Grandfather’s grandfather clock chimed the half hour at eleven-thirty.
“Can we go to lunch now?” Benny asked. “I like this new game, but now I’m hungry. Those waffles were a long time ago.”
“Three whole hours,” Jessie said, laughing. She jiggled Watch’s red leash, which was hanging in the hallway. “All right, Watch, you can come, too.”
Watch licked Jessie’s hand as if he understood everything she said.
The children said good-bye to Grandfather and Mrs. McGregor, who were going out grocery shopping.
Walking to the Brass Horn Restaurant took a long time. Watch liked to stop at every tree and bark at every squirrel that he saw. He even barked at a green car that drove down the Aldens’ street twice.
“I wonder what the meeting at QuestMaster is about this afternoon,” Jessie said. “It came up so suddenly.”
Henry walked ahead of the other children. He was eager to find out why C.D. wanted everyone at the studio. “I sure hope it’s to tell us about Jane’s secret idea.” Henry reached into his back pocket and stopped.
“What’s the matter, Henry?” Soo Lee asked.
Henry smacked his forehead. “I forgot my wallet on the front hall table. The money Grandfather gave us for our lunch is in it.”
Soo Lee dug into her pocket. “I have seven cents.”
Benny turned his jeans pockets inside out. “I have a quarter.”
The older children smiled.
“I think we’ll need Henry’s wallet,” Jessie said.
As soon as the Aldens turned onto their street, Watch jerked ahead, with Violet at his heels. “Slow down, Watch!” she said. “What’s the matter?”
Watch barked and pulled Violet toward the house.
Jessie noticed a green car parked in the driveway. “There’s a man ringing the doorbell. I wonder if Grandfather was expecting someone. That’s the car that I saw going past us before.” She spoke to Watch in a soothing voice. “It’s okay, Watch.”
But seeing a strange man on the Alden porch was not okay with Watch. He always barked when someone new came to the door.
The man heard the barking and turned around.
“It’s Ned Porter!” Jessie cried, waving to get his attention. “Hi, Ned. Did you come over to fix our computer?”
Ned Porter didn’t answer. Instead he went down the porch steps quickly, got in his car, and drove away.
“Why didn’t he wait for us?” Benny wanted to know.
No one had the answer to that. The children let themselves inside the house. Henry found his wallet where he’d left it.
“Is there enough for hamburgers?” Benny asked Henry.
“As many as you want,” Henry answered.
The Aldens were plenty hungry after their long walk to the Brass Horn Restaurant.
“See?” Benny said to everyone. “The computer was right. It’s twelve o’clock, and we’re at the Brass Horn on Forest Lane. And ... what else?”
“And you’re hungry!” Jessie tickled Benny’s side.
The Brass Horn was a nice old restaurant in Greenfield where Grandfather often brought the children. He told them it was very much like restaurants he had visited in England. Inside, there was a stone fireplace, old wooden beams, and paintings of knights and castles and horses. There was even a brass hunting horn over the doorway. In the summer, customers could eat outside at the big old wooden tables. Everyone drank from pewter mugs and ate from pewter plates, just as in olden times.
Jessie tied Watch’s leash to a big shady tree just beyond the patio. “Be a good boy, Watch. We’ll be right over there, eating outside.”
“Hello, Aldens,” the hostess said when she saw the children. “Where’s your grandfather today?”
“Grandfather let us come here all by ourselves,” Benny answered. “And we even brought Watch. Jessie tied his leash to your big tree.”
The hostess smiled at the children. “I’ve got the perfect table for you, then, right next to that tree. You can watch Watch.”
The children liked the large menus, which were written in old-fashioned letters.
Benny already knew what he wanted, so he looked around at the other people in the restaurant over the top of his menu. That’s when he happened to notice a familiar face. “Don’t look now,” he whispered from behind his menu. “But that lady from QuestMaster, Jane Driver, is over there.”
The other children buried their noses behind their menus. One by one they took a peek across the patio.
“You’re right, Benny!” Henry whispered. “I wonder who those two men are, sitting with her.”
Jessie tried not to stare. “They have papers spread out over their table. They don’t look like anybody we’ve met at QuestMaster. Should we go over there and say hi?”
Violet turned around slowly to catch a peek, too. “One of them just got up to use the phone.”
Just then the children heard Watch bark.
“Oh, no,” Jessie said. “What could Watch be barking about? He’s always so quiet and polite when we take him out. He only barks near home.”
Jessie went over to scold Watch, then returned to the table. “You’ll never guess who’s over there behind Jane’s table. Ned! That’s who Watch was barking at.”
“This is getting interesting,” Henry said. “Ned is standing right behind Jane, as if he’s trying to hear what’s going on. Why doesn’t he just let her know he’s there?”
After the waiter took the Aldens’ orders, he took their menus away. They couldn’t hide anymore.
“It doesn’t matter,” Violet said. “Jane and Ned can’t see us from where they are. And the two men with Jane wouldn’t recognize us anyway.”
“Nothing is happening over there,” Benny said a while later. “Except that Jane and Ned are in the same restaurant but not together. What could be wrong with that?”
“Nothing,” Henry agreed, “but I have a funny feeling something is going on with Jane and Ned. I wonder what it is. Let’s see what they have to say at the meeting later.” |