Ann Martin - Stacey And The Mystery At The Mall

"Where's the button?" I asked. I had never seen April so serious, and the discussion was making me nervous.

"It’s under the counter, right below the cash register," said April. "I'll show you." She stood up, and I followed her to the counter. Sure enough, a little red button was hidden underneath. "Nobody can tell if you press it," she said. "And it definitely works. Security re-tested all the buttons over the weekend."

"Mommy!" cried Sandy, running to us. "Doggie woke up!"

"Okay, Sandy," said April, patting his head. "Want to come help Mommy unpack some boxes?" She looked at me and smiled. "I hope I didn't scare you, Stacey, but this is important

stuff. Anyway, I have to unload some new merchandise now. Can you work the counter for awhile?"

"Sure," I said. I tried to sound confident, even though I was feeling pretty shaky. I would have preferred to unpack boxes with Sandy, but I didn't want April to know I was scared. I watched her head for the back room, and then I turned my attention to the counter. I tidied up a display of troll key rings and refilled a box of miniature yo-yo's. I checked the batteries on the display sample of a Gamester, a hand-held computer game. Then a man and a woman walked into the store as I was straightening up a bunch .of pinwheels. I checked the couple out. The woman was wearing a long coat, and carrying a shopping bag. The man was dressed in a business suit, but a leather backpack was slung over his shoulder. Shoplifters? I had no way of knowing. I moved behind the counter and ran my hand beneath it, checking for the button. The woman had picked up a special microphone that adds sound effects when you talk into it, and I wondered what I would do if she slipped it into her bag.

I ran over April's directions in my mind. "Don't let her know you saw her. Don't chase her. Push the button." It all sounded simple, but what if there were complications? What if

a shoplifter were armed? What if he or she were caught and figured out who had fingered him? What would he do to me? My palms felt sweaty, and my heart was beating fast. About five minutes later, though, the couple left. I had watched them closely the whole time, and I was almost positive they hadn't taken anything.

April emerged from the back of the store, brushing her hands off. "Everything okay out here?" she asked.

“Just fine," I said, trying to smile.

'Tay-see!" shouted Sandy, waving his stuffed dog at me. "Play with me!"

April smiled at me. "Could you?" she asked. "I'll be checking the shelves, to see if we need, to re-stock anything. You two can play right up front here, and you can run the cash register if we have customers."

"Okay," I said. I was glad to have the distraction of playing with Sandy. I could still keep an eye out for shoplifters, but maybe I wouldn't be quite so nervous. "Let’s see your dog," I said to Sandy. "What does a doggie say?"

For the rest of the afternoon, I was so busy I forgot to be nervous. I still checked out every customer who came into the store, but I stopped worrying about whether he might be armed and dangerous. Sandy kept demanding

my attention, but I was able to keep him entertained and also watch the store.

Or so I thought. Unfortunately, I was wrong.

As I was getting ready to leave, April approached me with a worried look on her face. "Stacey, have you seen the Gamester?" she asked. "Or did you sell it to someone?"

I shook my head. "I didn't sell it. And the last I saw, it was right there, on the — "I looked at the counter, where the Gamester had been. It was gone.

"I didn't sell it either," said April. "It must have walked out of here." She shook her head. "Darn," she said. "I guess I'll have to report it to security. I'll see you tomorrow, Stacey — and don't worry. It wasn't your fault."

I felt awful. I knew I had watched as well as I could, considering that I was entertaining Sandy and all. But obviously I hadn't watched closely enough.

On the bus going home, I told my friends what had happened.

"That’s terrible!" said Kristy. "Those shoplifters must be really good." She banged her fist into her palm.

"Still, I might have caught them, if I hadn't been taking care of Sandy, too," I said. Then, suddenly, I had an amazing idea. "Hey!" I

exclaimed. "You know what the mall needs? A day-care center."

"Definitely!" said Claudia. "What a great idea! It could be near the middle of the mall, like the food court, and it could be for shoppers and for store-owners like April."

My friends and I spent the rest of our ride talking excitedly about my idea. I was happy to think about something positive, instead of being preoccupied with the disappearance of the Gamester. A day-care center might "not solve the shoplifting problem, but it would sure help with a lot of other problems in the mall. And if the members of the BSC put their minds to it, I knew we could make it happen.

Chapter 7.

"You know how I said all my friends were enthusiastic about my idea for the day-care center? Well, that wasn't totally true. There was one exception: Kristy. I noticed she was a little quieter than usual during the bus ride that afternoon, and she didn't seem so eager to talk about the idea. I wasn't sure why. Maybe she was preoccupied with the shoplifting problem. Maybe she was just tired. Or maybe she was having a hard time accepting the fact that I had come up with a great idea — one she wished she had thought ofl-Kristy's used to being the idea person, and I think it’s hard for her sometimes when somebody else comes up with one.

Anyway, by the time we climbed into the bus on Tuesday afternoon, Kristy had recovered from whatever was wrong. She had obviously given the day-care idea a lot of thought overnight, and she couldn't wait to

talk about the details. As soon as we found seats on the bus, Kristy whipped out a little notebook and a pen. "Okay," she said. "This day-care center will be great, but there are a lot of aspects we need to figure out."

Claud, who was sitting next to me, nudged me with her elbow and grinned at me. I smiled back. We're used to the way Kristy takes an idea and runs with it.

"First of all," said Kristy, "I can't see why the people at the mall wouldn't go for it. I mean, it’s perfect. I'm sure business would increase if people had a place to leave their kids while they shopped. And if 11 be great for employees at the stores, too. But where would the center be? And who would pay the rent for it? And who would run it?"

"There's a huge empty storefront over by the games arcade," said Logan. "It would be ideal. And I bet the store-owners would chip in for the rent — or maybe they could work out a deal with the mall management."

"There must be a lot of other store-owners like April, who are parents, too. I bet we could organize a group of them to run the place," I said.

"What about equipment?" asked Mary Anne. "You know, toys and stuff. And mats for naptime."

"Naptime!" said Jessi. "That reminds me.

You know what’s strange? My manager told me he thinks somebody's been sleeping overnight in the movie theatre!"

"Weird," I said. It was weird, but I was too busy thinking about the day-care idea to pay much attention to what Jessi had said. Instead, I turned to Kristy and said, "We'll need art supplies and books, too."

"Good point," said Kristy, making a note. "Maybe we could get people to donate a lot of these things."

"We could have a fund-raising drive," added Jessi. "For start-up costs."

"I guess the first thing to do is for us to talk to our bosses," I said. "We can see if they think it's a good idea, too. Maybe they'll have some thoughts about what to do next."

And that’s how we left it. When the bus pulled up to the mall, we piled out, eager to start on our new project.