Superstar Watch (6 page)

“I smell that citronella perfume again,” Violet said.

Benny sneezed.

Suddenly, Watch made a big tug on his leash. Jessie lost control. Watch dashed across the audition room. His nose was tight to the floor.

“Does he smell another steak?” Violet asked.

Benny gave the air a big smell and his stomach a pat. “Nope. There’s no steak here today,” Benny replied.

“Then what is going on!?” Jessie asked.

The Alden children ran to catch up with their dog.

Watch was fast. He skidded past Ms. Werner, Buffalo, and Dante.

Watch jumped onto the obstacle course set. He leapt over the log and under the bench. Through the hoop and down the slide. Then Watch flew into the stage kitchen where Timmy was and bounded into his arms. Timmy was surprised, but he was able to catch Watch and then set him down.

Then Watch went straight to the new bowl of food that Ms. Werner had set down for Buffalo. He stuck his nose in the bowl and began eating away.

“Wow!” Benny said. “I told you he was hungry.”

Henry, Jessie, and Violet were surprised to see Watch eating out of Buffalo’s bowl.

Henry still had the bowl of food with Watch’s name on it in his hand.

Mr. Lillipool, Timmy, and Lisa came over to see what was going on.

“He does like my food!” Mr. Lillipool said. Watch continued to gobble up the food.

“Of course,” Benny replied. “Wundermutt is all he ever eats at home.”

“Then why didn’t he eat it during the audition?” Mr. Lillipool asked. “Watch acted like he was repelled by the food.”

Henry snapped his fingers. “That’s it! He was
repelled,
” Henry said. He turned to face Lisa. “Your invention is a big success!”

“And the dog food mystery is now completely solved,” Jessie said.

Ms. Werner has been spraying Lisa’s Get Away Spray on the dog food bowls,” Henry told everyone. “The only dog who never had his bowl sprayed was Buffalo.”

“What?” Mr. Lillipool said. “Can you please explain what you mean?” Mr. Lillipool asked.

“This morning, Lisa told us that she’d created a new kind of pet training spray a repellant.” Jessie replied.

Benny quickly added, “It’s called ‘Get Away Spray’”

“She was too shy to tell you about it herself,” Henry told Mr. Lillipool. “But she told Ms. Werner all about the spray. Lisa gave her a sample. And Ms. Werner agreed to help her show it to you. Ms. Werner was going to have a meeting with you to demonstrate it.”

Mr. Lillipool then looked over at Ms. Werner. She stared down at the ground, unwilling to meet his eyes.

“You never set up the meeting, did you?” Lisa asked Ms. Werner.

Ms. Werner shook her head. “No. I didn’t,” she replied.

Lisa sighed. “All my dreams are ruined,” she said sadly.

“What does Get Away Spray do?” Mr. Lillipool asked Lisa. “And what does this have to do with Watch not eating my food?”

“It’s a repellant. Made of all natural ingredients,” Lisa explained. “The spray will keep dogs off furniture. Or out of the garbage. It will even keep a dog from jumping up on you. Basically,” she said, “it’ll keep a pet away from anything it’s sprayed on.”

Henry held up Watch’s dog food bowl. “Even a bowl of food,” Henry said surely.

The instant Henry held up the bowl, Benny sneezed. “Achoo!”

“Yes. My spray will even repel a dog from his own food,” Lisa replied.

“Interesting,” Mr. Lillipool said. He sniffed the air. “What is that smell? Is it lemon or flowers?” Mr. Lillipool asked.

“Neither,” Jessie told him. “It’s called citronella.”

Mr. Lillipool smelled deeply. “I like it,” he said.

“I like it, too,” Jessie said. “But it makes Benny sneeze.” And just to prove her point, Benny sneezed again.

Mr. Lillipool chuckled. Then said, “Why would Ms. Werner put Get Away Spray on the dog food bowls? On everyone else’s except Buffalo’s?”

“I have the answer,” Jessie said. She ran over to the office area and got Ms. Werner’s coffee cup, which was full of water. “Yesterday Violet noticed that Ms. Werner’s coffee cup had a picture of a fluffy, white dog on it,” Jessie said.

“There was a heart around the photo and some writing on the other side. I didn’t have time to read the words yesterday,” Violet said.

Jessie turned the cup so everyone could see. On the other side was the dog’s name:
Bandit.

“Bandit,” Henry said. “That’s what Dante called Buffalo that one time.”

To everyone’s surprise, Jessie poured the water from the coffee cup onto Buffalo. Buffalo shook. His black spots began to disappear.

“Oh, I get it, Jessie!” Benny said. He looked at the dog. “Hello, Bandit.”

“Ms. Werner wanted her dog to win so she had Dante draw spots on him. And they called him Buffalo,” Henry said. “That must be why Dante isn’t going to Hollywood. It’s not really his dog.”

“You have it all figured out,” Dante said. He spoke quietly, looking only at his feet. “Ms. Werner sprayed the Get Away Spray on all the other dogs’ bowls so they wouldn’t eat the Wundermutt food. She did everything so that Bandit would win,” Dante added.

Mr. Lillipool was surprised. “Ms. Werner, we talked about this already. People who work for the company are not allowed to audition their pets. It’s a rule,” Mr. Lillipool said.

“It’s a bad rule. Completely unfair,” Ms. Werner complained. “Bandit is the best dog for the commercial. I had my neighbor, Dante, bring Bandit to show you just how great he is.”

“Just because you think something is unfair doesn’t mean you can cheat,” Jessie told her.

“Cheating isn’t nice,” Benny said. “Not nice at all.”

“You’re right, Benny,” Dante said. Looking up at Mr. Lillipool, Dante continued. “Ms. Werner and I had a deal that if I helped her, I’d get the prize money. But I now see that it was a wrong thing to do. Watch deserved to win. I feel bad that he didn’t.”

“Young man, at least you now understand that you did wrong,” Mr. Lillipool said. “You know that cheating is not okay and that rules are meant to be followed. I’m not so sure Ms. Werner understands that.” Mr. Lillipool pointed at Ms. Werner. “You will come to my office on Monday at eight o’clock sharp. We will then discuss whether or not you still have a job at Wundermutt!”

“My dog deserved to win,” Ms. Werner said. “I’ll show you how good he is. He’ll get a different commercial! For another kind of dog food! He’ll be famous!” Then, she marched out of the room with Bandit.

Mr. Lillipool ran his hand over his head. “This audition is a mess,” he said.

“There was one good thing that came out of all this,” Henry said. “We have proven that Lisa’s citronella Get Away Spray works really, really well.”

Mr. Lillipool stepped up next to Lisa. “We should talk,” he said. “You have a bright future as a pet product inventor. When we get back to Hollywood I want to make a big batch of your Get Away Spray.”

Lisa smiled.

Mr. Lillipool turned to look at the Alden children. “You’ve solved two mysteries today. Amazing!” he said.

Watch nudged Mr. Lillipool in the leg.

“You’re amazing too, Watch,” Mr. Lillipool told the dog. “And because you are such a good dog, and so well trained—you are going to be in our new Wundermutt commercial. Welcome to Hollywood!”

“Congratulations,” Dante said with a big smile. “You all deserve it.”

“I knew it!” Benny shouted. He held up his lucky penny for everyone to see. “Watch is going to be a superstar!”

“And Josh will get his bike fixed with the prize money,” Henry said.

“Fame and fortune,” Jessie said with a smile.

“And a chauffeur’s hat for Grandfather,” Violet said with a laugh.

“Woof!” said Watch.

“Hurry up,” Jessie said. “It’s almost time!”

Henry brought Watch into the room and sat down.

Grandfather was already in his favorite chair. Violet and Jessie were waiting by the TV

“I’ve got snacks!” Benny said. He carried in a bowl of pretzels. “I even brought dog treats for the TV star.”

After the auditions, the Aldens and Watch had gone to Hollywood. There, in a real TV studio, Watch performed his tricks. They filmed the Wundermutt Commercial with Timmy Moore.

“Am I late?” Josh Green asked as he rushed into the room. He took off his bike helmet.

“It’s on after this,” Jessie said.

“Great. I didn’t want to miss Watch’s big commercial!” Josh said. He leaned over and scratched Watch’s head. “Thanks so much for fixing my bike,” he told the dog.

“I brought you a thank-you present.” Josh handed Watch a new chew toy

“Shhh,” Jessie said. “This is it.”

The music began. It was upbeat and snappy.

In the commercial, Watch came running through a field of flowers. He jumped over a log and under a bench. Then, Timmy Moore opened the kitchen door and Watch bounded inside.

“Dinner!” Timmy called. Watch leapt up, higher than ever before, straight into Timmy’s open arms.

“Good boy,” Timmy said. “Here’s a yummy Wundermutt meal for you.” Then Watch gobbled up the whole bowl.

Everyone applauded as soon as the commercial was over.

“Watch should be in more commercials!” Josh said.

“Well, after the commercial was done, we all decided that we’d had enough Hollywood excitement,” Violet explained. “We wanted to come home.”

“I got a great Hollywood souvenir,” Grandfather said. “Want to see it?”

“Is it another dog food bowl that smells like citronella?” Josh asked. Henry had told him the whole story of the audition and the two solved mysteries.

“No,” Grandfather said with a big grin. “This.” He reached beneath his chair and pulled out a chauffeur’s hat. Grandfather slipped the hat on. “I’m the official driver for Superstar Watch and his crew.”

“Sir, can you please drive us out for ice cream?” Benny asked.

“It would be my pleasure, young Master Benny,” Grandfather said, tipping his hat. “Shall we bring the Superstar along for a ride?”

“No,” Benny said. “He’s busy.”

The Alden children looked at their dog.

Superstar Watch was in the kitchen, eating a bowl of his favorite Wundermutt dog food.

G
ERTRUDE
C
HANDLER
W
ARNER
discovered when she was teaching that many readers who like an exciting story could find no books that were both easy and fun to read. She decided to try to meet this need, and her first book,
The Boxcar Children,
quickly proved she had succeeded.

Miss Warner drew on her own experiences to write the mystery. As a child she spent hours watching trains go by on the tracks opposite her family home. She often dreamed about what it would be like to set up housekeeping in a caboose or freight car — the situation the Alden children find themselves in.

When Miss Warner received requests for more adventures involving Henry, Jessie, Violet, and Benny Alden, she began additional stories. In each, she chose a special setting and introduced unusual or eccentric characters who liked the unpredictable.

While the mystery element is central to each of Miss Warner’s books, she never thought of them as strictly juvenile mysteries. She liked to stress the Aldens’ independence and resourcefulness and their solid New England devotion to using up and making do. The Aldens go about most of their adventures with as little adult supervision as possible — something else that delights young readers.

Miss Warner lived in Putnam, Connecticut, until her death in 1979. During her lifetime, she received hundreds of letters from girls and boys telling her how much they liked her books.

The Boxcar Children Mysteries

T
HE
B
OXCAR
C
HILDREN

S
URPRISE
I
SLAND

T
HE
Y
ELLOW
H
OUSE
M
YSTERY

M
YSTERY
R
ANCH

M
IKE’S
M
YSTERY

B
LUE
B
AY
M
YSTERY