Sly the Sleuth and the Pet Mysteries

by Donna Jo Napoli

  Who ever heard of fish who wanted to be held?

  I picked up a bowl and walked to the back of the store to find Melody.

  She spied me right away. “Isn’t the yellow one cute? He’s sick, so they put him in a cage all alone.”

  The parakeet didn’t look sick. He was chattering at himself in a mirror.

  “I guess they put the mirror there to keep him company,” said Melody.

  Company. Maybe these fish were mad because they wanted company. Maybe that’s why they liked being in my hands.

  I held the bowl up to the side of the birdcage, so that the fish could see himself in the mirror.

  He got mad.

  Wow.

  I ran back to the counter and picked up another bowl. With a bowl in each hand, I brought the two fish near each other.

  They got mad.

  I put my head down between them.

  They stopped being mad.

  I picked up a bowl with a red fish and a bowl with a blue fish. I held them so they could see each other. They got mad.

  These fish didn’t want company.

  And now I knew why they weren’t in tanks.

  I turned over the sign. Yup, that made sense. It said: “Siamese Fighting Fish (Bettas).”

  Hair Dye

  I ran to the drugstore. Kate and Melody lagged behind.

  “Slow down,” called Kate.

  “Catch up,” I called back.

  I went to the hair dye section.There were fourteen shades of brown. “Which one matches Jack’s natural color?” I asked.

  “I like his hair blue,” said Melody. “He looked good at recess.”

  “Besides,” said Kate, “you don’t have any right to tell Jack what color his hair should be.”

  I stared at Kate. She was the one who told people what to do. But I didn’t point that out. “He needs to go back to brown,” I said. I chose a medium brown.

  “I’d like to be a redhead,” said Melody. She picked up a package. “I wonder if my mother would let me.”

  “Don’t ask her,” said Kate. She picked up a package of purple hair dye. “What about you, Sly?”

  “I have to keep my mind on business,” I said. “Let’s go.”

  We bought hair dye and ran to Jack’s house. I rang the bell.

  Jack opened the door. “What are you all doing here?”

  “We’re going to have a hair-dyeing party,”said Kate.

  “Not at my house,” said Jack.

  “But you need to dye your hair brown,” I said. “And you need to change your clothes.”

  “Why?”

  “When did you dye your hair blue?” I asked.

  “Last night, before I went to bed.”

  “And when did you put on all your blue clothes?” I asked.

  “This morning.”

  “Exactly,” I said. “Wish Fish is a Siamese Fighting Fish. They come in all colors, including blue. Last night, when you had blue hair, he suspected you were a betta too. So he got mad. Then, when you put on all blue clothes, he was sure. So he got madder. He wanted to fight you.”

  “I’m not a fish,” said Jack.

  “Wish Fish is stupid,” I said. “So you have to change back to your normal colors.”

  “Oh.” Jack smiled. “I can do that. After Halloween. In the meantime, I’ll ask my mom to feed Wish Fish.”

  “Case solved,” I said.

  “Pay her,” said Melody.

  “What do you want?” asked Jack.

  I didn’t know yet. “I’ll send you a bill.”

  Payment

  Kate’s house was only two doors down from Jack’s. So we went there.

  We also went there because Kate’s mother lets her do almost anything she wants. And Kate’s mother is always reasonable, so other people tend to agree with her. She called Melody’s mother and got her to agree.

  Kate and Melody dyed their hair.

  I sat on the back steps and waited. I felt kind of left out.

  Clarissa, the semi-fat cat, rubbed against my legs. She was a pretty good cat. Not extraordinary, like Taxi. But okay.

  Clarissa purred.

  I petted her.

  I thought about Jack’s question: What did I want for payment? I couldn’t ask for money because Jack never had any.

  I remembered the clutter in Jack’s room. I couldn’t ask for anything Jack had because I didn’t like the things Jack had.

  So what could I ask for?

  Maybe I could make him my slave for a day. That wasn’t a bad idea. If Jack knew how to do anything useful. But maybe he didn’t.

  “Boo.” It was Jack, of course.

  “How did you find me?”

  “I watched when you left my house.” Jack reached into his pocket. “Here.”

  It was a half-used package of blue hair dye. “What for?”

  “My hair’s short, so I only used half. I was saving the rest for next Halloween. But I’ve decided to be a pirate next Halloween.”

  “So how come I get it?”

  “It’s your payment.” Jack twisted his mouth.“It’s enough, isn’t it?”

  I looked at Jack’s blue hair. Melody was right; it was a great color. “Sure. Thanks.”

  Halloween

  It’s the day after Halloween. Jack came to school with brown hair. He told me Wish Fish was happy.

  I went to school with blue hair. That was not easy. Kate’s mother had to talk to my mother for a long time before she agreed.

  Now I’m sitting in the hammock with Taxi. We went trick-or-treating together. I was Marge Simpson. Bart’s mother. She has beautiful blue hair.

  Taxi was my cat.

  Melody and her new puppy went with us. Melody went as a mother dog and her puppy was her baby.

  This was a good second case. Daddy says I’m honing my skills as a sleuth. But I might take a vacation from sleuthing till this dye wears off. Blue hair makes me stand out. And a sleuth needs to be able to go unnoticed.

  Case #3: Third Case

  Sly and the Third Case

  Tears

  I sat on the back stoop. It was one of those warm days that comes like a surprise in the middle of November. A good day to do homework outside.

  I took out my spelling list.

  “Catch Taxi,” screamed Brian. He ran over from next door.

  “Why?” I said.

  Brian screamed again. “Catch her, fast.”

  “Taxi,” I called.

  Taxi came running.

  “Hold her,” screamed Brian.

  I pulled Taxi onto my lap.

  “Lock her up,” screamed Brian.

  “What’s this all about?” I said. “And stop screaming.”

  Brian sat down beside me. “Wilson got loose.”

  “Wilson?” Then I remembered. Brian’s mother told me she was going to get him a mouse.“Is that what you named your new pet?”

  “A ball knocked over the bucket,” said Brian. “Lock Taxi up.”

  “Let me get this straight. You put Wilson in a bucket?”

  Brian shook his head.“My mother did. She was cleaning Wilson’s home.”

  What mother would put a mouse in a bucket? But, then, what mother besides Brian’s would think flaxseed sprinkled on prunes was a treat? “Okay. Then a ball knocked over the bucket?”

  “Taxi will kill Wilson. Lock her up.”

  “When did this happen?”

  “After dinner.”

  “After dinner yesterday? Brian, if Taxi was going to kill Wilson, she’s already done it.”

  Brian’s eyes teared up.“Oh no,” he sobbed. “Oh no, oh no.”

  I put my arm around him. “I said ‘if.’ Maybe Wilson is fine.”

  “Sly,” came Melody’s voice. “Oh, Sly.”

  I looked up.

  Melody stood in the driveway. She was crying.

  “What’s wrong?”

  “I think my puppy’s dying.”

  Crazy

  I hugged Melody.

  Ta
xi ran into the bushes.

  Brian screamed, “Catch Taxi. Catch Taxi. Catch Taxi.”

  “Wait a minute, Melody,” I said.

  I reached under the bushes. I pulled out Taxi and put her inside. “Stop screaming, Brian.”

  “Okay,” said Brian.

  I went back to Melody. “What happened?”

  “He got sick.”

  “How awful. Did you take him to the vet?”

  “No. My parents said he’s fine.”

  This was odd. “Let’s sit down.”

  We sat on the stoop.

  Brian went over to his yard. He crawled on all fours in the grass.

  “Why’s Brian crawling?” asked Melody.

  “Maybe he’s looking for Wilson,” I said. “Or maybe he’s crazy.”

  “Who’s Wilson?”

  I didn’t want to talk about a mouse that was probably dead.“It doesn’t matter. Brian is definitely crazy.”

  “Maybe my puppy’s crazy too,” said Melody.

  “Tell me about it,” I said.

  “Oh, good,” said Melody. “I knew you’d solve my case.You said you were taking a vacation from sleuthing. But I just knew you’d come back for me”.

  I hadn’t realized this was a case.

  Did I want a new case?

  My first case was about Fat Cat. My second case was about Wish Fish.

  Fat Cat. Wish Fish. They rhymed.

  So my third case should rhyme too. After all, things came in threes.

  “Sick Puppy” didn’t rhyme.“Crazy Puppy” didn’t rhyme.

  But this was a case about a pet. And so were the first two. So that was good.

  And my hair was back to brown. As it turned out, the blue washed out in two weeks. That was the kind of dye Jack’s mother had let him buy—short-term. So I could sleuth again unnoticed.

  And even though Taxi didn’t like dogs, she’d be interested in a sick one. Probably any cat would. So this was a case a cat would enjoy hearing me talk about.

  And, most of all, this was Melody. My best friend.

  “Start at the beginning,” I said.

  Night and Day

  “Last night I took Pong outside to play.”

  Pong? “I thought his name was Brownie.When did you change it?”

  “The other day,” said Melody. “I was playing Ping-Pong and he loved it.”

  “I hate that game,” said Brian. He had come back into my yard. “It’s hard.” He sprinkled grass over us.

  Melody stood up. She shook off the grass.

  “Pong loved it. He chased the balls. He even ate one. So I changed his name.”

  “If he ate a Ping-Pong ball, that’s why he’s sick,” I said.

  “No, he passed it.”

  I thought about that. “Eww.”

  “He crunched it up before he swallowed it,” said Melody. “And that was days ago, anyway.”

  “All right,” I said. “What happened last night?”

  “We were playing catch.”

  “I like catch,” said Brian. He threw another handful of grass on us.

  “And he got sick,” said Melody. She brushed off the grass.

  “How do you mean?”

  “He moved all jerky. All over the place.”

  “He’s a puppy,” I said.“That’s what puppies do.”

  “But this was different. I ran inside and told Daddy. He put Pong to bed. And he said not to worry.” Melody shrugged.“So I went to bed too.”

  “Did he sleep okay?”

  “I guess so. He was okay this morning. I went to school. But when I got home, he did that weird jerky stuff again. I picked him up. And he flipped out of my arms.”

  “Did you tell your parents?”

  “They’re not home. And Sharee said it was no big deal.”

  Sharee was Melody’s after-school sitter. She said everything was no big deal.

  “So you came over here,” I said.

  “Sharee let me. I didn’t know what else to do.” Melody hugged herself. “Maybe he goes crazy as the day goes on. Maybe he’ll get worse and worse”.

  “At night he’ll be really bad,” said Brian.

  “Hush, Brian,” I said.

  “He’s a werewolf,” said Brian.

  “Dogs don’t become werewolves,” I said. “Only people do that.”

  “Maybe Pong is people really,” said Brian.

  “Go home, Brian,” I said. “Okay, Melody, let’s go see Pong.”

  Normal

  We walked through Brian’s backyard, cut through the hedge at the rear, and went into Melody’s yard.

  Melody opened her back door.

  Pong jumped up on her.

  She got on her knees. She scratched him.

  “Shut the door,” called Sharee. She was probably in the living room reading.That’s what she always did. “And hi, Sly, come on in.” I don’t know how she knew I was there.

  I came inside.

  Pong jumped on me.

  I got on my knees too.

  “He seems normal,” I said. I petted his soft ears.

  “Now. But he went nuts a little while ago.”

  I looked Pong over. “What were you doing when he went nuts?”

  “Playing catch.”

  And she was playing catch last night, when Pong first went nuts. “Play catch now,” I said.

  Melody went into her bedroom.

  Pong followed her.

  She came back with a stuffed cat.

  Pong ripped it out of her hand. He ran around the room. He shook the cat in his teeth.

  I thought of Taxi. “You’re teaching him to bite cats,” I said.

  “Oh. I didn’t think of that.” Melody wrestled the cat away from Pong.

  Pong yipped.

  “He’s acting normal,” I said.

  “But he wasn’t before. Really.”

  “Show me what he did,” I said. “Maybe then he’ll do it again.”

  Melody squatted. Then she jumped. Then she squatted.Then she jumped in the other direction.

  Pong ran around her. He leaped at her. But he didn’t do what she did. “He’s normal,” I said.

  “Stop saying that.” Melody stood up. “Pong is sick.”

  “He doesn’t act sick,” I said.

  “Maybe he won’t do it in front of anyone else.”

  “I have homework,” I said. I went to the door.

  “But I hired you,” said Melody.

  “I need to think now.That’s part of the job. Call me if he acts weird again.”

  No Good

  I sat on the back stoop with a notebook and a dictionary.

  Taxi pushed her head into my side. She was still mad at me for leaving her in the house.

  I put my hand over her face and mushed her. It sounds bad. But I did it gentle. She loves it.

  I had twenty spelling words. I had to use each one in a sentence. The first one was evolve. I opened the dictionary. Evolve means to develop. I wrote my first sentence: My father is a photographer, so he evolves his own pictures.

  It wasn’t true. My father has his pictures developed at the drugstore. But it was the best sentence I could think of.

  I did the next six words just as fast.

  “You’re no good.” Brian stood beside me.

  “Don’t bother me now,” I said. “I have homework.”

  “You let Taxi out,” said Brian. He pointed a finger at Taxi.

  Taxi was now resting in the dirt.

  “Wilson killer,” he screamed at her.“Murderer.”

  “You don’t know for sure that Taxi killed Wilson,” I said.

  Brian walked over to Taxi. He grabbed her head and tried to pull open her jaw.

  Taxi screeched and ran away.

  “See?” said Brian. “She killed Wilson.”

  “How do you know?”

  “She ran away,” said Brian. “She’s guilty.”

  Brian knew nothing about anything.

  “Come on, Brian. Wilson might be happil
y digging a tunnel under your grass right now.” It was possible, anyway.

  “Wilson would hate tunnels,” said Brian. “I do. They scare me. Wilson would like ponds. But we don’t have a pond in our yard.”

  A mouse in a pond? But what was the point of arguing. “Maybe Wilson didn’t stay in your yard,” I said.

  “You just want to pretend you have a good cat. But you don’t,” said Brian. “Your cat’s no good. And you’re no good.”

  “Bye, Brian.” I picked up my things and went inside.

  Phone Call

  I finished my spelling list in no time.

  I opened my science book.

  The phone rang.

  My mother answered it. “Sly, it’s for you.”

  I went into the kitchen. My mother handed me an apple and the phone.

  I took a bite. “Hello?” I said between chews.

  “He did it again,” said Melody.

  “Is he doing it now?” I said.

  “No.”

  “Were you playing catch when he started?” I said.

  “Yes.”

  “Don’t play catch,” I said.

  “Okay.”

  “And don’t teach him to bite cats.”

  “We didn’t use the stuffed cat,” Melody yelped. “We never use it. I just brought it out today because we were in the house. We usually play catch with a ball. But my mother won’t let me throw a ball in the house. So I was going to use the cat. Just that once,” said Melody. “Stop saying I’m teaching Pong to bite cats. I’m not.”

  I waited to see if she was finished.“All right,”I said.

  “Bye,” said Melody.

  “Bye.”

  I looked out the window.

  Brian was crawling again. This time he was in my yard.

  That was my fault. I told him Wilson might have left his yard.

  “Sly, come in here please,” said Mother.

  I went to Mother.

  “Your first sentence makes no sense,” said Mother. She held my spelling homework. “That’s not how to use evolve.”

  “The dictionary said evolve means to develop,” I said.

  “It does mean that. But it usually means to develop over time—over a long time. Like how some small dinosaurs evolved into birds. And you can’t evolve something else—things just evolve on their own.”