Graham
& The Earthsavers
C.A. LESSARD
BOOK 1
Case 1: The Case of the Rising Smoke
Case 2: The Case of the Stolen Stars
Case 3: The Case of the Blue Haired Swimmer
Copyright © 2011 Granola Graham and The Earthsavers. All rights reserved. Any unauthorized reproduction, use, copying, distribution or sale of these materials without the express written consent of the author is strictly prohibited.
Contact us at
[email protected] SECOND EDITION
This book is dedicated to Jane Orr.
Other books in the series:
Book 2: The Case of the Pilfered Pig
contains: The Case of the Pilfered Pig
The Case of the Fishy Name
The Case of 2 Wheels Good
Book 3: The Case of the Frozen Farm
contains: The Case of the Cotton Caper
The Case of the Frozen Farm
The Case of the Compact Crook
Book 4: The Case of the Barefoot Race
contains: The Case of H2OX2
The Case of the Clean Coal
The Case of the Barefoot Race
Table of Contents
• Case 1: The Case of the Rising Smoke
• Case 2: The Case of the Stolen Stars
• Case 3: The Case of the Blue Haired Swimmer
Case 1:
The Case of the Rising Smoke
Scientists around the world are asking the same question: what’s going on in Peak City? Why is there no pollution? Why is the air so fresh? Why are the lakes, rivers, and streams so clean? Why are the forests so green and tall?
Few would guess the answer is grade school eco sleuths, Graham and Gwenda Parker.
The Parker twins were born in an open field, beneath the stars, in the middle of a family camping trip. Their first bath was a dip in a lake, and their first meal was a handful of wild berries. Their favourite game is anything outside. All of Peak City is their backyard, and no-one makes a mess in their yard without getting caught. If someone starts up a dirty engine or tosses something recyclable in the trash, sooner or later they’ll face the Parkers.
The headquarters for the twins’ defence of Peak City is a converted shed behind their parents’ house on Gore Lane. It was a cloudless Sunday when Nicky ‘the nose’ Richards ran into the shed shouting for Graham’s help. Nicky lives next door to the Parkers. She’s only 13, but she’s already considered one of Peak City’s finest chefs. Her nose is the reason. She only has to smell a dish once and she knows every ingredient that went into it. What’s more, she can usually recreate it a little better than the original. There’s a long line of kids waiting for a dinner invitation to Nicky’s house. But it wasn’t the smell of food that brought her to the Parker’s shed. It was the smell of smoke: dirty, polluting fumes were drifting over the tree-tops. Nicky had smelled the fumes first, but Graham could see them now.
Graham was installing a solar panel on the clubhouse roof when Nicky ran in. He dropped his tools and raced to his bike. He could smell the fumes now, and he rode toward the smell with his nose leading him like a smoke-detector.
He stopped in front of Lee’s Convenience Store. The smoke was gone, but the smell told Graham this was where it had come from.
The store is owned by Mr. & Mrs. Lee and their daughter Annie. There are two doors at the front of the store, one marked “in” and one marked “out.” The handle on the “in” door was missing, so Graham used the “out” door to enter the store.
Annie was at the counter when Graham walked in, and she didn’t look surprised to see him. She called him by his nickname. “Hi, Granola. Did you see the smoke?” she asked.
“Saw it and smelled it, thanks to Nicky,” said Graham. “Do you know where it came from?”
Annie answered with two words: “Dirty W.”
Dirty W’s real name is Dennis W. Clearcut. He’s 17 and he doesn’t like much about Peak City. In fact, he acts as if planet Earth just isn’t his kind of place. He’s the leader of a gang of kids called the Tuffs, and if anyone would pollute the air, it’s Dirty W.
But Graham wasn’t ready to make any accusations without getting the facts, so he asked Annie to tell him what she’d seen.
“About half an hour ago,” she said, “Dirty W pulled up in front of the store driving his parents’ mini-van.”
“Doesn’t W live just down the street?” interrupted Granola.
“Yes, but he won’t walk next door if he has a chance to drive,” replied Annie. “He’s as lazy as he is dirty.
“When he got out of the van, he looked like he was in rush, and he ran up to the store. Our door handle is loose, and he pulled it so hard it came off in his hand. So, he pushed in through the ‘out’ door, marched up to the counter, and asked for a pack of gum and a magazine. He paid, left the door handle on the counter and marched out without saying sorry, please, or thank-you.
“But that’s not the worst part. You’re not going to believe it, Granola, but the whole time W was in the store, he left his old van running! The dirty smoke you saw was fumes rising out of his tailpipe like pollution from an old smokestack.”
Hearing this, Granola looked so angry Annie thought he might blow his stack.
“Did you say anything to him?” asked Granola.
“No, I was stocking the shelves. He didn’t even know I was here. It was my dad who served him.”
“Where’s your dad now?” Granola continued.
But before Annie could answer, Mr. Lee walked into the store with supplies from Henderson’s Hardware he’d bought to fix the door. The three of them made the repairs. Then Mr. Lee left to run some more errands.
Annie looked at Granola. “What should we do now, Graham?” she asked.
Graham smiled and answered, “We cut through Dirty W’s smoke. Here’s how . . .”
Annie listened to Graham’s plan, and then she called W and asked him to come to the store. W complained that his parents were using the van and he would have to walk, but Annie told him it was important and, finally, he agreed to come.
Five minutes later, W pushed his way through the “out” door and walked up to the counter.
“What’s he doing here?” W snapped at Annie as he glared in Granola’s direction.
Graham answered for himself: “I’m here because someone left their van polluting the air in front of Annie’s store, and she says it was you.”
“She’d better think again,” answered W. “She doesn’t have any proof, and neither do you. This is the first time I’ve seen Annie all day, and I haven’t been in this store for a week. It’s her word against mine.”
Annie stepped forward to argue, but Granola stopped her.
“You don’t need to say anything, Annie,” he said. “W’s story is full of hot air. He just proved he’s guilty.”
What did Granola mean?
Re-read the story looking for clues or turn the page to read the solution.
Solution to The Case of the rising smoke
Dirty W said he hadn’t been in Annie’s store for a week. But when he arrived he came in through the “out” door. He would only do that if he knew the “in” door was broken. And, of course, he did know since he was the one who had broken it earlier in the day. Graham explained this to W and pointed out that the door was now fixed.
When confronted with the error in his story, W admitted he had lied about not being in the store earlier. He apologized for leaving his van running and promised to turn it off
in the future. Annie suggested W consider walking a little more often, but that just made him walk out the store, grumbling as he went.
Case 2:
The Case of the Stolen Stars
When Lunar Henderson approached the Earthsavers’ headquarters in Gwenda and Graham’s backyard, it was Sunday, and it was morning. These two facts told the twins something was wrong. Lunar’s real name, which no-one calls him, is Leroy. The other thing no-one ever does is see him during daylight on a weekend.
Lunar Henderson is Peak City’s resident “boy astronomer.” When the weekend comes, Lunar goes nocturnal. He stays awake and studies the skies all night and sleeps all day. His appearance in Gwenda and Graham’s backyard on a Sunday morning was definitely a cause for concern.
At the age of 9, Lunar identified an undiscovered star and registered it with the National Astronomy Association. To support his talent, Lunar’s parents purchased a plot of land just outside Peak City. Since there are no bright lights there, the sky is darker and the stars, planets, and comets are easier to study.
Lunar’s family isn’t rich. The land is beside Dawson’s Auto Recyclers. The Hendersons were able to buy it cheap since no-one wants to live next to the noise of crunching cars. The location is fine by Lunar, as he