儿童英语读物 The Mystery in the Mall CHAPTER 3 Look Who’s Minding the Store

“What are you sniffing 1, Benny?” Jessie asked when the children stepped inside the mall.



Benny kept his nose in the air and didn’t answer Jessie right away.



“I know. Benny’s sniffing for caramel corn, right?” Henry asked.



Benny made a face. “How come I don’t smell any? Yesterday I did.”



Jessie pointed 2 to the huge clock in the middle of the food court. “It’s morning. People eat breakfast, not caramel corn, in the morning.”



“Shucks,” Benny said. “Mrs. Frye said there would be caramel corn at Penny’s shop. Let’s go look there.”



The mall wasn’t too busy yet. The shopkeepers were setting up for the day. They rolled up their security gates. Some of them set out pushcarts 4 of small items to sell in front of their stores. Cleaning people pushed mops and brooms to make the mall spick-and-span for the day.



“Look who’s coming down the hall,” Violet said to the others.



“Uh-oh,” Henry said. “Hap 5 Merchant doesn’t look too glad to see us here.”



Hap looked puzzled, then annoyed when he noticed the Aldens. “I thought you kids would be sightseeing today. I left a message for you with Mrs. Frye. Did you come here to shop?”



“We’re going to see Penny Block,” Henry told Hap. “Mr. Bolt wants us to work for her, remember?”



Hap didn’t look at all pleased to hear this.



“Well, I’m the mall manager, and I’m sure Mrs. Block doesn’t need a bunch of children running around like little monkeys.”



“We wouldn’t do that.” Jessie hoped Benny wasn’t going to make one of his monkey faces while she was trying to be serious.



At that moment, an older woman with wild curly red hair and wearing a bright purple blouse and funny eyeglasses came up to the children. “You’re the Aldens, right? Mr. Bolt called me last night and told me to keep an eye out for two boys and two girls. Here you are, and just in time. One of my shipments is down on the dock. I need a strong young person to bring the boxes into my storeroom.”



Hap tried to say something, but Penny Block was like a runaway 6 train. “Anyway, if you haven’t guessed already, I’m Penny Block. We can get acquainted while we work. I have a list a mile long if you children are ready to work. Let me show you my shop.”



Before Hap could squeeze in a word, Penny rounded up the Aldens. The group went off, leaving Hap behind.



Penny’s Emporium was designed to look like a seaside shop on a boardwalk. In one corner stood a tall tank of helium for blowing up balloons. In another area, a camera was set up to take pictures of people who stuck their heads through a funny pirate cutout. A caramel popcorn 7 machine took up another corner.



“The rest of the shop is for souvenirs,” Penny continued. “If any of you is good with your hands, I could sure use you to wrap gifts for our customers.”



Violet was too shy to say anything, but Jessie spoke 8 up for her. “Violet is the best one in our family for wrapping presents.”



“Then you can be my chief gift wrapper, Violet,” Penny said. “I had a feeling you were the one for that.”



“What am I the one for?” Benny asked.



Penny Block laughed. “Why, our caramel machine, of course. I need a careful boy to scoop 9 the caramel corn into boxes. Folks come in here all day for Penny’s Caramel Corn. My husband, before he died, always told me the way to bring folks into a shop is to sell something that smells good. They’ll come in for that and go out with a Hope Harbor teapot or a dish towel. And he was right.”



“Mrs. Block, have you ever seen a coconut 10 painted like a monkey? Mrs. Frye told me you might sell them,” said Benny.



“I know just what you mean, Benny. I’ll keep an eye out for them at the gift show I’m attending this afternoon.”



“Great! Thanks a lot,” said Benny.



“What can Jessie and I do?” Henry asked.



Penny pulled out a pad of paper. “A lot, if you aren’t afraid of work. I need somebody to be in charge of taking pirate photos. They’re very popular souvenirs with tourists. Jessie, you would be good to sell souvenirs from my pushcart 3 in the mall area. That gets people to stop in front of my store. Henry, you’re my gofer. Go for this. Go for that. Is that okay with you?”



“I’ll go for it!” Henry joked.



Penny showed Henry where to find the hand truck from the storeroom. She needed him to pick up some boxes at the warehouse 11.



Just as Henry headed out the back door of the shop, a young woman came in. “Where are you going with that hand truck?” she asked Henry. “That belongs to this shop.”



For a second, Henry was lost for words. “It’s ... uh ... well, Penny said I should ...”



“Who are you?” the young woman asked. “Penny didn’t tell me anyone else was working here. I’m the store manager.”



At that moment, Penny stepped into the storeroom. “Hello, Janet. I see you’ve met Henry Alden. You know how you said there was so much to do? Well, a miracle happened. Martin Bolt sent the Alden family to save the day. Henry, this is Janet Trainor.”



The young woman ignored Penny’s introduction. “Mr. Bolt sent children to work here? That’s not going to be much of a help at all. I can’t work with children underfoot.”



“Nonsense,” Penny said. “The younger ones have already started. Henry is on his way down to the warehouse to pick up a shipment that came in. You can go ahead, Henry. Now, come meet the other Aldens, Janet.”



Benny was at the popcorn machine, carefully scooping 12 caramel corn into boxes.



“He’s going to make a mess!” Janet told Penny. “And why is that girl wrapping packages?”



Penny was very patient. “Violet Alden is wonderful with her hands. I have her wrapping some of the gift plates. You know how much time that takes. Now you’ll have more time to wait on customers.”



The young woman sighed deeply. “I guess I’ll go out and load up the souvenir cart, then. Wait! Where is it? I pushed it just inside the door last night before we closed.”



Penny smiled. “Take a look out there. Jessie Alden already stocked it. I posted her out there to wait on customers who are passing by. You can cover the shop. I’m heading to the gift show at the convention center. I feel much better about leaving now that the Aldens are here to do all the little jobs.”



After Penny left, Janet shadowed the children around the shop. She expected them to do things one way: her way. She rewrapped a package Violet had already wrapped perfectly 13. She stood over Benny to make sure he didn’t drop one kernel 14 of corn. She checked up on Jessie, who had already sold several souvenirs without anyone’s help at all.



Soon Henry returned from the warehouse with a stack of boxes. “I’ll get a box cutter and open these if you want,” he told Janet.



When the young woman saw the boxes, she grabbed the hand truck from Henry. “I’ll take those, thank you. I’m going to lock them up until I have time to match everything against the order slips.”



Henry smiled. “I could do that if you—”



Janet shook her head. “No, it isn’t as easy as it looks.” With that, she rolled the hand truck over to a storage closet and locked the boxes inside.



The day passed quickly. At five o’clock, Benny tapped Henry’s elbow. “Is it time to go, Henry?” he asked. “Penny said we could leave around dinnertime. I like it here, but now I’m hungry.”



“Sure thing, Benny,” Henry answered. “I’ll go find Janet. She’s in the storeroom again.”



Henry found the young woman scrambling 15 through the boxes he had delivered that morning. Janet wasn’t alone. Standing 16 next to her was the dark-haired crewman the Aldens had met on the dock that morning.



“Hey, aren’t you—” Henry began. Janet and the young man turned around suddenly, startled to see Henry standing there.



“What are you doing here?” Janet asked, quickly shoving the boxes inside the closet again. “I was ... uh ... telling this man where the blue jeans store is. He wandered in here by mistake.”



“Sorry.” Henry wondered why the crewman had come into the storeroom to get directions. “I just wanted to let you know my brother, sisters, and I are leaving as soon as Penny gets back.”



Janet’s eyes were dark with annoyance 17. “You don’t have to wait until Penny gets back. I’ve covered the shop by myself before.”



Henry backed away. Why was this young woman so grouchy 18 all the time? “Okay,” Henry said. “Oh, well, there’s Penny now. I guess we’ll go.” He looked at the crewman again. “I just figured out where I saw you—on the freighter this morning, right?”



The man turned away from Henry without answering. He opened the back door of the storeroom and left.



Penny suddenly appeared in the doorway 19. “I’m back, and you won’t believe what I found out at the gift show, Henry. My supplier says there’s a whole shipment of novelty items on one of the ships in the harbor right now, including—guess what—coconut monkeys, coconut pirates, and coconut clowns! Once they’re unloaded in a few days, I’ll set aside one for Benny just as soon as I open the boxes.”



Everyone was smiling at this good news, except for Janet.



“What’s the matter?” Penny asked the young woman. “Don’t you think we could sell a lot of those? You look as if I told you we’d be selling dead bugs 20.”



“Oh, it’s ... uh ... nothing,” Janet said. “I’ll unpack 21 the boxes as soon as they get here.”