Peanut Butter
Hot Dogs

Kate and Mike found Harry near the main entrance. The red-and-white-striped cart was filled with hot dogs, chips, and drinks. Harry was standing behind the cash register on the right side.

Mike and Kate stepped up to the cart.

“Hey, guys!” Harry said when he noticed them. “Hungry for some hot dogs? You’ve come to the right place. Oh, hang on!”

Harry grabbed a handful of napkins from the stand and turned around.

“Ah, ah, achoooo!” Harry sneezed. A few of the napkins fluttered away. Harry ran after them and scooped them up. He tossed them away and then rubbed some hand sanitizer on his hands.

“Sorry, it’s my allergies. What can I get you?” he asked.

While Mike thought about whether he wanted a hot dog with ketchup, mustard, or both, he noticed a jar of crunchy peanut butter on the counter. “What’s that for?” he asked.

Harry glanced down at the jar. He picked it up and moved it over to the side of the cart. “Oh, it’s just peanut butter,” he said. He shrugged. “Sometimes people want it on their hot dogs.”

“Yuck!” Kate said. “That’s gross!”

“Are you kidding? It’s great,” Harry said. “But maybe it’s not for everyone.” He looked at Mike. “What do you want on your hot dog?”

“Definitely not peanut butter!” Mike said. “I’ll take one with mustard and relish. And a PowerPunch!”

“I’ll have a hot dog with ketchup and onions,” Kate said. “And a lemonade!”

“Coming right up!” Harry said. He prepped their two hot dogs and put them on the counter with the drinks. Kate handed him some money.

“So, Harry,” Mike said. “Kate and I were thinking that one of the groundskeepers might have taken Louie. Before the game, there was one with a mustache who was eating peanut butter. Do you think he had anything to do with it?”

“Boots?” Harry asked. “Boots is the manager of the grounds crew. He’s always dipping something into peanut butter. Celery, pretzels, broccoli. In fact, he’s the one who likes peanut butter on his hot dogs! But I don’t think he’d steal Louie.”

“Did you happen to see any other groundskeepers hanging around Louie?” Kate asked.

Harry leaned back for a moment and thought. Then he handed Kate her change and nodded. “You know, now that you mention it,” he said, “I did see one in a red jacket petting Louie just before I left.”

“Really?” Mike said. “We can check into that. It might be an important clue.”

“No problem,” Harry said. “Happy to help. I’d hate to see anything happen to that dog. How’s Manny doing with the ransom?”

“Good, I think,” Kate said. “He’s working on it.”

Harry nodded. “Great! I hope he’s able to get a World Series trophy for Louie,” he said. “At least the Cardinals have a bunch of them.”

“I think he will,” Mike said. He grabbed his hot dog and PowerPunch. “Well, thanks for helping.”

Harry waved goodbye and turned to the next customer as Kate and Mike walked away, munching their food.

As they rounded the corner to head back to their seats, Kate started to make strange noises. “Humth! Humth!” Her mouth was full of hot dog. Mike stopped to see if she was choking.

Kate swallowed her bite of hot dog. “The ransom!” she cried.

Mike looked around. “What ransom?” he asked.

“Harry just asked about the ransom for Louie!” Kate said.

“So what?” Mike asked. “We told him about it when we saw him earlier.”

Kate shook her head. “But we never said what the ransom was!” she said. “We didn’t say anything about the World Series trophy to Harry!”

Mike raised his eyebrows. “You mean—”

“Yes!” Kate said. “The only way Harry would know that the World Series trophy is the ransom is if he’s the dog-napper!”