4. What’s in Mr. Pocket’s Pocket

Chapter 4 What's in Mr. Pocket's Pocket? "What happened?" Bradley asked. "Brian poked a bees' nest!" Nate yelled. He and Brian flopped on the ground, out of breath. "Did you get stung?" Lucy asked. "No, we ran too fast!" Brian said. "Did you find any eggs?" Bradley asked. Nate grinned. "Yeah, we found two on the baseball field," he said. He and Brian each pulled

a plastic egg from their pockets. "They were on the pitcher's mound and home plate." "And they had candy kisses inside," Brian said, rubbing his belly. "So we've got ten eggs so far," Lucy said. "But we haven't found a real egg yet." Nate and Brian put their eggs into the basket with the others. "Where haven't we looked?" Bradley asked. "How about over there?" Lucy asked. Not far from the playhouse were some wooden farm animals. There were ducks and chickens, cows, sheep, goats, and ponies. The animals had been painted to look real. The four kids ran over to the make-believe farm. They looked behind the wooden animals and in the grass where they stood. "Nothing!" Brian said. "Wait, I see something!" Bradley yelled. He looked inside a goat's mouth and there was a plastic egg. "This is number eleven!" Bradley found a cookie inside the egg and ate it.

Lucy soon found another egg. It was under the hen, in its make-believe nest. Inside was a tiny plastic mirror. The kids put the eggs in Lucy's basket. "We have all twelve plastic eggs," she said. "But we still don't have the real ones." "I don't know where else to look," Bradley said.

"Maybe the eggs hatched," Nate said, "and the little chickens ran away!" "Talking about eggs is making me hungry," Brian said. "Let's go home and eat breakfast." The kids hiked up Eagle Lane toward Bradley and Brian's house. The sun over the trees made them squint their eyes. They clumped up the back steps and walked into the kitchen. Dink, Josh, and Ruth Rose were there making breakfast. A bowl of pancake batter sat on the counter. Pal sat near Josh's feet, watching him. "Pancakes, yum, yum!" Brian said. "I'm starving!" Josh put his finger on his lips. "Shhh, Mom and Dad are still sleeping," he said. The four kids pulled off their sneakers as quietly as they could. "Where have you guys been?" Josh went on. He looked upset. "Searching for these!" Lucy said. She set the egg basket on the table.

"Plastic eggs?" Dink asked. "Where'd you get those?" "You know where we found them because you hid them," Nate said. "You left notes on our pillows!" "Notes on your pillows?" Ruth Rose asked. "What do you mean?" "Inside plastic eggs!" Lucy added. "Why would we do that?" Josh asked. "Because you three are the Shadow!" Bradley cried. He pulled out his note. "This is printed off your computer, Josh!" Josh laughed. "Okay, we're busted," he said. "We did it. So how many eggs did you find?" "All of them," Nate said. Dink, Josh, and Ruth Rose looked in the basket. "I only count twelve," Dink said. "We couldn't find the four real ones," Lucy said. "Do we still get the treasure?" Brian asked.

"No way," Josh said. "Wash your hands and let's eat." The four younger kids washed up, then pulled chairs to the table. Soon all seven were gobbling up pancakes and drinking juice. "So where did you hide the real eggs?" Bradley asked. "Should we tell them?" Josh asked Dink and Ruth Rose. The other two nodded. "You know that sign telling people not to feed the swans?" Josh asked. The four younger kids nodded. "Well, the real eggs were on the ground, next to the sign," Dink said. "You didn't see them?" "Nope," Bradley said. "And I would have, because I was standing right next to the sign." "That's funny," Dink said. "I put them in the grass by the sign." "Maybe somebody stole them!" Brian said.