Science Fair Sabotage

by Anthony VanArsdale

  Together, Jessie and Henry said good-bye to Mrs. Vasquez and waded back through the river. Jessie’s mind raced with all they had just learned. Was that why Claudia had not wanted to work with her? Was she afraid that people would blame her aunt for any pollution they found? It made sense, but it still didn’t explain why Claudia hadn’t wanted to work with her at all.

  As Grandfather drove the children around the construction site to take their last sample, Jessie thought they still had a long way to go to solving their mystery.

  CHAPTER

  Snooping and Shooing

  Grandfather pulled into the parking lot of Lazy River Rentals. Mr. Cho’s red pickup truck was not outside the shack, but there was another car in the parking lot. A Closed sign hung on the front door of the small building.

  “Maybe someone took a river ride, and Mr. Cho went to pick them up,” said Jessie.

  “In this murky, mucky water?” asked Benny. “No way!”

  But when the children came to the edge of the river, it did not look like the murky, mucky river they had seen at the fishing dock and at the Lookout. Instead, the water looked as clean as it had before, when Benny had said it smelled like “rainbows.” In addition, the water looked clear and blue, and the water level had not gone down at all. If anything, the river seemed to swell even higher.

  Still, Jessie needed to test the water for her project. She and Henry waded out into the river while Benny and Watch looked for fish in the water. Violet took photos of the birds.

  They were just finishing collecting the water sample when the back door opened and closed on the rental shack. The wooden dock creaked as someone walked around the boardwalk toward the front. Whoever it was sounded like they were trying to be sneaky.

  Benny, Watch, and Violet crept up to the building and rounded the corner. As they did, someone let out a scream.

  “Mrs. Fernando!” said Violet. “What are you doing here?”

  The woman straightened up. “Well, I…um…of course, I’m looking to take a river ride.”

  “In your work clothes?” Violet asked. She motioned to the serving uniform Mrs. Fernando was wearing.

  “Oh, this? You’re right. How silly of me. I really must be going.” And with that, Mrs. Fernando turned and hurried toward the other car in the parking lot.

  “What was that about?” asked Jessie from the river.

  Benny shrugged.

  “It seemed like she was snooping around,” said Violet. “Looking for something.”

  The children were taking their sample of the soil when a red pickup truck pulled up and a man in a blue hat stepped out. He did a big stretch as though he had just woken up from a nap.

  Watch ran up to greet him, and Mr. Cho yelped and shooed him away. It took him a moment to see the children. “Oh, well, hello there,” he said. “If you’d like to take another ride down the river, I’m afraid we’re closed.”

  “Is that because you are worried about what’s going on with the river?” asked Violet.

  Mr. Cho looked confused. “River? What river is that?”

  Jessie and Henry exchanged a confused look. “This river?” said Jessie. “The water is changing color downstream.”

  “Oh, that?” said Mr. Cho. “No, I’m sure the water will clear up in no time.” He waved his hand. “No, I’ve got some big plans coming up, and I need to do some…um…well…planning.”

  Jessie wondered what could be more important than finding out what was happening to the river. “We’re here again to study the river water,” she said. “It’s for my science fair project.”

  “Yeah,” said Benny. “We’re going to find out who is making all the stink. And murk!”

  “I’d have thought you’d have quit by now. I mean, with things going missing—” Mr. Cho paused. “I mean, the water is going down so much. There’s not much to study.”

  “I think the water problems by the café make the project more important than ever,” Jessie said. “Just because it’s good here, doesn’t mean there’s not something big happening.”

  “It’s serious,” Benny added. “Important.” He grinned. “Words don’t have to mean exactly the same thing, but can be used the same sometimes. Right, Henry?”

  Henry ruffled Benny’s hair. “Exactly.”

  “Correct!” Benny said.

  Mr. Cho shifted his weight. “So you really think your project could make a difference?”

  “Absolutely,” said Jessie. “Something strange is going on. Everyone in Greenfield has a right to know.”

  Mr. Cho shook his head. “Well, as you can see, the water here is clear as ever,” he said. “I think you are wasting your time. But I hope nothing goes wrong at the science fair.” With that, he turned on his heel and went into the shack.

  After Grandfather dropped the children off at school that afternoon, Jessie went straight to work on her science fair poster. She needed a new column. They hadn’t measured the water level the week before. Not scientifically anyway. Now, it seemed important that the water level was going down.

  “Put that the water was to my waist,” Henry said, tapping his hip. “Last week, that’s where it was at the Lookout Café.” He lowered his hand. “This time, it’s down here.”

  Jessie sighed. “I wish we’d measured with a ruler. I can’t imagine the judges are going to take Henry’s hips seriously.”

  Henry wiggled. “Why not?”

  “My results should be more scientific,” Jessie said.

  “I have an idea,” said Violet. “I have photos of you and Henry standing in the river. If you date the photos on your poster, it will prove the water level is now lower by the café.”

  “That’s great!” Jessie said. She turned the poster so everyone could see it. Henry, Violet, and Benny stood around. “Look here at the first column,” Jessie said, as if she were presenting for the judges. She paused for them all to study the numbers.

  “The numbers at the rental shack are great this week,” Henry said. He read the results:

  15 worms

  13 crawdads

  10 water bugs

  12 snails

  6 beetles

  56 total

  Violet added, “That’s even better than before!”

  “Everywhere else,” said Henry, “the numbers have gone way down.”

  “And the water has gotten stinkier and murkier too,” said Benny. “But at the shop, it still smells like rainbows.”

  Jessie nodded. “And that leads to the conclusion of my report…”

  “Tell me!” said Benny. “What are you going to say?”

  Jessie drew a quick map in her notebook.

  “Here’s the rental shack. Here’s the fishing dock. And here’s the café.” She pointed to a spot between Lazy River Rentals and the fishing dock. “We need to focus on the flow of the river and where things start to change. Can you see what’s between the shack and dock?”

  “The construction site?” Violet asked.

  “Exactly!” Jessie said. “I’m going to say that the problems in the river are clearly coming from the construction site.”

  “But who’s making the trouble?” Benny asked.

  “And why?” Henry wanted to know.

  “Let’s see if we can find out,” Jessie said. “We’ve finished the experiment. Now it’s time to solve the mystery.”

  CHAPTER

  Behind the Wall

  That night after supper, the children visited the construction site. They each rode their bikes, and Watch ran along on a leash next to Jessie.

  “I think the fence gets bigger every time we see it,” Benny said when they reached the site. “And taller too.” He set his bike on a patch of grass and walked over to the fence. “There are no peek holes.” He stood on his tiptoes then tried to look under, but there was no way to see inside.

  “Maybe we can see something at the edge of the river,” said Henry. The children walked down toward the fishing dock. But the fence extended all the way to the edge of
the water. “I wish we would have brought the waders,” said Jessie. “We could go around this fence and see what they’re up to in there.”

  Just then, the children heard two men’s voices from the other side of the fence line. It sounded like they were coming their way.

  “Yes, this leads all the way to the river,” a man’s voice said. “Just like you wanted.”

  “And what about the river? The water is looking a little…different,” said another voice. Jessie thought she recognized the man’s voice.

  The first man spoke again. “Yes. With any project, there are some issues that come up. But as I say, we just need to build on.”

  Jessie did not mean to eavesdrop, but it sounded like the men were coming toward where they were standing. And the second voice sounded very familiar. She pulled Watch to her to keep him calm.

  “And what about the other issue?” the second voice asked. “Have you…uh…taken care of that?”

  “Don’t worry,” said the first man. “They are only children. I have a plan.”

  It sounded like the two men were now just feet away. Watch burst away from Jessie’s hold and pawed and barked at the fence.

  One of the voices yelped at Watch’s bark. The other said, “What was that?”

  The second voice said, “I don’t know. But let’s get back.”

  With that, the children heard footsteps going back toward the apartment buildings.

  “One of those voices sounded familiar,” said Benny.

  “I thought so too,” said Jessie, but she still couldn’t figure out from where.

  “Let’s follow them,” said Henry. “We need to figure out what they’re building in there.”

  Henry led the way, as the children walked along the fence line. About every fifty feet, there was a sign for the construction company: BO CONSTRUCTION.

  “I wonder who Bo is,” said Benny. “Do you think that was who was talking? Jessie, do you know any Bos?”

  Jessie shook her head. “I don’t think so.”

  “BO could also be someone’s initials,” said Henry.

  Benny thought about this. He started naming all the different names he could think of with the initials BO. “Do you know Bob Oak? Billy Oatmeal? Oh! What about Becky Olson?” He paused. “There are a lot of names that start with those letters.”

  Near the new apartment buildings, under the sign that announced the exercise room and the stream view, the children stopped. Someone had left a gate slightly open.

  “Those men must have come out here,” said Jessie.

  “We can’t trespass,” Henry warned.

  “But we can look, right?” Benny said. “Looking isn’t against the law.”

  Henry smirked. “Looking is totally legal.” He let Benny peak through the gate first.

  “I knew it!” Benny said. “This is a stream,” he said to the others. “It’s like a river, only smaller.”

  Henry asked, “I think I understand. But can you explain?”

  “I’ve been thinking a lot about words lately,” Benny said. “The apartment sign says there’s a stream view. A stream is a like a river, but it’s also not a river.”

  Henry stared up at the construction sign. “We thought the sign meant a river view, but the apartments are too far away from the river,” he said.

  “The poster says exactly what it means!” Benny said. He pointed at the water flowing close to the buildings. “BO Construction is making a stream!” He sang, “Stream views for the apartments!” Then in a lower voice. “Not river views. Don’t be confused.”

  “This new stream is taking water out of the river,” Jessie said. “That’s why the water is lower at the farm and the café. Some of the water is here now.”

  “And from what that man said, the construction made the pollution,” Henry added. “Probably from all the dirt they had to move!”

  “So they weren’t building a walking path at all,” said Jessie.

  “No,” said Henry. “It was a different type of pathway.”

  Jessie thought back to the map of Greenfield she had looked at for her project. She looked at where the stream was headed. “This probably connects to the Silver River on the other side of town,” she said. “Why would anyone want that?”

  “I don’t know,” said Henry. “But I have a feeling whoever it is doesn’t want your project getting in the way.”

  CHAPTER

  The Big Day

  On the day of the science fair, Grandfather brought Henry, Jessie, Violet, Benny, and Watch to the local community center.

  “Don’t you want to come in, Grandfather?” said Benny.

  “Well, of course I do,” Grandfather said. “But somebody has to keep an eye on Watch. I couldn’t bear to leave him home alone on a beautiful day like this.”

  “That’s right,” said Benny. “Watch is a part of Team Alden too!”

  The children said good-bye to Grandfather and Watch and went inside the community center. The building was filled with students and parents from Greenfield and the surrounding area.

  In the gymnasium, poster boards from all of the students’ projects were being set up. There were hundreds on display.

  One project had a row of vegetables connected with wires and a lit-up lightbulb. Another showed an experiment measuring the best way to grow potted pants. Still another was a volcano made of paper-mache.

  “Wow,” said Benny. “You could have made something explode for your project, Jessie!”

  Jessie smiled. “We can do that sometime at home,” she said. “Right now, I’m just worried about my project.” She had stayed up late the night before, making sure everything was perfect. She’d added the information about the new stream, and about how the construction was causing pollution. “I just wish we knew who was behind the new stream and why.”

  “We can figure out the mystery later,” said Henry. “Right now, let’s focus on making sure you win the science fair.”

  The children reached the table with Jessie’s name on it. Violet laid out a neatly pressed purple tablecloth. Jessie placed her binder on top and set up the poster board. Henry set out the water samples they had taken, showing how the water had changed color. Benny propped up the net they had used to take samples next to the table. When they were done, Violet said, “It’s very impressive. I think you have a really good chance, Jessie.”

  “What’s going on over there?” Benny said. He pointed to a crowd gathered around one of the projects in the next row. Standing in front of the crowd was Claudia Tobin. At the top of her board were the words, “Safe Farming for the Environment.”

  “Claudia’s project looks good too,” said Violet. “I feel kind of bad that we thought she might be doing something to the river.”

  “I do too,” said Jessie. But part of her still wanted to know why Claudia had decided not to work with her. “Maybe I should go wish her luck.”

  Just then, a man at the front of the gymnasium began speaking into a microphone. It was Mr. Cooper, the engineer judge with a mustache.

  “Welcome to the regional science fair,” Mr. Cooper said. “Thank you, all, for your hard work in creating a positive place for research. You are all the future scientists of the world. At this time, I have to ask that everyone leave the gymnasium. There will be a short period of time for the judges to look at the displays and prepare questions before the presentations begin. I ask for your patience, as we have a lot of projects to evaluate.”

  “Why don’t we go to the concession stand?” said Henry.

  “Yay!” said Benny. “Maybe we can get something for Watch to eat too.”

  Jessie paused. The last time she had left her project, her data had gone missing. “Let’s wait for the crowd to leave first,” she said.

  The Aldens stood as a stream of people passed by. Suddenly, someone screamed from the row in front of Jessie’s, and a stream of pink liquid shot into the air, splashing over the crowd.

  “The volcano! It erupted!” Benny said, watching the li
quid fly through the air. “We are definitely doing that at home, Jessie.”

  Next to the volcano, a girl Jessie’s age looked on in horror. “How could it explode?” she said. “I haven’t even added the vinegar!”

  A woman who must have been the girl’s mother led her out of the gymnasium crying. Before long, it was only the Aldens, the judges, and a janitor cleaning up the mess from the exploded volcano. The man wore a blue janitor’s uniform with a blue baseball cap pulled down over his eyes.

  “I think we’d better go,” said Henry.

  Jessie still didn’t feel good about leaving her experiment, but she had no other choice. She followed her siblings out of the gymnasium.

  At the concession stand, the children placed their orders. As they waited for their food, they saw a familiar face.

  “Mrs. Fernando?” said Jessie. “What are you doing here?”

  “I came to see your project,” Mrs. Fernando said. “And wish you luck.”

  “But we thought you were mad at us!” said Benny.

  Mrs. Fernando sighed. “Yes, I can see how you might have thought that. I am sorry. It’s just, seeing you children doing that experiment…it…reminded me of what happened during the Big Cleanup. People saw the river being tested, and they got scared. I wanted to figure out what was really going on.”

  “We are sorry we scared your customers,” said Jessie. “I could have thought about that more when I planned my experiment.”

  Mrs. Fernando shook her head. “No, no. I shouldn’t have dismissed your project. To find out what’s going on, you need proof. And your project is all the proof we have.”

  “Is that what you were doing at Mr. Cho’s?” asked Violet. “Looking for proof?”

  Mrs. Fernando sighed. “That man is always looking for a shortcut of some kind. I just knew he had something to do with the whole thing. But I couldn’t find anything to prove it.”

  “We haven’t put all the pieces together yet, either,” said Jessie. “But I know we will.”