儿童英语读物 The Vanishing Passenger CHAPTER 6 A Smell to Remember

The children were up bright and early the next morning, talking in the kitchen. Jessie rummaged 1 through the cabinets in the hopes of finding something they could eat, while the other three sat around the table.



“Maybe we should talk to Mr. Van Buren,” Violet said. “Ms. Connally probably knows how to reach him. He might know something.”



“Or maybe Mr. Finch 2 is going to catch another train to Greenfield today,” Henry suggested. “For all we know, he could just show up just like that—” Henry snapped his fingers, “—and the mystery would be solved.”



“I think that ‘Mr. Bean’ person he mentioned in his message might be able to help us,” Jessie said, pulling out a box of cereal. She gave the box a shake and mumbled 3, “There’s not enough in here for everyone.” She sighed and looked at the others. “Until Mrs. MacGregor comes back, we’ll have to wait to eat.” Mrs. MacGregor, the housekeeper 4, had left about an hour earlier to do the weekly grocery shopping.



“Or we could go down to the bakery and get some fresh bagels,” Violet suggested.



Benny’s face lit up. “That’s a great idea! I love bagels!”



“I think you love everything at the bakery,” Henry said.



Benny rubbed his stomach. “I really do!”



The Aldens filed out of the kitchen and down the hallway towards the front door. Watch, their always cheerful dog, ran up to see what was happening.



“Bye, Watch!” Benny said, rubbing behind the dog’s furry 5 ears. “We’ll be back shortly. Be good!”



Violet stroked his head. “I’ll throw the ball around the backyard for you later, okay?” Watch seemed to understand and wagged his tail wildly.



Jessie knelt down for a lick on the face. He put his front paws on her knees and reached up to give her one.



“Ooo, you’re such a good dog.” She leaned in close to give him a quick kiss on the head.



Then she froze.



“Oh my goodness!”



“What is it, Jess?” Henry asked. “What’s wrong?”



Jessie turned to them, her eyes wide. “I remember that smell now! The one that was in the fourth car!”



“You do?” Benny asked.



“Yes—it’s dog shampoo!” She looked up at her older brother. “Henry, remember? That awful stuff we used on Watch a few weeks ago, after we found a few fleas 6 on him?”



“Hey, that’s right!” Henry knelt down and sniffed 7 Watch, too. “Yes, this is definitely the same smell.”



Violet and Benny were puzzled. “What dog shampoo? What bath?” Violet wondered. “Benny and I don’t remember that.”



“You and Benny were with Grandfather that day,” Jessie said. “At the fair.”



“Oh yeah,” Violet said. “We were having our faces painted.”



“And we had ice cream!” Benny said. “I remember that!”



“We decided 8 to give Watch a bath while you guys were gone,” Jessie continued. “We went to the pet store and asked for a good shampoo for fleas and ticks. They gave us this stuff that worked really well, but it had a strong medicine smell.” Jessie sniffed Watch again. “It’s still on him, even after all this time. Ugh—awful!”



“And that’s the same smell that was on the train?” Violet asked. She was stroking her chin and thinking. “Could that mean that a dog was in the fourth car with Mr. Finch?”



Jessie’s eyes widened. “Possibly! Maybe it was that dog who was barking! Remember Mrs. Blake said she heard a dog barking, and that’s why she couldn’t read?”



“That’s right,” Henry continued. “And that family we saw at the station, with the two children who were crying. Didn’t one of the children have—”



“A leash 9!” Benny said.



“Yes, a leash,” Henry told them. “But they didn’t have a dog with them. I’ll bet that’s why the children were so sad. Something must’ve happened to it.”



“Like what?” Violet asked.



“I have no idea,” Henry said. “But maybe someone down at the station does. Let’s go check it out.”



When they got to the station, though, they didn’t see the conductor. But there were other faces they’d seen before.



“Look!” said Henry. “Wasn’t that family on the train yesterday?”



“Yes,” Violet said. “I remember the two crying children.”



“They’re not crying now,” Benny noticed. “But they still look sad.”



The two children were helping 10 their father put up flyers around the station. They carefully stuck bits of tape to the corners of each flyer so that their father could hang them up. Their mother stood nearby, dabbing 11 at her eyes with a tissue.



“Should we talk to them?” Jessie wondered.



“Let’s read one of these flyers, first,” said Henry. They found one posted near the front door. LOST DOG, it said in block letters across the top, above a photo of a small dog with woolly fur.



“Poor thing,” Violet whispered.



Below the photo was written: Just as we arrived home to Greenfield on the Saturday morning train, we discovered our dear dog, Max, missing from his carrier. We don’t know what happened and we are heartbroken! If anyone has any information that can help us find Max please contact the Taylor family. A phone number was listed at the bottom of the page.



“We have information,” Henry said. They all nodded. They walked over to where the family was busy putting up another flyer.



“Excuse us,” Jessie said softly. “You’re the Taylors, right?”



They all turned. “Why, yes,” said the mother.



“I’m Henry Alden, and these are my sisters and my brother,” said Henry. “We’re trying to solve a mystery of our own, and we think your dog might be part of it.”



The Taylors all looked at each other, and back to the Aldens. “Go on,” said Mr. Taylor.



Henry told them the whole story. At the end, Mr. Taylor took the copy of the Finch book that Henry brought along and studied the photo on the back. “You know something, this man does looks familiar.” He held it up so his wife could see. “Isn’t he the person who patted Max on the head as we were waiting for the train to arrive yesterday morning?”



Mrs. Taylor only needed to take a quick look at Mr. Finch’s picture. “Yes, that’s him. He was very friendly,” she told the Aldens. “And he seemed to have an instant connection with Max. Max doesn’t always like strangers, as we said before, but he liked Mr. Finch right away.”



“Oh, is that his name?” Jessie asked.



“Yes, Max,” Mrs. Taylor replied.



“We’re not surprised that he liked Mr. Finch,” Violet said. “Mr. Finch loves animals. Max must’ve sensed that.”



“Do you know how he got off the train?” Henry asked.



“We have no idea,” Mr. Taylor said. “That’s why we’re putting these signs up. We’re hoping maybe someone on the train saw what happened.”



“He wasn’t with you during the trip?” Benny asked.



“No,” Mr. Taylor replied. “He was in the last car, in a cage, by himself.”



“The fourth car!” Violet said.



“That’s right,” Mr. Taylor went on. “And when we went back to get him when we arrived here in Greenfield, he wasn’t there.”



“We looked everywhere,” Mrs. Taylor added.



“He must’ve gotten loose and jumped off somewhere,” Mr. Taylor finished, shaking his head sadly.



“Why was Max in the last car?” Henry asked.



“He gets nervous around strangers and tends to bark a lot,” Mrs. Taylor replied. “So we thought it best to leave him back there, alone.”



“We were really worried when we went through the thunderstorm, though,” the father added. “Max is very afraid of loud noises.”



“I went back to check on him during the storm,” Mrs. Taylor said, “and he seemed fine.”



“Did you see anyone in the fourth car when you went in?” Jessie asked.



“Oh no, I didn’t go in. I just looked through the window. If I’d gone in there, he would’ve gone crazy as soon as he saw me. He would’ve wanted me to take him out of there.”



Henry asked, “What does he look like?”



“He’s very small,” Mr. Taylor told them. “A miniature schnauzer. He’s mostly white, with a little black nose and a few black marks. And he’s got plenty of hair. It’s short but kind of thick, almost woolly.”



“If he did jump off, where do you think he would go?” Jessie asked.



“He’d be scared,” Mrs. Taylor said, “because he wouldn’t know where he was. He would hide someplace, like under a tree or a bush.”



Jessie nodded. “We’ll keep that in mind. Thank you for your time.”



The Taylor’s little son stepped forward. “Are you going to find Max for us?” he asked.



Jessie knelt down in front of him. “We’re going to try our best. Okay?”



He managed a tiny smile—probably his first smile since he learned that Max was missing.



“Okay,” he replied.



The Aldens finally made it to the bakery, where they sat around a small table in a quiet corner and ate their bagels.



“All right,” Jessie said, “so now we know there was a dog on the train, and that he somehow got loose and jumped off.”



“And we know that Mr. Finch was in the fourth car with the dog because he left his briefcase 12 there,” Violet added. “We also know he ate a granola bar, dropped the wrapper, and jumped off the train.”



“Do you think Mr. Finch could have taken the dog with him?” Benny wondered.



The others shook their heads. “No, why would he do that?” Violet asked. “He’d never steal a dog.”



Then Henry said, “Wait a minute! What about this—what if Max got loose, became scared, and jumped off the train, and Mr. Finch went after him?”



Jessie nodded. “That makes sense. If the dog suddenly jumped off and Mr. Finch saw it, I doubt he’d just stand there and do nothing.”



“But where?” Violet asked. “Where did they get off the train?”



“Mr. Finch already gave us that piece of the puzzle,” Jessie told her. “In his phone message.”



“Allerton!” Benny said.



Jessie nodded, proud of her little brother. “That’s right, Allerton.”



“That name again,” Henry said. “You know what? I think it’s time we went there.”



“I agree,” said Jessie.”



“And you know what else?” Henry continued. “I think we’re going to get lucky, too …” He reached into his back pocket and pulled out the train schedule. “The next train heading north out of Greenfield leaves in less than an hour.”



The Aldens finished their bagels quickly and hurried out.