Just as the children finished lunch and their discussion, Mr. Yee arrived back at his garden, still holding the rabbit.
Taylor came out of her garden and locked the gate. “I’m going to the Kirk barn,” she said, “to tell Alex he has to stop stealing our vegetables.”
“We’re going there, too,” said Jessie, “to tell the thief to stop stealing.”
Taylor looked at Jessie. “Hmmm,” said Taylor. “I notice that you didn’t say exactly what I said.”
Jessie smiled. “I’m glad that you noticed,” she said.
“Hmmm,” said Taylor as they walked. “Hmmmm.”
When the group arrived at the Kirk barn, they saw Alex and Lucasta inside. Alex was putting vegetable seeds into peat pots. Lucasta was feeding her rabbits.
Before anybody else could speak, Lucasta came running up to Mr. Yee.
“What are you doing with Braxton?” she demanded. “Braxton is my rabbit. Give him back!”
“He cannot be your rabbit,” answered Mr. Yee. “You said your rabbits never escaped their pens. This rabbit was in my garden, eating my vegetables.”
Lucasta frowned. “Which vegetables?” she asked.
“Lettuce,” said Mr. Yee. “Braxton likes lettuce.”
“And carrots,” said Violet. “He ate a carrot.”
“A purple carrot?” asked Lucasta. “Braxton ate a purple carrot?”
“Yes,” said Mr. Yee. “Purple carrots are very nutritious.”
“Purple is my least favorite color,” said Lucasta. She looked at her rabbit. “If Braxton ate a purple carrot, I don’t want to enter him in a contest.” She looked at Mr. Yee. “You seem to like Braxton.”
“Yes, I do,” admitted Mr. Yee.
“Well, then, you can have Braxton if you want to,” said Lucasta. “I don’t want a rabbit who eats purple carrots.”
Lucasta turned away and went back to the other rabbits.
Mr. Yee and Taylor and Henry, Jessie, Violet and Benny just stood there. They couldn’t believe what they had just heard.
“That is not nice,” muttered Taylor, “giving away her rabbit like that.”
Benny looked at Mr. Yee and Braxton. “I think that Braxton will be very happy with Mr. Yee,” said Benny.
Taylor looked down at Benny. “You’re very wise for one so young,” she said.
“Thank you,” said Benny.
Alex had stopped planting seeds into peat pots. He had listened to the conversation, and he had frowned when Lucasta gave away her rabbit. Now he spoke. “If you came about the rabbit, you can go now.”
“No,” said Henry, “we came to name the garden thief and put an end to the stealing.”
“Look at this,” said Lucasta loudly, taking a Rex rabbit out of its cage and bringing it to the group. “Isn’t she lovely? Look at her gleaming fur and her bright eyes. She’s going to win grand prize.” Lucasta stroked her rabbit. “And my other rabbits will win blue ribbons and red ribbons and yellow ribbons. I’m going to win a lot of ribbons this year.”
“Be quiet, Lucasta,” said Alex.
“No,” said Lucasta. “I deserve to win the prizes because I raise the best-looking rabbits.”
“You are a thief,” said Jessie. “You’ve been stealing everyone’s best vegetables to feed your rabbits.”
“She’s the thief?” asked Taylor, quite surprised.
“I should have known,” said Mr. Yee.
“It’s Mr. Yee’s fault,” said Lucasta, pointing at him. “He made me break my leg and so I couldn’t garden this year. But I need the very best vegetables for my rabbits to win.” She glared at the group. “You should be happy that your vegetables will help my rabbits win.”
“Our vegetables belong to us,” said Taylor angrily. “They aren’t for you to take.”
“Taylor is right,” said Mr. Yee. “It is wrong to take what belongs to somebody else, something they have worked hard to grow.”
Taylor turned to the Aldens. “I thought it was Alex,” she said. “How did you figure it out?”
“We noticed that sometimes Lucasta wore a cast on her leg, and sometimes she didn’t,” explained Jessie. “And sometimes she walked fast and sometimes she walked very slow—especially when she had the green trash bag wrapped around her cast.”
“Green trash bag?” asked Taylor.
“Yes,” said Jessie. “See that apron on the wall?” She pointed toward the rabbit hutches. “It has a lot of pockets in it.”
“I see,” said Taylor, “but I still don’t get it.”
“Lucasta tied the bag around her cast. She stuffed the stolen vegetables into the pockets, then covered everything up with the green trash bag.”
Violet looked at Taylor. “You helped us figure this out.”
“I did?” said Taylor, confused.
“Yes. The day you showed us how lead weights slipped into the small pockets of your leg weights,” said Violet. “Later that day we saw the apron with the many pockets. And later still we figured out what Lucasta was doing.”
“And that’s not all,” said Violet. “The color purple helped us. It’s my favorite color,” she added softly.
“Ahh,” said Mr. Yee. “I am beginning to see what happened. The garden thief took all my orange carrots. But the thief didn’t take the purple carrots.”
“That’s right,” said Violet. “The thief hates purple.”
“Stupid purple carrots,” said Lucasta. “I would never feed them to my rabbits.”
“I will feed them to my rabbit,” said Mr. Yee, petting Braxton.
Henry spoke up. “There was one more clue,” he said, “something that puzzled us at first. Somebody was giving vegetables back to the people whose vegetables had been stolen.”
He turned to Alex. “That was you,” he said. “You were giving people vegetables from your own garden. You gave Taylor kale. You gave Roger cucumbers. You gave Mr. Yee carrots. You were trying to replace everything that had been stolen.”
Alex nodded. “You’re right,” he said. “I figured out what Lucasta was doing.” He frowned at his sister. “I told her she had to stop, that it’s wrong to steal. But she wouldn’t listen.” He looked at everybody in the group. “I’m sorry you didn’t like my vegetables,” he said.
Everybody shook their heads. “Oh, we did like your vegetables,” said Taylor. “The kale was delicious! I gave some to many different people, and they all loved it.”
“The cucumbers you gave Roger are delicious,” said Benny. “We had them for dinner and we had them for lunch.”
Alex looked happier than he had. “That’s good,” he said. “I’m glad you liked the food I gave you. That’s what food is for: to eat.”
“It is time for us to leave,” said Mr. Yee. He looked at Lucasta. “Do not steal any more vegetables from our gardens,” he told her. “If vegetables are missing, we will know it was you.”
“If vegetables are missing, we’ll go straight to your mother and father and tell them what you’re doing,” said Taylor.
Lucasta pouted. “Okay, okay. I won’t take any more of your vegetables. I was getting tired of dragging them around anyway,” she said. “But if my rabbits don’t win grand prize, it’s all your fault!” She turned and marched away, back to her rabbit hutches.
* * *
“Some people will never admit they have done wrong,” said Mr. Yee as he and the Aldens and Taylor walked back to their garden plots.
“That’s true,” said Taylor, “and that’s sad. But now,” she said, rubbing her hands together, “let’s get back to gardening! The county fair is just two weeks away.”
Taylor unlocked the gate to her garden and went inside, waving a goodbye to the children and Mr. Yee.
The children walked into Mr. Yee’s garden with him.
“Thank you so much for how you have helped me,” he told them. “I could not have continued my garden without your help.”
“We like helping you,” said Henry.
“And we’re learning a lot,” added Jessie.
“And the vegetables are delicious!” said Benny.
Mr. Yee laughed. “Well,” he said, “my cast comes off tomorrow. Would you like to keep helping me even though my arm will no longer be in a cast?”
All four Aldens eagerly agreed to help.
“Can we come with you to the county fair?” asked Henry. “We’d like to see all the vegetables we’re helping you grow.”
“Of course,” replied Mr. Yee. “We can all go together.” He looked around his garden. “I might win a prize for my purple carrots,” he said.
He looked at Violet and Jessie. “If my purple carrots win a blue ribbon, I’ll give it to you. You’re the ones who thinned and weeded and watered the carrots.”
“I want a blue ribbon, too,” Benny announced. “I want to win it for your delicious strawberries—if I don’t eat them all up in two weeks!” |