Free Mystery of the Midnight Dog by Gertrude Chandler Warner

CHAPTER 1
Kudzu and Ghost Finders
    “Look! It looks just like a dinosaur!” Six-year-old Benny Alden pointed out the window of the car.
    Henry, Jessie, and Violet Alden looked where their younger brother was pointing, and Watch, their dog, sat up and put his paws on the edge of the window. Only Grandfather Alden didn’t look, because he was driving.
    “You’re right, Benny,” said Henry, who was fourteen. “It does look like a dinosaur.”
    “I think it’s an old house that’s falling down,” said Violet, who was ten.
    “Or being mashed by all those green vines that are covering it,” Jessie said, who was twelve and often acted motherly toward her younger sister and brother.
    “Those green vines are everywhere!” Benny exclaimed. “What are they?”
    “The vines are called kudzu,” Grandfather Alden told him. “It’s considered a weed in the South. People have to fight to keep it from covering everything. I’ve read it can grow up to four inches a day.”
    “A monster vine that eats everything,” said Jessie.
    Benny shivered and pretended to be afraid. He leaned over and said, “Watch, be careful! You don’t want to get eaten by the monster vines!”
    Watch, a small dog who acted as if he were much bigger, peered out the window and cocked his head. He wasn’t sure what Benny was talking about, but he was ready to face it.
    Henry, who was sitting in the front seat next to Grandfather, looked up from the map he held. “It looks like we’re almost there,” he announced. “According to the map, we’re only about twelve miles from Elbow Bend, Alabama.”
    “We are?” Benny asked. “Good. I’m hot. And thirsty!” he said.
    “Not hungry, too?” Henry teased Benny.
    Benny thought about that for a moment. “Maybe,” he said. “I could be hungry, too.”
    “Don’t worry, Benny,” Grandfather Alden said. “I’m sure Sally Wade will have a nice cold drink and something waiting for us to eat.” Mrs. Sally Wade was an old friend of Grandfather’s who had invited the Aldens to visit.
    “Oh, good.” Benny bounced a little on the seat with excitement. “Then the only other thing we’ll need is a good mystery to solve. Let’s ask Mrs. Wade if she has a mystery for us when we get there.”
    “We’ll do that,” Grandfather agreed. “Although it’s a small town, Elbow Bend is famous for its fine old houses. It was one of the first settlements in the state. It’s bound to have at least one haunted house.”
    “Not Mrs. Wade’s house?” Benny asked, sounding half afraid and half hopeful.
    “No, probably not the Wade house,” Grandfather said, smiling.
    Benny looked relieved. “Look out, ghosts, here we come!”
    With Henry reading the directions, Grandfather had no trouble finding Mrs. Wade’s house. Like many of the houses they passed, it was a big old house with a wide front porch. Mrs. Wade’s house had a porch upstairs and down and was painted white with dark green shutters. An old oak tree draped with moss shaded the front yard. Flower beds bloomed along the front walk and around the house.
    “It doesn’t look haunted at all,” Benny said. “None of the houses we’ve passed look haunted.”
    “Maybe that’s a ghost!” said Jessie as the front door of the house opened and a small silver-haired woman stepped out. She shaded her eyes with her hands to see the Aldens better.
    Grandfather laughed. “That’s no ghost. That’s Sally Wade.”
    Mrs. Wade waved at them. “Y’all are just in time for iced tea and cookies,” she called. “Come on in.”
    Benny and Watch ran up the front walk, while the others followed more slowly.
    As Benny got closer, Mrs. Wade smiled. Lines crinkled at the corners of her brown eyes. “I think you must be Benny,” she said.
    “You’re right!” Benny cried. “How did you know? Did Grandfather tell you?”
    Before Mrs. Wade could answer, he went on, “And this is Watch. And here comes Jessie—she’s twelve—and Violet—she’s ten.