Read Online The Pizza Mystery by Gertrude Chandler Warner - Free Book Online

bright yellow coupons.
    â€œWe came for the free sodas,” a boy about Violet’s age said when he came over to the table. “And pizza, of course. We’ve got our own money for that!”
    The Piccolos, the Aldens, and Laurie had no idea what this boy was talking about.
    Henry took the boy’s coupon and read it out loud: “ BUY A SLICE OF PIZZA, GET A SODA FREE. THIS COUPON GOOD BETWEEN 5:00 AND 7:00 ONLY. FOR CHILDREN, AGES TWELVE AND UNDER .”
    Mr. Piccolo looked over Henry’s shoulder then took the coupon. “Is this one of the coupons you handed out today?” he asked the Aldens in an alarmed voice. “I can make pizza, but free sodas would cost us all the profit we made at lunch. And to give away something during the dinner hour—there won’t be room for our regular customers who pay for a whole meal.”
    Jessie studied the yellow coupon too. “This isn’t the coupon we handed out. Ours was for a ten percent discount on lunch pizza.”
    The boy looked upset. “Somebody left a stack of these on a table in the gym lobby. That’s where I got it.” The boy held up some coins. “See, I do have money for the pizza.”
    By this time, a man in a sweatsuit had come over to find out what was going on. “Is there a problem here? I’m the director of the day program at the Silver Falls middle school. We have a sports program there during the winter vacation. These kids here have been playing hard all day, so your coupons seemed like a great idea.”
    The man had barely finished talking when another crowd of children came into the restaurant. Each of them had a free soda coupon, too!
    â€œI’ll seat them,” Laurie said, “then we’ll figure out what to do.”
    â€œThere’s nothing to do but feed these hungry children,” Mrs. Piccolo said.
    In the kitchen, the Piccolos pulled out more sauce from the deep freezer. Benny got busy grating more cheese. Henry and Jessie headed down to the cellar to bring up cases of soda.
    â€œThis is going to cost the Piccolos a fortune, Henry,” Jessie said.
    Henry looked upset. “I can’t believe someone would go to all this trouble to make up coupons. They look like the ones we gave out, but they say something totally different. If a lot of kids keep coming in with these coupons, the Piccolos could lose their business.”
    Henry’s worse fears came true when he and Jessie came upstairs and checked the dining room. “Oh, no! Every table is filled with kids. Do they all have coupons?”
    Mr. Piccolo sighed. “Every one, I’m afraid. Another bunch came in and said there was a stack of coupons at the ice-skating rink too. Every child in Silver Falls who wasn’t at the gym was at the skating rink!”

    Violet went over to some regular customers who were talking to Mrs. Piccolo.
    â€œSorry, Mrs. Piccolo,” one woman was saying. “Thanks for the offer of take-out pizza. But my husband and I were planning on eating out. We’ll come back another night when it’s not so busy.”
    â€œWait, wait!” Mrs. Piccolo said. “Here. Take one of our discount coupons. I’ll cross out ‘lunch’ and write in ‘dinner’ on it. You get a discount on any pizza you order the next time you come in for dinner. Okay?”
    Violet couldn’t even hear what the couple answered. The restaurant was noisy with the laughter and shouts of children. During the next two hours, the Piccolos turned away dozens of customers while Silver Falls kids of all ages enjoyed pizza slices and free sodas during the busiest night of the week.
    As Violet headed into the kitchen with some orders, she saw a familiar face in the front window of the restaurant. It was Nick, peeking in. Violet waved for him to come in. She went to the door. If Nick was feeling better, Piccolos’ Pizza could sure use him right then. But by the time Violet