儿童英语读物 The Cupcake Caper CHAPTER 7 Setting the Trap

The next day, Mama Tova’s shop was crowded as usual.



“Don’t say anything yet, “Henry whispered. Benny, Violet, and Jessie were sitting at a small table in the center of the room, waiting for their cue 1. Henry was at the next table. He had a plan.



“I want there to be lots of people in the shop when Mama Tova comes over to talk to us,” Henry told Jessie.



“You mean just like the day we were here and she said that the recipe was under the flower?” Violet said.



Henry kept an eye on the door. “Yes,” he replied. “Just like that. I am hoping that the same person who heard Mama Tova that day will hear her now.”



The little bell on the door chimed and three more people squeezed into the shop. It was so packed that it was hard to move around and the tables were full.



“I think there are more people here now than the other day,” Jessie told Henry. “Maybe you should start.”



Henry agreed. “Okay. When I stand up, that’s the cue for action. Mama Tova will come out of the kitchen, and then you start talking to her. Got it?”



“We got it the first million times you explained,” Benny told his brother.



“Sorry,” Henry said. “I’m just a little nervous. It’s my idea after all. I want this to work.”



“It will,” Violet said. “It’s a good plan, Henry.”



Jessie noticed that a few customers were taking their dishes over to Alicia, ready to leave the shop. “You’d better get rolling.”



Henry stood up and yawned.



Mama Tova immediately came out of the kitchen. She’d been waiting there, watching Henry. She greeted the other customers as she slowly made her way around the shop. Henry had told her not to come straight over to them. She had to act the same way she did every day.



“How was your cupcake?” she asked a small boy. She smiled at him and moved closer to the table where Jessie and Violet were sitting with Benny.



“And how are you today?” she asked Benny.



“I’m terrific,” Benny said. The Aldens had lined up early to come inside. Mama Tova had offered to sneak 2 them in, but they’d refused. They had to make sure it looked like business as usual in the shop.



“Why haven’t you eaten your cupcake yet?” Mama Tova asked Benny.



Everyone else had finished their treat. But not Benny. He kept looking at his, turning it around and around in his hand, smelling the chocolate cake part.



“I’m trying to decide the best way to eat it,” Benny explained to Mama Tova. “I could lick 3 off the frosting and then eat the cake part alone.”



“That sounds like a good approach,” Jessie said.



“Or,” Benny went on, “I could peel off the paper and eat it from the bottom up.”



“Cake first, icing last,” Violet licked 4 her lips. “That’s the way I like to go.”



“Or,” Benny kept going, “I could jump in from the side and make certain that every bite has both cake and frosting.”



“I see your problem,” Mama Tova said with a laugh. “How are you ever going to decide?”



Benny shook his head. “I just don’t know …”



Henry had told his brother and sisters to start the conversation before he stepped forward. It was his turn now.



“Mama Tova,” Henry said in a loud voice, much louder than his normal tone 5.



“Yes?” Mama Tova turned to look at him, just like they’d practiced.



“Your cupcakes are so delicious!” Henry was talking very clearly, so anyone nearby could listen in if they wanted to. “Won’t you please tell us the secret ingredient?”



“I just can’t do that!” Mama Tova said. “The recipe has been in my family for centuries. But,” she paused and then leaned in towards Henry, as if she was going to tell him a secret. “I’ll give you a clue—the recipe is hidden under the flower!”



It was the same thing she’d told them before.



The children looked at all the decorations and laughed. Just like they’d also done before. But this time, Mama Tova added, “I have flowers here in the shop and in the window box. But I also have a whole garden in the back.”



“Hmm,” Henry said. “Sounds like you have a lot of good places to hide the recipe!”



“Ah yes,” Mama Tova said. “My secret cupcake recipe is locked in a very special box. It is hidden away next to a wooden bench. Under a flower. Where no one will ever find it.”



Mama Tova gave Henry a big wink 6 and returned to the kitchen to finish frosting the final tray of that day’s cupcakes.



Henry, Jessie, and Violet hoped the thief had heard the conversation. As for Benny, he finally started eating his cupcake in tiny little bites, from the top down, enjoying every last taste.



That evening the children held a meeting in the boxcar to discuss the recipe trap.



“The fake 7 recipe is locked in a little tin box. We did a good job hiding it,” Violet said. “We hid it beneath a pot of daisies, right behind the bakery.”



“Henry found the best location,” Benny said, grinning at his brother.



“Thanks,” Henry said. “I wanted to make sure the recipe was waiting exactly where Mama Tova described.



“I bet the thief didn’t know about Mama Tova’s little garden behind the shop,” Violet said. “But ever since Mama Tova mentioned it in the store today, now everyone knows.”



“We are counting on someone who overheard 8 us to steal the fake recipe,” Henry said. “I hope the thief will think it’s the real one.”



“Well, we know I chose a recipe, then changed it around, adding a top-secret-thief-catching ingredient!” Jessie grinned.



“Do you think you added too much chili 9 powder to the recipe?” Violet asked Jessie. “I wonder how it will taste.”



“Nobody will want to eat a whole one,” Jessie said.



“Bleech,” Benny made a squished-up face. “I bet they taste gross 10. We will catch the thief for sure!”



A few minutes later, Grandfather knocked on the boxcar door.



“Come in,” Henry called out.



Stepping inside the car, Grandfather said excitedly, “Mama Tova just called.”



“Really?” Benny’s eyes went wide. “What did she say?”



“Someone sneaked 11 into her courtyard and dug up the box,” Grandfather said. “The fake cupcake recipe has been stolen!”