Free Great Bicycle Race Mystery by Gertrude Chandler Warner

CHAPTER 1
And Grandfather, Too
    “H ... e ... l ... p ...”
    Benny Alden spelled out the letters of the first word on the sign in the front window. He looked up at his oldest sister, Jessie. “Help! That’s what it says, doesn’t it?” he cried. “Is someone in trouble?”
    Twelve-year-old Jessie laughed. “Don’t worry Benny,” she told her youngest brother. “No one’s in trouble. From what the sign says, it’s a mountain that needs help.”
    “A mountain?” asked Benny, who was six. “How can you help a mountain?”
    The four Aldens—Benny, Jessie, Violet, and Henry—had just stopped their bicycles in front of Greenfield Wheels. It was a bicycle shop in their hometown of Greenfield. But they hadn’t ridden their bikes to the shop. They’d walked, because Henry’s bicycle had gotten a flat tire as they were riding into town.
    Violet, who was ten, came to Benny’s rescue. “The sign says, ‘Help Save Eagle Mountain. Join the Race to Save the Park. Ask Inside and Thelma Will Tell You How to Sign Up.’ ”
    “Let’s ask, then,” said Benny.
    “We can do that while I get a new tube to fix my flat tire,” agreed fourteen-year-old Henry.
    Violet held the door open for Henry and his bike, and they all went into the shop.
    Inside, bicycles of every kind and color lined both walls: rows of bikes on the floor and rows of bikes hanging from the ceiling on hooks. There were racks displaying wheels and seats and water bottles and helmets and all kinds of bike equipment.
    Benny stared. He’d been in the bike shop before, but he always forgot how many bikes it had. As they walked down the narrow aisle at the center of the store, Jessie ran her hand over the cool silver of a handlebar. Violet stopped to admire a purple bicycle. Purple was Violet’s favorite color.
    Just as they reached the counter at the back, a voice said, “I’m Louis. What can I do for you?”
    Henry looked around. He couldn’t see who had spoken. “I have a flat tire,” he said.
    “Ah.” A short, wiry man popped out from around an open door at the back of the narrow space behind the counter. A sign taped to the wall by the door read REPAIR AREA. EMPLOYEES ONLY. The man wiped his grease-stained hands on a rag that hung on a hook below the sign.
    He peered over the counter at Henry’s flat tire. “Hmmm,” he said. “Interesting old bike you’ve got there.”
    “Thank you,” said Henry. “I want to fix the flat tire.”
    The man nodded. He said, “Okay. Bring it on back. But I have to tell you, I’m not sure a patch will work. That tire is almost worn out. You need a new tire.”
    “I thought I might,” said Henry.
    Opening the half door at one end of the counter, the man motioned for Henry to push his bike through.
    “We need to know about helping the mountain, too,” Benny spoke up.
    “Helping the mountain?” said the man, looking puzzled.
    “Like the sign in the window says,” explained Benny.
    “Oh!” said the man. “You want to know about the bike ride. Thelma!” He shouted out the name so suddenly that all the Aldens jumped a little.
    A voice shouted back, “Don’t shout! I’m busy. I’m in the middle of a broken spoke.”
    “That’s Thelma,” the man said. “Replacing a broken spoke. If she can’t fix your bike, it can’t be fixed.”
    “That’s right!” she said, popping into the doorway. She paused to wipe her hands. Unlike Louis, she wasn’t covered in smudges of grease. She was a little taller than Louis, with sandy hair pulled back in a French braid. Tiny silver earrings shaped like bicycles dangled from her ears.
    “What’s up?” she asked, stepping aside so Louis could wheel Henry’s bike into the repair area.
    “We want to know about the mountain,” Benny said.
    “Eagle Mountain?” asked Thelma.
    “Yes, and the bike race,” Violet said.
    Thelma smiled. She said, “It’s not really a race. The race is against time. We’re running out of time to raise money to save Eagle