Free Bus Station Mystery by Gertrude Warner

was.
    Benny thought, “I’m sure it isn’t a pudding, and I don’t think it could be a pie or a cake. I guess I’ll just have to wait.” That was hard to do. But he enjoyed every bit of Frank’s fish and stuffing.
    All the Aldens enjoyed the delicious dinner Frank had cooked. Soon their plates were clean.
    “Let me help you clear off the table,” said Jessie.
    “I’ll clear,” said Frank, “and you can pile the dishes up. You’ll see where they go in that sink.”
    Then the moment came when Frank opened the refrigerator to get dessert. Benny twisted around in his seat to see what it was.
    “A watermelon!” he exclaimed. “But you never raised that, Frank.”
    “Oh, yes, I did!” laughed Frank. “You can go down to my garden and pick one any time now. I’m going to sell some of them.”
    “We’ll buy one, for sure,” Violet said. “We just love watermelon.”
    Everyone took a slice of watermelon, and soon it was gone, except for the green rind. “I save that,” said Frank. “I make watermelon pickle out of it.”
    “What about that!” said Benny. He snapped a watermelon seed across the room.

    “I wouldn’t do that, Ben,” said Mr. Alden in a low voice. “This is really Frank’s bus station, and he’ll have to sweep it up.”
    “I don’t mind,” said Frank, snapping a seed in Benny’s direction.
    Soon even Grandfather was snapping watermelon seeds!
    “What a party,” thought Jessie. “I don’t know when I have seen Grandfather having such a good time.”
    When everyone was tired of snapping seeds, Frank swept them up. Jessie and Violet said they would wash the dishes. But Frank had a dishwasher, so the work was soon done.
    “We ought to have a fish party next year,” said Benny. “Maybe at our house.”
    “Maybe at my house,” said Frank. “By next year it will be lovely down there by the river. We might even catch our own fish.”
    “Hooray!” said Benny. “Grandfather and I love to go fishing. Let’s make it a real date. What about my birthday? That’s the fifteenth of July.”
    “I’ll write it right down in my book,” said Mr. Alden, taking out his wallet. In a small notebook he wrote, “July 15. Fishing with Benny and Frank.”
    “I can remember that,” said Frank. “I don’t need to write it down.”
    A little later the Aldens said good-bye to Frank and drove home in their station wagon.
    “Everything turned out right,” said Benny. “Don’t you think so, Grandfather?”
    “Yes, Ben, it did,” Mr. Alden answered. “I think the river will be saved. And I think Mr. Pickett will be able to make the changes in his factory. He’ll be Frank’s good neighbor after all.”
    “I never guessed those two boys were Picketts,” said Jessie. “Frank didn’t trust the boys because he thought they were on their father’s side. But really, they picketed their own father’s business.”
    “Pickett’s pickets,” said Benny with a laugh. “You know, most of this adventure was just an accident. We would never have known Frank or the Pickett family or learned about the paint factory or started to clean up the river ...”
    “If the bus hadn’t been late,” finished Henry.
    “Right,” said Benny.

About the Author
    G ERTRUDE C HANDLER W ARNER discovered when she was teaching that many readers who like an exciting story could find no books that were both easy and fun to read. She decided to try to meet this need, and her first book, The Boxcar Children, quickly proved she had succeeded.
    Miss Warner drew on her own experiences to write the mystery. As a child she spent hours watching trains go by on the tracks opposite her family home. She often dreamed about what it would be like to set up housekeeping in a caboose or freight car—the situation the Alden children find themselves in.
    When Miss Warner received requests for more adventures involving Henry, Jessie, Violet, and Benny Alden, she began additional stories. In each, she chose a special setting and