Read Online The Canary Caper by Ron Roy - Free Book Online Page A

was hanging in an apple tree.

    “Split up,” Dink said. “Check all the bushes and flowers.”
    The kids searched every tree, shrub, and flower bed. Mrs. Davis watched from her back porch. “Any luck?” she asked Dink.
    He shook his head. “I’m afraid not, but we’ll keep looking.”
    “It’s such a beautiful day,” Mrs. Davis said. “I hope you kids have something fun planned.”
    “After we find Mozart, we’re going to the circus,” Dink told her.
    “The circus! Well, please don’t let me stop you!” Mrs. Davis said. “Mozart knows his cage. I’m sure he’ll fly home soon.”
    But Dink could tell that Mrs. Davis wasn’t really so sure. “Okay, but we’ll call you later,” he promised.
    They said good-bye to Mrs. Davis and headed for the high school. TheTinker Town Traveling Circus had set up on the school baseball field the day before and would leave town Monday night.
    The kids cut through a bunch of circus trailers and trucks on their way to the admissions gate. The sides of the trailers were painted with pictures of clowns, tigers, and elephants.
    They arrived five minutes after one, but the ticket lady let them in for half-price anyway a dollar each.
    “What’ll we do first?” Ruth Rose asked.
    “Let’s eat,” Josh said.
    “No way,” Dink said. “You already had lunch, and you probably gobbled down half my mom’s cookies. Let’s walk around and see what’s here.”
    They watched birds do tricks, dogs ride on ponies, and a chimp dressed like Elvis “sing” into a microphone.

    They all gulped when a tiger trainer put his hand right inside a tiger’s mouth.
    “Guess the tiger’s not hungry,” Josh said with a grin.
    In Clown Corner, a clown dressed as a giraffe danced on stilts. He kept time to the music by snapping his yellow suspenders.
    “I have to leave soon,” Ruth Rosesaid after a while. “My mom needs me to watch Nate while she goes shopping.”
    The kids left, cutting through the town rose garden to get to Woody Street.
    Dink snapped his fingers. “I just remembered—my mom said I can set up my tent in the backyard. Can you guys get permission to sleep out?”
    “No problem for me,” Josh said.
    “Nate’s never slept in a tent, so I’ll bring him,” Ruth Rose said. “And Tiger,” she added sweetly.
    “Your little brother!” Josh yelped. “Great, we’ll have our own circus—a four-year-old monkey and a man-eating tiger!”
    Ruth Rose laughed. “Don’t worry. We’ll bring our own tent.”
    Dink and Josh dropped Ruth Rose off at her house, then continued on toDink’s. There they went inside and called Mrs. Davis.
    “She says Mozart hasn’t come back,” Dink told Josh after he’d hung up.
    While they were pitching Dink’s tent, Ruth Rose came over. Nate trailed behind her, dragging his extinct-looking stuffed dinosaur.
    “Hey, where’s your man-eating cat?” Josh asked.
    Ruth Rose dropped her tent on the ground. She looked as if she’d just swallowed something nasty.
    “What’s the matter, Ruth Rose?” Dink asked.
    “Tiger is missing,” Ruth Rose said quietly. “And my mother says she hasn’t been home all day.”

Early the next morning, Ruth Rose poked her head into Dink’s tent. “Wake up, you guys!”
    Dink shot up out of a sound sleep. “Did Tiger come back?” he asked, peering sleepily at Ruth Rose.
    “No, she didn’t. I’m going to the police station and I want you guys to come with me.”
    Josh rolled over in his sleeping bag. “To report a missing cat?”
    “No, to report a missing cat
and
a missing canary,” Ruth Rose said. Then she ducked back out of the tent.
    Dink and Josh looked at each other, then crawled out after her. Ruth Rose was pacing back and forth across the lawn.
    “Guys, it’s just too weird,” she said. “Two animals disappeared from the same street on the same day!” Ruth Rose stopped pacing and looked at them. “I don’t think Mozart and Tiger wandered off, I think they were stolen. I’m