Science Fair Sabotage

by Anthony VanArsdale

  “I have little doubt about that,” said Mrs. Fernando with a kind smile. “Good luck.”

  The Aldens’ order came up at the counter, and the children said good-bye to Mrs. Fernando. As they looked for a place to sit, Jessie noticed another familiar face.

  Claudia was sitting alone at a table.

  “I’ll catch up with you guys in a little bit,” Jessie said. “I’m going to go say good luck to Claudia.”

  Jessie went over to Claudia’s table. “Hi,” she said. “I just want to say good luck today. Not that you will need it.”

  “Thanks,” said Claudia.

  Jessie thought she seemed sad. “Where is your partner?” she asked.

  Claudia sighed. “She couldn’t make it. She wanted to, but with the harvest coming up, she had too much to do.”

  “Sorry,” said Jessie. “Your project looks great.”

  “So does yours,” said Claudia. “Did your brothers and sister help you?”

  Jessie nodded. “They helped me put it all together.” She thought for a moment about Claudia’s question, then added, “Is that why you didn’t want to be my partner?”

  Claudia sighed. “That was part of it,” she said. “I think I was just hurt because it seemed like you had already started without me. I was looking forward to being a team.”

  “I’m sorry I didn’t include you from the start,” said Jessie. “Maybe next time we can work together. After all, our projects are pretty similar.”

  “I would like that,” said Claudia.

  Just then, a voice came over the speaker, inviting everyone back into the gymnasium for the beginning of presentations.

  “Well, we can start right now,” said Jessie. Together, they went with Henry, Violet, and Benny back into the gymnasium.

  But when they reached the table with the purple tablecloth, Jessie’s poster and binder were gone.

  CHAPTER

  The Man in the Blue Hat

  “How could this have happened?” said Jessie.

  The children searched under the table. They traveled up and down the aisle looking for the poster board. There was no sign of it. All of the other projects looked like they were intact.

  “Maybe the judges moved your poster,” said Henry.

  “That’s right,” said Violet. “Maybe yours was so good they moved it somewhere special.”

  Jessie had a bad feeling. She knew someone had been trying to stop her project, but she’d thought it would be safe in the gymnasium with the judges.

  “The judges will know what to do,” said Claudia. “I don’t see Ms. Sterling or Mr. Blackstone, but there’s Mr. Cooper.”

  Mr. Cooper was standing with Ms. Kennedy.

  “Mr. Cooper, my project has gone missing,” said Jessie.

  “We think someone stole it!” said Benny.

  “Oh my,” said Mr. Cooper. “Are you sure you didn’t misplace it?”

  “Yes,” said Jessie. “It was all set up for the judges, and when we came back, it was missing.”

  “Well, I don’t know what to say,” said Mr. Cooper. “We judges were the only ones allowed inside during the last session. Surely you don’t think one of us took it?”

  Jessie didn’t know quite what to say.

  “There was one other person in the gymnasium,” said Violet. “What about the janitor?”

  “Janitor?” asked Mr. Cooper. “I did not see any janitor.”

  “That’s right,” said Ms. Kennedy. “One of my students had an unfortunate…explosion before the break. There was a man here helping to clean up the mess.”

  The Aldens looked around for the man who had been pushing the mop bucket around the gymnasium. “Over there,” said Henry, pointing across the crowded gymnasium. “I see his blue hat!”

  “This isn’t necessary…” Mr. Cooper began. “I assure you—”

  But the children were already off to ask the man if he had seen anything. As soon as the man saw them moving through the crowd, though, he tipped over his mop bucket and took off running out of the gymnasium, a big plastic bag over his shoulder.

  Henry led the way as the children followed the man out of the gymnasium. He took a right and went out the front doors. Before the children could catch up, they heard a yelp and a crash from outside.

  Outside, Grandfather and Watch were standing by a park bench. The man was on the ground, holding his ankle, and Watch was playfully licking the man’s face. The bag had split open, revealing what was left of Jessie’s poster board, which was covered in pink goo.

  “Get him away, please,” said the man, taking off his hat and throwing it to try to shoo Watch away. “I don’t like dogs!”

  “Mr. Cho?” said Jessie. “You were the one trying to ruin my project?”

  With Watch finally off of him, Mr. Cho sat up and brushed himself off. Then he sighed.

  “That’s right,” he said. “I was afraid your project would end the construction on the river.”

  “But why would you want to change the river?” said Benny. “Mutant fishes can’t be good for your business.”

  Mr. Cho looked confused, but he continued anyway. “Nobody wanted to come to my business. I thought if I made the lazy river longer, more people would want to come visit. The only way to do that was to go around the waterfall at the Lookout Café. So I worked with a construction company to make it happen.”

  “So it was you the other night at the construction site,” said Jessie. “I knew I recognized your voice.”

  “And that’s why you weren’t worried about the river,” said Henry. “You were just planning to make a new one!”

  Jessie thought about what they were hearing. “But you couldn’t have been the one who sabotaged my experiment,” she said. “You weren’t in the science room when my data went missing. You must have been working with someone else.”

  Just then, Mr. Cooper and the rest of the judges came out of the community center.

  “What’s going on out—” Mr. Cooper stopped when he saw Mr. Cho on the ground.

  “Mr. Cho…What are you doing out here?” he said.

  “We just found out that Mr. Cho was trying to ruin Jessie’s experiment!” said Henry. “And he is working with someone else.”

  “Well,” Ms. Kennedy said. “Do you have any proof of this? As scientists, we need proof of such things.”

  “That’s right,” said Mr. Cooper. “As we say at my company, you need facts to build on.”

  Jessie looked at Mr. Cooper. She had heard him use that phrase many times before. “Build On!” she said. “Those are the letters from the sign: BO!”

  “Mr. Cooper, is your company BO Construction?” asked Henry.

  Mr. Cooper looked around nervously but nodded.

  “It wasn’t initials or a man named Bo after all,” said Benny. “It was a motto! Right, Jessie?”

  “That’s right, Benny,” said Jessie. “And it means that Mr. Cooper’s company is the one polluting the Greenfield River.”

  “I have a feeling you were also the one working to sabotage Jessie’s project,” said Henry, pulling Jessie’s mushy poster board out of the trash bag.

  “What do you have to say for yourself, Mr. Cooper?” asked Ms. Kennedy.

  Mr. Cooper pointed down at Mr. Cho. “It was his idea!”

  “Don’t blame me,” Mr. Cho said, standing up.

  “You wanted a river that didn’t stop at the waterfall,” said Mr. Cooper. “You loved the idea.”

  “You wanted a view for your apartments!” Mr. Cho said, standing very close to Mr. Cooper. “And you couldn’t see the river from your buildings.”

  “The stream would have been good for both of us!” Mr. Cooper told Mr. Cho.

  “That may be,” said Claudia. “But that does not mean you can pollute the river in the process.”

  “We didn’t mean for the water level to go down,” Mr. Cooper said. “We thought that there was enough water for both the big river and the little stream.”

  Ms. Kennedy looked
from Jessie to Claudia. Then, she made an announcement. “Mr. Cooper is no longer a judge for the science fair.”

  Before long, the mayor of Greenfield and the chief of police came to talk to Mr. Cooper. Mr. Cho went with them to the police station. They wanted to ask him questions about the stream plans.

  After things were sorted out, Ms. Kennedy came up to Jessie. “I’m sorry,” she said. “But you can only present with a board.”

  Jessie looked at her board. It was covered in pink goo from the volcano explosion.

  Claudia stepped up. “She can present with me.”

  “Are you sure?” Jessie asked. “I don’t want to hurt your chances of winning.”

  Claudia smiled. “We’re partners, remember?”

  “All right,” said Ms. Kennedy. “I will give you both some time to prepare. You will be the last ones to present.”

  A little while later, it was Claudia and Jessie’s turn. Claudia talked about all of the ways farmers had worked to lower their pollution since the Big Cleanup, and ways that could still be improved. Jessie told the judges all about how the number of critters in the Greenfield River was going down, and how the water was changing because of the construction.

  “In conclusion,” Jessie said, “the biggest thing I learned from this project was how many of us need the river. It’s not only the tiny critters you can barely see. Having good water is important for the fish that eat those critters, and for the birds that eat the fish. It’s important for the fisher and the kayaker and the farmer. But it’s also important to the Lookout Café, and to the whole town of Greenfield. I hope—”

  Jessie looked at Claudia, and at her brothers and sister. “We hope that our experiment will show that there are problems with the river, but when we work together, we can make change for the better.”

  The crowd around Claudia’s project erupted in applause as Jessie finished her speech.

  When the room quieted down again, Ms. Kennedy held up the science fair trophies. “Our two judges have decided on a winner!”

  First, she announced that a boy with a spider web project was the runner-up.

  Jessie and Claudia held hands, hoping that she’d announce them next.

  “This year, we have a new champion…” Ms. Kennedy announced.

  Jessie and Claudia looked at each other nervously.

  “And an old champion,” Ms. Kennedy continued. “Jessie Alden and Claudia Tobin are the winners! Their project has already made a difference. And I have a feeling it will continue to do so in the weeks and months ahead.”

  Jessie and Claudia went to the front of the gymnasium to collect the trophy. Jessie thanked her family, and Claudia thanked Mrs. Vasquez for helping her with her project. Then the two stood by their poster and answered questions about the river and what could be done to clean it up.

  When it was time to go, Mrs. Fernando came to the booth with a platter of cookies. “Guess what?” she asked.

  “Oh, I want to guess,” Benny said. He looked at the platter. “Are the cookies a clue?”

  Mrs. Fernando laughed. She explained, “I didn’t want to jinx it before you won. But we’ve decided to add a new dessert to the Lookout Café menu. These are Science Fair Fudge Sticks, to thank you for figuring out what was wrong with the river.” The cookies were vanilla, covered in chocolate.

  Benny took one. “I love the science fair. I can’t wait until I’m old enough to do a project of my own.”

  Mrs. Fernando grinned and gave Benny a second treat. She turned to the trophy. “Congratulations, Jessie. And to you too, Claudia. Plus, all the Aldens. You all deserve the prize!”

  Benny took a bite of his science fair cookie and licked his lips. “This is the best cookie I’ve ever had,” he said. Then he asked Henry, “What’s another word for yummy?”

  Turn the page to read a sneak preview of

  THE SKELETON KEY MYSTERY

  the new

  Boxcar Children mystery!

  “‘I run all day and never walk. I tell you something, but I don’t talk.’” Benny Alden slowly sounded out each word on the piece of paper.

  “Good job, Benny,” said Jessie. She was twelve and knew how much her six-year-old brother loved learning to read.

  Violet snapped a picture of the page with her camera. Violet was ten, and she always photographed the children’s adventures—even the spooky ones. “Now we just have to figure out what it means,” she said.

  “Something that runs without walking…and tells us something without talking. Those are clues,” said Henry. At fourteen, he was the oldest of the Alden children. He liked solving problems. “The answer must be hidden somewhere in this room.”

  Benny looked around with his flashlight. The room had once been a study. But it seemed as though no one had used it in years. There was a clutter of old objects. And plenty of cobwebs. The single window had been painted over, and the only light came from a dim lamp in a corner. In the opposite corner, a wooden box shaped like a coffin leaned against the wall.

  Violet searched along a shelf stuffed with old books and trinkets. “There are so many places for things to hide,” she said. “The answer to the riddle could be anywhere.”

  Suddenly, Violet jumped. Out of the corner of her eye, she had seen something move.

  “Are you okay?” Jessie asked.

  Violet turned and let out a sigh of relief. In a large, dusty mirror, she saw her reflection looking back at her. “Yes,” she said. “This room is full of surprises.”

  Jessie looked up at the strange clock on the wall. It was a made of metal and shaped like a skull. “We only have ten minutes left,” she said. “We need to hurry!”

  “Oh!” said Henry.

  “What is it?” asked Violet. “Did something happen?”

  Henry shined his light toward the strange clock. “I think I figured out the riddle,” he said. “Something that runs and never walks…”

  It took Jessie a moment. Then she understood. “A clock runs but never walks!” she said. “And it tells us the time without saying a word!”

  The children gathered around the strange clock. Its eyes glowed red. Cobwebs hung from all sides.

  “It’s too high to reach,” said Violet. “Even for you, Henry.”

  “Benny, come sit on my shoulders,” Henry said.

  Benny looked up at the clock and gulped. “Are—are you sure that’s the answer to the clue?” he asked.

  “I’m sure,” said Henry. “Come on. Let’s check it out.”

  Benny climbed onto Henry’s shoulders, and Henry lifted him up to the clock.

  “I don’t see anything,” said Benny.

  “Feel inside the mouth,” said Henry. “There could be something in there.”

  “The mouth?!” said Benny. “What if it tries to bite me?”

  “The skull isn’t alive,” said Henry. “It can’t bite you.”

  Benny closed his eyes and looked away. Slowly, he reached his fingers into the clock. Then he yanked his hand away and squealed.

  “What is it?” asked Jessie.

  “It felt like a tooth!” said Benny.

  “Benny, we need to hurry,” said Violet.

  “Okay, I’ll grab it this time.” Benny reached back in, quickly this time, and pulled out a small flashlight. He turned it on, and a purple glow appeared.

  “A purple light!” cried Violet. “How pretty!” Violet loved the color purple. She had purple ribbons tied on her pigtails and was wearing purple sneakers.

  Benny handed the flashlight to Henry.

  “This is called a black light,” said Henry. “Black lights can show things that are fluorescent.”

  “What in the world does that mean?” asked Violet.

  “Things that are fluorescent absorb ultraviolet light,” said Jessie. “It makes them glow.”

  “So some things might glow if we point the black light at them?” asked Violet.

  “That’s right,” said Henry. “Benny, reach back in there. Maybe there is a cl
ue about the black light.”

  Benny sighed and reached into the skull’s mouth once more. This time, he pulled out a folded piece of paper and handed it to Jessie. Henry lowered him to the floor.

  “That was very brave,” said Jessie. “Because you faced your fears, we found two clues to help us get out of here.”

  “Fears?” said Benny, blushing. “I wasn’t afraid. I just—I didn’t want to upset the cobwebs.”

  Jessie smiled at her little brother. She quickly unfolded the paper and handed it to him. “Well, either way, you get to tell us what the next clue says.”

  Benny sounded out the words on the page. “‘I’m like a garden of blossoms bright. That only blooms in dark of night.’”

  “I wonder what that could be,” said Violet.

  The Aldens shined their lights around the room, and Henry started listing what he saw. “There are books, an old lamp, a desk, a vase—”

  “A coffin,” said Benny, turning back to the big box in the corner. “And there’s probably a skeleton inside of that.”

  “Oh Benny, don’t let your imagination get the best of you,” said Jessie. “It’s just for show. There’s nothing inside.” Jessie knocked on the box to prove that it was hollow, but Benny still wasn’t so sure.

  “I have an idea,” said Violet. “What if the answer is flowers?”

  “Good thinking, Violet,” said Henry. “Let’s turn off our flashlights and see if the flowers in the vase shine in the black light.”

  Benny was still eyeing the coffin in the corner of the room. “Are you sure we have to turn off our lights?” he said. “Maybe it’s not the flowers after all.”

  “It will be fine,” said Jessie. She grabbed Benny’s hand, and all the children shut off their lights. Henry held up the black light to the vase.

  “It’s all dark.” Violet frowned. “No bright blooms anywhere.”

  “Maybe we should turn our flashlights back on and think some more,” said Benny.

  “Let’s look around the room first,” said Jessie, squeezing Benny’s hand. “According to the clue, something should be glowing.”