Great Turkey Heist (2 page)

At the breakfast table, Benny excitedly told Mrs. McGregor about all the good food at the Green Fields restaurant.

“I hope all that good food didn’t fill you up too much,” Mrs. McGregor said as she set a plate of apple-cinnamon pancakes in front of Benny.

Benny couldn’t answer. His mouth was already full of the warm, tasty breakfast.

Henry laughed. “It’s impossible to fill Benny up too much,” he said.

Benny swallowed. “These pancakes are so good! You should open up a restaurant, Mrs. McGregor. Nobody can cook better than you can!”

Mrs. McGregor beamed. “Thank you, Benny. But why are you children eating so quickly? There are plenty more pancakes.”

Jessie explained that they had agreed to help out at the new food pantry this morning.

Benny put down his fork for a moment. “Some people don’t have enough to eat, Mrs. McGregor. I wish I could share these pancakes with them.”

“That’s very kind of you, Benny,” Mrs. McGregor said. “But you should eat a good breakfast. You will need lots of energy if you are going to work hard at the food pantry.” Mrs. McGregor set another platter of pancakes on the table. “I would like to help, too. I can make some cakes and pies. Do you think they would accept them at the food pantry?”

“Oh yes,” Violet answered. “I’m sure they would love them.”

After the children cleaned up the breakfast table, they jumped on their bicycles and headed toward the address that Mr. Grayson had given to Henry.

“It has to be somewhere around here,” Henry said, stopping his bike and staring at the written address. “But I don’t see it.”

The children looked at all the addresses on Chestnut Street. There was a grocery store, a dress shop, a movie theater, and a hardware store. But they did not see a food pantry.

Suddenly, Jessie looked up and noticed that Benny was missing.

“Benny! Benny!” she called. “Where are you?”

“I’m over here, Jessie.”

Jessie still did not see her little brother. She ran toward his voice.

Benny popped out of a very small alley. “I think I found the food pantry,” he said.

Jessie, Henry, and Violet followed Benny down the dark alley.

“I never knew this alley was here,” said Henry.

“It’s very dark,” said Violet. “I don’t like it. How did you ever find this, Benny?”

Benny pointed to a corner. “I saw that cat come in here and I followed it.” A yellow cat was curled on top of an old trash can.

“Look there!” Jessie said. There was a gray door at the end of the alley. Someone had taped a sign to the door. It read, “Greenfield Food Pantry.”

“How did you know this was the food pantry, Benny?” asked Henry. “Were you able to read the sign?”

Benny was just learning how to read. “I thought it said
food
, but I wasn’t sure,” Benny said. “Then I found a clue that helped me.” Benny showed Henry a small bin by the door. It had several cans of corn and beans in it.

“Good detective work, Benny!” said Jessie.

Suddenly the door flew open, and the children jumped back in surprise. Mr. Grayson had an angry look on his face. When he saw the Aldens, he relaxed.

“I’m sorry to startle you, children,” Mr. Grayson said. He rubbed his hands through his hair. “It’s just that someone has been playing tricks on me. The sign I made was stolen from my door this morning. I had to tape up this paper sign in its place. I thought maybe you were the thieves coming back.”

“How terrible!” Jessie said. “Who would do such a thing?”

“I don’t know.” Mr. Grayson looked very tired. “But come on in, kids. I’ll show you around.”

“This is a food pantry?” asked Benny, looking around the dim building.

“Yes, but not a very good one, I’m afraid,” Mr. Grayson said.

Boxes were scattered around the mostly- empty-building. Metal shelves were set up in aisles, but they were dusty. A few cans and boxes of cereal sat on the shelves. The floor was dirty. A lightbulb in the corner flickered on and off.

“There are some donations in those boxes,” Mr. Grayson said. “But I haven’t decided on the best place to put them yet.”

Jessie’s arms were folded. She looked up and down the entire room. “Mr. Grayson,” she said, “I think the first thing we need to do is clean up. If you have a mop and a bucket, I can start by washing the floors.”

“Benny and I can dust those shelves,” Violet offered.

“Is there a ladder in the back?” Henry asked. “I will change the lightbulbs and make it brighter in here.”

Mr. Grayson nodded. “Your grandfather was right. You children are helpful!”

Mr. Grayson showed the children the back room. It had plenty of cleaning supplies. Soon, he needed to leave for the restaurant. “Are you sure that you will be okay here by yourselves?” he asked.

“We’ll be fine,” Jessie answered. She had already filled her bucket with hot, soapy water.

Once Mr. Grayson left, Violet and Benny used rags and a bottle of spray to shine up all the shelves.

Henry found a box of lightbulbs. He set up the ladder and began to remove the old ones.

“This place sure is a mess,” Jessie said, wringing out her mop.

“Yes,” Violet agreed. She wiped a cobweb from the corner of a shelf. “But even after it is clean, I am afraid it will still look dreary. It is not a very pleasant place for a food pantry.”

Henry stood on top of the ladder. “Violet is right,” he said. “Now that the room is brighter, I can see how bad things are.”

Benny pointed. “Look,” he said. “There are even some holes in the walls.”

“I can fix those,” Henry said.

“And maybe we can paint the walls a more cheerful color,” Jessie added.

The children were standing together near the ladder when they heard a loud crash at the door. Everyone jumped.

“What was that?” Benny asked.

Violet took Benny’s hand.

“Stay there,” Jessie said to her sister and brother. “Henry and I will check it out.”

There were no windows to look outside into the alley. Henry slowly opened the door. Something red dripped down the door. Garbage was scattered in the alley.

“What’s that smell?” Benny held his hand over his nose. “It’s terrible.”

Henry opened the door wide. “It looks like a trash can full of garbage was overturned.”

Jessie looked up the alley. There was no one there. The small yellow cat picked through the mess.

“Do you think the cat knocked over the trash can?” asked Violet.

“No,” Henry said. “Someone threw the trash can against our door.” He looked up at the red-liquid stain on the top of the door. A ketchup bottle lay broken beneath it on the ground. “For one thing, the cat could not get to the garbage up that high. And also, the sign that Mr. Grayson taped to the door is gone. I’ll be right back.”

Henry jumped over a half-eaten sandwich and an empty soda bottle. He ran up the alley to Chestnut Street. He looked up and down the street. He only saw shoppers and people out for a stroll. No one looked suspicious.

Jessie swept the garbage into a pile. Violet helped to dump it all back into the trash can. When they were done cleaning up, the children went back inside. They sat in a circle on the floor.

“I don’t see how this food pantry will ever work,” Jessie said.

“There’s not much food here,” Benny said. “It is not enough to fill up very many people.”

Henry looked toward the door. “And someone is trying hard to hurt this food pantry.”

Jessie looked at her brother. “Do you think that the person who threw the garbage could be the same person who knocked Mr. Grayson to the ground?”

“It could be,” Henry said.

“But why would anyone not like a food pantry?” asked Benny.

Henry shook his head. “I don’t understand it, either,” he said. “It doesn’t make any sense.”

Violet had been sitting very quietly. Now she suddenly stood up. “The person who did this is not going to stop the food pantry,” she said. “We are going to make it a big success. If Mr. Grayson agrees, we will paint the walls and the door outside, too. I can paint the name of the food pantry right on the door. No one will be able to steal it then.”

“But there’s no food,” Benny said. His stomach was already growling for lunch.

“A new sign is a good idea, Violet,” Jessie said. “But Benny is right. It will not help if there is no food on the shelves.”

Violet looked thoughtful. “Maybe it will,” she said. “I have an idea.”

Just then, there was a faint scratching at the door. The children sat very still.

“Do you think the bad person is back?” whispered Benny.

The scratching noise continued.

Jessie opened the door a crack. She peeked outside. She felt something brush against her legs and she jumped back. It was the yellow cat! It snuck into the room and sat right next to Benny. It mewed.

The children laughed.

“This time it
was
the cat!” Benny said.

Violet found a bowl and a small can of tuna fish in the cupboard in the back room. She set it out for the cat.

“Poor little thing,” she said. “You must be very hungry.”

The cat began to quickly eat the tuna fish. Violet ran her fingers through the cat’s soft fur. “This cat is our first customer at the food pantry!” she said.

“I suppose you are right about that, Violet,” Henry said. “I hope she is not our last.”

Benny’s stomach growled so loudly that even the cat looked up.

“Sorry,” Benny said. “I guess all this talk of food is making my stomach go crazy.”

Henry laughed. “The cat is not the only hungry one in this room. Let’s go get some lunch, and Violet can tell us about her ideas.”

Henry, Jessie, Violet, and Benny sat in a back booth at Green Fields restaurant. Jessie squirted ketchup on Benny’s burger.

Noreen, the waitress, set four cold glasses of apple cider on the table. “Mr. Grayson is a little busy in the kitchen right now,” she said. “But he’ll be out to talk with you as soon as he can.”

“Of course,” Jessie said. “We understand.”

Violet took a long drink of her cider. “I was thinking,” she said, “that we need a lot of donations if we are going to fill up the shelves at the food pantry. I will paint a sign on the door. But no one will see it. We need to let everyone know about the food pantry.”

“How about flyers?” Jessie asked.

Violet took a bite of her salad. “Yes,” she said. “We could make flyers and put them up around town.”

“The grocery store would be the best place,” Henry said.

Jessie agreed. “People could buy food and donate it right at the checkout!”

“And we could set up donation jars, too,” Violet said.

Benny took a gulp of his apple cider. “What’s a donation jar?” he asked.

Violet reached for a large glass container of mustard. She put it in the center of the table. “We could clean out jars like this, Benny,” she said. “Then we could tape a small sign to the front asking for donations. If stores will put them on their checkout counters, people could drop their change into the jar. We could use that money to buy more food for the food pantry.”

Mr. Grayson walked up to the booth. He was wearing a white apron and carrying a warm apple pie. “May I join you for some dessert?” he asked.

“Oh boy!” Benny said. “Pie!”

Noreen brought five plates and five forks and sliced the pie. Everyone had a large piece.

“Mr. Grayson,” Henry said. “We were wondering if we could paint the food pantry.”

“It’s clean now,” Jessie added. “But it is still dark inside. Maybe a fresh coat of paint would brighten it up.”

“That sounds wonderful!” Mr. Grayson said.

“And Violet can paint a sign on the door,” Benny mumbled, his mouth full of pie. “Violet is a good artist. She can draw anything!”

Violet’s face turned red. “Not anything, Benny,” she said. “But I’m sure I can design a nice sign for your door, Mr. Grayson.”

“And no one better throw garbage on it!” Benny said as he ate the last crumb from his plate.

Mr. Grayson looked confused. “Garbage?”

Henry explained what had happened earlier at the food pantry.

Mr. Grayson seemed surprised. “You weren’t hurt, were you?” he asked.

“Oh no,” Jessie said. “Nothing like that. It was just messy.”

Mr. Grayson crossed his arms. He stared out the window. “I don’t understand it,” he said. “Who could be doing these things?”

Noreen hurried up to the table. “I’m sorry to interrupt,” she said. “You are needed in the kitchen, Mr. Grayson.”

“Sorry, children,” he said. “I have a lot of work to do. But if you want to paint the food pantry, you can get the supplies at the hardware store. I will call Mr. Carroll. He will put the charges on my account.” Mr. Grayson got up and walked back to the kitchen.

“Mr. Grayson sure is a busy man,” Benny said.

“Yes,” said Violet. “And he seems quite upset about the problems with the food pantry.”

“We should get to the hardware store,” Henry said. “We have a lot of work to do.”

The children parked their bicycles in the alley by the food pantry. They walked around the corner to the hardware store. Inside, they looked at all the color choices for paint.