The Mystery of the Soccer Snitch (9 page)

“I am going to practice as soon as we get home!” Benny said. “I am going to practice and practice! Maybe one day I will be in a real tournament!”

At last, it was time for the child mascots to walk onto the field with the players. The Aldens watched excitedly for Jessie.

“There she is!” Benny shouted. “I see her!”

Indeed, Jessie was just then walking on the field alongside one of the team members. The spectators cheered and stamped their feet. People waved streamers. Jessie turned and waved.

Henry, Benny, and even Violet clapped loudly, stamped their feet, and shouted, “Yay, Jessie! Yay, Jessie!”

Benny bounded out of his seat, pointed to the field, and shouted at the top of his voice, “That's my sister over there.” He jumped up and down a few times. “That's my sister over there!”

Jessie had, by now, walked all the way around the field. Just before she stepped out of the spotlight, she turned once more and waved to her family.

Grandfather smiled. “I am so proud of her. I am proud of all of you.”

Turn the page to continue reading from the Boxcar Children Mysteries

CHAPTER
1

The Old Library

“Aren't the leaves lovely?” Grandfather Alden asked as he steered the car over the winding, wooded road. Autumn leaves of red, orange, and yellow covered the trees on either side.

“They sure are,” said Violet Alden. “Fall is my favorite time of year.”

“Those red leaves are the same color as your tie, Grandfather!” said Violet's six-year-old brother Benny.

Grandfather Alden wore that particular necktie for a reason. As the car carrying the Alden family rounded one last curve, they saw the beautiful campus of Goldwin University, the college Grandfather had attended many years before.

Red and white were the university's colors, and could be seen on flapping red flags with white letters hanging on poles around the grassy grounds. The spirited school colors could also be seen on the red and white jackets and sweatshirts of the college students walking from building to building and playing games on the lawn. Grandfather showed his school spirit by wearing a bright white suit and a bright red tie.

“Where is the new library going to be?” asked Jessie Alden, who was twelve. She looked at the college's buildings, many of which were over a hundred years old.

“It will be where that open space is,” Grandfather Alden said, pointing to an empty field. “That is where the groundbreaking will be held tomorrow morning before the big game.”

“Groundbreaking?” said Benny. “Why would anyone want to break the ground?”

“It's okay, Benny,” said Henry, the oldest of the Alden children. “A groundbreaking ceremony is what people do when a new building is going to be built.”

“And don't worry,” said Jessie, “nothing is going to be broken. All that's going to happen is a hole will be dug, just like when you dig in the sand at the beach.”

Grandfather Alden parked the car in a parking lot near where Alden Library would stand. Alden Library was the reason for the family's visit. Grandfather had donated money to help build the new library. The professors and other leaders of the university were so thankful that they planned to name the building for him.

The Alden children climbed out of the car to stretch their legs and look around. Next to the empty field stood a very tall, very old building with high walls made of dark stone and high, arching windows.

“Wow!” said Benny. “Is that a castle?”

“It's not a castle,” said a woman's voice, “though it looks a bit like one. This is Goldwin Library.”

A tall, thin woman stood outside the doors of the old building. “James Alden,” she said, “you must be here for the big ceremony.” The children always found it funny to hear someone call their grandfather by his first name.

“Children,” said Grandfather Alden, “this is Miss Hollenberg, the head librarian at Goldwin University. She began working at the library back when I was a student.”

“And what a student your grandfather was,” Miss Hollenberg said, straightening her glasses and smiling. “He spent a lot of time reading and studying in the library in order to do well in his classes.”

“I only spent four years at Goldwin University, but Miss Hollenberg has spent her entire career working in this old building,” said Grandfather Alden. “Because she has worked here so long, she can find information on anything a student-or anyone else-might want to learn about. And it has been her job to take care of the library.”

“Of course I've had a little bit of help from the grinning gargoyles,” Miss Hollenberg said.

“Gargoyles?” asked Violet. “Who are they?”

Miss Hollenberg pointed to the top of the old library building, past the arches and other decorations that covered its rock walls. There, at each corner of the roof, hunched the statue of a strange creature. Each statue had small, beady eyes, a pair of wings, long claws, and a smiling mouth full of sharp, stone teeth.

The Alden children craned their necks to look up at the statues.

“Those look like monsters!” said Benny. “Or dragons! They're kind of scary.”

“They are scary looking, even if they're just stone statues,” said Jessie. “But how could a statue protect the library?”

“This is a little-known fact Miss Hollenberg told me back when I was a student,” Grandfather said. “As you can see from their open mouths, gargoyle statues were added to buildings to act as rain spouts—carrying rain water away like the gutters on our house. Without such protection, water would eat away at the stone.”

“But some people believe that gargoyles are more than just statues,” Miss Hollenberg said. “Legend has it that gargoyles guard the buildings they call home. And here at Goldwin, students have long believed that these grinning gargoyles won't be so happy if their home—the library—isn't treated right. Gargoyles are mythical creatures, of course—no such thing as a real one. But for years, troublemakers and good-for-nothings have spread rumors of running into living, breathing gargoyles. It's all balderdash, if you ask me…”

“Well, I'd like to take a closer look at the gargoyles,” said Benny, “and the rest of this cool castle-looking library that they live in!”

“This library sure is cool,” laughed Miss Hollenberg. “I'll surely miss it when they tear it down—now that we'll have the new library to use. I don't see why you children can't take a look around, as long as you behave yourselves, and as long as your grandfather says yes.”

“We promise to behave,” Jessie said. “Can we explore the library for a bit, Grandfather?”

“Why, surely,” said Grandfather Alden. “I'm already late to see an old friend at the football stadium. But when you've finished your library visit, why don't you meet me there? We can watch the Goldwin Bears practice.”

The Alden children followed Mrs. Hollenberg through the tall, arched doorway. Benny looked up before walking inside and saw the gargoyles were still looking down at him, grinning.

Miss Hollenberg pointed the children to a stairway that would lead them to the top floor of the library. “You all explore,” she said as she stepped behind her computer desk. “I have library work to do.”

“Race you to the top!” shouted Benny, running ahead of his brother and sisters.

“I bet we can win the race,” Henry told his sisters. “Do you see that elevator?”

The other three Aldens pushed the up button on a nearby elevator panel. When the doors slid open, a library worker pushing wheeled carts of books also climbed onto the elevator. The carts were connected to each other, allowing three of them to be pushed at the same time.

“Those look like the boxcars from a train!” Violet said. Henry and Jessie laughed. Violet's comment made them think of their own boxcar back home. When the Alden children became orphans, they had run away and lived in an old boxcar in the woods. They had been afraid to live with their grandfather, fearing that he wouldn't be nice. But when they found what a kind man Grandfather Alden was, they were happy to live with him in his big house in Greenfield. As a gift, he even placed the children's boxcar in the backyard, where they used it as a playhouse.

“These are just books that have been recently returned,” said the man who worked in the library, pointing to a sign on the first cart that said “TO BE SHELVED.”

The elevator slowly went up floor by floor. Ding. Ding. Ding. Halfway to the top, the doors opened and the library worker wheeled the cart out of the elevator.

“Maybe this elevator wasn't the fastest way of getting to the top,” said Jessie.

At last the elevator doors opened at the top floor.

“Benny!” Violet called out. “We beat you!”

But there was no Benny. There were only bookshelves full of books, stretching row after row in all directions.

“Where do you think he is?” Jessie asked.

“I don't know,” said Henry. “Maybe taking the stairs was even slower than that slow elevator.”

“Or maybe he stopped on the way up,” Violet said. “Maybe he got tired…or hungry.”

“I bet you're right,” said Henry. The youngest Alden was always hungry, though the library seemed like a better place to find a book than a snack.

Jessie looked back into the stairwell. She called her little brother's name. “Benny!” her voice echoed.

Just then, the three children heard their brother's voice echo back up the stairwell. “Oh, no!” Benny screamed. “A gargoyle is staring right at me!”

“A gargoyle?” gasped Violet.

“There's no way Benny could have seen a gargoyle,” said Henry. “The gargoyles we saw from the ground were at the top of the building, on the outside. We're at the top of the building, not Benny. And there aren't any windows on this floor.”

“Come on,” said Jessie. “Let's find out what's going on.”

The three ran down the stairs as quickly as they could. They dashed down the stairs to the door of the next floor. Henry reached for the doorknob, anxious to find out where his brother was calling from. The door opened onto a floor with bookshelves full of books and a large window on one wall. It also opened onto Benny because at the very same time, Benny Alden reached for the doorknob on the other side, trying to get back into the stairwell. As Benny's three siblings were about to exit the stairwell, though, their little brother bumped right into them.

“Let's get out of here!” Benny yelled as his brother and sisters collided with him. “That spooky gargoyle's staring into the library at me!”

Benny pointed at a large window just outside the stairwell door. And as the four Alden children tumbled to the floor in a heap, Henry, Jessie, and Violet caught a glimpse of something in the window.

Something that floated.

Something with beady eyes.

Something with sharp teeth.

Something with a grin on its face.