Boardwalk Mystery (7 page)

The woman laughed. “No. There is no saltwater in our saltwater taffy.”

“Then why is it called that?” Benny asked.

“A very long time ago, a man had a taffy stand on the boardwalk in Atlantic City,” the woman explained. “One night a big wave came and hit his stand. It ruined all his taffy. He was upset. He had nothing to sell the next day. When a customer asked for taffy, the man said that all he had to sell was saltwater taffy. He had to throw all the taffy away. The man worked hard and made more taffy. But he thought the name saltwater taffy was catchy. And he was right! We still call it saltwater taffy more than one hundred years later!”

The woman reached into her apron pocket. She pulled out some saltwater taffy. She gave one to each of the Aldens. “Try some,” she said.

Benny took a bite of the soft candy. “This one tastes like peppermint!” he said. The soft and chewy candy seemed to melt in his mouth.

“Mine is butterscotch,” Violet said. She laughed after she took a bite.

“Thank you very much,” Jessie said, swallowing a chocolate-flavored taffy. “It is delicious. We will stop back later to buy some more! We don’t have time right now.”

“You kids are in a hurry?” the woman asked.

“Yes,” Jessie said. “We are on our way to Hanson’s Amusement Pier.”

The woman looked concerned. “Be careful, kids,” she said. “I’ve heard that it might not be safe at the pier.”

“Someone is spreading false rumors,” Jessie said. “Please do not believe them. The pier is very safe.”

The children thanked the woman and left. “It was nice of that lady to give us free samples,” Benny said.

“Yes, and smart, too,” Violet said. “It makes us want to go back and buy more candy. And it has given me a very good idea for Hanson’s Amusement Pier.”

“Free candy?” Benny asked.

“No,” Violet said. “Something even better. Something that will help stop all of the false rumors.”

T
he children found Mr. Hanson sitting in his shed at the back of the pier. There were tools all around him on his workbench, but he was not working.

“Hi, kids,” Mr. Hanson said. “Thanks for coming. But I’m not sure that I will need your help tonight.”

“Is something wrong?” asked Jessie.

Mr. Hanson pointed toward the door. “Did you see how few customers there are out there? Everyone thinks my pier is unsafe. Even the local safety inspector heard the rumors. He stopped by today for a surprise inspection.”

“Were there any problems?” Jessie asked. “No, not at all,” Mr. Hanson said. He showed Jessie the copy of the inspector’s report. “The inspector congratulated me on my pier. He said it was very safe. I could post the report outside, but no one will see it. I do not know how to fight these false rumors.”

“We have heard the rumors, too,” Henry said “But Violet has come up with a wonderful idea.”

Violet stood in front of the workbench. “Mr. Hanson,” she said, “if we could only get people to come visit your pier, they would see how much fun it is and how it is safe. They would want to come back and visit many times.”

Mr. Hanson held up his hand. “Thank you, Violet. I agree with you. But I cannot get people to come here. Did you see Bob Cooke’s pier? There are long lines for all the rides. My rides are empty.”

“But what if you had a special night where all the rides on Hanson’s pier were free? I think many people would come for free rides. Then they would see how wonderful your pier is. The rumors would die because people would see the truth, that you have a safe and fun amusement pier.”

Mr. Hanson sat up straight in his chair. He looked at Violet. “Violet,” he said, “may I shake your hand?”

Violet’s face was flushed. Mr. Hanson grabbed her hand and shook it up and down. There was a big smile on his face. “You are a genius!” he said. “I think it is a great plan. We should have the free night as soon as possible! I think we should do it tomorrow!”

The children looked at each other. “We would have to let everyone know first,” Henry said.

“I’ll put an ad in the paper,” Mr. Hanson said, clapping his hands together.

“I can make flyers,” Violet said. “We can put them up all around the boardwalk so that everyone will know about the special night.”

“There is a T-shirt shop on the boardwalk,” Jessie added. “We could have special shirts made that advertise the free night. We could wear them all day tomorrow.”

Just then Will and Wendy walked into the shed. “Dad,” Will said, “I found the bolt that you were looking for. I want to apologize. The bolt was in my . . .”

“Listen to this, Will!” Mr. Hanson said. “The Aldens have come up with a plan to save the pier.” Mr. Hanson explained the plan to Will and Wendy.

“It sounds great!” Will said. “Wendy and I will help, of course.”

There was no time to spare. Mr. Hanson headed straight to the Oceanside Times newspaper office to place a big ad for the next day’s edition. Will and Henry went to the haunted house to put the bolt back on the zombie. Jessie, Violet, and Benny walked to the T-shirt shop and Wendy stayed to run the pier while everyone was gone.

The Oceanside Shirt Shop was a small store crowded with many racks of T-shirts.

“May I help you?” asked a young man behind the counter.

“Yes,” Violet answered. “We would like to purchase some T-shirts, but can we make our own design to put on them?”

“Of course,” the man answered.

Violet worked on the T-shirt design with the man while Jessie and Benny picked out a pile of plain green T-shirts in different sizes.

The man’s name was Dennis. He was impressed with Violet’s design. “You are a very good artist,” he said. “Is Hanson’s pier really going to let people ride for free tomorrow?”

“Yes,” Violet said.

“But is it safe? I have heard some bad rumors about Hanson’s,” Dennis said.

“They are false rumors that someone has been spreading,” Violet explained. “The safety inspector checked out the whole pier today and he said it was very safe.”

“That is good to hear,” Dennis said. “I have a little boy. I will bring him over tomorrow to ride the rides. And I will tell my customers all about it, too.”

Dennis finished pressing Violet’s design onto the T-shirts and handed them to the children.

“Look at me!” Benny cried. Benny had put his small T-shirt on. “If I run up and down the boardwalk, everyone will know about the free night at Hanson’s! I am a walking flyer!”

Jessie and Violet changed into their shirts as well. Then the children headed back toward the amusement pier. They noticed that people were staring at their shirts.

“Free rides!” The children heard a woman shout, and they turned. It was Mrs. Reddy. She was hurrying toward them.

“Hanson is giving out free rides?” she asked. “He must be crazy. He cannot make money if he gives the rides for free. He will be ruined.” Mrs. Reddy looked toward the pier. “I know I could run it again,” she said. “I do know a lot about running that pier. And my pier was always safe. I could be very helpful there.”

“Hanson’s pier is safe, Mrs. Reddy,” Jessie said. “The safety inspector declared today that the pier is very safe. Someone has been spreading false rumors. The free rides are just for one night so that everyone can see how fun Hanson’s pier is.”

Violet turned toward the old woman. “I am sure that the pier was wonderful when you ran it, Mrs. Reddy,” she said. “And I am sure that you must miss being in charge there. But it is still a very fun and very safe place.”

“Would you like a T-shirt?” Benny asked. “It is free!”

Mrs. Reddy looked startled. “You are giving me a free T-shirt?”

“Sure,” Benny said. “Why not?”

Mrs. Reddy took the T-shirt. “Thank you,” she said. “I must admit, this is a very good idea. I never had T-shirts made when I owned the pier. I never thought of it! And maybe I will stop by tomorrow night to see how everything is going. If it gets very busy, maybe Carl will ask me to help.”

When Jessie, Violet, and Benny got back to the pier, they went straight to the workshop. Mr. Hanson, Henry, Will, Wendy, and Hunter were sitting around the large wooden table. They were very impressed with the T-shirts. They each took one.

Mr. Hanson told them about the ad he had placed in the paper. “And Donna Mancini, the photographer, has been taking lots of pictures of the boardwalk. I am going use some of her pictures of the pier and put more ads in newspapers and magazines.”

“What a wonderful idea,” Violet said.

“My dad is donating pizza from his shop,” Hunter said. “The first one hundred customers tomorrow night will get a coupon for a free slice of pizza.”

At the mention of the word pizza, there was a strange growling noise in the shed. “What was that?” Hunter asked.

“I’m sorry!” Benny’s face turned very red. “But my stomach heard you say ‘free pizza.’”

Everyone laughed.

“Why don’t you go get something to eat? And then head back to the house and rest. Tomorrow will be a very busy day and we will need everyone’s help.”

The children stopped at Mack’s and ordered take-out. They carried their dinners back to the Hansons’ home and sat outside on the deck overlooking the ocean.

Jessie poured four glasses of cold milk. “Mr. Hanson has said that he will have to move back to Colorado if the amusement pier fails.”

“That would be terrible!” Violet said. “Owning the amusement pier and living in this house on the beach was always Mr. Hanson’s dream.”

Henry took a bite of his cheesesteak. He looked thoughtful. “That is true, Violet. This is Mr. Hanson’s dream. But I don’t think that Wendy and Will had the same dream. I think they liked Colorado.”

“Do you suspect them of trying to ruin the amusement pier?” Violet asked.

Henry took a long drink of milk. “I don’t know,” he said. “But remember that they both had red stains on their shoes, just like the red paint from the house of mirrors. And if the amusement pier fails, they would get to go back to Colorado to their old school and all their old friends.”

“And remember that I accidently overheard them talking in the hallway the other day.” Violet sprinkled cheese on her pasta. “Wendy said that they had a ‘plan.’ I wonder what that meant.”

Jessie had her notebook on the table and was looking through the clues she had written down. “And didn’t Will say that he had the bolt to the zombie in his pocket? How did he get it?”

“He could have found it on the floor in the haunted house,” Violet said.

Jessie tapped a pencil on her notebook. “What about Mrs. Reddy?”

“She spreads bad rumors,” Benny said.

“That’s right, Benny,” Henry said. “Mrs. Reddy seems like she would be happy if the amusement pier failed. I think she is sorry that she sold it. She wants to run it again. She does not like being retired.”

“But she did like the T-shirt we gave her. She said she would wear it.” Benny said.

“Don’t forget about Mr. Cooke,” Violet said. “He also would like to run the amusement pier.”

“That’s true,” Jessie said. “When he was arguing with Mrs. Reddy, he said that he wanted Mr. Hanson to fail. And someone with a black marker wrote on the walls of the house of mirrors. We found a marker with ‘Captain Cooke’s Amazing Amusement Pier’ written on the side.”

“But Mr. Cooke is right,” Violet said. “There are many markers like that on the boardwalk. Anyone could have used it. But I agree that he acts suspicious sometimes. Remember the other day when we saw him on the boardwalk? His pants and shoes looked very wet. And it was not raining. He hurried away when he saw us looking at him.”

“He might have been fixing a ride on his pier,” Henry said. “He does have a log flume and a boat ride.”

The children finished their meals and cleaned up the little table on the deck. Violet leaned on the rail. She stared out at the moonlight glinting off of the ocean. She wished she could take a photograph of the view and save it. She thought of Mrs. Mancini, the photographer who took so many pictures of Oceanside.

Suddenly, Violet stood up straight. She turned to her sister and brothers. “I have an idea,” she said. “I think I know how we might catch the people who are trying to ruin the pier.”

E
arly the next morning, the children started their day at Dottie’s Pancake House. They wore the T-shirts that Violet had designed. Everyone in the small restaurant asked them about the free rides. The people seemed excited and made plans to visit Hanson’s Amusement Pier.

Dottie, the woman who owned the restaurant, stopped at the children’s table. “How is everything?” she asked.

Benny tried to answer, but his mouth was stuffed with pancakes.

Jessie was cutting up her French toast. She laughed. “I think you can see that our brother loves your pancakes. Everything here is wonderful.”

Dottie smiled. “Thank you. I noticed your T-shirts,” she said. “Everyone is talking about them. Are the rides really free tonight?”

“Yes, they are,” Jessie answered.

Dottie smiled. “Maybe I will stop by and check it out tonight.”

After breakfast the children visited a copy store. The night before, Violet had designed the flyer that would advertise the free night. It looked a lot like the design on the T-shirts. The man made the copies for the children right away.