Then Frank turned around and went out. This time he passed the window, and in a minute or so the Aldens heard him start his car. He drove off down the road that ran close to the river.
“Well,” said Benny. “What do you make of that? First Frank is friendly and thinks we might get hungry. And then he gets angry and tells us to watch out for those boys he doesn’t like. I don’t understand what makes him act so.”
Jessie said thoughtfully, “Frank knows those boys and we don’t. Nobody would order them out of a public bus station unless they had done something very annoying.”
Benny said, “Well, so far it’s a mystery to us. We don’t understand anything about it. But I know one thing. I’m not going to ask Frank about it and get my head taken off.”
Jessie glanced quickly around the bus station. She began to see a lot of interesting things.
“Look at those beautiful pink flowers on the windowsill,” she said. “They’re on all the windowsills. Frank must love flowers.”
“Birds, too,” added Benny, looking out of the window. “Just look at the bird houses. And there are some bird feeding stations, too.”
Violet said, “A man who likes birds and flowers can’t be all bad. Just look at that woodpecker! Isn’t his red head beautiful! Oh, it’s flying away. Something must have scared it.”
Henry was looking over Violet’s shoulder. He saw the bird, too. But he saw something else as well. He was sure that something moved behind one of the trees.
Henry continued to watch. He caught sight of a red shirt. It must be one of the two boys Frank had sent out of the bus station in such a hurry.
Henry had been wondering what had become of the boys. Had one of them been spying on the Aldens? Or maybe the boys were watching Frank. That was possible, too.
Henry didn’t want to say anything to frighten Violet or Jessie. But Benny exclaimed, “Hey, I see somebody behind the station. Who is it? One of those kids! Sneaking around, that’s what. No wonder Frank is mad.”
“Wait a minute,” Jessie said. “I don’t think the boy is sneaking around. He has field glasses. He was watching the bird Violet saw.”
For a few minutes it seemed as if the storm was not going to be too bad. Perhaps the tornado watch was already over.
Then all at once the sky turned a deep purple. The wind which had died down suddenly returned with new strength. The bus station sign creaked and tree branches bent in the strong gusts. The Aldens backed away from the windows.
CHAPTER 3
No Bus in Sight
Frank hadn’t been gone more than a few minutes, and now the wind was howling.
The four Aldens walked to the front windows of the bus station-lunchroom. The sky was darker than ever, and the dust was whirling around in the air.
“Here comes the rain,” Benny exclaimed. And sure enough, the raindrops began to fall. The big drops fell slowly at first, and Violet watched them hit the windowpanes. Then the drops began to fall faster and harder. Rain pounded on the windows.
“I wonder where those kids are,” said Henry.
Violet replied, “Well, wherever they are, they are soaking wet. I know Frank said not to let them in, but just the same, I think we ought to.”
Benny laughed. “We don’t know their names. What should we call? ‘Boys? Hey, boys!’ ‘Hello, you boys!’ Or, ‘Come here, you kids!’”
Just then there was a knocking at the door. It sounded very loud, even over the howling wind.
Benny said, “I don’t care! You can’t just leave somebody outside in a storm like this. You can’t!”
Henry went to the door and unbolted it. The wind tore it out of his hand and two very wet boys stumbled in.
The door banged and Henry struggled to pull it shut. Now he was nearly as wet as the boys who’d just come in.
Water dripped in a puddle around each boy. Their hair hung down over their eyes. Water ran from the backpacks they were wearing.
“Thanks very much,” said one of the boys. “It’s a trifle damp outside.”
“So we see,” Henry replied. “That’s why we let you in. You know we weren’t supposed to let you in. Frank didn’t want anyone to come in.”
“Yes, we know,” the boy in the blue shirt said. “But Frank is sure all mixed up about us.”
The boy in the red shirt said, “Don’t worry about us. We’ll get right out as soon as the storm is over. It won’t last long.”
Jessie said, “I wonder if Frank got to his house before the rain started.”
“Sure,” said the older boy. “He had lots of time. Anyway, his house is just as safe as the bus station.”
Benny thought to himself how queer it was that the boy didn’t sound angry at Frank. He sounded almost worried about him.
These boys were not strangers at Plainville Junction. They knew too much about Frank. They were not the new neighbors the old man on the bus had mentioned. The Aldens would just have to keep their ears open. Somehow they were sure they’d find out who Frank’s new neighbors were.
By now Benny was really curious about the boys. They seemed restless and did not sit down. The Aldens watched the older boy wander all around the bus station, even behind the counter where the refrigerator was. He seemed to glance at an envelope.
“Hey, Troy,” he said, talking to his brother. “Guess what? Frank got a letter from Pickett’s Perfect Paints. He hasn’t even opened it.”
“Why should he, Jud?” returned Troy. “Frank probably knows what is in it.”
The boys were right, Benny thought suddenly. Frank had had that telephone call. That was how he had learned what the letter was about. Now Benny was sure the call must have been from someone at the paint factory.
Rain beat against the window and Violet said, “Look at it pour. It hasn’t rained so hard in weeks. Now I know what Grandfather meant about today being a weather breeder. Bad weather.”
Off in the distance the Aldens could hear the thunder roar. The lightning made the sky bright for a moment. Then came the thunder. Benny looked at Jessie just as one bright flash came.
The thunder rumbled again.
“It can’t rain this hard very long,” Henry said. “I think the storm will be over soon.”
One of the boys stared out of the windows. “No funnel cloud,” he said. “It’s a bad storm, but it’s no tornado.”
Just as he spoke, lightning lit up the sky and the bus station. A great clap of thunder sounded, followed by a crash.
“That was close!” Benny said. “Too close!”
“Something got hit, that’s sure,” the boy in the red shirt said.
“We’re safe,” Benny said. “Or as safe as anyone can be in a thunder shower.”
“But that crash was awfully close,” Jessie said in a worried voice. “I hope lightning didn’t strike a tree nearby.”
Henry said, “Who would have thought this day would have changed so quickly? First a beautiful blue sky without a cloud, then suddenly a black sky with nothing but clouds?”
Jessie said, “We’re dry anyway. Come on, Violet. Let’s sit on this bench away from the windows.”
“Yes,” agreed Henry. “You do that.”
But one of the boys peered out into the storm. Then he whistled. “Hey, it was a tree that got hit. The very tree we were lying under. Wow! Are we lucky we’re safe inside. Thanks again for letting us in.”
“You’re welcome,” said Benny politely. “You have just as much right to be here as we do.”
The storm seemed to leave as quickly as it had come. The lightning was not as bright, the thunder not as loud. The wind stopped lashing the trees.
In a short time, the sky became brighter.
Henry went to the window and announced, “The worst of the storm is over now. It’s hardly raining at all. In a few minutes we can go outside and see what happened.”
The two strange boys, Troy and Jud, shook themselves and pushed their hair back. They picked up their backpacks.
“We don’t
want to be here when Frank comes back,” the big boy said. “No sense in making him mad all over again. He’s going to be upset enough about losing that big oak tree. It was a beauty.”
“Yeah,” the other boy said. “It isn’t fair. Frank loves trees. He knows all the trees and birds and plants around here.”
“Not like some people who don’t care at all,” the boy in the red shirt said.
Henry opened the door slowly, and they all went out. Branches and twigs were scattered about, blown down by the wind.
“The rain’s stopped now,” Benny said. “Say, how good everything smells. Not the way it did when we got off the bus.”
The boys laughed, and one said, “We know all about that.”
The Aldens walked around to the side of the bus station. They had to step over the deep puddles.
Jessie was the first one to get a good look at what had happened. “Oh, yes! You were right,” she said, looking at the big boy. “Lightning did strike that tree. And it’s taken some wires down with it!”
“Stand back,” Henry said. “Don’t go near any fallen wires.”
The big boy said, “Those are telephone wires, not wires for electricity.”
“Sure,” said Benny. “The lights didn’t go off in the bus station.”
“No telephone!” said Violet. “We can’t make any calls. And no one can call us.”
“Well,” Benny said cheerfully, “nobody but Frank knows we’re here.”
The four Aldens and the two boys walked all around the station. The smaller boy picked up one of the bird feeders and put it carefully back in the tree.
“What time is it, Henry?” Jessie asked.
Henry looked at his watch. “It’s half past twelve. That Oakdale bus is really late.”
Benny said, “Frank told us that the bus would be late. He said we’d have to wait an hour. But it’s more than that now.”
Benny and Henry looked out toward the road in front of the station. They looked to the right and left. They could not see any traffic. No cars, no trucks, no bus.
“What do you think of that, Henry?” Benny asked. “Not a car in sight.”
“Maybe people are waiting to make sure the storm is over,” Henry suggested. “That would be smart.” But he thought to himself that something was wrong.
The two boys said, “We’ve got something to do. You kids stay at the station. See you later.” And they disappeared down the road.
“I thought they wanted the Oakdale bus, too,” Benny said slowly. “Do you think they changed their minds?”
“I don’t know,” Henry said, shrugging. “There’s a lot we don’t know about this bus trip.”
The Aldens went back into the station building to wait for the bus.
CHAPTER 4
A Discovery
The minutes went by, but no bus pulled up in front of the station. Frank did not come back either. The strange boys were gone, but nobody knew where. Not even a car passed.
Benny finally spoke up. “It’s one o’clock now. That’s long past lunch time, and I’m hungry. Why don’t we have some lunch? Frank told us we could. So it will be OK with him.”
“Yes, why not?” Jessie said. “There’s no telling when the bus will come. I’m hungry, too.”
“So am I,” Henry said.
That settled it. Jessie and Violet went behind the lunch counter and opened the refrigerator and looked in. They found butter, milk, and hamburgers. In the breadbox were hamburger rolls and loaves of bread for sandwiches.
“That’s enough,” Jessie said with a nod. “These are just the things Frank uses for his lunch counter. We can get up a good meal.”
“Just hurry,” Benny said.
Jessie got out a frying pan and began to cook the hamburgers. Soon the smell was delicious. Everyone began to sniff.
“Come right up to the counter, ladies and gentlemen,” said Jessie. “Here are paper plates and paper cups.” She poured four cups of milk.
“Isn’t there anything else in the refrigerator, Jessie?” Benny asked.
“Well, Ben!” exclaimed Henry. “Right in front of your eyes. Look at that glass doughnut jar on the counter.”
“Well, well,” said Benny. “I guess I’m blind or something. Doughnuts and milk will finish this lunch off just fine.”
“Wait, Benny. Let me look again,” said Jessie. “There was another package in the refrigerator.” She opened the door and took out the package.
“Cheese!” shouted Benny. “I know it’s cheese before you get the paper off. I hope it’s the kind I like.”
It was cheese and the kind Benny liked. More milk and lunch was over.
“Not many dishes to wash,” said Jessie, laughing. She threw away the paper cups and plates. “No spoons, and not even knives and forks. I’ll just wash the frying pan,” she said as she scrubbed away. She left it clean and shiny and she hung it up under the counter.
Henry looked at his watch again. “I wonder where Frank is. He should have come back by now.”
“No sign of the bus, either,” said Benny. “We’ll never get to the fair in Oakdale at this rate. Not much of an adventure, just waiting in a bus station.”
Just then there were voices outside. “You still here?” someone called. It wasn’t Frank.
Benny ran to look out. The two strange boys were back. They had on dry clothes. They both grinned at the Aldens.
The big boy said, “We just went home to dry out. We found out we wouldn’t miss the bus. We could take our time.”
“How did you find out?” Henry asked.
The smaller boy said, “Because the wind blew a big dead tree across the road that leads to the bridge. Nobody can get through. The bus has to go miles around the other way.”
“The highway is closed!” said Violet in a low voice. “That means we’re stranded. Grandfather will be worried about us. I wish we could call him in Greenfield. But the telephone line is broken.”
“Don’t worry about Grandfather,” Henry said. “He won’t know we are stuck at this little bus station. I’m sure he thinks we are in Oakdale now, enjoying the fair.”
“Come on,” the older boy said. “Let’s go back down to the road and watch for the highway patrol to come. See you kids later.” And the two boys ran off.
“I don’t like this very much,” said Benny. “Nothing to do. I wish I had something to look at.”
Jessie said, “Well, when I was cleaning up I did see something that made me curious.”
“You did?” Benny asked. “Anything will be better than nothing.”
Jessie said, “I didn’t say anything about it, because I didn’t think it was any of our business. Still, it is different from what you’d expect in a bus station.”
“What are you talking about?” asked Henry. He was curious now, too.
Jessie said, “Come around behind the counter. Look up on that high shelf.”
They all looked up. There were several drinking glasses half full of dirty water. Two glasses held old faded weeds, and one glass held clean water and bright green weeds. There were many test tubes in a wire rack, each labeled with the name of a chemical. Beside the glasses were several books and a few notebooks.
“I can see the name of one of those books from down here,” said Violet. “It is How to Analyze Water.”
“One of them is a bird book,” said Jessie in astonishment. “Imagine a bird book in a bus station!”
Violet said, “That bird book is exactly like the one Grandfather has. It has colored pictures of every bird in this part of the country.”
“Now why didn’t I see all this before?” demanded Benny.
“Well, Ben,” replied Henry, laughing, “you don’t go looking around near the ceiling when it’s pouring and blowing like a tornado and two boys are hiding and acting mysterious. But we’ve seen all these test tubes and books now, and it means that Frank is all the more of a riddle. He must be a strange man.”
Benny took a chair and put it under the
shelf. He climbed up on it.
“Don’t touch anything, Benny,” said Jessie.
“Oh, no,” answered Benny. “In the first place, these things belong to Frank. In the second place, I don’t want to leave any fingerprints.”
Then Benny exclaimed, “Oh, now I can see what I’m doing! Now guess what! Here is another big book on the other side of the glasses. It’s called Chemistry of Paints and Varnishes. Is Frank a chemist and a bus station man and a lunchroom keeper and a gardener?”
“Maybe Frank is doing some work for the paint factory,” Jessie suggested.
“Maybe chemistry is just his hobby,” said Violet. “He hasn’t very much to work with. Only a few bottles and a book.”
“Frank has so many hobbies,” said Benny. “Remember the bird feeders and the bird houses and the flowers in the windows. I wish he would come back so we could talk with him.”
“I think those boys, Jud and Troy, were bothering Frank while he was working,” said Jessie. “He certainly wanted to get rid of them.”
“Maybe he thought they were watching him. Remember the field glasses,” Benny said.
Henry started to say something. But he heard the noise of a car turning around in front of the bus station.
“That must be Frank,” Violet said quickly.
It was Frank. “Everything OK?” he called. “No bus yet?”
“We’re fine,” said Jessie, “but no bus. Did you know the bridge is closed by a fallen tree? The bus has to go around, and that’s why it’s late.”
“Yes, I know,” replied Frank. “But how did you know? Did you walk down to the bridge?”
“No,” Jessie started to say. Then she remembered that Frank wouldn’t like to hear they’d been talking to those two boys.
But Frank was not paying any attention to Jessie. He was staring at the chair Benny had pulled over to the shelf.
Frank looked from the chair to the Aldens and then up at the books on the shelf. “Well,” he said, “what in the world were you looking for?”
He didn’t sound angry. He sounded sad. “Excuse me,” he said. “This has been a bad day. The storm . . . one of my big trees blown down by lightning . . . the kids pestering me . . .”