The Pet Show Mystery

wondered if the secretary would refuse to initial them.
    At last, Miss von Trammel brought the pen down on the first poster—with almost a stabbing motion—and signed it, then the next, then the next.
    Trixie stood watching, wondering what she should say. When the initialing was completed, she settled for a quick thank-you. Then she grabbed the posters and hurried out of the school office.
    “It was totally unlike her,” Trixie told Honey after school as the two of them made the rounds of the hallways, putting up the posters. “What could there be about Dr. Chang to make her react so violently?”
    “Maybe she doesn’t like him because he’s Oriental,” Honey speculated as she tore off a strip of masking tape, turned it into a loop, and mounted it on the back of a poster.
    “Ugh—you don’t really think that’s it, do you?” Trixie said as she put the poster up against the wall and smoothed it down.
    “No, come to think of it, I don’t. We have people of many different races here at school. I’ve never seen Miss von Trammel seem rude or unfriendly to any of them.”
    “It’s pretty mysterious,” Trixie said as she picked up the stack of posters and headed on down the hall.
    “Ah-ah-ah!” Honey warned. “No mysteries this time, remember?”
    “You’re right again,” Trixie agreed. “Much as I love a mystery, there’s no time to investigate one now. The pet show is our number-one-and-only priority.”



4 * The Angry Young Man

    TRIXIE FOUND it easy to keep her pledge, for the pet show took up all of her time. On Friday, the Bob-Whites had their first sign-up at school. Honey, Trixie, and Di agreed to handle that chore. The table was mobbed with eager students for two solid hours, making the girls wish the boys were there, too.
    “I had no idea so many people were pet lovers-,” Honey said.
    “ I had no idea so many people were dying of boredom this winter,” Trixie replied. “I think that has as much to do with it as anything. If we’d let them sign up to watch paint dry in the auditorium one whole Saturday afternoon, I think we’d have gotten nearly as many entrants.”
    “I don’t know if I’d go that far,” said one of the boys who was filling out an entry blank. “But if it was a sunny Saturday in June, I probably wouldn’t be entering my brother’s hamster in a pet show, either!” Grinning, he thrust his entry blank and two dollars at Trixie. “Houdini?” Trixie read in surprise.
    “My brother named him that the third time he wriggled out of his cage. He’s a great escape artist, get it?” the boy said.
    “I get it, but I wish I hadn’t. You’ll make sure Houdini doesn’t escape the day of the show, won’t you?” Trixie pleaded.
    “Sure, although if we spent the next couple of months chasing a hamster through the halls, it would make the winter go that much quicker.” Seeing Trixie’s face turn pale, he held up a soothing hand. “Just kidding,” he said. “See you at the show.”
    “Houdini the hamster,” Trixie muttered as he walked away. “At least that name makes sense, once it’s explained. But some of these others! Max the wonder dog. Veronica the cat.” Trixie shook her head in disbelief.
    “Nothing sensible, like Reddy or Patch, you mean?” Di teased.
    “Those names make perfect sense,” Trixie said. “Reddy is an Irish setter, so he’s red. Patch has brown and white patches. What else would you call them?”
    Di shrugged. “It’s the kinds of pets that I find hard to believe. I’d expected lots of cats and dogs, but we already have entries for parakeets, canaries, hamsters, guinea pigs, a ferret, two gerbils, and I don’t know what else.”
    “Here’s the entry for my python,” a rangy teenager said, handing the slip of paper to Di.
    Di reached for the entry form, then pulled her hand back fast. “A snake?” she asked, looking at the entry as if the piece of paper itself might be coiled to strike.
    “Scott Hopper, I don’t believe you for a moment,” Trixie said, pulling the paper out of his hand. She read what he had printed on it: “ ‘Ed, an orange tabby cat.’ ” Di took the entry gingerly, then sighed with relief as she read it and realized that Trixie was telling the truth, while Scott had been teasing.
    “Like you said, it’s been a boring winter,” Scott told the girls with a grin. “I just wanted to liven things up a little bit.” He handed over his two dollars and walked away.
    “That was a close