Giant Yo-Yo Mystery

by Gertrude Chandler Warner

  “I don’t know why not,” Grandfather said.

  “What would you want us to do?” Jessie asked.

  “Nothing too hard,” Jeff said. “Looks like Emily has mostly finished cutting the pieces for the first half of the yo-yo, so until I get another delivery of wood, it’s just a matter of screwing the pieces together. Eventually, I’ll need help getting the two halves connected to the axle and then we’ll need to paint the outside.”

  “We can help with all of that!” Violet said eagerly.

  “I’ll also need someone to run the video camera every now and then.” Jeff pointed to the camera that was sitting on a tripod in the corner.

  “Are you making a movie about building the yo-yo?” Grandfather asked.

  “Sort of,” Jeff said. “If you want to break a world’s record, you need to document every step along the way so that people know you really did it.”

  “I know how to run a video camera,” Benny said, jumping up and down.

  “That’s good, Benny,” Jeff said with a smile. “It sounds like you’re all good helpers. Do you think you could come back tomorrow morning?”

  “We’d love to!” The children nodded eagerly.

  “In that case, we’d better get home and get you all to bed,” Grandfather said.

  “Okay,” the children agreed. They all said their goodbyes, then the Aldens headed out to the car.

  Grandfather’s car was parked on the street, right in front of a gray station wagon. It looked like there was somebody inside the station wagon wearing a dark baseball cap. It was too dark to tell whether the person was a man or a woman, but Henry wondered why the person was just sitting there.

  Henry reached for the handle on Grandfather’s car when suddenly Jeff came out of the shop. “Wait, James! Children!” Jeff yelled as he hurried toward them waving some rolled-up papers.

  “What is it, Jeff?” Grandfather called from the car.

  Jeff handed Henry the papers. “I wanted you to take these plans for the yo-yo home tonight so you can look them over and see how everything fits together.”

  “We’d like that,” Henry said as he slipped the plans inside his green backpack, then zipped it up. “Thank you.”

  “Terrific,” Jeff said. “I’ll see you all tomorrow.”

  The Aldens chatted about how much fun they were going to have building the world’s largest yo-yo as they piled into the car. Grandfather pulled out into the street. As he did, Henry noticed the lights on the vehicle behind them come on.

  Henry turned around in his seat. The station wagon was pulling out right behind them. At first, Henry wasn’t too concerned.

  After all, it could be a coincidence that the person in the station wagon happened to be leaving the same time the Aldens were.

  But then Grandfather turned right at the next intersection. He drove three blocks, then turned left. Henry turned around again. The station wagon was two vehicles behind them.

  Jessie peered curiously at Henry. “What’s the matter, Henry?” she asked.

  “I don’t know,” Henry said, watching the station wagon curiously. “I think we’re being followed.”

  “Followed?” Grandfather asked. He glanced in his rearview mirror. Jessie, Violet, and Benny turned around, too.

  “Who’s following us?” Benny wanted to know.

  “Not the vehicle right behind us,” Henry said. “It’s the one behind that. The gray station wagon. I noticed it parked behind us at Jeff’s. Then, when we pulled out, so did that car. It’s been behind us ever since we left.”

  “Why would someone want to follow us?” Violet asked.

  “I don’t know,” Henry said.

  Grandfather made another right turn, and everyone watched anxiously to see what the station wagon would do. It made a right turn, too.

  “Hmm,” Grandfather said. He turned right again at the next intersection and the Aldens found themselves on a well-lit street with lots of stores.

  “I wonder what our friend back there will do if we pull over?” Grandfather mused. He signaled, then pulled off to the side of the road.

  Everyone watched the station wagon.

  It kept right on going until it was out of sight.

  “Did anyone get a good look at the driver?” Grandfather asked.

  “No,” Violet said. “It was too dark.”

  “And they went by too fast,” Benny said.

  “It’s possible we weren’t even being followed at all,” Henry said.

  “It’s possible,” Jessie agreed. “But I think we should keep an eye out for that vehicle. See if we notice it again.”

  Violet nodded in agreement. “Maybe we can ask Jeff tomorrow whether he knows of anyone in the neighborhood who drives a car like that.”

  “Good thinking,” Henry said.

  “At any rate, we’re not being followed now,” Grandfather said. He waited for an opening in the traffic, then pulled out into the street and headed for home.

  CHAPTER 3

  Trouble in the Shop

  Grandfather drove the children back to Jeff’s shop early the next morning. He couldn’t pull into the parking lot because Emily was standing there with a man dressed in black jeans and a black jacket. So Grandfather pulled up along the side of the road to let the children out.

  As Benny got out of the car, he noticed Mrs. Thorton standing in the front window of her little yellow house across the street.

  “Hey, there’s that lady who came into Jeff’s shop last night,” Benny said. He raised his hand to wave at her, but as soon as he did, Mrs. Thorton pulled her curtains closed.

  “I thought Emily said she wasn’t home much during the day,” Jessie said.

  “It looks like she’s home today,” Violet said.

  “Why don’t you kids call me when you’re ready to come home,” Grandfather said.

  “We will,” Henry promised as he hoisted his backpack up onto his back.

  Grandfather drove away as the children walked over to the shop.

  Emily and the man in black were still deep in conversation. They didn’t notice the children.

  “Trust me,” Emily said. “I’m taking care of it. We won’t have to worry about that silly yo-yo much longer.”

  The children stopped and stared. What did Emily mean by that?

  “I hope you’re right,” the man in black said. He squeezed Emily’s hand, then walked down the sidewalk.

  Emily turned to go inside. But when she saw the Aldens, she jumped.

  “What are you kids doing here?” She scowled at them.

  “We were just going inside,” Violet said. “Jeff asked us to come down here this morning to help with the yo-yo.”

  Emily pressed her lips together, then said, “Well, it’s not nice to eavesdrop on other people’s conversations. You could misinterpret what you hear.”

  “We know that,” Henry said. “And we weren’t eavesdropping. Honest.”

  Henry wanted to ask Emily what she’d meant by “I’m taking care of it. We won’t have to worry about that silly yo-yo anymore.” But Emily already seemed angry; he didn’t want to make her any angrier. So he and his brother and sisters followed Emily into the shop.

  When they got inside, they found Jeff pacing around the workshop, talking on his cell phone. He looked irritated.

  “I don’t understand,” Jeff said into his phone. “Where would you get the idea I didn’t want that order of wood? Uh huh … A woman, huh?” He glanced over at Emily, who was hanging up her jacket and not paying any attention to Jeff’s conversation. “I’ll see what I can find out on this end and get back to you. I do want the wood, though, Karl. I want it as soon as you can get it to me.”

  Jeff slapped his cell phone closed and nodded at the children. “I’ll be with you kids in a minute,” he said. He strode over to Emily. “Did you cancel that next order of wood?”

  “I—” Emily began, her face turning red. She didn’t finish her sentence. But it was clear she had canceled the wood.


  Jeff let out a breath of air. “Why in the world would you do that?”

  “I-I didn’t think we needed any more wood.” She pointed to the yo-yo piece that Jeff had been working on. “It looks like we’re almost done. So when Karl called yesterday, I told him we didn’t need that other order.”

  “We’re almost done with the one half of the yo-yo,” Jeff said. “We still have a whole other half to build.”

  “Oh. I didn’t realize,” Emily said. “I’m so sorry.”

  The Aldens exchanged looks. It seemed strange that someone who knew as much about woodworking as Emily would forget about the second half of the yo-yo.

  Jeff softened. “Well, it was an honest mistake. And there’s nothing we can do about it now. Karl will get a new load of wood over here as soon as he can. It just won’t be today. In the meantime, Emily, why don’t you work on those cabinets. The Aldens can help me with the boards that we have.”

  “Okay,” Emily said.

  “Benny, would you like to run the video camera for me?” Jeff asked.

  “Sure,” Benny said, skipping over to the camera.

  “I’m just going to get some safety goggles for all of us,” Jeff said. He pulled a bunch of safety goggles out of a box and started handing them around.

  “Hey, there’s something wrong with this camera,” Benny spoke up. “It won’t turn on.”

  Jessie went over to help Benny. She pushed a button, then said, “Well, no wonder it won’t turn on. There’s no flash card in here.”

  “No flash card?” Jeff frowned. He strode over to the camera and checked for himself. “You’re right, Benny. I don’t understand. I haven’t taken the flash card out of this camera. I’ve been recording on it for the last week.”

  Jeff walked over to Emily. “Did you take the flash card out of the video camera?”

  Emily glanced up from the cabinet she was staining. “Why would I do that?” she asked.

  “Do you have another flash card?” Violet asked.

  “Yes.” Jeff walked over to his desk, opened the top drawer and pulled out another flash card. “But I need to find out what happened to the first card. I recorded everything I’ve done on the yo-yo up to now on there. Without it, I won’t get credit for the record.”

  “Did you copy what was on the other card to your computer?” Henry asked.

  Jeff shook his head. “Unfortunately, no. I figured I’d do that once I filled the card.”

  “I hope you find it,” Violet said as Jeff inserted the new flash card into the camera.

  “I’m sure it’s around,” Jeff said.

  Then they all got to work screwing boards together. Jeff’s plans showed exactly where each piece was supposed to go. The Aldens checked the plans every time they added a new board.

  “Hmm,” Henry said, squinting at the plans. “Am Ï really supposed to put another piece here? The drawing shows another piece, but there’s a note here that says to wait on that piece.”

  Jessie and Violet gathered around Henry and studied the plans over his shoulder. There were a lot of extra directions written on the margins of the paper. The directions were written in red pen with a different handwriting.

  “Who made all these red notes?” Jessie asked Jeff.

  “Are we supposed to do what the notes say or follow the original plans?”

  Jeff peered at the plans. “Just follow the original plan,” he said stiffly. “Those red notes were made by my former partner, Gary Richmond.”

  “Were you and Gary going to build this yo-yo together?” Violet asked.

  Jeff sighed. “At one time, yes. Gary and I always talked about breaking a world’s record together. Ever since we were kids. First we were going to build the world’s tallest house of cards. We were both good at building houses of cards, but not that good.

  “Then we decided we were going to make the world’s largest pizza. But we couldn’t figure out how to bake it. A few years ago we decided we should go for a record that involved woodworking, since we both know something about that. So we started making plans to build the world’s largest yo-yo.”

  “Why isn’t Gary working on the yo-yo with you now?” Violet asked.

  “We had a falling out a few months ago,” Jeff said sadly. “We’re not friends anymore.”

  “Can’t you just be friends again?” Benny asked.

  “I thought so at first,” Jeff said. “That’s why I held off on building the yo-yo for a little while. But the more time that went by, the clearer it became that Gary and I would never be friends again. I knew that if I still wanted to build the yo-yo, I would have to do it without him.”

  “What happened between the two of you?” Jessie asked.

  Jeff sighed. “It’s a long story. But basically, we had a difference of opinion on where to take the business. He wanted to grow the business and bring in new employees. I prefer to stay small. This difference of opinion grew and grew until it finally broke up our friendship.”

  “I’m sorry to hear that,” Violet said.

  “Me too,” Jeff said.

  “Does Gary know you’re building this yo-yo?” Henry asked.

  “I don’t think so,” Jeff said. “We haven’t spoken in months. Look, I don’t want to talk about this anymore. If you have questions about the plans, just follow the original instructions. I don’t feel right using Gary’s notes when he’s not involved in the project anymore.”

  With that, Jeff strolled over to the door and stared outside.

  “What a sad story about Jeff and his friend,” Violet said. “I wish there was something we could do to help.”

  “Maybe if we think about it for a while, we’ll come up with something.” Henry said.

  “Maybe,” Jessie agreed.

  The children got back to work. They screwed together all the boards that were left. When they finished, the first half of the yo-yo was almost complete.

  “You kids did a great job,” Jeff said.

  “Thanks,” Jessie said. “It was fun.”

  Benny stopped the camera. “Do you want to back up what’s on the flash card, Jeff?”

  “Since I seem to have lost my other flash card, yes, I think that would be a good idea,” Jeff replied.

  Benny took the flash card out of the camera and handed it to Jeff.

  “Thanks, Benny,” Jeff said. He rubbed his chin. “I sure wish I knew what happened to that other card. I’ve looked all over my desk for it. I just don’t know where it could be.”

  “It’ll turn up,” Jessie said confidently.

  “Hey, Jeff,” Benny said, reaching into his pocket. “Grandfather said you know a lot of yo-yo tricks. Can you show us one before we leave?” He handed Jeff his yo-yo.

  Jeff smiled. “What kind of trick would you like to see?”

  “What’s the hardest trick you know?” Benny asked.

  “Hmm. The hardest trick I know …” Jeff had to think about it for a few seconds. “That would probably be the atom smasher.”

  “Can you show us?” Jessie asked.

  “Sure.” Jeff said. He dribbled Benny’s yo-yo up and down a couple times to get a feel for it. Then he threw a fast sleeper, picked up the string in a couple of places, and the yo-yo first flipped onto one string, then did a somersault, ran down another string, did another somersault and finally landed back in Jeff’s hand.

  The whole thing happened so fast, the Aldens weren’t entirely sure what exactly they’d seen. But it sure was impressive.

  “That was really neat,” Violet said.

  “Thank you,” Jeff replied.

  “I’m still trying to learn how to do a sleeper,” Benny said. “I haven’t been able to do it yet.”

  “You keep working on it, Benny,” Jeff said. “You’ll get it.”

  “Well, we don’t want to keep you from your work, Jeff,” Henry said. “When would you like us to come back again?”

  “There’s not much more we can do until I get some more wood. How about I call you when I’ve go
t more for you to do?”

  “Okay,” Violet said.

  Jeff walked the children to the door. As soon as they stepped outside, they noticed the gray station wagon was back. It was parked in front of Mrs. Thorton’s house.

  But this time it didn’t look like there was anyone inside.

  “Hey, Jeff,” Henry said. “Have you ever seen that gray station wagon before?”

  Jeff glanced over to where Henry was pointing. “Can’t say that I have,” he said. “Why do you ask?”

  “It was parked behind our grandfather’s car last night,” Jessie explained. “In fact, when we left, it left, too. For a while we thought whoever was driving that car was following us. But then Grandfather pulled over and the person kept right on going.”

  “Well, I can’t imagine why anyone would want to follow you,” Jeff said. “And I don’t know whose vehicle it is, unless it belongs to Mrs. Thorton’s son. I think I heard he was in town this week.”

  “That’s probably whose it is,” Violet said. That would also explain why Mrs. Thorton was home during the day today.

  “So it’s probably a coincidence that he happened to leave the same time we did last night,” Henry said.

  “I don’t know Erik Thorton,” Jeff said. “But rumor has it he set out to break a world’s record a few years ago, too.”

  “Really?” Benny asked. “Which record?”

  “I can’t remember,” Jeff said, scratching his head. “I don’t even remember whether he was successful. But I know there were articles about it in the newspaper. You could probably find them if you were really interested.”

  “Hey, Jeff?” Emily called. “Could you come help me move this cabinet?”

  “Sure,” Jeff said. He hurried over to her.

  The Aldens were about to leave when the phone next to Jessie rang.

  “Could one of you get that?” Jeff called to the Aldens. He had one end of a heavy cabinet and Emily had the other. They were maneuvering it over to the back of the shop. “I’ll be there in a minute.”

  “Sure,” Jessie said, picked up the phone. “Jeff’s Custom Furniture.”

  A male voice said, “Tell Jeff to stop building that yo-yo!”