Captain Cooke’s pier was smaller than Hanson’s, but there were many exciting rides there.
“Look!” Benny cried. He pointed to a very large pirate ship. The ship rocked high into the air, back and forth.
There were also games where people could win prizes. One booth had a big wall filled with balloons. People threw darts and tried to pop the balloons.
“Can I try that?” asked Benny. “It won’t take long. Please?”
Henry laughed. “Sure, Benny,” he said. “Let’s see if you can win a prize.”
Henry paid the man in the booth. The man handed Benny three darts.
Benny rubbed his hands together. He was excited. He reached back and threw his first dart very hard, but he missed. The dart stuck into the corkboard wall.
“Almost, Benny!” Violet said. “You’ll get the next one.”
Benny took aim again. He threw his second dart and it hit a small yellow balloon. But the balloon did not pop!
The man in the booth whispered to Benny. Benny looked confused, then he nodded. He aimed for a big red balloon down in the corner. He let the dart fly. It hit the red balloon and there was a loud pop!
“You did it, Benny!” Violet cried.
A green ticket fluttered to the ground. The man in the booth picked it up and handed it to Benny. “Looks like you are a winner!” he said. The man smiled and gave Benny a long rubber snake.
“Cool!” Benny showed his snake to his brother and sisters. “It looks so real! Do you think I can scare Grandfather with it?”
Henry laughed. “Maybe you can.”
The children were so busy looking at Benny’s prize that they did not see Mr. Cooke walk toward them. He was carrying a folder and some papers. He stopped at the dart-throwing booth.
“I see you have come to the better amusement pier,” Mr. Cooke said. “Did you get tired of all the broken rides at Hanson’s?” Mr. Cooke spoke very loudly. He spoke like he was an actor on a stage. People on the boardwalk turned and looked at him.
“Not at all,” Jessie said. “And the rides at Hanson’s are not broken. We are just on our way there right now.”
The man in the dart booth was counting money. He handed the bills to Mr. Cooke. Mr. Cooke took a paper out of his folder.
“Be careful over at Hanson’s,” Mr. Cooke said. “They have been having so much trouble with their rides, it might not be very safe over there.”
“We are sure that it is perfectly safe,” Henry said.
The man in the dart booth held out his hand. “I need a receipt for the money, Mr. Cooke,” he said.
Mr. Cooke put his hand into each of his pockets. “I know,” he said. “But I can’t find my marker.”
“Is this your marker?” Jessie asked.
Mr. Cooke took the marker from Jessie’s hand. He started to nod, but then he stopped,as if he was remembering something. He looked at the marker, then stared at Jessie. “There are a hundred markers with my name on them on this boardwalk,” he said. “I give them out for free. They are a good advertisement. You can find them everywhere.”
“Well, I found your marker at Hanson’s pier,” Jessie said.
Mr. Cooke signed the receipt for the man in the dart booth. “I’m not surprised you found it at Hanson’s. Like I said, those markers are everywhere.”
Mr. Cooke handed the marker back to Jessie. “You can keep this as a souvenir,” he said. “It is probably not the one I lost.” Then he quickly walked away.
The Aldens were running late. They hurried toward Hanson’s pier. But very soon they heard a familiar recording. “Watch the tramcar, please! Watch the tramcar, please!” “Hello, kids!” Leslie waved from behind the wheel of the bright yellow tram. “Why don’t you jump aboard? Are you headed to
Hanson’s?”
“Yes,” Jessie said. “Thank you so much!” Henry, Jessie, Violet, and Benny took the front seat right behind Leslie.
“So how do you like Hanson’s pier?” Leslie asked.
“It’s wonderful,” Jessie answered.
Leslie nodded her head. “I knew you would enjoy it. The Reddy family added many great rides over the years. They built it up into the best pier on the boardwalk.”
“Do you mean Mrs. Reddy’s family?” asked
Violet.
Leslie slowed the tramcar. She picked up two families with small children. “That’s right, Violet,” she said. “Mr. and Mrs. Reddy and their son, Paul, ran the pier for many years.”
Violet hesitated. “Do you mind if we ask why the Reddy family sold the pier?”
“Not at all. It is not a secret.” Leslie started up the tram again. “Mr. Reddy was a wonderful man. But he died five years ago. Paul helped Mrs. Reddy run the pier. He is a good son and he helped for several years. But Paul did not like working at the amusement pier. He is an engineer. He got an offer for a very good job in California. He moved away and he lives in California with his family.”
“It is a shame that he lives so far away,” Violet said.
“Mrs. Reddy tried to run the pier by herself,” Leslie said. “But it is a big job and she has a very sore leg. Paul and all of her friends encouraged Mrs. Reddy to sell the pier and to retire. She was very sad that her son did not carry on the family business.”
The tramcar slowed to a stop in front of Hanson’s pier. “Here we are, kids!” Leslie said. “Have fun tonight!”
The children thanked Leslie and climbed down from the tramcar.
“It must have been very hard for Mrs. Reddy to sell the pier,” Violet said.
“Yes,” agreed Jessie. “And she must be lonely with her son living so far away.”
Benny looked up at all the lights and the spinning rides. “If it were my pier, I would not want to sell it, either!”
The children hurried off to find Mr. Hanson. He was in his workshop carefully placing Violet’s ghosts into a large box.
“There you are!” Mr. Hanson said. “How was dinner?”
“It was great!” Benny said. “I ate five pieces of pizza all by myself.”
Mr. Hanson’s eyes grew wide. He patted Benny’s stomach. “Where do you put it all?” Henry laughed. “That is one mystery we have never been able to solve.”
The children followed Mr. Hanson to the haunted house. No one was in line yet. Mr. Hanson placed a sign outside that said “Ride temporarily closed.” Then he pushed open a side door and the children followed him into the haunted house. It was very dark.
Benny clutched Jessie’s shirt. This was the darkest room he had ever been in! He couldn’t even see his own hand!
The children could hear Mr. Hanson struggling with the box. “I can’t reach it,” he said. “There is a switch on the wall on the left. Can someone turn on the lights?”
Henry felt around in the darkness until his hand felt a switch. He flicked it up. Suddenly, the room was flooded with light. All four Aldens jumped back in fear.
“I’m sorry,” Mr. Hanson said. “I should have warned you that we were standing in the zombie room before you turned on the lights.”
Jessie was holding her hand over her heart. “Whoever made those zombies did a very good job.”
Everyone stared at the rows of tall zombies. They had white faces and red eyes. Their clothes were shabby and their arms were outstretched.
Mr. Hanson set his box on the floor. “It is a good display, isn’t it? I made it myself. Watch this.” He flipped another switch. The zombies’ legs began to move back and forth and the room was filled with a moaning sound. It looked like the zombies were marching straight at the Aldens!
Benny held on to Jessie’s hand. “I don’t like it in here,” he whispered. “It’s all pretend,” Jessie said. “Don’t worry.”
Benny stayed very close to Jessie as Mr. Hanson led the children through the haunted house. There was a room with a huge green-faced Frankenstein and a room with a cackling witch on a broom. In the last room, scary jack-o’-lanterns blinked orange. But the rest of the room was empty.
“The ghosts used to be right here.” Mr. Hanson pointed to an empty side of the room. There were dark posts lined up next to the wall. But there was nothing else. Mr. Hanson opened the box and everyone carefully removed the ghosts. Mr. Hanson showed the children how to fit the ghosts onto the posts. After the ghosts were screwed on, Violet fluffed out the long white material.
Mr. Hanson turned to Violet. “You did a wonderful job. These ghosts are even better than the ones that were stolen. Why don’t you turn on this switch and I will show you what your ghosts can do?”
Violet hit the switch. The posts moved up and down and so did the ghosts! A hidden fan blew air across the ghosts and they seemed to be floating and shimmering in the air.
“Oh my!” Violet cried. “That is very clever! Your machine makes my ghosts move. It really looks like they are flying!”
“Thank you, Violet,” said Mr. Hanson. Suddenly, a loud banging came from the zombie room.
“What could that be?” Mr. Hanson hurried toward the sound. The children followed.
They found Will. He was kicking the wall with his shoe.
“Will! What are you doing?” asked Mr. Hanson.
“I called you, but you didn’t answer,” Will said. “Linda and Jake are not showing up for work tonight. Mr. Cooke hired them for his pier and he promised to pay them more money. I can’t do everything by myself. And I am hungry. I’m leaving to go get some food.” Will kicked the wall again.
“Will, can’t you just wait until later? I need your help.”
Will shrugged. “Sorry, Dad. This whole amusement pier thing is your dream, not mine. It’s not my fault that you can’t make it work.” Will turned and left.
Mr. Hanson sighed. He put his hands deep into his pockets. “Maybe Will is right,” he said. “Maybe I just can’t make it work. I’ve worked so hard, but nothing seems to be turning out right. Maybe I should sell the pier and go back to my old job in Colorado.” “But it’s not your fault that everything is going wrong,” Benny said.
Mr. Hanson looked up, surprised. “What do you mean?”
“Benny is right, Mr. Hanson,” Henry said. “You have a wonderful amusement pier. But someone wants you to fail. Someone is trying to ruin you.”
Mr. Hanson rubbed his forehead. “Ruin me? But who would do such a thing?” he asked.
“We’re not sure yet,” Jessie said.
“But whoever it is, is playing a lot of very mean tricks on you,” Henry said.
“And you have a truly wonderful amusement pier,” Violet added. “You have created some amazing rides.”
Mr. Hanson smiled. “Thanks, kids. You are very kind. I guess I shouldn’t give up just yet.” He sighed. “Looks like I will be short on help again tonight, though.”
“What jobs did Linda and Jake have?” Henry asked.
“Jake runs this haunted house ride,” Mr. Hanson said. “And Linda is in charge of the Big Slide. I’ll have to close a few of the rides tonight. It’s always so hard to choose.”
“You don’t need to close anything,” Henry said. “Benny and I can run the haunted house ride.”
“And I would be happy to help out with the Big Slide,” Violet said.
“I’ll go straight to the ticket booth,” Jessie added.
Mr. Hanson smiled. “You are sure that you don’t mind?”
“We don’t mind at all,” Henry said. “It will be fun.”
It was late when the amusement pier finally closed. Mr. Hanson, Henry, and Jessie checked that all the rides were safely turned off and locked. Violet and Benny picked up stray wrappers and put them in the trash. When they were done, they climbed onto the dark merry-go-round and each picked a horse. Benny climbed onto a large black horse that looked as though it were galloping.
Violet sat on a white horse that had purple ribbons hanging from its mane.
Benny held the reins of his horse. “Do you think we will get to ride the rides sometime when they are on?”
Violet patted the side of her horse. “I hope so,” she said. “I want to try the Big Slide and the roller coaster. I am sure that once Mr. Hanson gets all his problems settled, we can ride the rides.”
“And play games, too,” Benny said.
“Yes,” Violet replied. “That would be fun, too.”
Suddenly, Benny slid off his horse. “I’ll be right back!” he cried. “I just remembered something!”
“Benny, wait!” Violet called. But it was too late. Benny had disappeared!
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