Pie by Weeks Sarah

Author:Weeks, Sarah [Weeks, Sarah]
Language: eng
Format: mobi, epub
Publisher: Scholastic Inc.
Published: 2011-10-01T04:00:00+00:00

1 Box Band-aydes

1 can vegtible shortning

1 Bag sand

The handwriting was terrible, and Charlie hadn’t been kidding when he’d said that he wasn’t very good at spelling. Alice started to refold the paper when the fourth and final item on the list caught her eye.

1 duzzin cans Sardeens

Suddenly everything fell into place, and Alice knew for sure that her hunch had been right.

• • •

Charlie was just leaving the A&P when Alice arrived, breathless from having ridden her bike like the wind to catch up with him.

“What are you doing here?” Charlie asked when he saw her.

Alice was panting so hard she couldn’t speak, so she handed Charlie the shopping list.

“Gee,” he said, “it sure was nice of you to come all this way to bring it to me.”

He unfolded the paper and ran his finger down the items on the list.

“Let me see, I remembered to get the Band-Aids and I remembered to get the vegetable shortening. Drat, I forgot all about the sand. It’s too late to go to the hardware store now. I’ll have to do it tomorrow.”

“What about the sardines?” Alice asked, having finally caught her breath.

“Got ‘em,” said Charlie, holding up the paper bag of groceries.

“No, I mean what about the sardines?” she said.

“What about them?” Charlie asked.

“Who do you know who likes sardines?”

“Obviously, Miss Gurke does,” said Charlie. “Otherwise, why would she want twelve cans of them?”

“Good question,” Alice said. “And you know what I think? I think the reason Miss Gurke needs all those sardines is because she’s the one who catnapped Lardo.”

“Miss Gurke?” said Charlie incredulously.

“The clues are all right there on the shopping list,” Alice told him, and she began ticking things off on her fingers. “She needs sand for his litter box, and the Band-Aids are for the scratches Lardo probably gave her when she snatched him.”

“What about the vegetable shortening?” asked Charlie. “What’s that supposed to be for?”

“That’s the most important clue of all,” Alice told him. “The reason she needs vegetable shortening is because she’s making a pie.”

Charlie scratched his head.

“Why would Miss Gurke have to steal your auntie’s cat if she wants to make a pie? Everybody and their uncle has been making pies around here lately, and none of them had to steal a cat to do it.”

“It’s not the cat she needs — it’s the piecrust recipe. That’s what she was looking for when she broke into the pie shop, but she didn’t find it. So the next day, when The Ipsy News ran the story about Aunt Polly leaving the recipe to Lardo, she decided to catnap him.”

“Wait a minute. Back up,” said Charlie. “You think Miss Gurke was the one who broke into the pie shop?”

“I don’t think so — I know so,” said Alice. “I saw her steal the key.”

“When?”

“At the funeral. She reached into Aunt Polly’s casket and then she jerked her hand back out real quick. I didn’t realize it at the time, but she must have taken the key.”

“Don’t get mad,” said Charlie, “but your mom said she saw the key.

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