Free Mystery of the Traveling Tomatoes by Gertrude Chandler Warner Page B

fantastic four?” he said, his voice booming. He slid a dish of fresh-baked cookies on the table. Then he set down a piece of paper and a pen. “Here’s your puzzle for the day,” he said. “Have fun.”
    The children bent over the paper. Every time they came in, Mr. Shea gave them a new photo puzzle to solve. “Find Ten Differences,” it said at the top of the page. Below were two photos of a park. At first, the photos looked exactly alike. But as the children searched, they found differences.
    “This photo has four shovels in the sandbox,” said Benny. “The other has five.” Henry circled the shovels with a pen.
    Jessie pointed to the bike. “This has a bell on the handlebars,” she said. “The other has a toy Tyrannosaurus Rex.”
    The children circled seven more differences but they couldn’t find the tenth. “We’ll look at this later,” said Henry. “We should get back to work.” Henry and the girls stood but Benny kept studying the two pictures. “Benny?” said Henry.
    Benny didn’t hear him. He stared at the photos so hard his eyeballs hurt. “There!” he cried, jabbing the photo with his finger. “There!”
    “Where?” said the others.
    Benny pointed to a small cloud in the corner of each picture. “This one is shaped like a bear, but this one is shaped like a dog.”
    “High-five!” cried the others, slapping Benny’s hands. Benny may have been the youngest, but everyone agreed he was the Puzzle King of the Alden family.
    When the children were done with lunch, they picked up their dishes to bring to the kitchen. “Henry,” said Benny “when we get back to the garden, can I shovel some of our black gold around my onions?” The man with the metal detector leaned back in his chair, listening with interest.
    “Good idea,” said Henry.
    “Laura said there’s hundreds in the garbage cans,” said Jessie. The man tilted his chair so far back he nearly fell over.
    The children passed the table with the sour-faced woman. Her nephew chewed a hamburger with his mouth open. Bits of bun, ketchup, and burger dotted his shirt. He shoved a small hot pepper into his mouth. The woman stopped the Aldens. “You children,” she said, “are not properly dressed for such a nice restaurant.”
    “We are helping in the garden,” explained Violet. The children always brushed the dirt off their clothes and scrubbed their hands well before eating.
    “Still,” said the woman, “it is important to dress nicely at all times.” She nodded toward her nephew who slurped a milkshake. “My nephew, Fenster used to be quite sloppy. When he first came to visit, I constantly looked through his drawers and closet, mending this, washing that. Thanks to my help, he now dresses well, and he traded his awful old truck for a lovely new car. Now he has a most important job.” She patted Fenster’s hand. “He volunteers with the Greenfield Special Events Committee.” Fenster rolled his eyes and made a face as he popped another hot pepper in his mouth. His aunt smiled. “It is so very important to make a good impression on people.”
    The Alden children were too polite to say that it is what is inside a person that matters. What the children did notice was a grown-up man who had never learned to chew with his mouth closed.
    The children went on towards the kitchen. “When will we be able to dig up some of our buried treasure?” asked Violet.
    Fenster choked. He started coughing and gasping, “Slowly, dear,” chided his aunt, “we must chew, chew, chew slowly.” He grabbed his milkshake, gulping big swigs, making a huge milkshake moustache. Benny tried not to giggle.
    Back in the garden, the children set to work. Their giant sunflowers towered over them. The bright yellow heads, heavy with sunflower seeds, were starting to bend. “We need to tie them to tall sticks,” said Jessie, “so they don’t plop over.”
    Benny plucked a cherry tomato from a vine and popped it into his mouth. It tasted warm