Authors: David A. Adler

The Mystery of Flight 54 (4 page)

BOOK: The Mystery of Flight 54

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Cam opened her eyes and said, “Hi, Dad.” Then she closed her eyes again and said,
“Click.”

We didn’t find Simone,” Eric whispered. ”But now Cam is using her mental camera. Maybe she’ll remember an important clue.” Cam’s eyes were still closed. Her father held one of her hands. Aunt Molly held the other. They walked with Cam to the car. Eric followed them.

“Click,”
Cam said as they were crossing the street.
“Click,”
she said again as she got into the car.

Cam opened her eyes just as her father was driving out of the airport parking lot. “Don’t go this way. Follow the bus to the city,” Cam said.

“What?”

“Follow the bus to the city. I think we’ll find Simone standing at one of the bus stops.”

Chapter Seven

M
r. Jansen drove the car to the side of the road. He turned off the car’s engine and then turned and looked at Cam.

“Why do you think you’ll find Simone at one of the bus stops?”

“The Greens don’t know what Simone looks like, so they have a picture of her. And I’m sure that Simone has a picture of the Greens. If she saw someone who looked like the picture, she would follow him.”

“But why do you think Simone is at one of the bus stops?” Cam’s father asked again.

“Just when Aunt Molly was coming out with her luggage there was an announcement for the city bus. One of the people rushing for the bus was an old, fat man with a white beard. He bumped into Eric. Mr. Green is fat. He’s old and he has a white beard. I think Simone might have followed that man. She may have thought he was her uncle.”

Mr. Jansen started the car and said, “We’ll follow the bus for a few stops, but I don’t think we’ll find Simone.”

Mr. Jansen drove on. He found the bus waiting at one of the traffic lights. It was a blue bus with a red roof. When the traffic light changed to green, and the bus moved ahead, Mr. Jansen followed it.

Eric asked Cam, “But wouldn’t the man have told Simone that he was not her uncle?”

“The man was in a hurry. He probably didn’t even know Simone was following him until he got on the bus. And if he doesn’t speak French it may have taken a while for him to realize what Simone wanted.”

The bus stopped. Mr. Jansen stopped his car, too. Cam and Eric looked at the people waiting on both sides of the street. They didn’t see Simone.

A few people got off the bus. Then it drove away from the stop and Mr. Jansen followed it.

“I saw lots of castles on this trip,” Aunt Molly said. “I even went into two of them. They were real cold and drafty inside. Kings and queens must have lots of sweaters.”

The. bus stopped again. The three women with suitcases on wheels got off. The bus doors closed and the bus drove away. Mr. Jansen was about to follow it.

“Stop, Dad. I see her. She’s across the street,” Cam said.

Cam and Eric got out of the car. They walked to the corner and waited for the traffic light to change to green. Then they crossed the street.

“Hi, Simone. I’m Cam.”

“And my name is Eric.”

“Que?”

“My name is Eric,” he said again, louder and very slowly.

“Je ne comprends pas.”

“Simone, look at this,” Cam said. She stretched out her arms, flapped them, and made airplane noises.

“Brrrr. Brrrr. Brum, brum, brum.”

Then Cam took a few small steps and moved her head all around as if she was looking for someone.

“Qu’avez-vous?”

Eric pointed to Simone and said, “Simone Green?”

“Oui.”

“I think
‘we’
means ‘yes.’ ” Eric said to Cam.

Eric pointed in the direction of the airport and said, “Charles and Ida Green.”

“Oui.”

“Come with us,” Cam said to Simone. But as she and Eric walked toward the car, Simone didn’t follow them.

“We’re strangers to her,” Eric said. “She won’t go in the car with us.”

Aunt Molly had crossed the street. She said that she would wait with Simone. Cam and Eric would return to the airport and get the Greens.

“I’m glad you found Simone,” Mr. Jansen told Cam and Eric while they were on their way to the airport. “But we have to hurry. By now there’s a crowd of people waiting at home to surprise Molly.”

The Greens were happy to see Cam and Eric again. And when they told the Greens that they had found Simone, Mrs. Green hugged Cam and Eric.

The Greens had called the airport guards and the police and asked them to look for Simone. Now they called again and told them that Simone was found. Then they went in Mr. Jansen’s car.

“You thought that Simone might be hungry,” Mr. Green said to Eric in the car. “So while we were waiting, I bought her a few things to eat.”

Mr. Green took a wrapped egg salad sandwich from one pocket. He took some packaged cookies and dried fruit from another pocket. “And Ida has a can of juice in her handbag.”

“There she is. I see her,” Mrs. Green said.

Mr. Jansen stopped the car. The Greens got out, crossed the street, and ran to Simone.

“They’re all so happy,” Aunt Molly said when she opened the car door and got inside.

A moment later Mr. and Mrs. Green came to the car. They were each carrying one of Simone’s suitcases. Mrs. Green was holding Simone’s hand

“Can I drive you someplace?” Mr. Jansen asked.

“No. We’ll take the bus,” Mr. Green said. “We want to thank you again for finding Simone.”

“Merci. Merci,”
Simone said. She smiled and waved as Mr. Jansen drove away.

Chapter Eight

“J
ennifer, I’m proud of you. And I’m proud of you, too, Eric,” Mr. Jansen said as he drove.

“That was exciting,” Aunt Molly said. “As soon as Cam closed her eyes and said,
’Cluck’
I knew she would find Simone.”

Eric laughed. “Chickens say
‘Cluck.’
Cam says
‘Click,’
like a camera.”

“There were chickens on the road to one of the castles I visited. The driver stopped the tour bus a few times to let them go past.”

Mr. Jansen parked the car in front of their house. “Oh my, look how pretty your garden is,” Aunt Molly said as she opened the car door.

Cam and Eric quickly got out of the car. “We’ll go and tell Mom that you’re coming,” Cam said as they ran to the house.

Cam and Eric opened the door. People were standing in the living room and talking.

“She’s coming,” Cam told them.

Two women quickly hid behind the living room curtains. A few people hid behind the couch and chairs. Eric’s father and mother took the baby and hid in the dining room. Eric’s twin sisters, Donna and Diane, hid in the kitchen.

Aunt Molly walked into the house. She looked around.

“Surprise!” Eric’s parents and the others called as they came out of hiding. Mrs. Jansen came in carrying a large cake. “Happy Birthday Molly,” was written on the cake.

“But my birthday is April 7,” Aunt Molly said.

“That’s today,” Mr. Jansen told her.

Aunt Molly greeted her friends. “And this must be little Harry,” she said when she saw Eric’s baby brother.

“He’s Howie,” Eric told her.

“And you must be Darlene and Dora,” she said when she saw Eric’s sisters.

“No, I’m Donna.”

“And I’m Diane.”