The Mystery at the Fair Read online

  “I love the county fair,” Henry said. “This is one of my favorite times of the year.”

  “I love it, too,” Jessie said.

  “There’s the contest registration booth,” Courtney said as she pointed to the bright red sign.

  “Good,” Violet said. “This painting is getting heavy.”

  “Can we go over there and ride on the carousel?” Michael asked.

  “Yeah!” Benny said. “I want to ride on that big white horse.”

  “Just wait, you two,” Henry said. “I’d better go with you. You have to buy tickets first.”

  “I’ll register the pie for you,” Jessie said. “If there’s a problem, I’ll come and get you.”

  “Thanks,” Henry said. “We’ll meet you at the bumper cars in half an hour.”

  “Behave yourself, Benny,” Jessie said.

  “You, too, Michael,” Courtney said.

  “We will,” the boys said as they dashed off. Henry ran to catch up with them.

  As the girls neared the registration desk they heard angry voices. A man wearing a badge that said JUDGE was patiently explaining something to a woman wearing a bright red dress.

  “Rules are rules,” the woman shouted. “The poster said that all entries must be accompanied by an official form.”

  “I know that, ma’am,” the judge said. “But several people have complained that they couldn’t find any posters with entry forms. I don’t know what happened to them. We posted at least fifty posters around the town. We had to change the rules or we wouldn’t have had enough people to hold a contest.”

  “That’s not fair,” the woman said. “We had to fill out three entry forms! One for my lemon poundcake, one for my needlepoint pillow, and one for my daughter’s painting. Anyone without an official form shouldn’t be allowed to enter the contests.”

  “Where did you find that form?” the judge asked. “Everyone else seemed to have trouble locating them.”

  “What difference does that make?” the woman said. “We are entering the contest according to the rules.”

  “Ma’am,” the judge said, “why don’t you talk with the contest officials over at the crafts booth? Maybe they can help you.”

  “I’ll do just that,” the woman said. “But believe me, this is not the end of this matter.” Then she stomped off.

  “Wasn’t that Kristie Stephens’s mother?” Jessie asked Violet.

  “Yes,” Violet said. “Boy, she sure was upset.”

  “What was that all about?” Jessie asked the judge.

  “Just some troublemaker,” the judge said. “We’re not going to let her ruin the contests for everyone just because most of the entry forms around town disappeared.”

  “Really?” Jessie said. “We managed to get a few. But when we returned to get some more for our friends, the poster had been torn up.”

  “Why would someone want to tear up the entry forms?” Courtney asked.

  “We’ve been wondering that ourselves,” the judge said. “There’s been one problem after another ever since the contests were announced.”

  “How strange,” Jessie said. “Is someone trying to make sure that no one enters the contests?”

  “That could be,” the judge said. He carefully checked their entry forms and stamped them. “Now, I need for you to sign that form on the table over there. Then you will be officially entered in the County Fair.”

  The girls stood in line at the sign-in table behind a pretty girl with long blond hair.

  “Oh, great,” the girl said as she shook her pen. “This pen is all out of ink.”

  “I’ve got one,” Jessie said. She handed the girl a pen. Then she glanced down at the girl’s name on the sign-in sheet. “Susie?”

  “Yes,” the girl replied. “Susie Martinilli is my name. It’s nice to meet you.”

  “It’s nice to meet you, too. I’m Jessie Alden and this is my sister, Violet, and our friend Courtney Jenkins.”

  The girls exchanged greetings. Susie finished signing in. The girls noticed that she dotted the i’s in her name with tiny hearts.

  “Thanks so much for letting me use your pen,” Susie said as she handed it back to Jessie.

  “You’re welcome,” Jessie said. Then she signed everyone up for the contests.

  “What contests are you entering?” Susie asked.

  “I’m entering my painting in the art contest,” Violet said.

  “May I see it?” Susie asked.

  “Sure,” Violet said. She loosened the brown wrapping paper and held the painting up for Susie to see.

  “That’s very nice,” Susie said. “That yellow paint you used is beautiful.”

  “Thank you,” Violet said. “It’s a new paint I found at the crafts store.”

  “Jessie and I made a necklace and earrings out of some African beads,” Courtney said. She showed the jewelry to Susie.

  “How beautiful,” Susie said. “It looks like the whole thing is held together by this wire string. Is that right?”

  “Yes,” Jessie said. “It’s not that hard to make.”

  “What’s in that bakery box?” Susie asked.

  “Oh, that’s a blueberry pie our brothers made,” Violet said.

  “Well,” Susie said. “It looks like you’ve entered every event at the fair! So did I.”

  “You entered every event?” Jessie said.

  “Yes, I did,” Susie said with a laugh. “I just love competition.”

  “How many times have you entered?” Courtney asked.

  “I’ve entered every year for the last eight years,” Susie said. “But I’ve never won anything. So this year I made a cherry pie for the baked goods contest, a rag rug for the crafts contest, and I painted a picture of a horse for the art competition.”

  “You’ve really worked hard,” Violet said. “Maybe you’ll have better luck this year.”

  “I hope so,” Susie said. “I think my chances are much better this time. For some reason, not that many people are competing this year.”

  “That’s because someone tore down all the posters announcing the contests,” Jessie explained.

  “Really?” Susie said. “How strange.”

  Just then, the man in the baseball cap the Aldens had seen in front of the fair poster the other day entered the registration tent. He looked at the sign-in sheet carefully and made notes on a small pad. When he noticed Violet was watching him, he hurried off.

  “There’s that man who was asking us so many questions,” Violet said.

  “I wonder what he’s up to now,” Jessie said.

  “I don’t know,” Violet said. “But the moment he saw us he rushed off.”

  “Maybe we can figure out what’s going on before the fair is over,” Jessie said.

  “I’m sure it’s nothing serious,” Susie said. “Excuse me, but there’s something I have to do before the contests start.”

  “Well, it was nice meeting you,” Courtney said.

  “Good luck,” Violet said.

  “Yes,” Jessie said. “Good luck. We’ll see you this afternoon.”

  “Let’s drop our projects off at the contest tents,” Courtney said when Susie had gone. “Then we can go meet the boys at the bumper cars.”

  “That’s a good idea,” Violet said. “We’ve got a couple of hours before the pie competition starts.”

  “I want to ride the bumper cars first, then the Ferris wheel, and then the roller coaster,” Jessie said.

  “I can’t believe you want to ride the roller coaster again the way you screamed last year,” Violet said.

  “I really wasn’t scared,” Jessie said. “I was just teasing you.”

  “Well, you did a good job,” Violet said. “I thought you were terrified.”

  “I love riding on the roller coaster, too,” Courtney said.

  “Great,” Jessie said, as she smiled at her friend. “We can scream together.”

  The girls laughed and headed toward the contest tents. First, they
stopped at the baked goods tent. They received tag number six from the judge. Jessie put the boys’ blueberry pie next to a chocolate cake. Then she placed the tag in front of it. The boys’ blueberry pie looked even more lopsided than it had the day before.

  “Oh, well,” Jessie said. “We know it tastes much better than it looks.”

  “I don’t see Susie’s cherry pie,” Courtney said.

  “Maybe she’s dropping off her other projects first,” Violet said. “Come on, I want to see the other paintings in the art competition.”

  “I can’t wait to see the other crafts projects,” Courtney said.

  “I want to see them, too,” Jessie said. “Let’s go.”

  CHAPTER 5

  Fun at the Fair

  The girls hurried over to the art competition tent. Four paintings were already displayed. Violet picked up tag number five.

  “Has Kristie Stephens or Susie Martinilli entered their paintings yet?” Violet asked the judge.

  “Yes, I’m sure they have,” the judge said. “Although I’m not sure which one is which. We usually have more than twenty entries in this contest. But we’ve only had about half that many this year. I can’t understand why more people didn’t participate.”

  The girls exchanged glances.

  “The judging for the art contest will be at 1:00 tomorrow,” the judge said.

  The girls looked at each one of the paintings on display. Then Violet noticed a book bag with the initials KGS underneath one of the easels.

  “This must be Kristie’s artwork,” Violet said. “These are her initials on the book bag.” Kristie had painted a beautiful multicolored sunset. “She did a wonderful job.”

  “It is good,” Courtney agreed.

  “This must be Susie’s painting,” Jessie said when she reached the fourth entry. “She said that she painted a picture of a horse. I like her work, too.”

  Susie’s portrait of a chestnut brown horse galloping across an emerald green field was also lovely.

  “It’s a beautiful painting,” Courtney said.

  “It sure is,” Jessie agreed.

  “This is going to be a good competition,” Violet said as she placed her painting on an easel.

  “Your work is every bit as good as the other entries here,” Courtney said. “It’s still my favorite.”

  “Thank you,” Violet said. “I really worked hard on it.”

  “We’d better go over to the crafts tent now,” Jessie said.

  When they arrived at the crafts tent, Courtney picked up tag number three. She carefully placed the beaded necklace on the display table. Jessie put the earrings beside it.

  “I can hardly wait until this afternoon to see what the judges think,” Courtney said.

  Suddenly, a loudspeaker blared out. “Attention, everyone, the Grand Opening Celebration of the Greenfield County Fair will begin at 12:00 noon at the main pavilion.”

  “We’d better hurry if we’re going to go on any rides before the celebration begins,” Jessie said.

  The girls made their way through the milling crowd toward the bumper cars. They could hear Benny and Michael before they saw them. The boys’ laughter and excited voices rose above the music of the fair.

  “There they are,” Violet said.

  Michael and Benny were having a wonderful time steering a bright yellow bumper car. They were busily ramming into the side of Henry’s car.

  “Back up, Michael,” Benny said. “Let’s do it again.”

  “Help me,” Henry said when he noticed the girls leaning over the railing.

  “I’m afraid you’ll have to get out of this one on your own,” Jessie said.

  Henry turned the wheel of his car sharply and sped away from the two little boys. They followed him, laughing all the way. Before the boys could bump Henry again the cars slowed to a stop.

  “Everyone please exit to your left,” the ride operator announced. “Thank you for your cooperation.”

  “Safe at last,” Henry said as he got out of the car.

  “Let’s do it again,” Benny said.

  “You’ll have to wait, Benny,” Violet said. “It’s our turn now.”

  “Why don’t you boys ride on the Super Swing over there while you’re waiting,” Courtney suggested. “Then afterward we can all ride the Ferris wheel.”

  “Good idea!” Michael said. The two little boys quickly ran over to the Super Swing.

  “Wait for me,” Henry said.

  The girls each chose a bumper car to ride.

  “Please fasten your seat belts,” the ride operator announced. He walked around checking each car to be sure everyone was fastened in safely. Then he threw the switch and the ride began.

  Courtney immediately rammed her sporty red bumper car into the back of Violet’s blue one.

  “Oh,” Violet said, laughing. “I didn’t see that one coming.”

  She chased Courtney around the track until she was rammed sideways by Jessie. Laughing loudly, Jessie tried to speed away.

  The girls chased each other around and around the track. After many collisions and a lot of laughter, they heard the ride operator, say “Thank you for riding the bumper cars. Please exit to your left.”

  “I love riding the bumper cars,” Courtney said. “It’s one of my favorite amusement park rides.”

  “Well, now it’s time for my favorite ride,” Jessie said. “Let’s get the boys and go over to the Ferris wheel.”

  After buying their tickets and waiting in line, the children climbed into their seats on the Ferris wheel. Benny and Michael sat together, and Violet and Henry shared a car. Jessie and Courtney were behind them. The ride operator checked to make sure the metal bar was secure across their laps and then started the ride.

  “I love the Ferris wheel,” Jessie said, “especially when they stop the ride at the top.”

  When the cars reached the top of the Ferris wheel the children could see all over the fairgrounds. The cars paused and slowly came down again. The ride was over much too quickly. The children climbed out of the cars and then ran over to get their tickets for the roller coaster.

  “Sorry,” the ride operator said when he saw Benny and Michael. “No one six or under can ride the roller coaster.”

  “That’s okay,” Benny said. “I’m ready to eat now anyway.”

  “Me, too,” Michael said.

  “I’m hungry, too,” Violet said. “I’ll take them over to get a hot dog while you three ride the roller coaster.”

  “Okay,” Jessie said.

  “After we ride the roller coaster, it will be time for the Grand Opening Celebration,” Henry said. “Why don’t we meet you at the main tent?”

  “We’ll wait for you there,” Violet said.

  When it was their turn, Jessie, Courtney, and Henry eagerly climbed onto the roller coaster. The cars slowly pulled up to the peak of a large hill. They stopped there for a moment. Then, suddenly, the cars hurled down the tracks at full speed.

  “Eeeeek!” screamed Courtney. “This is a really steep hill.”

  Jessie clutched the safety bar tightly. Ahead the long track dipped down again, then went up into a double loop. “I can’t look,” Jessie shrieked, closing her eyes.

  “Hang on,” Henry called to the girls. “Here we go!”

  At lightning speed the cars whipped around the first loop. Then they went down a straight stretch of tracks and whipped around the second loop.

  The children screamed and laughed as the cars rounded the tracks. The train zipped around several curves. Then it dropped into a steep, heart-pounding dive, and at last slowly pulled into the boarding platform again.

  “I don’t know if I can walk,” Courtney said as she leaned on Jessie for support. “My legs are trembling.”

  “Wasn’t it great?” Henry said.

  “Yes!” Jessie said. “I wasn’t scared at all.”

  “You said that last year, too,” Henry said.

  “Well,” Jessie said. “This year I kept my eye
s closed the whole time so I couldn’t see anything.”

  “Come on, you two,” Courtney said with a laugh. “We need to go if we’re going to find Violet, Benny, and Michael before the grand opening begins.”

  The children hurried down the ramp and headed toward the big tent in the center of the fair.

  It hadn’t taken long for Violet, Benny, and Michael to find a hot dog stand. The two little boys followed their noses to the bright yellow cart. Violet had to run to catch up with them.

  “Hurry up, Violet,” Benny called. “We’ve already ordered.”

  “I’d like one hot dog with mustard, please,” Violet told the hot dog man. “And three containers of apple juice.”

  “We ordered ketchup on our hot dogs,” Michael said. “I love ketchup.”

  “There you are,” the man said with a smile. He handed each one of them a hot dog.

  The children paid for their lunches, then found seats at a small table. Violet was almost finished eating when she saw Kristie Stephens run out of the baked good competition tent.

  “Hi, Kristie,” Violet said. “Come join us.”

  “No, I can’t,” Kristie called back. “I have to find my mother.”

  “Will you be at the opening celebration?” Violet asked. “Maybe we can sit together.”

  “I don’t know,” Kristie said. She looked troubled. “I’m sorry. I really need to go now.”

  “All right,” Violet said. “See you later.”

  “What was the matter with her, Violet?” Benny asked.

  “I don’t know, Benny,” Violet said. “Maybe we’ll find out later.”

  “I’m all finished,” Michael said as he wiped his mouth. “Can we go to the opening celebration now?”

  “Sure, let’s go,” Violet said.

  Someone on a loudspeaker was announcing the start of the celebration just as Violet and the boys entered the open tent. Violet scanned the bleachers for the others.

  “Here we are,” Jessie said, waving to her sister. “We had a wonderful time on the roller coaster.”

  The children quickly found seats near the top of the bleachers. Then the opening ceremonies began!

  The Greenfield High School Marching Band started up a merry tune and began marching around the arena. The Greenfield Majorettes threw their batons in the air two at a time. When they finished, the crowd gave them a standing ovation.