“Alicia!” Henry said. “She’s the recipe thief.”
“Alicia? Alicia, who works for me at Sweets?” Mama Tova said, surprised.
“Unfortunately, yes,” Jessie said. “Alicia stole the recipe. We need to talk to her.”
“It should be easy to find her.” Mama Tova looked around. “Alicia told me that she’d be here today.” She looked at Gretchen. “Do you know where she is?”
Gretchen had not yet let go of her necklace and was looking very upset about everything. She shook her head then looked quickly toward the front of the tent.
“Oh, here she comes now,” Violet said, as Alicia headed their way.
“Hi!” Alicia came up to where the group was standing. “I’m late. Did I miss the announcement of the winner?”
“Not yet, “Jessie said, “But …”
“Look!” Benny said. He pointed his finger at the glittery letter G around Alicia’s neck. “Why’d you do it, Alicia?”
“Do what?” Alicia looked confused.
Benny stomped his foot. “I want to know why you tried to steal Mama Tova’s secret cupcake recipe!”
Henry looked straight at Alicia and said, “We all know it was you who took the recipe from Mama Tova’s garden.”
Jessie explained how she’d added chili powder to the recipe so they could find the thief.
Suddenly Alicia looked scared. “I—” she began, then stopped.
A tear rolled down her face. Alicia softly touched the gold letter G around her neck, then started over. “I didn’t mean to hurt anyone. Really. Gretchen can’t afford to go to college and I was trying to help her get the money she needs.” She paused to wipe away her tears.
“I was out of ideas when Mr. Kandinsky announced the contest and that there was going to be prize money.” Alicia stared at her feet as she went on. “I remembered hearing Mama Tova say that the recipe was ‘under the flower,’ and then I realized how I could help my friend. I knew it was wrong, but Mama Tova’s cupcakes are so good. Gretchen would win for sure with the recipe.”
“But I don’t understand why you left Sweets such a mess that first night. You could have cleaned up after you searched around for the recipe and no one would have ever known you were even looking,” Jessie said.
“I was going to clean up,” Alicia said. “But I didn’t have enough time because I was on my way to Gretchen’s birthday party and after Mrs. Waldman left, Gretchen called to say she was on her way to pick me up early.”
“What about the flower box?” Henry wondered, “I bet you weren’t really headed to the bookstore, were you?”
“No,” Alicia admitted. “I was using the shovel to dig when you all showed up. I didn’t know anyone would be coming to the shop so early. I thought I’d have enough time to search in the flowerbox and clean it up before anyone came to Sweets.”
Gretchen then turned to Alicia and said, “You told me the recipe was your mom’s. I would have never used it if I knew you’d stolen it!”
A fresh tear rolled down Alicia’s cheek. “I am so sorry I lied to you.”
Jessie shut her notebook, saying, “Stealing is a bad thing to do, even if you were doing it for a good reason, Alicia.”
“I know,” Alicia said, hanging her head. “I’ll do whatever it takes to make things right,” Alicia looked at Mama Tova through her tears.
While Mama Tova thought about what to do, Mr. Kandinsky spoke up.
“Jessie told me everything and I have an idea of how Alicia can make up for the trouble she’s caused,” he said. “Mama Tova, can I talk to you?” Mr. Kandinsky looked around at everyone and added, “In private?”
“I’d like to hear your idea,” Mama Tova said.
The two of them stepped aside and when they returned a few minutes later, Mama Tova announced, “Alicia can make up for the trouble she’s caused by helping Mr. Kandinsky with his new cupcake business.”
“Really?” Alicia asked, looking up at Mr. Kandinsky. “How?”
“It’s not going to be an easy job,” Mr. Kandinsky said. “You are going to clean up the factory every evening after the cupcakes are made. It seems the fairest punishment for the mess you made at Mama Tova’s.”
“You can’t work at Sweets again,” Mama Tova told Alicia. Then, she stepped closer to Mr. Kandinsky. “But I think working at the factory is a good idea.”
“I promise I’ll make the factory shine. I’ll be the hardest worker you ever had,” Alicia told Mr. Kandinsky, who smiled slightly, making the corners of his moustache rise.
“I don’t understand. Why are you letting Mr. Kandinsky decide Alicia’s punishment?” Jessie asked Mama Tova. “Aren’t you mad at him? He wanted to put you out of business.”
“From now on, Mama Tova and I are going to be friends. I want Mama Tova and her shop to stay just the way they are,” Mr. Kandinsky explained. “Instead of sweet dessert cupcakes, like Mama Tova’s, BakeMart is going to make spicy ones to be eaten with dinner!”
“Spicy?” Henry said.
Mr. Kandinsky pulled a blue first place ribbon out of his pocket and pinned it on Gretchen’s shirt. “Your unique cupcakes won the contest.”
He straightened the ribbon then added, “We are going to put a little less chili powder in the final recipe, cut down the sugar, then I think that we can sell them to every restaurant in town. They’d be great with chicken, or steak, or Mexican food. The possibilities are endless.”
Gretchen took the ribbon off her shirt and handed it to Jessie saying, “Mr. Kandinsky, Jessie made up that recipe. I didn’t. The prize money should be hers.”
“No thanks,” Jessie gave the ribbon back to Gretchen. “Take the money. You need it. I have a long time before I’m going to college.”
“Really?” Gretchen asked. “You really mean it?” After Jessie nodded, Gretchen took back the first place bow and shook hands with Jessie. “Thanks.”
As the Alden children were preparing to leave the shop and head back home, Mr. Kandinsky stopped Benny. “How did you happen to taste Gretchen’s cupcake?” Mr. Kandinsky asked. “Only the judges were allowed to eat the cupcakes.”
Benny shrugged. “Honestly, I tasted them all.” He quickly added, “I had to. It was the only way we could find the thief.” Mr. Kandinsky nodded, asking “And?”
“And what?” Benny asked, a little afraid he was in trouble for sneaking cupcakes.
Mr. Kandinsky wasn’t upset. He broke into a slow smile, asking, “Which one did you like the best?” Mr. Kandinsky pressed. “Which would you pick? Would it have been yours?
Pauly’s? Which ones?”
Benny considered it a moment and said, “All the cupcakes at the contest are second place to Mama Tova’s.”
“That’s just what I thought, too,”
Mr. Kandinsky said, patting Benny on the head. “That’s why I decided it would be better to change the way we at BakeMart think about cupcakes.”
“Cupcakes for dinner,” Benny said, grinning big. “That’s the best idea I’ve ever heard!”
In the boxcar later that night, Benny had an important question to ask. “Jessie,” he said to his sister as she worked on her laptop.
“What’s sasparilla?”
“I’m not sure,” Jessie said. “I’ll look it up.” She opened up a new web page.
“Why do you want to know?” Violet said. She looked up from the book she’d been reading.
Benny replied, “There were all those crates of it in Mama Tova’s kitchen. I don’t know what it is.”
“The crates you were jumping off of?” Henry asked.
“Yes,” Benny replied. “I was wondering what was inside those.”
“Sasparilla,” Jessie read from the internet. “It’s root beer.”
“Delicious,” Benny said. “But Mama Tova only serves milk and lemonade to drink. Why does she have all that root beer in her kitchen?”
“Do you think root beer could be the secret ingredient in Mama Tova’s cupcakes?” Jessie asked, swirling quickly around in her chair.
“The crates were right under the bags of flour on the shelf. Under the flower … under the flour …” Henry said. “We might have figured out more than one mystery today.”
“We’ll never know for sure,” Jessie said.
“But just in case we’re right, we better keep this one quiet,” Violet added.
Even though he trusted his siblings, Benny made everyone pinky promise not to tell.
They all linked pinkies in a circle in the middle of the boxcar, and Benny declared, “Jessie, Henry, Violet and me—we are the protectors of Mama Tova’s secret. For now and ever more.”
They all shook fingers. |