Chapter Four

 

 

 

 

 

“He spoke!” Eric whispered.

Aunt Katie quickly drank her tea and went with Uncle George. Cam and Eric ran to catch up with them.

“Where are you going?” Cam asked.

“We’re looking for one of the park policemen,” Aunt Katie said. “I saw one here before. He wore a nice blue uniform, had a badge on, and carried a walkie-talkie.”

“I think you should go to the park entrance,” Eric said. “That’s the last place you remember having your wallet. My father once left his wallet at the ticket booth of a movie theater.”

“Look,” Cam said, “there’s a police officer.”

Cam ran to the officer. She came back a few minutes later and told Aunt Katie, “She says we should go to the security office. She told me where it is. Follow me.”

The security office was in a small building near the merry-go-round. Cam, Eric, Aunt Katie, and Uncle George went inside.

“Oh, my,” Aunt Katie said. “There’s a line here, too.” Aunt Katie and Uncle George got in line, right behind a woman in a blue dress.

Cam and Eric went to the park entrance. Many people were coming into the park. Cam tried to push one of the turnstiles to go out. A man on the other side was pushing it in.

“It doesn’t go that way,” the man said.

“Come on,” Eric said. “We have to go through the gate over there. But first we have to get our hands stamped, so we can come back in.”

At the gate, a woman pressed a rubber stamp onto an ink pad and then onto the backs of Cam’s and Eric’s hands.

“There’s nothing on my hand,” Cam said.

The woman said, “Yes, there is. When you’re ready to come back into the park, I’ll pass your hands under a special light. Then you’ll see what I stamped. You’ll be surprised.”

Cam and Eric walked through the gate. Cam was still looking at her hand.

There were several ticket booths. Eric pointed to one and said, “This is it. This is where Aunt Katie bought the tickets. It had the shortest line.”

Cam and Eric walked to the front of the line. A man surrounded with children was next.

“We don’t want to buy tickets,” Eric told the man.

“I don’t want to buy tickets, either. But it’s the only way to get into the park.”

“We were already in the park,” Eric said. “Look at my hand. It’s stamped.”

The man looked at Eric’s hand and smiled. “There’s nothing on your hand, but you can go ahead of me.”

Cam closed her eyes and said, “Click.”

Eric said to the ticket seller, “My friend’s aunt was here about two hours ago. We think she may have left her wallet.”

“Click.”

“I have a credit card that someone forgot, and two pens, a newspaper, and a magazine, but no wallet.”

“Eric,” Cam said, “Eric, I know where Aunt Katie’s wallet is. She didn’t leave it somewhere. It was stolen and I know who took it.”