The Basketball Mystery

by Gertrude Chandler Warner

  “Are we going to forfeit the game?” Patsy asked. “We can’t play without our uniforms or basketball sneakers. What’s going on?”

  Tipper shook her head. “I don’t know. Sometimes I feel as if someone is making these mix-ups happen.”

  At that moment, Courtney came out. “It’s less than half an hour to game time.”

  “We know, we know,” Patsy said miserably to her old coach.

  “Never mind us, Courtney,” Tipper said. “We’ll be there.” Tipper Nettleton wasn’t about to let this upset her girls. “Now listen. Remember the drills we did? I want you to take a couple of basketballs, then go to the outside court and warm up. Patsy and Jessie will coach you. The second the bags get here, zoom into the locker room, change, and get ready to play. We’re going to win, right?”

  There was a long pause.

  “Right!” Jessie and Violet shouted.

  “Right!” the others finally joined in as they followed Patsy and the Aldens outside.

  Inside the gym, the bleachers were packed. Buzz and the Aldens noticed that only the Blue Stars were out on the court.

  “Where are the Fast Breakers?” Henry asked Buzz.

  “I’m going to find out,” Buzz said. “Something’s wrong. Tipper knows how important the warm-up is. Her players will be tense for the game if they don’t practice first.”

  “I’ll come with you,” Henry said.

  They found Tipper by a pay phone in the hallway. She was waiting nervously for a woman to finish a call. “Buzz, Henry — thank goodness you’re both here. We may have to forfeit the game. The duffel bags with our uniforms and sneakers haven’t arrived. Did either one of you see them the last time you were at the sports center?”

  Henry’s mouth dropped. “The team doesn’t have its uniforms?”

  “Oh, no! That’s an automatic forfeit,” Buzz said. “Do you want me to go back to the sports center to look for the bags?”

  Tipper shook her head. “It’s too late for that. I’m trying to reach Tom Hooper. He put some of the paint equipment in the closet at the sports center where I’d stored the duffel bags. I’m hoping he’s on his way here with the bags.”

  At last the person using the pay phone hung up. Tipper dropped some coins in. She quickly punched in Tom Hooper’s home number. She shifted from foot to foot.

  Tipper put down the receiver. “Tom’s not there. How can I break this to the team? They’ve practiced so hard. Hey, why are you smiling, Buzz?”

  Buzz looked over Tipper’s shoulder and kept on smiling. “Look who’s running down the hall! And check out what he’s got in his hands.”

  Tipper whirled around. Tom Hooper was stumbling down the hall as best he could with a heavy duffel bag in each hand.

  Tipper broke into a run. She grabbed the bags from Tom. “Thank goodness you’re here! We were looking all over for you. I figured you had the bags. Where were you?”

  “I went to Warwick High School,” Tom confessed, looking a little confused. “When I asked Courtney where the game was, she said, ‘The high school gym.’ So I went to my old gym at Warwick High by mistake. That’s where Courtney and I used to go to high school. Isn’t that funny?”

  No one was laughing.

  Poor Tom. It took him a while to notice everyone’s panic. “Uh-oh, does this mean you might forfeit the game?” he asked.

  “Not if I can help it,” Tipper answered. “Now you and Buzz go outside. Tell the team to hurry to the locker room and change. They’ve only got a few minutes to get out on the court.”

  The national anthem was already playing when the Fast Breakers finally appeared in the gym. Some of the girls hadn’t quite pulled up their socks. Some sneakers were untied. But each of the girls stood tall and faced the Blue Stars across the way. The big game was about to begin.

  The Fast Breakers lived up to their name. When the starting buzzer went off, Patsy tipped the ball to Jessie. A tall Blue Stars player stayed on Jessie like a shadow. Jessie remembered all her training with Tipper.

  “Look, she’s passing the ball to Violet!” Soo Lee said from the bleachers.

  “It’s Aldens all the way!” Henry shouted. He was proud that his sisters got the ball so early in the game.

  Violet was surrounded by Blue Stars players. The Aldens could see that she was nervous.

  “Good, she’s passing the ball back to Patsy,” Buzz said.

  “Do you think Patsy is going to shoot now?” Henry asked Buzz.

  “I hope not,” Buzz answered. “She’s too far away. She should pass it to Mary Kate. She’s a lot closer to the basket.”

  Though Patsy was some distance from the backboard, she seemed about to shoot. Then she caught a glimpse of Tipper on the sidelines.

  “Great! She’s passing it to Mary Kate, and . . . it’s in!” Buzz screamed. “Mary Kate scored the first two points!”

  “Go, girls!” Henry shouted out.

  “The Blue Stars are fantastic, but they’re all over the place,” Buzz pointed out at half-time. The Fast Breakers were ahead by six points. “Tipper’s girls are like a drill team. They know all their teammates’ steps plus their own. Way to go!”

  “Can we go down and see the team?” Benny asked Buzz.

  “You bet,” Buzz said. “Here, I’ll help you get through the crowds.”

  Down on the court, Buzz, Soo Lee, and Benny waited until Tipper finished her half-time pep talk. “You girls just keep playing the second half like the first. I know the Blue Stars are rough and tough, but they’re getting tired. If I know Courtney, she’ll keep playing the same few players.”

  “I’m not tired at all,” one of the Fast Breakers said.

  “Neither am I,” several of the other girls mumbled.

  “Hey, Aldens, how do you think we’re doing?” Tipper asked.

  “Incredible!” Henry answered.

  “You’re the best ones,” Benny answered. “Even though you were late.”

  The whole team laughed when they heard this.

  “Well, we’re not going to be late for the second half,” Jessie said. “Wish us luck.”

  “Good luck!” Buzz and the Aldens yelled.

  The huddle broke up. Buzz and the Aldens returned to the bleachers.

  The second half began. The game was never even close.

  “The Blue Stars look as if they’re running through Jell-O,” Buzz said when the game was in the final minutes.

  Soo Lee pulled Buzz’s arm. “I don’t see any Jell-O.”

  Mr. Alden and Henry laughed.

  “They have rubber legs,” Buzz explained to the little girl.

  This made Soo Lee even more confused.

  Benny knew what Buzz meant. “You know how when we get tired, we get floppy legs, Soo Lee? Like that.”

  “The Blue Stars are tired,” Henry said. “Courtney doesn’t rotate players the way Tipper does. So even their good players are making a lot of mistakes.”

  Henry was right. As the second half of the game went on, the Blue Stars made more mistakes than baskets. The Fast Breakers were on a streak. By the time the final buzzer went off, the score was 32–22. The Fast Breakers fans broke into a roar.

  “Look, Soo Lee!” Benny said, pointing to the Fast Breakers down on the court. “The Fast Breakers have rubber legs, too. They’re jumping up and down like rubber balls!”

  “You were the best, Jessie,” Benny said when everybody went down to congratulate the team.

  “And you were the best,” Soo Lee told Violet.

  “The team was the best!” Buzz told his sister. “It was almost like those old Greenfield-Warwick games. They were great, but you girls were even better. Congratulations, everybody. Now go out on the court. The mayor is going to present your trophy.”

  The Fast Breakers stood straight and tall in a line in the middle of the basketball court. Flashbulbs went off all over the gym as proud parents and friends snapped picture after picture of the winning team.

  Everyone quieted down when they heard
the scratchy sound of a microphone.

  “I am pleased to present the league trophy to the coach of the Fast Breakers, Tipper Nettleton,” the mayor announced to the excited fans.

  Tipper waved and smiled at the crowd. The mayor handed her the league trophy in one hand and the microphone in the other.

  Tipper waited for the crowd to quiet down again. She looked at the crowd and held up the trophy. “I’m going to hand this over to my players to hold one by one. This league trophy doesn’t belong to me, but to each of the Fast Breakers. They’re a great team.”

  With that, Tipper gave the trophy to the first girl in the Fast Breakers lineup, who passed it to the next girl. The crowd applauded loudly as each girl held it up for the crowd.

  The trophy reached Patsy Cutter, who was the last girl in line. But Patsy wouldn’t take it. Finally the other girl gave up and handed the trophy to Tipper instead.

  When the team went to the locker room to change, Patsy just got her things and left. Why wasn’t she staying and celebrating with her teammates? In the excitement of their victory, the girls forgot about Patsy and just kept hugging and cheering. They were the champs!

  CHAPTER 10

  Lost and Found

  That afternoon, there were two trophies on the Aldens’ mantel. Mr. Alden took pictures of Henry, Jessie, and Violet standing with the twins in front of the fireplace. No one wanted to spoil the moment by mentioning that there were supposed to be three trophies in the picture.

  “My lips ache,” Tipper said after everyone had finished posing. “I’ve never smiled so much in one day as I did today.”

  “Same here,” said Buzz. “But save a few smiles for Great-Aunt Nora. We promised to be at her house in fifteen minutes. Let’s go.”

  The Aldens followed the twins out to their car. The twins were going to visit some relatives for a couple of nights.

  “So long, everyone,” Tipper said. “See you on Opening Day, trophy or no trophy.”

  “Wait a moment,” Mr. Alden called out when he noticed a letter for Tipper in the mailbox. “Here’s a letter for you.”

  “What an odd envelope.” Tipper tore it open. “It’s written in big block letters without a return address.” She unfolded the sheet of notebook paper inside. “Goodness!” she cried. “Listen:

  “ ‘Your trophy is safe. You will find it at the sports center on Opening Day.’”

  Tipper’s face grew pale. “Do you know anything about this?” she asked Buzz.

  “Why are you asking me?” Buzz wanted to know. He started the car up. “Let’s not talk about this now. I don’t want to ruin our visit with Great-Aunt Nora.”

  “Leave the note with us,” Jessie whispered. “Maybe we can figure it out.”

  Tipper gave Jessie the note. After the twins drove off, Soo Lee and Benny held the piece of paper up to the sunlight.

  “No fingerprints,” Benny said. “But know what? If we find out who writes like this, maybe we can find Tipper’s missing trophy.”

  Soo Lee didn’t mean to giggle, but she couldn’t help it. “I write in big letters! But I don’t know all my letters yet.”

  The Aldens laughed over this, though Tipper’s missing trophy was no laughing matter.

  The Aldens spent the next day decorating the sports center with balloons and streamers. They made signs showing where the celebrations were going to be. They set up the tables and chairs for refreshments. And the whole time they worked, they kept their eyes open for Tipper’s trophy.

  “I just went into Mr. Fowler’s office to ask about the folding chairs,” Henry told Jessie and Violet when he saw them putting up posters on a bulletin board.

  “While Henry was talking, Soo Lee and I peeked on his desk,” Benny whispered. “But we didn’t see any pieces of paper like Tipper’s letter.”

  “He writes with eensy-weensy letters,” Soo Lee added. “Not big, giant letters. We peeked in the closet, too, but there were only old paint cans in there.”

  Jessie smiled. “Good work, you two. I just hope whoever wrote that note is right — that the trophy will be here tomorrow. But I sure would like to find it ahead of time.”

  “Hey, Aldens,” the children heard Tom Hooper call out when he saw them. He set a messy stack of papers on the floor. “Here, use some double-sided tape, Jessie. That works better than plain tape for putting up signs.”

  While Tom helped Jessie, Soo Lee and Benny pretended to pick up something from the floor.

  “Thanks,” Tom said when he saw Benny and Soo Lee gathering up his papers. “So long, now. Just throw the tape in my tool-box when you’re done, Jessie. It’s in the office closet with my painting gear.”

  “Tom didn’t have any paper like that note,” Benny whispered after Tom left. “And he has little bitsy handwriting, too.”

  When the Aldens went to the office, Courtney was talking on the phone.

  Jessie held up the roll of tape. “Don’t hang up. We’re just putting this back in Tom’s toolbox.”

  By this time Courtney had hung up the phone. “Fine, just shut the office door when you leave. And don’t touch anything on this desk.”

  So they didn’t. Instead, Benny and Soo Lee tried to see if any paper on Courtney’s desk matched the paper the mystery writer had used.

  “Nope,” Benny said, looking over but not touching anything.

  Outside, a cleaning person was pushing a cart down the hall.

  “Look what fell off.” Henry picked up a sheet of paper with red marker letters on top. “It’s an old practice schedule for the Blazers. It says, ‘Give to Buzz.’ ”

  Jessie looked over Henry’s shoulder. “It’s the schedule Buzz was supposed to get for the first practice. I guess Mr. Fowler forgot to give it to Buzz. Maybe the mix-up wasn’t on —”

  “On purpose!” the Aldens heard Mr. Fowler say. “So that’s what everybody thinks? That I made things hard for Buzz Nettleton?”

  The Aldens didn’t speak. They did believe Mr. Fowler made things hard for Buzz on purpose.

  “Everybody’s wrong thinking I’m out to get Buzz. I had the record for ten years before he broke it. I knew somebody was going to break my record someday.”

  By this time Courtney had come out to see what the commotion was all about. She overheard Frank getting upset. “You know what’s hard?” she asked, looking at the Aldens. “That everything Frank and I did was pushed aside just because the Nettleton twins came back. Frank and I worked with the neighborhood teams for months. Then the twins showed up. Pretty soon all we were good for was making up schedules and such.”

  “The twins are leaving in a couple of days,” Mr. Fowler said. “But we’ll still be here. Only there aren’t any newspapers and television people looking to talk to us.”

  The Aldens felt awful. Frank Fowler and Courtney Post had worked hard with the teams.

  “What about our game?” Henry asked. “It seemed like you wanted the Blazers to lose just because Buzz was coaching us.”

  Mr. Fowler was quiet now. “I’ll admit I made a lot of bad calls during the game. I should have let Tom referee the game, but he can get so distracted. He even forgot to give Buzz this schedule change. Not to mention the mix-up with the television people I found out about. Tom took the message from them but forgot to tell the twins about it. So the crew showed up at the sports center and no one was there.”

  Henry still wanted to know what happened at the Blazers game. “Were you upset with our team?”

  “In a way I was,” Mr. Fowler said. “I let my own jealousy get me in a bad mood. I guess I took it out on your team. For sure, I wasn’t thinking straight during that game. I’m sorry about that. But, hey, guess what?”

  “The Blazers won the trophy anyway!” Henry said proudly. “Speaking of trophies . . .”

  Courtney shrugged her shoulders. “Hey don’t look at me. I’m sorry about what happened at our first practice. I found Tipper’s keys and kept them. I . . . well . . . I was afraid the team would like her better than they liked
me. I tried to make her look disorganized in front of the girls. But I didn’t have anything to do with that missing trophy. I still have one more year of college. I’d rather win my own trophy than take it from Tipper. She’s taught me a lot about how to be a good team player. Maybe next year I’ll be the Most Valuable Player!”

  The next day the Aldens dressed up in their basketball uniforms. Mr. Alden whistled while he put on his most colorful bow tie.

  “Why such long faces?” he asked when he noticed no one else seemed very excited about Opening Day. “I know you’re wondering about that trophy. But we must trust the writer of that letter and hope for the best. Now let’s head out. We don’t want to be late!”

  The parking lot was packed when Mr. Alden drove up to the sports center. People were streaming into the brand-new building. There were balloons inside the lobby. The Aldens could hear the Greenfield High School band playing inside the gym.

  “Your decorations look very fine,” Mr. Alden told his grandchildren. “I see Nora Nettleton going in. The twins must be here already. I’ll meet you all in the front row of the gym. I’ll be with the twins and some of their Greenfield relatives and friends.”

  Soo Lee tugged Jessie’s sleeve. “I forgot to brush my hair.”

  “Me, too.” Benny tried to flatten a curl of hair that just wouldn’t stay down.

  Jessie took the younger children by the hand. “I’ll bring you both to the locker room so you can get nice and spiffy. But first, Benny, take this envelope to the referee. Patsy wrote up the team’s names, numbers, and records for the game.”

  Benny took the envelope from Jessie. He tried to read the words. “Fast Breakers Statis . . . What’s this hard word?” Before Jessie could answer, Benny noticed something else. “Hey! Look at the letters on this envelope! Where’s that note about the missing trophy? I think the letters are the same!”

  Jessie reached into her gym bag. She pulled out the crumpled note and smoothed it out.

  “Look. It’s the same printing as on this envelope!” Benny cried.

  “I bet if we find Patsy, we’ll find Tipper’s trophy,” Jessie said.