Giant Yo-Yo Mystery (2 page)

“But what if that yo-yo falls from the crane and rolls into the crowd?” Mrs. Thorton asked. “Someone could get hurt. Maybe even killed.”

Jeff opened his mouth to protest, but Mrs. Thorton cut him off. “I’m warning you, Jeff, if you don’t stop this project, I’ll find a way to stop you.”

And with that, Mrs. Thorton stormed out of the shop.

“Who was that lady?” Benny asked. “She didn’t seem very friendly.”

“Than Mrs. Thorton,” Jeff replied. “She lives in that little yellow house across the street. And it’s not that she’s unfriendly. She just worries a lot.”

“What does she worry about?” Violet asked.

“You name it, Mrs. Thorton worries about it,” Emily muttered as she carried an armload of wood pieces over to where Jeff had been assembling the yo-yo.

“But why is she so worried about the yo-yo?” Benny asked. “Could it really fall from the crane and roll into the crowd and hurt people?”

Jeff got down on his knees so he was at eye-level with Benny. “I promise you, Benny, I won’t put the yo-yo up on the crane if I’m not one-hundred-percent sure it’s safe. I don’t want people to get hurt any more than you or Mrs. Thorton do.”

“I’m sure Jeff knows what he’s doing, Benny,” Grandfather said.

“That’s right,” Emily said. “He’s been poring over those plans for months. He probably knows more about building huge yo-yos than he does about building furniture.”

Jeff laughed. “That’s probably true.”

“Do you think Mrs. Thorton will really try and stop you from building the yo-yo?” Jessie asked.

“She might try,” Jeff said. “She’ll probably talk to the mayor. I know the two of them are good friends. But I don’t think she’ll have any luck stopping the project. The only reason she might have to complain would be noise. And I’m going to see what I can do about that.”

“Could you do the noisy work earlier in the day?” Violet suggested.

“That’s exactly what I was thinking,” Jeff said. “I’ve been doing my regular work during the day and saving the yo-yo for after hours. But lately, my regular work has been staining cabinets. Staining cabinets doesn’t make any noise. I could do that just as easily at night.”

“Mrs. Thorton isn’t even home until late afternoon,” Emily said. “We could do the sawing for the yo-yo during the day while she’s gone. As long as we meet the deadline on these cabinets, it probably doesn’t matter what we do when, does it?”

“I don’t think so,” Jeff said. “It’s settled then. Starting tomorrow, we’ll do the yo-yo work during the day and the cabinet work at night.”

Honk! Honk!
A horn blared outside.

Emily turned toward the door. “Oh, that’s probably Todd,” she said. She took off her safety goggles and hung them on a hook in the corner. Then she grabbed her purse and sweater.

“It was nice meeting you,” Emily told the Aldens. “I’ll see you tomorrow, Jeff.” She waved, then hurried out the door just as the car outside honked again.

Jeff shook his head. “That Emily is a nice girl, but I don’t think much of her boyfriend, Todd. Every night it’s the same. He comes to pick her up, but instead of coming inside to see if she’s ready, he just sits out front and honks until she comes out.”

“That’s not very polite,” Violet said.

“No, it isn’t,” Jeff agreed. “I know he doesn’t like her working late, so I wonder what he’s going to say when we start working on the yo-yo during the day and then doing our other work at night? She won’t be able to leave when he honks then. But I guess it’s not my place to worry about it.”

Jeff turned back to the papers on his desk. “I just hope I don’t have any trouble with Mrs. Thorton. I’ve always had a passion for yo-yos, and I would really like to build the world’s largest yo-yo.”

“We hope you don’t have any trouble with her, either,” Violet said.

Jeff smiled. “Say, did you kids know that the word
yo-yo
means ‘come come?’”

“No,” the children all said at once.

“It’s true,” Jeff said. “It comes from a Tagalog word. Tagalog is a language that’s spoken in the Philippines.”

“Is that where the yo-yo was invented?” Violet asked.

“No, I think the yo-yo was invented in China,” Jeff said. “It was certainly used in the Philippines, though. In fact, at one time it was used as a hunting weapon. Hunters would throw it out to try and catch an animal by the legs.”

“Really?” Henry said. “That’s interesting.”

“Yes. The yo-yo has a pretty interesting history,” Jeff said. “I’ve got some articles here if you’d like to read more about it.”

“I’d like to,” Violet said. “I’ll bring them back as soon as I’ve finished reading them.”

“Take your time,” Jeff said. “You know, I sure could use some more help with this yo-yo. What do you kids say? Would you like to help build the world’s largest yo-yo?”

“Oh boy!” Benny cried. “Could we, Grandfather?”

“I don’t know why not,” Grandfather said.

“What would you want us to do?” Jessie asked.

“Nothing too hard,” Jeff said. “Looks like Emily has mostly finished cutting the pieces for the first half of the yo-yo, so until I get another delivery of wood, it’s just a matter of screwing the pieces together. Eventually, I’ll need help getting the two halves connected to the axle and then we’ll need to paint the outside.”

“We can help with all of that!” Violet said eagerly.

“I’ll also need someone to run the video camera every now and then.” Jeff pointed to the camera that was sitting on a tripod in the corner.

“Are you making a movie about building the yo-yo?” Grandfather asked.

“Sort of,” Jeff said. “If you want to break a world’s record, you need to document every step along the way so that people know you really did it.”

“I know how to run a video camera,” Benny said, jumping up and down.

“That’s good, Benny,” Jeff said with a smile. “It sounds like you’re all good helpers. Do you think you could come back tomorrow morning?”

“We’d love to!” The children nodded eagerly.

“In that case, we’d better get home and get you all to bed,” Grandfather said.

“Okay,” the children agreed. They all said their goodbyes, then the Aldens headed out to the car.

Grandfather’s car was parked on the street, right in front of a gray station wagon. It looked like there was somebody inside the station wagon wearing a dark baseball cap. It was too dark to tell whether the person was a man or a woman, but Henry wondered why the person was just sitting there.

Henry reached for the handle on Grandfather’s car when suddenly Jeff came out of the shop. “Wait, James! Children!” Jeff yelled as he hurried toward them waving some rolled-up papers.

“What is it, Jeff?” Grandfather called from the car.

Jeff handed Henry the papers. “I wanted you to take these plans for the yo-yo home tonight so you can look them over and see how everything fits together.”

“We’d like that,” Henry said as he slipped the plans inside his green backpack, then zipped it up. “Thank you.”

“Terrific,” Jeff said. “I’ll see you all tomorrow.”

The Aldens chatted about how much fun they were going to have building the world’s largest yo-yo as they piled into the car. Grandfather pulled out into the street. As he did, Henry noticed the lights on the vehicle behind them come on.

Henry turned around in his seat. The station wagon was pulling out right behind them. At first, Henry wasn’t too concerned.

After all, it could be a coincidence that the person in the station wagon happened to be leaving the same time the Aldens were.

But then Grandfather turned right at the next intersection. He drove three blocks, then turned left. Henry turned around again. The station wagon was two vehicles behind them.

Jessie peered curiously at Henry. “What’s the matter, Henry?” she asked.

“I don’t know,” Henry said, watching the station wagon curiously. “I think we’re being followed.”

“Followed?” Grandfather asked. He glanced in his rearview mirror. Jessie, Violet, and Benny turned around, too.

“Who’s following us?” Benny wanted to know.

“Not the vehicle right behind us,” Henry said. “It’s the one behind that. The gray station wagon. I noticed it parked behind us at Jeff’s. Then, when we pulled out, so did that car. It’s been behind us ever since we left.”

“Why would someone want to follow us?” Violet asked.

“I don’t know,” Henry said.

Grandfather made another right turn, and everyone watched anxiously to see what the station wagon would do. It made a right turn, too.

“Hmm,” Grandfather said. He turned right again at the next intersection and the Aldens found themselves on a well-lit street with lots of stores.

“I wonder what our friend back there will do if we pull over?” Grandfather mused. He signaled, then pulled off to the side of the road.

Everyone watched the station wagon.

It kept right on going until it was out of sight.

“Did anyone get a good look at the driver?” Grandfather asked.

“No,” Violet said. “It was too dark.”

“And they went by too fast,” Benny said.

“It’s possible we weren’t even being followed at all,” Henry said.

“It’s possible,” Jessie agreed. “But I think we should keep an eye out for that vehicle. See if we notice it again.”

Violet nodded in agreement. “Maybe we can ask Jeff tomorrow whether he knows of anyone in the neighborhood who drives a car like that.”

“Good thinking,” Henry said.

“At any rate, we’re not being followed now,” Grandfather said. He waited for an opening in the traffic, then pulled out into the street and headed for home.

Grandfather drove the children back to Jeff’s shop early the next morning. He couldn’t pull into the parking lot because Emily was standing there with a man dressed in black jeans and a black jacket. So Grandfather pulled up along the side of the road to let the children out.

As Benny got out of the car, he noticed Mrs. Thorton standing in the front window of her little yellow house across the street.

“Hey, there’s that lady who came into Jeff’s shop last night,” Benny said. He raised his hand to wave at her, but as soon as he did, Mrs. Thorton pulled her curtains closed.

“I thought Emily said she wasn’t home much during the day,” Jessie said.

“It looks like she’s home today,” Violet said.

“Why don’t you kids call me when you’re ready to come home,” Grandfather said.

“We will,” Henry promised as he hoisted his backpack up onto his back.

Grandfather drove away as the children walked over to the shop.

Emily and the man in black were still deep in conversation. They didn’t notice the children.

“Trust me,” Emily said. “I’m taking care of it. We won’t have to worry about that silly yo-yo much longer.”

The children stopped and stared. What did Emily mean by that?

“I hope you’re right,” the man in black said. He squeezed Emily’s hand, then walked down the sidewalk.

Emily turned to go inside. But when she saw the Aldens, she jumped.

“What are you kids doing here?” She scowled at them.

“We were just going inside,” Violet said. “Jeff asked us to come down here this morning to help with the yo-yo.”

Emily pressed her lips together, then said, “Well, it’s not nice to eavesdrop on other people’s conversations. You could misinterpret what you hear.”

“We know that,” Henry said. “And we weren’t eavesdropping. Honest.”

Henry wanted to ask Emily what she’d meant by “I’m taking care of it. We won’t have to worry about that silly yo-yo anymore.” But Emily already seemed angry; he didn’t want to make her any angrier. So he and his brother and sisters followed Emily into the shop.

When they got inside, they found Jeff pacing around the workshop, talking on his cell phone. He looked irritated.

“I don’t understand,” Jeff said into his phone. “Where would you get the idea I didn’t want that order of wood? Uh huh … A woman, huh?” He glanced over at Emily, who was hanging up her jacket and not paying any attention to Jeff’s conversation. “I’ll see what I can find out on this end and get back to you. I do want the wood, though, Karl. I want it as soon as you can get it to me.”

Jeff slapped his cell phone closed and nodded at the children. “I’ll be with you kids in a minute,” he said. He strode over to Emily. “Did you cancel that next order of wood?”

“I—” Emily began, her face turning red. She didn’t finish her sentence. But it was clear she had canceled the wood.

Jeff let out a breath of air. “Why in the world would you do that?”

“I-I didn’t think we needed any more wood.” She pointed to the yo-yo piece that Jeff had been working on. “It looks like we’re almost done. So when Karl called yesterday, I told him we didn’t need that other order.”

“We’re almost done with the one half of the yo-yo,” Jeff said. “We still have a whole other half to build.”

“Oh. I didn’t realize,” Emily said. “I’m so sorry.”

The Aldens exchanged looks. It seemed strange that someone who knew as much about woodworking as Emily would forget about the second half of the yo-yo.