George was still missing the next day. The Aldens were under orders from Mr. Fowler. They were not to return to the Pretty Bird Pet Shop until the monkey was found.
The Aldens asked every one of their newspaper customers about George. No one had seen him. They checked every yard they passed. But still, no George.
Jessie began to roll up a newspaper to deliver. Something caught her attention on the front page. “Look at this!” She read an article out loud:
Monkey Missing
A Woolly South American monkey named George escaped from the Pretty Bird Pet Shop over the weekend. Mr. Walter Fowler, manager of the Pretty Bird Pet Shop, believes the monkey and a South American macaw both escaped when young employees of the shop left the store unlocked Sunday morning. The macaw was later recovered by the fire department. The monkey is still missing. Anyone with information about the lost monkey should call the Pretty Bird Pet Shop.
“Oh, no,” Jessie said. “We didn’t leave the shop unlocked. Mr. Fowler did. Why won’t he give us a chance to explain how we found the keys and everything?”
Henry put his arm around Jessie’s shoulder. “He’s probably afraid Mrs. Tweedy will fire him if he admits his mistake.”
“If only he’d listen,” Jessie said. She kicked some leaves along the sidewalk on the way to Main Street.
When the Aldens reached the corner, Mrs. Doolittle spotted the children before they saw her. She marched over. Her shopping bag swung from one arm and her black umbrella from the other. “I understand you lost Mrs. Tweedy’s new animals!” she said before the Aldens could even say hello. “I told Mrs. Tweedy and Mr. Fowler the same thing. If they needed extra help in the shop, they should look for a responsible adult.”
Benny tried to hold back what he had to say, but he couldn’t. “We didn’t lose George and Rainbow. Somebody forgot to lock the door.”
Mrs. Doolittle looked at Benny over the tops of her glasses. “Indeed! I’ll have you know I went by the shop yesterday afternoon and looked through the front window. I saw you making a mess in there.”
Why was Mrs. Doolittle always so upset with the Aldens?
“We were cleaning up,” Soo Lee explained in her squeaky voice. “We didn’t spill the food.”
“Nonsense!” Mrs. Doolittle said. “I was in the shop Saturday night. Everything was quite tidy until you children arrived yesterday.”
The children were confused.
“When were you in the shop Saturday night?” Henry asked. “We were there until it closed. We didn’t see you.”
Mrs. Doolittle banged the tip of her umbrella on the sidewalk. “I’ll have you know that Agnes Tweedy gave me an extra set of keys. In fact, since Mr. Fowler lost his set, it was a good thing I had them so he could open up the shop this morning.”
Jessie took a deep breath before saying anything. “We found some keys that were left in the lock sometime Sunday. Maybe that’s how Rainbow and George got out.”
Mrs. Doolittle’s mind was made up. She picked up the newspaper in the wagon. “That’s not what this newspaper says. Rainbow got loose because children shouldn’t be allowed to do the work of adults.” With that Mrs. Doolittle put her umbrella under her arm and disappeared down the street.
“Should we still go the pet shop now?” Violet asked Jessie. “Mrs. Doolittle and Mr. Fowler seem like friends. They don’t want us around.”
Benny thought of something. “What if Mrs. Doolittle let out George and Rainbow?”
The children looked at each other.
“Hey, Benny, maybe you have something there,” Henry began. “We know Mrs. Doolittle had keys. And who found Rainbow anyway? She did. Maybe she knew where Rainbow was the whole time.”
Jessie was frowning. “But why would she let out the animals? She’s always complaining that nobody knows how to take care of them except grown-ups. That doesn’t make any sense.”
The Aldens thought about this the rest of the way to the pet shop. When they arrived, Grayfellow was on his perch in the front window. Mr. Fowler was feeding him. The minute Mr. Fowler saw the Aldens, he dropped the bag of birdseed, went over to the front door, and put up the CLOSED sign.
“He shut us out,” Violet said, annoyed. “I want to see Rainbow.”
Henry tried to calm Violet. “Rainbow might not even be in the store anymore. I know how much you want to see her. I hope she’s gone to the zoo like Mr. Fowler said. She looked pretty sick after we brought her back.”
A truck from the pet food company pulled up. Mr. Peterson, the driver, recognized the Aldens. “Hey, my lucky day. Five pairs of hands to help me carry in some boxes. What do you say?”
“Sure thing, Mr. Peterson,” Henry answered. “Show us what to bring in.”
As the Aldens loaded up packages, Jessie whispered to everyone, “Good thinking, Henry. We’ll just follow Mr. Peterson. Now Mr. Fowler has to let us in.”
Sure enough, as soon as he spotted the delivery man, Mr. Fowler unlocked the front door. “Come on in,” he said. “I put up the CLOSED sign when I saw some pesky customers outside. I had to catch up on some paperwork. Now that you’re here, we can go over next month’s orders.”
Mr. Peterson carried several large boxes to the counter. “It was my lucky day. The Aldens were outside, so they’re helping me with my delivery.”
Before Mr. Fowler could say a thing, all five Aldens trooped into the store.
“Hey!” Mr. Fowler yelled. “What are you kids doing? Just leave the boxes on the floor. I’ll put them away.”
Mr. Peterson looked confused. “Gee, Walt, it’s not every day you have five helpers who know what they’re doing. That gives us both plenty of time to go over next month’s orders. The Aldens know where everything goes.”
“No, they don’t,” Mr. Fowler said. “They don’t know where the monkey went after they left my shop wide open yesterday.”
Mr. Peterson was caught in the middle. “Tell you what. I’ll keep an eye out for George on my route. I guess I’d better be on my way.”
After Mr. Peterson left, Henry brought over a stack of packing slips from the shipments. “We’re all done, Mr. Fowler, except for one thing.” Henry reached into his jacket pocket. “Here are the store keys.”
Mr. Fowler’s eyes flashed with anger. “You took these keys and left the store unlocked?”
Henry looked Mr. Fowler straight in the eye. “No, we didn’t take these keys. We found them. We saw you driving away just a couple of minutes before we got here on Sunday. Somebody forgot to lock up and left these keys in the lock.”
The phone rang before Mr. Fowler had time to think of an excuse. “Out of here! All of you, out of here!” he shouted, picking up the phone.
The Aldens filed out of the store. They had just left when Jessie remembered something. “My backpack’s inside. Wait here. I’ll be right out.”
Mr. Fowler was yelling on the phone and didn’t see Jessie.
“Can I help it?” Mr. Fowler asked someone. “Look, you said they wanted the animals right away. Then what happens? They changed their minds when I got there. And what am I supposed to do with a monkey after all the trouble we went through to ship it up from South America? Anyway, I brought back the animals. Then, wouldn’t you know that monkey made a mess of things, dumping boxes and opening cages? I guess he went wild.”
Jessie couldn’t hear the person on the other end of the phone, but Mr. Fowler wasn’t finished. “The monkey will turn up. Just give me until Saturday,” Mr. Fowler said. “Only this time, make sure whoever you line up really wants the animals. See you Saturday night. Yeah, I’ll have both of them by then if I have to search day and night.”
Jessie bent down to grab her backpack. She tried not to make too much noise. Could she get out of the store without Mr. Fowler seeing her? What was he planning for Saturday night?