Mystery on Blizzard Mountain Read Free

round man with round glasses came out. He waved, closed the door of his cabin, and lifted a large backpack from the porch. He walked to the back of Maris’s truck and tossed the pack in.
    Then he came around to join the Aldens and Maris.
    “Hi there. I heard you were coming,” said Bobcat with a grin.
    “I like your hat,” Jessie said. It had a paw-print design on the front. “Is that a bobcat track on it?”
    “Yep,” he said. “Not actual size, of course.”
    “How big is a bobcat?” asked Violet.
    “Oh, the average is about the size of a medium-to-small dog,” he told them.
    “And they don’t eat people?” Violet asked, just to make sure.
    “Nope. Too small. They’re also very shy. My job is to gather more information on them so we’ll be able to do a better job of protecting them.”
    “Protecting them? From bears?” asked Benny.
    “People, mostly,” Bobcat answered.
    “Don’t you want trails in the park, either?” asked Jessie. “Are you like Carola?”
    “I agree with Carola and I disagree with her,” Bobcat said. “The park belongs to everybody, but that means that everybody has to help take care of it, too. Part of taking care of it is staying on the trails and not tramping through important habitat.”
    “What’s a habit ... habit ... ?” Benny asked. He’d never heard that word before.
    “Habitat,” Bobcat repeated. “All it means is home. Where the animals live. You could say that your hometown is your habitat, Benny. And I guess you wouldn’t much like it if someone took a walk right through your front door.”
    “No way!” said Benny.
    “Well, neither would a bobcat. So part of my job is to make sure park trails don’t go through a bobcat’s front door, either.”
    Just then, Maris slowed the truck down. “Blizzard Gap,” she announced. “This is Main Street.”
    Blizzard Gap was much smaller than Greenfield. Maris drove by a gas station with a sign that said LULU’S GAS ’N’ GO, a building with a general store on one side and a diner on the other, and a neat white house with a post office sign out front.
    Above the general store, a sign advertised GROCERIES AND EVERYTHING ELSE.
    Maris parked in front of the diner.
    “Why don’t you kids get some hot chocolate in the diner while Bobcat and I get some camping supplies at the general store,” Maris said.
    “Okay,” said Benny cheerfully. “I like hot chocolate.”
    As the Aldens walked into the diner, people turned to look at them. Violet blushed a little. She was shy.
    But Benny smiled at everyone. “Hi,” he said. He even waved at a man with curly black hair as they passed his table on the way to the counter.
    The man looked surprised. “Hello,” he said in a gruff voice. He smiled a little. His teeth were big and white against his beard.
    A tall, thin waitress with silver hair came over to take their order. The name embroidered on her shirt said RAYANNE.
    “Menu’s on the wall,” Rayanne said. She nodded toward a big blackboard at the back of the diner. “Regular items on the left, specials on the right.”

    “Hot chocolate, please,” said Benny. The others ordered hot chocolate, too.
    “And I don’t suppose you would want whipped cream with it?” Rayanne asked.
    “Yes! Please!” Benny said loudly.
    One side of the waitress’s mouth turned up a little and her eyes crinkled in amusement. “I’ll see what I can do,” she said.
    Henry took a map out of his jacket pocket. He unfolded it and spread it on the counter so Benny, Jessie, and Violet could see it. “Here’s where we are now,” he said. “And here’s where Maris’s cabin is.”
    “There’s Blizzard Mountain,” Violet said. “That’s where we’re going.”
    “If we don’t have any more bad luck today,” agreed Jessie.
    Henry frowned. “I sort of wonder if someone didn’t make that bad luck for Maris,” he said in a low voice.
    “What do you mean, Henry?” asked Violet.
    “Carola made it pretty clear she doesn’t