The Sleepy Hollow Mystery (3 page)

“Watch is tired too,” Violet said. “Someone
is going to have to share their bed with him.”

“I will,” Benny said. “He can watch out for
me. Watch can watch me, get it?”

“That’s good, Benny,” Violet said. “Let’s
all go to bed. I’m as tired as Watch.”

Once they were all in their pajamas,
Benny asked, “That wasn’t really a headless
horseman, was it?”

“No, it was someone dressed up like that,”
Jessie said. “There’s an old story about a
headless horseman by an author named
Washington Irving. It’s set in Sleepy Hollow.
We read it in school.”

“I don’t know why someone would want to
dress up like that,” Benny grumbled. “It’s too
scary.”

“We’ll find out who did it and then you’ll
see it’s just a trick,” Henry said.

They woke the next morning when Mrs.
McGregor came in the door. She had a
tray with mugs of hot chocolate. “Good
morning! The power is still out, but as soon
as you’re dressed, we’re going next door to
the restaurant for breakfast. I hear they have
very tasty apple pancakes.”

Benny jumped up. “Let’s go!”

“Not in pajamas!” Jessie said, laughing.

“Oh, right,” Benny said, looking down at
his pajamas. “I forgot.”

Mrs. McGregor picked up Watch’s leash.

“I’ll take Watch and give him his breakfast,”
she said. “He can stay in the backyard while
we go to the café. Come along, Watch.”

When the Aldens were ready, they walked
over to the café with Mrs. Vanderhoff and
Mrs. McGregor. “Annika won’t be joining
us,” Mrs. Vanderhoff said. “I’m afraid she
has a bad headache. She is still upset about
last night.”

“I’d be upset too,” Jessie said.

“Yes, we don’t like when people play mean
tricks,” Henry added.

In front of the café a man wearing a jacket
and a tie was watching two workers attaching
a sign to a post outside the restaurant. The
sign had a big red apple on it.

“I can read the sign!” Benny said. “It’s
called the Apple House Café!”

“Good job, Benny,” Jessie said. “You’re
learning fast.”

“Good morning, Mr. Beekman,” Mrs.
Vanderhoff said. “What a nice new sign.”

The man mumbled something and then
turned away from them.

Mrs. Vanderhoff shook her head sadly at
the man’s reaction and said, “Let’s go on in.”

As they walked up the steps, one of the
workmen said, “This paint isn’t dry! It’s all
over my hands. We shouldn’t be putting up
this sign now.”

“I want it done today,” Mr. Beekman said.
“Put it up and I’ll repaint it if it needs it.”

He added something else, but the Aldens
couldn’t hear because a hostess opened the
door of the café and said, “Welcome to
the Apple House Café.” She showed them
to a big round table in the back and gave
them menus.

A few minutes later a waiter in a red apron
appeared. He scowled at them. Violet thought
he looked a little like the man outside, but
much younger. Both had curly brown hair
and round faces.

“Good morning, Brett,” Mrs. Vanderhoff
said.

The young man didn’t respond to her
greeting as he pulled out an order pad. “We’re
busy,” he snapped. “There’s going to be a
long wait for your food. What do you want?”
He took down their orders for pancakes,
eggs, bacon, coffee, and orange juice before
hurrying away.

“The people who work here don’t seem
very friendly,” Violet said.

“It’s just Brett and his father,” Mrs.
Vanderhoff said. “I’m afraid they aren’t very
happy with me. They offered to buy my house
at a good price. They want to turn it into a
bed and breakfast for Brett to run. I just don’t
want to sell. I love my little shop, even if it
doesn’t make much money.”

“Could Mr. Beekman be the one playing
the tricks?” Henry asked. “He may think the
tricks will convince you to sell the house.”

“We know he has red paint,” Violet said.

“And someone who owns a restaurant
might know about food that looks like worms
and dirt,” Jessie added.

“Oh, I hope he wouldn’t do that.” Mrs.
Vanderhoff looked shocked. “That wouldn’t
be very neighborly. I’m sure it’s someone else.”

Brett stomped over with a coffee pot and
a pitcher of juice. He set the juice down
with a thunk and some of it sloshed onto the
tablecloth. “Oops,” he said as he walked away.

The Aldens looked at each other. They
weren’t so sure.

A
young woman came into the café and
waved when she saw them.

“That’s my other daughter Margot,” Mrs.
Vanderhoff said.

“She looks like Annika,” Mrs. McGregor
said. Margot had wavy blond hair like Annika
but she looked a few years older.

When Margot sat down, Mrs. Vanderhoff introduced everyone and added, “Margot can
tell you about Sleepy Hollow. She works for
the county tourist office. She knows all about
the history of the place and the wonderful
things to see in the area.”

“You’ve come to visit us at the right time,”
Margot said. “Halloween is the spookiest time
of year in the spookiest town in America.”

“Is Sleepy Hollow really the spookiest
town?” Benny asked.

“It will be if I have my way,” Margot
said. “There’s a contest going on in a travel
magazine. I’m submitting an entry for our
town. If we win, more tourists will visit us.”

“How will the contest be judged?” Jessie
asked. “Isn’t it hard to prove a place is spooky?”

“I’ll send in some of the pictures I’ve been
taking of scary places and scary things around
town. I’m also writing down all the unexplained
hauntings we’ve had. The headless horseman
from last night is a perfect story.”

“Your sister was very upset by that,” Mrs.
Vanderhoff said.

“She shouldn’t have been.” Margot looked
annoyed. “I don’t think her ghost-tour
business is going to work. It’s silly to have a
ghost tour that’s not scary.”

“You should support your sister’s idea,”
Mrs. Vanderhoff said. “Annika is trying
very hard to earn some money for the house
repairs. We need a new roof.”

“Mother, you should just sell the house
to Mr. Beekman,” Margot said. “You could
use the money to rent a shop in a better
location right downtown, and get yourself an
apartment. Then you wouldn’t have to worry
about the roof. Plus, the town needs a gift
shop on the main street.”

“I love our house. It’s been in our family too
long to sell it because it requires some work.”
She poured herself some coffee. “Would you
please pass me the sugar, Violet?”

Violet handed the bowl and its tongs
to Mrs. Vanderhoff. Benny watched with
interest as Mrs. Vanderhoff used the tongs to
take a sugar cube out of the sugar bowl. She
dropped it into her coffee.

“I didn’t know sugar came in little blocks
like that,” Benny said. “Can I try one?”

“Just one,” Jessie said. “Too much sugar
isn’t good for you.”

He popped one in his mouth. “This is a
good treat!”

Just then Brett brought their breakfasts.
“Pancakes will be a better treat,” Jessie said.
She handed the syrup to Benny.

He poured the syrup on his pancakes and
then took a big bite of one. “Even if the people
aren’t nice here, they make good pancakes.”

Mrs. Vanderhoff smiled. “I’m glad you like
them. Maybe after breakfast you children
would like to make a scarecrow. There’s
a scarecrow contest at the library this
afternoon. Annika made one, and we have all
the supplies to build another.

“That would be so much fun!” Violet said.

“I’ll be there taking pictures,” Margot said.
“There are always some amazing scarecrows
in the contest.”

Mrs. Vanderhoff turned to Henry. “We
have wood for you to make a frame for the
scarecrow. While you’re doing that, your
brother and sisters can look in the attic for
old clothes to dress it up.”

“Do we have to make a scary scarecrow?”
Benny asked. “I’m not sure I want to do that.”

“No, you can make any kind of scarecrow
you like,” Mrs. Vanderhoff said.

When they were finished with breakfast,
she took them over to the house and up to the
attic. “Use anything you want. The old trunks
are full of clothes. If you need anything, just
come downstairs and ask.”

“I’ll go make the frame,” Henry said.
“When you find something to put on the
scarecrow you can bring it out to the garage.
We can stuff it full of straw out there.”

Jessie opened one of the trunks. “Should
we make a girl scarecrow? There are some
good dresses here.”

“How about a lady in purple?” Violet
suggested, picking up a long purple dress.

“Okay,” Benny agreed. “That’s not scary.”

“Here’s a good hat for her.” Jessie said. She
pulled out a big straw hat with a pink bow
on it.

The three of them went to find Henry.
He had already finished the frame and was
putting away the tools while Watch followed
him around. The children took the frame
out into the yard, dressed the scarecrow, and
stuffed it with straw.

When they were finished, Watch came
over and growled at it.

“Watch doesn’t like scarecrows,” Violet
said.

“It’s because it doesn’t have a head,” Benny
said. “I don’t like headless scarecrows either.
How do we fix it?”

“We could stuff a paper bag to use as the
head,” Jessie suggested. She went inside to ask
Mrs. Vanderhoff for one and returned with a
large grocery bag.

“Now it needs a face,” Henry said.

Violet said, “I’ll get my art supplies.” She
brought down her markers and drew a lady’s
face onto the paper bag. When she was done,
Henry attached the head to the scarecrow.
Jessie put the hat on it. They stood back to
look.

“It doesn’t look quite right,” Henry said.
“But I don’t know why.”

Jessie laughed. “We forgot something
important! It’s missing hair!”

“How can we make hair?” Benny asked.
“Bald scarecrows are almost as scary as
headless ones.”

“Maybe Mrs. Vanderhoff has some yarn,”
Violet suggested.

Mrs. Vanderhoff had yarn in shades of
green, pink, and orange. “Let’s use pink,”
Violet said. “That goes with the bow on
the hat.”

When they were done, they carried it
around to the front of the house and onto the
porch. Mrs. Vanderhoff and Mrs. McGregor
came outside.

“What a wonderful scarecrow!” Mrs.
Vanderhoff exclaimed. “It will stand out in
the crowd.”

The Aldens spent the rest of the morning
helping Mrs. Vanderhoff in the shop. Jessie
dusted while Benny and Violet made black
and orange paper chains to decorate the
front windows. Henry fixed a loose hinge
on the door to the storeroom. Annika
came downstairs when she felt better and
helped too.

After lunch, Henry and Jessie loaded the
scarecrow into Annika’s car. She drove them
downtown to the library. The lawn in front
was filled with rows and rows of colorful
scarecrows.

“Look at that one with the big red nose!”
Benny said. “It’s a clown scarecrow. I see one
that looks like a cowboy. I’m glad there are
scarecrows that aren’t scary.”

“Is there room for ours?” Violet asked.

“We’ll ask Isiah,” Annika said. “He works
at the library and is organizing the contest
this year.”

“Is that him?” Benny pointed at a man
wearing a wizard costume with a long
white beard.

“Yes, he loves any excuse to dress up,”
Annika said. “He wants to be a professional
actor some day.”

Isiah saw them coming and hurried over
to meet them. “What a great scarecrow,” he
said. “Or maybe we should call it a scare lady.
Would you like to dance, miss?” He took the
scarecrow from Henry and twirled it around.

Everyone laughed.

When he stopped, Jessie asked, “Where
can we put it?”

Isiah handed the scarecrow back to Henry.
“I’ve put plenty of poles, so let’s find one that
isn’t claimed yet.”

They found a spot in one of the back
rows and set up the scarecrow. When they
were finished, they went to look at the other
contestants.

“There’s Margot taking pictures,” Jessie
pointed.

Margot looked up and waved at them.

Loud voices made them turn toward the
street. A group of young men piled out of a
car, laughing and joking with one another.
“There’s Brett Beekman from the restaurant,”
Violet said, motioning to one of them.

The four young men ambled up to the
scarecrows. One of them laughed and pointed
at a scarecrow in an old ripped dress. “That
looks like the old lady who works in the
library,” he said.

“It looks better than the old lady,” another
one said.

They all laughed and then Brett yelled,
“There’s Margot! Margot, take a picture of
us! We’re more interesting than scarecrows.”

She rolled her eyes and ignored them.

“They’re rude, aren’t they?” Benny said to
Violet. Violet nodded her head.