents with signs that said EXHIBITS, FOOD, DRINKS, GAMES, BAKED GOODS CONTEST, CRAFTS CONTEST, and ART CONTEST lined the walkway. Crowds of adults and children moved from tent to tent. Screams and laughter from the roller coaster and Ferris wheel could be faintly heard. The smell of roasted peanuts, popcorn, and hot dogs filled the air.

“I love the county fair,” Henry said. “This is one of my favorite times of the year.”

“I love it, too,” Jessie said.

“There's the contest registration booth,” Courtney said as she pointed to the bright red sign.

“Good,” Violet said. “This painting is getting heavy.”

“Can we go over there and ride on the carousel?” Michael asked.

“Yeah!” Benny said. “I want to ride on that big white horse.”

“Just wait, you two,” Henry said. “I'd better go with you. You have to buy tickets first.”

“I'll register the pie for you,” Jessie said. “If there's a problem, I'll come and get you.”

“Thanks,” Henry said. “We'll meet you at the bumper cars in half an hour.”

“Behave yourself, Benny,” Jessie said.

“You, too, Michael,” Courtney said.

“We will,” the boys said as they dashed off. Henry ran to catch up with them.

As the girls neared the registration desk they heard angry voices. A man wearing a badge that said
JUDGE
was patiently explaining something to a woman wearing a bright red dress.

“Rules are rules,” the woman shouted. “The poster said that all entries must be accompanied by an official form.”

“I know that, ma'am,” the judge said. “But several people have complained that they couldn't find any posters with entry forms. I don't know what happened to them. We posted at least fifty posters around the town. We had to change the rules or we wouldn't have had enough people to hold a contest.”

“That's not fair,” the woman said. “We had to fill out three entry forms! One for my lemon poundcake, one for my needlepoint pillow, and one for my daughter's painting. Anyone without an official form shouldn't be allowed to enter the contests.”

“Where did you find that form?” the judge asked. “Everyone else seemed to have trouble locating them.”

“What difference does that make?” the woman said. “We are entering the contest according to the rules.”

“Ma'am,” the judge said, “why don't you talk with the contest officials over at the crafts booth? Maybe they can help you.”

“I'll do just that,” the woman said. “But believe me, this is not the end of this matter.” Then she stomped off.

“Wasn't that Kristie Stephens's mother?” Jessie asked Violet.

“Yes,” Violet said. “Boy, she sure was upset.”

“What was that all about?” Jessie asked the judge.

“Just some troublemaker,” the judge said. “We're not going to let her ruin the contests for everyone just because most of the entry forms around town disappeared.”

“Really?” Jessie said. “We managed to get a few. But when we returned to get some more for our friends, the poster had been torn up.”

“Why would someone want to tear up the entry forms?” Courtney asked.

“We've been wondering that ourselves,” the judge said. “There's been one problem after another ever since the contests were announced.”

“How strange,” Jessie said. “Is someone trying to make sure that no one enters the contests?”

“That could be,” the judge said. He carefully checked their entry forms and stamped them. “Now, I need for you to sign that form on the table over there. Then you will be officially entered in the County Fair.”

The girls stood in line at the sign-in table behind a pretty girl with long blond hair.

“Oh, great,” the girl said as she shook her pen. “This pen is all out of ink.”

“I've got one,” Jessie said. She handed the girl a pen. Then she glanced down at the girl's name on the sign-in sheet. “Susie?”

“Yes,” the girl replied. “Susie Martinilli is my name. It's nice to meet you.”

“It's nice to meet you, too. I'm Jessie Alden and this is my sister, Violet, and our friend Courtney Jenkins.”

The girls exchanged greetings. Susie finished signing in. The girls noticed that she dotted the i's in her name with tiny hearts.

“Thanks so much for letting me use your pen,” Susie said as she handed it back to Jessie.

“You're welcome,” Jessie said. Then she signed everyone up for the contests.

“What contests are you entering?” Susie asked.

“I'm entering my painting in the art contest,” Violet said.

“May I see it?” Susie asked.

“Sure,” Violet said. She loosened the brown wrapping paper and held the painting up for Susie to see.

“That's very nice,” Susie said. “That yellow paint you used is beautiful.”

“Thank you,” Violet said. “It's a new paint I found at the crafts store.”

“Jessie and I made a necklace and earrings out of some African beads,” Courtney said. She showed the jewelry to Susie.

“How beautiful,” Susie said. “It looks like the whole thing is held together by this wire string. Is that right?”

“Yes,” Jessie said. “It's not that hard to make.”

“What's in that bakery box?” Susie asked.

“Oh, that's a blueberry pie our brothers made,” Violet said.

“Well,” Susie said. “It looks like you've entered every event at the fair! So did I.”

“You entered every event?” Jessie said.

“Yes, I did,” Susie said with a laugh. “I just love competition.”

“How many times have you entered?” Courtney asked.

“I've entered every year for the last eight years,” Susie said. “But I've never won anything. So this year I made a cherry pie for the baked goods contest, a rag rug for the crafts contest, and I painted a picture of a horse for the art competition.”

“You've really worked hard,” Violet said. “Maybe you'll have better luck this year.”