Gertrude Warner - The Comic Book Mystery

Benny was so excited he didn’t even mind missing a snack. “Can we look at our comic?”

At a small table, Violet removed the comic from its protective plastic bag. As she did, a slip of paper fell to the floor. She bent to pick it up.

“I guess this is our receipt,” she said, then stared at the paper. “No, it’s some kind of note.”

“What does it say?” asked Jessie.

Violet turned the paper so they all could see. In strange lettering, the note read, I’ll try to get orig. of #9. “Sid.”

“What does it mean?” Jessie wondered.

“Maybe Mr. Conrad knows,” said Violet. “Let’s go back and ask him.”

Al Conrad seemed surprised to see them back so soon.

“Do you know anybody named Sid?” asked Benny.

“Sid? Oh! That’s the guy who writes and draws Captain Fantastic,” Al replied. “Sid Hoyt. See?” He pulled a new issue of the comic off a rack and opened it to the first page.

“I don’t see any name,” said Violet.

“The first page of a comic is called the ‘splash’ page,” Al told them. “The top panel is always the biggest. Most artists sign their names somewhere in that panel. Sid Hoyt’s signature box is always in the bottom left corner.”

“It’s very small,” said Henry. “I’ve never noticed before.”

“Mr. Hoyt is very modest,” said Al. “Did you know he lives right here in Connecticut?”

“Really?” said Jessie. “Where?”

“I don’t know exactly,” Al replied. “Some little town. Why all the interest in Sid Hoyt?”

Violet pulled the note from the comic bag.

“We found this when we opened our comic.”

Al glanced at the paper with a frown. Then he laughed. “You think Sid Hoyt wrote this note?”

“We don’t know,” said Henry. “We don’t even know what the note means. Do you?”

“It doesn’t mean anything,” Al said. “Just some foolishness left by the former owner, that’s all. Now, if you’ll excuse me, I need to pack up.”

He stuffed the paper in his pocket and turned away.

“Excuse me,” said Violet. “May we have the note back, please?”

Al hesitated, then handed it back to her.

The kids walked out of Greenfield Center and into the sunlight.

As they pulled their bikes from the rack, Benny commented, “Al seemed to be in a big hurry all of a sudden. Like he wanted to get rid of us.”

“And why did he try to keep the note?” asked Henry.

“He said the note doesn’t mean anything,” said Jessie. “I think it means something. ”

“Do you have a green cape?” Benny asked Mrs. McGregor.

The housekeeper looked at Benny who was wearing a purple T-shirt that belonged to Violet. The shirt came down to his knees.

“I’m afraid not,” she told him. “But I have a green scarf. Will that do?”

With Mrs. McGregor’s green silk scarf tied around his neck like a cape, Benny buzzed around the house. The Aldens’ dog, Watch, scampered with him, barking at this new game.

When Benny was trying to jump over the footstool, he nearly ran into Grandfather.

“Whoa!” said Grandfather. “Who are you?”

“I’m Captain Fantastic!” Benny said.

“Oh, yes, the superhero character in the comic book,” said James Alden. “Tell me, Captain Fantastic, what makes you so fantastic?”

“I can do anything!” Benny waved his arms for emphasis. “I can jump over buildings and run faster than the wind. I can swim like a fish and see in the dark.”

“Well, Mr. Fantastic, it sounds like you’d be very handy to have around,” Grandfather said, laughing.

“ Captain Fantastic!” Benny protested. “Captain Fantastic does good all over the world. And when he isn’t wearing his suit, he’s an ordinary scientist. The kind that studies bugs.”

“I smell something wonderful coming from the kitchen,” said Grandfather. “I bet it’s Mrs. McGregor’s famous macaroni and cheese casserole. Maybe you ought to change back into Benny Alden for supper.”

Benny giggled. “It was me all along, Grandfather!” Then he ran upstairs to his room to change.

Violet, Jessie, and Henry were gathered around the window seat in the hall.

“Supper’s almost ready,” Benny told them.

“We were talking about the note we found in the comic,” said Jessie.

“What about it?” asked Benny.

Violet patted the window seat cushion, inviting Benny to sit beside her. “We think it’s important. Maybe it has something to do with the comic book artist Sid Hoyt.”

“Like what?” Benny wanted to know.

“It’s somehow connected to that issue number nine we bought,” said Henry. “We’d like to find out more.”

Benny’s eyes widened. “Do you think we’ve found a mystery?”

“Maybe,” said Jessie with a smile. It had been a while since the Aldens were last involved in a case. They were very good at solving mysteries. “Wouldn’t it be neat if we could meet Mr. Hoyt? Maybe he would sign our special comic book.”

“But we don’t know where he lives,” said Violet. “Al Conrad only said he lives in Connecticut. That’s a whole state. He could be anywhere.”

“How will we find him?” Benny asked.

“Let’s ask Grandfather,” Henry said. “He knows about things like that.”

Grandfather did know how to find a person’s address.

“Go to the Greenfield Library,” he instructed them. “There are phone books for every county and major city in this state. If the person you’re looking for is listed, he’ll be in one of those phone books.”

“We’ll go tomorrow,” said Jessie. Maybe, she thought, we have stumbled onto another mystery!

The next morning, the children rode their bicycles into town again. Along the way, they stopped to watch some construction workers building a new house. ANOTHER FINE HOUSE BY ROLLINS CONSTRUCTION, the sign proclaimed. Cars and trucks belonging to the workers were parked along the curb.

“They’ve done a lot more work on the house since last week,” Henry commented. “Yesterday the crew was off.”

Benny watched a worker sawing some boards. “I want to be a house builder when I grow up,” he said admiringly.

“I thought you were going to be Captain Fantastic,” said Jessie, teasing.

Then Benny noticed that the worker with the saw had long hair tucked up into her hard hat.

“Hey, that’s a lady house builder!” he exclaimed.

“Don’t be so surprised,” said Violet. “Women can do any job they want, even build houses.”

At that moment, the woman glanced up from her work and looked across the street at the Aldens as if she had heard them. Jessie knew the woman couldn’t hear them over all the hammering. But something in the woman’s intense stare made her nervous.

“We’d better get moving,” she said, climbing back on her bike.

They pedaled swiftly to the library. Inside, Henry asked where they would find the Connecticut telephone books.

“Upstairs in the reference room,” the librarian replied.

In the reference room, another librarian directed them to several phone books on a low shelf.

Henry pulled out all the phone books and put them on a table.

“Connecticut has eight counties,” he said. “There is a phone book for each county, plus ones for the cities of Hartford, New Haven, and Stamford. I’ll take four. Jessie, you take four, and Violet will take three.”

“What will I do?” asked Benny. He could read a little, but not such tiny print.