Section 1: The Suspects
1. Grundy
2. Marissa and Larissa
3. Three teenagers
4. Someone else who was in the store
Section 2: The Case of the Missing Sparklers
"Gottlieb, get out my bag!" Grundy yelled at the goat that was following her around, shooing him away. "Happy birthday to me! I was born to be free," she started to sing. Her birthday was on the fourth of July. "Happy birthday, happy birthday, happy birthday to me."
"Hey Grundy!" hollered Marissa and Larissa, from across the street. They were thirteen-year old identical twins.
Larissa said, "I hope that you have a Happy Birthday tomorrow. We are going to buy some firecrackers for the Fourth of July celebration."
"Firecrackers! Firecrackers!" echoed Peachy, a red and blue parrot, sitting on his perch in front of Mr. Bugsworthy's general store. "Firecrackers!"
"Be quiet," yelled Benjamin, his one-legged owner, sitting on the bench by the door.
"Now, now!" said Mr Bugsworthy, who had heard all of the ruckus. "Hey Grundy, you buying anything today? I didn't think so. Get out of here with that goat!"
Gazing at the twins sternly, he said, "You two should know that you cannot purchase any fireworks without an adult."
"Aw, give the kids a break," said Benjamin. "At least one sparkler for each of them." He was a rough man, but he loved children.
"One, anyhow," echoed Grundy.
She was known to everyone in the town as the local bag lady. No one knew where she came from, but she was always wandering the streets looking for treasures. Often she found a few things that were real treasures to her and put them in her shopping cart. Gottlieb, a neighborhood goat, followed her around because he knew that she would feed him every day, from the bag she usually carried over her shoulder.
"How much are the sparklers?" asked the Marissa.
"Yes, how much, please, Mr. Bugsworthy?" repeated Larissa, very politely. "We do have some money."
"Too much for you to afford!" said Mr. Bugsworthy. He knew that the girls did not have a father and that their mother did not make a lot of money working as a waitress in the local restaurant. He figured that most of the time, she survived on tips, but with two mouths to feed, she was probably having a hard time making ends meet.
"Will I do? I am an adult," said Benjamin. "Let them each have one and I will pay the difference."
"All right," agreed Mr. Bugsworthy cautiously, after he pondered for a moment. "That solves the problem," he thought silently, but when he went to get the sparklers for them, he was stunned to find that there was only one sparkler left in the box.
"My sparklers are gone!" he said to Benjamin, with his mouth hanging open. "I only have one left. I just bought a whole box, day before yesterday. Who on earth stole my firecrackers?"
"Firecrackers!" said Peachy again. That was the one word he always seemed to remember. Most of what Benjamin had taught him, he did not remember.
By that time, Grundy was disappearing out of sight and Gottlieb was right behind her.
"Don't look at me," said Benjamin. "I warned you about those kids."
"We didn't take them," said the twins, at the same moment.
"I don't mean you two," replied Benjamin. He had always liked these girls, but he had a hard time telling them apart and called them Cutsie and Tootsie, when he could not remember their real names. They both had freckles and wore ponytails.
"Now what do I do?" replied Mr. Bugsworthy. "Here it is almost the Fourth of July, and I have no sparklers. I cannot get any more by tomorrow!"
Marissa pulled Larissa's arm and said, "Come here for a minute." They stepped away from the doorway where the men were now standing. "I think I know who those boys might be."
"Who?" asked Larissa. "I mean, you do?"
"I saw three teenage boys down by the beach, the other day, setting up some kind of a club house. They were just putting up a sign that said, "No girls allowed and no trespassers."
"Maybe we had better tell Mr. Bugsworthy? Or Benjamin?" said Larissa, quietly. "Do you think we should?"
"Let's wait," replied Marissa. "No, on second thought, let's tell them now. If they are the ones who stole the sparklers, maybe they can get them back."
"All right, let's go tell them."
"Mr. Bugsworthy, Benjamin," started Marissa. She was always the serious one who took the lead in everything. "We have something important to tell you."
"I sure hope that you are not going to tell me you two girls stole the sparklers, but then, that is not what you are going to say, is it? You came to buy firecrackers, with money," said Mr. Bugsworthy.
"Firecrackers," said Peachy. "Firecrackers."
"Sh, you silly old bird," said Benjamin. "Don't you know any other words?"
"We think that we might know where the sparklers are," said Larissa very quietly, as she did not want to upset Mr. Bugsworthy any further.
“We are not sure though."
"Maybe it was Grundy," said Benjamin. "She is always picking up stuff all over the place."
"No, let the girls talk."
After the twins explained where they thought the sparklers might be hidden, Mr. Bugsworthy and Benjamin looked at them in astonishment.
"Girls, you just might be right," Mr. Bugsworthy said. "If you are, you are both in for a nice reward. I will see to that!"
"If it is Grundy," said Benjamin, "Gottlieb will try to eat them."
"Who else could it be?" Marissa asked Larissa. "I know who didn't do it. We can be certain of that."
"Peachy," said Larissa, laughing aloud. "He can say firecrackers, but he cannot steal sparklers."
"It could be anyone else who was in my store, too," said Mr. Bugsworthy "But my guess is that if we
investigate that clubhouse, we just might have the culprits. Let's go talk to the sergeant. He will know how to handle this."
"Thieves always boast after they steal something," said Benjamin. "Girls, take a walk around and see if there is anyone boasting out there. Let me know if you hear any talk about sparklers."
"Maybe Mr. Bugsworthy put them somewhere else and forgot?" suggested Marissa, later.
"I don't think so," said Larissa. "He's forgetful all right, but not that forgetful. Hey, this looks like the wrapping paper from a sparkler! Maybe it was Grundy and Gottlieb chewed it the paper off?"
"Could be. Maybe we will never know?"
Just then they heard a sizzling sound coming from the beach and in the distance, someone was singing
"Happy Birthday."
"Oh, oh," said Marissa excitedly. "We've got the thief now!" She started running towards the beach. "We are going to get that reward!"
"Let's go catch whoever this is!" said Larissa, chasing after her sister. "Happy Fourth of July!"
Section 3: The Clues
1. Three teenage boys building a clubhouse
2. The twins found a piece of wrapping from a sparkler
3. Sizzling sound heard by the girls
4. Singing
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