The Puzzler's Mansion (28 page)

“Wait here, okay?” he told his friends, and he ran downstairs. He found Richard in his office, staring off into space. It had been a strange day, one that required a good deal of thought.

Winston knocked lightly on the door. Richard, startled out of his contemplation, swiveled in his chair.

“Can I come in?” Winston asked.

“Of course, of course.” Richard looked around. “Pardon the mess. This is the one part of the house the housekeeper is not allowed to touch. You can see the result for yourself.”

Winston smiled automatically. Richard's office, while not neat, was cleaner than Winston's bedroom.

“I'm so sorry about Freddie,” Richard said. “Are you okay?” It was the thousandth time someone had asked that question today.

“I'm fine,” Winston said. “Only Zook got hurt, and only a little bit. Your garden shed didn't come out of it too good, though.”

Richard nodded. “So I heard. That's okay.”

They both fell quiet. Winston was here for a reason, and Richard was waiting to find out what it was.

“I'm sorry,” Winston said, “for, you know . . . why Freddie took the music program.” No force on earth could make him say the word
dying.

Richard smiled. “That's okay, Winston.”

They were silent for a moment, and finally Winston stopped
trying to be tricky and instead blurted it out. “I can't take your Laurel Tree award. I just can't.”

“But I don't need it anymore,” Richard said. “In fact, in a way, I never needed it. The honor of receiving it . . . the memories of that night . . . they're much more important to me than the award itself.”

“I still can't take it,” Winston said again. “You should have it here. I got the cuff links back. That's enough. And the Laurel Tree . . . You told me how important it is. It would feel too strange taking it from you, after learning what we just learned.” Winston wasn't about to tell him that he had been uneasy about taking the award even
before
he'd learned Richard was ill.

Richard gazed at him thoughtfully. “I'll tell you what. I'll make you a deal.”

“A deal?”

“Tell me you don't plan on giving up puzzles. In fact, I'll go one better. Promise me you'll send me some puzzles. One a week. If you do that, I'll keep my Laurel Tree. For a while longer.”

Winston was visibly relieved. “I'm not giving up puzzles,” he said. “I'll send you as many as you want.”

Richard smiled again. “I hope you enjoyed the weekend, Winston,” he said. “Even if there were a few unplanned events. I am glad to have met you.” He spun his chair slightly, back to his desk. “In fact,” he said, “I was just sitting down to solve a puzzle out of one of my magazines. It's my usual method of escape.” Winston smiled—he understood that very well. Flipping through the magazine on his desk, Richard said, “Want to help?”

So Winston sat down and pulled his chair in, and the two of them stared at the puzzle. When lunch was ready, an irritated Norma had to come down to get them. Neither of them heard her calling.

Clockwise

1. Electrical “juice”
   
2. Sport for cowboys
   
3. Cooked too much, like toast
   
4. Performing, as an action
   
5. Radiate light
   
6. Some army actions
   
7. How a lizard feels
   
8. Like someone from Dublin
   
9. “Yum!”
   
10. Certain “buildings” made of
    snow
    
11. Uncovered
    
12. Makes less difficult
    

Counterclockwise

1. Birthday ___
   
2. Red flowers
   
3. Bent to acknowledge
   applause
   
4. Guys, slangily
   
5. More achy
   
6. Safari animal, for short
   
7. Incredibly good person
   
8. Cake decoration
   
9. Swap
   
10. Doesn't succeed
    
11. Like someone who orders people around
    
12. Our planet
    

EIGHT MONTHS PASSED.
One moment it was a gloomy fall, with Winston drowning in homework and struggling with his grades. And then it was nearly summer again. His parents often commented on how fast time seemed to be flying. This was the first time he had felt the sensation so keenly.

Along the way, Winston had turned thirteen. He felt like he was too old for a birthday party—was he supposed to wear a pointed hat with the elastic under his chin?—but Mal and Jake worked together to make a bunch of puzzles, and they gave them to him as a present.

Winston received a couple more notes home from his boring history teacher . . . but only two over the rest of the school year, as opposed to the three he had gotten in the first few weeks. His parents didn't come down on him too hard, and his grades rose to where they were supposed to be. He saved the puzzles for downtime at school, and while life wasn't perfect—it rarely is for thirteen-year-olds—he felt more or less like someone who had gotten his act together.

Even though he remembered Amanda had taken his e-mail address, it was still a surprise when her first e-mail popped up in his
in-box. Her father, furious over the stolen cuff links, had decided not to fund his wife's antiques store after all. It closed down just eight weeks after it opened. So while Candice Deburgh didn't go to jail—as Winston had thought she might at the time—she didn't entirely escape punishment.

They wrote back and forth a few times before Amanda attached a large file. Winston clicked on it and piano music filled the room.

“After our conversation with Richard in the music room, I started thinking about things,” she wrote. “I'm not playing classical music for a million hours a day anymore. My father is really angry about it, but it's not what I want to do. I'm writing music instead.”

Winston was amazed. She had
written
the music coming out of his computer speakers?

“I'm trying to write a song every couple of weeks,” her e-mail said. “It's not easy! I think I have a lot to learn. But I'm having way more fun at the piano now. I've attached this week's song. I hope you like it.”

The song had no lyrics—Winston guessed she wanted to focus only on the music—but it was a bright, lively piece. Maybe she had a lot to learn, but this sounded pretty good to him. He remembered the last time he had listened to piano music here in his bedroom. It was the CD that Penrose had given him, of Richard Overton's music.

Richard had died a few weeks earlier. He had taken a nap after lunch and simply never woke up. Winston read everything he could about it. In the news were quotes and comments from many of the people he had met that weekend. Kimberly Schmidt called him “a giant” and “a wonderful friend.” Derek Bibb told a reporter about the puzzle and game parties Richard would throw. Larry Rossdale did a special segment on his television show. Winston had recorded it and watched it several times. He had sent Richard a bunch of puzzles
over the last few months, and sometimes Richard would write back, saying he particularly liked one or another.

And now, on this very day, a package had arrived for Winston. It was sitting on his bed and had Norma's name on the return address. Winston thought he knew what was in it. He wasn't ready to open it up yet. Maybe a little later.

He sat there listening to Amanda's music, looking out the window at the bright sunshine. He should go outside, and in a little while, he would.

But this morning at breakfast he had started to get an idea for a puzzle . . . maybe even a whole series of puzzles. Yes. Eighth grade was almost over; next year he would be in high school. He was a little nervous about that, but that was a problem for another time. Today he had the day to himself, and a good idea was slowly blossoming in his mind. He reached for a pencil and his notebook. He wanted to get started.

BY WINSTON BREEN

THERE'S ONLY ONE
superhero who fights crime by solving puzzles: Puzzleman! And this time he's up against his most deadly adversary: the Shock! This bad guy harnesses the power of electricity, and nobody is safe when those lightning bolts start flying! What's more, the Shock has a crew of six other supervillains, each with their own nasty powers.

First, help Puzzleman defeat the Shock's six henchmen by solving their puzzles. Then use the information from each puzzle answer to figure out how to defeat the Shock once and for all!

 

The Mad Zookeeper

The Mad Zookeeper is fed up with animals! He's so angry, in fact, that he's developed the power to change animals into other objects. Luckily, your puzzling powers can restore all the animals to normal.

Part 1:

Apply each of the directions on the next page to one of the pictures seen here. The result will be an animal, which you should write in the blanks under the picture.

•  
Add an R to the end of the object.

•  Add an R somewhere in the middle of the object.

•  Add a W to the start of the object.

•  Replace the first three letters with a Y.

•  Remove the last two letters and spell what remains
backward.

•  Change the second letter to an O and spell backward.

•  Replace the last two letters with an L.

•  Change the last letter to a B and spell backward.

•  Change the third letter to a G.

*   *   *

Part 2:

Transfer all the numbered letters from Part 1 into the blanks below. When you're done, you'll have five words. You can change one letter in each word to give you the name of an animal. The five letters you change, reading down, will spell the answer to this puzzle.