Free Monsters and Mischief by Dan Poblocki Page A

said Rosie. “How long ‘til lunch?”
    About an hour later, the girls caught up with Sylvester and Woodrow at their favorite bench near the cafeteria window. As it turned out, Woodrow had already heard the story … and more.
    “The others who joined Clea’s group are Paul Gomez, Shanti Lane, and Thomas Kenyon,” Woodrow explained.
    “Another mysterious four,” said Viola with a scowl.
    “Paul’s in the play with us,” said Rosie.
    “According to Clea,” said Woodrow, “each of them has been the victim of a recent crime.”
    “Really?” said Sylvester. “What crime? How come we haven’t heard of it?”
    “They’ve all had something stolen from their houses,” said Woodrow. “We haven’t heard of it because they hadn’t told anyone until now.”
    “That doesn’t make any sense,” said Viola. “If they hadn’t told anyone, then how did they end up learning that they had this in common? It certainly hasn’t made the papers.”
    “I don’t know or care how Clea Keene operates,” said Woodrow. “She hasn’t been the nicest person to me lately.”
    “To any of us,” said Sylvester. “Ever since Viola and Rosie joined the drama club —”
    “That’s exactly it,” said Viola. “Clea doesn’t care about mysteries. But she
does
care about how much attention she gets. Since she’s not the lead in the school play this year, she needs something else to concentrate on.”
    “But Moon Hollow mysteries already belong to
us,
” said Sylvester, angrily chewing his sandwich. He nearly spit a piece of it out onto the table.
    “Mysteries don’t really
belong
to anyone,” said Woodrow. He sat back and crossed his arms. “Let Clea and her friends do what they want. Since they’re a so-called mystery club now, they can figure out who robbed them on their own. We’ll concentrate on other things.”
    “Yeah … other things,” said Rosie, trying to sound perky, “like the story my mom told at dinner last night.”

16
THE MYSTERY OF THE SHRUNKEN MONEY

(A ???? MYSTERY)
     
    “Mom came home from work looking really frustrated,” said Rosie. “My family thought she’d just had another busy day at the library, but at dinner, when my oldest sister, Grace, asked her what was wrong, Mom reached into her pocket and pulled out a twenty-dollar bill. Grace’s face lit up as my mom held it out to her. The rest of my brothers and sisters were disappointed that they hadn’t thought to comfort my mother first. But they didn’t understand that Mom wasn’t rewarding Grace. She was simply showing her why she was frustrated.”
    “Why would a twenty-dollar bill make your mom upset?” asked Sylvester.
    “None of us knew why until Mom took out two more twenties. She handed these to Grace as well. My sister looked like she had won the lottery — until my mom asked her to compare them. Confused, Grace held up the three bills. She immediately noticed the difference between them. The first bill was a tiny bit smaller than the other two.”
    “How is that possible?” asked Woodrow. “Did it shrink in the wash?”
    “No, it didn’t shrink in the wash,” said Rosie, chuckling. “But that was a good guess. I suppose the answer to your question lies inside another question. Why would my mom be upset that one of her twenties was smaller than the others
?”

“I know why,” said Viola. “Because that means she can’t spend the first bill.”
    “Why not?” said Sylvester. “Just because one bill is smaller than the other, doesn’t mean they aren’t worth the same.”
    Viola shook her head. “Actually, that’s exactly what it means. They aren’t worth the same at all. Right, Rosie?”
    Rosie nodded. “
Can you guys figure out why
?”

“Every piece of American paper currency is the exact same size,” said Woodrow. “So if one twenty-dollar bill was a smaller size than the others, that means the bill was a fake.”
    “A fake?” said Sylvester, impressed. “You mean, like counterfeit