Ann Martin - Stacey And The Mystery Of Stoneybrook

"Thank you, Mallory-silly-billy-goo-goo!" she called over her shoulder.

"You're welcome, Claire," said Mal, rolling her eyes. It looked like Claire was in her "silly" mood again.

Mal made herself a ham sandwich, while Dawn checked the fridge for anything resembling health food. Finally she turned up a couple of carrots, a container of yogurt, and some

wheat germ left over from one of Mal's baking experiments.

"This'll do just fine," she said. "Let's sit down."

There was a mad rush for the "good" seats. Claire had already claimed Mrs. Pike's usual spot, and Margo sat next to her. The triplets jostled each other, tripping and blocking as they competed for Mr. Pike's seat. While they were occupied, Nicky slipped into it. Vanessa drifted in and seated herself daintily in Adam's usual spot but was forced to move almost immediately when he sat in her lap, pretending not to see her.

Finally, everyone was seated. Dinner had begun.

"Want some SpaghettiOs, Nicky?" Adam asked.

"Sure!" he answered. His face lit up. His brothers usually only paid attention to him when they were teasing him.

"You do?" asked Jordan. "Don't you know they're made out of worms?"

Nicky's face fell and he went back to eating his sandwich. Byron quietly offered him a bite of his sandwich, but Nicky looked at it closely and shook his head. "Worms" had reminded him of something.

"The worms crawl in, the worms crawl out, the

worms play pinochle on your snout,”he sang, looking very cheerful again.

"Ew!" cried Claire. She dropped her spoon into her cereal. Milk flew in all directions.

"C'mon, Nicky. We're trying to eat," said Mallory. She reached over with her napkin and wiped up some milk.

"Okay, how about this one?" he asked. "I'm Popeye the sailor man, I live in a garbage can," he started.

Adam reached around Nicky and tapped him on the shoulder. Nicky stopped singing and whipped his head around to see Jordan, looking innocent. When he turned back to check on Adam, Jordan reached around to tap him on the other shoulder. Nicky looked like a spectator at a tennis match as Adam and Jordan took turns.

Dawn tried to distract them. "What shall we do tonight, guys?" she asked.

Everybody spoke up at once. Claire wanted to play Candy Land, the only game she's old enough for. Margo thought that sounded fine, too. The triplets voted for volleyball, except for Adam, who wanted to play dodgeball. Nicky thought it would be fun to build a tent out of blankets and play Indians.

It was Vanessa, though, who came up with

an idea that everyone liked. "Let's put on a play!" she said.

"Yea!"

"Let's do Batman!" said Byron. He loves to be the Joker.

"No, Snow White!" said Claire.

Dawn thought quickly. What could they do that would please everyone? "How about The Wizard of Oz?" she said, remembering what Kristy had said about how much her brothers and sisters liked that movie.

"Great choice, Dawn," said Mallory.

"I get to be the Scarecrow!" yelled Jordan.

"I get to be the Cowardly Lion!" yelled Adam.

"I get to be the Princess!" yelled Margo.

"Princess?" asked Nicky. "I don't remember any princess in that movie."

"There's always a princess, right, Mallory?" Margo looked at Mal for support.

"Sorry, not in this story," said Mallory. "But you can be the Good Witch. That's the closest thing to a princess in this play. Anyway, let's dear the table and clean up the kitchen before we get started. And anyone who's got homework has to do it first."

When everyone was ready, they had a quick meeting to assign the rest of the parts, and

then everyone ran off to put together costumes.

The house was a little quieter for a few minutes while the actors and actresses dressed up. Downstairs, Mal and Dawn looked at each other and smiled.

"Well, at least we got through dinner," Dawn said.

Just then, the triplets slid down the banister, one after the other. Adam, as the Cowardly Lion, wore a yellow fringed bedspread tied around his shoulders. Jordan had on old jeans and a flannel shirt. He looked pretty good as the Scarecrow. Byron was the Tin Woodsman, and his was the hardest costume to put together. He'd found a funnel to wear as a hat, and he was carrying a toy hatchet.

The rest of the cast gathered, and Dawn and Mal were assigned parts, too. Dawn was the Wicked Witch, and Mal was the Wizard. By the time everyone was onstage, they realized that there were no people left over to be an audience, but by then it was too late.

Vanessa, as Dorothy, carried her school-book bag instead of a picnic basket. Nicky, who was playing Toto, trotted along beside her. Vanessa pretended to step out of a house. "Come on out, Toto, close the door. We're not in Kansas anymore," she rhymed.

"Woof, woof," said Nicky.

Claire did a short rendition of the Munchkin song, with lots of added "silly-billy-goo-goos."

Then Byron stepped out. "Hi, Dorothy! We'll come with you. Don't cry. Here are my friends, the Scarecrow and the Cowardly Lion."

"Oh, good," said Vanessa, forgetting to rhyme for once. "But how will we get to the Emerald City?"

"I'll take you in my spaceship," said Margo, as the Good Witch.

"We're off to see the Lizard!" sang Jordan.

This was getting a little off the track, but Dawn and Mal hid their smiles and went along with it. Dawn made a truly scary Wicked Witch until Claire started to cry. Then Dawn used "magic" to turn herself into another good witch.

Halfway down the Yellow Brick Road, Nicky got bored with playing Toto. After all, he had no lines except for, "Woof, woof." "Want to hear me count to one thousand by twos?" he asked. Nobody answered — they were all busy just then — so he just started in. "Two, four, six . . ."

At the end of the play, Mal, as the Wizard, solved everyone's problems. She declared that it was bedtime in Oz. Nicky had gotten up to

782 by then, but he was winding down and didn't insist on finishing.

The cast members gave themselves a big round of applause, since there was no audience to do it for them. Then Dawn took Margo, Claire, and Micky upstairs to get ready for bed. Mal and the older kids tidied up the living room, which looked like that tornado really had been through it.

By the time Dawn got the younger Pikes to bed, Mr. and Mrs. Pike were home. Dawn and Mallory shook hands solemnly and congratulated each other on making it through the evening. Then Mr. Pike walked Dawn home. She breathed a huge sigh of relief as she entered her quiet old house.

Chapter 13.

Charlotte and I got home from school at around the same time on Wednesday afternoon. I could see right away that she was as nervous as I was about going to see Mr. Hennessey.

"Are you sure you want to go, Charlotte?" I asked. "You don't have to do this, you know." I wondered if this thing was completely out of hand. Was I so involved with this mystery that I was forgetting to be a responsible baby-sitter?

But Charlotte, although she was a little scared, was also very determined to do everything she could to help solve the mystery. There was no way she was going to quit now.

We headed over to Claud's, where we'd planned to meet Kristy, who arrived at the same time we did. Claudia opened the door before we even had a chance to knock. It seemed as if we were all eager to get going,