The Case of the Exploding Plumbing (4 page)

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Authors: Donald J. Sobol

BOOK: The Case of the Exploding Plumbing
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Sally stood on tiptoes to see over the grown-ups who were lined along the ropes.
“We’d get a better view outside with Red Pufflinger,” she said.
Encyclopedia saw Red standing on the sidewalk. Although Red seemed to be staring straight into the window, his eyes kept crossing.
“My toes hurt,” complained Sally after a while. “I’m going outside, where it isn’t so crowded, before I need a foot doctor.”
“Go outside and you may need an eye doctor, like Red,” warned Encyclopedia. Nevertheless, he followed her.
He didn’t get farther than two yards.
Gunshots sounded close by. Women screamed. Shoppers and clerks ran wildly, smashing counters and overturning display cases..
“Hit the floor!” Encyclopedia yelled at Sally. He dropped on his stomach and covered his head with his hands.
The shooting lasted about half a minute. Encyclopedia recited “The Owl and the Pussy-Cat” to himself before daring to stand up. Sally was gone. Red Pufflinger lay on the sidewalk.
Encyclopedia raced outside. “Red, are you all right?” he cried.
“I’m okay,” said Red, rising. “Did you see who fired the shots?”
“I thought you could tell me,” replied Encyclopedia. “You were looking in.”
“I wasn’t looking in,” said Red. “I was counting.”
He explained. He had been using the store window as a mirror to count the freckles on his nose.
Red Pufflinger lay on the sidewalk.
“There are two hundred and five,” he said proudly. “With the ones on my ears, chin, forehead, and cheeks, I’ve got two thousand four hundred and seventy. I’m only three short of the championship.”
“Wait till next year,” mumbled Encyclopedia.
“You know it,” said Red. “A teen-ager in Sweetwater is state champ, but he’s over the hill. Pimples are ruining him. Next year I’ll be champ and win the three-day trip to Whispering Hills for two.”
Sirens shrilled. The street came alive with police cars. Several officers, led by Chief Brown, raced into the department store.
Encyclopedia spent the next twenty minutes looking for Sally. He had circled back to the entrance of the store as Chief Brown came out.
“Was anyone hurt, Dad?” asked Encyclopedia.
“No, thank heavens,” answered Chief Brown. “A gunman shot up the ceiling. In the confusion, someone stole a hundred thousand dollars’ worth of jewelry.”
Chief Brown had started for his patrol car when Sally hurried up the street.
“Where have you been?” asked Encyclopedia.
“Chasing crooks,” panted Sally. “I figured out who the gunman was and followed him. You know the jewelry department? It’s right near the number seven window. As the gunman passed the bracelet counter, two men carrying sacks joined him.”
“Then the shooting was simply to scare everyone away from the area,” said Chief Brown.
“What a relief,” said Red Pufflinger. “For a while I thought the champ from Sweetwater was trying to rub me out!”
“The thieves escaped through the back entrance and jumped into a car,” went on Sally. “But I got their license-plate number!”
She handed Chief Brown a slip of paper with the number written on it.
Encyclopedia was dumbfounded. “How did you know who was the gunman?” he said. “I didn’t see a gun.”
“That,” said Sally, “is because you are a boy! ”
WHO WAS THE GUNMAN?
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
(Turn to page 91 for the solution to The Case of the Window Dressers.)
The Case of the Silver Dollar
Chauncy van Throckmorton was the best-dressed boy in Idaville.
He had clothes for every occasion. He put on a riding outfit just to pitch horseshoes.
On the morning he came into the detective agency, however, he wasn’t wearing clothes. He was wearing a green towel.
“Chauncy!” said Encyclopedia. “No wonder I didn’t hear you approach.”
“What are you talking about?” snapped Chauncy.
“I mean ...” Encyclopedia checked himself. Chauncy was always showing off by rattling a silver dollar in his pants pocket. He could be heard a block away.
Encyclopedia changed the subject quickly. “I mean, towels aren’t exactly in style for street wear.”
“I didn’t
want
to wear it,” said Chauncy. “I just made a terrible mistake. I fresh-mouthed Lindylou Duckworth.”
“Isn’t she the seventh grader who’s getting up a girls’ football team?” asked Sally.
Chauncy nodded. “The girls practice twice a week at South Park. I went there in my new sports jacket to watch. I ended up by running for my life.”
He explained. Lindylou had come over to him. The girls were a player short, and she had asked him to fill in.
“I told her that she had only forty cards in her deck if she thought I was going to get my clothes dirty tackling a bunch of knock-knees,” said Chauncy. “She got mad and socked me.”
His face reddened, and he pointed to a lump over his left eye.
“While I was still dizzy, she dragged me into the woods,” he said. “She called me a stuck-up fancy pants and made me undress. Then she asked if I thought I was still so high and mighty. I let my legs do the thinking. I ran.”
“Naked?”
gasped Sally.
“Of course not,” said Chauncy. “I had on these green shoes and socks and blue underwear. It was embarrassing.”
“I understand,” muttered Encyclopedia.
“No, you don’t,” said Chauncy. “I could have passed for a long-distance runner. But green with blue? The colors—ugh! They clash. It took me a while before I found a nice green towel hanging on a clothesline.”
“You have wonderful taste,” said Sally.
“It’s nothing,” replied Chauncy. “What I want now are my clothes. I’ll need your help. That Lindylou Duckworth is some kind of monster.”
“She is not!” cried Sally. “You’re jealous because she’s so strong. But we’ll help you anyway.”
Encyclopedia loaned Chauncy his best shirt and pants, and the three children headed for South Park. On the way, they returned the green towel.
Chauncy walked silently. He didn’t have his silver dollar to rattle in his pocket.
Encyclopedia walked silently, too. He wondered how to handle Lindylou, who could pick him up and plant him in the ground.
“A gentleman doesn’t fight a lady,” thought the boy detective. “I hope Lindylou remembers I’m a gentleman.”
The football practice was ending when they reached South Park. Encyclopedia saw Lindylou right away.
She was a blond girl with a pretty face and the broadest shoulders on the field. She was also the only player not wearing shoulder pads.
Sally went straight up to her.
“Chauncy claims you beat him up and took his clothes,” she told the bigger girl.
“I don’t hit sissies,” replied Lindylou. “He
“I don’t hit sissies,” said Lindylou.
did make me mad, though. He stood around watching the practice and rattling his silver dollar.“
“How’d you know it was a silver dollar?” demanded Encyclopedia.
“Who doesn’t know?” retorted Lindylou. “He was making so much noise I asked him to leave. That’s when he took off his clothes.”
“I’m having a nightmare,” moaned Chauncy.
“You told me you were going to trot a few miles,” Lindylou accused Chauncy. “You took off your clothes because you didn’t want to get them sweaty.”
Lindylou waved at a pile of clothes on the sidelines.
“You left them in a heap right on the field,” she said. “I moved them and folded them. No one has touched them but me. So don’t you dare say they’re wrinkled!”
Encyclopedia followed Chauncy to where his clothes lay on the grass in a neat pile.
“Better check all the pockets,” advised Encyclopedia.
Chauncy emptied every pocket. Out came a handkerchief, a sample of tan material for a new suit, the silver dollar, and a leather billfold.
“I had five dollars in my billfold,” said Chauncy. “It’s gone! And so is eighty cents in change. Lindylou robbed me!”
“Don’t talk so loud,” warned Encyclopedia. “You’ll make her mad.”
“I tell you, she’s beating her gums off time,” whispered Chauncy. “I didn’t drop my clothes to run. A lot of the football players must have seen her drag me into the woods.”
“They’ll say what Lindylou tells them to say,” replied Encyclopedia. “Never mind. We don’t need witnesses. I know who’s lying.”
WHO?
 
 
 
(Turn to page 92 for the solution to The Case of the Silver Dollar.)
The Case of the Litterbugs
Encyclopedia and Sally were walking home from an evening baseball game when they noticed a boy sitting on the curb.
“Gosh,” said Sally. “What do you think is bothering him?”
The boy was sitting with his elbow on his knee. His chin rested on his hand.
“That’s the saddest-looking boy I ever saw,” whispered Encyclopedia.
A big car turned the corner. The driver tossed out an empty cigarette pack and sped off.
The boy looked at the pack lying in the street. Slowly he got to his feet and picked it up. He put it into the trash can on the corner. Then he sat down on the curb again.
Sally walked over to him. “That was a very nice thing you did,” she said. “Everyone should do his part to keep our streets clean.”
“I used to do more,” the boy said, looking up. “I’ve quit.”
“You picked up that pack,” Sally reminded him. “So you still care.”
“Caring and doing are different,” said the boy. He sighed and lowered his chin onto his hand again. “It was such a good idea,” he added under his breath.
“What was?” asked Encyclopedia.
“Pride,” answered the boy. “I started Pride myself. All the kids from my Sunday School class joined before school let out.”

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