At 5:30, the snow sculptors were too cold and tired to work anymore. Benny hurried inside to the dining room, where he spotted his sisters and brother at a table. He rushed over to join them. “Wait till you see our snowpeople!” he said.
Pete stomped into the dining room. He sat down at a corner table.
Henry pushed himself away from the table. “I think I’ll ask him to eat with us,” he said.
“He still looks pretty angry,” Benny commented.
“Maybe we can cheer him up. He seemed so unhappy at lunch,” Jessie said.
Henry went over and sat down next to Pete. “We have room at our table,” he said.
“So?” Pete snapped.
Henry shrugged. “We thought you might like to eat with us.”
Pete rolled his eyes. “You thought wrong.”
Henry stood up. “Well, if you change your mind…”
Violet knew Henry felt bad. When he returned to their table, she said, “Maybe he’ll eat with us tomorrow.”
“Where’s Grandfather?” Benny asked. “I want to show him our snowpeople.”
“He’s eating later, with Mr. Mercer,” Violet told him.
“I’d like to tell Jimmy about them, too,” Benny said, looking around. “Where is he?”
“I don’t think he’s here yet,” Jessie said.
“Freddy hasn’t come in either,” Henry added.
Mr. Mercer’s helper filled plates with hamburgers and French fries and passed them down the table.
“My favorite!” Benny exclaimed.
Jessie laughed. “Everything’s your favorite, Benny,” she teased.
Pete ate fast and started out of the room.
“Looks like Pete’s not staying for dessert,” Henry observed.
“He’s not even staying for second helpings,” Benny put in.
Shortly after Pete left, Freddy appeared. She went from table to table asking, “Has anyone seen my glove?”
When she asked the Aldens, Benny said, “They’re in your pocket.”
Freddy yanked out an orange, green, and yellow glove. “The other one,” she explained. “I lost it somewhere.”
Jessie remembered seeing her with both gloves at lunch. “Maybe one fell on the floor,” she said.
They looked all around. Benny looked under the table. No glove.
“Good thing I have another pair,” Freddy said.
She stuffed the glove back into her pocket. Something fell to the floor. Freddy scooped it up quickly, but the Aldens saw it.
It was a key, with a tag attached to it.
Freddy hurried away without looking at the Aldens.
Behind the Aldens, someone asked, “What was all that about?”
It was Jimmy.
“Freddy lost a glove,” Violet told him.
He shrugged. “It’ll turn up.”
“And she had a key,” Violet said. “I wonder if it’s the one Mr. Mercer’s missing.”
Jimmy shook his head. “Probably her room key.”
“She picked it up so fast,” Jessie said. “Like she didn’t want anyone to see it.”
Jimmy waved that away. “Freddy does everything fast,” he said.
Benny told him about the snow sculpture. “Will you come and see it after supper?” he asked.
“I won’t have time,” Jimmy said. “I have to call my parents and take care of some things for tomorrow. I’ll see it in the morning.”
“Okay,” Benny said. “By then we’ll have even more work finished.”
He didn’t sound disappointed, but the other Aldens knew he was.
“Can we see your masterpiece?” Henry asked.
Benny brightened. “Let’s go!”
Jessie laughed. “Aren’t you forgetting something, Benny?”
Benny was puzzled.
“Dessert!” Jessie, Violet, and Henry said all together.
Benny glanced around. People were still eating their hamburgers.
“We’ll be back in time,” he assured them.
They trooped out of the dining room and into the lounge, where Watch was lying by the fire. He joined the parade. Benny led them all outside, down the stairs, and across the lawn. It was dark, but floodlights poured bright pools onto the snow.
Nearly running now, Benny said, “It’s around the side.” When he turned the corner, he saw a long shadow disappearing behind the lodge.
Watch began to bark.
“Quiet, boy,” Jessie directed. “Everything’s all right.”
But as she and Henry and Violet came up beside Benny, Jessie knew she had spoken too soon.
Chunks of snow were scattered everywhere. Two of the forms were completely bare. Pieces of wood and bits of pipe stuck out from the other snowpeople like broken bones.
Watch ran around, sniffing and barking.
“Our snowpeople!” Benny said, stunned. “What happened?”
No one had an answer.
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