The Crazy Case of Missing Thunder (5 page)

F
ive minutes later, my mom dropped us at the library. We rushed in to take out books about horses, but Mrs. Bookman said most of them were already checked out.

“By guess who?” said Kelly, staring straight across the street at Petals and Buds.

“Joey’s not going to tell us much,” I said when we gathered on the sidewalk. “He thinks we’re
goo
balls.”

“And he’s probably still hungry because we didn’t let him finish that carrot stick three years ago,” Brian said. “That would make anyone mad.”

“There’s only one way to find out what we need to find out,” Kelly said. “Our specialty.”

Mara winked through her glasses. “Disguises!”

Carefully, the four of us snuck into the alley behind the shop. We found a big garbage can overflowing with leafy branches and broken blossoms.

“It smells good for garbage,” Mara said.

“Just like Thunder’s stable,” Brian said.

“Joey is
so
guilty,” said Kelly. “Come on.”

Kelly and Mara began stuffing leaves and flowers into their belts and socks and sleeves.

Brian and I joined them. A minute later, there were four Goofball plants in the alley.

“I want to be a
hedge
when I grow up,” Brian said with a chuckle.

“We’ll have to
stick
close,” said Mara.

“Just keep your
tulips
closed and let’s go inside,” Kelly said.

“Okay, but don’t
leaf
me here!” I said.

On my signal, all four Goofball plants shuffled into the back of the shop as quietly as we could. We saw Joey and Billy watering plants with a garden hose.

Brian nudged my branch. “Joey’s mom has a customer. Let’s listen.”

At the counter there was a woman holding a bunch of thin green stems without flowers.

I recognized her as our neighbor Mrs. Wilson.

“I ordered three dozen red tulips to be delivered this morning,” Mrs. Wilson said. “But instead, look what I got!”

Joey’s mother studied the stems without flowers. “I can’t explain it. I’m very sorry.”

Then she turned to Joey and Billy. “When you boys dropped off the flowers from the truck this morning, were they like this?”

“No,” said Joey. “They were nice.”

“Really nice,” said Billy. “All flowery.”

Mrs. Myers shook her head. “Well, did you notice
anything
strange?”

Joey looked at Billy.

Billy looked at Joey.

“He left the truck door open!” they both said, pointing at each other.

“What do you mean?” asked Mrs. Myers.

Joey grumbled. “When we stopped at Mrs. Wilson’s house—”

“The back of the truck was open,” Billy said. “Because somebody forgot to close it at that rich kid’s house.”

Randall Crandall’s house
, I thought.
Aha!

“Joey forgot,” Billy said.

“Billy forgot!” Joey said.

“It was raining so hard,” Billy said, “we just jumped right back in the truck to stay dry.”

“It was sunny by the time we got to Mrs. Wilson’s house,” Joey said. “That’s when we noticed the truck door was still open.”

Mrs. Myers turned back to Mrs. Wilson and sighed. “I’m terribly sorry the flowers got destroyed. We’ll replace them, of course.”

“Thank you,” said Mrs. Wilson.

“As for you boys,” Joey’s mother said, “please continue watering while Mrs. Wilson and I choose new flowers. Those four big plants in the back seem very dry.”

Four big plants? What four—

Uh-oh.

Mrs. Myers was pointing right at us!

Joey was pointing right at us, too.

With the garden hose!

Sploosh!
Water spurted out like a tidal wave!

We got soaked from stems to blossoms!

I didn’t have a butler to do my sneezing, so I had to do my own.

“Ah-Ah-Ah-Ah—” I started.

“That plant!” said Joey, backing far away from my shaking branches. “It’s—it’s—”

“—CHOO!” I exploded. It was the loudest sneeze in the history of sneezes.

“Whaaa—” Joey flew back right into Billy. The hose went wild and sprayed Billy from head to foot.

The last thing I saw as we raced out the back door was Billy swatting Joey with Mrs. Wilson’s chewed-up flower stalks!

W
e charged down the alley, zigzagged behind the shops, dashed up the hill, and didn’t stop until we got to my backyard.

We plopped down on a big flat rock to dry.

“That was close,” said Kelly. “I’m so wet.”

“That was closer than close,” Mara said. “I’m completely soaked.”

“That was the closest!” said Brian. “Even my insides are dripping! Too bad we’re not as close to finding Thunder.”

As I squeezed the water out of my wet socks, I read my cluebook from beginning to end. Two clues seemed especially important.

Looking up the hill, I saw Mrs. Wilson’s house. Looking down the hill, I saw the library garden. In between I saw my mom’s garden. And I suddenly noticed that some of the flowers were eaten, just like at Mrs. Wilson’s house.

My heart began to pound.

“Maybe we are close, after all,” I said. “Really close.”

“Do you know where Thunder is?” Brian asked.

I jumped to my feet. “Yes! I’ve figured it out!”

Kelly gasped. “Tell us everything!”

“No, that would take too long,” said Mara. “Just tell us what you figured out.”

I stood up on the flat rock like a teacher in front of a class.

“We know that Thunder likes flowers and was last seen this morning. We also know that the flower truck made a delivery this morning. We
also
know that the storm was this morning.”

“Boy, we know lots of stuff,” Brian said. “We must be smart.”

“Then answer this,” I said. “What do we get when we put Thunder, the storm, and the flower truck together?”

“One of Brian’s wacko inventions?” said Mara.

Kelly’s hand shot up. “Oooh! Oooh! Me! Me!”

“Kelly?” I chose her like a teacher would.

She stood up, just like in class. “Well, what if Thunder went into the truck because he saw flowers but was too scared to leave because of the storm? If Joey and Billy didn’t close the truck door, they never would have seen him in there!”

“Correct,” I said with a smile.

“Now me!” said Mara, jumping up next to Kelly. “Randall said Thunder was scared even with the flowers in his trailer. What if he was too scared to eat the flowers, but by the time the truck got to Mrs. Wilson’s, the storm was over, so he ran out?”

“And when the truck left,” Brian said, jumping up next, “Thunder ate Mrs. Wilson’s tulips.”

“Wow!” said Kelly. “We really
are
smart.”

I grinned. “Now, Brian. What was that question you asked before?”

“
Water
you talking about?”

“Not that question,” I said.

“Is this still the United States?”

“Not that question,” I said.

“I see footsteps!”

“That’s not even a question,” I said.

“Do you know where Thunder is?”

“That’s the question!” I said. “And the answer is
right there
!” I pointed down the hill.

Brian pushed his hands into his bulging pockets and took out a tiny mirror, four bottle tops, three finger puppets, and the last page of a dictionary. Fiddling for a moment, he suddenly held what looked like a telescope!

He jumped. “I see Thunder! He’s trotting right toward the library garden! He must have seen it from Mrs. Wilson’s house and made his way down the hill right to it. He’s on his way there right now!”

We ran inside my house and called Randall to meet us at the library. Then we raced down the hill to town, Sparky barking the whole way. “Goof! Goof!”

“Did you find Thunder?” Randall asked when he jumped out of his big white limousine in front of the library.

“Where is he? Where’s my Thunder?”

“Follow us,” I said with a sly smile.

But when we arrived at the library garden, Thunder was nowhere in sight. So we waited. And we waited. And we waited some more.

No Thunder.

“Oh, no!” said Mara. “We didn’t solve the case, after all!”

Suddenly, a shout echoed from across the street. “The Goofballs are completely ruined!”

“Boy, word spreads fast,” said Kelly as everyone came running, even Joey and Billy.

Then we saw Luigi the pizza maker running across the street, waving his hands in the air. “The Goofball
pizzas
are ruined!” he cried.

The doors of Pizza Palace suddenly burst open, and out galloped a small brown pony. His nose was covered with globs of peanut butter and pineapple rings.

“That’s a good disguise,” said Mara.

“That’s Thunder!” yelled Randall Crandall.

“He’s heading for my flower shop!” shouted Mrs. Myers. “Help!”

I turned to Randall. “Any ideas?”

Randall glanced at the library garden and his face lit up. “A goofy idea. Mrs. Bookman, may I?”

“Be my guest!” she said.

Randall snipped some flowers. He stuffed them into his pockets. He stuck them behind his ears. He dangled them from his bow tie. He slipped them in his hair.

Soon, he was a wiggly, wobbly, walking flower bouquet.

“Thunder,” he called. “Yoo-hoo, Thunder!”

The pony turned. His big brown eyes blinked. His furry ears twitched. He trotted right over and tugged a flower from behind Randall’s ear. He chewed it all up.

“Oh, Thunder!” cried Randall. “I’m so glad the Goofballs found you!”

“Almost,” Mara said.

“Sort of,” said Brian.

“Not really,” Kelly said.

“We were clueless,” I said.

Randall laughed. “That’s a goofy thing to say! I tried to tell you before. Thunder really likes flowers, but he
loves
pizza. Especially pizza with pineapples and peanut butter. If you hadn’t solved the Pizza Disaster, there would be no Goofball pizza. With no Goofball pizza, Thunder might still be lost!”

“We
did
solve the case!” said Mara.

Kelly grinned. “The Case of Missing Thunder!” she said.

“The
Crazy
Case, to be exact,” said Brian. “Jeff, write
that
in your cluebook.”

“Goofballs forever!” everyone cheered.

Then Randall pulled a flower out of his hair and began to munch it. Using a napkin and two toothpicks from his pocket, Brian ate a flower, too.