The Berenstain Bears in Maniac Mansion Read online

  “What are you talking about, dear?” said the squire.

  “And another thing,” said Lady Grizzly. “When Greeves tied us up, he had no bags under his eyes. But look at him now. The bags are back!”

  “But you yourself just said that he tied us up!” cried the squire.

  “Oh, dear,” said Lady Grizzly. “I did, didn’t I? Now I’m confused . . .”

  “You’re not the only one,” said Chief Bruno. “What I want to know is where those so-called Bug Bears are. If we find them, I think we might be able to solve this crime.”

  Just then Bonnie pointed across the lawn toward the west gate and said, “I’ll bet that’s them!”

  Everyone turned to look. Walking toward them in a row were three bears. They were all handcuffed. Behind them marched Officer Marguerite with her pistol drawn. Two of the bears wore uniforms with BUG BEAR printed across the front. The third had on a different kind of uniform. A butler’s uniform.

  “I caught your butler and these two jokers trying to escape through a tunnel under your fence,” Officer Marguerite told Squire Grizzly. “They look pretty guilty to me. Case solved.”

  But was it? Everyone looked from the bear in the butler’s uniform to the bear in pajamas, then back to the bear in the uniform. There was Greeves in his pajamas, standing next to Lady Grizzly. And there was Greeves in his uniform, standing next to the Bug Bears.

  “I still think the butler did it,” said Bonnie, her eyes wide. “I’m just not sure which one!”

  Chapter 20

  The Other Butler’s Tale

  Greeves One and Greeves Two. There they stood. But how could there be two of them?

  Greeves in butler’s uniform smiled at Greeves in pajamas and said, “Hello, Greeves.” It was Greeves’s voice. It sounded just like the butler talking to himself.

  “Oh, my goodness!” shrieked Lady Grizzly. “It’s Greeves’s ghost!” She nearly fainted, but the squire caught her and held her up.

  “That is no ghost, madam,” said Greeves in pajamas, looking straight at Greeves in uniform. Again, it was Greeves’s voice. “That . . . is my long-lost twin brother, Arthur!”

  Greeves in uniform just smiled.

  “Long-lost twin brother?” said Squire Grizzly. “I didn’t know you had a twin brother, Greeves.”

  “I’d nearly forgotten all about him myself,” said Greeves. “As a teenager, he ran away from home and joined the navy. Neither I nor anyone else in the family has heard from him in forty years. All that time we’ve had no idea where he was or what he was doing.”

  “You’d better start explaining,” Chief Bruno said to Arthur. “If you cooperate, the judge might take a few months off that long prison sentence he’s sure to give you and your partners.”

  Arthur looked at the Bug Bears and muttered, “Lucky us.” Then he turned back to the others. “Oh, all right,” he said. “It’s a long story. When I got out of the navy, I settled way up north in Polar Bear City and became an assistant to a carpenter there. Soon I had my own carpentry business and these two assistants, Chuck and Charlie.” He nodded at the Bug Bears. “The exterminators’ van here is really our business van. We repainted it for this . . . er . . . job.”

  Papa Bear was listening with widening eyes. “Do you mean to say that you three made the copies of Lady Grizzly’s antiques?” he asked.

  Arthur’s smile showed more than a hint of pride. “Exactly,” he said.

  “But how did you find out where I was?” asked Greeves.

  “From an article about Squire Grizzly in the Polar Gazette,” said Arthur. “He had just given a lot of money to charity. Next to the article was a photograph of the squire and Lady Grizzly being served tea in Grizzly Mansion—by you. Though I hadn’t seen you in forty years, I recognized you instantly.”

  That’s not surprising, thought Sister Bear as she looked from one twin to the other. They were the same height and weight, and they had the same faces and voices. The only difference between them was that one was wearing a butler’s uniform and the other was wearing pajamas.

  Well, not the only difference. When Sister looked more closely, she noticed that the twin in pajamas had bags under his eyes, but that the twin in the butler’s uniform didn’t.

  “Of course, as a carpenter, I already knew all about Lady Grizzly’s famous antique collection,” continued Arthur. “I began to work on a scheme to get ahold of some of those priceless antiques by posing as Greeves. First I went to the history section of the public library and read up on Grizzly Mansion. That’s how I found out about the secret tunnels and cellars that old Farnsworth Grizzly built under and around the mansion. They sounded like perfect places to set up a woodworking shop for a couple of weeks.”

  “You made the copies down there?” gasped Squire Grizzly. “Right under our noses?”

  “Of course,” said Arthur. “It would have been far too risky going back and forth, taking antiques out of the mansion and bringing copies in. We needed to be inside the mansion so we could switch antiques and copies over a long period of time. Then, once we were done, we could take the antiques out all at once.

  “So we tunneled under the back fence and broke into the old cellar. We wasted no time in using the secret tunnels in the walls on the upper floors to spy on the household. The tunnels ran right behind portraits of Grizzly forebears. Very convenient. We just cut flaps in the portraits’ eyes and spied through them. After a day of spying, we’d learned everything we needed to know.

  “The most important thing we learned was when Greeves’s next day off would be. As soon as he left, I sneaked into his room, put on his uniform, and buzzed the guard at the front gate to tell him to expect the Bug Bears. Meanwhile, my friends here had slipped out through the tunnel under the fence and gone to get our van. So, in they came, right through the front gate, carrying all our woodworking equipment along with plenty of lumber and a supply of canned foods. After unloading everything into the cellar, out they went again through the front gate.”

  “So that’s why you didn’t remember about the exterminators!” said Tillie to Greeves. “Because it wasn’t you who called them in. It was Arthur!”

  “I thought Tillie here might get suspicious about that and come snooping in the west wing if she heard us moving furniture at night,” said Arthur. “So we prepared for that.”

  “What do you mean, prepared for it?” asked Chief Bruno.

  Just then Officer Marguerite, who had gone to check the van, came back carrying a pile of clothing. “Found these in the van,” she said, holding them up. “Some sort of costumes. The tags say BIG BEAR CITY COSTUME AND NOVELTY SHOP.”

  Maisie gasped. “That’s what the ghosts in the ballroom were wearing!” she cried. “Old-fashioned highway robber outfits!”

  “Well, it turned out that Tillie never came snooping,” Arthur continued. “But Maisie did. While we were spying, we heard all about the ghosts. So I sent Charlie to Big Bear City to get costumes. I knew that if any of the servants saw us dressed like that at night they’d be too scared to ever come snooping again.”

  “And he was right!” said Maisie to Chief Bruno. Tillie and Greeves nodded in agreement.

  “I thought the candle was a nice touch, too,” said Arthur. “We did all our work by candlelight, in fact. Each night we inspected an antique, copied it, and replaced the original with the copy. By last night we were done. We put on our ‘ghost’ costumes, gathered the antiques and our equipment near the cellar door, and waited.

  “Just before dawn we tied Greeves up. Then I put on his uniform. I made sure that the Bug Bears were let in the front gate again and told them to start loading the antiques and equipment into the van.

  “That’s when Papa Bear and the cubs arrived. I knew they’d been here the day before, and I was worried that Papa might discover that the rosewood chair was a fake. But I hoped he wouldn’t find out in time to catch us.”

  “So that’s why you turned us away,” said Papa to Greeves. Then he frowned and
said, “I didn’t mean you, Greeves. I meant Arthur.”

  “Of course,” said Arthur. “You told me someone had stolen one of Lady Grizzly’s antiques. I couldn’t let you tell the squire that, could I? At that point my helpers had just begun loading the antiques into the van. When I saw Bonnie bring Papa and the cubs into the mansion, I hurried to the west wing and told Chuck and Charlie to empty the van and help me spy on all of you.

  “When Papa and Squire Grizzly went looking for us in the west wing, we knew our only chance was to tie them up and force our way out the front gate. We nabbed Lady Grizzly, too, because we were afraid she’d call the police. But before we could load the van, we heard a siren. We left the van and ran for the back fence. End of story.”

  “Forgot about us cubs, didn’t you?” said Bonnie.

  “We didn’t forget about you,” sniffed Arthur. “We never even thought about you.”

  “But that’s not the end of the story,” said Greeves angrily. “I want to know why you did it, Arthur.”

  “I wanted to be a millionaire like Squire Grizzly,” said Arthur. “I wanted to have lots of money and live in a mansion. Don’t you?”

  “I do live in a mansion,” said Greeves.

  “Only as the butler,” sneered Arthur.

  At that, Greeves puffed out his chest. “Better as an honest butler than a crooked millionaire,” he said proudly.

  “Right, Greeves,” said Squire Grizzly, giving the butler a pat on the back. “I owe you an apology. I should never have accused you of stealing.”

  “It’s not your fault, sir,” said Greeves. He pointed a finger at his twin brother. “It’s his fault. Officer Marguerite, take these crooks away and lock them up!”

  “I’ll handle this, Greeves,” said Chief Bruno. “Officer Marguerite, take these crooks away and lock them up!”

  Chapter 21

  A Grand Ball

  Three important decisions were made as a result of what came to be known as the Great Antique Robbery.

  The first was made by the judge of the Beartown court. He decided that Arthur and his assistants should spend twenty years in Bear Country Prison. They had committed not just one crime but several: they had broken into Grizzly Mansion; they had lived there without permission; they had attacked and tied up residents and visitors; and they had attempted to commit burglary.

  That’s right: they had attempted to commit burglary. One of the strangest facts about the entire story was that no burglary ever really happened. That’s because the antiques were never actually removed from the Grizzly property.

  The second decision was made by Squire Grizzly. He decided not to go on the diet that Lady Grizzly had been nagging him about. When she asked him why not, he said that if he had gone on that diet, the rosewood chair wouldn’t have broken when he sat on it. If the chair hadn’t broken, it wouldn’t have been given to Papa Bear to be fixed. And if it hadn’t been given to Papa Bear to be fixed, none of the fake antiques would have been discovered in time to catch the crooks! Lady Grizzly wasn’t very pleased with her husband’s decision. But after having lost so much sleep, she was too worn out to argue with him.

  All Beartown, however, was very pleased with the third decision. Squire and Lady Grizzly decided to celebrate the return of Lady Grizzly’s priceless antiques by throwing a big party—a grand ball—in the ballroom of the west wing of Grizzly Mansion. And Papa Bear was to be the official guest of honor. That’s because his sharp carpenter’s eye had kept Lady Grizzly’s antiques from being stolen.

  On the evening of the grand ball, the Bear family got into their car and headed for Grizzly Mansion. The butler greeted them at the front door.

  Papa frowned. “Greeves?” he said. “Is that you?”

  “Of course it’s me, sir,” said Greeves. “Who else would it be?”

  “For a second,” said Papa with a grin, “you looked just like Arthur.”

  Everyone laughed at Papa’s joke. Then Greeves invited the Bears in. But Sister held back.

  “What’s wrong, Sis?” asked Brother.

  Sister was standing straight and stiff on the welcome mat. Her eyes looked frightened. In her mind, she saw a gloomy ballroom filled with long shadows, floating candles, and walking suits of armor.

  Greeves knelt beside Sister. “Still worried about ghosts in the ballroom?” he asked gently.

  “I don’t believe in ghosts,” said Sister. She paused. She seemed to be holding something back. Then she took a deep breath and added, “But the ghosts I don’t believe in still scare me sometimes when I think about them.”

  “I don’t believe in ghosts anymore, either,” said Greeves. “Not after what happened here at Grizzly Mansion.”

  “Then you think the ballroom is safe?” asked Sister.

  “Very safe,” said Greeves. “Because the ghosts I don’t believe in would never haunt a ballroom filled with bears and music and bright lights. They’d wait until the dark of night when the ballroom was empty— empty, that is, except maybe for one lonely, frightened bear.”

  Sister shivered. But at the same time she smiled. “You’re right, Greeves,” she said firmly. “I feel better already.”

  “Excellent,” said the butler. “Now I suggest you all go into the ballroom and have a wonderful time.”

  And that’s exactly what they did. Even Sister.

  Excerpt from The Berenstain Bears Chapter Book: Giant Bat Cave

  Chapter 1

  One for All, and All for One

  The Bear Scouts met with Scout Leader Jane about once a month. They usually met on merit badge business. That’s what today’s meeting was about.

  “We’ve decided to try for the Good Government Merit Badge, Scout Leader,” said Scout Brother.

  “Goo goo,” said Sister.

  “I should know better than to ask,” said Jane, “but why are you talking baby talk?”

  The troop grinned.

  “That’s slang for ‘good government,’” said Scout Fred.

  Scout Leader Jane almost smiled, but kept herself from doing so. The troop liked to make jokes. Especially Scout Sister, who was a bit of a smarty. But Jane thought it best to be serious. She was not only a scout leader, she was a teacher at Bear Country School as well.

  In fact, both Scout Sister and Scout Lizzy were in her class. The other two members of the troop were Scout Brother and Scout Fred. They were two grades ahead of Sister and Lizzy.

  But girl or boy, younger or older, they were all scouts together. “One for all, and all for one” was their slogan. It came from a book Scout Fred had read—it was called The Bear Musketeers. It told about some soldiers from olden times. They would cross their swords and shout, “One for all, and all for one!” Then they would rush off to rescue a princess or slay a dragon. There weren’t any princesses in Bear Country, or any dragons—at least as far as anyone knew.

  Nor did the Bear Scouts have swords to cross. But they crossed other things when they said their slogan—like straws one time when they were having milkshakes at the Burger Bear, or rulers or pencils at school, or even sticks when they were gathering wood for a campfire.

  Brother, Sister, Fred, and Lizzy liked being Bear Scouts. They liked having Jane as their leader, too. One of the reasons was that she trusted them. The scouts knew that other scout leaders fussed about everything their troops wanted to do. But not Jane. She didn’t even know where the troop’s secret clubhouse was. The only person besides the scouts who did know was Farmer Ben. That was because the scouts’ secret clubhouse was an old chicken coop that Farmer Ben wasn’t using for chickens anymore.

  From the outside it still looked like a broken-down old chicken coop. It looked much better from the inside. It wasn’t fancy. There wasn’t much furniture, and what there was was very simple. The table was an old door that rested on sawhorses. There were two old kitchen chairs that Farmer Ben had given them. But mostly the scouts sat in the small grandstand they had made from the chicken roost. They had done this by nailing boards to
the poles that the chickens had roosted upon.

  The scouts had been able to keep their clubhouse secret because nobody ever saw them going into it. Farmer Ben had built the chicken coop onto an old hollow tree. The scouts went in through the hollow tree. There were bushes around the opening, so the scouts were able to slip in without ever being seen.

  It hadn’t been easy turning the chicken coop into a clubhouse. The scouts had been very happy when Farmer Ben told them they could have the place. But when they first went in, they were shocked. It was the dirtiest place any of them had ever seen—and the smelliest! At first they couldn’t stop yelling “Pew!” over and over again. Their eyes teared and their noses burned. But they rolled up their sleeves and went to work. They carried out bag after bag of chicken feathers. They scrubbed and scrubbed and scrubbed. After a lot of cleaning up and fixing up, the place began to look like a real clubhouse.

  You’d hardly know that it had once been a chicken coop, except for two things: It still had a funny smell on rainy days, and once in a while a chicken would show up and make itself at home.

  Chapter 2

  The Honor Wall

  One wall of the Bear Scouts’ clubhouse was special. They called it their honor wall. On it were the merit badges the troop had already earned. There were three of them: a Good Deed Merit Badge, a Water Safety Merit Badge, and a Recycling Merit Badge.

  They had earned the first by helping the Widder McGrizz when she was ill with the flu. They had done her grocery shopping and other helpful things. They had earned the second by learning the dead bear’s float, the doggie paddle, and the sidestroke. They had earned the third merit badge by putting paper, glass, and metal in different cans for trash pickup.

  The three merit badges were pinned to a ribbon that was tacked to the honor wall. It was a long ribbon. There was room on it for more merit badges.