Great Turkey Heist (6 page)

“We’re sorry,” Jessie said. “We do not know. But we know something else for your story.”

“What’s that?” the reporter asked.

“Tomorrow night there will be a free movie at the movie theater. You only have to bring some canned goods for admission. All the donations will go to the food pantry. Can you put that in your story?”

The reporter smiled. “You care a lot about this food pantry, don’t you?”

Jessie nodded.

“I will put it in my story,” she said. “And I will come to movie myself!”

The reporter asked each of the children to spell their names. “You will all be in the newspaper tomorrow.” She thanked them and left for her office.

Benny ran down the sidewalk, away from his siblings.

Jessie called after him. “Benny, wait! Where are you going? You forgot your bike!”

“I’m going to be in the newspaper!” Benny called. “I have to go tell Grandfather. I am going to be famous!”

“I am very proud of you, children,” Grandfather said. He spread the newspaper on the breakfast table. The story about the food pantry was right on the front page!

“The Gr . . . Greeet . . . Turkey He . . .” Benny tried to sound out the words in the headline. “Henry, can you help me?”

“That was a good try, Benny,” Henry said. “Some of those words are hard. The headline reads, ‘The Great Turkey Heist.’”

“What is a heist?” Benny asked.

“It is a robbery,” Grandfather answered. “It means that someone stole your great turkey sign.”

Benny was leaning over the newspaper article trying to find words that he could read. Suddenly, he started to jump up and down. “Look! There’s my name!” he cried. “It says ‘Benny Alden.’ I am in the newspaper! I’m famous!”

Everyone laughed. Mrs. McGregor set a platter of waffles and a pitcher of milk on the table. “Here is something to fill up your famous stomach,” she said.

As the children ate, Grandfather read the story in the newspaper aloud. It was a very good story. It gave facts about the food pantry. It also discussed the mysterious disappearance of the turkey sign. And, just as the reporter promised, the story mentioned the movie night.

“Wow! We’re going to get lots of donations for the food pantry tonight!” Benny said.

“Yes, I think you are right, Benny,” Jessie said. “Oh, and let’s not forget—we promised Mr. Tipton that we would go to the theater early to help get ready.”

“I have a meeting this afternoon in town,” Grandfather said. “I will give you a ride.”

When Grandfather dropped them off in town, Mr. Tipton was outside his theater. He was on a ladder. “Hello!” he called. When he waved at the children, the ladder shook.

Henry quickly grasped the ladder. He held it steady.

“Glad to see you, children. I’m just finishing up here. I will be down shortly. Can you hand me those letters?” Mr. Tipton asked.

A few large black letters sat on the ground. Benny picked up a
T
. “Wow! This letter is almost as big as me.”

“The letters need to be big so everyone can see them,” Mr. Tipton said. “This is called a marquee. I change the letters every week to advertise the movies.” Mr. Tipton placed the last few letters on the marquee. He climbed down and looked up at his theater.

“It looks wonderful,” Violet said.

“What does it say?” Benny asked.

“
The Secret Under the Stairs
,” Jessie read. “Starring Marla White. And on the other side it says ‘Greenfield Food Pantry Night Tonight.’”

“I am expecting a big crowd,” Mr. Tipton said. “I think everyone in town read the story in the paper this morning. My phone has been ringing off the hook.”

“That’s wonderful,” Jessie said.

“Why don’t you children come inside so I can show you around?” Mr. Tipton held open the door to his theater. Henry carried the ladder inside.

First, Mr. Tipton took the children into his office. Movie posters decorated the walls. Stacks of tickets sat on the desk.

“That’s a lot of tickets!” Benny said.

Mr. Tipton laughed. “Yes. Movie theaters always need to have a lot of tickets. You will have to give one ticket to each person who brings a donation for the food pantry. Let’s bring the tickets up front to the booth.”

Mr. Tipton took a key from his pocket and unlocked the sales booth. It was small inside. There was one tall chair. A dark curtain hung in front of the curved window. Mr. Tipton pushed the curtain back. Suddenly, the room was filled with light.

Jessie helped Benny climb up onto the chair. “I can see the whole street from here!” he said.

Mr. Tipton opened a metal panel. He put the tickets into the ticket machine. “Okay, Benny,” he said. “Push that button and see what happens.”

Benny pushed the button on the desk. An orange ticket popped out of a slot. “Cool!” Benny said. He pulled the ticket off.

“When the ticket comes out, you slide it through the opening to the customer.” Mr. Tipton showed the children the small opening in the window.

“But the canned goods will not fit in through this little opening,” Benny said. “Only money could fit through there.”

“We will set bins up outside by the door,” Mr. Tipton said. “After the customer puts in his or her donation, we will give them a ticket to the movie.”

“Do we have any bins?” Jessie asked.

“Yes. I have been collecting some. Come upstairs to the projection room, and I will show you.”

The children followed Mr. Tipton up a narrow staircase. He opened an old wooden door. He pulled a cord and a dim light went on.

“I have always wanted to see the projection room,” Violet said.

“But what do you do up here?” Benny asked.

“This is where we play the movies, Benny!” Mr. Tipton said.

“But I don’t see any movies. I don’t even see a DVD player.” Benny looked all around the room.

“Here are the movies,” Mr. Tipton said. He walked over to a shelf that held large tins. “Inside each tin is a reel of film. Here, Violet. Would you like to carry this over to the projector? You can help me set up the film for tonight.”

“Thank you!” Violet said. “I would love to.”

While Mr. Tipton and Violet were setting up the film in the projector, Benny was investigating the rest of the room. He found a small window. Jessie boosted him up so that he could look through.

“I can see the whole movie theater from up here!” he cried.

Mr. Tipton laughed. “Yes,” he said. “When I turn on the projector tonight, it will shine the movie through that little window and onto the screen. That is how a movie gets shown at a movie theater.”

Suddenly, Benny saw something moving down below. The theater was dark, but he was certain that a person had just run across the stage in front of the screen.

“Mr. Tipton,” he said. “There is someone else in the theater. Is that okay?”

“What?” Mr. Tipton rushed to the little window. “No one else should be in here! I don’t see anyone,” he said.

“Are you sure you saw someone, Benny?” asked Henry.

“Yes, I’m sure,” Benny said. “It is dark, but I know I saw a person down by the screen.”

Everyone rushed down the narrow stairs. Suddenly, they all heard a door bang shut. Mr. Tipton hurried into the lobby. “Someone was definitely here,” he said. “But it does not look like anything was stolen.”

Mr. Tipton and the children checked the whole theater. They made sure all the doors were now shut and locked. They did not see any damage.

“Why would someone come in an empty theater and just run around?” Jessie said. “It is odd.”

“It
is
odd,” Mr. Tipton said. “We will have to be careful. I did not mention this earlier because I thought it was just a prank. But someone called the theater today and demanded that I call off the special food pantry night.”

The children looked very surprised. “Did you recognize the voice?” Henry asked.

“No,” Mr. Tipton said. “It could have been anybody.”

“We will have to carefully watch the bins tonight,” Henry said. “Someone may try to take the donations.”

“I think you are right, Henry,” Mr. Tipton said.

“I can do it!” Benny said. “I am a good detective.”

“I am sure you would be good at the door,” Mr. Tipton said. “But I also need help at the snack counter. I was hoping you could do that.”

“Oh boy!” Benny said. “I sure can. I love snacks!”

Jessie laughed. “Mr. Tipton wants help selling the snacks, Benny, not eating them.”

Mr. Tipton took Benny behind the counter. He showed him how to make the popcorn in the big popcorn-popping machine. Benny scooped the corn kernels from a bin. He stood on a stool and poured the kernels into the machine. Then he pushed the button to turn on the popper. Soon, the whole place smelled wonderful.

Mr. Tipton gave each of the children a bag of the warm popcorn and a cup of lemonade. A phone began to ring and Mr. Tipton hurried to his office.

The children went into the theater to eat. They sat in a row in the soft, velvety seats.

“This popcorn is delicious,” Violet said.

“I made it!” Benny said proudly.

Jessie smiled. “It is the best popcorn I’ve ever had.”

“Can you tell us anything about the person you saw, Benny?” asked Henry. “Are you sure you don’t know who it could have been?”

Benny shook his head sadly. “I don’t know,” he said. “It was very dark. The person looked mostly like a shadow. I could not see a face.”

“Could you tell if it was a man or a woman?” asked Violet.

“No,” Benny said. “But the shadow was big. I think it was probably a man.”

“Was he wearing a hat?” asked Jessie. She remembered the rude man who knocked into Mr. Grayson on the street. He had been wearing a brown hat.

“No,” Benny said. “I did not see a hat.”

Jessie pulled out her notebook. She wrote down everything that had happened at the theater. She tapped her pencil on her book. “Who could it have been?” she wondered.

“It could have been Mr. Higgins,” Benny said. “He does not like the food pantry.”

“It could have been Ms. Matthews, too,” Henry said. “She does not even believe that the food pantry will ever open,” Henry said. “She thinks Mr. Grayson is just being sneaky.”

“But why would either Ms. Matthews or Mr. Higgins sneak into the theater during the day?” asked Violet.

“It makes no sense,” Jessie said.

The children sat quietly for a few moments thinking about the mystery.

“There are a lot of seats in this theater,” Violet said. “If every person brings a donation, the food pantry shelves will be filled by tomorrow. We have to make sure there are no problems tonight.”

The line to get into the movie was very long. Violet sat in the booth and sold the tickets as fast as she could. Everyone seemed to have brought bagfuls of donations.

“What a wonderful idea!” one woman said.

“How kind of you to support the food pantry,” a man said to Mr. Tipton. He dropped an armful of cereal boxes into the donation bins.

Henry and Mr. Tipton were very busy watching the bins. They soon became full. Henry had to empty them several times. He put all the items in Mr. Tipton’s office. Then he brought the empty bins back to the front of the theater.

Mr. Grayson came early and helped, as well. He shook Mr. Tipton’s hand. “This is wonderful!” he said. “With all these donations, we will be able to open the food pantry in time for Thanksgiving.”

Jessie and Benny were very busy behind the snack counter. They made a lot of popcorn and sold many candy bars. The line was growing long.

“Hi, kids!” Noreen, the waitress from Green Fields restaurant, stood in front of the counter. “Would you like some help back there?” she asked.

“Yes, please!” Jessie said.

Mr. Tipton stopped by the snack counter. “See anything suspicious?” he whispered to Jessie.

“No,” she said. “But we have been so busy selling snacks. I am afraid we have not been watching as best we can.”

“Keep up the good work,” Mr. Tipton said. “I will donate half of all the money you make here tonight to the food pantry. So, the more you sell, the more I will donate.”

Jessie smiled. “That is very generous,” she said.

There were crowds of people standing in the lobby. They were talking excitedly about the new movie. Jessie started when she saw Ms. Matthews. She was standing in a corner watching all the excitement. Soon, she saw Jessie looking at her. She walked over to the snack counter.

“I see that you children did not take my advice,” Ms. Matthews said. “You are still helping Mr. Grayson with the food pantry.”

“Yes,” Jessie said. “We believe that a food pantry in Greenfield is a very nice idea.”

“You still believe that he is going to open up a food pantry?” Ms. Matthews shook her head. “I do not think so.”

“So many people have come here tonight,” Jessie said. “They all believe in the food pantry.”

Ms. Matthews looked around the lobby. “The people of Greenfield are good and kind people,” she said. “They are also very generous. But they do not know Mr. Grayson like I know him. He is sneaky. He was sneaking around Mr. Higgins’s grocery store the other day. I saw him carrying a very big package out of the back alley. It was covered in plastic. When he saw me watching him, he hurried away. Do you know what he was doing?”