The X'ed-Out X-Ray (4 page)

“No, I’m too upset,” Penelope said. “I can’t think of singing right now, even for
my loyal fans. I’ll make sure everyone gets a refund.”

The camera left Penelope’s face.

“Well, that’s the story” the reporter said into the camera. “Someone wearing a penguin mask stole Penelope Gwinn’s priceless necklace while asking her for an autograph!”

The phone rang. Dink’s mother answered it, then handed the portable phone to Dink.

“Hello?” he said.

“Did you see that?” Ruth Rose asked. “The thief was one of her fans!”

“I know,” Dink said. “Pretty rotten.”

Dink stared ahead. He was trying to remember something when Ruth Rose said, “Dink, are you there?”

“Yeah,” he said. “Listen, come over tomorrow after I get back from the doctor’s, okay?”

Just as Dink hung up, the phone rang again.

“Hello?”

“I think it was that hot-dog guy!” Josh exclaimed. “He had an autograph book, remember?”

“Lots of people there had autograph books,” Dink said. Then he remembered something. “Josh? After we came out of the first-aid tent, the hot-dog cart was gone.”

“See, I told you!” Josh said. “That guy with the hairy fingers is the thief!”

“Maybe,” Dink said. “Can you come over tomorrow so we can talk about it with Ruth Rose?” he asked.

“What time is lunch?” Josh asked.

Dink laughed and hung up.

Dink’s father shut off the TV and picked up a book.

Seeing the book made Dink remember the yellow-haired woman who had been sitting in front of him during the concert.

She had been holding an autograph book.

And she seemed pretty mad at that cop for not letting her leave the park right after the theft.

At ten o’clock the next morning, Dink and his mom drove to the family medicine clinic on Main Street.

The receptionist brought them to Dr. Bryte’s office. Dr. Bryte snapped on a pair of rubber gloves.

Dink handed him the envelope containing the X-rays.

“What’s this?” Dr. Bryte asked, holding up the x’ed-out X-ray.

“The other doctor took that one while I had the bandage on,” Dink explained. “He said it was too blurry, so he did another one with my bandage off.” Dink pointed to the envelope.

Dr. Bryte slid the X-ray back into the envelope and pulled out the other one. He attached it to a light board and examined Dink’s arm bones.

“I see nothing in this X-ray except healthy bones,” Dr. Bryte said. “I think you just suffered a minor sprain, Dink.”

Dr. Bryte unwrapped Dink’s bandage and examined his arm. He cleaned the scrape and put on a sterile Band-Aid. “No sports for a few days, kiddo,” he said. “And stay off carousels!”

Later in Dink’s room, Ruth Rose laid the Green Lawn newspaper across Dink’s desk. There was a large photograph of Penelope Gwinn and a drawing of her penguin necklace. Under the pictures, the caption read: “
PENELOPE’S PENGUIN PENDANT PURLOINED
!”

“What’s ‘purloined’?” Josh asked. He was flopped on Dink’s bed with Dink’s guinea pig, Loretta, on his chest.

“I don’t know,” Dink said, reaching for his dictionary. He flipped to the
P
section and ran his finger down the page.

“Purloin
means ‘to steal,’” he said after a minute.

“Duh,” Josh said. “I could have figured that out!”

“Then why didn’t you?” Dink asked, grinning at Josh.

“Listen to what Penelope told the reporter,” Ruth Rose said, reading the paragraph under the pictures.

“We were almost witnesses!” Josh said.

“Except that the necklace didn’t get stolen until we were on the carousel,” Dink reminded him.

Josh aimed a crooked smile at Dink.

“Actually, only two of us were on the carousel,” he said. “You were falling off!”

“I didn’t do it on purpose, Josh,” Dink said, rubbing his arm.

Ruth Rose was still reading. “It says Penelope stood by the gate as each person left the park,” she said. “But she didn’t recognize the thief.”

“Maybe the guy split right away,” Josh said. “He purloined the necklace, then boogied out of the park before they closed the gates.”

Dink told Ruth Rose about the missing hot-dog cart.

“You mean it just disappeared?” asked Ruth Rose.

Dink shrugged. “It was gone when we all left the first-aid tent,” he said.

“I was right!” Josh said. “Just think, the same fingers that served our hot dogs stole Penelope Gwinn’s necklace!”

“Might have,” Dink said. “But do you guys remember that woman sitting in front of me during the concert?”

Ruth Rose and Josh shook their heads.

“Well, there was this woman with an autograph book,” Dink said. “As soon as Penelope Gwinn announced the intermission, she ran up to the stage. Then when the cops were stopping everyone at the exit, she got all mad at them. Maybe
she
stole the diamond penguin!”

“Penelope never said it was a man,” Ruth Rose commented. She glanced back at the newspaper. “She just told the reporter someone stole her necklace.”

“So it could have been a man or a woman,” Dink said. “Even a tall kid!”

“Maybe Penelope Gwinn remembers something else about the thief today,” Ruth Rose said. “She was so upset yesterday, she could have forgotten something important. Why don’t we go talk to her?”

“Just like that?” Josh said. “This big star isn’t gonna talk to three kids, Ruth Rose.”

Ruth Rose grabbed her newspaper. “Well, I think she will. Meet me at my house in five minutes!”

“But I’m hungry!” Josh said. “Don’t you people ever eat?”

But Ruth Rose was already out the door.

Dink took Loretta from Josh and put her back in her cage. “Come on downstairs,” he said. “Mom made some peanut butter cookies last night.”

Josh jumped off the bed. “Finally someone thinks of me!” he said, following Dink out of the room.

Dink found a note on the kitchen table:
GONE WITH DAD. BE BACK LATER.—MOM.

Dink turned the note over and wrote a message of his own:
GONE WITH JOSH AND RUTH ROSE. BE BACK LATER.—DINK.

He and Josh each ate two cookies with milk. Dink took the last two as they headed out the door.

“Can I have one of those?” Josh asked.

“Oink, oink,” Dink said. “These are for Ruth Rose and Nate.”

They walked across the lawn to Ruth Rose’s house. Dink rang the bell, and Ruth Rose’s four-year-old brother, Nate, opened the door.

“Hi, Nate,” Dink said, and handed him a cookie.

“Wow, thanks!” Nate said.

He turned and raced away. A minute later, Ruth Rose showed up. She was holding the photograph of Penelope Gwinn with the singer’s signature on the bottom.

“When Penelope sees what I wrote on the back, she’ll talk to us,” Ruth Rose said.

She flipped the picture over. Ruth Rose’s note said:

“I don’t get it,” Josh said as Dink handed Ruth Rose the cookie.

Ruth Rose took a bite. “Thanks, Dink. Josh, I think my message will persuade Penelope Gwinn to see us,” she explained.

“But what’s the information we have?” Josh asked.

“We’ll think of something,” Ruth Rose said. “Let’s go!”

She turned around and yelled into the house, “BYE, MOM. I’M TAKING OFF WITH THE GUYS!”

The kids walked to Main Street and
took a bus to Hartford. They shared a seat toward the rear.

“Well, one thing we can do is describe that hairy hot-dog guy” Josh said. “If he was the thief, she might remember him.”

“And I can describe that woman sitting in front of me,” Dink said. “They both had autograph books and they were both in a big hurry.”

The bus let them off not far from Bushnell Park. “The hotel is on the other side,” Ruth Rose said.

They cut through the park, passing by the carousel. The circus music was playing, and a few kids were sitting on the mounts.

“Want to go for a ride, Dink?” Josh teased.

“No, but you can,” Dink said. “Or are you afraid to do it alone?”

“I’m not afraid of anything!” Josh said.

“Guys, there’s the hotel,” Ruth Rose
said and pointed across the street.

They were standing near the stage. The chairs were gone, but the steps up to the stage were still in place.

“Let’s check it out,” Dink said.

They walked to the stage, passing the first-aid tent. Dink peeked inside. It was empty except for the two chairs and the sign about sunstroke.

Josh climbed up on the stage and gazed out at an imaginary audience. “Maybe I’ll become a rock star,” he said. “Thousands of people will want my autograph.”

Ruth Rose was studying the ground around the stage steps. “Penelope would have come down these steps to sign autographs,” she said. “The thief was probably standing right here, waiting for his turn!”