The Case of the Clever Secret Code Page 2

  Holy Catnip! Before long, Merryweather returned to our store, carrying a plastic bag with some sandwiches. She passed one to Gracie and then started eating one herself. But Gracie completely ignored her lunch. Instead she stood there with Millicent, and together they talked so fast I could hardly understand a word they said. As near as I could tell, they were pretty wound up about this Steele Bronson guy. Funny, but the only one who didn’t seem excited about him was our Mom.

  “His last movie was the best!” Merryweather said when she was halfway through her sandwich.

  “Personally, I liked his earlier movies,” Millicent chimed in. “Before he became such a big star. And before he started dating that waitress.”

  Merryweather took the last bite of her sandwich. “And broke up with that waitress. Then started dating that model. And broke up with her, too. It made all the news.”

  I glanced over at my brother. “It made all the news? I never saw anything about this guy in the news before. Did you?”

  Bogey shook his head. “Different kind of news, kid. We mostly stick with the crime beat. Not movie stars and what dames they’re dating now.”

  “Hmmmm . . . It sure seems like an awful lot of people are interested in what this guy does,” I murmured just as Gracie came dancing over to us.

  She put her arms around me and picked me up. “Did you hear, Buckley? Steele Bronson is right here in St. Gertrude! He’s a really famous movie star and I got to see him. It’s a dream come true!”

  Holy Mackerel! Gracie acted as thrilled as everybody else did about this movie star guy. Just like Millicent and Merryweather. Maybe there really was something special about him. And well, I did have to say, I sure liked it when dreams came true.

  I reached up and gave Gracie a kiss on the nose. My biggest dream came true when my family adopted me from the cat shelter. Especially since my first humans weren’t very nice and they abandoned me in a park. After that, I was out on the mean streets before someone even took me to the cat shelter. Back then, I didn’t know where my next meal was coming from. But now that I have my forever home, I have food, and toys, and a bed, and a nice house to live in. Plus I have my brother, and a family of both cats and humans. They all give me lots and lots and lots of love. And a guy like me is thankful for it every single day.

  Gracie hugged me tight and I hugged her back. Then she started spinning around with me in her arms. For some reason, she’d been going through this spinning phase for a while now. I was really looking forward to the day when she grew out of it. And I do mean really looking forward to it! In the meantime, I just wrapped my arms around her neck and hung on for dear life. Around and around we went. The whole room went by in a blur!

  “Gracie, you’ve got to quit spinning Buckley.” Our Mom’s voice floated over to us from somewhere. “It’s time to practice reading your essay for the contest.”

  Gracie stopped spinning. “Okay, Mom! I’ll practice it in front of Buckley and Bogey.”

  She kissed me on the head and put me back on the dresser. Right next to my brother. But even though I was no longer being spun around, the room still seemed to be going in circles. I could barely make out Bogey standing over me with a cat treat.

  “Here you go, kid,” he said. “This’ll get you going.”

  And sure enough, it did. I munched on the turkey-flavored treat while he helped himself to one, too.

  I glanced over to see Gracie skip to the back of the store, where our Mom had her office. She’d barely left us when the front door opened. Then it opened again and again. One by one, customers walked into the store and started to shop. As they did, they all talked about that Steele Bronson guy. It seemed the more they talked about him, they more antiques they bought.

  Millicent and Merryweather and our Mom had their hands full at the cash register. They had to work really fast to take care of all the sales. We watched the whole thing until Gracie came skipping back to us. She had her essay in her hands.

  “Okay, boys,” she said. “Do you know about the contest? Every year the city of St. Gertrude holds a Fourth of July essay contest. They ask school kids from grades six to nine to write essays about how our country was founded, and about celebrating our country’s birthday. Because that’s what the Fourth of July really is — it’s a big, giant birthday party for the United States. It’s America’s Independence Day that everyone celebrates all across the country.”

  Holy Mackerel! That really did sound like a big birthday party! And I sure liked birthday parties. A lot. At our house, we celebrated the birthdays of all the humans and all the cats in our family every single year. It was a lot of fun. Our Mom always made us cats a tuna fish cake to share. So let me tell you, I looked forward to every single birthday party.

  Now Gracie smiled her brightest smile. “The theme for this year’s essay contest is ‘What the Red, White, and Blue Means to Me.’ The people holding the contest got the idea because the colors of the American flag are red, white, and blue.”

  She pointed to the flag that our Mom had hanging in the front of her store. And sure enough, Gracie was right. There were red and white stripes, and white stars on a blue background. I had to say, it was a really pretty flag. I liked the stars the best.

  Gracie twirled around. “After all the kids entered the contest, the judges picked the top ten best essays. And guess what? My essay made it into the top ten! Can you believe it?”

  Well, I could believe it! Gracie worked so hard in school to get good grades. And us cats would know. That’s because one of the cats in our house, Lil Bits, spent lots of hours with Gracie when she did her homework.

  Now Gracie stood still but her dark eyes kept dancing. “Tonight, the kids with the best essays will read them aloud at the library. That’s when the judges will pick the final winner. And the winner gets to read their essay at the big celebration on Saturday night. Right after the town picnic and before the fireworks start.”

  That made me shiver. Sure, I wanted Gracie to win the contest. But to tell you the truth, us cats don’t really like fireworks. I’d seen a bunch last New Year’s Eve. And as far as I was concerned, they were bright and loud, and way too scary for a guy like me. They weren’t exactly the kind of thing I wanted to be around ever again.

  Gracie started to bounce up and down. “Plus, the winner gets a big trophy. And their picture in the paper. But best of all, they get to ride on a float in the parade on Saturday morning! I want to win so much I can hardly stand it!”

  Holy Catnip! Wouldn’t it be fun to ride on a float in the parade? I glanced at my brother and he winked back at me. Then we both sat up as tall as we could and purred just as loud as we could purr. We wanted Gracie to know that we were so proud of her. And we wanted her to win, too!

  She leaned over and gave us both a kiss on the forehead. “I sure wish you boys could be at the library tonight. Even though I want to win, it’s kind of scary to read my essay in front of all those people.”

  I turned and meowed to my brother. “Don’t they let cats into the library?”

  He grinned back at me. “Don’t sweat it, kid. We’ll figure out a way to get there.”

  That was music to my ears. I reached up and gave Gracie a kiss on the elbow.

  She giggled. “Thanks, Buckley. But now I’ve got to practice.”

  Then she stood up straight and started to read. “What the Red, White, and Blue Means to Me.”

  She paused and smiled at us. I always loved to hear Gracie read out loud. She had such a nice voice, and she sure was a good reader.

  “My name is Gracie Abernathy and I am proud to be an American,” she started. “It makes me smile every time I see the red, white, and blue — the flag that is the symbol of our great country. When I see our flag, I am so happy that our forefathers and mothers started this great country, a place where people would have freedom. Of course, they risked everything they had — their homes, their belongings and even their own lives — to create this great nation of ours. Sometimes it’s ha
rd for me to imagine, but once upon a time, there was no country named America. In fact, the United States is less than two hundred and fifty years old! And while that seems pretty old to me, believe it or not, as a country, that’s actually pretty young! Then again, it took a lot of years to grow and become this nation of fifty states. Especially since we started out very small, with only thirteen colonies — Massachusetts, New Hampshire, Connecticut, Rhode Island, New York, New Jersey, Delaware, Pennsylvania, Virginia, Maryland, North Carolina, South Carolina, and Georgia.”

  Gracie paused for a breath. “Sometimes I try to imagine what life was like back in those original thirteen colonies. At first, the colonies were under the rule of England and King George II. But then, when King George III became king, little by little, our history changed forever. You see, it all started when the king needed money to pay for the French and Indian War. And King George figured the best way to get some money was to take it from the people in America’s thirteen colonies. So he did. He created something called the Tax Stamp, where he taxed every piece of printed paper that people used. Even playing cards. Well, needless to say, that made the people in the colonies very angry. Because they thought this tax was completely unfair, especially since they didn’t even have a say in the matter. ‘Taxation without representation,’ was their cry.”

  Gracie squared her shoulders and kept on going. “The people of the colonies were also supposed to buy all their goods from England. Can you imagine someone telling you where you could shop? I can’t. My Mom owns an antique store, and her customers all shop there because they want to. Not because they’re forced to. Anyway, the people in the colonies didn’t want to buy all their goods from England, so they bought goods that came in from other places on other ships.”

  Gracie shook her head. “Well, King George didn’t think much of that, so he made it legal for his soldiers to just search people’s houses and look for goods that weren’t bought from England. People were punished, some very severely, and of course, that made the colonists even more angry.”

  Gracie looked from me to Bogey and then back at her paper. “But King George didn’t care what the people of the colonies thought. In fact, he just decided to punish them by adding more taxes and taking away more freedoms. Until finally, the people had had enough. Each colony sent delegates to Philadelphia to a meeting of the Continental Congress, so they could discuss what to do. Then on July 4th, 1776, the delegates adopted the Declaration of Independence. The document declared the United States to be a country unto itself, and no longer under the rule of England. It was a historic day and the Declaration of Independence is still one of the most important documents of our country.”

  Gracie took a deep breath. “Of course, King George wasn’t about to give up control of his thirteen colonies. Oh no! Not without a fight. And that fight became known as the Revolutionary War. It was a long, hard war, but thanks to the leadership of General George Washington, the newly formed United States won the Revolution. And we became a country free from British rule. Because of those brave people who fought for our independence so many years ago, we now get to enjoy freedoms in this country. Freedoms like the freedom of speech and the freedom of religion. All things written down in the Constitution of the United States.”

  Holy Catnip! I had to say, Gracie’s story sure was good. She had me on the edge of my seat. I could hardly wait to hear what was going to happen next. And I sure wanted to know more about this Declaration of Independence.

  Gracie smiled and read on. “So when I see the red, white, and blue of the American flag, I think of those signers of the Declaration of Independence. And I proudly celebrate the Fourth of July, America’s birthday and Independence Day.”

  She dropped her arms down and glanced at us for a moment. “Did you know, boys? The Declaration of Independence is on display in Washington, D.C. Someday I hope to go there with Mom and Dad and see it.”

  I’m sure my eyes must have gone pretty wide right about then. Because that document would be really, really old by now! I hoped Gracie got to go to Washington to see it someday, too. And I hoped she took lots of pictures so us cats could see what it looked like when she got back.

  She lifted her essay up again and took a breath, all ready to finish. I scooted closer so I didn’t miss a thing.

  But I didn’t get to hear another word. That’s because a really big commotion suddenly sounded outside. It was coming from just down the street. It got louder and louder, and sounded like it was getting closer and closer. A few seconds later, I saw a big bunch of people walking our way. We saw the same lady TV reporter in her high heels. She was walking backwards and holding her microphone in front of her. Beside her, a man with a camera on his shoulder was walking backwards, too. Then there was somebody else holding up a big, long pole with a light on the top. Plus there was a blonde lady with a can of hairspray and a brush. And there were a whole bunch of people just talking and making noise. They were sort of gathered in a group and moving along.

  But there also appeared to be someone in the middle of the entire group. Someone I couldn’t quite see because of all the other people surrounding that person.

  The group kept on moving up the sidewalk and they got noisier as they went. Bogey turned and stared out the window.

  Gracie put her paper down and leaned forward to look outside. “What in the world?”

  Then I watched as her jaw fell open wide. “Oh my goodness . . . He’s coming here? To our store?”

  “What’s going on?” I asked my brother.

  He tilted his head in my direction. “Looks like we’ve got company, kid.”

  I crinkled my brow. “The good kind of company? Or the bad kind of company?”

  “We’ll know in a minute,” he murmured.

  Gracie gasped and ran off. “Mom! Mom! I can’t believe it! He’s coming here!”

  “Who, honey?” came our Mom’s reply.

  Before Gracie could say another word, the crowd passed by our window. They reminded me of a big bunch of bees swarming around a hive. That’s when I remembered how I’d been stung by a bee once and how much it hurt.

  I sure hoped this “swarm” wasn’t going to sting me, too.

  But I figured I was about to find out. Because the door suddenly flew open wide. And the next thing I knew, the man with the light on the end of the long pole walked in. He stepped off to one side while a tall, skinny lady with short brown hair came in, too. She put a big roll of something red on the floor. Then she held onto one end of that roll and gave the rest a shove. That roll tumbled forward and kept on going. Until it had rolled all the way out into a long strip of red carpet. It went right up the main aisle into our store.

  Now the man with the camera moved into our store and stood to the other side. The reporter walked in backwards and kept her microphone in front of her face. Her shiny, black hair stayed perfectly in place the whole time.

  Then, from out of nowhere, a few notes of music blared out. And let me tell you, that music was really, really loud! I nearly jumped to the ceiling when I heard it. It sort of sounded like trumpets playing, “Dat-ta-dah-dah!”

  After that, a tall man strolled in with his arms open wide. He held some kind of golden trophy in one hand. He was wearing blue jeans and a faded, brown leather jacket. His golden hair glistened in the light coming from the top of the pole. In fact, his hair was almost as golden as the statue he was carrying. I don’t think I’d ever seen hair that color of gold before.

  Suddenly, he raised his arms up and hollered, “It’s me! Steele Bronson! And this is my Academy Award! I’m here to do some shopping.”

  All at once, women screamed from all over our store. And they kept on screaming . . . and screaming and screaming and screaming. Gracie squealed and Millicent gasped. Then Merryweather fainted right into our Mom’s arms.

  I turned to my brother. “I guess that’s Steele Bronson.”

  “Yup, kid,” he answered. “It would appear so.”

  “Gee,” I meowe
d over all the noise. “If he’s so hot, then why is he wearing that jacket?”

  Bogey stood up. “Beats me, kid. But I think we’d better check this out. I have a feeling the games are about to begin.”

  Games? Did he say games? I liked games. At home I really liked playing with our favorite feather toy on a string. But something in Bogey’s tone told me I might not like the kind of games he was talking about.

  I gulped. “What do you mean?”

  He nodded in the direction of the commotion. “Time to go to work, kid. Something’s suspicious here.”

  “Suspicious?” I repeated.

  I stared at the crowd around Steele Bronson. I wasn’t sure if it was suspicious or not. But I did know things were a whole lot different from how they normally were.

  Bogey raised his brows. “Yup, kid. Of all the antique stores in all the towns in all the world, I’d like to know why he walked into ours.”

  Holy Catnip!

  CHAPTER 3

  Holy Mackerel!

  I just kept on thinking about what Bogey had said. Especially the part about something being suspicious.

  So when he leaped off the desk and down to the scuffed hardwood floor, I figured I’d better follow him.

  “I don’t like the looks of this, kid,” he hollered over his shoulder. “I have a hunch there’s more to this picture than meets the eye.”

  “Um, okay . . .” I said as I ran after him.

  Though I still wasn’t sure what he meant. But since he was one of the best cat detectives in the business, I trusted his hunches. And I sure hoped I would start having hunches someday like he did.

  I raced to keep up with Bogey as we ran around bookshelves and china hutches and camelback sofas. I didn’t exactly know where we were going, but I knew it was my job to stick close to my brother. Plus I was supposed to stay alert and keep my eyes open for anything out of place. As cat detectives, Bogey and I ran surveillance on our house every night. That meant we checked things out, like doors and windows, to make sure our house was locked up tight. And to make sure our family was safe. Then, on days like today, when our Mom took us to her store, we liked to keep up our security work here, too.