Authors: David A. Adler

The Mystery of the U.F.O. (4 page)

BOOK: The Mystery of the U.F.O.

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Eric opened his camera. He took out the roll of film and put it in his pocket.

“Let’s go back,” Eric said, “and get someone to help.”

Just as Cam and Eric were leaving, they heard Neptune.

Meow.

Neptune was standing on a branch that hung right over the handball court. The branch was shaking.

“Neptune’s going to fall,” Eric said, “and right on top of Bobby!”

Chapter Seven

M
eow.

Neptune raised her right paw. The branch shook.

Neptune fell. She fell right onto Bobby’s shoulder. Then Neptune jumped into a pile of aluminum foil. She grabbed a silver mask in her mouth and ran off.

“Get that cat!” Bobby yelled. “Get that mask!”

Bobby dropped his camera and ran after Neptune. Steven and Cindy followed. They chased Neptune around the car, over low bushes, and between trees. They couldn’t keep up with Neptune.

But Neptune wasn’t running away. She was playing a game. When she saw the others were far behind, she turned around and ran toward them. She ran close and then darted away.

Then Neptune ran to Cam and Eric.

“Quick, let’s hide,” Eric said. He dived into a pile of leaves.

“No!” Cam yelled. “Let’s run.”

Cam started to run. She didn’t get far. Steven and Cindy caught her. Bobby reached into the pile of leaves and pulled Eric out.

“Look what I found,” Bobby said, “a walking tree.”

Eric shook the leaves off.

Neptune stopped running. She sat next to Cam and purred. Steven took the mask out of Neptune’s mouth.

“What are you doing here?” Bobby asked.

“Watching you,” Cam said. “We know Steven and Cindy aren’t from another planet.”

“No one will believe you took photographs of creatures from another world,” Eric said. “And anyway, you can’t enter the contest because you’re too old.”

Bobby laughed.

“I’m entering for him,” Cindy said.

“And I’m not worried,” Bobby said. “They’ll believe me. If they believed that some balloons and flashlights could be a U.F.O., they’ll believe creatures from outer space got off and looked around.”

“Well,” Eric said, “we saw you. We’ll tell about what you did.”

Bobby laughed again. “Oh, no, you won’t. If you don’t tell anyone what you saw, we’ll share the prize money with you.”

“We don’t need a share,” Cam said. “We’ll win the whole hundred dollars by ourselves.”

Eric looked at Cam. He didn’t know what she was talking about.

“We have pictures of Steven and Cindy with their costumes half off,” Cam said. “That proves this whole thing is a fake.”

“Give me that!” Bobby said. He grabbed Eric’s camera.

While Bobby was opening the camera, Cam reached into Eric’s pocket. She took the film out and put it in Neptune’s mouth. “Run!” she yelled.

Neptune ran off.

“The cat’s got the film,” Steven said.

“Get it!” Bobby told Steven and Cindy. “I’ll follow in the car.”

Steven and Cindy ran after Neptune. Bobby got into the car. He left his camera and camera bag behind. He backed up the car.

Crunch.

The car ran over the camera. Then it went forward and out of the park.

Cam ran over to the broken camera.

“Look,” she said. “Their film is ruined. Now they can’t enter the contest.”

Cam gathered her books and lunch box. Eric closed his camera, put it back into the case, and picked up his books. They walked out of the park.

“I’m glad they can’t enter the contest,” Eric said. “But it’s too bad we lost Neptune.”

“Maybe not,” Cam said. “There’s one place we can look, and it’s on the way home.

“I should have known,” Cam said as they walked. “The lights were shaped like balloons. Bobby must have taped tiny flashlights to them. That’s what made them look like colored lights.”

“But how could he be sure the balloons would go up?” Eric asked.

“They were probably filled with helium, like the balloons they sell in the zoo.

“It was dark,” Cam went on. “No one was near the park so no one knew what the lights were.”

Cam led Eric back to the tree where they first found Neptune.

Meow.

There was Neptune, resting on one of the branches. On the ground right under the branch was Eric’s roll of film. He picked it up.

When Neptune saw Cam and Eric, she moved toward the end of the branch. The branch began to shake.

Meow.

Cam held out her arms. “You’re not getting any food,” she said, “so you might as well come down.”

Neptune jumped into Cam’s arms, looked up at her, and purred. Cam put Neptune in her coat pocket, picked up her books and lunch box, and started to walk home with Eric.

Cam smiled. “Now,” she said to Eric, “we can go home and do our homework.”

Chapter Eight

T
hree weeks later Cam was at Eric’s house. They were watching the evening news on television. Cam was sitting on the floor holding Neptune. Eric was sitting on the couch. His baby brother, Howie, was in his arms drinking from a bottle.

“And now,” the television reporter said, “let’s go to Stephanie Jackson, who is standing by.”

Stephanie Jackson’s picture came on the television screen. “The winners in the Junior News Photography Contest have just been announced,” she said.

“This is it!” Cam said.

Stephanie Jackson held up a photograph of a window washer. He was cleaning the windows of one of the city’s tallest buildings. A bird had landed on his head.

“This is the winning photograph. It was taken by eleven-year-old Karen Grey.”

Stephanie Jackson held up two other photographs. The first was of a crowd of people watching the U.F.O.s.

The second photograph was of Neptune. Neptune was leaning out of Cam’s pocket and was eating from someone’s bag of groceries.

“These two photographs were awarded honorable mention. One was taken by twelve-year-old Michael Wagner. The other was taken by ten-year-old Eric Shelton. Congratulations.”

“I won! I won!” Eric shouted.