The Powder Puff Puzzle Read online

  They banged on the door.

  Still no one came.

  They sat down on the steps.

  They could hear Powder Puff meowing.

  “This is terrible,” Dawn said.

  “You’re right,” said Jason.

  “Maybe we could walk around the back,” Dawn said.

  Jason waved his stick around.

  “I’ll take this just in case.”

  “Just in case . . . what?”

  “Just in case we see a kidnapper.”

  They tiptoed down the driveway.

  The yard was beautiful.

  The grass was green.

  “Look,” Dawn said. “A zillion flowers.”

  Noni would love it.

  A woman was kneeling on the grass. She was pulling out weeds.

  She jumped when she saw them.

  “We rang the bell,” Dawn said.

  “We knocked at the door too,” said Jason.

  The woman brushed her hair out of her eyes. She smiled at them. “Want to take a flower home?”

  “Sure,” Dawn said, “I want to take my cat home too.”

  The woman looked around. “I don’t see a cat.”

  Dawn frowned. “It’s a black cat,” she said.

  “It has a white ear,” said Jason. “It has a white tip on its tail.”

  “I’m sorry,” the woman said. “He’s not here.”

  Dawn looked at Jason. “He doesn’t like strangers,” she said. “He likes to be in his own house.”

  The woman pulled at a weed. It didn’t come up.

  “He’d probably bite a stranger,” Jason said.

  “He has very sharp teeth,” said Dawn.

  “My,” said the woman. “He sounds tough.”

  “Tough as a tiger,” Dawn said.

  “Grrr,” said Jason.

  The woman pulled at the weed again. She pulled hard.

  The weed came up.

  The woman nearly fell over.

  “My cat,” said Dawn. “He’s in your house.”

  “On your windowsill,” said Jason.

  The woman stood up quickly. “Goodness,” she said. She brushed her hair out of her eyes again.

  She started to run to the house. “Poor Blacky,” she said.

  Dawn and Jason ran after her.

  “No,” Dawn told her. “His name is Powder Puff.”

  The woman stopped at the back door. She turned the knob. “I’m coming, Blacky,” she called.

  She looked back at Dawn. “How did your cat get into my house?”

  Dawn put one shoulder up. “He jumped into a car.”

  “Somebody else was driving, though,” Jason said.

  “I should hope so,” said the woman. She stepped into her kitchen. “Here, Blacky. Mommy’s here.”

  Dawn stood on tiptoes.

  She looked into the kitchen.

  She watched the big black cat come down the hall.

  He jumped into the woman’s arms.

  “You’re safe now,” the woman told him.

  She turned to Dawn and Jason. “Please get your cat off my windowsill. Get him out of here. I don’t want him to hurt Blackie.”

  Dawn looked at the cat.

  He was all black. Almost.

  He had one white ear.

  He didn’t have a white tip on his tail, though.

  Dawn pointed. “I thought that was my cat.”

  “I think I’d better sit down,” said the woman.

  “I think we’ll look somewhere else,” said Dawn.

  “Some detective you are,” said Jason.

  CHAPTER 6

  JASON WAS RIGHT, Dawn thought.

  She was a terrible detective. Yucko.

  She marched up to her bedroom.

  It was hot up there.

  Hot as an oven.

  Powder Puff was stuck somewhere.

  He was probably hot as an oven too.

  Too bad cats didn’t swim. She’d take him to Emily Arrow’s pool when she found him.

  No. She shook her head. She’d keep him home, just the way Noni said.

  She lay down on the floor.

  She looked under her bed.

  It was dusty under there.

  She was supposed to clean it.

  She always forgot.

  She pulled out a box.

  It was a polka-dot box.

  A Polka Dot Private Eye box.

  She opened it up.

  It was time to think hard about being a detective.

  It was time to find Powder Puff.

  She took out her polka-dot hat.

  It was a little big.

  She put it on anyway.

  It made her feel hot.

  She felt as if a hippopotamus were sitting on her head.

  A big fat one.

  She looked inside the box.

  A fake mustache.

  Fake eyeglasses.

  A magnifying glass.

  Nothing that would help.

  She pulled out the Polka Dot Private Eye Book.

  She took it outside with her.

  Jason was waiting on the lawn. He was waving his stick back and forth.

  “Take that,” he yelled.

  “Aren’t you worried about Powder Puff?” Dawn asked.

  “Sure I am. I’m trying not to feel bad. That’s why I’m playing. I’m fighting a guy with a sword.”

  He held the stick over his head. “The kind of guy who wears that tin stuff.”

  “You mean a knight,” Dawn said. She pushed her hat up. “We don’t have time to play.”

  She sat there another minute. Then she opened her book.

  “Some of this is just junk,” said Jason.

  He was looking over her shoulder.

  “It is not,” said Dawn. “It’s great stuff.”

  “I don’t see anything about a missing cat,” said Jason.

  “Here’s what we need,” said Dawn. “Scene of the crime.”

  “What?”

  “That’s where it happened. That’s where the cat got lost. It’s called the scene of the crime.”

  “What does it say?”

  “Too bad you can’t read better,” said Dawn.

  She looked back at him. “It says to write down everything you can remember.”

  She hopped up.

  She went into the kitchen. A pencil was on the counter. She scooped it up.

  She took a piece of Noni’s THINGS TO DO TODAY paper too.

  Noni wouldn’t mind.

  Outside she began to write.

  1. Red car . . . mess.

  2. Lady with mousetail . . . gray . . . carrying heavy box. Carrying pole.

  3. Powder Puff jumped in car.

  She chewed on the pencil. “That’s all I can remember.”

  “What did the lady look like?” Jason asked. “Beside the mousetail?”

  Dawn squinched her eyes shut.

  She tried to remember.

  “She was long and skinny,” she said after a minute. “She was carrying a pole. . . . Hey.” She picked up the pencil.

  She began to write again.

  4. Lady with mousetail . . . eating jelly cookie.

  Dawn pushed her polka-dot hat up. “Put your stick away, Jason. I know what we have to do.”

  CHAPTER 7

  “NONI,” DAWN YELLED. “Where are you?”

  Noni didn’t answer.

  Dawn ran into the house. She raced upstairs. “Noni?”

  Noni popped her head out the bathroom door. “I’m trying to fix the sink. The water keeps dripping.”

  “Could I have some money?” Dawn asked.

  Noni put her head on one side. “Why? How much?”

  “For two jelly cookies. One for me. One for Jason.”

  “You want to walk to the bakery? On this hot day?”

  Dawn nodded.

  “Good,” Noni said. “You can stop at the hardware store too.”

  “It’s too hot,” Dawn said.

 
Noni raised her eyebrows.

  Dawn laughed.

  “Get me a washer, please,” Noni said. “It’s this round thing.” Noni held up a small plastic piece.

  “I guess so,” Dawn said.

  Noni reached into her pocket. She pulled out two dollars. “I want the change back,” she said. “Count it carefully.”

  Dawn raced down the stairs.

  She waved the money at Jason.

  “Come on,” she said. “Let’s go.”

  Jason followed her down the street. “Let’s get ice cream instead.”

  Dawn slapped her head. “Jason. The mouse lady didn’t buy ice cream. She bought a jelly cookie. We have to go to the bakery.”

  Jason stuck out his lip. “Maybe she likes jelly cookies. I like ice cream better.”

  Dawn sighed. She sat down on the sidewalk. “Listen, Jason. We are going to the bakery. We are going to ask the man if he knows the lady.”

  “The lady with the mousetail,” Jason said. “Right?”

  “Right.”

  “Good,” said Jason. “After that we’ll get ice cream.” He grinned at Dawn.

  Dawn started to laugh too. Then she looked up. “Yucko. That house.”

  Jason looked up too.

  It was the house with the ladder.

  Now someone was standing on the ladder. The painter had on a white hat. It had red stripes.

  “Horrible green paint,” said Dawn.

  “Like spinach,” Jason said.

  Dawn tapped his shoulder. “Let’s go.”

  They crossed the street. They turned the corner.

  At Linden Avenue they stopped at the bakery. They looked in the window.

  The sign said: CALVIN’S CAKES

  A bunch of sugar cookies were piled in front.

  A strawberry cake was in the back.

  A wedding cake was in the middle.

  “That wedding cake was here last week,” said Dawn. She pressed her nose against the glass.

  “It was here the week before that too,” said Jason.

  “Noni said it’s just cardboard,” Dawn said. “She said they stuck some icing on top.”

  “I’m never going to get married,” Jason said.

  Inside, Calvin was putting a jelly cookie into his mouth. “Best cookies in the world,” he said.

  “We wanted to ask you—” Dawn began.

  “About the lady with the mousetail,” Jason said.

  Calvin put another cookie in his mouth. “No mice around here.”

  “No,” said Dawn. “A lady. She has a long ponytail down her back. Did she come in here this morning?”

  Calvin shook his head. “Sorry. I wasn’t here. I slept late. Maybe my helper knows.”

  “Larry,” he called to the back. “Who was here today?”

  Larry poked his head out. “Bernie stopped in for a roll. So did Mrs. Simon. Mrs. Best bought a loaf of rye bread. Two or three boys came in. Then the painter.”

  Calvin nodded. “Larry has a good memory.”

  “Oh,” said Larry. “The gas station man came in too.”

  Dawn sighed. “Have you seen any lost cats?”

  “No.” They shook their heads.

  “Want to buy some cookies?” Calvin asked.

  “No, thanks,” Jason said before Dawn could answer. “We’re going to get ice cream.”

  They went outside.

  Dawn could hear Calvin talking to Larry. “My cookies are better than ice cream.”

  Dawn looked back. “I like your cookies too. I just can’t eat them right now.”

  She felt like crying.

  Suppose they never found Powder Puff?

  CHAPTER 8

  “YOU CAN EAT A little ice cream,” Jason said. “You don’t even have to chew it.”

  “Well . . .” Dawn began. “I guess . . . Maybe.”

  They went into the ice-cream store.

  Jason bought a two-stick orange ice-pop. Dawn bought a one-stick pop.

  She’d buy another stick for Powder Puff if she found him.

  They went outside again.

  “Now what?” Jason asked. Orange ice dripped down his arm. He licked the bottom of the stick.

  “Now I don’t know,” said Dawn. “I can’t think of one thing.”

  “Maybe we should go in Emily Arrow’s pool,” he said. “We’ll think better if we’re nice and cool.”

  Dawn shook her head. “I have to keep looking.”

  They crossed Linden Avenue.

  They started down the street.

  “I’m all sticky,” Jason said. “It feels terrible to be sticky and hot.”

  Dawn nodded. She ate the last of her ice. She was still thirsty. When she got home she’d ask Noni for a drink. A drink of ice-cold water.

  Noni.

  “Hey,” Dawn said. “We forgot.”

  Jason looked at her.

  “I’m supposed to get something for Noni.”

  She dug in her pocket. “It’s a little round thing. It looks just like . . .”

  She reached into her other pocket. “It’s called a . . .”

  She put her shoulders up in the air. “Can’t find it.”

  “We’d better go to the hardware store anyway,” Jason said. “We can ask Bernie about it.”

  They rushed back to Linden Avenue.

  They turned in at the hardware store.

  Bernie was behind the counter.

  He was talking on the phone.

  Dawn and Jason stood there waiting.

  They waited a long time.

  “We could be here forever,” Dawn said.

  “Let’s look around,” said Jason. “Maybe you’ll find what you’re looking for.”

  They went toward the back of the store.

  The aisle was piled high. Pails. Circles of rope. Boxes of nails.

  Dawn banged her knee on something. “Look,” she said. “Snow shovels.”

  Jason lifted one. “I wish it were snowing right now,” he said. “I’d lie down in it. I’d roll around. I’d . . .”

  Dawn turned to the next aisle.

  Cans of paint were piled almost to the ceiling.

  She looked at the sign.

  GREEN PAINT

  BOX OF TWO CANS

  HALF PRICE

  No wonder that painter was painting the house green, Dawn thought.

  Bernie came down the aisle. “Hi, Dawn.”

  “That’s not such a great color,” Dawn said. She pointed to the paint.

  Bernie laughed. “I know. The painter bought some this morning, though.”

  “I need something for Noni,” Dawn said.

  “What?”

  She raised one shoulder. “I don’t know. She needs it to fix the sink.”

  Bernie scratched his head. “A washer, I guess.”

  She followed him down the aisle.

  She stepped over a paint roller.

  She took the washer Bernie gave her.

  She waited for Jason to come to the front of the store.

  Then they started for home again.

  Noni was in front of the house. She was waiting for them. “You forgot to take my washer.”

  “Don’t worry,” said Dawn. She held up the new washer.

  “Good job,” Noni said.

  Dawn opened her mouth. “Hey, Noni. Jason. I just thought of something.”

  Noni smiled. “What?”

  “I think . . . maybe . . . I know where Powder Puff is.”

  CHAPTER 9

  DAWN DIDN’T WAIT to tell them about it.

  She went into the kitchen.

  She stood on a stool.

  “What are you doing?” Noni asked.

  Dawn grabbed a bag of potato chips. She waved them in the air. “Just in case,” she said.

  She jumped off the stool.

  Noni sighed. She put the stool back. “You have to put things away when you’re finished.”

  Dawn reached up. She gave her a kiss. “Next time.”

  She raced out
the door. “Come on, Jason.”

  Noni popped her head out. “Where are you going?”

  “Not far,” Dawn yelled back. “Not far at all.”

  They went down the street.

  “Where are we going?” Jason asked.

  Dawn turned the corner. “Right here.”

  “Right here?”

  Dawn stopped to take a breath.

  She pointed.

  “I don’t see anything,” said Jason. “Not one thing.”

  “You see a house,” said Dawn.

  “A yuck green spinach house,” said Jason.

  Dawn went up the front path. She looked up.

  The painter was up on the ladder.

  The roller was on a pole. It was going up and down.

  “Hey,” Dawn yelled. “Do you have a car?”

  “A red one. It looks like a mess.” The painter pushed at the red striped hat. A long skinny tail of hair fell down the back.

  It looked like a gray mousetail.

  “Hey,” said Jason. “A woman painter.”

  “Pauline,” said the painter.

  Dawn slapped her hat down on her head. “That’s the name on the license plate.”

  The painter rolled some paint across the side of the house. “That’s right,” she said.

  “But where’s the car?” Dawn asked.

  Pauline came down the ladder. She was carrying a can of green paint.

  It was nearly empty.

  She pointed with her thumb. “Car is out in back. In the shade. It’s too hot in the driveway for my cat.”

  “Your cat?” Dawn gulped. “I lost mine.”

  “A gray cat?” Pauline asked.

  Dawn shook her head. “No, black.”

  “White spot on his nose?”

  Dawn shook her head again. “No, on his ear.”

  “Does he have a tip on his tail?” Pauline asked.

  “Yes, a white one.”

  Pauline grinned. “This one has a green one. He got his tail in some paint.” She leaned forward. “What’s his name?”

  “Powder Puff.”

  “Hmm,” said Pauline. “I call my cat Jumper.”

  “That’s a crazy name for a cat,” Jason said.

  “Crazy cat,” said Pauline. “He jumped right into my car. He ate my lunch. He drank my soda.”

  Dawn took a step forward. “I think . . .”

  Pauline was smiling at her. “I think so too.”

  “How did you guess?” Jason asked.

  Dawn took a breath. “I knew Pauline was in the bakery. She was eating a cookie.”

  “Larry said the painter was in the bakery,” Jason said.