Mary Anne and the Zoo Mystery

  “You need to catch him in the act,” Logan said, nodding his head.

  “But how?” Dawn asked.

  Mrs. Wofsey stood up and moved to her bulletin board, where a big color photo of Mojo and James was displayed. “If Mr. Chester really wants to get me into trouble, he’ll free the gorillas.”

  Good-bye, Gorillas! read the banner above the visitors’ center. A large sandwich board outside welcomed the eighth-graders from Stoneybrook Middle School to the farewell party. Bouquets of green, silver, and purple balloons were everywhere.

  That Saturday morning, Dawn and I had risen early. We’d wanted to go over our plans for the big stakeout.

  After Mrs. Wofsey had expressed concern that Mr. Chester might try to free the gorillas, we had agreed the best time for him to do it would be the day of the good-bye party.

  “Today’s the day,” Logan said as Dawn, Claudia, and I huddled outside the front gate that morning. “We’ll have to be on our toes, never let Chester out of our sight, and report anything, I mean, anything strange.”

  “You got it,” Alan said, joining our huddle.

  Howie was right behind him. “Just tell us what to do and we’re there.” He had arrived a little early so he could apologize to Mrs. Wofsey about leaving the emu pen open. After she let him off with a warning, he was even more excited than Alan was about catching the other suspect.

  I realized I had forgotten to tell my friends that I’d invited Alan and Howie to help with our stakeout. I figured they were already involved because of the zoo key and the emu escape, and besides I’d filled them in on Mr. Chester. And well, they were my group partners. It would probably have been okay if they hadn’t looked so ridiculous.

  Howie had chosen to wear all black. I think he’d been watching too many spy movies. Alan was dressed in camouflage pants, T-shirt, and a camping cap.

  “I thought hunting season was over,” Logan cracked, looking at Alan. I shot Logan a warning look and he immediately backed off. “Thanks for helping out, Alan.”

  “No problem,” Alan said. “I want to catch this Chester guy in the act.”

  I guessed that Alan’s determination was fueled by the embarrassment he’d felt when Mr. Chester had yelled at him in the berry bushes.

  “Okay, now that there are six of us,” Logan continued, “we can put two guards on the primate area, near the gorillas, one on Mr. Chester —”

  “Which should change every fifteen minutes,” I cut in. “Or he’ll get suspicious.”

  “Right,” Logan said. “The rest of us will patrol the area until it’s our turn to watch Chester.”

  We made a list determining who would do what job first and in what order. Then I checked my watch. “It’s ten o’clock. The party starts in half an hour. That gives us plenty of time to get to our positions.”

  “Now, the party lasts for an hour,” Logan reminded us. “Then everyone is going to meet at the gorilla cage, where James and Mojo will be served banana cake.”

  “Gross,” Alan said, grimacing. “I hope they don’t want us to share it.”

  Logan chuckled. “Seriously. It would probably have gorilla slobber all over it. I’ve watched those guys eat. They lick everything first.”

  I was glad Logan was keeping his promise to be nice to Alan. It made everything so much more pleasant. Even spying on a possible criminal.

  My first assignment was to stay by the visitors’ center and watch the party guests, keeping an eye out for anyone looking suspicious. I liked this job because it let me attend the party. And boy, was it fun!

  Mrs. Wofsey and her assistants had turned the center into a gorilla carnival. The pictures of the different animals had been replaced with life-size photos of Mojo and James at the Bedford Zoo. The room was lined with booths featuring a gorilla theme. At the far end of the room the video that Dr. Wordsworth had introduced to us was playing.

  Kristy, who had missed the action during the week, brought her brother David Michael and her stepsister, Karen, to the party.

  “I want to try the gorilla ring toss,” Karen said, tugging on Kristy’s arm. “Could I, please?”

  “Of course.” Kristy laughed. “We can try everything. And afterward we’ll have a banana split at the Banana Boat snack bar.”

  My favorite display was the one titled Gorilla My Dreams. The zoo staff had made cardboard cutouts of two gorillas standing arm-in-arm, with a place between them for people to put their faces. A photographer with a Polaroid camera stood by, ready to take pictures. I made a mental note to bring Logan back here, if all went well.

  I roamed the room, watching children color drawings of gorillas and make clay gorillas with a plastic mold. There were gorilla masks and even several guys dressed in gorilla suits in the crowd.

  Mrs. Wofsey was in one corner talking to a group of students and their parents. She caught my eye and waved. I could tell she was worried about what might happen in the next hour. So I gave her a thumbs-up sign.

  I checked my watch. Fifteen minutes had passed. Time for me to move to my new post by the gorilla cage. Before I left the building, I saw Mrs. Wofsey give a few instructions to the guys in the gorilla suits, then slip out the side door.

  I passed Howie, who was taking over my position at the party. He had put on a pair of dark sunglasses and didn’t even say hi as he walked by. He did pretend to scratch his head, and I noticed him wiggling a few fingers in my direction. I nearly laughed out loud.

  Seconds later I heard feet pounding behind me. It was Logan. “This is it,” he hissed. “I think Chester’s making his move.”

  “Don’t run,” I replied. “He’ll think something’s up.”

  Immediately, Logan slowed to a walk beside me. “Sorry, I got a little carried away,” he said. “Claudia followed Chester to the employees’ locker area, where he changed out of his blue blazer into green pants and a green shirt.”

  “So he’d look like the plant crew.”

  “You got it,” Logan said. “He’s wearing a hat and sunglasses. Claudia said she wouldn’t have known it was him except for the way he walks, with his feet turned out like a duck.”

  “Way to go, Claud,” I murmured. “Where’s he now?”

  “Alan spotted him at the golf carts. Chester made sure no one was around, then hopped in a cart. Alan said it looked as though he were heading for the primate enclosure.”

  Now I wanted to run. “I hope Dawn can handle it,” I said. “She’s the one on duty at the gorilla cage, right?”

  Logan nodded. We were both jogging now. We couldn’t help it. Chester was about to let the gorillas loose and we wanted to be there in time to stop him.

  Dawn was at her post, pretending to listen to the information kiosk in front of the gorilla cage, when we arrived. She smiled and waved, then strolled over to greet us.

  “He’s in there,” she said barely moving her lips.

  I was holding a little plastic gorilla that I’d been handed at the party. I pretended to show it to Dawn, who acted as if it were the greatest prize she’d ever seen. “Have you seen Claud?” I asked.

  Dawn nodded casually toward the emu enclosure, where Claudia, wearing a baseball cap and sunglasses, stood pretending to watch the big bird. She had slung a camera around her neck, and she raised it to one eye. Then she spun and faced the gorilla cage.

  “A camera!” Logan whispered. “All right, Claud. We’ll catch him in the act.”

  “Hold it.” I clutched Logan’s arm. “Who’s that weird person next to Claudia?” We watched as a person in a baggy jumpsuit, a big floppy hat, and sunglasses bent down to look at one of the flowers lining the walkway.

  “It’s not Chester,” Dawn mumbled under her breath, “because he’s inside the gorilla cage.”

  Logan moved casually to stand in front of the gibbons. That gave him a clear shot of the action inside the cage. I remained on the other side of the primate enclosure, ready to shout for help, if necessary.

  Suddenly, there was movement all around me. T
he bushes just outside the gorilla cage quivered. I couldn’t see a face but I recognized a camping hat. Alan was in there, hiding.

  The weird person in the jumpsuit and floppy hat moved swiftly past and around the corner of the primate enclosure. Claudia sprang forward from her position by the emu pen, snapping as many pictures as she could get.

  “The gorillas!” Dawn cried. “They’re escaping. What do we do?”

  Alan sprang out of the bushes. “I’ll head them off at the pass.”

  Logan ran for Alan. “Are you nuts? That male gorilla weighs four hundred pounds. He could crush you like a peanut.”

  Suddenly, the side door of the primate enclosure burst open. Mr. Chester came running out in his janitor disguise, followed by the strange person in the jumpsuit, and the two gorillas.

  “All right, Chester, freeze!” a female voice bellowed.

  Mr. Chester stopped with one foot in the golf cart, and one out.

  “Mike! Curtis!” the woman in the jumpsuit ordered. “Get him!”

  Then a truly amazing thing happened. The two gorillas that had escaped out the side door of the primate enclosure stepped forward and grabbed Mr. Chester.

  “What the —” Mr. Chester’s words choked in his throat as the tallest ape removed his gorilla head.

  “Wow!” Claudia sprang forward with her camera. “It’s Mike in disguise!”

  The other gorilla took off his head and shook his wet hair. Sweat was pouring down his face. “Whew,” Curtis said. “It’s like a sauna in here.”

  Then came the biggest surprise of all. The person in the coveralls removed her hat and sunglasses. “Well, Mr. Chester,” Mrs. Wofsey said. “I see we’ve caught you red-handed.”

  “Wait a minute.” Mr. Chester looked from the guys in gorilla suits to the now empty cage, and back to Mrs. Wofsey. “You haven’t caught me doing anything.”

  Mrs. Wofsey turned to Claudia. “Did you get the shot of Mr. Chester leaving the gorilla cage standing open?”

  Claudia nodded. “I got several pictures of that, plus a few of him putting on his disguise and taking the vet’s golf cart. I got them all.”

  “Mr. Chester, with the help of these young people,” Mrs. Wofsey said, “I can prove that you not only tried to set our gorillas free, but you also let the giraffe out of its corral and tried, unsuccessfully, to aid the gibbons in an escape. Now, you can deny it, and make this a long, drawn-out process. Or you can give me your resignation right now, along with a letter confessing your crimes and vowing never to work for any zoo or wildlife center again.”

  Mr. Chester’s shoulders slumped. “It’s not fair. I should have had that position. I put in fifteen years here. I was in line for it. The job was mine.”

  “I’m sorry you feel that way,” Mrs. Wofsey said, signaling for Mike and Curtis to usher Mr. Chester over to the front office. “But I think these stunts prove that perhaps you really aren’t cut out for a job like this.”

  We watched Mike and Curtis lead Mr. Chester away. Then Alan asked the question that all of us were dying to ask. “Where are Mojo and James?”

  For the first time since we’d begun the stakeout, I saw Mrs. Wofsey smile. “Why, at the party, of course. They’re the guests of honor. Early this morning Mike and Curtis moved them to the holding pen by the front office, making sure, of course, that Mr. Chester knew nothing about it. Then Mike and Curtis, being good sports, volunteered to take their places.”

  Dawn shook her head. “They really fooled me.”

  “That’s because they made sure to keep themselves slightly obscured from the public,” Mrs. Wofsey explained. “But you also must remember that Mike and Curtis have been working with and observing these animals for quite a while. If anyone could imitate gorilla behavior, they could.”

  “Wow,” Logan said. “I’m impressed.”

  “Instead of standing around here talking about the gorillas,” Mrs. Wofsey said, “let’s go see them. I would like to treat you all to a glass of gorilla punch and a giant piece of banana cake.”

  “Before or after the gorillas have had their pieces?” Logan asked, grinning slyly at Alan.

  “Before, of course,” Mrs. Wofsey replied.

  “Whew!” Everyone sighed with relief.

  Mrs. Wofsey shook her head. “I don’t under —”

  “It’s a long story,” Dawn said. “We’ll explain at the party.”

  “Alexander Kurtzman won the contest?” Claudia gasped. “But that’s not fair. I mean, he is so uncreative. He carries that briefcase and is so, so —”

  “Dull,” I finished for her. We were sitting in Claudia’s room, waiting for the Friday BSC meeting to start. “But he had Shawna Riverson on his team. She’s certainly creative.”

  “Yeah,” Kristy muttered. “I’ll bet Shawna cheated and looked information up in the encyclopedia. How else would they be able to do a fifty-page report on the lions?”

  “I wish Alan hadn’t cheated,” I murmured. “We had a good idea, and a cute title — Fins, Furs, and Flippers.”

  “But I thought we were only supposed to pick one animal and study it,” Dawn said. “I mean, we only watched the gorillas — along with every other eighth-grader at SMS.”

  I waved one hand in the air. “It didn’t matter anyway. After we found out that Alan had cheated on the emu, he confessed to cheating on the bears and seals, too. So we threw the whole thing out and studied Tigger.”

  “Tigger?” Kristy asked. “When did you do that?”

  “All last weekend,” Dawn answered for me. “Can you imagine having Alan Gray and Howie Johnson spend every second of the day watching you? I don’t know if Tigger will ever recover.”

  I folded my arms stubbornly. “Well, it was the best I could do as a last-minute substitute project. Anyway, none of us won and none of us gets to go to Aqua World.”

  “Now just a minute,” Kristy said, raising a finger. “I wouldn’t say that nobody won. Did you see the newspaper this evening?” Kristy held up an article she had clipped from the paper. Mallory read the headline out loud. “ ‘Little Babar — free at last!’ ”

  I clapped my hands together. “That’s terrific news. When did it happen?”

  Kristy scanned the article and said, “It seems that our Elephant Walk did a lot to raise money and interest in Babar’s plight. A wealthy contributor stepped forward and, with his donation, plus the money we and the Free Babar campaign raised, there was enough to transport Babar to a new home.”

  “Where is he?” Dawn asked. “Can we go visit him?”

  “This says he’s going to be at a wildlife preserve in Sarasota, Florida,” Kristy replied.

  “That’s a little far to ride our bikes,” I kidded Dawn. “And I don’t think the bus line stops there.”

  “Sarasota,” Claudia mused, finishing off the last of the Oreos in her shoe box. “Warm and sunny. Just perfect for a little fellow from Africa.”

  Claud’s clock changed from five-twenty-nine to five-thirty and Kristy officially called the meeting to order. But before we could even begin, Jessi suddenly bolted to her feet.

  “Hey!” she cried. “I just thought of something. Remember when Matt asked Mojo who freed the emu, and Mojo made the sign for food?”

  We all nodded expectantly. “Yes?”

  “Well, Mojo might have meant Mr. Chester, since he was the one who always fed the gorillas.”

  “But Howie was the one who accidentally let the emu out of the cage,” I pointed out.

  “Oh,” Jessi sat down again. “But I still think Mojo knew that Mr. Chester was rotten.”

  “Like the food,” Claudia cracked. “Did you taste that banana cake at the gorilla party? It tasted like gorilla drool and really old bananas. Ew!”

  That made everyone giggle.

  Even though none of us won the trip to Aqua World, things weren’t so bad after all. The Elephant Walk had been a success. And even though Kristy and Stacey hadn’t spoken during the entire walkathon, they hadn’t fought, either.


  My group didn’t win the extra credit but (miracle of miracles) we did get an A-. And so did Logan’s group. I think it may have had something to do with the good word Mrs. Wofsey put in for all of us. She was extremely grateful for our help in catching Mr. Chester. To show her gratitude, she gave each of us — Logan, Dawn, Claudia, Howie, Alan, and me — lifetime passes to the Bedford Zoo.

  So Logan and I are planning a trip to the zoo next weekend with Alan and Howie. Not!

  The author gratefully acknowledges

  Jahnna Beecham and Malcolm Hilgartner

  for their help in

  preparing this manuscript.

  About the Author

  ANN MATTHEWS MARTIN was born on August 12, 1955. She grew up in Princeton, New Jersey, with her parents and her younger sister, Jane.

  There are currently over 176 million copies of The Baby-sitters Club in print. (If you stacked all of these books up, the pile would be 21,245 miles high.) In addition to The Baby-sitters Club, Ann is the author of two other series, Main Street and Family Tree. Her novels include Belle Teal, A Corner of the Universe (a Newbery Honor book), Here Today, A Dog’s Life, On Christmas Eve, Everything for a Dog, Ten Rules for Living with My Sister, and Ten Good and Bad Things About My Life (So Far). She is also the coauthor, with Laura Godwin, of the Doll People series.

  Ann lives in upstate New York with her dog and her cats.

  Copyright © 1995 by Ann M. Martin

  Cover art by Hodges Soileau

  All rights reserved. Published by Scholastic Inc. SCHOLASTIC, THE BABY-SITTERS CLUB, and associated logos are trademarks and/or registered trademarks of Scholastic Inc.

  The publisher does not have any control over and does not assume any responsibility for author or third-party websites or their content.

  This book is a work of fiction. Names, characters, places, and incidents are either the product of the author’s imagination or are used fictitiously, and any resemblance to actual persons, living or dead, business establishments, events, or locales is entirely coincidental.