儿童英语读物 The Clue in the Recycling Bin CHAPTER 6 The Intruder

As the children worked, Mrs. Wickett left the recycling center and went home. Violet noticed that Mrs. Wickett was smiling.



Just as the children finished hauling the last of the boxes into the center and sorting the recycling, they heard a huge boom of thunder.



“Uh-oh,” said Jessie. “I don’t think we can walk home before the rain comes.” Even as Jessie spoke 1, droplets 2 of rain began to fall from the sky.



Kayla came running up to them. “Better get into my studio,” she said. “It’s going to pour!”



As the children ran toward the studio with Kayla, they saw Chad running there, too.



Kayla and the Aldens ran into the small shed. Chad ducked into the studio right behind them.



In just that short time, the rain turned from droplets to a heavy downpour.



“It might rain all day,” Chad said. “I can give you kids a ride home.”



“No, thank you,” said Henry. “We’ll wait for our Grandfather to get home and pick us up.”



“Oh, you shouldn’t have to wait all day,” said Kayla. “I’ll take you home in my van.” Kayla handed Jessie her cell phone. “Call your grandfather and tell him that Kayla Korty is giving you a ride home.”



Jessie dialed Grandfather, and Grandfather asked to speak to Kayla. Then he asked to speak to Jessie again.



“You can ride with Kayla,” said Grandfather. “I know her parents.”



Chad turned and walked out into the rain. “If you don’t want a ride,” he said, “there’s no sense in my hanging around. I’ll go home, too.”



Jessie watched as Kayla used newspaper and cloth to cover up everything on her workbench. Jessie wondered if Kayla was hiding something.



Kayla locked the studio door, and they all ran to her van and piled in. But before Kayla could pull into the street, Chad came running up to them.



“My car won’t start,” he said. “Can you give me a ride? I don’t live far.”



“Sure,” said Kayla. “Hop in.”



By the time Chad squeezed into the van, he was soaked.



“Thanks,” he said to Kayla.



“Where to?” she asked him.



“Oh, you can drop the kids off first,” he said. “I’m in no hurry.”



Jessie thought that Chad had better manners when he needed something, like a ride home.



As Kayla drove the Aldens home, Chad asked them how they became interested in the recycling center. They told him they learned about recycling in school, and that with the help of their grandfather and Mrs. McGregor, they had set up recycling boxes in their garage.



“We used to have to take the newspapers to one town, and the plastics and glass to another,” said Henry. “Now we can take everything to one center here in Greenfield.”



“You take old newspapers and cans and bottles to the center,” said Chad, “and you take things home from the center.”



“Only if we want to,” said Jessie.



“We didn’t know we could take things home until we saw Mrs. McGregor’s big green frog,” said Benny.



“Yes,” laughed Kayla, “that is one really big, really green metal frog!” She seemed to think for a while. “I wish I hadn’t given that frog away.”



“I’m already using the notebooks I took home,” said Jessie. She looked down to study Chad’s boots, but the car was so crowded, she couldn’t see much.



“What about you, Benny?” Chad asked. “Did you get anything good from the Other Stuff bin 3?”



“Yes,” said Benny. “It’s a big red pi?ata. A bull.”



Chad looked out the window. “It’s a good thing you rescued it,” he said. “The pi?ata would be ruined if it sat out in the rain. Did you hang the pi?ata in your bedroom?” he asked.



“No,” said Benny. “It’s on the sunporch with Mrs. McGregor’s frog.”



Chad was silent for a while.



“What about you, Chad?” Kayla asked, looking at him through the rearview mirror. “Did you find your pocket watch?”



Chad smiled. “Yes,” he said, “I found what I lost.”



Soon Kayla pulled into the Aldens’ driveway. She drove as close to the house as she could because the rain was still coming down hard.



Henry showed Kayla where to stop. “We’ll run in through the sunporch,” he said.



The children thanked Kayla for the ride and said good-bye to her and to Chad.



When they got in the house, Mrs. McGregor told the children to change out of their wet shoes and socks. By the time they did that, Grandfather arrived home. Soon it was time for dinner.



At dinner, the children told Grandfather about their day.



“It seems so strange that somebody is breaking into a recycling center,” said Grandfather. “They could have anything from it for free.”



“We think that two different people have broken in,” said Jessie.



“And for two different reasons,” said Henry.



Late that night, when everybody was asleep, Watch began to bark. He barked and barked, louder and louder.



Henry sat up in bed, rubbed his eyes, and listened. He heard the thump 4, thump, thump of Watch’s feet.



Benny came running into Henry’s room. “Watch is barking,” said Benny. “And he is growling 5.”



Henry and Benny ran into the hallway. Jessie and Violet were already there with Grandfather.



They heard more growling from Watch. It was coming from the sunporch.



Grandfather walked into the kitchen and switched on the outdoor lights. The children were behind him.



As soon as the lights went on, they saw somebody running away across their lawn. It looked like a man, but they couldn’t be sure.



The children walked into the sunporch with Grandfather. Watch stood at the screen door, barking loudly. The running figure reached the road and disappeared.



Grandfather phoned the police.



“Somebody was trying to get into our house,” said Violet.



“But Watch chased the burglar away,” said Jessie. She petted Watch. “Good dog,” she said. “Good dog.”



Henry looked at the screen door, which was still locked on the inside. “Look,” he said. “Somebody started to cut a hole in the screen door.”



“Watch heard him and chased him away,” said Benny. “We are lucky to have Watch.”



“We are also lucky to have a strong door between the screen porch and the house,” said Grandfather. “I don’t think the burglar could have gotten into our house.”



Henry grabbed a flashlight from a shelf and opened the screen door.



“What are you doing?” asked Grandfather.



“The ground is wet,” said Henry. “I’ll bet the intruder left a lot of footprints.”



The children and Grandfather and Watch all stepped onto the sidewalk that led up to their screen porch. It didn’t take long for Henry to find a trail of footprints.



One set came toward the screen porch. “That’s where he—or she—came up to the house. See how close the footprints are to one another?” asked Henry. “The intruder was walking slowly and quietly.”



“Look,” said Violet, pointing to a second set of footprints. “Those footprints are going away from the house. They’re far apart from one another.”



“That means the intruder was running away,” said Jessie. “Let me get my notebook.”



“Does Jessie want to take notes?” asked Grandfather.



“No,” said Henry, “she wants to look at a drawing.”



In a minute Jessie was back with one of her new notebooks. She flipped 6 it open, and the children stared at the first footprint drawing she had made.



“No,” said Violet. “These footprints are not the same as the first ones we found outside the recycling center.”



Jessie flipped the page. “But these footprints are exactly the same as the second ones we found outside the recycling center —the ones outside the Other Stuff bin.”



Henry, Violet, Benny, and Grandfather all looked at Jessie’s second drawing.



“What does it mean?” asked Grandfather.



“I’m not sure, but I have a hunch 7 it means that somebody wants something that was in the Other Stuff recycling bin,” said Henry.