The Buried Bones Mystery

“We will, mon. We will,” said Ziggy. “You’ll be surprised.”

  They covered both boxes with dirt and left for home, each a little scared and a little excited.

  When he got home, Rashawn carefully put his father’s shovel back in the garage and went into the kitchen to wash his hands. He grabbed an apple from the sink and joined his father, who was typing on the computer in the dining room. Rashawn’s dad was in charge of the newsletter for the members of their mosque.

  “Hi, Dad. You busy?”

  “Just finishing up here, Son. What’s on your mind? You look a little funny. Are you coming down with something?”

  “No, Dad,” Rashawn said quickly. “It’s just kinda hot. Me and the guys got this new club. You oughta see the clubhouse we built—it’s awesome.”

  “I’ll have to check it out. Sounds like fun, especially since your basketball court got destroyed. As a matter of fact, I wrote an article about neighborhood crime for the newsletter. And all of us at the police department think we might have some clues about who did it.”

  “Clues?” asked Rashawn.

  “Sure. That’s the first step in good police work. Investigate all your clues.”

  Rashawn thought, I can’t believe it! Ziggy was right! Then he asked his father, “So what have you found, Dad?”

  “Well, we’re pretty sure it wasn’t high school boys, because they liked the basketball courts and used them. But we do think it was someone from the neighborhood.”

  “How come?”

  “The officer in charge of the case told me that they found the chain saw—it had been rented from the store around the corner.”

  “Who rented it?”

  “Old Bill Greene—but he used it to cut down that dead tree in his yard. He said the saw had been stolen from his backyard the day after he rented it.”

  “Do you believe him?”

  “So far we have no reason to think he was the one who cut the basketball poles down.”

  “Did the police find any more clues, Dad?”

  “Well—they found a note.”

  “A note? Like a message?” asked Rashawn.

  “Yes, sort of—it was really strange. It said, ‘Them bones gonna rise again.’”

  At the word “bones” Rashawn almost choked on his apple. “What do you think it means, Dad? And what do bones have to do with basketball?”

  “I don’t know, Son. Sometimes police work means checking every detail. If we find out anything, I’ll let you know.”

  “Thanks, Dad.” Rashawn wondered if this had anything to do with the bones they had found. He could hardly wait for the next meeting. I wonder what the other guys have found out, he thought.

  JEROME SAT ON HIS PORCH AND WATCHED HIS sisters as they quietly took turns braiding each other’s hair. He didn’t really mind watching them today, because he had a lot to think about. Where did those bones come from? What should they do with them? Would they get in trouble for not telling what they found? And how was he going to find any clues? Maybe Granny will know something, he thought. She’s lived in this neighborhood all her life.

  Just then Temika and LaTonya started to argue. “It’s my turn to play with the black Barbie!”

  “Nuh-uh! You had her yesterday. Jerome! She won’t let me see the black Barbie!”

  Jerome couldn’t understand why Granny didn’t just buy two of everything and save him the trouble of listening to them argue. But he told them, “Temika, why don’t you get the crayons out and color all the Barbies in the coloring book any color you want. LaTonya, you play with black Barbie for a while, then let Temika see her, okay?” The girls seemed satisfied for the moment, and Jerome was glad to see Granny getting off the bus at the corner.

  “Granny, wanna see the picture I colored?” Temika yelled from the porch.

  “That’s real pretty, baby,” said Granny as she climbed the steps and sat down on the porch swing. “Jerome, bring Granny a glass of ice water, please. Temika, LaTonya, it’s nap time. Go on in there and lie down for a few minutes.”

  “But Granny, we’re not even sleepy,” protested Temika, who was six and thought she was too old to have to take a nap.

  “You don’t have to sleep, child. Just lie down for five minutes with your eyes closed, okay?”

  After the girls went inside, still mumbling about not being sleepy, Jerome said, “You know, Granny, one day they won’t fall for that trick and they’ll stay awake, and we’ll have to listen to them all afternoon.”

  Granny chuckled. “I know, child. You’re a good boy to help me with them like you do. You’re growing up, and I’m real proud of you.”

  Jerome smiled. Granny didn’t toss out compliments very often. “Can I ask you something, Granny?”

  “Sure, child.”

  “You’ve lived around here a long time, haven’t you?”

  “Now, you know that. I was born in that house where your friend Ziggy lives now. Then when I married your grandpa, we moved over here. Your mama was born here in this house, and so were you.”

  “Did you ever hear about any mysteries when you were little, Granny?”

  “The old people always told spooky stories about ghosts and things like that, but I don’t remember any mysteries… except for—well, that was different.”

  “What, Granny? Tell me.”

  “It’s nothing really, and it probably isn’t even true.”

  “Tell me, please.”

  “Well, when I was a little girl, living in your friend Ziggy’s house, there was that tall fence all around the backyard—the one you made your clubhouse out of. It was much taller than we were, and it had only one gate, which was always locked, so we didn’t have to think about what was on the other side.”

  When Granny mentioned the fence, Jerome shivered a little. Maybe he was going to get a clue after all.

  “Did you ever find out?”

  “Yes, but sometimes not knowing the truth is better.”

  “What do you mean, Granny?”

  “On the other side of the fence was a… graveyard!” Granny whispered.

  “But, Granny,” said Jerome, trying to hide the shakiness in his voice, “there’s an apartment building and a parking lot there now.”

  “Yes, child. They built that more than fifty years ago, when I was just about the age you are now. Some folks tried to complain, but the builders just ignored them and put that apartment complex right over that graveyard.”

  “Do you think there’s ghosts over there, Granny?” asked Jerome. Suddenly the warm summer air felt chilly.

  “I don’t know. But I do know that when I was about ten or eleven, I used to hear the old folks whisper stuff about boxes of bones. It scared me, so I never asked any questions.”

  “Granny, what did they—”

  “That’s enough of that, now. You make me feel cloudy on a sunny day. I don’t want to talk about that stuff anymore.”

  She went into the house to check on the girls, and Jerome sat on the porch, shivering. What had they found? He couldn’t sit there alone any longer, so he yelled through the screen door to Granny that he was going over to Rico’s house.

  Jerome thought Rico’s mom acted like the mother on that old TV show, Leave It to Beaver. She never had her hair in curlers, never had a dirty kitchen, and never ate pizza. But even though she was what Ziggy called a neat freak, she was always willing to drive the four friends wherever they needed to go. She and Rico were just pulling out of the driveway when he got there.

  “Hello, Jerome. Rico asked me to take him to the library. All of a sudden he has an interest in bones—dinosaur bones, he says. Do you want to come along?”

  “Yes, ma’am,” replied Jerome as he hopped into the backseat. He knew what Rico was up to.

  “Any clues?” whispered Rico to Jerome.

  “You won’t believe it!” Jerome whispered back. “Just wait till I tell you.”

  Rico’s mother dropped them off at the library and told them she’d be back in about an hour. Rico
went straight to the information desk.

  “Do you have any books on bones?”

  “Bones?” said the tired-looking librarian over her glasses. “What kind of bones?”

  “Oh, dinosaur bones, chicken bones, pork chop bones, and… human bones,” said Rico with a nervous grin.

  “Try the science section—over there to your left—third shelf down.”

  Rico and Jerome hurried over and found exactly what they needed—three books on human, animal, and dinosaur bone structure. They put the dinosaur book on top of the pile and walked quickly to the checkout desk, bumping into the old man in front of them in the line, and making him drop his large stack of books.

  “You kids watch where you’re going!” he said with a growl. “This is a library, not a zoo!”

  “Sorry, Mr. Greene,” said Jerome, as they helped him pick up his books. “We didn’t see you.”

  “Well, the last time I checked in the mirror I wasn’t invisible!” Mr. Greene snapped at them. “But I may as well be for all anybody cares,” he mumbled to himself.

  Rico and Jerome didn’t know what else to say, so they apologized again, checked out their books, and waited in front of the library for Rico’s mom to pick them up.

  “Did you see the books that Mr. Greene was checking out?” asked Jerome.

  “Yeah—kinda weird—they were all on cemeteries and stuff. Here comes my mom. Let’s get out of here.”

  As Rico’s mom drove them back home, they sat in the back seat, turning the pages of one of the books they had checked out, looking at the pictures, then quietly looking at each other. They were scared. The book in their hands was called Bones of the Human Body.

  THEY WERE ALMOST HOME. RICO’S MOM TURNED the corner to their street and then slowed the car. “What in the world is that?” she asked in amazement. There seemed to be a two-headed man walking down the sidewalk.

  Rico and Jerome looked out and burst into laughter. “That’s Ziggy, Mom!” said Rico. Ziggy was walking on his hands, with his feet straight up in the air. On each foot he had placed a baseball cap, so that from a distance, he looked like a man with two heads walking down the street.

  “Can you let us out here, Mom?” asked Rico. “We need to talk to Ziggy. Besides, maybe we can turn him around!” She laughed, shook her head at Ziggy’s silliness, and told Rico to be home by suppertime.

  “Hey, Ziggy! What’s up?” asked Jerome.

  “Not me, mon. How do you like my disguise?”

  “It’s great if we ever need a two-headed man,” Rico replied with a grin.

  Ziggy giggled, lost his balance, and tumbled into a cheerful heap on the grass, knocking Rico down as he fell. Jerome jumped in, and the three of them tussled and wrestled, until they heard Afrika barking as Rashawn crossed the street and headed toward them.

  “What’s happenin’, dudes?”

  “Not much now, mon, but I got clues to report,” said Ziggy. “Just wait till you hear!”

  “Me too,” said Rashawn and Rico in unison.

  “And my Granny told me some stuff that will fry your brain,” said Jerome.

  “I think we need an emergency meeting of the Black Dinosaurs,” said Rashawn. “I’ll race you!”

  The four of them ran down the street, Afrika barking and darting among them, almost knocking them down. Ziggy started yelling simply because he liked the sound of his own voice and because he was in front. The others followed closely behind.

  Ziggy got to the clubhouse first, touched the door, and said, “The password is ‘Tuskegee’! I remembered!”

  “We gotta change the password,” Rico told the others. “It’s no fun if Ziggy can remember it.” Each boy touched the black dinosaur that was hanging above their heads and found a seat.

  “Well, men,” began Rashawn. “Let’s get started. Let me tell you what I discovered!”

  He told them about the police investigation and the strange message that said, “Them bones are gonna rise again,” and how old Mr. Greene had rented the chain saw that destroyed their basketball court.

  “Mr. Greene?” asked Rico in amazement. “We saw him at the library. He was checking out books on graveyards!”

  Jerome gasped. Then he told them about the covered-up graveyard and the stories of boxes of bones that had frightened even his grandmother.

  Rico opened the library book on human bones. The pictures confirmed that what they had found was probably one of the rumored boxes of bones. It was so quiet in the clubhouse that the boys could hear their own breathing.

  Ziggy finally broke the silence. “Very good spy work, gentlemen! But wait till you hear what the greatest spy that ever worked for the FB of I has discovered, mon!” He took a deep breath and began.

  “Last night, about midnight, I couldn’t sleep so I got up to get a drink of water. I looked out the back window and I thought I saw something. It looked like someone or something was out there by our clubhouse, so I decided to check it out.”

  “In the middle of the night?”

  “By yourself?”

  “In the dark?”

  “Would you have still gone if you had known about the graveyard?” asked Jerome.

  “No way, mon. Ziggy is brave, but he’s not stupid. Anyway, the moonlight was bright, so I tiptoed out. No one saw me. No one heard me. I was slick!”

  “So what did you find? A rabbit? A squirrel?” Rico asked, his eyes wide.

  “No, mon. I saw Old Mr. Greene with a flashlight and a stick, walking where the fence used to be, singing to himself. When he saw our clubhouse, he stopped and stared at it for a long time, but he didn’t touch it. Finally he cut through to his yard and went home.”

  “Do you think he’s got something to do with the box of bones?” asked Rashawn. “And since he was the one who rented the chain saw, maybe there’s a connection to what happened to our basketball court.”

  “Could be, mon, because you know what he was saying, over and over again?” asked Ziggy with mystery in his voice.

  “What? Tell us!” they all begged him.

  Ziggy loved being dramatic. He sang in a soft, scary voice:

  “I KNOW IT, KNOW IT,

  INDEED I KNOW IT, BROTHER,

  I KNOW IT, YEAH—

  THEM BONES GONNA RISE AGAIN!”

  Rico covered his mouth with his hands. Jerome’s eyes opened wide, and Rashawn just about fell off his chair. Ziggy couldn’t help laughing, even though he, too, was really scared.

  “So what do we do now?” asked Jerome.

  “We gotta see what Mr. Greene is up to,” replied Rico.

  “So how we gonna do that? Stay up all night?” asked Rashawn.

  “That’s it, mon!” shouted Ziggy. “Let’s sleep out tonight, right here in the clubhouse! We’ll tell our parents that we want to have a campout, which is true. They don’t have to know that we’re in the middle of solving a case.”

  “Let’s do it!” said Rico eagerly. “Everybody bring food, a flashlight, and a sleeping bag. Be back here at nine o’clock—it will be just about dark.”

  “What about bugs?” asked Jerome. “Don’t more of them come out at night?”

  “So bring bug spray,” replied Rashawn. “I’m more scared of ghosts than bugs.” At the mention of ghosts, they all looked at one another, but no one backed out.

  “Tonight at dark,” said Rico softly, “the password will be… ‘Nairobi.’”

  RICO GOT TO THE CLUBHOUSE FIRST THAT NIGHT. He was glad, because his mother had given him so much stuff he was afraid the others would laugh at him. In addition to his sleeping bag and a huge bag of food, she had made him take a rope, a first-aid kit, hiking boots, and a raincoat. It had been useless to argue with her, so he just dumped the stuff in a corner as soon as he got there. The clubhouse seemed different at night. Outside, the sounds of crickets and birds seemed louder. The light was fading fast, and the shadows looked funny on the clubhouse walls.

  Rico was relieved when Rashawn showed up, shouting, “Nairobi, dude
!” He was carrying a baseball bat.

  “What’s that for?” asked Rico.

  “Ghosts,” replied Rashawn. “You just never know.”

  Jerome knocked just then. “What’s the password?” asked Rico.

  “Nairobi! Hurry up and open the door before I drop this stuff.” He brought in a box of Twinkies, a six-pack of soda, and a bag of potato chips.

  “Junk foods—my favorite vegetables, mon,” said Ziggy from the doorway of the clubhouse.

  He was about to enter when Rico yelled, “What’s the password, Ziggy?”

  “Oh, no, not again!” moaned Ziggy.

  “Oh, yes—you gotta say the word. Now what is it?” Jerome asked him with glee.

  “Let’s see—Norway!

  “Nope!”

  “Nashville!”

  “Not even close!”

  “Nigeria!”

  “You almost got it!”

  “I know it—I know it! It’s… Nairobi!”

  They all cheered and laughed as Ziggy bowed and walked in, carrying an extra-large pizza his mom had ordered for them. “No sweat, mon, no sweat. I got a mind like a steel trap.” He reached up to give the dinosaur a good whack for luck. “Hey! Where’s Blackasaurus? He’s gone, mon!”

  “What?” said Rashawn, suddenly angry. “I hadn’t even noticed.”

  “Me neither,” said Jerome. “Someone’s been in here. Why would they take our dinosaur?”

  “Our treasures!” said Rico suddenly. The four boys ran outside and began to scrape away the loose dirt and leaves that hid their treasures and the mysterious box of bones. Neither had been touched. They breathed a sigh of relief and brought the treasures inside the clubhouse. Rashawn unlocked their treasure box and made sure everything was still there. It was just about dark.

  “Anybody scared?” asked Rico.

  “Not yet,” said Rashawn, “but I think I’m gonna be. Let’s eat.”

  They spread out their sleeping bags on the dirt floor, placed their flashlights in a circle, like a campfire, and sat cross-legged, gobbling pizza and guzzling pop. Rashawn carefully removed the pepperoni and gave it to Ziggy, who cheerfully ate it up.