A Special Kind of Hot Dog

“Wow!” Mike said. “Why would he do such a thing?”

“He’s a huge Cardinals fan!” Kate said. “He told us that when he was looking at your Red Gibson signed ball. Remember how he said he’d like one? What if he really wants a Cardinals World Series trophy?”

“And he was there when Louie first escaped!” Mike said. “It definitely could be him! Good work!”

Mike gave Kate a high five.

“Thanks,” Kate said. “But we still have to find Louie.”

Mike and Kate peeked around the corner to watch Harry. He was helping a customer who had bought three hot dogs. There was one more customer in line.

“So, where do you think he put Louie?” Mike asked.

“That’s what we need to find out, and fast,” Kate said. “Maybe he put him in the storage room over there. Or in his car.”

Kate glanced at the scoreboard. It was the bottom of the eighth inning, and St. Louis was batting. They were still behind by one run.

“We’ve got to find Louie before Red gets up again,” Kate said. “Otherwise he’ll still be too upset to break the record!”

Mike snapped his fingers. “We don’t have time for the chief of security to investigate. We need to get Harry to tell us where Louie is right now,” he said.

“How?” Kate asked.

“We’ll just tell him that we know he’s the dog-napper,” Mike said. “But that we won’t turn him in if he brings us to Louie. Then we can return Louie and tell Red that we’ve found him!”

Kate thought about it, and then nodded. “Great idea,” she said. “It’s more important to get Louie back than worry about turning Harry in to the police.”

“Okay!” Mike said. He and Kate started walking to the hot dog stand. But as they turned the corner, Harry disappeared behind his hot dog cart.

“Ah, ah, achoooooooo!” Harry bent over in a sneezing fit. “Achoooooooo! Achoooooooo!”

He grabbed handfuls of napkins to sneeze into. The sneezes echoed down the hallway.

Kate grabbed Mike’s arm and pulled him back around the corner.

“Hold on!” she said. “I’ve got a new plan. Harry’s sneezing!”

“I know that,” Mike said. “He’s been sneezing all day.”

“No! You’re missing the point,” Kate said. “He’s sneezing. Remember when we were petting Louie and Harry looked at our signed baseball? He sneezed! He said he was allergic to dogs!”

Harry sneezed again.

“That must be a bad allergy if he’s been sneezing all this time,” Mike said.

“No! That’s not it!” Kate said. “He’s sneezing now because Louie must be someplace nearby!”

Mike’s eyes opened wide. “Wow! I’ll bet you’re right,” he said. “But where?”

Mike and Kate peeked around the corner. Harry had stopped sneezing and was selling hot dogs to two little girls. When he was finished, Harry turned around and opened a door behind him. He went into what looked like a storage room and came out a moment later with packages of hot dog buns.

“Louie could be in that storage room!” Kate said.

“Or in that cooler,” Mike said. He pointed to a red cooler behind Harry. “It’s big enough for Louie to fit in if he curled up. Maybe Harry drilled holes in the top so Louie would have air to breathe.”

Mike tapped the wall with his finger. “How can we get Harry out of there so we can search for Louie?”

Kate thought for a moment.

“Well, we know he really wants that World Series trophy,” Kate said. “What if we tell him that Manny needs his help with it? Then Harry will go down to the groundskeepers’ area. That will give us at least ten minutes before he returns.”

“But what happens when Manny isn’t there asking for help with the trophy?” Mike asked. “Isn’t he going to be mad at us?”

Kate shrugged. “It doesn’t matter,” she said. “Maybe he’ll think we made a mistake. He’ll probably just come back to his cart. All we need is a few minutes to find Louie.”

They walked over to Harry’s stand and waited for him to finish with a customer.

“Hungry for more already?” Harry asked when he spotted Kate and Mike.

Kate laughed. “No, but we just talked to Manny,” she said. “He’s down in the groundskeepers’ area and wanted to know if you could help him.”

Harry glanced at the hot dog cart. He shook his head. “I don’t know,” he said. “I should really stay with the cart. Maybe he can get someone else.”

“But Manny needs your help getting the World Series trophy ready for the dog-napper,” Kate said.

Harry’s eyes grew wide. “The trophy?” he asked. “Really? I guess I could take a few minutes off.” He nodded for a moment while he thought. Then he reached underneath the cart and pulled out a black-and-white sign. He set it on top of the counter and locked the cash register.

The sign read BACK IN 15 MINUTES.

“Thanks for letting me know,” Harry said. “I’ll be back shortly.” He headed for the groundskeepers’ area.

When Harry disappeared around the corner, Kate turned to Mike.

“Quick! We don’t have much time!” she said. They turned and ran for the door to the supply room. Luckily, it wasn’t locked. Mike pulled it open. Kate ducked inside and switched the light on.

The shelves inside were filled with supplies. Big packages of rolls. Extra cardboard containers for the food. And lots of sauces. But no dog!

Kate sighed. She turned the light off, and they slipped outside.

Mike pointed to the red cooler. “Louie’s got to be in there!” he said. He leaned over and pulled the top of the cooler up.

It was filled with plenty of drink bottles. But again, no dog!

“Aww!” Mike said. “Now what? Harry’s going to be back soon, and we haven’t found Louie!”

“Harry was sneezing. So Louie must be here. But where?” Kate said.

She and Mike studied the area. There wasn’t anything around the hot dog cart except people passing by. There was a souvenir shop about a hundred feet away and a garbage can on the other side of the walkway.

As Mike looked around, he noticed the scoreboard. The Cardinals had just gotten the third out and were coming off the field to bat. “Uh-oh,” Mike said. “Red’s going to be up soon! And the game’s tied! If Red doesn’t get a hit, his streak will be over!”

Kate tapped the ground with her foot. “Think. Think. Think,” she said under her breath. “Where did Harry hide him?”

The glittery silver Gateway Arch caught Mike’s eye. “Well, if we were over at the Arch, I know where I would have hidden Louie,” he said. “In one of those little tram cars! I sure felt trapped in them this morning.”

Kate stopped tapping. “What did you say?” she asked.

Mike looked at her. “You heard me,” he said. He pointed to the Arch. “If we were over there, I would have hidden Louie in a tram car! They’re like little metal boxes.”

Kate’s eyebrows went up. “Brilliant, Mike!” she said. “I think that’s it!”

“What’s it?” Mike asked. “You think Louie is trapped on the Arch? That’s a bit far for Harry to go during the game.”

Kate rolled her eyes. “No! Look at this,” she said. She pointed to Harry’s cart. “What’s that?” she asked.

Mike looked at her funny. “A hot dog cart?” he asked slowly.

Kate shook her head. She pointed to a door on the right side of the back of the cart. “No, what’s that?” she asked.

Mike studied the door. It was about two feet by two feet. “A door to a small metal box on the hot dog cart?”

“Bingo!” Kate said. “It’s a supply cabinet, but I’m pretty sure it doesn’t have supplies in it today! Let’s see what’s inside.”

Mike leaned over and turned the latch on the door.

It didn’t move.

“It’s locked!” Mike said.

Kate tried the handle, but it didn’t budge.

“We don’t have a lot of time,” Mike said. He searched the ground behind them. “Quick! Find a rock or something hard and I’ll smash it open.”

“No, I’ve got a better idea,” Kate said. She reached over to the other side of the cart and picked up a small skewer with grilled peppers and onions on it. Kate slid the food off the skewer and wiped it on a nearby rag. Then she slipped the end of the skewer into the lock.

“What are you doing?” Mike asked.

Kate jiggled the sliver of metal inside the lock. “Picking the lock,” she said. “It looks pretty basic.” She moved the skewer back and forth inside the lock while lightly pressing on the door handle.

“Hey, where’d you learn how to do that?” Mike asked.

Kate glanced over her shoulder at him. “Where do you think?” she said. “From a book, of course! I’ve been reading about Harry Houdini. He was famous for picking locks, and it sounded like fun to me. So I’ve been practicing at home.”

Kate poked one more time, and the latch turned! The cabinet door swung wide open.

Two eyes peeked up at Kate and Mike.

Then a furry nose poked out, and a big wet tongue gave them both big wet kisses!