After the boys met up with Jessie and Violet, they strolled along the glass balcony that overlooked the indoor food court in the mall.
Violet peeked over, then pulled back. “It makes me dizzy to look down.”
“If I had my binoculars I could tell what everybody’s eating from up here,” Benny said, not dizzy at all. “This is a good spying spot.”
Jessie laughed. “Well, I spy a soft-ice cream stand down there. How about some ice cream before we go home? If we go right now, we should have just enough time to get some before the mall closes.”
Benny raced over to the mall’s glass elevator and pressed the button to go down. “Come on. Hurry up.”
Moments later, the elevator glided to the ground floor and opened up onto the food court.
The children put their shopping bags down next to an empty table.
“I’ll watch our stuff while you three get some ice cream,” Henry said. “Would you bring me back a dish of chocolate?”
“Sure thing,” Jessie said. “We’ll be right back.”
After Benny, Jessie, and Violet went off, Henry waited at their table and kept an eye on their belongings. Finally, he saw his brother and sisters carrying trays of ice cream dishes. When the three children got closer, Henry ran up to help carry the trays back. “I’ll get some napkins, too,” Henry said.
Right then, a janitor pushed a cleaning cart near the Aldens’ table. The man checked all the nearby tables, picking up hats, bags, and items that people had left behind. At the very next table, he spotted one of the Aldens’ shopping bags that had slipped onto the floor. The man picked it up and put it with all the other Lost and Found items on his cart.
The children returned with their ice cream and dug in.
A few minutes later, a voice interrupted them. “Attention, shoppers. The mall will be closing in fifteen minutes. Repeat. The mall will be closing in fifteen minutes.”
The Aldens gathered their belongings. They brought their trays and empty dishes to the large garbage cans nearby.
“Now we can go home,” Benny said. That’s when he noticed that he was the only one without a shopping bag. “Do you have my jeans bag, Jessie?”
“No, there are only three bags,” Jessie answered. “Where’s yours?”
Benny pointed to the cleaning cart the worker had parked a few tables ahead.
“There it is, on top of that cart. I bet that cleaning man thought I left: it behind, but I didn’t.” Benny ran ahead and tried to get the worker’s attention. “That’s my bag on your cart. I think you picked it up by mistake.”
When the tall man turned around, Benny had a big surprise. “Mr. Merchant! Uh, that’s my bag.”
“Humph,” Hap Merchant said when he saw Benny. “I can’t just hand this over. These things are going to Lost and Found unless you can tell me what’s inside.”
“That’s easy. My new jeans,” Benny answered.
Hap opened the bag and checked inside. “Sorry,” he said. “This bag must belong to someone else.”
“Oh, right!” Benny added. “My coconut monkey, too.”
Hap waited. Benny started to worry. “Isn’t that what’s inside? It’s under the jeans.”
“Humph,” Hap repeated. Finally he handed the bag over to Benny.
“At least I didn’t lose it this time,” Benny said when he caught up with his brother and sisters. “Hap Merchant put it with all the other stuff people lost.”
Jessie wondered about this. “Why would Hap be pushing around a cleaning cart? He manages the whole mall.”
“He doesn’t trust people, remember?” Violet said. “Martin Bolt told us he likes to do everything himself. He even does jobs for Penny’s shop instead of letting us do them.”
“He doesn’t seem to want us working here, that’s for sure,” Henry said.
“He’s always around when I have my monkey,” Benny added. “Even when it’s in a shopping bag.”
Jessie took Benny’s new jeans from his shopping bag and put them in another bag. “You know what? Let’s take your monkey in this bag and put it away in Penny’s store. That way you’ll have it tomorrow when you and Henry take pirate pictures. We’ll meet you by the exit door, okay?” Jessie said to Violet and Henry.
Shoppers scurried from the stores in the last few minutes. Jessie and Benny heard their footsteps echoing on the tile floors of the mall.
When the two children showed up at Penny’s shop, Janet was in the back of the store, turning out the lights. “I thought you two were gone for the day.”
“We were,” Jessie said. “But I wanted to drop off something that we need tomorrow. Is that okay?”
Janet looked at her watch. “I guess so.”
The children scooted over to the front of the store. Jessie found an empty shelf beneath the counter. She stuffed Benny’s shopping bag behind a box on the shelf.
“Attention. The mall is closing in five minutes,” Jessie and Benny heard on the loudspeaker.
“Let’s hurry,” Benny said. “I don’t want to get locked in here by mistake.”
“We’ll take the glass elevator. It will take less time. ’Bye, Janet,” Jessie called out.
No one answered.
“Janet?” Jessie said, louder this time.
Still no answer.
Benny took Jessie’s outstretched hand. The store lights were going off all over the mall. Even Penny’s Emporium was nearly dark, but the front door was still unlocked.
Jessie held Benny’s hand tighter. “We can’t leave until Janet gets back. The store’s not locked. The gate isn’t down. All the customers and shopkeepers are supposed to be gone by now. That’s the rule. She must have gone down to the recycling room out back.”
Jessie and Benny tiptoed to the back of the darkened store. There was no Janet. They looked in the storeroom. Still no Janet.
“I’ll check the hallway behind the storeroom.” Jessie stuck her head out the rear door of the storeroom. “I don’t see or hear her. We can’t go out this door because it will lock behind us.”
“Should we call somebody?” Benny said.
“Let’s go out into the mall,” Jessie suggested. “Someone from the security staff is bound to come by.”
The two children made their way through the darkened store. Benny bumped into a box.
Shkkk, shkkk, shkkk, the children heard next.
“What’s that?” Benny gripped his sister’s hand.
Jessie took a step and nearly fell down. “Popcorn!” she said, laughing a little. “That box you bumped into was full of popcorn kernels. They’re all over the floor. I’ll go get a broom and dustpan so no one else trips. Wait here.”
“Can I come with you?” Benny asked.
Jessie took Benny’s hand again. She didn’t let go until they came back to sweep up the mess. “There. Let’s put the broom and dustpan away and get out of here.”
Benny and Jessie walked carefully now. They didn’t want to knock over any more boxes or hear any more funny sounds.
When they reached the front of the store, they had another surprise, and not a popcorn surprise, either.
“The doors are locked!” Benny said.
Jessie tried to push the glass doors apart. “It’s no use. Even if I force the doors open, the security gate is locked, too.”
“Who locked us in?” Benny asked.
Jessie tugged at the door handles. “Janet must have still been in another part of the store, not in back. She probably didn’t know we were inside, so she locked up.”
Benny looked up at Jessie. “What are we going to do, Jessie?”
Before Jessie could answer, another unexpected sound startled the children.
“The phone’s ringing!” Jessie said, relieved to hear the familiar sound. “Of course! We’ll call security or Penny or somebody to come unlock us. But let me answer this call first.”
Jessie picked up the phone. “Hello?”
“I’m on my way,” a man’s voice said.
The next sound Jessie heard was a click.
“Who was that?” Benny asked. “Is someone coming to get us?”
Jessie put down the phone. Her heart was pounding, but she tried not to let Benny see how nervous she was. “The person hung up.”
The two children stood at the counter wondering what to do next. Suddenly a beam of light crisscrossed the store. Benny and Jessie ran to the front door.
“It’s Janet!” Benny cried.
Janet unlocked the door and stepped inside. When she saw the two Aldens standing there, she jumped back. “How did you get in here?”
“I think you locked us in by mistake,” Jessie explained. “We thought you were in the storeroom before, so we went back there. That must have been when you locked up. I’m sorry for all the confusion. Why did you come back?”
Janet didn’t answer.
“Well, again, I’m sorry,” Jessie went on. “I’m just glad you did return. I guess we’ll go now.”
Benny and Jessie slipped through the half-opened doors. The mall was deserted now. Hand in hand, Benny and Jessie walked quickly to the front exit door downstairs.
A security man waved them out. “Come on, now. The stores are closed. Out you go.”
Violet and Henry ran over, glad to see their brother and sister after the long wait.
“We almost gave up,” Henry said. “What happened, anyway? You two are the last ones out.”
But they were not the last ones out. Looking down on the Aldens from the top level of the glass balcony were two people who didn’t seem in any hurry to leave.
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