Nate the Great and the Pillowcase Read online




  NATE THE GREAT

  NATE THE GREAT GOES UNDERCOVER

  NATE THE GREAT AND THE LOST LIST

  NATE THE GREAT AND THE PHONY CLUE

  NATE THE GREAT AND THE STICKY CASE

  NATE THE GREAT AND THE MISSING KEY

  NATE THE GREAT AND THE SNOWY TRAIL

  NATE THE GREAT AND THE FISHY PRIZE

  NATE THE GREAT STALKS STUPIDWEED

  NATE THE GREAT AND THE BORING BEACH BAG

  NATE THE GREAT GOES DOWN IN THE DUMPS

  NATE THE GREAT AND THE HALLOWEEN HUNT

  NATE THE GREAT AND THE MUSICAL NOTE

  NATE THE GREAT AND THE STOLEN BASE

  NATE THE GREAT AND THE PILLOWCASE

  NATE THE GREAT AND THE MUSHY VALENTINE

  NATE THE GREAT AND THE TARDY TORTOISE

  NATE THE GREAT AND THE CRUNCHY CHRISTMAS

  NATE THE GREAT SAVES THE KING OF SWEDEN

  NATE THE GREAT AND ME: THE CASE OF THE FLEEING FANG

  NATE THE GREAT AND THE MONSTER MESS

  NATE THE GREAT, SAN FRANCISCO DETECTIVE

  NATE THE GREAT AND THE BIG SNIFF

  NATE THE GREAT ON THE OWL EXPRESS

  NATE THE GREAT TALKS TURKEY

  NATE THE GREAT AND THE HUNGRY BOOK CLUB

  AND CONTINUE THE DETECTIVE FUN WITH

  Olivia Sharp

  by Marjorie Weinman Sharmat and Mitchell Sharmat

  illustrated by Denke Brunkus

  OLIVIA SHARP: THE PIZZA MONSTER

  OLIVIA SHARP: THE PRINCESS OF THE FILLMORE STREET SCHOOL

  OLIVIA SHARP: THE SLY SPY

  OLIVIA SHARP: THE GREEN TOENAILS GANG

  This is a work of fiction. Names, characters, places, and incidents either are the product of the author’s imagination or are used fictitiously. Any resemblance to actual persons, living or dead, events, or locales is entirely coincidental.

  Text copyright © 1993 by Marjorie Weinman Sharmat

  Illustrations copyright © 1993 by Marc Simont

  Extra Fun Activities copyright © 2006 by Emily Costello

  Extra Fun Activities Illustrations copyright © 2006 by Laura Hart

  All rights reserved. Published in the United States by Delacorte Press, an imprint of Random House Children’s Books, a division of Random House, Inc., New York. Originally published in hardcover by Delacorte Press in 1993 and reissued in paperback with Extra Fun Activities by Yearling, an imprint of Random House Children’s Books in 2006.

  Delacorte Press is a registered trademark and the colophon is a trademark of Random House, Inc.

  Visit us on the Web! randomhouse.com/kids

  Educators and librarians, for a variety of teaching tools, visit us at RHTeachersLibrarians.com

  Library of Congress Cataloging-in Publication Data is available upon request.

  eBook ISBN: 978-0-385-37231-2

  Trade paperback ISBN: 978-0-440-41015-7

  Hardcover ISBN: 978-0-385-31051-2

  v3.1

  First Delacorte Ebook Edition 2013

  Random House Children’s Books supports the First Amendment and celebrates the right to read.

  For our wonderful mother and father,

  Anna and Nathan Weinman

  With love,

  M.W.S. and R.W.

  Contents

  Cover

  Other Books by This Author

  Title Page

  Copyright

  Dedication

  First Page

  Extra Fun Activities

  About the Author

  I, Nate the Great, am a sleepy detective.

  My dog, Sludge, is a sleepy dog.

  We have just finished a sleepy case.

  It started a few hours ago.

  It was two o’clock in the morning.

  I was not busy.

  I was sleeping.

  Sludge was sleeping.

  Suddenly the telephone rang.

  It woke us up.

  Who could be calling me

  in the middle of the night?

  “Hello,” I yawned.

  It was Rosamond.

  “A pillowcase is missing,” she said.

  “Can you help me find it?”

  “No,” I said, and I hung up.

  The telephone rang again.

  I answered it.

  “Sleep on another pillowcase,”

  I said.

  “It’s not my pillowcase,”

  Rosamond said.

  “It belongs to Big Hex.”

  “Your cat has a pillowcase?”

  “Of course,” Rosamond said.

  I yawned. “You want me to get up

  from my sleep to look for

  a cat’s pillowcase?”

  “Yes. I thought that

  Big Hex could sleep without it.

  But he keeps pacing

  up and down,

  up and down,

  up and down.…”

  “Doesn’t he have a pillow to sleep on?”

  “Of course. That’s why he

  needs the pillowcase.”

  Rosamond was strange in the daytime.

  But she was even more strange

  at night. I knew that she

  would not let me sleep.

  “I will take your pillowcase case,”

  I said.

  I put on my bathrobe and slippers.

  I wrote a note to my mother.

  Sludge and I went out into the night.

  It was damp, dark, dreary, and shivery.

  We hurried to Rosamond’s house.

  Rosamond looked sleepy and strange,

  but not in that order.

  Her four cats were there.

  Plain Hex, Little Hex, and

  Super Hex were asleep.

  Big Hex was pacing up and down.

  I said, “What does his pillowcase

  look like?”

  “It’s beautiful,” Rosamond said.

  “I made it myself.

  I made four of them.

  One for each cat.

  All the same.

  White with holes around the

  open end, and a pretty ribbon

  through the holes. See?”

  Rosamond pointed to her

  sleeping cats.

  “Big Hex’s pillowcase looks

  exactly like theirs?” I asked.

  “Oh, no. Big Hex likes to

  play with his case.

  So now it’s slashed and shredded.

  I keep washing it.

  So it’s also shrunken and shriveled.

  And he chewed up the ribbon.

  So that’s gone.”

  “Let me get this straight.

  The missing pillowcase is

  slashed and shredded,

  shrunken and shriveled.

  And it has holes around one end.

  And you want it back?”

  Rosamond smiled.

  “Yes, Big Hex just loves it.”

  “When was the last time you saw it?”

  “This afternoon.

  I washed all my cats’ things.

  I had four laundry bags full.

  One for each cat.

  I even washed the bags.

  Then I hung everything out to dry.”

  “Did you hang four pillowcases?”

  “Of course,” Rosamond said.

  “One for each cat.

  Then Annie came over with Fang.

  I told her this was

  my big laundry day for pets.

  So we undressed Fang,

  and I washed his sweater

  and neck bandanna.

  Then I hung them out to dry.”

>   “Then what?”

  “When everything was dry,

  I put it all in my laundry basket.”

  “Were the four pillowcases there?”

  “Yes.”

  “Then what?”

  “I brought the basket into the house

  and dumped everything on my bed.

  Then Annie and I tried

  to dress Fang in his nice clean clothes.

  Well, that’s the last time I’ll ever try

  to dress that dog!”

  “What happened?”

  “Fang growled at me. He showed every

  one of his teeth. I ran out of the room.

  Then I yelled to Annie

  to take Fang’s clothes home,

  and to take Fang with them.

  And that’s what she did.”

  “Did you go back to your laundry

  after that?”

  “No. My cats were hungry,

  so I fed them.

  Then I read to my cats.”

  “You read to your cats?”

  “Fifteen minutes each day.”

  “When did you get back to

  your laundry?”

  “Just before I went to bed.

  I looked for the night things.

  The pillowcases and nightshirts.

  That’s when I found out

  that Big Hex’s pillowcase was missing.

  And one of Little Hex’s nightshirts.”

  “You are missing the pillowcase and

  a nightshirt?”

  “No. I know where the nightshirt is.

  Annie took it by mistake. I think she

  just grabbed stuff in her arms

  when she left.”

  “Aha! Perhaps Annie took Big Hex’s

  pillowcase by mistake.”

  “No,” Rosamond said. “I called her

  before I called you.”

  “You woke her, too?”

  “Well, I found out that she has

  Little Hex’s nightshirt.

  But she doesn’t have the pillowcase.

  See what a good detective I am?”

  I, Nate the Great, yawned.

  “Since you are such a good detective,

  solve this case,” I said.

  “Sludge and I are going back to sleep.”

  “Wait,” Rosamond said.

  “I’m not a great detective.

  You solve this case.”

  “Perhaps your pillowcase is

  still in this room,

  or you lost it

  between the clothesline

  and this room.

  Sludge and I will look.”

  Sludge and I looked inside.

  And outside. No luck.

  I said, “Tell me,

  has anyone else been in this room?”

  “Only Annie and Fang and my cats.”

  “Very well. I must go to

  Annie’s house.

  Call her and tell her

  I’m coming.”

  Sludge and I went out into the night.

  It was colder than before.

  I wrapped my bathrobe tighter around me.

  I flashed my flashlight on the ground.

  Perhaps Annie had taken the

  pillowcase and did not know it.

  Perhaps she had dropped it

  between Rosamond’s house

  and her own house.

  But I did not see it.

  Annie was waiting inside her house.

  Fang was waiting, too. He was wearing

  pajamas and a nightcap.

  Fang had more clothes than I did.

  Fang yawned. His teeth had never

  looked bigger.

  Annie said, “I know why you’re here.

  But I don’t have the pillowcase.

  Here is what happened.

  Fang and I went over

  to Rosamond’s house.

  Fang was wearing his neck bandanna

  and the sweater I got him

  for his birthday.

  Fang looked very snazzy.

  But after Rosamond washed

  and dried his clothes,

  Fang didn’t want to wear them.

  He growled at Rosamond.

  She ran out of the room.

  I stuffed Fang’s clothes

  into a laundry bag,

  and we left fast.”

  “Aha,” I said. “You were in a hurry.”

  “Yes. I even took Little Hex’s

  nightshirt by mistake.

  I found it when Rosamond

  called me up.

  I looked in Rosamond’s laundry bag.

  I saw Fang’s sweater and bandanna

  and Little Hex’s nightshirt.

  Tomorrow I’m going to give back

  the nightshirt and the laundry bag.”

  “Could you also have grabbed

  Big Hex’s pillowcase by mistake?”

  Annie shrugged. “I don’t know.

  But it’s not in the laundry bag now.”

  “Did you stop anywhere

  on the way home?”

  “Yes, at Uncle Ned’s Day and Night Diner

  to get some bones for Fang.

  They save him some of their leftovers.”

  “Aha! Something could have dropped

  out of the laundry bag

  at the diner,

  or between Rosamond’s house

  and the diner,

  or between the diner

  and your house.

  What streets did you take

  to and from the diner?”

  “I went the shortest way.

  Fang led me.

  All the dogs know the shortest way.”

  Sludge wagged his tail.

  He liked the diner.

  I thanked Annie for her help.

  Then Sludge and I walked out

  into the night.

  It seemed colder and darker.

  “To the diner,” I said to Sludge.

  Sludge led the way.

  I flashed my flashlight.

  I did not see the pillowcase.

  Sludge and I went inside.

  The man behind the counter

  looked down at Sludge.

  He said, “Every dog in town

  must have been in here today.

  But lucky you,

  I have a big bone left.”

  Sludge was a happy dog.

  I saw pancakes on the menu.

  I was an unhappy detective.

  I had no money.

  But I spoke up.

  “I am Nate the Great.

  Ned knows me.

  I would like five pancakes

  and some clues.

  I will pay you tomorrow.

  Right now I am looking

  for a cat’s pillowcase.”

  The man smiled and turned away.

  He started to make the pancakes.

  I saw a white cloth sticking

  out of his back pocket.

  Hmmm.

  I peered over the counter

  to take a closer look.

  But the man grabbed the cloth

  and wiped the counter with it.

  The cloth was small and shredded, and

  it had plenty of holes.

  Was this the pillowcase?

  Was the case solved?

  The man put a plate of pancakes

  in front of me.

  I ate and thought.

  Annie must have taken the pillowcase

  by mistake and stuffed it

  into the laundry bag.

  When she stopped at the diner,

  the pillowcase fell out.

  After Annie and Fang left,

  the man saw the pillowcase

  and thought it was a rag.

  I, Nate the Great, had to be sure.

  I had to get that rag!

  The man stuffed it back

  into his pocket.

  Then he bent ov
er.

  So did I, Nate the Great.

  I reached for the rag.

  I pulled it out of his pocket.

  I spread it out.

  I tried to open it up.

  It wouldn’t open.

  It was not a pillowcase.

  It was just a rag.

  I stuffed it back

  into the man’s pocket.

  It was time to leave.

  But Sludge had not finished

  his bone.

  “Do you have a doggie bag?” I asked.

  The man handed me a bag.

  I put the bone

  in the bag.

  “You can finish your bone at home,”

  I said to Sludge.

  Sludge and I went out into the night.

  “Now we must walk the streets

  between the diner and

  Rosamond’s house,”

  I said. “Lead the way.”

  Sludge and I walked and walked.

  I did not see the pillowcase.

  I saw newspapers being delivered.

  I heard the clinking of milk bottles.

  I saw the sun coming up.

  “The moon is going down

  and the sun is coming up,

  and I still have not

  solved this case,” I said.

  Sludge was sniffing the doggie bag.

  Suddenly he put his teeth into it.

  CRUNCH!!!

  He ripped the bag and grabbed the bone.

  Was Sludge hungry,

  or was he trying to tell me something?

  Where was the pillowcase?

  We could not find it

  at Rosamond’s house.

  It was not in the laundry bag

  that Annie took home.

  We could not find it

  on the streets

  or in the diner.

  Perhaps there was something

  Rosamond and Annie had not told me.

  But they had told me

  the same story about

  what had happened

  at Rosamond’s house.

  Except … for one small thing!

  Suddenly I knew that

  Rosamond and Annie

  had both been wrong.

  “Come!” I said to Sludge.

  Sludge and I rushed back

  to Annie’s house.

  It was hard to do.

  My bed slippers were wearing out.

  Annie was still awake.

  I was glad about that.

  Fang was fast asleep.

  I was glad about that, too.

  “I, Nate the Great, know

  where the pillowcase is,” I said.

  “You have it.”

  “No, I don’t,” Annie said.

  “It is not in the laundry bag.”