Mystery at the Alamo (3 page)

“Good morning,” Henry, Jessie, and Violet answered back.

Benny looked puzzled. “What did you say, Antonio?” he asked.

“Buenos días
,” Antonio replied. “That means ‘Good day’ in Spanish.”

All the children repeated the words until they could say them correctly. Antonio taught them other Spanish words as they walked along.

As they neared Alamo Square, they could see the crew moving things around on the set.

“I hope Claire has a better day today than she did yesterday” Violet said.

“Me, too,” Antonio said. “There sure have been a lot of accidents.”

“If they
are
accidents,” Henry said. “What if everything has been arranged on purpose to get rid of Claire?”

“Why would anyone want to do that?” Antonio asked.

“We don’t know,” Jessie replied. “But we’re going to try to find out.”

The children quickly picked up their costumes, signed the checkout sheet, and changed into their clothing.

“Hurry, now,” Mary said. She was sewing the hem of one of Claire’s dresses. “Amy wants to make up for lost time.”

The children ran over to the set.

“Where is Claire?” Amy shouted. “We’re all ready to go.”

“I’m sure she has another excuse,” Roger said.

“I’ll go and get her,” Bob offered.

“Please tell her to hurry,” Amy said.

Before Bob could leave, Claire rushed onto the set. Her hair was still wet and in rollers.

“Amy, I’m sorry I’m late,” Claire said breathlessly. “Someone turned my hair rollers off. It must have happened while I was in the costume tent.”

“Oh, Claire,” Amy said. “I was hoping things would go smoothly today.”

“Me, too,” Claire said. “I was up in plenty of time to get ready. I don’t know how my rollers got turned off.”

The children all looked at each other.

“That’s okay, Claire,” Janice said. “I can go on for you until your hair is dry.”

“That won’t be necessary,” Amy said. “We can go over Claire’s new lines while she fixes her hair. Then we’ll start the shoot.”

Janice dropped her head and walked over to her chair. She didn’t look very happy.

“Do you think someone really went into Claire’s trailer and turned off her rollers?” Violet asked the other children.

“It could be just an excuse for being late,” Henry said.

“But Claire said she hates to be late, remember?” Jessie said. “She even made us go back a few minutes early yesterday after the break so that we would be on time.”

“That’s true,” Henry said. “Let’s watch everything that happens today. Maybe if we put our heads together we can figure out what’s going on.”

“Okay, people,” Amy said as she walked back onto the set. “Claire’s ready. Let’s go.”

The crew members and actors got in their places, and they finished the scenes they had begun yesterday.

“Great,” Amy said when Claire finished her last line. “Let’s take a fifteen-minute break while we set up the next scenes.”

The children watched as the crew members set up the huge lights and the cameras for the next shots.

“Let me explain what you all will be doing in these scenes,” Amy said.

This time the children’s part called for them to cheer for Claire and Roger Martin, who was dressed up like Davy Crockett, one of the defenders of the Alamo. Grandfather had told them about Davy Crockett. He helped the Texans fight against Mexico, a long time ago, so Texas could be free and independent. Crockett and the other men in the Alamo lost the battle. Davy Crockett died, along with almost everyone else in the fort.

“Okay,” Amy called out loudly. “Action!”

There was a loud crash. “Look!” said Benny. He pointed to a set of lights that had fallen over and shattered.

“Oh, no,” said Amy. “Take a break, everyone.” She hurried over to examine the broken lights. “It may take an hour or so for the camera crews to fix this mess. Well, I guess we’re lucky no one was hurt.”

“Why don’t we go to my mother’s stand and get some lemonade while we wait,” Antonio suggested.

“That’s a good idea,” Benny said.

After returning their costumes, the children followed Antonio to his mother’s lemonade stand, which was near the edge of the square. The stand was brightly decorated with red, yellow, and green streamers. A wax museum was nearby and every few minutes a loud voice boomed out the attractions inside and music played.

Antonio introduced the Aldens to his mother. “Mama,” Antonio said. “These are my new friends.”

“Hello, there,” Mrs. Rivas said. “Antonio told me all about your adventures yesterday.”

“It looks like we’re going to have more adventures today,” Antonio said.

“Have a glass of lemonade before you go back to being movie stars,” his mother said, laughing. She handed each child a tall glass filled to the brim with her famous lemonade.

“Your mother makes the best lemonade I’ve ever had,” Violet said.

“She does,” Jessie said. “This lemonade is delicious.”

“Mama,” Antonio said, “would it be all right if the Aldens and their grandfather came over to our house to make
cascarones
tomorrow night?”

“That sounds like a wonderful idea,” Mrs. Rivas said. “We would love for you to come.”

“What’s a cascarone?” Jessie asked.

“Cascarones are colored eggshells filled with confetti,” Antonio said.

“Many people in Mexico and Texas make cascarones in spring,” Mrs. Rivas explained. “It’s a custom.”

“A custom like dyeing boiled eggs at Easter and then hiding them?” Jessie asked.

“Yes,” Mrs. Rivas said. “But we don’t hide our cascarones after we make them.”

Benny frowned. “How do you get the confetti into the eggs?”

Mrs. Rivas chuckled. “There’s a trick. You’ll see.”

“Making cascarones sounds like fun,” Violet said. “We love craft projects. We make things all the time at home.”

“
¡Qué bien!
Good!” Mrs. Rivas said.

“I’m sure Grandfather will enjoy visiting your home with us,” Jessie said.

“Antonio and I will be glad to pick you all up at your hotel tomorrow evening,” said Mrs. Rivas.

“Great,” Henry said.

“It’s time to get back to work,” Violet said.

“Bye, Mama,” said Antonio.

“Have a good day, children,” Mrs. Rivas said.

But when the children got back to the set, no one was working.

“While you were gone, another set of lights broke,” Amy explained. “The crew is working on it, but it will take another couple of hours to fix it. Maybe you children should take the rest of the day off. I’ll see you in the morning at eight o’clock sharp.”

“We’ll see you in the morning, I guess,” Antonio said, sounding a little disappointed.

“Well,” Violet said. “I guess we have more time to sightsee today than we thought we would have.”

“Mr. Fambles is going to show us around the Alamo this afternoon,” Jessie explained to Antonio.

“Then we’re going sightseeing around the city. Will you come with us?” Henry asked Antonio.

“You can be our guide,” Jessie said.

“I’m sorry, but I won’t be able to go with you today,” Antonio said. “I think I should help my mother for a while. It looks like she might have a big crowd during lunch. I want to surprise her by staying here to help. She’ll be so happy.”

“That sounds like a nice thing to do for your mother,” said Jessie. “Maybe you can go with us some other time.”

“I hope so,” Antonio said. “
Buenas tardes!
Good afternoon!”

“
Buenas tardes
,” the children called back.

Antonio waved good-bye and ran over to his mother’s lemonade stand. The Boxcar Children hurried back to the hotel.

“Grandfather,” Henry called as they entered the room. “Amy gave us the rest of the day off.”

“That’s wonderful,” Mr. Alden said. “Now we can go on a tour of the Alamo and San Antonio. My friend Lew is expecting us.”

“Perfect timing!” Mr. Fambles said when he saw the children and their grandfather. “I was just finishing up my paperwork.”

“We’re looking forward to our tour of the Alamo,” Grandfather said.

“And I’m looking forward to guiding you,” Mr. Fambles replied. “As the curator of the Alamo, I don’t often get to walk around and give the tour myself. The tour guides usually are the ones giving the visitors the history talk.”

“What does a curator do?” asked Benny.

“A curator is the person who is in charge of the artifacts of the museum,” said Mr. Fambles.

“What are artifacts?” Benny asked.

“Artifacts,” said Mr. Fambles, “are special items the museum has to show from the past.”

“Do you have something that belonged to Davy Crockett?” asked Benny “He’s one of my heroes.”

“As a matter of fact, we do. Let me show you around,” Mr. Fambles said.

The Alden children and their grandfather followed Mr. Fambles into the Alamo. They walked around while Mr. Fambles told them all about the Alamo’s history.

“In 1835, during the battle for Texas independence from Mexico, San Antonio had been captured by the Texans,” Mr. Fambles explained. “Only one hundred and forty-four soldiers, most of them volunteers, were left to guard the city. They were under the command of Lieutenant Colonel William B. Travis. James Bowie and Davy Crockett were among those volunteers.”

“Jim Bowie. I didn’t know Jim Bowie was here, too,” said Henry.

“Who was Jim Bowie?” Benny asked.

“Let me tell him,” Jessie said.

“Go right ahead,” Mr. Fambles said. “I’m impressed that you children know so much about Texas history already.”

“Grandfather told us a lot about it before we came here,” Violet said.

“Jim Bowie was the person the Bowie knife was named for,” Jessie said. “Isn’t that right, Grandfather?”

“That’s exactly right,” Grandfather said.

“Well,” said Mr. Fambles, “I bet you children already know that the siege of the Alamo lasted twelve days. On the morning of March sixth, in 1836, several thousand Mexican soldiers stormed the fort. There were many deaths on both sides.”

“That’s sad,” Violet said.

“War is always sad,” Grandfather Alden said.

“Now, let me show you some of the artifacts we have here. Take a look at this,” Mr. Fambles said, pointing to a glass case.

“What a beautiful little ring!” Violet said.

“Who did the ring belong to?” Jessie asked.

Mr. Fambles cleared his throat and smiled. He enjoyed telling the children this part most of all. “There were sixteen women and children who survived the Alamo. Among the sixteen were Susannah and Angelina Dickinson. The story is that Captain Dickinson gave this ring to his young daughter, Angelina, to wear on a ribbon around her neck for safekeeping.

“And this is the same ring?” asked Jessie.

“Yes, this is the same ring,” Mr. Fambles replied. “It’s very valuable. Before you leave, I’ll tell you a little secret about it.”

“Oh, boy!” Benny said. “We love secrets.”

“What’s this?” Henry asked Mr. Fambles.

“It looks like a rusty box,” said Jessie. “Why is it in a glass case?”

Everyone peered at the rusty old box and the handled brush inside.

“This particular artifact we’re not so sure about,” Mr. Fambles said. “But we think that the box belonged to Davy Crockett, and that this is his beard brush.”

“That belonged to Davy Crockett?” Benny asked excitedly.

“Yes,” Mr. Fambles said. “Davy Crockett might have actually brushed his beard with this very brush.”

“Isn’t there something else here that belonged to Davy Crockett?” Grandfather asked.

Mr. Fambles smiled as he walked along. “There sure is. This rifle supposedly was his.”

All the children admired the rifle in the case. After they had seen the rest of the fort, they stopped for a few minutes in the souvenir shop.

Inside the gift shop, Benny headed straight to the Davy Crockett display.

Violet walked over to the posters and coloring crayons.

Henry, Grandfather, and Mr. Fambles went to look at the history books.

Jessie looked through the Texas cook-books. She wanted to buy a present for Mrs. McGregor, their housekeeper.

“What are you going to buy, Grandfather?” Henry asked.

“I’ve already bought something,” Grandfather said. “Film for my camera, and a new camera strap. I’m going to let you children take the camera with you so you can take snapshots of anything you want to remember.”

“That is a great idea, James,” Mr. Fambles said.

“I love taking pictures,” Violet said, as she joined Henry, Grandfather, and Mr. Fambles.

“Then I’ll make you the official photographer,” Grandfather said as he put the camera strap around Violet’s neck. “Now the camera will be easy to keep track of and you can take pictures in a snap.”

“I’ll keep it with me wherever I go,” Violet said.

“Good,” Grandfather said. “We’ll have lots of wonderful pictures of our visit to Texas.”

A
fter their visit to the Alamo, the Boxcar Children, their grandfather, and Mr. Fambles strolled down the sidewalk and into a restaurant that Mr. Fambles had chosen. While they waited for their food, the children told their grandfather about Antonio’s invitation to make cascarones.