Striker Jones_Elementary Economics for Elementary Detectives

by Maggie M. Larche

  “Psst, Bill,” whispered Striker. “Are you sure you don’t want any smoke bombs or hand grenades?”

  “We’ll see who’s laughing when this is all over, and I have all the eggs,” replied Bill, taking a runner’s stance as at the start of a race.

  “Hey!” someone called. “Ralph doesn’t have a basket.”

  “Oh, that’s ok,” said Mrs. Johnson. “Ralph wanted to help hide the eggs, so he won’t be playing this year.”

  “Ok, everybody ready?” asked Mr. Johnson.

  “Yeah!” was the reply. Bill was especially loud.

  “Then ready…set…GO!” he shouted.

  Everyone took off in different directions, causing many kids to crash into each other and fall to the ground. Striker ran for the hedges. On his way, he had to dodge two kids whose crash had landed them in the Johnson’s pool and then vault over one boy who’d managed to trip and fall over all by himself. Once he’d reached the bushes, Striker started to search among the leaves.

  “Yes!” he shouted as he found a bright green egg. He opened it and found a chocolate candy inside.

  “Good job, Striker,” said Sheila, gliding past behind him.

  Striker felt his face turn red. Wiping his forehead, he decided to dash to the punch table for a quick drink to cool off.

  At the punch table, Mr. Johnson was doling out cups of the tasty liquid while Ralph stood next to him drinking a tall glass of his own. “Mmm mmm,” Ralph practically shouted to Striker. “This punch sure is good! I love wildberry!”

  “Um… that’s good,” said Striker, picking up a small glass for himself. He drained it quickly and, feeling a little cooler, headed back into the hunt. He left Ralph behind him, still exclaiming about the punch.

  “Hey! I got one with money in it!” Striker heard a voice shout. He turned and saw Ralph’s best friend, Jason Hill, waving a red egg in the air. “Awesome!”

  Striker shrugged and went back to searching.

  After about five minutes, Striker had collected six more eggs. He was working his way around the edge of the house. He was so intent on looking that he almost bumped into the punch table, where Ralph was once again guzzling punch. “Careful, Striker,” shouted Ralph. “You don’t want to spill any of this delicious punch.”

  Nearby, Jason Hill found another yellow egg. Striker watched him open it and saw that this one too, contained money. Once again, he shrugged and continued searching.

  After a few more minutes, Striker again almost bumped into something—this time it was Bill.

  “Sorry,” laughed Striker. “How are you doing?”

  “I’m doing all right. Not as many as I’d like.”

  “Bill,” said Striker, “You’ve got to be kidding me. It looks like you’ve got about 35 eggs. I’ve only got 11.”

  “All the same, I’m going to need more to win. Plus, all my eggs have only had candy in them, but Jason Hill has found at least seven eggs with money inside! I’ve got to catch up. See you later.” Bill waved at Striker and then dove back into the bushes.

  Striker smiled at Bill’s antics, and then caught sight of Jason searching for eggs. “Maybe he’s just really lucky,” thought Striker.

  He had just started looking for eggs again by the Johnsons’ grill when he overheard Ralph talking to his father.

  “You know, Dad,” Ralph was saying loudly, “I think this punch gets better with every sip I take.”

  “Thanks, Son,” said Mr. Johnson, laughing, “but I think you’re going a little overboard.”

  “No, I’m serious,” said Ralph. “Every single cup is better than the one before it. It’s just amazing. I could drink it all day.”

  Upon hearing this statement, Striker stopped searching for eggs. He stood still for a moment, apparently lost in thought. Finally, he snapped out of it and began to rummage around in his pocket. He pulled out two rubber bands and a toy car before he found what he was looking for: a small pencil. He quickly took a piece of candy out of one of his eggs, popped it into his mouth, and began writing a note on the wrapper. Once he finished, he folded the note and placed it back in the empty egg. Then, he walked over to Ralph, passing Jason on his way, who had again found an egg with money in it.

  “Here, Ralph,” said Striker, “I think you dropped this.” He threw the egg into Ralph’s free hand, ignoring his protests that he wasn’t even playing. Striker walked away as Ralph cracked open the egg.

  From inside the egg, Ralph pulled out Striker’s wrapper. Upon reading the note, his face paled. He clenched his hands and glared after Striker.

  While Ralph glowered at his retreating back, Striker joined Bill who was vigorously searching a flowerbed.

  “Hey, Bill, check this out.”

  Bill turned to look where Striker was pointing.

  “This better be important,” said Bill, “if you’re making me waste valuable egg-searching time.”

  “Just watch,” replied Striker. “You’ll enjoy it.”

  Ralph was carefully tearing the wrapper into tiny pieces, still shooting dirty looks at Striker. After a moment, however, Ralph slowly walked over to Jason. He whispered something to Jason, who began to look rather angry himself. The two boys argued for a moment and then reluctantly began to put Jason’s eggs back into the bushes.

  Suddenly Striker heard a soft voice behind him. “What’s that all about?”

  Striker turned to see Sheila looking over his shoulder.

  He swallowed hard and tried to sound casual. “Oh, Ralph and Jason were cheating, that’s all.”

  How did Striker know?

  Solution

  While it was pretty fishy that Ralph was spending so much time at the punch table, Striker really took notice when he heard Ralph say that every cup of punch was better than the one before it. Now, that’s almost never true. Instead, the more you have of something, the less tasty it seems. For instance, the second Coke is never better than the first Coke, and the third Coke isn’t even as good as the second. So, Striker knew that Ralph was making up how much he was enjoying the punch.

  If Ralph wasn’t really enjoying each cup of punch more than the previous cup, then he must have had some other reason for saying so. That part was easy when Striker thought about the facts—Ralph knew where the eggs were hidden, and his best friend Jason kept finding the ones with money. Striker realized they must have set up some sort of signal where Ralph would praise the punch every time Jason was near a money egg.

  As Ralph and Jason replaced the eggs, Striker explained all this to Bill and Sheila. Bill laughed and said, “Even if I don’t win today, it was worth it to see the look on Ralph’s face!” He gave Striker a quick high-five and then hurried off to search for more eggs, straightening his bandana as he went. Striker noticed that he went straight to the areas where Ralph and Jason had just put back some eggs.

  After Bill was gone, Striker was left alone with Sheila, and he could feel the butterflies begin.

  Now, whenever Striker solved a mystery, he always tried very hard to be modest. This time, though, he couldn’t help but feel a tiny bit proud when Sheila gave him one long, admiring look and his butterflies faded away.

  Chapter 9: Museums and Mummies, Dinos and Daisies

  “I am so excited about this field trip. I’ve never seen dinosaur bones before!” said Bill.

  It was a sunny Friday morning, and Striker’s whole class was gathered on the bus ramp getting ready to embark on the annual end-of-year field trip. This year, they were going to the Natural History Museum.

  “I mean, real dinosaurs!” continued Bill. “It doesn’t get any cooler than that!”

  “Except for maybe the mummies,” said Striker. “I’ve heard those are awesome.”

  “Oooh, the mummies sound terrifying!” said Sheila. “Are they real?”

  “I think so,” said Striker. “But they’ll be behind glass and stuff. I’m sure we’re not allowed to touch them.”

  “Still. . . ” Sheila shivered and smiled.

  �
�What’s the matter, Sheila?” someone sneered from behind Striker. “Scared of a few mummies?”

  Striker turned with a groan to face Ralph and his best friend Jason.

  “I should have known,” he thought. Ralph had been giving all of them an especially hard time since the Easter egg hunt.

  “Lay off, Ralph,” said Striker.

  “And who’s going to make me, Striker? You’re probably scared of the mummies, too,” he laughed. “And who cares about dinosaurs? What are you, five years old?”

  “Oh, come on, you don’t think dinosaurs are cool?” said Bill. He crossed his arms. “You’re lying.”

  “Am not. Jason and I don’t care about that kid stuff anyways. We want to see the weapons exhibit.”

  “What weapons exhibit?” asked Amy.

  “Everyone knows the Natural History Museum has a huge display of guns and knives,” said Jason.

  “We’ll probably be too sissy to go visit it as a class, so Jason and I are going to sneak off to go see them for ourselves.”

  “Sounds great,” said Striker, rolling his eyes.

  “Yeah,” added Bill. “We’ll really miss you.”

  Amy and Sheila laughed.

  “Think that’s funny?” Ralph demanded.

  “Excuse me, Ralph,” said a sweet voice. Ralph shrunk back and turned to face their teacher, Ms. Peters.

  “Yes, Ms. Peters?” he asked, trying, and failing, to sound innocent.

  “You don’t look very busy right now. Why don’t you come help me carry some of these heavy coolers? You too, Jason. We’ve got a lot of lunches to load on the bus.”

  “Oh, ok,” Ralph muttered. After a warning glance from the teacher, he meekly added, “I mean, yes, Ms. Peters.” He and Jason walked in the direction of the bus with shoulders slumped.

  “Carry on, kids,” said Ms. Peters with a wink before she turned to follow Ralph and Jason.

  “I hope they get lost at the museum,” said Amy.

  When the class first reached the museum, they all had to wait out front with a few volunteer parents while Ms. Peters went inside to gather their tickets. There was a wide lawn that stretched across the front of the enormous building, perfect for a group of kids killing time. Some of the students got up a game of tag, while others did cartwheels and spun in circles.

  Daisies were growing in the grass, attracting the attention of a few of the girls. While the kids played, two students, Rosie Marivaux and Julia Linchfield, began to weave flower crowns. Ms. Peters took so long to get the tickets, that Rosie and Julia had time to make crowns for themselves and several extras for some of their friends.

  Sheila and Amy watched them from the shade of a hickory tree. “Oooh, I want one,” said Sheila. “Don’t you?”

  “Nah,” said Amy. “Flowers aren’t really my thing. But if you want one, why don’t you go ask if you can have one of the extras they’ve made?”

  “Because look at all the girls who want them.” And indeed, there was quite a crowd of girls surrounding Julia and Rosie now, all wanting their own flower crowns. “I’d never get one,” Sheila finished.

  Just then, Ms. Peters emerged from the front of the museum. “All right, students,” she called. “We’re ready to go. Let’s line up!”

  Sheila sighed. “Well, no time to make my own now.”

  Everyone rushed to be first in line, and the flower crowns were all but forgotten.

  The first exhibit the class saw was the gems and minerals room. Everyone was amazed at the different kinds of rocks they saw.

  “I love the sparkly ones,” said Amy. “Can you imagine finding one of these in your backyard?”

  “Look!” shouted Bill across the room. “I found some lava!”

  Striker hurried over to see for himself. “Why’s it black?” he asked, looking at the coal-black rock filled with holes. “I thought lava was bright red.”

  “It is,” said Bill, reading from the sign. “But this is how it looks once it’s cooled.”

  “Awesome.”

  Nearby, Striker and Bill could overhear Rosie talking to Julia.

  “These are so gorgeous,” she was saying, looking at a display of sapphires. “I could spend all day in this room.”

  “I know,” agreed Julia. “I wish we could.”

  They were quiet a moment, before Rosie continued.

  “Did I tell you that Christina Martin offered me her chocolate chip cookies for a flower crown?”

  “No, you didn’t. Did you take it?”

  “Nah. But I thought it was kind of neat. We could practically start our own business!”

  Julia laughed.

  Just then, Striker was bumped from behind, hard.

  “Oh, excuse me,” said Ralph with a sneer. “I didn’t see you.”

  Striker narrowed his eyes, but then felt a hand on his arm.

  “Just ignore him,” said Sheila.

  “I’m trying,” said Striker. “But one of these days…”

  “I know. Here, come look at this geode that Bill found. It’s really cool.”

  The geode was a rock that looked very bumpy on the outside, but was filled with sparkly blue crystal formations on the inside.

  “Kind of makes you want to break open every rock you see, doesn’t it?” said Sheila. “You never know when that might be inside.”

  Striker and Bill agreed.

  After the gems and minerals, the class moved on to the mummy exhibit that Striker was so looking forward to. It was everything he’d hoped it would be. The mummies and the other artifacts from Ancient Egypt were very fragile, so the lights had to be kept very low to protect them. With the partial darkness, the exhibit felt extra mysterious, and Striker felt a little shiver go down his spine when he first saw a mummy up close. He couldn’t stop himself from looking around for Ralph and Jason. “Let’s see if they’re really as tough as they say,” he thought. But he didn’t see them in the dim room.

  After spending twenty minutes looking at burial scrolls and sarcophaguses, and even a stone taken from an actual pyramid, they proceeded to what was the crowning exhibit of the day—the Hall of Dinosaurs. Bill was particularly excited as he stared at the huge skeleton of a Tyrannosaurus Rex.

  “Wow,” said Bill, staring straight up into the wide jaws of the dinosaur. “Can you believe it, Striker? A real T-Rex?”

  “It’s pretty awesome,” said Striker. “Can you imagine meeting that thing in the wild?”

  “It’d be scary,” said Bill. He cleared his throat. “To most people, that is. I wouldn’t be scared.”

  “Of course not,” said Striker, hiding a smile.

  “You know,” continued Bill after a moment, “whenever I see dinosaur bones on TV, I always wonder about what would happen if I accidentally knocked into a skeleton. Couldn’t you just see the bones flying everywhere?”

  Striker certainly could. In his mind’s eye, he watched the dinosaur skeleton come crashing to the ground, bones ricocheting off the floor and the walls. The dinosaur’s head alone could probably crush the heavy wooden table next to them.

  Striker was quiet for a moment, enjoying the thought.

  “We’d probably get in trouble,” said Bill.

  “Yeah. Big trouble,” agreed Striker.

  The boys stared up at the bones in silence.

  “Too bad,” they both sighed together.

  “Excuse me, class. I need everyone’s attention.”

  The boys turned to the head of the Hall of Dinosaurs where Ms. Peters was addressing the class. She looked worried.

  “We’re missing a couple students, and I need to know if anyone knows where they might have gone.”

  Striker and Bill looked at each other.

  “Does anyone know the location of Ralph and Jason?”

  Bill raised his hand. “Ms. Peters, they said that they wanted to go see the weapons exhibit while we were here.”

  “Thank you, Bill, but I’m afraid we’ve already checked the other exhibits in the museum. They aren’t the
re.”

  The class began murmuring in excitement. Ms. Peters turned to confer with the volunteer parents.

  Striker thought back to the conversation he had overhead in the gem room between Rosie and Julia. Ralph must have been right behind him at the time, because he knocked into Striker only seconds later.

  Striker raised his hand. “Ms. Peters,” he said loudly over the noise, “I think I know where Ralph and Jason are.”

  The room went quiet.

  “Where is that, Striker?”

  “They’re probably on the front lawn.”

  Why?

  Solution

  Whenever a lot of people really want something, then enterprising businesses will usually respond by making a whole lot of that something to meet the increased demand. For instance, if lots of people want cupcakes, then bakers respond by making lots of cupcakes to sell. Plus, not only do bakers make more cupcakes, it also attracts more people to become bakers. Then, you have even more cupcakes!

  The same principle works for flower crowns. Striker knew lots of people wanted the flower crowns that Julia and Rosie were making. After all, they had quickly run out of all the crowns they’d made, and students were even offering to exchange parts of their lunches for a crown! He also knew that Ralph had overhead that the crowns were in high demand, and he could just imagine Ralph and Jason salivating over what they could get in exchange for more crowns.

  The only place to make more crowns was the lawn in front of the museum. So, when Ralph and Jason went missing, it seemed like a likely spot to find them.

  Striker was right. When Ms. Peters found Ralph and Jason sitting in the field making flower crowns, she was furious. The whole class looked on laughing through a museum window as the teacher gave the two boys a very stern lecture. Even funnier than the lecture was the sight of Ralph and Jason surrounded by flowers and some of the ugliest, most ill-shaped flower crowns they’d ever seen.