That day when the Greenfield Library bell rang out at noon, the Aldens could hardly pull themselves away from their work at the shelter. Jessie wanted to finish lining the indoor cages with newspapers. Violet was busy making flyers for adopting cats and dogs and more FOUND CAT notices to put up around town. And, for a change, Benny Alden wasn’t chattering or hungry.
“Even animal doctors stop for lunch,” Dr. Scott said when she found the three Aldens still hard at work at twelve-fifteen.
Dr. Scott smiled down at Benny. “I’ve never known you to forget about your lunch.”
Everyone was laughing when Dr. Scott put up the CLOSED FOR LUNCH sign on the front door of the shelter. “Have a nice big lunch so you can tackle that old shed when you get back with Henry. Maybe by then I’ll have some information about our mystery founder. I’m going to spend my lunchtime making phone calls. Now off you go.”
On the short walk to the hardware store, Violet stopped to post one of her FOUND CAT signs on a telephone pole in front of the bank. “Our phone number is on these posters. I hope Grandfather or Mrs. McGregor is home in case anyone calls,” she said.
Benny ran up ahead. He expected to see Henry waiting in front of Seed’s Hardware the way he usually did at lunchtime every day. But Henry was nowhere around.
“Maybe we came too late,” Jessie said. She tried the door and it opened. “That’s strange. Usually Mr. Seed closes up right at noon. He must have a customer.”
In fact, Mr. Seed had three customers.
One man was at the cash register where Henry was carefully counting out money. The Aldens could see two other men in back with Mr. Seed.
“Don’t bother with the change, sonny,” the man told Henry. “It’s not worth counting just a lot of loose coins.”
That didn’t stop Henry. “My grandfather says every dollar starts with a penny, sir. Besides, Mr. Seed wouldn’t like it if his customers didn’t get the change they were due.”
“Whatever you say, sonny, but make it fast.” The man grabbed the change Henry gave him and shoved it into his pocket without even counting it.
Everyone looked up when Mr. Seed came in from the loading dock with the two men following behind. Mr. Seed was talking slowly, but the men didn’t seem to be paying any attention.
“Now, you’ll want to drive slowly and avoid any bumps with that box of dynamite in your trunk,” Mr. Seed said. “Your whole car could blow up if you hit a pothole too hard, you know.”
“No problem, old man,” one of the men said to Mr. Seed.
Mr. Seed noticed Jessie, Violet, and Benny waiting for Henry, who was busy looking for a receipt book. “Henry, why don’t you leave those receipts so you can have lunch with your brother and sisters? I’ll get them signed.”
One of the men stepped up to the register where Mr. Seed was filling out the receipt book. “No need to sign anything, is there, mister? This is a cash deal. No need for receipts. We’re going to use that dynamite. Don’t worry, we won’t be back to exchange it for one of these flowerpots or maybe a nice pack of marigold seeds.”
The man and his two friends seemed to find this very funny and laughed loudly. The Aldens could see Mr. Seed’s face turn red. He was proud of everything in his store, including the flowerpots.
Jessie couldn’t bear to see Mr. Seed upset. “Excuse me, Mr. Seed. I’d like two starter pots for geraniums,” she said.
“Sure thing, Jessie,” Mr. Seed said in a shaky voice. “And what about you, Violet? Can I get you anything?”
“Just a piece of tape to put up this FOUND CAT sign. We found Miss Newcombe’s animals, but we can’t find her. Maybe one of your customers will see my sign and tell us where she is.”
At this, all three men stared hard at the Aldens. The man who had made fun of the flowerpots stepped up to Jessie. “You kids didn’t happen to follow us here, now, did you?”
“Of course not,” Jessie answered. “We came to meet our brother for lunch. And buy some flower seeds for our grandfather’s garden. May I have two packs of the marigolds, Mr. Seed?”
Mr. Seed didn’t answer right away. He was studying the way the three men were staring at the Aldens. He didn’t like what he saw one bit.
“Of course, of course, Jessie,” he finally answered. “But let’s let these customers out first.” He hurried the men to the front door. “Good day,” he told them, though it was plain from his voice that this hadn’t been a good day at all. The brass bell at the top of the door jingled when he opened the door, then jingled again when he shut it and turned the big brass lock so the men couldn’t come back in.
Everyone started talking at once. “Who were those men, Mr. Seed?” Jessie asked first. “And why did they talk to you and Henry that way?”
Mr. Seed wiped his forehead with a handkerchief. The Aldens could see he wasn’t his usual cheery self. His hands shook, and his eyes darkened. “I got a call a few days ago from one of them, I’m not sure which one. They’re all demanding and impatient. Said they were from a construction company and then ordered a box of dynamite, which I had to get special from one of my suppliers. When they came to pick it up, I almost changed my mind about selling it to them, but they had a purchase order from a construction company upstate.”
“Have you or Henry ever seen them before?” Jessie asked.
Henry frowned and seemed to be thinking hard. “That’s the odd thing. I kept thinking I’d seen them somewhere, but I can’t figure out where or when.”
Mr. Seed locked up the register. “I don’t even like to take money from people like that. And I didn’t like the once-over they gave all of you when you came into the store. That’s why I wanted them to leave before the four of you went outside.”
“They did look at us kind of funny,” Benny said. “But not really funny. That one guy looked mean when Violet said she wanted to put up the flyer to find Miss Newcombe.”
Violet hugged the sheets of paper close to her. “Why would that bother them, I wonder? Well, I don’t care. I am just going to post these all over town. We have Miss Newcombe’s pets, and now we need to find Miss Newcombe.”
“Well, here’s some tape, Violet,” Mr. Seed said. “When you go back to the animal shelter later, you can tape up a few of your flyers on the outside of my windows. For now, I think it would be a good idea to eat your lunch in here, so that those men are well out of town when you go back to the shelter. Henry and I loaded up the truck already with plenty of shingles and nails and whatever else you need to fix that toolshed Dr. Scott wants repaired.”
“Would you like a meat loaf sandwich, Mr. Seed?” Jessie asked when she opened her knapsack. “I’m not too hungry today. You can have mine.”
Mr. Seed shook his head. “I’m afraid those men took my appetite with them. They’re up to no good, and I’m sorry I ever let them in the store. No, I’m not hungry, either. But you should eat. You’ll need all the energy you can muster when you work on that old toolshed. Last time I was at the shelter, I noticed there was a lot of water damage on one side. Just taking out the rotted shingles is going to be a big job.”
“We like big jobs,” Benny announced, “so I’d better eat two sandwiches for lunch!”
This made everyone laugh and realize they were hungry after all. Jessie unwrapped all the sandwiches and put a fat pickle next to each one. “There’s plenty of ice-cold lemonade, too,” she said as she twisted the cap off a tall red thermos.
When the library bell rang a half hour later, the Aldens packed all their lunch things in Mr. Seed’s truck along with the materials he was giving to the shelter. Mr. Seed drove on a dirt path in back of the red barn that led to the far end of the property.
“I hope you won’t be doing all this hard work for nothing,” Mr. Seed told the Aldens when he stopped the truck in front of the old toolshed. “I’ve heard the shelter’s closing in a couple of weeks, so Dr. Scott may not need the extra space.”
Jessie looked at Mr. Seed. “The animals need more space now, and I just know we can help Dr. Scott track down the founder of the shelter before the deadline. We have to—we just have to.”
“Of course,” Mr. Seed said gently. “Now you folks give me a call when you need some other supplies from my store. I’ve got plenty of chicken wire, wood boards—lots of things I know you could use in that boxcar you all told me about. All you have to do is ask, okay?”
“Okay!” the Aldens all said at once.
Soon everyone was busy pulling out rotted boards and lining up the new shingles to replace the old ones.
After a few minutes, Violet spoke up. “I wonder if Dr. Scott was able to find out anything while we were gone.”
“I found two pups for your boxcar,” everyone heard next as Dr. Scott came out to see how the Aldens were doing. In each arm the animal doctor was carrying a German shepherd puppy they hadn’t seen before. “These pups will be big dogs in no time, and the cages we have here will be much too small for them.”
Benny held one of the squirming dogs in his arms while Jessie held the other. “Did you have any luck finding out about the founder of the shelter, Dr. Scott?” Jessie asked.
Dr. Scott shook her head. “I’m afraid not, Jessie. After you left, I still had so many shots to give and so many other calls to make about getting homes for these strays, I didn’t get a chance to make any other calls. Then there’s Miss Newcombe to check on, too. Everything always happens at the same time. But you’ve all been a big help tending to all these strays. And Henry here has been sent from heaven.”
“We’ll have this old shed fixed up by this afternoon since Mr. Seed gave me the rest of the day off,” Henry told Dr. Scott. “Then you won’t have to double up so many animals.”
“That’ll be a great relief,” Dr. Scott said. “These poor animals can start living like dogs and cats and not like sardines.” She peeked into the dusty old shed. “I’ll call for the junk man to remove that old desk and those chairs in there to make more space.”
“Oh, no, we want them!” Jessie cried out.
Dr. Scott winked at everyone. “I was teasing! After watching the four of you save every bit of string, every scrap of paper, and every bottle and can this summer, I knew you would find some use for these old pieces of furniture. I’ll arrange to have everything sent to your grandfathers, so don’t you worry.”
“We’ll use the desk and chairs for an office in our garage,” Jessie told the doctor. “We want our shelter to be just like the Greenfield Animal Shelter.”
“Judging by the excellent repair job you’re doing on this old shed, I know you’ll turn your boxcar into a safe place for my strays,” Dr. Scott said before heading back to the barn.
“I like tearing down old things, so I can fix them up again,” Jessie said when she held up a new shingle for Henry to nail in.
“So do I,” Benny said. He easily pulled off the last few boards from the rotted section of wall. “Hey, look at this!” he called out a few minutes later. “There’s something stuck between these last two boards.”
“Looks like some old black notebooks,” Henry said when he took a close look at what Benny had discovered. “On the cover it says, ‘Property of Jacob Kisco.’ ”
Jessie, who loved old books, took a closer look. “Jacob Kisco must have been a dairy farmer. Look, this page tells how much milk his cows gave and how much food they ate.”
Benny was disappointed. “Just a bunch of old notes about cows. Nothing good.”
“Why, Benny, we can use these to keep track of our animals when we set up our shelter,” Jessie said.
“You and Violet can do that,” Benny said. “I want to feed the animals and play with them.”
Henry, Jessie, and Violet couldn’t help laughing. Benny always liked jobs where he could run and play and not have to stay still for too long.
“Let’s finish up here,” Jessie said. “There’ll be time to look through these old notebooks when we get home.”
Henry put the heavy books in the top drawer of the old desk. He shut the drawer and went back to work measuring and hammering. |