Pet Shop Mystery Read Free Page B

with Pipsqueak. “I can’t figure out why Mrs. Tweedy hired somebody who keeps mixing up everything, including hamsters. Can you, Henry?”
    Henry scratched his head. “I can’t figure it out, either. Mrs. Tweedy told Grandfather that Mr. Fowler had a good recommendation from another pet shop. But he doesn’t seem to care about animals enough to make sure they get the right kind of—”
    “Henry. Look at this sales slip!” Jessie interrupted when she started to put the receipt back in the bag. “There’s a message on the back.”
    Henry leaned over Jessie’s shoulder. “‘ Delivery, five o’clock Thursday. One macaw and one w oolly’ … I can’t make out what that word is.”
    “Tomorrow’s Thursday,” Jessie said, “our first day of work. So I guess we’ll find out what a woolly something-or-other is. A macaw is a parrot, the biggest kind. It’s funny Mrs. Tweedy would get a delivery when she’s going to be away.”
    “Especially a parrot,” Henry said. “Didn’t she just tell us she doesn’t ever plan to sell any large birds, not even Grayfellow?”
    Jessie folded the receipt in half. She put it in the bag with the turtle food. “I sure hope we find out what Mr. Fowler is up to tomorrow at five o’clock.”

CHAPTER 4
Mix-ups and Fix-ups
    The next afternoon, the Aldens zoomed through their paper route. Jessie even put Soo Lee to work so everyone could get to the Pretty Bird Pet Shop as soon as possible.
    “Last one, Soo Lee,” Jessie said when they reached the end of the route. “Usually we let Watch bring a paper up to this house. He likes to play with Cody, the dog who lives here. But we have to leave him home now that we’re working at the pet store, so you can put the paper on the porch. Don’t worry. Cody’s friendly.”
    Soo Lee skipped up the steps to the house. The sleepy golden retriever lying on the porch thumped her tail when she saw Soo Lee.
    “Good girl!” Jessie said. “We’ll stop by this house again on the way home. I noticed on Mrs. Tweedy’s list that Cody is supposed to get a new flea collar. You can deliver that, too.”
    “I like my job,” Soo Lee said.
    The children turned the corner onto Main Street. An elderly woman and several children stood in front of the Pretty Bird Pet Shop. Grayfellow was back on his perch in the sunny display window so people could watch him.
    “Grayfellow is a good advertisement for the shop,” Jessie said when she saw all the attention the parrot was getting. She pulled on the front door. It didn’t budge. “What’s going on? This door is stuck.”
    Henry gave a pull. The door didn’t move.
    “Can’t you children read?” the elderly lady said to the Aldens. “Look at the sign on the door. It says CLOSED .”
    “Closed in the middle of the day?” Henry cried. “Mr. Fowler is supposed to keep the shop open when Mrs. Tweedy is away.”
    The old woman didn’t look a bit friendly. “It’s a good thing, too, keeping all these schoolchildren out of this shop for a change.”
    The Aldens were much too polite to tell the woman how much Mrs. Tweedy liked having children in her shop.
    Henry whispered to his brother and sisters. “Let’s go out back. Maybe Mr. Fowler had some chores in the storage building. He probably needed to close the shop for a few minutes. Now that we’re here, we can help him out.”
    The children walked down a narrow passage to a small building in back of the pet shop.
    “Look, there’s a light on,” Jessie said. She stood on tiptoe to look inside. She wasn’t tall enough. She knocked at the door.
    There was no answer.
    “I’ll give Benny a boost up to that small window,” Henry suggested. Henry easily swung Benny up. “Can you see anything, Benny?”
    “I see Mr. Fowler, and he sees me.” Benny rapped on the window. “Can we come in, Mr. Fowler?”
    Henry set Benny down on the ground and gave another good knock. “It’s the Aldens,” he shouted. “We came to help with the shop. If you