“Maybe he forgot something at home and had to run back for it,” Henry said. “Oh, well, we’d better go downstairs. I’d like to get organized before Meg gets to work. I don’t want her saying we’re late or anything.”
Jessie checked the kitchen clock. “It’s not even seven o’clock. I wonder why Tom got to work so early. Well, let’s go. Mrs. Winkles told Tom and Meg to leave a key for us in the candy shop window box. She said we could go into the candy-making area that way.”
A few minutes later, the children found the key in the window box. Everyone huddled around Jessie as she fiddled with the lock.
“It doesn’t fit,” Jessie said, trying the key one way, then the other. “I wonder if this is the right key. Let’s go around back and see if it works on one of the other doors.”
Jessie tried out the key on several doors. The children could see right away that their small key didn’t fit the big factory lock.
“Let’s go back upstairs and call Tom or Meg to see when they’re coming in,” Jessie suggested.
Henry called Tom’s number first when the children went back to the loft. “Hi, Tom,” he said when someone picked up. “It’s Henry. We’re locked … Hey, don’t hang up.” Henry put down the phone. “I must have dialed the wrong number. I thought it sort of sounded like Tom, but then the person hung up.”
Henry tried again, dialing more carefully this time. “That was Tom’s answering machine,” Henry said when he hung up. “I’ll try Meg. Does anybody have her phone number?”
No one did.
“You know what,” Jessie said. “Since we have to wait for Tom and Meg anyway, why don’t we do our grocery shopping now for our lunch? Mrs. Winkles mentioned a store not too far from here that opens early. Maybe by the time we come back, Tom and Meg will be here.”
Violet started a shopping list. “What do we need?”
“Not candy!” Soo Lee and Benny cried out together.
By the time the Aldens returned from the store and put their groceries away, Meg’s car was in the parking lot.
“That’s fanny,” Jessie said when everyone discovered the candy kitchen was still locked. “I hear the candy machines humming inside. I wonder why Meg didn’t unlock this.”
Henry banged on the big metal door as loud as he could.
“We’re locked out,” Henry yelled. Finally, the door opened. Meg stood there and stared at the Aldens. “I can’t just stop the candy making to open doors and such,” she said. “Well, go get dressed as long as you’re here.”
Jessie showed Meg the key that didn’t fit. “This is the wrong key.”
Meg stared at it. “Oh, that’s a key for one of the storage areas. Sorry. I must have left it out by mistake. Well, it doesn’t matter. Just go to the changing room to get your caps and aprons.”
After the children put on caps, gloves, and white aprons, they stepped into the candy kitchen. Right away, they noticed some chocolate egg molds moving along the conveyor belt. No one seemed to be watching them.
“What’s the matter now?” Meg asked.
Jessie pointed to the machinery. “Isn’t someone supposed to supervise the conveyor belt when it’s on?”
Meg didn’t appreciate the reminder about this. “Never mind. Just go to the other room. Make sure the eggs I made yesterday all have sugar chicks in them. Then start packing the eggs into the egg cartons the way Tom showed you. And don’t break any.”
The Aldens were glad to begin work away from Meg.
“Remember what Mrs. Winkles said,” Jessie reminded everyone. “Make sure all the eggs are smooth and completely sealed up before you put them into the egg cartons.”
“I know, I know,” Soo Lee said. “And make sure that we can hear a little chickie inside each one. We have to pick the eggs up softly to make sure the chick is in there.”
Pretty soon the Aldens were hard at work. Only checking and packing the beautiful chocolate eggs into cartons didn’t seem a bit like work.
“Do we get to keep the ones that don’t have a chick inside?” Benny asked after several of his eggs sounded empty. “Don’t worry. I won’t eat too much chocolate today. I promise.”
After a while, the Aldens had a pile of cartons ready for shipping. But they also had a pile of empty eggs, too.
“Uh-oh,” Henry said. “I hate to say it, but look how many eggs went through without any chicks inside.” He walked over to the phone on the wall. “The red phone light is on. Meg must be using it. Let’s go tell her the machine missed a bunch. Violet can stay here with Soo Lee and Benny to finish up.”
Jessie frowned. “This is terrible. Mrs. Winkles loses money when she has to throw out the imperfect eggs.”
When Henry and Jessie joined Meg, she was still using the phone.
“No wonder there are always problems,” Jessie whispered to Henry. “She doesn’t seem to pay attention to what she’s doing.”
The two children caught the last few words of Meg’s conversation. “I have to go, Mr. Boxer. I can’t keep talking to you so much. I have a lot of work to do.”
“Now what?” Meg asked Henry and Jessie. She reached over to turn off the machine. “Whenever you leave the packing or cooling rooms, you’re supposed to call me to slow down the machine so there’s no pileup.”
Jessie stepped forward. “Violet, Benny, and Soo Lee are still working in there. We tried to call, but the line was busy. So we came over instead.”
“A whole bunch of eggs came through without any chicks inside,” Henry said. “Something must be wrong with the machine.” He went over to check it.
Jessie looked upset. “Maybe when Tom gets back we can figure out a solution.”
“We don’t need Tom today” Meg told the Aldens. “Get away from that machine, Henry. Go finish packing the rest of the eggs.”
Meg came over to the chick machine and looked underneath it. “This part jammed up the opening. That’s why the chicks didn’t drop down. Did you do something to this just now or when you were working with Tom yesterday?”
Henry shook his head. “I never touched it.”
“Well, somebody must have done something,” Meg said, her voice shaking. “I can’t get it going at all now.”
“Maybe Tom can help,” Jessie suggested. “In fact, he was already here this morning. He’s probably on an errand and coming back.”
Meg’s eyebrows shot up. “Tom was here already? So I guess he was the one who left the lights on. I’m always getting blamed for every little thing that goes wrong. Mrs. Winkles thinks he never makes mistakes, but he even forgot to lock the door. That’s why I locked it after I got inside, so I wouldn’t forget. Well, I guess I have no choice but to call him.”
“Good luck reaching him,” Henry said. “I thought he answered the phone. But after the line got disconnected and I redialed, all I got was his answering machine. Wherever he went, it wasn’t back home. I don’t know where he is.”
“Probably making more problems,” Meg muttered, “instead of helping me out.”
CHAPTER 6
Broken Eggs
When Meg still couldn’t get the sugar chick machine going, she sent the Aldens home for an early lunch. “I’ll call you when Tom arrives,” she told the children. “I left a message for him to come in and fix the machine.”
“And we can fix lunch!” Benny announced.
When the children returned to the loft, Benny and Violet headed straight for the refrigerator. They lined up all the lunch fixings on the kitchen counter, just like a conveyor belt.
“This is the Alden Tuna Fish Factory,” Benny said. “First, Soo Lee puts lettuce on the bread then slides it to me. Then I plop the tuna on the lettuce and slide the bread to Violet. She cuts the sandwiches and adds pickles. Then we do the next sandwich and the next one and the next one.”
Jessie and Henry got a kick out of Benny’s system.
“You don’t even need a machine, either,” Henry said. “Boy, was Meg ever upset about that broken machine! I hope it get
s fixed soon so Mrs. Winkles doesn’t lose any more business.”
The phone rang just as Violet passed around the sandwich plates. “That’s probably Meg calling to tell us when to come back.”
Jessie picked it up. “Oh, hi, Mrs. Winkles. We thought it was Meg. Yes, we’re on our lunch break.” Jessie paused. “Oh, so Meg told you about the problem with the chick machine? Sure, we can bring the part to get fixed.” Jessie grabbed a pencil and paper. “Just give me the address. We’ll go to the repair place this afternoon. I’ll put on Benny and Soo Lee so Grandfather can talk to them.”
As the younger children chatted on the phone with James Alden, Jessie explained what Mrs. Winkles wanted the children to do. “She gave me the name of the tool-maker who takes care of the candy machines. She said Tom took the part in to get it fixed a couple of times before. She couldn’t believe that it was broken again.”
Violet looked thoughtful. “Was Mrs. Winkles upset?”
“A little,” Jessie answered. “Here’s the strange thing. She spoke to Tom, and he made it sound as if there was a problem with the machine when he showed it to us yesterday — that it broke while we were working with him.”
“But that’s not true!” Henry said. “Besides, how could Tom know about the part being broken? He wasn’t even there when Meg got to work this morning.”
Jessie frowned. “And when he was here this morning, he acted as if he didn’t want to see us.”
After the Aldens finished lunch, they went to get the broken part from Meg. They heard her voice coming from Mrs. Winkles’s office.
“Mr. Boxer, you really shouldn’t be in here,” the Aldens overheard Meg say to someone else in the office. “I was just locking up.”
“After all, Meg, I am Mrs. Winkles’s shipper,” the man said. “I just need to check some old shipping bills. I’ll only be a few minutes.”
Meg sounded a little worried. “But why are you looking at—”
“Oh, never mind,” the man said impatiently. “Since you and I worked together, Meg, I’m really not sure why you’re such a fussbudget about my being here. Remember, I did help you get this job. We’re supposed to be helping each other.”
Meg noticed the Aldens standing nearby. For a change, she seemed relieved to see them. “Oh, I’m glad you’re all here. I have that broken machine part Mrs. Winkles called about,” she said. “This is Mr. Boxer. He’s my old boss from the shipping company where I used to work. He ships all our packages.”
The man didn’t seem a bit interested in meeting the Aldens. He barely turned around from the file cabinet he was trying to open. “Humph,” was his way of saying hello. “It’s no use,” he muttered. “It’s locked.” With that, he brushed by the Aldens without another word.
The children still didn’t feel comfortable around Meg. But now she looked so worried, they almost felt sorry for her.
“What’s the matter?” Violet asked.
“Oh, nothing,” Meg said softly. She gathered up all the papers the man had scattered on Mrs. Winkles’s desk.
“I bet Mrs. Winkles is a nicer boss than that man was,” Benny told Meg.
“Benny,” Jessie whispered. “That’s not our business.”
Meg started to say something else but stopped. Finally, she held out the broken machine part. “Here it is. Don’t forget to tell them that we need it fixed as soon as possible. I’ll see you later.”
When the children turned to leave, Tom appeared in front of them as if he had come out of nowhere.
“Tom!” Jessie said. “We were waiting for you to come back.”
Tom looked away from the Aldens. “What do you mean, come back? I just got here.”
Jessie scrunched her eyebrows. What did Tom mean by that? “Weren’t you here really early this morning? We saw you in the parking lot. We all waved down at you.”
Tom waited a long time before speaking. “Wasn’t me. You must have seen someone else. I was home all morning.”
Now Henry was confused, too. “But I called you there. Your answering machine was on.”
“I must have been in the shower,” Tom said.
“Guess what,” Soo Lee said, looking up at Tom. “Mrs. Winkles’s chick machine broke. We’re getting it fixed.”
Now it was Tom’s turn to look startled. “That’s why I came by. Mrs. Winkles also left a message on my machine. I’m the one who goes to the toolmaker’s to make sure he does the job right. It’s not an errand for kids.”
Jessie looked up at Tom. “Mrs. Winkles told us to go,” she said in a firm voice. “We just talked to her. See you later.” Jessie led the children out before Tom could say another word.
The Aldens didn’t have to go far to find the tool repair shop. It was just a few blocks away.
Jessie looked down at the scrap of paper with the toolmaker’s address on it. “There’s the place—All-Tool Casting. Let’s see if they can help us.”
The children entered the small shop, which was filled with all kinds of metal parts.
A man in blue overalls came out to greet the Aldens. “May I help you?”
Jessie put the broken machine part on the counter. “We’re from the Winkles Candy Factory. Mrs. Winkles asked us to get this fixed.”
“Her candy chick machine broke again,” Soo Lee told the man.
“That sounds like an emergency,” the man said with a friendly twinkle in his eye.
“It is an emergency!” Benny said. “A candy emergency. But Mrs. Winkles said you fixed it before when Tom came here. Now it’s broken again.”
“Before?” the man asked in a puzzled voice. “I haven’t worked on this broken part before.”
Now it was the Aldens’ turn to be confused.
“Are you sure?” Henry asked. “Don’t you know Tom Chipley? He works for Mrs. Winkles sometimes. He told her he’s been in here a few times with this broken part.”
“Never met him,” the man said. He could see Benny on his tiptoes, trying to see all the machines in the back of his shop. “I am glad to meet you kids, though. Sorry I can’t let you back there — safety and all, you know. I make machine parts for candy machines plus candy molds and design stamps for a lot of the candy factories in the area. There’s a lot of stuff back there that could be dangerous for kids.”
The man took a close look at the broken machine part. “Hmmm, I see the problem here. I can have it ready day after tomorrow. Hope that’s okay.”
“It’ll have to be,” Henry said. “Thanks for getting it done so quickly.”
“See you in a couple days,” the man said. “Oh, help yourself to some candy from that basket over by those packages on the counter. I get lots of free samples from my customers who order parts for their candy-making equipment.”
Benny and Soo Lee didn’t need to be coaxed to help themselves. Benny reached in and grabbed a handful. He recited the names of all the candy he wanted to try: “Taffy Pulls, Choco Chewies, Stay Out!”
“Stay out of where?” Henry asked. “What are you talking about?”
Benny held up a candy heart. “That’s what it says. It’s like one of the hearts Mrs. Winkles gave us.”
While the children were talking, a man in a brown uniform pushed a hand truck into the shop. “Hi, kids. I see you found the free candy they keep around here. This is one of my favorite stops.”
When the deliveryman went over to the counter to pick up a pile of boxes, Henry followed him. “I’ll give you a hand. There are an awful lot of packages.”
“Thanks,” the man said. “I can’t let you handle the packages. But you can hold my hand truck steady while I pile the shipments on it. Let’s see.” The man began to read the labels: “Sturgis, Wilder, Boxer”
“Boxer!” the Aldens all cried at the same time.
“I sure don’t want to forget this one,” the deliveryman said. “He’s a tough customer. And he got me in some trouble with a few of my customers. Blamed me for mixing up some of my deliveries.” The man stopped. “I can’t really discuss
this. Let’s just say there have been a few mix-ups with that guy.”
“Candy mix-ups?” Jessie asked.
The man pushed his hand truck out the door. “I guess you could say that.”
CHAPTER 7
The Aldens See a Ghost
The next morning, the Aldens had no problem getting into the candy kitchen. Meg had left a message in big letters on the Aldens’ door the night before: Get to work early. We need everybody to help fill the eggs by hand.
“How long did you say it would take to fix the part?” Meg asked again as she let the children inside. “Mrs. Winkles called a few times to make sure I’m keeping up the work.”
“The tool man said a couple of days,” Jessie answered Meg. “I guess it’s good that we came to visit Mrs. Winkles. Now you’ll have lots of helpers until the machine gets fixed.”
Meg wasn’t quite so sure of that. “It doesn’t matter how many people you have. Doing things by hand is always slower. I guess it’s better than nothing. I want to show Mrs. Winkles I can manage the candy factory even when she’s not here.”
Meg led the children past the first cooling room where the sugar chick machine was usually running. “Tom offered to pick up two containers of sugar chicks from Mr. Boxer’s. He didn’t want to lose time waiting for Mr. Boxer to deliver them.”
Benny and Soo Lee looked with big eyes at the huge, plastic jars filled with blue and yellow candies.
“Anyway, the containers are opened already. You can just start dropping the chicks into the eggs,” Meg continued. “I’ll run the conveyor belt at the slowest speed. Be very careful.”
Jessie nodded. “We’ll be extra careful. I know we can work fast and not make mistakes.”
Meg’s cheeks grew pink. “What is that supposed to mean? That I make mistakes and you don’t?”
Jessie swallowed hard. “No, no. I didn’t mean it that way — just that everybody makes mistakes.”
“She’s so touchy,” Henry whispered after Meg finally left.
“And a little careless,” Jessie added. “But at least that would be better than if she’s harming Mrs. Winkles’s business on purpose.”