儿童英语读物 The Ice Cream Mystery CHAPTER 5 Is This Your Horse?

“Next stop, the library,” Brianna announced from the driver’s seat of the ice-cream wagon 1. She guided Butterscotch across the grass and under the shade of a large old oak tree next to the library building. “Why don’t you ring the wagon bell, Benny.”



Benny leaned forward and gave the bell a long, loud ring. “I’m getting good at this,” he announced.



“You sure are,” Brianna agreed.



The Aldens had been riding in the ice-cream wagon all afternoon, taking turns sitting up on the driver’s seat with Brianna, helping 2 dish up ice cream, peering out the top half of the Dutch door at the back of the wagon.



Now, as the wagon halted, Henry unlatched the Dutch door, pushed it open, and walked around to Butterscotch. He took the reins 4 from Brianna and tied Butterscotch to the tree.



Jessie helped lower the steps from the driver’s seat, while Violet pushed open the side window from which the ice cream was served.



Brianna went to join Violet inside the wagon, but Benny stayed up in the wagon seat. He liked being there. He waved at everybody he saw and called out, “Ice cream sold here!”



Now he talked excitedly. “Look! There’s Thelma from the bike shop! Hi, Thelma. I’ve seen lots of people I know today. Marcos, in his blue and white truck. I like his truck. It’s not as nice as our wagon, though. And I saw three neighbors from our street. And two friends of Grandfather’s.”



Listening to Benny chatter 5, Jessie patted Butterscotch’s nose, then filled her water bucket. Brianna always carried a container of water in the wagon just for Butterscotch.



“Ice cream! Sold here!” Benny sang out from the wagon seat. “Hi, come buy some ice cream! Oh, hi, Preston.”



Preston didn’t ask how Benny knew his name. He stopped his bike a few feet away. “So now you’re all working for the Ice Cream Barn.”



“No,” said Jessie. “Brianna’s just letting us ride in the wagon today.”



“Ha,” said Preston. But he didn’t sound angry. He sounded almost as if his feelings were hurt.



“It’s true,” said Henry.



“Sure,” said Preston.



On the other side of the wagon, a small line was forming at the window. Brianna was very busy scooping 7 ice-cream cones 9 while Violet took the money and made change.



“How’s Butterscotch?” asked Preston abruptly 10.



“Fine,” said Henry.



“Come pet him,” urged Jessie.



“Hot day, cold ice cream!” Benny called from the seat to some passersby 11. Jessie had thought of that and he liked the sound of it.



Butterscotch snorted, making bubbles in the water, then raised her dripping nose to look at Preston.



He got on his bike and pedaled away without another word.



Brianna and Violet hadn’t noticed Preston. They were too busy. The small line of customers had gotten bigger.



“The special flavor this week? Banana split,” Brianna said. “Is that what you want, Ralph?” By now, she knew many of the regular customers by name. “One scoop 6 coming right up.”



A large group of children came out of the library and joined the line. Brianna greeted several of them by name, too.



“How do you remember everybody?” asked Violet.



Brianna grinned. “Lots of them ask for the same thing every time. That makes it easier. Like Annie with the red hair is one scoop chocolate, one scoop vanilla 12, vanilla on top. Maria is chocolate cherry fudge. Radj, the boy at the end of the line? He’ll order one scoop of whatever the special is, with sprinkles. He always gets sprinkles, no matter what flavor the ice cream is.”



“May I pet the horsie?” a little girl asked.



Henry said, “Her name is Butterscotch and she likes to have her nose petted. You can scratch behind her ear, too.”



Butterscotch was almost as popular as ice cream with the group of children. One little boy even tried to share his ice cream with the big horse. Jessie stopped him in time, explaining that Butterscotch would have plenty of oats when she got home from work that night.



Benny didn’t say anything about that. He thought it was too bad that Butterscotch couldn’t have an ice-cream cone 8 of her own.



Then Violet reached down to hand a customer change and looked up to find herself almost face-to-face with a police officer.



“Oh!” she said. “Hello. Would you like some ice cream?”



“No, thank you,” said the police officer. “I’m Officer Pierre. Who’s in charge here?”



“I am,” said Brianna.



“Could I see your license 13 and permits?” the police officer asked.



“Sure,” said Brianna. She washed her hands, then opened a small drawer underneath 14 the money drawer. She took out a folder 15 and passed it through the window to Officer Pierre.



The officer examined the papers carefully, then handed them back to Brianna.



“Is there a problem, Officer?” Henry asked.



“We have the library’s permission to park the wagon here,” Jessie added.



Officer Pierre didn’t answer right away. She walked around to look at Butterscotch, who was standing 16 quietly, her eyes half closed. Officer Pierre glanced at the water bucket, then back at the wagon. “Hot day,” she said.



“Hot day, cold ice cream,” said Benny promptly 17.



That made Officer Pierre smile a little.



The officer moved closer to Butterscotch, stroking her nose and looking her over carefully. Then she said, “We had a complaint about the horse. Someone said she was being mistreated.”



“Butterscotch? Mistreated?” gasped 18 Brianna in disbelief.



“She’s not being mistreated!” Henry said. “We always stop in the shade. And she gets water at every stop.”



“And she has her own barn and stall and paddock,” said Jessie.



“And oats at night,” Benny said.



“Who complained?” Violet asked.



“I’m not allowed to say,” Officer Pierre replied. “But whoever said you were treating your horse badly obviously didn’t know what they were talking about.”



“Or whoever it was wanted to cause trouble,” Henry said in a low voice.



Neither Officer Pierre nor Brianna heard him, but Jessie did. She glanced over quickly and Henry knew she’d been thinking the same thing.



“Butterscotch and I don’t go out during the hot part of the day. And if it is too hot—or too cold—we won’t go out at all,” Brianna was saying.



“I’m writing this complaint up as unfounded,” Officer Pierre reassured 19 her. “That means there is nothing to it, and if we get another complaint, we’ll look much more closely at it before contacting you.”



“Good,” said Benny.



After the officer had left, Brianna and Violet served a few more ice-cream cones to customers, including one more familiar face. It was the blond woman with the dark eyebrows 20. “One scoop,” Brianna predicted in a low voice as they watched the customer approach. “And no matter what flavor, she won’t eat it all.”



Brianna was right.



“What’s your freshest ice cream?” demanded the woman.



“It’s all fresh,” Brianna told her.



“The ice cream you just made,” the woman said.



“Our special flavor, banana split,” said Brianna.



“I’ll take it. One scoop,” the woman said.



She looked the wagon over as she waited for her scoop.



“Would you like to pet Butterscotch?” Jessie asked.



“The horse? No, thank you,” said the woman. She paid for her cone and took a careful taste. “It is fresh,” she said.



“Yes, it is,” said Violet.



The customer walked around the back of the wagon, still looking it over. Then she left, taking tiny, careful tastes of her ice cream.



Benny saw her toss it into a trash can across the street.



“She threw it away!” he said in horror.



“Do I know my customers, or what?” said Brianna. “She does that every time.”



They had a few more customers, but it was getting late now. When the last one had left, Henry unhitched Butterscotch from the tree, emptied the water bucket, and tied it to the side of the wagon. He and Jessie climbed in the back while Brianna joined Benny on the driver’s seat. Violet closed the Dutch door and latched 3 it, and then went to the front of the wagon to peer through the little window behind the driver. “Ready,” she said.



“Giddyap, Butterscotch,” Benny said.



“Home, girl,” said Brianna, and Butterscotch, who knew that was where they were going anyway, turned in the direction of the Ice Cream Barn—and her own barn, too.



Inside the wagon, Jessie said in a low voice so Brianna wouldn’t hear her, “I think whoever complained about Butterscotch was trying to cause more trouble for the Ice Cream Barn.”



“I think so, too,” said Henry. “Anyone can see that Butterscotch isn’t being mistreated.”



“It was a mean thing to do,” said Violet. “It upset Brianna. But who could have done it?”



“Remember Benny saying he’d seen Marcos? It could have been Marcos. Benny waved at him, so Marcos knew the ice-cream wagon was making its rounds,” said Jessie.



“So did Preston,” said Jessie. “And he was just here, right before the police officer came.”



“He sure was,” said Henry. “He was here and he was in a very bad mood. And he asked about Butterscotch.”



They looked at one another. Violet said, “It doesn’t really prove anything. And the one who complained about Butterscotch before was Mr. Bush.”



Henry frowned. “True.” He paused, then said, “Wait a minute.” Going to the front of the wagon, he spoke 21 through the window. “Benny, remember you said you saw some of our neighbors today?”



“Yes,” said Benny. “I waved at them.”



“Was Mr. Bush one of them?” asked Henry.



“Yes,” said Benny. “He was still cranky. He didn’t wave back. I think he’s the one who made the police come after Butterscotch.”



Henry suddenly laughed. “Could be, Benny. But we can’t prove it.”



He went back to join Jessie and Violet. “You heard what Benny said,” Henry told them. “We have to count Mr. Bush as a suspect, too.”



Violet sighed. “This isn’t good,” she said. “We still have three suspects. We still don’t know who’s trying to sabotage 22 the Ice Cream Barn. I wish we could find out, before anything else happens.”



Sometimes wishes come true. But this time, Violet’s wish didn’t.