Cam Jansen and the Spaghetti Max Mystery
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Cam hadn’t found Karen, and now she couldn’t find Eric. She stood outside the men’s room and waited.
When Eric came out, she told him, “Karen is not in there.”
Eric wiped his wet hand on the back of his shirt.
“That’s no way to dry your hands,” Cam said. “There are paper towels in there and an electric hand drier.”
“I know. But I thought you might come out and not see me here and worry.”
“Hey,” Cam said. “Maybe that’s what happened with Karen. Her father came out and she wasn’t here.”
“She was in there,” Eric said, and pointed to the women’s room.
“Her father thought she was lost. He went to look for her.”
“Then, when she did come out,” Eric said, “her father was gone.”
“We may know what happened to Karen,” Cam said. “We may know why she wasn’t waiting for her father. But there’s still one problem. We didn’t find Karen Kramer.”
Chapter Four
Cam and Eric went back to the information desk. There were still lots of people waiting there. Mr. Kramer had moved up. He was now in the middle of the line.
“There you are,” Mr. Kramer said to Cam and Eric. “Where’s Karen?”
“We didn’t find her.”
“I’m really worried. I need them to make that announcement.”
“I’m worried, too. I need to make my flight,” the old woman just ahead in the line said. “I’m going to Seattle. But they have so many gates. I don’t know where to go.”
“The gate number is on your boarding pass,” Mr. Kramer told her. “It’s gate eighteen.”
“Thank you,” the woman said, and hurried off.
“My mother lives in Seattle,” Mr. Kramer said. “That’s where Karen and I are going.”
There was another announcement:
Flight two eighty-eight from Denver now arriving at gate sixteen.
“We think we know what happened to her,” Eric said. “We think we know why she didn’t wait for you.”
Eric told Mr. Kramer that when he came out of the men’s room, Karen must have been in the women’s room.
“Then it’s my fault. I should have just waited there.”
People at the front of the line had their questions answered and walked off. Mr. Kramer was slowly moving closer to the information desk.
Mr. Kramer shook his head and said, “Before, I didn’t know why she wasn’t waiting for me. Now I know what might have happened, but it doesn’t help. I still don’t have Karen.”
There was another announcement:
Karen Kramer, please go to the information desk. Your father is waiting there for you.
“Did you hear that?” Cam said.
“Hear what?” Eric and Mr. Kramer asked.
“They just called for Karen to come here. My dad must have had them make the announcement.”
“I didn’t hear it,” Mr. Kramer said. “This place is so noisy, and there are so many announcements.”
Eric said, “Maybe Karen heard it. If she did, she’s probably on her way here.”
“I hope so,” Mr. Kramer said.
Mr. Jansen joined Cam, Eric, and Mr. Kramer.
“Let’s go,” he said. “I’m sure Karen heard the announcement. She should be here soon.”
“But I’m next,” Mr. Kramer said.
“Yes, you are,” Mr. Jansen told him. “But you’re waiting to ask them to make an announcement and they already made it. Now your daughter may be coming here looking for you. We don’t want to miss her.”
They all went to a small waiting area near the information desk. They stood there and looked for Karen.
Mr. Kramer looked at his watch again.
“It’s getting late,” he said. “You’ve been very helpful, but you don’t have to wait with me. You must have a plane to catch.”
“Oh, no,” Mr. Jansen said. “We’re not going anywhere. We came to pick up my friend Max.”
Mr. Jansen took out his cell phone.
“I forgot all about Max. He must be wondering where we are. I have to call him.”
Mr. Jansen pushed the buttons on his phone.
He waited.
“Max isn’t answering.”
He pushed the buttons again.
“He’s still not answering. What happened to Spaghetti Max?”
Chapter Five
Cam, Eric, Mr. Jansen, and Mr. Kramer watched as many people walked by the information desk.
Mr. Jansen said, “Now we’re looking for two people: Karen and Spaghetti Max.”
“Hey! There’s a girl who’s about five,” Eric said, and pointed.
Cam said, “She’s not wearing an avocado shirt.”
Mr. Jansen said, “And she’s holding her mother’s hand.”
“She’s not Karen,” Mr. Kramer told Eric.
“Yeah,” Eric said. “I guess I knew that. I’m just so anxious to solve this mystery.”
Cam, Eric, Mr. Jansen, and Mr. Kramer stood there a while longer.
“We don’t all need to be here,” Cam told her father and Mr. Kramer. “We’re all watching the same people walk by. While you stay here, Eric and I can go looking for Karen.”
Eric said, “We’ll also look for a man who’s really skinny.”
“Stay together,” Cam’s father said.
As they walked off, Cam told Eric, “I don’t like to just stand around. I like to do things.”
Cam and Eric walked toward the men’s room. They walked past many of the shops in the building.
Then they reached the security checkpoint. Beyond it were the gates. They couldn’t go any farther without a boarding pass.
“Where could she be?” Cam asked. “She knows she’s lost. Why isn’t she looking for her father?”
“And where is Spaghetti Max?” Eric asked.
They looked at the people waiting by the checkpoint. Those near the front of the line emptied their pockets into a plastic bin. They put their jackets, hats, and shoes in another bin. Then they put the bins on a wide moving belt that took them through an X-ray machine. They put their carry-on luggage on the belt, too. Next the people walked through a large arch.
Cam watched a woman with a small child give the security guard a boarding pass. Then they both walked through the arch.
“Did you see that?” Cam asked. “She just gave the guard one pass. Maybe small children don’t need one.”
Eric said, “I think she gave him two passes.”
“Let’s find out.”
Cam and Eric went to the front of the line.
“Please, wait your turn,” the guard said.
“We’re not going in there,” Cam said and pointed to the gates beyond the arch. “We just have a question. Does a small child need a boarding pass?”
“Everyone needs a pass.”
Eric asked him, “Did you see a small girl with red ribbons in her hair and a green shirt?”
“I’ve seen lots of people. I don’t remember them all.”
Cam and Eric looked beyond the checkpoint. They looked at the people on their way to the gates. They didn’t see Karen.
Cam and Eric walked away from the checkpoint.
“Karen doesn’t have a boarding pass,” Cam said. “She couldn’t have gone to the gate. So where is she?”
“Let’s go back,” Eric said. “Maybe she heard the announcement and went to the information desk. Maybe now your dad is looking for us.”
They started back. Then, as they walked past a newspaper stand, Eric stopped.
“Look,” he said. “I see him.”
“Who do you see?”
“Spaghetti Max.”
Chapter Six
“That man is really skinny,” Eric said. “He lo
oks old, like your father. He must be Spaghetti Max. Let’s go tell him that your dad is waiting for him by the information desk.”
There was another announcement. This time it was very loud.
Flight fifty-one to Phoenix now boarding at gate twelve.
Cam looked up. The announcement was coming from a metal speaker right above her and Eric. The speaker was hanging from the ceiling.
Flight ninety-two from Dallas now arriving at gate thirty-two.
Cam turned and looked at the large computer screen with the schedule of the airplanes arriving and leaving the airport. The information about the Phoenix and Dallas flights was on the screen.
“Did you just hear those announcements?” Cam asked Eric.
“What announcements? It’s so noisy here.”
“That’s the problem. Karen Kramer might not even have heard that her father is waiting for her at the information desk.”
“What about Spaghetti Max? At least we found him. He’s right over there. Why don’t we tell him where your dad is waiting?”
“We think we found him,” Cam said.
The man was looking at the many newspapers in the racks.
Cam and Eric walked toward the thin man.
Eric said, “Hello, Spaghetti Max.”
The man kept looking at the newspapers.
Cam said, “Hello, Mr. Miller.”
The man took a newspaper off the rack. He took it to the counter and paid for it.
Cam and Eric followed him.
“Excuse me, are you Mr. Max Miller?” Eric asked loudly.
The man turned. “Are you talking to me?”
“Yes. Are you Max Miller?”
“No. I’m not.”
“Are you sure?” Eric asked.
The man laughed and shook his head.
“Are you asking me if I’m sure I know who I am?”
“I’m sorry,” Eric said. “That was a silly question. It’s just that we’re looking for Max Miller and we’ve never met him.”
“Well, good luck with that,” the man said, and walked away.
Cam said, “We should stop looking for Spaghetti Max. He has a cell phone and he has our address. If we don’t find him, he’ll call Dad or he’ll take a taxi to my house. We should be looking for Karen Kramer.”
“I am,” Eric said. “I’m looking for both of them. I’m looking for a tall skinny man and a five-year-old girl wearing an avocado green shirt.”
Eric looked at everyone they passed as they walked toward the information desk.
Cam stopped looking at them. Instead she closed her eyes and said, “Click!”
She said, “Click!” again and kept walking.
“Hey!” Eric said. He pulled Cam toward him. “Watch where you’re going. You almost walked into someone.”
“I’m trying to remember everything I’ve seen since we came to the airport. I must have seen something that will help us find Karen Kramer.”
Eric took Cam’s hand.
“I don’t want you to get hurt,” Eric said.
“When we came here,” Cam said, “we saw lots of people pulling suitcases. We saw people standing in front of the computer screen looking at the airplane schedule. We saw all those eating places.”
“And there was a long line of people standing by the information desk,” Eric said. “And there’s still a long line.”
“Click!” Cam said again. “Now I’m looking at all those toy and souvenir shops.”
“Open your eyes,” Eric said. “There’s someone with your Dad and Mr. Kramer.”
“Is it Karen?”
“No. It’s some man.”
Chapter Seven
Mel Kramer hurried to Cam and Eric.
“Did you find Karen?”
“No,” Eric told him. “We looked everywhere. We even went to the security check by the gates.”
“It’s my fault,” Mr. Kramer said. “I should never have left her alone.” He shook his head and slowly walked away.
Mr. Jansen waved to Cam and Eric. Then he walked to them. A tall, heavy man was with him.
“This is my daughter, Jennifer,” Mr. Jansen told the man. “And this is her good friend Eric.”
“Hello,” the man said. “Barry J has told me a lot about both of you. I’m Spaghetti Max.”
“You are?” Cam asked.
“Yes,” Max Miller said. “And you’re the girl with the amazing memory. Don’t you have a nickname?”
“Yes. They call me ‘Cam.’ It’s short for ‘The Camera.’ People call me that because I have a photographic memory.”
“People used to call me Spaghetti Max because I was as thin as a strand of spaghetti. And do you know what?”
Cam and Eric shook their heads. They didn’t know what.
“I also like to eat spaghetti . . . and pizza and ice cream and lots of other things. So now I’m not so thin.”
“Flying makes Max hungry,” Mr. Jansen said.
“Most things make me hungry,” Max said. “As soon as I got off the plane, I had a sandwich at Sol’s Sandwiches. Then I had a strawberry ice cream cone at Polly’s Ice Cream Shop.”
“Why didn’t you answer my dad when he called you?” Cam asked.
“When I got on the airplane, I turned off my cell phone. That’s why I didn’t hear his call. I finished eating, turned on my phone, and called your dad.”
“He told me where he was waiting,” Mr. Jansen said. “I found him sitting at Polly’s. As soon as I saw him, I knew he was my skinny friend Spaghetti Max.”
Mr. Jansen’s friend laughed.
“It’s been a long time since I’ve been skinny.”
Now Mr. Jansen laughed.
“Sometimes you see what you want to see,” he said.
“Sometimes you see what you want to see,” Cam repeated slowly.
Then she closed her eyes and said, “Click!”
She said, “Click!” again.
“That’s it!” Cam opened her eyes.
“I just thought of something,” she told her father. “Can you and Mr. Miller wait here? Eric and I will be right back.”
Cam hurried off. Eric ran to catch up with her.
“What did you think of?” Eric asked. “Do you know where to find Karen?”
Cam and Eric walked quickly past the information desk. They walked toward the snack shops.
“Do you remember what Mr. Kramer told us about Karen? She saw the word Men and thought it said Menu.”
Eric said, “Kids learning to read do that all the time. Even I did that.”
“Yes. You see what you want to see. You see a few letters and think you see a word you know.”
Cam and Eric were in front of Sol’s Sandwich Shop.
“What would you want to see if you were Karen Kramer and you were lost at the airport?”
“I’d want to see my father.”
“What else?” Cam asked. “What else would you want to see?”
Eric shook his head. He didn’t know.
“If you couldn’t find your father, you would look for the police. Remember? He said Karen knows not to talk to strangers and to ask the police for help.”
Cam and Eric were walking toward Polly’s Ice Cream Shop.
“Look at that sign. Do you see the P-O-L and the I-C-E? That spells POLICE. Someone who thinks MEN spells MENU might think POLLY’S ICE CREAM spells POLICE.”
There was another announcement:
Flight ninety for Seattle now boarding at gate eighteen.
Cam said, “That’s the Kramers’ flight. We have to hurry and check the ice cream shop. We’ve got to find Karen.”
Chapter Eight
Polly’s Ice Cream Shop was crowded. There was a long counter in front. Beneath the counter, under glass, wer
e tubs of ice cream. Above the counter was a large sign listing all the flavors sold at Polly’s.
“Hey, look,” Eric said. “You can get a bubble-gum ice cream cone or blueberry raspberry swirl.”
“We’re not here for ice cream,” Cam said. “We’re here for Karen.”
There was a long line of people waiting to buy ice cream. Cam and Eric looked for a five-year-old girl wearing an avocado green shirt.
Karen wasn’t in line.
Behind the line were several small round tables.
“Excuse me,” Cam and Eric said as they tried to get to the other side of the line.
“Hey,” a man shouted at them. “No pushing ahead. Get to the back of the line.”
“We’re not here for ice cream,” Cam told the man. “We’re looking for someone.”
Cam and Eric got to the other side of the line. They saw people standing and sitting by the tables. At a corner table they saw a small girl. She had red ribbons in her hair and was wearing an avocado green shirt.
Cam said, “Maybe that’s her.”
“But she’s sitting with people,” Eric said. “It looks like that girl is with her family.”
“Karen! Karen Kramer!” Cam called as she walked toward the table.
The girl looked up.
When Cam reached the table she asked, “Are you Karen Kramer?”
The girl nodded.
“Come with us,” Cam said. “We’ll take you to your father.”
The girl shook her head. She wouldn’t go.
“Do you know this girl?” a woman sitting by the table asked. “She seems to be lost. We tried to help her, but she won’t talk to us.”
The girl’s head was down. She wasn’t looking at anyone.
“Karen,” Cam said. “Come with us. We’ll take you to your father.”
“I can’t talk to strangers,” she whispered. “I’m waiting for my daddy or the police.”