April Fools' Fiasco

by Ron Roy

  DINK, JOSH, AND RUTH ROSE

  AREN’T THE ONLY KID DETECTIVES!

  CAN YOU FIND THE HIDDEN MESSAGE INSIDE THIS BOOK?

  There are 26 illustrations in this book, not counting the one on the title page, the map at the beginning, and the picture of the coin box that repeats at the start of many of the chapters. In each of the 26 illustrations, there’s a hidden letter. If you can find all the letters, you will spell out a secret message!

  If you’re stumped, the answer is on the bottom of this page.

  This book is dedicated to the memory

  of Dr. Michael Pardue.

  —R.R.

  To Raymond

  —J.S.G.

  This is a work of fiction. Names, characters, places, and incidents either are the product of the author’s imagination or are used fictitiously. Any resemblance to actual persons, living or dead, events, or locales is entirely coincidental.

  Text copyright © 2017 by Ron Roy

  Cover art copyright © 2017 by Stephen Gilpin

  Interior illustrations copyright © 2017 by John Steven Gurney

  All rights reserved. Published in the United States by Random House Children’s Books, a division of Penguin Random House LLC, New York.

  Random House and the colophon and A to Z Mysteries are registered trademarks and A Stepping Stone Book and the colophon and the A to Z Mysteries colophon are trademarks of Penguin Random House LLC.

  Visit us on the Web!

  SteppingStonesBooks.com

  randomhousekids.com

  Educators and librarians, for a variety of teaching tools, visit us at RHTeachersLibrarians.com

  Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data is available upon request.

  ISBN 9780399551956 (trade) — ISBN 9780399551963 (lib. bdg.) — ebook ISBN 9780399551970

  This book has been officially leveled by using the F&P Text Level Gradient™ Leveling System.

  Random House Children’s Books supports the First Amendment and celebrates the right to read.

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  Contents

  Cover

  Dedication

  Copyright

  Title Page

  Map

  Chapter 1

  Chapter 2

  Chapter 3

  Chapter 4

  Chapter 5

  Chapter 6

  Chapter 7

  Chapter 8

  Chapter 9

  Chapter 10

  Chapter 11

  Chapter 12

  Chapter 13

  Chapter 14

  Detail left

  Detail right

  “Why does it have to rain?” Josh asked as he and his friends left the playing fields. “How can I practice my soccer skills in the mud?”

  “It’s not raining yet,” Dink said, looking up at the dark clouds. “Besides, real soccer players aren’t afraid of getting wet.”

  Josh passed his soccer ball to Dink, who kicked it to Ruth Rose. The three had been playing soccer after school on a Friday afternoon.

  Dink’s full name was Donald David Duncan. He, Josh Pinto, and Ruth Rose Hathaway were fourth graders and best friends.

  “We need the rain in April,” Ruth Rose told Josh. “That’s what makes the flowers bloom in May!”

  Ruth Rose liked to wear outfits all the same color. Today’s choice was bright yellow, like the daffodils that grew outside their school building.

  She passed the ball back to Josh. “Let’s stop at the Book Nook,” she said. “I heard Wallis Wallace has a new book out. Maybe Mr. Paskey has it.”

  Wallis Wallace was a famous children’s book author. She and Dink, Josh, and Ruth Rose had been friends ever since the kids had tried to save her from a kidnapper. The kidnapping turned out to be fake, but they stayed friends anyway.

  Josh slapped the pockets of his cargo pants. He heard a few coins jingle. “I don’t have enough money to buy a book,” he said.

  Dink shoved his hand into his jeans pocket. “I’ve got exactly one quarter,” he said.

  “I just got my allowance,” Ruth Rose said. “If Wallis Wallace’s new book is there, I’ll buy it and you can both read it when I’m done.”

  When they passed Howard’s Barbershop, they waved at Howard through the window. He smiled and waved back.

  Outside the Book Nook, a woman with a backpack slung over one shoulder was standing near the door. Dink noticed a small yellow smiley face pinned to one of the pack’s straps.

  She was reading a flyer taped inside the window. When she walked through the door, the kids stopped to read the flyer:

  CALLING ALL NUMISMATISTS!

  COME TO THE NUMISMATIC SOCIETY MEETING!

  WEST HARTFORD LIBRARY, MAIN STREET

  APRIL 2, 10:00–4:00

  SELL OR TRADE YOUR OLD COINS AND BILLS! FREE REFRESHMENTS!

  Under the words was a drawing of a jar of coins and a stack of green bills.

  “What’s a numis…whatever?” Josh asked.

  Ruth Rose pointed to the drawing. “Something about money, I think,” she said.

  “Cool!” said Josh. “I love money! And free food, too. We should go to the meeting!”

  Dink, Josh, and Ruth Rose stepped inside the Book Nook. Mr. Paskey was helping a bald man with blue sneakers pick out a book. He smiled and waved at them.

  The kids walked to the children’s section. They passed a man in a red shirt, stacking boxes of new books in a corner. When he was finished, he waved to Mr. Paskey and left the store.

  Near the children’s area, Dink noticed a trapdoor leading to the basement. He heard someone down there whistling and making clanking noises.

  “Here it is!” Ruth Rose cried, grabbing a book off a shelf. She turned it over and looked at a smiling photo of Wallis Wallace.

  Ruth Rose held the book so Dink and Josh could see the cover. It was called The Dark Forest. The cover showed a boy and girl surrounded by tall, dark trees. Vines that looked like a sea creature’s tentacles were wrapped around the tree trunks. Evil-looking birds sat in the branches, their red eyes glaring.

  “That’s pretty scary,” Josh said. “Those eyes give me goose bumps!”

  “Great, I’ll buy it,” Ruth Rose said. “We can do rock, paper, scissors to see who reads it first.”

  “No, you read it first,” Dink said. “Then give it to Josh. I want to count his goose bumps!”

  The bald man left the store, and Mr. Paskey met the kids at the counter. “Ah, I see you found Ms. Wallace’s new book,” he said. “I read it, and I got goose bumps!”

  “See?” Josh said.

  “That’s why I want to buy it,” Ruth Rose said. “I love scary stories.”

  Dink noticed two stacks of flyers on the counter. One stack had the flyer they’d seen in the window. The other flyers were red, white, and blue. They showed a drawing of a big brick house and a photo of a man with white hair and a big mustache.

  Dink read the words beneath the man’s face:

  JOIN US AT THE MARK TWAIN HOUSE

  APRIL 3 FROM 6 TO 10 P.M.!

  COME CELEBRATE MARK TWAIN’S LIFE!

  FOOD, MUSIC, BALLOONS FOR THE KIDS!

  351 FARMINGTON AVENUE, HARTFORD, CT

  “Your dad is a Mark Twain fan, isn’t he?” Mr. Paskey asked Dink.

  Dink nodded. “I think so,” he said.

  Mr. Paskey handed him a flyer. “Take this home for him,” he said. “He may want to attend the party.”

  Dink slipped the flyer into his pocket.

  While Ruth Rose paid Mr. Paskey for the book, Josh picked up a flyer like the one in the window. “What’s this about?” he asked Mr. Paskey.

  “Oh, every year the Numismatic Society has a big meeting,” Mr. Paskey sa
id. “People who like to collect old coins and other forms of money get together.”

  “Cool!” said Josh, putting the flyer in his pocket. “What do they do?”

  “Well, they swap with each other or sell to the public,” Mr. Paskey answered. “If you’re a coin collector, like me, you’d go there to meet other coin collectors.”

  In the mirror behind Mr. Paskey’s counter, Dink saw the reflection of a woman approaching the counter. She was wearing jeans and a gray shirt with DALE PLUMBING stitched over the pocket, and she was holding a toolbox. Her hands had black smudges, and her face was sweaty. “I fixed the leak,” she told Mr. Paskey. “Your basement floor got a bit wet, so I mopped it for you. Mind if I wash up in your bathroom?”

  “Of course, Amanda,” Mr. Paskey said.

  Amanda set her toolbox on the floor and walked toward the bathroom.

  Mr. Paskey pulled a small blue book from a drawer under the counter and handed it to Josh. The book looked as if it had been read a lot. “This is about coin collecting,” he said. “Take it home and give it a read. We might turn you into a numismatist!”

  “What is a nu…what you said?” Josh asked.

  “Numismatists collect and study money,” Mr. Paskey explained.

  “Cool!” Josh said. “I definitely want to be one, but I can’t even say it!”

  “Break the word into four syllables,” Mr. Paskey said. “Noo-MIZ-muh-tist.”

  Josh repeated, “Noo-MIZ-muh-tist.”

  Something caught Dink’s eye, and he looked up into the mirror again. He thought he saw a moving shadow behind him, between two rows of bookshelves. When he turned around to get a better look, the shadow was gone.

  Dink glanced out the window, thinking he might have seen a reflection of someone walking by the store. But the sidewalk in front of the Book Nook was empty.

  Amanda came out of the bathroom. Her face and hands were clean. “Thanks a lot, Mr. Paskey,” she said. “I feel a hundred percent better!”

  Mr. Paskey took a key from a hook next to the cash register. He walked Amanda to the door, locked it behind her, and pulled a shade down over the glass.

  “I want to show you kids something,” Mr. Paskey said, putting the key back on the hook. He winked at Josh. “For numismatists only!”

  On a shelf behind the cash register, a glass case stood under the mirror. Inside, the kids could see some old-looking coins and a wooden box.

  Mr. Paskey took a small key from his pocket and unlocked the case. He slid the box out and set it on the counter. It was about twelve inches long on each side and four inches high. Carvings of elephants, vines, and flowers decorated the wood.

  “That’s such a beautiful box!” Ruth Rose said. “Did you make it?”

  “No, my grandfather did, about forty years ago,” Mr. Paskey said. “Granddad Paskey gave it to me on my tenth birthday. I used to hide my treasures in it. Now it’s where I keep my coin collection.”

  “You collect coins?” Josh asked. “So are you one of those noo-MIZ…?”

  “Yes, I’m a numismatist,” Mr. Paskey said. “I started with a few coins when I was your age. Now I have hundreds.”

  “Why do people collect coins?” Josh asked. “I like to spend them!”

  “People collect for lots of reasons,” Mr. Paskey said. “Some collectors just like to look at the coins. They can be quite beautiful. Others do it for the money they can get if they sell their coins.”

  He took the blue book from Josh’s hand and flipped through the pages. Then he put his finger on a picture of an old nickel. “This 1913 Liberty Head nickel is very valuable,” he said. “There were only five minted, so they’re extremely rare. One just like this sold for around three million dollars!”

  “THREE MILLION!” Josh squawked. “For one nickel? Why?”

  “You can read all about it later in the book,” Mr. Paskey said. He turned more pages until he came to another picture. “See these quarters? Some of them are worth thousands of dollars.”

  He passed the book back to Josh. “Whenever you get a quarter, check to see if it looks like one of those,” he said. “Do you kids have any coins today?”

  The kids quickly emptied their pockets. Ruth Rose had a wallet holding five one-dollar bills and $2.47 in change.

  Josh had seventy-seven cents: two quarters, two dimes, one nickel, and two pennies.

  Dink pulled a quarter from his pocket.

  With the kids watching, Mr. Paskey looked at each coin through a small, round glass he held up to one eye.

  “What’s that thing?” Dink asked.

  “It’s called a loupe,” Mr. Paskey told him. “It makes things look bigger.”

  “Is any of our money worth a million dollars?” Dink asked.

  Mr. Paskey smiled. “Nope. Your quarter is worth exactly twenty-five cents, Dink. Sorry!”

  Josh opened the book and studied the pictures of the coins. “Well, now I want to be an artist and a noo-MIZ-muh-tist,” he said.

  “That’s wonderful, Josh!” Mr. Paskey said. “If you have time, try to go to the meeting tomorrow.”

  “Maybe I will,” Josh said. “I love money almost as much as I love ice cream!”

  Mr. Paskey’s face changed from happy to sad. “Speaking of ice cream, I have some bad news,” he said. “Ellie is closing her diner.”

  “OH NO!” Ruth Rose yelled.

  “Green Lawn won’t be the same without Ellie’s Diner!” Dink said. “Why is she closing?”

  Mr. Paskey shook his head. “Ellie found out she’s allergic to ice cream,” he said.

  “What? No way!” Josh yelped.

  “Yes way,” Mr. Paskey said. “Ellie’s very upset. You should go say good-bye before she closes forever!”

  Dink, Josh, and Ruth Rose dashed out of the Book Nook. They raced to the crossing light in front of the Green Lawn Savings Bank. When the light said WALK, they hurried up Main Street to the diner.

  It started to rain as they burst through the door. Ellie was hanging up the phone. She had a funny look on her face.

  “Hi, kids,” Ellie said. The corners of her mouth were turned down. Her eyes looked sad.

  “Mr. Paskey told us you were closing!” Josh cried.

  “You can’t close the diner!” Ruth Rose said. “We need you!”

  “Are you really allergic to ice cream?” Dink asked.

  Ellie put her head down. She covered her face with her hands. Her shoulders started to shake.

  The kids looked at each other. They didn’t know what to do. Ellie was crying!

  Then Ellie looked up with a grin on her face. “April Fools!” she cried. “Mr. Paskey just called and told me what he said to you! I’m not closing my diner—he was just playing a trick on you!”

  Josh put his hand over his heart. “Oh my gosh, I was getting ready to faint!” he said.

  Ellie laughed. “No fainting allowed,” she said. “And to make up for the trick, free cones for you three!”

  The kids put their noses close to the display case to see all the flavors. Dink asked for chocolate, Josh picked pistachio, and Ruth Rose chose lemon, to match her yellow outfit.

  They took their cones to a booth where they had a view of the park across the street.

  “I forgot today was April first,” Dink said after taking a lick of his ice cream. “Mr. Paskey sure fooled us!”

  Josh took a big slurp off the top of his pistachio. “I don’t think it’s very nice for grown-ups to play tricks on kids,” he said.

  Ruth Rose laughed. “Joshua Pinto, how can you say that?” she asked. “Do you remember when you tricked the twins into thinking your pony was talking to them, telling them to do your chores?”

  Josh giggled. “That was awesome,” he said. “I hid in Polly’s stall behind some hay. When Brian and Bradley came in to feed her, I made a pony voice and they thought Polly was talking! ‘MAKE JOSH’S BED!’ I told them.”

  “So what’s the difference between you tricking your little brothers and Mr. P
askey tricking us?” Dink asked.

  “Simple,” Josh said. “People expect kids to play tricks. But adults…” Josh got a sly look on his face. “Dink, you just gave me a brilliant idea!”

  “Uh-oh,” Dink muttered. “I’m afraid to ask, but I will. What’s your brilliant idea?”

  Josh leaned in and whispered, “I’m going to play an April Fools’ trick on Mr. Paskey!” He grinned from behind his cone.

  “What kind of trick?” asked Ruth Rose. “Mr. Paskey is real smart. You won’t be able to fool him like you did your little brothers.”

  Josh tapped his forehead. “I’ll think of something,” he said. “Mr. Paskey may be smart, but not as smart as my mega-brain!”

  Dink and Ruth Rose laughed. They finished their cones as they watched raindrops streak the window.

  Dink picked up the blue book Mr. Paskey had given to Josh. He flipped a few pages. “Look, here’s that nickel Mr. Paskey told us about,” he said. “This tells how some rich guy bought it from another rich guy for three million dollars!”

  Josh gazed out the window. “I wonder what I’d do with three million dollars,” he said.

  “Buy ice cream?” Ruth Rose teased. “For your two best friends?”

  Josh grinned. “Maybe,” he said. “And maybe not.”

  Dink looked at the page again. “This says there are only five of those nickels in the world, and three are in museums.”

  “Where are the other two?” asked Ruth Rose.

  “Two rich coin collectors own them,” Dink said. “Hey, one of those numismatist guys lives in Connecticut!”

  “Dink, you just gave me my second brilliant idea of the day!” Josh said. “The perfect trick to play on Mr. Paskey!”