That weekend was Sara’s birthday party. The day before, the Aldens went to her house to bake the cake and put together the last of the games. Sara had wanted to help and her mother offered their big kitchen.
“So what kind of cake do you want?” Jessie asked Sara.
“Chocolate!” Sara said without pausing for a moment. “A chocolate cake with chocolate frosting.”
“That’s a lot of chocolate!” said Benny.
But he was excited because he loved chocolate, too.
Henry came up with the idea of making the cake in the shape of a rocket ship. “We’ll decorate it with candy and marshmallows to look like a real rocket.”
“And remember those little plastic astronauts we bought at Party Time?” Violet recalled. “We can attach some of those to the cake with long strings of licorice, so it looks like they’re floating outside the spaceship.”
Jessie had borrowed a cookbook from Mrs. McGregor, and Benny searched the dessert section for a good recipe.
“Use this one. Mrs. McGregor has made it a lot of times,” Benny commented.
“How can you tell?” Sara wondered.
“Look at all the grease spots and chocolate stains on this page,” he said, pointing.
Everyone laughed. “You’re right, Benny. This is probably the chocolate cake she always makes for Grandfather’s birthday,” said Henry. “It’s great!”
Jessie wrote the ingredients down on a small sheet of paper and stuffed it into her pocket. Then the children all set off for the grocery store.
After they bought everything they needed, Sara and the Aldens returned to Sara’s house and got to work. They went straight to the kitchen, where they unloaded all the groceries and put on aprons.
While the cake was baking, the children made the chocolate icing by beating together butter, powdered sugar, and melted chocolate. Then they cleaned up, putting away all the unused supplies, washing the bowls and measuring spoons and cups, and wiping the counters with a sponge.
Ding! At last the timer went off, telling them the cake was ready.
After the cake had cooled, Henry carefully cut it in the shape of a rocket. Benny and Sara eagerly gobbled up the extra bits. “Yum! This is almost as good as when Mrs. McGregor makes it!” said Benny.
While Benny and Sara were licking their chocolaty fingers, the older children frosted the cake and decorated it.
“Wow!” said Sara when she saw what they’d done. “I love it!”
“Now we’d better finish making the games,” said Jessie.
“What’s left to do?” asked Sara.
“Remember that big box we brought over here the other day?” Jessie asked. “We’ve got to turn that into a rocket for you and your friends to ride in.”
“How are we going to do that?” Sara asked.
“You’ll see,” said Violet.
Sara led the way out to the garage, where they’d stored the large box.
“It’s such a beautiful day, we can work on it outside in your driveway,” Jessie suggested.
“That way we won’t have to worry about dripping paint and making my father mad!” Sara said.
The box had held a large television set, so it was big enough for two children to sit inside. Jessie and Henry cut large windows on the sides of the box and covered them with black paper. Then they decorated the outside of the box with an American flag and made panels of buttons and knobs and dials and switches on the inside.
They’d been working for a while when Jessie noticed that Violet wasn’t helping. She was just looking off into the woods beyond Sara’s house.
“What’s wrong?” Jessie asked her sister.
Violet didn’t answer.
“Violet?” Jessie said again.
“Oh!” Violet seemed startled. She looked around at the other children, who were all hard at work on the rocket ship. She motioned to Jessie, and the two girls moved a little bit away from the rest of the group. Then Violet began speaking quietly. “I saw someone in the woods out there watching us. A man. I saw him a few times—but it seemed as if every time I’d get a good look at him he’d see me and hide. Then he’d show up in a different spot.”
“Was it Mr. Woodruff?” Jessie asked.
Violet thought for a moment. “It might have been. It’s so dark in those trees that it was hard to tell for sure.”
“Or maybe it was Cassandra’s manager,”
Jessie suggested. “I don’t know what he looks like—I only know his voice, from the party store.”
The two girls were quiet for a few minutes as they looked out at the woods to see if anyone was there.
“He seems to be gone now,” said Violet.
“That reminds me of something I wanted to ask Sara,” Jessie said, moving back over to where the other kids were.
“Sara,” she said, “Benny said he saw your dad limping the other day. Did he hurt his leg?”
Sara looked confused. “No. I’ve never seen my dad limp.”
The Aldens all looked at one another.
“Are you sure?” Jessie asked. “Maybe he’d pulled a muscle or something.”
“No,” said Sara. “Not that I know of.”
“Well, never mind,” Jessie said.
Sara and the Aldens finished painting and decorating the rocket ship. When at last they were done, they slipped inside two at a time to see how it felt to “fly” the ship.
“My friends are going to love this!” Sara said.
When they got home from Sara’s a short while later, they gathered in the old boxcar in the backyard. Violet told the others about the man she’d seen watching them.
“That’s pretty strange,” said Henry.
“But isn’t it even stranger that Sara said her father doesn’t have a limp—and never did?” said Benny.
“It sure is,” said Jessie.
“I’ve been worrying about something else,” Henry said. “We’ve done two parties, and during both there was a burglary. What if it happens again tomorrow?”
“I thought of that, too,” said Jessie. “Whoever’s doing the burglaries seems to know when we’ve got a party scheduled.”
“Cassandra knew about Hallie’s party,” Violet recalled. “Mr. Grayson said he’d canceled her when he heard about us.”
“I wonder if she knew about Alex’s party,” said Henry.
“Only one way to find out,” said Jessie. “Let’s call and ask.”
The children went into the house, and Jessie led the way to the family room. There, she picked up the phone and dialed the Pierces’ number. A moment later she said, “Hello, Mrs. Pierce, it’s Jessie Alden. I have a question to ask you, and it may sound a little strange.”
Mrs. Pierce said, “What is it, Jessie?”
Jessie asked, “Did you ever think of having a magician at Alex’s birthday?”
“It’s funny you should ask,” Mrs. Pierce said. “As a matter of fact, we did. Alex has always loved magic, so I called some of the magicians in the area.”
“Was Cassandra the Great one of them?” Jessie asked.
“Yes, that name sounds familiar. I think she was,” Mrs. Pierce said. “Why do you ask?”
“Oh, it’s a long story,” Jessie said. “There’s just one other thing I was wondering. Did you tell the magicians what day you were planning to have the party?”
“Yes,” said Mrs. Pierce. “That way they could let me know if they were available.”
“Thanks so much for answering all my questions,” Jessie said. “Urn, have the police caught the burglar?”
“No, we haven’t heard anything from the police.” Mrs. Pierce sighed. “I guess they’re still working on it.”
“I hope they catch the burglar soon,” Jessie said.
“So do I,” Mrs. Pierce agreed. “And I hope your birthday business is going well,” she added. “I’ve got to run. Good-bye!”
“Thanks,” said Jessie as she hung up the phone. She quickly told the others what Mrs. Pierce had said.
“So Cassandra and her manager did know about both parties,” Henry said.
“What I want to know,” Violet said, “is, do they know we’re doing a party tomorrow?”
The Aldens all looked at one another, wondering what the answer to that question could be.
Then Jessie added another question. “And if they do … what are they planning?” |