The Garden Thief (3 page)

“Yes, we’re helping Mr. Yee. This is our first day. Are you training for a contest?” Jessie asked.

“No, no,” said Taylor. “I just like to keep fit.”

Jessie and Violet watched as Taylor put the dumbbells back into her cycle pack. She pulled out something else that looked heavy.

“Oops,” said Taylor, looking down at the ground. “Where did it go?”

“What did you lose?” asked Violet, who thought she saw something fall.

“A one-pound piece of metal, like a slug. It goes inside a slot in this leg weight, so I can make them lighter or heavier.” She held out a leg weight so that Jessie and Violet could see it.

“It has five little pockets sewn in,” said Violet.

Taylor nodded, still looking around. “I can fit one-or two-pound weights into each slot.”

Jessie spied the dark weight on the ground. It was hard to see because it blended in with the color of the dirt. Jessie bent and picked it up. “Here it is,” she said, handing it to Taylor.

“Thank you,” said Taylor. She looked at Jessie and Violet, then she looked down at the thinning and weeding they had done. “Hmmmm,” she said, “you girls are doing a very good job.”

“Thanks,” said Jessie and Violet together.

“Mr. Yee would like to win more blue ribbons,” said Taylor, “but he won’t. This year, it’s my turn to win, and I’ll do whatever I need to do to win those blue ribbons.”

Jessie thought Taylor Harris looked very determined as she said this.

“In fact,” continued Taylor, “I’d better do my leg exercises later. Time for me to garden.”

“What vegetables do you grow?” asked Violet.

“Oh, you name it, I grow it,” said Taylor. “But kale is my favorite. I love its color, its crinkly leaves, and its taste. I eat it raw or cooked, hot or cold.”

“Which vegetables do you hope to win blue ribbons for?” Jessie asked. “Just kale?”

“All of them,” said Taylor. “I’ve never won a blue ribbon before and I’m tired of not winning. This year I’m growing the best vegetables ever!”

Jessie and Violet watched as Taylor took a key out of her racing shorts and put it into the heavy lock on the garden gate.

“I built this fence and gate last month, all by myself,” she told them, “to protect my vegetables.”

“From rabbits?” asked Violet, who remembered that there had been rabbits hopping around the gardens earlier. They were probably Lucasta’s rabbits, but Violet wasn’t sure.

Taylor frowned. “No,” she replied. “I want to protect my vegetables from two-legged thieves.”

“Oh,” said Violet, “Mr. Yee told us somebody was stealing vegetables. What a mean thing to do, to steal the food somebody else has grown.”

Taylor pressed her lips tight and nodded. She seemed angry just thinking about it. “This is the first year we’ve had a thief,” she said. “Last year and the year before, everything was fine. But this year—this year somebody has been stealing vegetables almost every day! That’s why I built my fence.”

“Somebody is stealing vegetables every single day?” asked Jessie.

Taylor Harris nodded. “Just about every day.”

“From every plot in the community gardens?” Jessie asked.

Taylor stopped to think. “Mostly Section A,” she said, “though some people in B and C have had vegetables stolen, too.”

“That’s strange,” said Violet.

“Maybe,” said Taylor.

“Our brothers are also helping Mr. Yee,” Jessie told Taylor. “And the four of us are going to find out who is vandalizing the gardens and who’s stealing vegetables.”

Taylor looked at Violet and Jessie. “Well,” she said at last, “good luck.” Then she stepped into her garden and closed the gate behind herself.

Jessie and Violet stretched and brushed off their knees. “Mrs. McGregor will be picking us up soon,” said Jessie. “We can give her the thinnings for salad.”

“I like Taylor,” said Violet. “She looks good in purple and yellow.”

Just as Jessie stooped down to pick up the basket of thinned lettuce, radishes, and carrots, they heard Taylor Harris shouting loudly.

“My lettuce is gone!” she shouted. “And my kale! My lettuce and kale are gone!”

Jessie and Violet opened the gate to Taylor’s garden and rushed in. And Henry, Benny, Mr. Yee, and another man came running in after them.

“Lucasta’s rabbits did this!” shouted Taylor. “I know they did! Her rabbits ate all my lettuce and kale!”

Henry looked down at the ground, where the lettuce and kale had been. He saw small holes where the plants had been. “I don’t think it was rabbits,” said Henry.

“Who are you?” Taylor demanded.

Henry explained who he and Benny were, and then Roger Walski told Jessie and Violet who he was. After everybody seemed to know who everybody else was, Taylor said, “It was those rabbits, I know it was. I won’t stand for this!”

Henry shook his head. “If rabbits ate your plants, there would be some leaves left. We would see teeth marks on the leaves, where the rabbits nibbled them. But there’s nothing left of your lettuce or kale.” Henry pointed to the holes in the ground. “Not even the roots are left. Your plants were pulled out of the ground.”

“Henry is right,” said Mr. Yee to Taylor.

“I don’t care what Henry says,” shouted Taylor. “There are rabbits everywhere, dozens of rabbits! Big gray ones! White ones with spots all over! I just know the rabbits did it.”

Roger spoke up. “Whoever did this, it just goes to show that this is a bad spot for a community garden. There’s good land that’s empty a mile up the road. We can all get together and have the village of Greenfield sign a lease for that land. We can garden in a better place next year. No vandals,” he said, “no thieves.”

Taylor Harris was so angry that she wasn’t really listening to Roger. “I’m going to march right up that hill,” she said, pointing toward the Kirk farm across the dirt road, “and into that barn. That’s where the rabbits are. They just hippity-hop down here and eat whatever they like.”

Taylor stomped out of her garden and up the hill. Everybody else followed her.

“But Taylor,” said Jessie, trying to keep up with the angry young woman, “how could the rabbits get into your garden? They couldn’t open the gate.”

“They probably dug under the fence,” said Taylor as she strode uphill.

“But you didn’t look to see if that was true,” said Jessie. “And besides, like Henry said, the rabbits wouldn’t pull your plants out by the roots.”

“I don’t trust Lucasta,” said Taylor. “She probably dropped the rabbits over my fence and let them eat everything.”

“But how would the rabbits get out?” asked Henry.

“Don’t argue with me,” Taylor said. “The rabbits are responsible.”

By this time Taylor, the Aldens, Mr. Yee and Roger had all crossed the dirt road and were walking toward an old white barn whose wide doors were open.

Taylor was about to walk through the open doors when Alex Kirk stepped out right in front of her.

“Have you come to see my father?” he asked.

“No,” said Taylor.

Lucasta came up right behind Alex. “Have you come to see my rabbits?” she asked.

Benny looked past Alex and Lucasta and into the barn. “Look at all the rabbits!” he said.

“Prize-winning rabbits,” said Lucasta.

“Sneaky, lettuce-eating rabbits,” said Taylor. “Rabbits who got into my garden and ate all my lettuce and kale!”

“When?” asked Alex.

Taylor looked puzzled. “Well, I don’t know when, exactly. Some time between last night and this morning.”

“Lucasta’s rabbits have been in their cages all that time. They haven’t been out.”

“Not true,” said Mr. Yee, shaking his head. “There were two rabbits out this morning. We saw them when we saw you.”

Alex and Lucasta looked at each other and didn’t say anything.

“The rabbits were white and they had big brown spots and big black spots,” said Benny. “Like a pinto pony.”

“That’s just two rabbits,” said Alex. “They were the only ones out, weren’t they, Lucasta?”

“Yes,” said Lucasta. “Only Petra and Petrino were out. None of the other rabbits were out.”

“Your leg!” exclaimed Mr. Yee suddenly, pointing at Lucasta’s left leg. “You are not wearing your cast. Has your leg healed already?”

“No,” said Lucasta angrily. “I was just giving it a rest from the cast. I wasn’t walking around much.”

Violet watched as Lucasta limped over to a nearby bench and grabbed her bright orange walking cast and strapped it onto her left leg.

“There!” Lucasta said to Mr. Yee. “Are you satisfied?”

Mr. Yee just scowled without saying anything.

“I wish you wouldn’t wear that cast,” Alex told his sister. “Your leg is healed, you don’t need that cast.”

“Young bones heal quicker than old bones,” muttered Mr. Yee.

“I need the cast,” said Lucasta.

“I don’t care about your cast!” shouted Taylor. “And I don’t care what you say about your rabbits being locked up! Somehow or other, your rabbits are responsible for eating my lettuce and kale. I expected to win blue ribbons for my lettuce and especially for my kale, and now I have to start all over again.”

“My rabbits didn’t eat your lettuce and kale,” Lucasta told Taylor. “Their cages are locked from the outside, so they can’t escape.”

“So,” said Mr. Yee, “did you let your rabbits out on purpose, so they ran in front of my bike and made me fall and break my arm?”

“That was an accident,” said Lucasta. “I forgot to lock the cages.”

“Well, maybe this time was an accident, too,” said Taylor. “I would like to see the cages.”

“I have nothing to hide,” said Lucasta. “Everybody can look.”

The small crowd followed Lucasta as she led the way to the back of the barn.

Henry noticed many rabbit hutches, as many as thirty. Each one had a beautiful rabbit inside. Off in one corner, he noticed an ATV. It had three wheels.

Benny went right up to one of the lower hutches and put his face against the wire. The rabbit that was inside the cage pressed its nose against the wire.

Benny laughed. “That tickles!” he said, rubbing his nose.

Lucasta twisted the wooden handle that locked the rabbit hutch from the outside.

She opened the door and gently lifted the spotted rabbit into her arms and stroked it.

The rabbit looked at Benny. The rabbit’s nose twitched.

“It has a pink nose,” said Benny. “And the rabbit in the next cage has a black nose.”

“There are many different kinds of rabbits,” Lucasta explained, “but I raise only Rex and American rabbits. This is a Rex.”

She returned the Rex rabbit to its hutch, closed the lock, and moved to the next cage, which had a gray rabbit inside. Again she opened the hutch and removed the rabbit. “This is an American blue,” she said, stroking the rabbit. “Its fur is so gray and black that the rabbit looks blue.”

“Your rabbits are beautiful,” said Violet, who admired the rabbits’ glossy fur and cute noses and long ears.

“All of my rabbits are prize-winning rabbits,” said Lucasta. “I give them the best food and the best care.”

“Do you feed them a special food to keep them so healthy?” asked Jessie.

“I feed them special rabbit food that we buy at the farmers store,” Lucasta answered. “And I feed them the best and freshest vegetables like cucumbers, broccoli, lettuce, chard, carrots, beans, and peas.”

“Wow,” said Benny. “Rabbits like a lot of different foods.”

Jessie noticed an apron hanging from the end of the cages. The apron had many pockets, and a carrot was sticking out of one of the pockets. There was a large green trash bag next to the apron.

“Is that where you keep the vegetables?” she asked, pointing to the apron.

Lucasta frowned.

“No,” said Alex as he pulled the apron and trash bag from the wall and rolled them up. He put them on top of the rabbit cages. “That’s just an old cobbler’s apron.”

Alex handed the carrot that had been in the apron to Lucasta and she fed it to the rabbit she was holding.

“I used to feed my rabbits all the vegetables I grew,” she said, “but when Mr. Yee broke my leg, I couldn’t garden this year.”

“I did not break your leg!” shouted Mr. Yee. “Your rabbits ran in front of my bicycle and made me break my arm!”

“I can grow all the vegetables Lucasta needs,” said Alex.

“I deserve all of my blue ribbons,” said Lucasta.

Taylor Harris sighed. “I deserve blue ribbons, too. I’m going back to my garden, and I better never see one of your rabbits inside it,” she said.

Taylor left.

“This is too bad,” said Roger Walski.

Henry looked at him in surprise. The entire time they had been in the barn, Roger hadn’t said anything.

“It just goes to show that we should move the community gardens some place else. Away from vandals, away from thieves, and even away from these prize-winning rabbits.”

Roger followed Taylor out the wide barn doors. “My cucumbers need my attention,” he said as he left.

“We are leaving, also,” said Mr. Yee. “I don’t like rabbits.”

The Aldens followed him out the door.

As the five of them walked back to Mr. Yee’s plot, they talked.

“I like the rabbits,” said Benny.