Everyone in the room turned toward Henry.
“Really?” Benny asked. “Who has been doing it, Henry? Who? And why?”
Henry walked to the center of the room. Mr. Lillipool and Timmy came over to stand by Ms. Werner, Lisa, and Dante. Mr. Benjamin stood apart from them, but he was also listening to Henry.
“I thought that someone was trying to ruin the audition for Watch,” Henry explained.
“But that’s not it. Someone wanted to ruin the audition for Watch and another dog. So their dog would win.”
“But Buffalo didn’t have any problems yesterday. Neither did Ninja,” Dante said. “So far only Watch has had the problems.”
“I know,” Henry said. “But I realized that Buffalo was supposed to go before Watch at the kitchen audition. Buffalo needed a walk, so Watch took his turn instead.”
“Oh!” Jessie said. “I get it! You think that the steak was meant to mess up Buffalo’s audition, not Watch’s. Watch already had trouble earlier on the obstacle course.”
Mr. Benjamin got all red faced and angry. “I didn’t ruin any auditions. Ninja and I weren’t even in the room when Watch and Buffalo did their tasks. Both times we left right after we auditioned, before any mishaps took place.”
“And that’s exactly how I figured it out,” Henry said. “Since you weren’t there, how did you know that Watch tipped over the bench and broke the slide?”
“Oh my,” Lisa said. “How did you know those things, Mr. Benjamin?”
“I—” Mr. Benjamin began. Suddenly he pointed at Dante. “That kid told me what happened.”
“No, I didn’t,” Dante said.
“I must have heard it from Ms. Werner then,” Mr. Benjamin said.
“No, you didn’t hear it from me either,” Ms. Werner replied.
“I just realized something else,” Jessie told Mr. Benjamin. “You said that Buffalo couldn’t stay on stage long enough to finish the kitchen audition. You thought Buffalo went after the steak. But Buffalo went out for a walk. You didn’t know that it was Watch who got distracted by the steak instead.”
“I—” Mr. Benjamin didn’t know what to say.
“I’ve heard enough,” Mr. Lillipool said. “Mr. Benjamin, you have behaved badly. Wundermutt Company will no longer consider Ninja to be a contestant for the commercial.”
“You all see that my dog is the best. I was just making sure you knew it!” Mr. Benjamin said.
Benny said softly to Ninja, “No matter what Mr. Benjamin did, you’re still my hero.” The black Lab wagged his tail.
Mr. Lillipool shook his head. He pointed to the exit.
“Hmph! Ninja will be a star again. Just you wait and see!” Mr. Benjamin told them. He put on Ninja’s leash and stomped out of the room.
Mr. Lillipool came over and shook Henry’s hand. “Good detective work, young man,” Mr. Lillipool said.
Henry pointed at his brother and sisters and said, “The Aldens work together as a team.”
Mr. Lillipool shook hands with Violet, Jessie, and Benny. He even shook Watch’s paw. “Tell you what,” he said. “Let’s forget about yesterday. We’ll have both Watch and Buffalo eat a bowl of Wundermutt food. It’ll be a race. Whoever finishes his bowl first, wins the audition. Agreed?”
The Aldens all nodded their heads yes. Dante’s eyes opened wide, then he also nodded his head in agreement.
“Come on, Watch,” Benny said. He guided Watch over to the bowl with his name on it. “This is your favorite food.”
Dante took Buffalo to his bowl.
“On your marks,” Mr. Lillipool said.
“Get set,” Lisa said.
“Go!” Ms. Werner said. Then, the eating race began. Buffalo dove into his bowl, chomping loudly.
“Eat up, Watch,” Benny told the dog. Watch poked his nose in the bowl. But then, just like Ninja had done earlier, he turned and walked away. Watch was more interested in Buffalo’s food than his own. Jessie had to hold his collar to bring him back to his own bowl.
“What’s wrong with Watch?” Benny asked.
“He must be nervous,” Violet said.
Jessie bent down and said, “Relax and eat, Watch.”
Watch refused. Buffalo kept on eating.
“Watch should be super hungry,” Benny said. “I mean, we’ve been here a whole hour already. I know that I’m so hungry, I could eat a bear!” Violet took a turn getting Watch up to his bowl.
“Something’s wrong,” Violet said. “Why won’t Watch eat?”
“I don’t know,” Henry replied. “But now Buffalo is more than halfway done. It looks like we’re not going to go to Hollywood.”
Benny frowned. “But I wanted to get Grandfather a chauffeur’s hat,” he said.
“Josh won’t get his bike fixed, either,” Violet said sadly.
“The audition is over,” Ms. Werner suddenly announced. “Buffalo just finished his last bite of Wundermutt food. Buffalo is the winner of the Wundermutt Food Commercial!” |