Henry, Jessie, Violet, and Benny had gotten wet in the storm. They changed into warm, dry clothes when they got home. Mrs. McGregor made steaming hot chocolate and put some pumpkin bread into the oven.
“You poor children. You must have been freezing!” she said. “What do you have in those wet bags?”
“These are used jars, Mrs. McGregor,” Jessie said. “We are going to clean them out and make them into donation jars.”
Mrs. McGregor peeked into the bags. “They need cleaning, for sure!” she said. She filled a tub with hot, soapy water. She dumped the jars into the water. “I would like to help. I will clean the jars, and you children can dry them and decorate them.”
While the children drank their hot chocolate, Mrs. McGregor used a brush and scrubbed the jars clean. Henry, Jessie, and Benny dried the jars while Violet sketched a small sign to place on them.
“I was thinking about something that Mr. Grayson said.” Violet shaded in the words in her sketch. “He said that Mr. Beckett could not find the food pantry.”
“We couldn’t find it, either,” Henry said. “If it weren’t for Benny, we would not have known where to look.”
Jessie rubbed a smudge from one of the jars. “So even if we get a lot of food to put on the shelves in the food pantry, how will anyone find it?”
“That’s what I was thinking, too,” Violet said. She turned her sketch pad around so her sister and brothers could see it.
“It’s a turkey!” Benny cried. “It’s really good, Violet.”
“Thank you,” Violet said. “I thought maybe the turkey could help people find the food pantry.”
Benny’s hand was stuck inside a small jar. He struggled to slip it out. “But how can a turkey do that? It is a just a little picture.”
Henry smiled at Violet. “I think I know what Violet is thinking. We can go back to the copy center. They can make giant signs from small drawings.”
“Yes!” Violet said. “We could get the turkey made into a big stand-up sign. Then we could place it on the street outside the alley.”
“Everyone would see that!” Jessie said.
“A giant turkey on Chestnut Street! This is going to be so cool!” Benny said.
The next day, the children placed all their donation jars carefully back into their bicycle baskets. They rode into town. Their first stop was the copy center. Colette was at work behind the counter. She loved the idea of the giant turkey sign.
“It might take me an hour or so to make it, kids,” she said. “Do you think you could come back a little later?”
“Of course,” Jessie said. “Thank you so much.”
The children rode down the street and stopped in all the same stores as yesterday. They left donation jars with all the kind shopkeepers. They did not stop in Higgins’s Grocery Store or in Harvest Restaurant.
“Do you have any more of those flyers?” asked Mrs. James in the shoe store. “Someone ripped them off the outside of my window yesterday. Who would do such a thing?”
Violet explained that someone was trying to stop the food pantry from opening. They did not know who it was.
“I will keep my eyes open,” Mrs. James said. “I’ll let you kids know if I see anything suspicious.”
The children rode back to the office store. They had a few jars left in their baskets. Colette was waiting for them. She had a big smile on her face.
Benny raced across the store. He shouted. “Wow! Violet, your turkey has grown into a giant!”
Even Violet was surprised. Her turkey was six feet tall! It could stand all by itself. It held a sign with an arrow that said, Food Pantry This Way.
“Thank you so much!” Jessie said. “We could not ask for a better sign. Now everyone will know where the food pantry is.”
“I am very happy to help,” Colette said. “If you need any more signs or flyers, please let me know.”
Henry carried the giant turkey out of the store. All the customers watched, laughing.
“Let’s leave our bicycles here,” Henry said. “We’ll set up the giant turkey in front of the alley, and then we will come back for them.”
Everyone outside stopped to see the turkey being carried down the street. Mr. Carroll came out of his hardware store.
“That’s quite a sign you’ve got!” he said. “Would you like some help setting it up?”
“Yes, thanks,” Henry said.
Henry set the turkey at the front of the alley. The arrow pointed down the alley to the food pantry. Suddenly, a gust of wind picked the turkey up and it began to fly!
“Whoa! Come back, Tom!” Benny called. He ran after the turkey and grabbed its wing. “I got it!”
Henry and Benny brought the turkey back.
“Tom?” Mr. Carroll asked.
“I named him Tom,” Benny said. “I didn’t know turkeys could fly.”
Mr. Carroll laughed. “Mr. Tom Turkey needs to be tied down to his spot. I will be right back.”
Mr. Carroll brought some heavy bags of sand and some twine. He poked a few holes in the bottom of the sign and he tied the sign to the sand bags. “This turkey won’t be escaping anymore!” he said.
Tom the turkey seemed very secure. A crowd of people gathered to look at him.
“A food pantry?” asked one woman.
“I didn’t know Greenfield had a food pantry. What a wonderful idea. I have a friend who just had a new baby. She could really use some help. This would be wonderful for her.”
Jessie explained how Mr. Grayson was trying to gather donations to get the food pantry started.
“I saw the flyers!” one man said. “Now I know where the food pantry is. I will make sure to tell all my friends.” He handed a ten-dollar bill to Jessie. “This is so you can buy some food for the pantry,” he said. “It is wonderful that you kids are helping.”
“Thank you!” Jessie said.
More people in the crowd opened their purses and their wallets. They gave a lot of money to Henry and Jessie. The food pantry would soon have lots of nutritious food on its shelves.
“Your turkey is a great success, Violet!” Henry said.
Just then, Mr. Grayson came hurrying down the street. He stopped quickly when he saw the giant turkey. “Wow. What a turkey! I saw a crowd near the alley and I thought something was wrong,” he said. “I was worried that someone was trying to hurt the food pantry again!”
“No,” Henry said. “Everything is fine. Here is money that people have already donated.” He put the bills into Mr. Grayson’s hands.
Mr. Grayson was very surprised. For a moment, he couldn’t speak. “Th-thank you,” he finally stammered gratefully. “Let’s go inside.”
Mr. Grayson opened the door to the food pantry. The bright lights and bold yellow walls made it a very warm, inviting room. He took the children into the back office. He showed them the box where he kept the money he was saving to buy food for the pantry. “I hardly had anything in here until today,” he said. “You children have done a wonderful job.”
“We put donation jars out today, too,” Benny said. “So we can get more money soon.”
Mr. Grayson took all the money and put it in his pocket. “I am going to put this money in the bank for now,” he said.
They all walked back out of the office. Mr. Grayson looked around the pantry. “It is really starting to look like a real food pantry,” he said. “Soon, people who need help will be shopping here for their families. You children are doing a wonderful thing.”
Mr. Grayson locked up the pantry and headed back to his restaurant.
“Goodbye, Tom!” Benny said to the giant cardboard turkey. “I hope he doesn’t get lonely out here by himself.”
A group of children ran up to Tom the turkey. They giggled and touched his giant cardboard feathers.
“I don’t think Tom will get a chance to be lonely,” Jessie said. “He’s becoming very popular in Greenfield!”
When the Aldens got back to the office center, their bicycles where lying on the ground. Broken glass was all around!
“Oh no!” Violet said. “Our bikes must have blown over in the wind. And all the jars have fallen out and broken.”
Henry bent down to take a look at the glass. Jessie held Benny’s hand. She did not want him to get cut on the sharp glass.
“It wasn’t the wind,” Henry said. “The jars in my basket were closed tightly in a bag. I tied the knot myself. The wind is strong, but it cannot untie knots.”
The children looked up and down the street. They did not see anyone who looked suspicious. After they cleaned up the mess, they went back to check on the turkey. Many people were still stopping to admire the giant bird. Some had walked down the alley to see where the food pantry was located.
“Are you sure he will be safe here all night by himself?” Benny asked. “I don’t want to leave him. I could stay and take care of him.”
Jessie laughed. “He’s just a cardboard turkey, Benny. He will be fine. Mr. Carroll did a good job of setting him up. Mr. Tom Turkey is nice and secure.”
Benny wasn’t so sure. As they got on their bicycles to ride home, Benny saw someone quickly duck into a doorway to hide. He thought the person looked familiar, but he didn’t know who it was. But Henry, Jessie, and Violet were getting ahead of him. Benny pedaled hard and quickly caught up with his brother and sisters. |