Free The Trimoni Twins and the Shrunken Treasure by Pam Smallcomb

Hoogaboom didn’t seem to share her concern at all. He seemed downright jolly.
    â€œThe Changing Coin,” Uncle Hoogaboom said as he gathered the girls on each side of him and gave them a squeeze. “I never thought I’d live to see its magic again. I’ve not seen that since Simon and I worked together.”
    Beezel’s jaw dropped. “You
knew
Simon Serafin?”
    Uncle Hoogaboom nodded. “When we were young men, about Wiliken’s age, he came to work in the same circus I was working in. The Circus Oosterbeck, here in the Netherlands. He was the strong man, and I was the dog trainer and roustabout. We became fast friends. My father had given me the Shrinking Coin. I found out that his mother,the lead acrobat of the Romanian Circus Lumanararu, had given him the Changing Coin.” He laughed. “As you can well imagine, we had quite a lot of fun.”
    â€œShrinking and changing things together,” Mimi said wistfully. “I wish I could have been there.”
    There was something bothering Beezel. Something was whirling about in the back of her head. Then she had it. She faced Uncle Hoogaboom. “David Copperfield’s eyelashes!” Beezel said.
“That’s
why you and Wiliken’s grandpa couldn’t find the treasure for all those years. It’s a
shrunken
treasure!”
    Uncle Hoogaboom grinned shyly and tugged on his beard. “Yes, since I was a boy, I’ve dreamed I would be the one who got to unshrink the treasure from that old galleon.”
    â€œThat’s the part I didn’t mention to you guys the other night,” Wiliken said. “Hoogaboom wanted to get together with Hector and me privately and tell him about the Shrinking Coin.”
    â€œBut now,” Uncle Hoogaboom said with enthusiasm, “there’s no need for that! I can let these girls hear all about it. After all, they have a magic coin, too!”
    Uncle Hoogaboom looked like he was about to launch into an explanation, but Hector stopped him. “Excuse me, Uncle,” Hector said, motioning to the clam in Mimi’s hands. “Maybe Mimi should un-ka-poof that dog and let it go back home now. And then I think we should take this conversation back to Wiliken’s house and talk privately.” He glanced around him. “Now’s a good time, duck,” he said to Mimi.
    â€œOkay, little doggie,” Mimi said. She put the clam down and pointed to it. Ka-poof. A confused but friendly dog wagged his tail at them.
    Beezel watched as Mimi and Hector escorted the dog back across the darkening street. So there really was a Shrinking Coin. And Uncle Hoogaboom had known Simon! And somewhere, inside Pieter Riebeeck’s house, was the entire treasure of a Spanish galleon. Knowing what she did now, she wanted to go on their treasure hunt, too.

Chapter Twelve
    As they walked the last couple of blocks to Wiliken’s house, Uncle Hoogaboom hummed happily.
    â€œWe’re heard there is a Mind-Reading Coin, too,” Mimi said to him. “But we don’t have any idea who has that one.”
    Wiliken let out a long whistle. “You could get into trouble with that one, I bet.”
    â€œI was always told,” Uncle Hoogaboom said, “that the three coins had traveled the world several times together, and finally came to a Gypsy family in Romania several hundred years ago. They were a group of touring performers, much like your traveling circus, girls, but I’m sure not nearly as grand. One of those long-ago Gypsies married a long-ago Hoogaboom and gave my family the ShrinkingCoin.” He stopped and tilted his head to one side in thought. “Someone from that Gypsy troupe might have given one of Simon’s ancestors the Changing Coin. His mother was Romanian. I’ve never heard anything about where the Mind-Reading Coin is now.”
    Uncle Hoogaboom looked at Hector. “And nephew, you’ve known the girls had the