Free Mike's Mystery by Gertrude Warner Page B

him.”
    “It does Ben good to play with me,” said Mike loudly.
    “Yes, I think it does,” agreed Henry.
    Mike looked up in surprise. He did not know what to say. He thought Henry would not agree with him. “Ma makes pies for the neighbors,” he said.
    “And you are surely neighbors,” said Mrs. Wood at once. “So take your choice. I have cherry, apple, and blueberry pie. All hot.” She began cutting the three pies. The smell was delicious and the pie crusts were brown and flaky.
    “I didn’t really have much lunch,” said Benny.
    “Pull up your chairs around that table,” said Mrs. Wood. “And Mike, you get a bit of cheese out of the refrigerator.”
    “Where’s Pat?” asked Mike, getting the cheese.
    “Gone to the bank. It’s pay day. He puts Uncle Bob’s money in the bank every week. You go get him, Mike, and tell him to come home and see the company.”
    Mike ran off down the street. Mrs. Wood watched him with a smile.
    “He’s not a bad boy, is Mike,” she said. “He’s just a big talker.”
    “We know that,” said Jessie, smiling too.
    “He’d do anything for his friends,” said his mother. “He helps the men at the mine a lot, even if he fights, too. They joke with him and argue with him, but they like him.”
    Henry said, “This is the best apple pie I ever ate.”
    “I agree,” said Jessie. “The cherry must be even better than the apple.”
    Violet laughed softly. “I was going to say the same thing about this blueberry.”
    “I’m glad,” said Mrs. Wood very quietly. “I love to bake pies the best of anything. I wish I had time.”
    “Haven’t you time?” asked Jessie, puzzled.
    “No, dear,” said Mrs. Wood. Her voice sounded sad. “I wash all day to earn money to help keep us. I’m lucky to have a washing machine. Here’s Pat now.”
    When Pat came in, he said at once, “Hello, Ben! You used to come down to our house and play with Mike.”
    “This is Jessie,” said his mother. “This is Violet, and this is Henry.”
    “Oh, I know them all,” said Pat. “They saved my life on that picnic.”
    “Our cousin Joe did that,” said Henry. “He is a fine swimmer.”
    Then Mike said, “When I met Pat, he was just coming out of the bank.”
    “It seems too funny to have a bank here,” said Jessie. “This whole place used to be great fields of long grass.”
    “We have almost everything,” said Pat. “We have a newspaper every day. The newspaper office is right by the bank.”
    “Oh, yes,” cried Benny. “I saw the paper up at Aunt Jane’s. The Daily News. It had a big picture of the uranium mine buildings on the front page.”
    “Yes, the mine is almost always on the front page,” said Mike. “Here it is. We saved this one, because Pat is in the picture. See, right there? That’s Pat. Standing by the short man. Gosh, that’s funny. I’ve seen that man before some place. He don’t live here.”
    “Doesn’t,” said Pat.
    “Well, doesn’t, then,” said Mike. “You say Don’t to me often enough.”
    “That’s very different, Mike,” said Pat.
    “Well, it don’t sound any different to me,” said Mike.
    Jessie laughed. “Mike makes me think of Benny, sometimes,” she said. “They both love to argue.”
    “I’m not arguing,” said Mike. “I’m thinking. That short man in the picture don’t—doesn’t—live around here. He’s a stranger. But I know I’ve seen him before.”
    Pat looked at the picture. “I don’t remember him at all,” he said to his younger brother. “I didn’t even know when they took the picture.”

    Mike was very quiet for a while. He kept looking at the picture.
    “We must go,” said Jessie. “We want to go into every store on the street and see all the sights.”
    “I’ll go with you,” said Mike. “I can show you everything. I’ve been here two months.”
    It was true. Mike did know everything. He showed them the door of the super-market which opened all by itself. He showed them a garage