Secret of the Mask (6 page)

“Look,” Benny pointed, “that’s our can.”

The Crispy Crackers can sat in the back of the display with old cans and tins and metal boxes. The children ran back inside. The woman glowered at them. “I thought I told you—”

“That can belongs to us,” Jessie said.

“Which one?”

“That green one, way in back.”

The woman folded her arms across her chest. “That could be anyone’s old can.”

“No,” said Jessie. “We can prove it’s ours.”

“It has black burn marks on the bottom,” said Violet. “When we lived in the boxcar, we’d fill the can with water from the stream and set it on hot stones to heat water for washing and cooking.”

“And,” Henry said, “it’s full of money.”

“
What?
”

“Open it,” said Jessie. “You’ll see.”

“It … it doesn’t open.” The woman’s face turned bright red. “I tried. It’s stuck shut.”

“I can get it open,” said Henry. And before she could stop him, he climbed into the display window and took out the can. Sure enough, the bottom of the can was burnt black. Using the heel of his shoe and a nail left over from his rain stick, Henry hammered off the lid. Dollar bills and coins spilled out. Benny quickly scurried around, picking them up.

“That can was just sitting out on a stump near that old boxcar,” snapped the woman.

“Yes,” said Jessie, her voice angry, “it was sitting right next to the sign—the really BIG sign—that said ‘Donations for the Homeless Shelter.’”

“There was no sign,” she said, “just a dog and cat running around.”

The children glanced at each other. They remembered Watch chasing the cat around the yard, knocking things over. “I guess Watch could have knocked the sign down,” said Jessie. “Still, you shouldn’t have taken the can without asking.”

“Well,
you
told me that only items on the tables were for sale, and it didn’t look like something that anyone would miss so I … I … I …” Tiny drops of sweat dotted the woman’s upper lip. She patted her forehead with a handkerchief. “This was a terrible misunderstanding. I … I … I,” she took a deep breath, “I apologize.”

It seemed so hard for her to say that the children guessed she didn’t apologize very often.

“Look!” cried Benny, pointing to an old wooden table piled high with dishes and silverware. He reached across the table and grabbed a silver candleholder from behind a stack of dishes. It was coated with orange and black wax. “That’s Grandma Belle’s candle-holder! The one she used on Halloween.”

Violet grabbed Henry’s arm and pulled him to one side. “What if Grandma Belle’s nurse didn’t come here to buy something,” she whispered. “What if she came here to sell?”

Henry thought this over. He took the candleholder from Benny and set it on the counter in front of the woman. “Where did you get this?” he asked.

The woman blinked, then blinked again. “Why, people bring things to sell all the time. I can hardly be expected to remember where all my treasures come from.”

The children suspected she wasn’t telling the truth. But she turned away and began dusting some shelves.

“What about my mask?” asked Benny. “Did you take it out of our garage?”

The woman whirled around. “I don’t know anything about any mask,” she said. “And I want you children out of here, out of here
now.
”

As the children walked out of the store with their green can, they had a feeling she knew exactly where Grandma Belle’s candleholder had come from, and it was up to them to find out how it ended up in her store.

The children pedaled hard up the steep hill that overlooked Pleasant Valley Park. Suddenly, they came to a screeching halt. They barely recognized their favorite park in the large valley below. Gone were the baseball and soccer fields, the playgrounds and basketball courts. In their place, as far as the eye could see, was a city of white tepees. Excited, the children coasted down the hill to the park to join the fun. As they locked their bikes onto the bike stand, Benny carefully removed the mask from Jessie’s bike basket.

It was hard to know where to look first. Children of all ages played a noisy game of tag, running in and out of tepees and all around the park. Long craft tables covered the toddler playground. At each one, people sewed moccasins or wove bright beads into bracelets and headbands. Small children glued feathers and beads onto leather strips that they tied around their arms and waists.

A group of people sat on the ground around a very old woman, watching as she carved beautiful designs into a black clay pot. And, oh, the delicious smells in the air! Even though their bellies were full of ice cream, the children knew they must sample some powwow foods before they left.

“This way,” said Henry, walking along a row of open tents with banners reading: Food, Crafts, Storytelling.

A young woman at the information tent directed people this way and that. Violet studied the bead design on her dress so she could copy it. Sewing the beads would take many hours but, as Grandfather said, “A journey of a thousand miles begins with a single step.” When it was their turn to speak to the woman, the children asked where they could find Officer Tom Morgan.

“Let’s see,” the woman checked a list of names. “Ah, yes, Tom’s helping build the bonfire on the west end of the park.” She pointed them toward an area set far away from the tents. The children headed over.

As they neared, they saw people piling logs, branches, and twigs in the shape of a square. The square was already as tall as Benny, and it looked as if it would be much taller before all the branches were used up.

They found Officer Morgan working with a group of teenagers. “Welcome,” he said. “I’d like to show that mask of yours to one of the tribes here.” He turned to the teenagers. “Keep building,” he told them. “I’ll be back to help in a little while.”

He led the Aldens toward the largest tepee in the park. “You are about to meet some very important tribe members,” he said. “They have come from all over the United States for this powwow. I told them about the masks you found.”

Inside the tent, a group of people sat in a circle. Some wore jeans and tee shirts, and others were dressed in clothing decorated with beads and feathers. Officer Morgan introduced the children. He turned to Benny. “Would you show them your mask?”

Benny took the mask out of its box and walked into the center of the circle. A man leaned forward as Benny lifted up the two-horned mask.

“Ahhhh,” he said, taking it from him, passing it around the circle. Each held it and ran his hands along the old wood, admiring the talent of the artist who made it. When it had gone all the way around the circle, the last man spoke.

“This is a Hopi cow kachina mask. This spirit prays for rain and food for the Hopi people,” he said. “The Hopi have not arrived yet—if you will leave the mask, we will show it to them.”

“No!” yelled Benny, grabbing the mask and clutching it to him. “I found it! It’s mine!”

The man’s voice was gentle. “That is true. You did find it. And you could take it home. But this mask is very old. It may have been stolen from the Hopi tribe.” Benny clutched it tighter. The man looked at him with kind eyes. “It is a great honor—a great, great honor—to return a stolen thing to its true home.”

Benny hugged his mask. He knew how sad he felt when the mask had been stolen from their garage. He also knew how happy he felt today when they found the missing Crispy Crackers can. He looked at the chiefs who sat quietly, watching him and waiting. No one yelled at him or grabbed the mask or told him what to do. They were waiting for him to decide. It made Benny feel very grown-up.

“All right,” he said, handing the mask to the man next to him.

“We would like to invite you to come back to the powwow on Saturday. By then we will know about the mask,” the man said to the children.

On their way out of the park, the Aldens saw a group of people gathered around a table labeled “Fry bread.”

“That’s what Katrina ate in the
Prairie Girls
book,” said Violet. “We should try it.”

The children joined the line, watching a woman pull a small piece of dough off a big piece. She quickly rolled it into a ball, rolled it in flour, then patted it flat. Then she poked a hole in the middle. “The hole lets the oil get into the middle so the fry bread cooks evenly,” explained Violet.

“Everyone stand back,” said the woman. All the children took a giant step back as she dropped the dough into a large pan. Hot oil spattered like a Fourth-of-July sparkler. As the dough bubbled merrily in the hot oil, she added many more breads to the pan.

When they were done she scooped them onto paper towels to drain. Some people ordered their fry bread plain, and some asked for regular sugar.

“I’m having powdered sugar,” said Benny. When it was their turn, Henry, Jessie, and Violet all ordered the powdered sugar, too. The children sat under a large maple tree to enjoy their treats.

Officer Morgan found them there. “Thanks for leaving your mask, Benny,” he said as he walked towards them.

“You’re welcome,” said Benny, who by now had a powdered-sugar moustache.

“We need to talk to Grandma Belle,” Henry said. “If the people here think that this mask may belong to the Hopi tribe, then maybe there are other things that Grandma Belle has that need to be returned to these people.”

“Do you think that Grandma Belle’s father stole the masks from the Hopi tribe?” Benny asked.

“I don’t know,” said Henry. “But that’s what we need to find out.”

As the children pedaled through town, they passed the drugstore. Down the block, Henry spotted the orange pickup truck they had seen in their alley parked in front of the diner.

“Something’s wrong with that truck,” said Henry.

“It’s orange,” said Violet, who much preferred softer colors.

Jessie wrinkled her nose. “It’s all bumped and dented and has more rust than a sunken ship.”

“No,” said Henry, studying the truck. “I know what’s wrong. Those are the same bikes and swing set in the back as before. Mr. Robbins would have sold them all by now, and collected all sorts of new things.”

“You mean he’s not a junker like Mr. Robbins?” asked Violet. “He’s just pretending to be a junker?”

Henry nodded. “That way, people aren’t suspicious when they see him driving up and down the alleys.”

“Alleys like ours,” said Benny, his face growing red with excitement. “He could have stolen my mask from our garage!”

“And maybe,” said Jessie, “he stole things, like the candleholder, from Grandma Belle’s garage. Maybe he’s the one who took it to the antique store.”

Henry jumped on his bike. “Quick! We have to get over to Grandma Belle’s to let her know what’s going on before anything else disappears.”

The children pedaled so fast they were out of breath when they knocked on Grandma Belle’s door. They waited, then knocked again. Nurse Rumple finally opened the door wearing rubber gloves and holding a giant bottle of cleaning spray. “Sssshh!” she said, smiling sweetly.

“We’ve come to see Grandma Belle,” said Jessie.

“The dear lady is napping.” The smell of cleaning spray and fresh popcorn drifted out of the house. “She mustn’t be disturbed. Please come back tomorrow.” She shut the door.

“Did you smell the popcorn?” asked Jessie.

“If she’s cleaning and Grandma Belle is napping, who is the popcorn for?” The children looked at each other.

Suddenly, Henry thought of something. “The popcorn isn’t for eating, it’s for packing! The nurse and the man in the truck are stealing from Grandma Belle!”

“I see,” said Jessie. “The nurse packs up all of Grandma Belle’s things and leaves them in the trash for the man in the orange truck to pick up.”

“We did see them talking on the street,” pointed out Violet.

“In front of the antique shop where we found Grandma Belle’s candleholder,” added Jessie.

“And we know the man in the truck isn’t a real junker,” said Benny.

Henry rang the bell again. It took Nurse Rumple a long while to answer. “You again?” she asked, a little less sweetly than before.

“We need to see Grandma Belle,” said Violet. “We have something very important we need to talk to her about.”

“I told you she’s napping.” Nurse Rumple sprayed and wiped the brass mailbox next to the front door. “And I sent her grandson to pick up some medicine.”

“We’ll wait,” said Jessie, trying to step inside. “We want to say goodbye to him.”

Nurse Rumple blocked the doorway. “He won’t have time. As soon as he drops off the medicine, he’s catching a plane back to California.” She sprayed cleaning spray on the doorknob and door and then briskly rubbed them with a rag. “The new nurse arrives in a few hours. It would be better if you came back then. Right now, I am the only one here.” She held up the cleaning spray and sponge. “As you can see, I have work to do. I am very,
very
busy.” She began closing the door.

Jessie stopped it with her hand. “We need to borrow something,” she said. “Grandma Belle’s silver candleholder.”

Nurse Rumple’s face turned as white as her uniform. “I … I don’t know what you’re talking about.”