Kayla turned to Jessie. “I hope you decide to accept the invitation. You deserve it. You’d be a wonderful mascot.”
CHAPTER 10
Prime Time Soccer
Thousands of people cheered and waved flags and banners. The stadium was so crowded, the Aldens held on to each other as they made their way to their seats. All around people were speaking different languages.
“I can’t believe we are in Rio de Janeiro!” Henry said.
“I’ll bet there are one million people in this stadium!” Benny said.
“Almost,” Henry said. “This stadium holds almost seventy-five thousand people.”
“Seventy-five thousand!” Benny repeated, astonished. “How many zeroes is that?”
“Three,” said Henry.
Up ahead, a child accidentally dropped the churro he was eating. Benny watched the churro drop and said, “Poor Watch. He’d love to be here!”
“He could make all the noise he wanted,” Violet said. “And nobody would even hear.”
“And he could eat the food people are dropping,” Benny said.
Benny liked the smells of all the different foods. Most of the food for sale in the booths he didn’t recognize, but they all smelled delicious. He looked forward to lunch! No boring hot dogs and peanuts for him! He was looking forward to trying new Brazilian food.
Aloud he said, “This is much better than a coupon for a free cone at Igloo Ice Cream! A million times better!”
Grandfather, Henry, Violet, and Benny sat in the special seats reserved for family members of mascots.
“The opening ceremony will start soon,” Henry said, checking his watch.
“Yay!” Benny shouted.
Violet smiled. She was happy things worked out so well. Somewhere in these thousands of people, Kayla was here with her parents. Kayla’s parents still wanted to come to the tournament. Kayla was happy to go, as long as she didn’t have to walk onto the field in front of millions of people and as long as she didn’t have to play soccer if she didn’t want to. The Thompsons were staying at the same hotel as the Aldens. That morning, they’d all had breakfast together.
Kayla’s parents let her sign up for the Monday after school art class. Kayla was multi-talented. She was a good artist and a good soccer player. She also knew how to be a good friend.
Ashley’s attitude toward Kayla changed as well. After Jessie gave her the golf ball, and Ashley returned it to the store, Ashley stopped being mean to Kayla. In fact, the next time Danielle started saying something unkind to Kayla, Ashley stopped her.
The marching band came onto the field, but the crowd was cheering so loudly the children could only hear the beating of the drums. Then came the spectacular fireworks.
“Look at that one over there!” Benny shouted, pointing to the sky. “Fireworks!”
“I like that one!” Violet shouted, pointing. “Lavender fireworks! Amazing!”
A singer stood on the stage and sang. The crowd quieted so the children could hear her singing. Her voice was smooth and rich. Violet could not understand the words, but the music was breathtakingly beautiful.
Next, two expert soccer players did a demonstration. They dribbled the ball up and down the field, showing the most amazing footwork—kicking the ball in surprising directions, kicking it into the air and bouncing it up and down on their heads and shoulders, keeping it moving in the air without ever using their hands.
“They’re so good,” Violet said, “they make Kayla look like a beginner!”
“I wish I could do that!” Benny said.
“Maybe you can,” Grandfather suggested. “If you practice enough.”
“I am going to practice as soon as we get home!” Benny said. “I am going to practice and practice! Maybe one day I will be in a real tournament!”
At last, it was time for the child mascots to walk onto the field with the players. The Aldens watched excitedly for Jessie.
“There she is!” Benny shouted. “I see her!”
Indeed, Jessie was just then walking on the field alongside one of the team members. The spectators cheered and stamped their feet. People waved streamers. Jessie turned and waved.
Henry, Benny, and even Violet clapped loudly, stamped their feet, and shouted, “Yay, Jessie! Yay, Jessie!”
Benny bounded out of his seat, pointed to the field, and shouted at the top of his voice, “That’s my sister over there.” He jumped up and down a few times. “That’s my sister over there!”
Jessie had, by now, walked all the way around the field. Just before she stepped out of the spotlight, she turned once more and waved to her family.
Grandfather smiled. “I am so proud of her. I am proud of all of you.”
Turn the page to continue reading from the Boxcar Children Mysteries
CHAPTER 1
The Old Library
“Aren’t the leaves lovely?” Grandfather Alden asked as he steered the car over the winding, wooded road. Autumn leaves of red, orange, and yellow covered the trees on either side.
“They sure are,” said Violet Alden. “Fall is my favorite time of year.”
“Those red leaves are the same color as your tie, Grandfather!” said Violet’s six-year-old brother Benny.
Grandfather Alden wore that particular necktie for a reason. As the car carrying the Alden family rounded one last curve, they saw the beautiful campus of Goldwin University, the college Grandfather had attended many years before.
Red and white were the university’s colors, and could be seen on flapping red flags with white letters hanging on poles around the grassy grounds. The spirited school colors could also be seen on the red and white jackets and sweatshirts of the college students walking from building to building and playing games on the lawn. Grandfather showed his school spirit by wearing a bright white suit and a bright red tie.
“Where is the new library going to be?” asked Jessie Alden, who was twelve. She looked at the college’s buildings, many of which were over a hundred years old.
“It will be where that open space is,” Grandfather Alden said, pointing to an empty field. “That is where the groundbreaking will be held tomorrow morning before the big game.”
“Groundbreaking?” said Benny. “Why would anyone want to break the ground?”
“It’s okay, Benny,” said Henry, the oldest of the Alden children. “A groundbreaking ceremony is what people do when a new building is going to be built.”
“And don’t worry,” said Jessie, “nothing is going to be broken. All that’s going to happen is a hole will be dug, just like when you dig in the sand at the beach.”
Grandfather Alden parked the car in a parking lot near where Alden Library would stand. Alden Library was the reason for the family’s visit. Grandfather had donated money to help build the new library. The professors and other leaders of the university were so thankful that they planned to name the building for him.
The Alden children climbed out of the car to stretch their legs and look around. Next to the empty field stood a very tall, very old building with high walls made of dark stone and high, arching windows.
“Wow!” said Benny. “Is that a castle?”
“It’s not a castle,” said a woman’s voice, “though it looks a bit like one. This is Goldwin Library.”
A tall, thin woman stood outside the doors of the old building. “James Alden,” she said, “you must be here for the big ceremony.” The children always found it funny to hear someone call their grandfather by his first name.
“Children,” said Grandfather Alden, “this is Miss Hollenberg, the head librarian at Goldwin University. She began working at the library back when I was a student.”
“And what a student your grandfather was,” Miss Hollenberg said, straightening her glasses and smiling. “He spent a lot of time reading and studying in the library in order to do well in his classes.”
“I only spent four years at Goldwin University, but Miss Hollenberg has spent her entire career wor
king in this old building,” said Grandfather Alden. “Because she has worked here so long, she can find information on anything a student-or anyone else-might want to learn about. And it has been her job to take care of the library.”
“Of course I’ve had a little bit of help from the grinning gargoyles,” Miss Hollenberg said.
“Gargoyles?” asked Violet. “Who are they?”
Miss Hollenberg pointed to the top of the old library building, past the arches and other decorations that covered its rock walls. There, at each corner of the roof, hunched the statue of a strange creature. Each statue had small, beady eyes, a pair of wings, long claws, and a smiling mouth full of sharp, stone teeth.
The Alden children craned their necks to look up at the statues.
“Those look like monsters!” said Benny. “Or dragons! They’re kind of scary.”
“They are scary looking, even if they’re just stone statues,” said Jessie. “But how could a statue protect the library?”
“This is a little-known fact Miss Hollenberg told me back when I was a student,” Grandfather said. “As you can see from their open mouths, gargoyle statues were added to buildings to act as rain spouts—carrying rain water away like the gutters on our house. Without such protection, water would eat away at the stone.”
“But some people believe that gargoyles are more than just statues,” Miss Hollenberg said. “Legend has it that gargoyles guard the buildings they call home. And here at Goldwin, students have long believed that these grinning gargoyles won’t be so happy if their home—the library—isn’t treated right. Gargoyles are mythical creatures, of course—no such thing as a real one. But for years, troublemakers and good-for-nothings have spread rumors of running into living, breathing gargoyles. It’s all balderdash, if you ask me…”
“Well, I’d like to take a closer look at the gargoyles,” said Benny, “and the rest of this cool castle-looking library that they live in!”
“This library sure is cool,” laughed Miss Hollenberg. “I’ll surely miss it when they tear it down—now that we’ll have the new library to use. I don’t see why you children can’t take a look around, as long as you behave yourselves, and as long as your grandfather says yes.”
“We promise to behave,” Jessie said. “Can we explore the library for a bit, Grandfather?”
“Why, surely,” said Grandfather Alden. “I’m already late to see an old friend at the football stadium. But when you’ve finished your library visit, why don’t you meet me there? We can watch the Goldwin Bears practice.”
The Alden children followed Mrs. Hollenberg through the tall, arched doorway. Benny looked up before walking inside and saw the gargoyles were still looking down at him, grinning.
Miss Hollenberg pointed the children to a stairway that would lead them to the top floor of the library. “You all explore,” she said as she stepped behind her computer desk. “I have library work to do.”
“Race you to the top!” shouted Benny, running ahead of his brother and sisters.
“I bet we can win the race,” Henry told his sisters. “Do you see that elevator?”
The other three Aldens pushed the up button on a nearby elevator panel. When the doors slid open, a library worker pushing wheeled carts of books also climbed onto the elevator. The carts were connected to each other, allowing three of them to be pushed at the same time.
“Those look like the boxcars from a train!” Violet said. Henry and Jessie laughed. Violet’s comment made them think of their own boxcar back home. When the Alden children became orphans, they had run away and lived in an old boxcar in the woods. They had been afraid to live with their grandfather, fearing that he wouldn’t be nice. But when they found what a kind man Grandfather Alden was, they were happy to live with him in his big house in Greenfield. As a gift, he even placed the children’s boxcar in the backyard, where they used it as a playhouse.
“These are just books that have been recently returned,” said the man who worked in the library, pointing to a sign on the first cart that said “TO BE SHELVED.”
The elevator slowly went up floor by floor. Ding. Ding. Ding. Halfway to the top, the doors opened and the library worker wheeled the cart out of the elevator.
“Maybe this elevator wasn’t the fastest way of getting to the top,” said Jessie.
At last the elevator doors opened at the top floor.
“Benny!” Violet called out. “We beat you!”
But there was no Benny. There were only bookshelves full of books, stretching row after row in all directions.
“Where do you think he is?” Jessie asked.
“I don’t know,” said Henry. “Maybe taking the stairs was even slower than that slow elevator.”
“Or maybe he stopped on the way up,” Violet said. “Maybe he got tired…or hungry.”
“I bet you’re right,” said Henry. The youngest Alden was always hungry, though the library seemed like a better place to find a book than a snack.
Jessie looked back into the stairwell. She called her little brother’s name. “Benny!” her voice echoed.
Just then, the three children heard their brother’s voice echo back up the stairwell. “Oh, no!” Benny screamed. “A gargoyle is staring right at me!”
“A gargoyle?” gasped Violet.
“There’s no way Benny could have seen a gargoyle,” said Henry. “The gargoyles we saw from the ground were at the top of the building, on the outside. We’re at the top of the building, not Benny. And there aren’t any windows on this floor.”
“Come on,” said Jessie. “Let’s find out what’s going on.”
The three ran down the stairs as quickly as they could. They dashed down the stairs to the door of the next floor. Henry reached for the doorknob, anxious to find out where his brother was calling from. The door opened onto a floor with bookshelves full of books and a large window on one wall. It also opened onto Benny because at the very same time, Benny Alden reached for the doorknob on the other side, trying to get back into the stairwell. As Benny’s three siblings were about to exit the stairwell, though, their little brother bumped right into them.
“Let’s get out of here!” Benny yelled as his brother and sisters collided with him. “That spooky gargoyle’s staring into the library at me!”
Benny pointed at a large window just outside the stairwell door. And as the four Alden children tumbled to the floor in a heap, Henry, Jessie, and Violet caught a glimpse of something in the window.
Something that floated.
Something with beady eyes.
Something with sharp teeth.
Something with a grin on its face.
“Yikes!” said Violet, falling on top of Jessie.
“Ouch!” said Jessie, falling on top of Henry.
“Huh?” Henry said, landing on the floor with his sisters and brother tangled on top of him.
All four Aldens struggled to free themselves from their twisted pile of arms and legs, trying to look back at the window where they all thought they’d just seen the beady-eyed, sharp-toothed, grinning face of a gargoyle!
CHAPTER 2
A New Mystery
The four Alden children untangled themselves from one another and picked themselves off the floor of the stairway landing. Then they all looked back to the large window where they’d just seen the face of a gargoyle—a grinning gargoyle just like the ones that decorated the top of the old library building.
But the window was empty. The gargoyle was nowhere to be seen.
“Did you guys see that?” Jessie asked.
“I sure did,” said Violet. “It was a gargoyle.”
“I saw it, too,” said Henry. “But gargoyles aren’t real creatures. They’re just stone statues.”
“But if I saw it, and you all saw it, then it must have been real,” Benny said. “Right?”
“We all saw something,” said Henry, “but the real questions are what exactly did we see and where did it go?”
Henry was
already looking out the window—up and down and to each side—with his siblings crowded around him. “I don’t see it anywhere,” he said. “I wonder where it went…whatever it was that we saw.”
“It couldn’t have just vanished,” said Violet. “Could it?”
“Tell us exactly what happened, Benny,” Jessie said.
“Well,” said Benny, “I was running up the stairs, and I knew I was close to the top because my legs were getting tired. I stopped to catch my breath, and that’s when I heard a scratching sound. When I looked out this door to see what was scratching and scraping, there was that gargoyle, smiling right at me through the window—and it wasn’t a friendly smile, either!”
“Well, like I said, gargoyles are just stone statues,” said Henry. “There is no way they could fly down in front of a window, or make a scratching sound…”
Just then, there was a different sound from behind where the children stood. It was a thumping and bumping sound, and it was coming from the stairwell where the Aldens had just been.
Thump. Bump. Thump. Bump. The sound echoed all the way up to where the children were.
Benny gasped. “Could a gargoyle make that kind of sound?” he asked.
Thump. Bump. Thump. Bump.
“That sounds like someone—or something—running,” said Jessie. “Who’s there?”
Thump. Bump. Thump. Bump. That’s the only thing the children heard.
“Yeah,” Violet called down the stairs, “who—or what—are you?”
But there was no answer, just more thumps and bumps of footsteps, from either a human or something else, running down the staircase of the old library.
“Quick!” said Henry. “Let’s follow the footsteps. Maybe it’s the gargoyle, or somebody who saw the gargoyle, too.”
The children started to run down the stairs, but whoever or whatever they were following had too much of a head start. The thumping and bumping of the footsteps sounded farther and farther away.