Read The School Play Mystery Online
Authors: David A. Adler
The School Play Mystery (2 page)
“And don’t take off the tape. Just put the money in the box. Tickets are one dollar each, so you shouldn’t have to make change.”
“I think we’re ready,” Cam said.
Ms. Benson looked at her watch.
“OK,” she told Cam. “Let’s open the doors.”
CHAPTER TWO
Cam turned the latch on the doors to the school yard. Ms. Benson pushed the doors open.
“Welcome. Welcome,” Ms. Benson said to the people who walked in. “Just line up by the table. Sara and Danny will be happy to sell you tickets. Remember, all the money we raise goes to charity. It’s for Ride and Read, to bring homebound elderly people to the library.”
An old woman was the first in line. “My granddaughter is in the play,” she told Sara. “She’s Mary Todd Lincoln.”
The next woman in line said, “My nephew is taking care of the lights. That’s important, too.”
Cam walked past the long line of people waiting to buy tickets. She went outside, into the school yard. Some young children were on the swings. Lots of teenagers were playing basketball.
Cam looked across the school yard. Then she saw her parents and Eric’s family. Cam waved. “Hurry,” she called to them. “The play is about to start.”
“This is so exciting,” Mr. and Mrs. Jansen said as they entered the school.
Eric’s twin sisters, Donna and Diane, were next. Then Mr. and Mrs. Shelton walked in. Mr. Shelton carried Eric’s baby brother, Howie.
“Sh,” Mr. Shelton whispered to Cam. “Howie is asleep.”
Cam watched as her mother paid for two tickets. Danny pushed the money through the narrow slit in the top of the shoe box.
Next, the Sheltons paid for their tickets.
“Please stay here,” Ms. Benson told Cam. “I’m going backstage to see if everyone is ready.”
A few boys came in from the school yard. One of them carried a basketball.
“Hey, what’s going on here?” one of the boys asked.
Cam told them they were raising money for charity. She told them about the play. But they weren’t interested in a play about President Lincoln.
“I learned enough about him in school,” one of the boys said as they left.
There were only a few people still in line. The last was a tall woman. She had on an orange dress. Cam wanted to remember her. She looked at the woman, blinked her eyes, and said,
“Click.
”
“Click.
”
Then Cam told Sara and Danny, “I’ll let Ms. Benson know you’re just about done. I’ll be right back.”
Cam walked into the auditorium. The seats were almost all filled. It was noisy. People were talking while they waited for the play to begin.
Cam went backstage. Her classmates were checking their costumes. Some were looking at their scripts, making sure they remembered their lines.
“You all look just fine,” Ms. Benson said. “We’re going to put on a great play.”
Susie giggled.
“What is it?” Ms. Benson asked.
“I’m sorry,” Susie answered. “I laugh when I’m nervous.”
“Don’t be nervous,” Ms. Benson said. “If you forget your lines, look to the right. I’ll be just behind the curtain. I’ll help you. And, please, don’t laugh.”
Ms. Benson asked Cam, “Is everyone seated?”
Cam looked through the curtains at the people waiting for the play to begin. She found the tall woman with the orange dress. The woman was in the aisle. She was drinking from a soda can and looking for a seat.
Cam told Ms. Benson, “We are almost ready.”
Cam watched the woman with the orange dress sit in the last row.
“Now we can start,” Cam said. “The last one in line for tickets just took her seat.”
Ms. Benson gave Cam a pair of scissors and a leather purse. She told Cam to open the shoe box, count the money, and put it in the purse. Then Ms. Benson called out, “Dim the lights. The show is about to begin.”
Cam walked quickly down the center aisle. The lights dimmed. People in the audience stopped talking. They looked toward the stage and waited.
Cam opened the doors and went into the hall.
“Can we go in now?” Sara asked. “We want to see the play, too.”
Cam said, “Ms. Benson wants us to open the box. She wants us to count the money and put it in this purse. Then we can all go in to see the play.”
Cam cut the tape that was wrapped around the top and sides of the box. She took off the lid.
There were just a few dollars in the box.
“Hey,” Cam said. “You sold lots of tickets. What happened to all the money?”
CHAPTER THREE
Sara counted the money. There were just three dollar bills and four quarters in the box.
“I put lots of money in there,” Sara said. “Lots more than this.”
Danny said, “I did, too.”
“The auditorium is just about full,” Cam said. “You must have sold about 150 tickets. At one dollar each, that’s 150 dollars.” Cam held up the money she had taken from the box. “All we have here are four dollars.”
Sara told Cam, “I didn’t take it.”
“And I didn’t either,” Danny said.
“I know you didn’t,” Cam said.
She looked at the box. The only hole in it was the slit in the lid. On the table were some unsold tickets and two empty soda cans. Cam looked under the table. She found a ticket, but no money.
Danny told Cam, “Sara and I were both sitting here. We never left the room. Whenever we sold a ticket, we put the money in the box. And we never opened the box.”
“I know,” Cam said. “I just cut off the tape.”
Cam opened the door to the auditorium. Cam, Sara, and Danny looked inside. At one side of the stage was an easel. A boy walked onto the stage and put a sign on the easel:
HONEST ABE LINCOLN.
Cam whispered, “I must tell Ms. Benson about the missing money.”
The curtain opened.
On the right of the stage was a very large cardboard box painted to look like the front of a house. In the center of the stage were two barrels and a table. There were lots of jars and small boxes on the table. Susie stood and looked at the things on the table. Above her was a sign: OFFUTT’S GENERAL STORE.
“I’ll have to wait,” Cam whispered. “I’ll tell her after this scene.”
Eric walked onto the stage. A spotlight followed him as he slowly walked toward Susie.
People in the audience applauded.
“Hello, Mrs. Olsen,” Eric said.
Susie put her hand to her mouth.
“She’s about to laugh,” Sara whispered.
Susie looked to the right, to Ms. Benson offstage. Then she took her hand from her mouth and said, “Hello, Abe.” She told Eric she needed flour, shortening, sugar, and raisins. She told him how much of each she needed. “I’m baking raisin bread,” she said.
Eric carefully weighed each of the items. He wrapped them. He put everything in a large paper bag and gave it to Susie.
Eric took a small pad from his pocket. He made some notes on the pad and then told Susie, “That will be one dollar and nine cents.”
Susie paid Eric. She walked to the right of the stage and sat by the cardboard house.
Other children came into Offutt’s General Store.
“Abe, don’t you have a story for us?” one of the children asked.
“Sure I do,” Eric answered.
Eric told about a small child who was scared at night by a loud noise. “His father looked and looked,” Eric said. “At last he found the noise was coming from a bullfrog. He showed the boy the frog and said, ‘Don’t be scared, son. Sometimes a loud noise is just a way of saying
Howdy.’”
Howdy.’”
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