儿童英语读物 The Stuffed Bear Mystery CHAPTER 2 Baa, Baa, Bad Day

“Smudge was better than an alarm clock,” Benny said the next morning when the children walked into Old Mills. “He woke me up a bunch of times, so I gave him his bottle and he drank the whole thing. He’s just like a baby.”



Jessie chuckled 1. “When you were a baby Henry and I used to give you a bottle when you woke us up. You always drank the whole thing, too.”



As the Aldens walked along, Miss Sayer’s van went by. The children waved, but the van didn’t slow down. The children could see Chatter 3 Bear’s large red head staring straight ahead at the road.



When the Aldens arrived at the toy hospital, a small crowd had gathered around Miss Sayer’s van. Everyone wanted to see her talking bear.



“Step back!” Miss Sayer cried, beeping her horn. “Doctor Firman! Oh, Doctor Firman!”



When Doc came out to see what the fuss was about, the Aldens almost didn’t recognize him. Instead of his faded blue farm overalls 4, he was wearing a crisp white doctor’s coat and a stethoscope around his neck.



Miss Sayer waved him toward her van. “Doctor Firman. I need you to help Chatter Bear right away. Do you have a stretcher to carry him in?”



“I’m the stretcher.” Doc picked up the huge red bear with both arms. “What seems to be the problem?”



“His voice,” Miss Sayer told Doc. “It isn’t working.”



Doc led everyone inside. “Let’s put Chatter Bear up on the examining table in here. I’ll see what I can do. Please step back, everyone.”



“Here, let me remove Chatter Bear’s bow,” Miss Sayer said. “His voice recorder is in the back of his neck. And he needs new batteries for his eyes. They’ve been flickering 5 instead of flashing.”



Doc noticed the Aldens standing 6 to the side with Mister B., who wasn’t flickering or flashing. “You children can go visit my other workroom in back. That’s where I keep my special older patients,” Doc said with a smile. “There’s a book room back there, too, full of bear books.”



The Aldens didn’t need much coaxing 7. Old bears were just the kind of bears they liked. They headed straight for the door marked ANTIQUE BEAR DEN 2.



Inside, shelves and cabinets were filled with old stuffed toys. Scraps 8 of woolly fabrics 9 and woolly fur lay in piles around a large worktable. Off to the side stood several cabinets. Bears that looked even older than Mister B. stared back at the Aldens through the glass cabinet doors.



The children discovered they weren’t alone.



A gray-haired woman with a braid wound on top of her head knelt in front of an open cabinet. The Aldens saw her before she saw them.



Jessie coughed to get the woman’s attention. “Hello. We’re the Aldens.”



The woman stood up, surprised. Her rosy 10 cheeks turned even rosier 11. “What are you doing in Doctor Firman’s workroom?” she asked. “He doesn’t allow children in here by themselves.”



“Sorry if we startled you,” Jessie said. “He said it was okay for us to come in here. He’s busy fixing a talking bear.”



“Hmmf!” the woman said. “Talking bears. What will be next?”



“Oh,” Violet said when she noticed the woman was looking at Mister. B. “Would you like to see our bear?”



The woman looked over at Mister B.



“Hmmm. Well, yes, your bear is an old one but not very valuable.”



Violet swallowed hard. “He’s valuable to us. We love him. He belonged to our grandfather.”



The woman nodded, and her voice changed a little. “Ah, I see,” she said. “If it belonged to someone in your family, I can see how it would be important to you.” She shut the door to the cabinet, turned the key, and walked to the far end of the room as if she couldn’t wait to get away from the children.



Jessie stooped down to read a sign on the cabinet the woman had been looking at. “‘Herr Bears.’ I wonder what they are. Very old ones, I guess. There’s only one of them in this cabinet right now. Let’s go look at Doc’s bear books, then come back,” she whispered to the other children. “That woman keeps staring at us as if she wants us to leave.”



In the book room, the Aldens found another surprise visitor. An older man, all by himself, sat in a comfy chair by the bookcases. He seemed so lost in the book on his lap, he didn’t look up when the children entered.



“Um, hello,” Violet said softly.



The man’s pen clattered 12 to the floor along with a notebook.



Violet bent 13 down to pick up the man’s things.



“Leave them!” the man said in a gruff voice.



Violet stepped back. “I’m sorry,” she said. “We didn’t mean to disturb you. I don’t like being interrupted, either, when I’m reading or doing my homework.”



The man gathered up his notebook, which was jammed with loose papers. “This isn’t homework, young lady. May I ask how you got in here? Doctor Firman’s library is for grown-ups.”



Violet looked around at the many children’s books about bears. “There are lots of bear books for children,” she said in her most polite voice.



“Nonsense!” the man said. “Well, I guess my peace and quiet has come to an end.”



With that, the man put on his brown wool hat and grabbed his walking stick, his notebooks, and an armful of books. He went into the Bear Den and began poking 14 around. Every few minutes he glanced back at the book room as if he couldn’t wait for the Aldens to leave.



“I wonder if he’s a bear doctor, too,” Henry whispered. “Not a very friendly one like Doc, though.”



Benny was restless. He liked books, but he liked toys even more. “Can we go back and look at the old bears now?”



Jessie peeked 15 through the door. “We better wait, Benny. Now Miss Sayer is in there with that man. The other woman must have left. I’d rather not have the two of them standing over us while we look at Doc’s antique bears. Let’s wait until they leave. Then we can go back.”



A few minutes later, Jessie checked the Bear Den again. “Okay, now we can look around as much as we like without anybody thinking we shouldn’t. Miss Sayer is out front bothering Doc again. I wonder if he figured out how to fix her bear.”



“I’mmm Chaaaattter Baaaaar,” the Aldens overheard the bear. “Annnnnd IIIII like toooooo talkkkkkk.”



Miss Sayer scolded Doc. “You still didn’t fix him. Now his voice is too low and too slow. Nobody will be able to understand what he’s saying. That’s not how he’s supposed to talk.”



Violet hugged Mister B. He wasn’t saying a word.



“Please, Miss Sayer,” the children heard Doc say. “I need plenty of light and space to work on Chatter Bear. Why don’t you go work on your booth at the Town Hall and come back here later?”



Miss Sayer hesitated before finally leaving Doc and Chatter Bear.



“Whew!” Doc said to the Aldens when they came out to see him. “It’s hard to work when someone stands over you.”



“Oh, would you like us to leave until you’re done?” Jessie asked.



Doc smiled. “Some interruptions I enjoy. How do you like all the antique bears in the Bear Den?”



“I like the one called Herr Bear,” Jessie said. “Whose bear is it?”



“The owner, Mrs. Withers 16, isn’t arriving for a few days. That’s when the prize is given for the rarest bear in the Teddy Bear Jamboree,” said Doc. “Herr bear is so rare that he has a good chance of winning.”



Henry thought about this. “Maybe that’s why the lady with the braid opened the cabinet to look at it.”



Now Doc looked worried. “With the jamboree about to start, so many visitors stopped by, I lost track of who was here. This is why I always keep the Herr Bear cabinet locked. That particular Herr Bear is extremely rare.”



“How come?” Benny wanted to know.



“Well,” Doc said. “He’s the boy twin of a female bear called Fraulein Bear. That means ‘Miss Bear’ in German; Herr Bear means ‘Mister Bear.’ The Swiss designer made only one twin pair for his own children. The only difference between them is the color of their eyes. The girl bear has golden eyes and the boy blue eyes. The designer made other Herr Bears, but they have black eyes, and they are smaller than the twins.”



“Does the owner own Fraulein Bear, too?” Violet asked Doc. “It’s sad when brothers and sisters get separated from each other—especially twins.”



“Even if they’re bear twins,” Benny added.



“I know,” Doc agreed. “Unfortunately, no one has been able to track down the girl twin. I’ve checked all my antique bear books, searched the Internet, and asked every teddy bear collector I’ve met about Fraulein Bear. No luck so far.”



“We didn’t get a good look at Herr Bear,” Benny said. “The lady closed the cabinet.”



“Whew,” Doc said, relieved to hear this. “I must have left the key in the lock by mistake when I heard Miss Sayer carrying on before. Well, no harm done. I’ll get Herr Bear from the cabinet so you can get a good look at him.”



Everyone followed Doc into the Bear Den. When they came to the Herr Bear cabinet, the children stared inside.



Doc’s key was still in the lock. But there was no bear staring back. The cabinet was empty.