Granola Graham & the Earthsavers 1: The Case of the Blue Haired Swimmer
Page 3
Tuffs aren’t so tough when they don’t have you outnumbered. Let’s go.”
The three boys walked the length of the beach until they came to Platters Bay. The first thing Granola noticed was, the old faded hut was now a freshly painted shade of blue. As they approached the hut they saw an empty paint can. The label read, “Henderson’s Sky Blue Oil-Based Paint – 1 Gallon.” Next to the paint can were some buckets, brushes, and rollers. Sandy was nervous and not watching where he was going. He walked into the tin buckets and knocked them over. The racket echoed across the bay and the door to the lifeguard hut burst open. Standing in the doorway was Dirty W.
“What are you doing on my beach?” shouted W.
“It’s not your beach,” answered Kenny.
“Maybe not,” snapped W, “but I seem to be the one taking care of it. Look at the job the Tuffs and I did fixing up this old hut. Why, the city should be paying me for this work.” W smiled at how clever he thought he was being.
“It’s not a bad paint job W, but I hope you didn’t let any of it get into the water. There’s a proper way to clean your brushes and get rid of left over paint. Dumping it into the surf just pollutes the water, and I suspect that’s what you did. The way I see it, Sandy poked his head out of the water just as you were dumping a bucket of leftover paint into the bay. Sandy was in the wrong place at the wrong time, and took your paint in the face.”
“As usual Granola, the way you see it is all wrong,” W said with a sneer. “When we finished painting, we filled some buckets with soap and water from the outdoor tap up the beach and washed our brushes clean beside the hut. We never let them get close to the shore. We were in the clubhouse playing cards when we heard some noise outside. We came out and caught Sandy here trying to steal our stuff. I guess we scared him and he ran right into the side of the wet hut. That’s how he got paint all over his hair. We were laughing so hard that we just let him run away.”
“He’s not telling the truth, Granola,” said Sandy, “but it’s his word against mine.”
Granola smiled. “That’s OK, Sandy. No-one will believe W’s version. His story is all wet.”
How did Granola Know?
Re-read the story looking for clues or turn the page to read the solution.
Solution to The Case of the Blue Haired Swimmer
The label on the paint can read, “Oil-Based Paint.” Granola knows that oil and water don’t mix. You can’t clean oil-based paint off of brushes using “soap and water” as W claimed he and the Tuffs had done. To clean oil-based paint, you need mineral spirits or turpentine.
When Granola pointed out W’s error, he admitted that he and the Tuffs had tried cleaning up using soap and water, and when it didn’t work they got frustrated and threw the brushes and leftover paint into the bay.
The Tuffs apologized to Sandy and promised to stay out of the painting business.
To read more cases download books 2, 3 and 4.
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