1. Spying on the Neighbors

Calendar Mysteries November Night by Ron Roy

Chapter 1 Spying on the Neighbors On the Sunday before Thanksgiving, Bradley Pinto walked into his bedroom. His twin brother, Brian, was kneeling in front of the window. He was peering through binoculars. "What are you doing?" Bradley asked. "Nothing," Brian said.

"Yes, you are," Bradley said. "You're spying on the new neighbors again." "I'm not exactly spying," Brian said. "I'm just checking them out." Bradley flopped down on his bed. "Mom and Dad gave us the binoculars so we could learn about birds and nature stuff," he said. "Looking at people is more fun," Brian said. "And I am learning about nature. I saw a hawk in the tree." Bradley knelt next to his brother. He looked at the brand-new fence that surrounded the neighbors' yard. A tall dead tree stood in the middle of the backyard. Before the new neighbors moved in, the twins used to play inside the tree's hollow trunk. The tree trunk was so big that Bradley and Brian couldn't stretch their arms around it. Sometimes, they would hide in the trunk from their older brother, Josh. Other times, the twins and their friends Nate and Lucy would sit inside and pretend they were lost in the woods. Or they'd pretend to be cave people hiding from ferocious animals.

Bradley had lined the hollow trunk with hay from Polly the pony's stall to make it softer to sit on. Brian had invented a game called troll in the hole. He would hide inside the tree trunk, wearing a scary Halloween mask. Bradley, Nate, and Lucy would walk past, and Brian would jump out, yelling, "Troll is hungry! Troll is going to eat you!" Nate would yell, "Don't eat me, Mr. Troll! I taste like rotten eggs!" Bradley would yell, "Don't eat me, Mr. Troll! I taste like dirty socks!" Lucy would just run away, laughing. But last week, a moving van had shown up. Workers unloaded furniture and boxes. New neighbors moved in! Bradley's mom told the twins the neighbors were Mr. and Mrs. Sargent. A few days later, a truck carrying lumber drove into the driveway. Two men spent a whole day building a tall wood fence around the neighbors' yard with slats so close together that the kids couldn't see through it. There was a wide gate so the Sargents could drive their car inside the fence.

Now the kids couldn't get into the yard. They couldn't play troll in the hole. They could just look at their favorite tree through binoculars. "Look, there they are!" Brian cried suddenly. On the other side of the fence were a man and woman. They had gray hair and wore sweaters and jeans. The man had on a red baseball cap. A gray ponytail stuck out the back. They stood and stared up at the old dead tree. "Maybe they're going to cut the tree down," Bradley said. "They better not!" Brian wailed. "What about my money?" "What money?" Bradley asked. Brian picked up his piggy bank and shook it. The bank was empty. "Every week, I hide my allowance money in a jar. I put the jar inside the old tree under the hay." Bradley's eyes got wide. "Why do you hide your money?" he asked. "So Josh won't get it!" Brian said. "He used to sneak in here and borrow money from my bank. Only he forgot to pay it back!"

They both looked out the window. "What if the new neighbors find the jar?" Brian asked. "There's twenty dollars and thirty-seven cents in it!" "Well, what about my flashlight?" Bradley asked. "What about it?" Brian said. "The last time we were playing inside the tree, I left my special flashlight under the hay," Bradley said. "The one with little bats on the handle that glow in the dark!" Just then, something huge, black, and hairy bolted out of the neighbors' back door. It charged across the yard toward the man and woman. "Oh my gosh, a bear is attacking Mr. and Mrs. Sargent!" Brian said. The giant hairy thing stood on its hind legs and began licking Mrs. Sargent's face. Bradley gulped. "It's just a really big dog," he said. "I guess that's why they built the fence." The boys' basset hound, Pal, wandered into the room. He padded over to the window and put his front paws on the sill. When he saw the neighbors' dog, he let out a low growl.