Cam Jansen and the Valentine Baby Mystery (5 page)

Cam, Eric, and Mrs. Shelton went to the large window and looked out.

“There’s my car!” Mrs. Shelton said.

Her car was leaving the parking garage. The guard caught up to the police officers. She pointed to Mrs. Shelton’s car. The officers got into their car and turned on the siren.

Rrrr! Rrrr!

The police sped off after the thief.

Ring! Ring!

“Mom,” Eric said. “It’s your cell phone. It’s ringing.”

Mrs. Shelton pressed a button and spoke into her cell phone. “Hello,” she said, and listened. Then she asked, “Are you sure?”

She put the phone back on her waist clip.

“It was the woman at the nurse’s station,”
she told Cam. “She said your
brother
was born. I think she mixed us up with the Nor-mans again.”

“Maybe she didn’t mix us up,” Cam said. “Maybe my parents were wrong when they told me I was getting a sister.”

Cam, Eric, and Mrs. Shelton took the elevator to the fourth floor. The doors opened and Mr. Jansen was standing there, waiting for Cam.

“It’s a boy,” he said. “He was born first. And a girl. Mom had twins!”

“Wow! That’s double great!” Cam said. “That’s why Dr. Berger told us she didn’t know when Mom would have her
babies
. She said ‘babies’ because she knew Mom was having twins.”

“We knew it, too,” Cam’s father said. “You asked Mom if you would be getting a sister and she said, ‘Yes.’”

“And you said I would be surprised.”

“Are you?”

“Yes!” Cam said and hugged her dad. “I’m more than surprised. I’m so very happy.”

Cam and her father and Eric and his mother all went to the nursery. They stood behind a large window and looked in at a room full of newborn babies, each in a small bassinet. On the side of each bassinet was a card with the baby’s name.

“There they are,” Mr. Jansen said, and pointed to the back of the nursery.

“They’re tiny,” Cam said. “But they’re beautiful.”

Cam pressed close to the window, but she couldn’t read the cards with their names.

Mr. Jansen waved to the two nurses in the back of the nursery. He pointed to the twins
and then to himself, so they would know he was their father. The nurses smiled and wheeled the bassinets closer.

“Oh, they’re adorable,” Mrs. Shelton said.

“Seth,” Cam said, “and Alice. I like those names.”

“Mom and I like them, too,” Mr. Jansen said.

Cam looked at Seth and Alice Jansen. Her brother and sister looked to her like
two perfect dolls. It was hard for Cam to imagine that she had once been that small or that one day they would be as big as she was now.

Cam and the others watched the babies for a long time. Then Mr. Jansen said, “Let’s visit Mom.”

They all walked down a long hall to the room Cam’s mom shared with another new mother. When they walked into the room, Mrs. Jansen put her finger to her lips and pointed to the woman in the next bed. She was sleeping.

Mrs. Jansen reached out and took Cam’s hand. She held it and smiled. It was a happy, tired smile.

“The babies are beautiful,” Cam whispered. “I like their names, and it’s so great they’re twins.”

They all stood there for a while and whispered about Cam’s new brother and sister.

“Mom is tired,” Mr. Jansen whispered. “I think we should go now.”

Once they were outside the room, Cam’s father thanked Mrs. Shelton for bringing Cam to the hospital. Then he asked, “Could you take Cam home? I’ll pick her up at your house when I get back.”

“Of course I can. Oh! Maybe I can’t.”

Mrs. Shelton told Cam’s father about her stolen purse. “Then, just before the nurse called, we saw the thief drive off with my car.”

They all walked to the elevator. “I’ll go downstairs with you,” Mr. Jansen said. “If you don’t get your car back, I’ll drive you home.”

“I’ll help you and Mom with the twins,” Cam told her father in the elevator. “I’ll read to them and feed them and play with them.”

“And change their diapers,” Eric added.

Cam made a face. She wasn’t sure she wanted to change Seth’s and Alice’s diapers.

“Mom and I would like you to help,” Mr. Jansen said. “But only after you finish your schoolwork.”

The elevator doors opened.

“There they are!” Danny shouted.

Danny, Beth, and Ms. Benson were near the reception desk.

Danny told Cam, “My dad said Ms. Benson could take me here after school.”

“Was your sister born? Is she pretty? What’s her name and how is your mom?” Beth asked.

“Yes, yes, Alice and Mom are fine, but Mom is tired,” Cam answered.

“That’s wonderful,” Ms. Benson said.

Cam smiled. “Aren’t you going to ask about my brother?”

“What brother?” Danny asked.

“Cam’s mom had twins!” Eric shouted.

“Shhh,” Ms. Benson said. “This is a hospital.”

“Their names are Seth and Alice,” Cam whispered.

“That’s so nice,” Ms. Benson said. “And they picked Valentine’s Day to be born. That’s so sweet.”

“Hey,” Danny said. “Here’s a baby riddle.
Who is smarter, Mrs. Smarter or Mrs. Smarter’s baby?”

“Excuse me,” Mrs. Shelton said, and went over to speak to the security guard.

“Mom’s purse and car were stolen,” Eric said. “We even saw the thief drive off with her car.”

“Wow!” Beth said. “You really had an exciting day. All I did was learn about triangles, rivers, and poetry.”

Then Beth turned and saw Ms. Benson.

“Oops!”

“That’s okay,” Ms. Benson said. “Cam
did
have an exciting day.”

“Cam solved the mystery of who stole Mom’s purse,” Eric said. “She told the police where to find the thief.”

“Look,” Mrs. Shelton said. She held her keys out as she walked over. “They caught the thief. Mine was the third car this week that was stolen from the hospital parking lot. The police think this man stole all three. Now my car is in the parking lot. I’ll get my
money back, too, but first I have to go to the police station and fill out a report.” Mrs. Shelton smiled and said, “Thank you, Cam.”

“Really,” Danny said. “Who is smarter?”

“Do you want to see Seth and Alice?” Mr. Jansen asked Ms. Benson.

“Of course I do.”

“It’s the baby,” Danny said. “The baby is a little Smarter.”

No one laughed.

“Don’t you get it? The baby is little and its
last name is Smarter, so it’s a little Smarter.”

“You’re not funny,” Beth told him.

“Oh yes I am,” he said.

Mr. Jansen spoke with the man at the front desk. Then he told Ms. Benson that she could go up and see the babies. Danny and Beth would have to wait in the lobby with him.

“Good-bye,” Cam said to Danny, Beth, and Ms. Benson. Then she went with Eric and Mrs. Shelton to the garage.

Mrs. Shelton said, “I wonder where my car is parked.”

“Please, Mom,” Eric said. “Give me your keys and I’ll do what Cam said. I’ll pretend I’m the thief.”

She gave Eric the keys. He hurried ahead. He held the keys over his head and pressed the clicker. He was looking for a car with blinking lights.

Eric had hurried right past a car parked by the entrance to the garage. It was his mother’s car.

Cam laughed and told Mrs. Shelton, “Eric doesn’t make a very good thief.”

“I’m glad he doesn’t,” his mother said. “But he is a very good son.”

“And a very good friend,” Cam added.

Cam called to Eric and pointed to the car. Then they drove home together, hap-pily talking about Cam’s new brother and sister, Seth and Alice Jansen.

A Cam Jansen Memory Game

Take another look at the picture opposite
page 1
. Study it. Blink your eyes and say,
“Click!”
Then turn back to this page and answer these questions. Please, first study the picture,
then
look at the questions.

Super Memory Question: