Comic Book Mystery by Gertrude Chandler Warner

Author:Gertrude Chandler Warner
Language: eng
Format: mobi, epub
ISBN: 9781453221501
Publisher: Albert Whitman & Company
Published: 2011-02-14T10:00:00+00:00

“And he and all the people in Greenfield will hear about these superhero kids who fly and do neat things. But Grandfather won’t know it’s us until the end.”

The children got busy. Henry and Benny wrote a story with lots of help from Jessie. Violet drew the splash page. When she was finished, she passed it to Jessie, who wrote the dialogue in balloons coming from the characters’ mouths. They all colored the pictures.

Two hours later, they had completed an eight-page comic book called The Super-Aldens.

“This is so cool,” Benny said, flipping through the pages. “I wish we had more than one copy.”

“That’s a great idea,” said Violet. “Let’s make a couple and give one to Grandfather.”

“The library has a color copy machine,” Jessie said.

Henry checked his watch. “We’ll have to wait until after dinner.”

For once, the children ate in a hurry. Benny didn’t even ask for second helpings. Grandfather excused them so they could ride their bikes to the library.

Benny rode ahead of the others, dodging puddles. “The workers are still at the new house. Can we watch them a few minutes?” he said, hoping the man with the bulldozer would shovel some dirt.

The Aldens braked their bikes.

Benny looked at the cars and trucks parked around the site. When he saw a white pickup truck and a blue station wagon, he remembered the spy.

“I forgot to tell you,” he said to the others. “An old blue car like that one followed us today.”

“Are you sure it was following us?” Henry asked.

Benny nodded. “I think it was the same car we saw when we left Mr. Hoyt’s house.”

“There are lots of old blue station wagons,” Henry said. “But I’m writing down the license-plate number of this one just in case.”

Jessie noticed the woman construction worker putting tools in a metal box. Today the woman wore overalls, with her braided hair tucked under her hard hat. Her boots were muddy.

“It feels good to rest a minute,” Violet said, stretching. “We worked hard on our comic book.”

“The pictures you drew are terrific,” Jessie praised. “You could be a real comic book artist, Violet.”

Violet polished her bike lamp with the hem of her shirt. “I’d love that,” she said. “It would be hard work, but also fun.”

“That lady is watching us,” Benny said suddenly.

“The construction worker?” Henry looked across the road.

“Benny’s right,” Jessie said, lowering her voice. “She was putting tools away, but she stopped. I think she heard us talking.”

Just then the woman turned and ducked into the new house.

“That was weird,” Violet said. “She acts like we’re bothering her.”

“Maybe not,” Henry said reasonably. “She could have forgotten one of her tools.”

Or maybe, Jessie thought, she didn’t want us watching her anymore.

The kids got back on their bikes and rode the rest of the way to the library.

Henry got change from the reference librarian, then led the others to the color copy machine in one corner. He fed the machine coins while Jessie made the copies.

Violet studied the bulletin board above the whirring machine.

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