The Gum Tree Gang and the Mystery at the Old Queenslander (6 page)

Krystal and Tracey felt
relieved as they looked for their
`spotter'. Matthew and Kevin tried to find cracks in
the
door but could not find suitable ones,
so left the looking
up to the girls. Kevin
put his ear to the middle of the two doors, where he was
crouched.

~~~~
Chapter
Ten
~~~~

Found Out

Two boys came in. They were
Nathan and Davo. Krystal
smiled. Now the
boys could hear for themselves what
was
going on.

"How many did you bring,
Maz?" Nathan asked Davo.
"None. Just
couldn't get any. Lost me instructions.
Got
any spare Toy?" Davo pleaded.

"Okay, you owe me two."
Nathan made a rattling
sound as he handed
two objects to Davo. Davo put the
objects
in his jacket pocket.

"Thanks Mate, I mean Toy!"
said Davo, sounding
happier.

The two boys sat on the
floor in the middle of the room.
They're
waiting for Chevy and Merc, Krystal and
Tracey thought.

After a minute or two a car
pulled up outside the house
and they could
hear the car doors being shut. Then they
heard brisk footsteps coming through the entrance of
the
house. The footsteps became louder. In
a moment,
Krystal and Tracey could see who
they were. Yes, they
were Chevy and
Merc.

Chevy indicated to the two
younger boys to get up.
Nathan and Davo
immediately stood up, stood to
attention,
and saluted Chevy and Merc. Chevy clicked
his heels and stood to attention, held his hand stiffly
in
front of his forehead, then saluted in
reply.
"At ease," he yelled.

Nathan and Davo immediately
stood with their feet
apart, and their
hands behind their backs.

"Okay, where's the goods?"
Chevy asked, reaching in
his inside pockets
and throwing handfuls of objects on the
floor in front of the two younger boys. Merc
immediately
did the same.

Nathan and Davo went, "Wow!"

Nathan threw about four objects on the floor.
Davo threw two objects at his feet.

"Mm...very good. Keep up the
good work. I want a
good show next
Wednesday. Okay, we'll share the loot."
Chevy picked up the objects and distributed to each of
the
four. "Two spares. Here, you two; your
just reward.
There'll be even more next
time." Chevy addressed
Nathan and
Davo.

"About next time...," said
Davo hesitatingly. "I don't
know if I can
come so late. I'm usually in bed by then.
My parents would be mad with me if they found me
missin'."

"Mine too!" Nathan joined in.

"It's a very important
meeting. We'll have a special
guest,
and...," said Chevy, glinting at the two boys, "if
you don't turn up on Wednesday, you're out, okay?"
He
then stood to attention and saluted
again. Merc did the
same.

"Bully," Krystal whispered,
feeling angry as she
watched
Chevy.
Nathan and Davo saluted in
reply.

"Dismissed." Chevy clicked his heels.

Nathan and Davo hurried towards the front
door.

Merc and Chevy headed towards the fireplace
room and

after a couple of minutes left through the
front door.

The four in the cupboard
could hear the engine of the
car revving,
and then the noise disappeared

.

~~~~
Chatper
Eleven
~~~~

Hot
^-
Gossip

"Phew. It's hot in here."
Matthew was the first to speak.
"I'm
cooking." Kevin pushed the door open.

"Well, do you believe us
now?" Krystal demanded.
Kevin nodded.
"'Suppose so."

"Yeah, I reckon we ought to
tell the police," said
Matthew.

"What!" Krystal exclaimed.
"Tell the police we hid in
this place and
saw some guys throwing things on the
floor."

"Maybe they were bullets!"
Matthew sounded serious.
"Looked more like
chocolate bars to me." Tracey
glanced at
her brother.

"Well, we couldn't see. So
what's next?" Matthew
glared at his
sister.

"Get out of this stuffy
place." Kevin jumped down.
Matthew followed
close on his heels.

Kevin flicked his torch and
shone it around the spots
where the four
threw the stuff.

The two girls jumped down.

"Hey, they left something."
Kevin picked up a small
brown and white
object.

"It's a Jupiter Bar." Kevin
checked the bar with his
torch. "The bar
with a heavenly taste," he said
dramatically.

Matthew licked his lips. "Our reward. We can
shareit."

"Count me out! You don't
know if it's been poisoned,
or something,"
Tracey warned.

"Yeah, it might. We'd better
keep it for evidence.
There might be
fingerprints on it too." Kevin held the bar
between his fingers.

"Yeah, yours," said Krystal
sarcastically.

"Oh! Well maybe we should
share it then?" Kevin
tossed the bar in the
air, then caught it again.

"I'm hungry." Matthew licked
his lips. "Actually, I'm
starving. Let's
eat it."

"Well, I'm not having any."
Tracey shook her head.
"Me neither," said
Krystal.

"Well, that leaves more for
the two of us then!" Kevin
made a mark in
the centre of the bar and tried to break it.
The paper tore and the bar broke in half - almost. He
twisted it until it was in two mangled
parts.

"Yuk!" Krystal and Tracey
screwed up their noses.
The two boys took a
part each and started munching.
The girls
watched. Their mouths started watering.

They glanced at each other. Maybe they should
have

shared with the boys they both thought.

"Well, that gets rid of our
evidence." Krystal pulled her
bag out of
the cupboard. "I'm going home. I'm getting
hungry. C'me on Trace."

"Right. I'll just get my
things." Tracey turned to grab
her bag and
the white sheet. "When are we coming
back?"
she asked as she squashed the sheet into her
bag.
"'dunno. We don't have school tomorrow.
Why don't
we come here and check this place
out a bit more,"
Krystal
suggested.

"I'll come." Kevin swallowed
the last of his piece of
bar.

"Mm...me too!" Matthew licked his
fingers.

"You're disgusting!" Tracey
glared at her brother.
"Well, why didn't
you bring a face cloth?" Matthew
retorted.

"She did! Here." Krystal
threw the torn sheet to
Matthew.

Matthew hesitated as he
stared at the sheet. He realised
Krystal
was trying to get him to dirty the sheet, then he
would have to take it home. He took the torn
crumpled
sheet and wiped his hands and then
his mouth. "Now,
can you give it a wash
too?" He smirked as he handed the
grubby
sheet to Krystal.

Krystal felt annoyed inside.
She felt like throwing the
sheet back at
him, but restrained herself, breathing
deeply. A Scripture verse came to mind:
A meek and
gentle spirit is of great
worth in the sight of God.

"It's okay. I'll wash it,
and mend it, and give it back as
soon as I
can." She gritted her teeth as she spoke as
sweetly as possible.

"Hey! it's okay Krystal. I
was just kidding. It's an old
sheet anyway.
You can throw it away if you want. It's
yours now." Matthew suddenly felt big-hearted.

"If you're sure. That'd be
great. I hate sewing, and
washing. Thanks
Matt," said Krystal, feeling relieved.
"Thanks Lord," she whispered.

"Well, if you two are
finished sorting things out, may I
ask a
question? Are we coming here tomorrow or not?"
Tracey asked, standing with her bag at her feet,
patiently
waiting.

"I forgot, we've got soccer
practice," Matthew whined.
"Me too! We've
got footie practice, unless it rains,"
said
Kevin.

"Oh well, Tracey and I will
come and bring you a bar if
we find one."
Krystal lifted her school bag on her
shoulders and headed for the door. Tracey heaved her
bag with two arms and followed.

"See ya later." The girls
left the two boys behind still
licking
their lips.

~~~~
Chapter
Twelve
~~~~

Discovery

Krystal jumped out of bed
early next morning and opened
the window
blinds. The sky looked heavy and grey. It
had rained, which meant Kevin and Matthew would be
free to come to the old Queenslander.

She pulled the torn sheet
out of her bag and tried to
squash it into
her little bedside tidy bin. She pushed it
down with her foot which almost got stuck. She felt
annoyed. They should never have allowed the boys
to get involved. It would be nice to have just Tracey and
herself
again, in their own private
adventure.

She sighed and reached under
her bed. She yanked out
three socks and a
shirt with sticky stuff on it. That
reminded her of the yummy bar. She would have loved
some but it was almost like stealing. Maybe it was
stolen.
How could she and Tracey find out
if the bars were
stolen? Thoughts raced in
her head. Maybe having the
boys in the
'gang' was not such a bad idea. They were in
the same grade as Nathan and Davo. They could help
find out if the boys were stealing or not. "That's
it," she
said aloud. She and Tracey should
start up a 'gang' with
Kevin and
Matthew!

She stopped cleaning up and
raced towards Kevin's
room. She knocked
quietly on the door, then quietly pushed the door open. He was
still sleeping! She crept
over to the bed
and gently shook his shoulder which was
^-
Whaaa!" Kevin looked startled
for a moment. "Go
away. It's too early. I'm
still asleep." He pulled
the
doona over his shoulder.

"Key, I just had a thought. Kevin," Krystal
called softly as Kevin shut his eyes again.

"You ate a stolen bar. A
stolen bar," she repeated close
to Kevin's
ear. Kevin opened his eyes.

"What do you mean, stolen!"
Kevin's eyes were now
wide open.

"Well, why else did they
meet in secret. I bet ya the bar
was
stolen. Bet ya!" She waited for his reaction.

"You don't know for sure.
Well, too bad, it's gone
now," he replied
sleepily, pulling his doona over his ears and shutting his eyes
tightly.

"Kevin, listen to me."
Krystal shook her brother
through the soft
doona. "You boys can be detectives.
You
have more chance of tracking those boys than us
girls. Find out if they are really pinching chocolate
bars.
It's up to you and Matthew," Krystal
persuaded Kevin.
"You can join our 'gang'
if you want," she added.