Samantha Spade was dressed as a banana.
Her face, arms and legs were the only body parts poking out of the furry, yellow costume. Samantha’s friend, Flo Mason, giggled as Samantha waddled up the sidewalk to Flo’s front porch.
“That’s an ap-peel-ing get-up,” Flo said.
“Very funny,” replied Samantha, “especially coming from a giant cell phone. Happy Halloween!”
“Same to you,” said Flo, touching the pound-sign button on her wireless telephone costume. A computerized version of “Monster Mash” played for ten seconds. “Pretty cool, huh? Having a mother who works for Sprint sure pays off for trick or treat.”
Flo opened the door and yelled inside to her parents, telling them that she and Samantha were going trick or treating. Her mother shouted back the usual precautions – stay together and only visit homes of people you know – and then the two girls, plastic bags in hand, were on their way.
As they went door to door, Samantha thought how lucky she was to spend Halloween in the city of Sallami. She had been afraid that her dad’s temporary computer installation job would end months ago, but so far he was still happily buried in line after line of binary code at the city school.
This was the longest she’d ever remained at one school; consequently, her reputation for solving mysteries – usually in one minute or less – had grown to an all-time high. She was now regularly known as the Sixty-Second Solution throughout Sallami.
But tonight she wasn’t thinking about mysteries. She was thinking, instead, about candy: M&M’s, Clark bars, Smarties and many others that filled her bag as she and Flo trekked along Watson Lane. But mysteries had a way of finding Samantha, even when she wasn’t looking for them!
At the intersection of Watson and Holmes Avenue, Samantha and Flo heard a child scream, “My pummin! My pummin!”
Flo said, “Hey, that’s Miranda!. Come on!”
She ran toward a small ranch house located on a wooded, corner lot. Samantha followed, doing her best to navigate in her Chiquita banana costume. The entire yard was filled with a six-inch carpet of fallen leaves, and they crunched loudly beneath her feet as she ran.
When Samantha caught up to her friend, Flo was already hugging a little girl dressed in bunny ears and a cotton tail. The child was sobbing uncontrollably, pointing at a shattered jack-o-lantern on the sidewalk.
“My pummin! My pummin!” she cried. “Somemody smashed my pummin!”
Flo wiped away the little girl’s tears. “Sam, this is Miranda, the little girl I babysit after school. She’s three years old. Somebody’s smashed her pumpkin.”
“They certainly did,” Sam said. Pumpkin pieces were everywhere.
“Just then, the front door opened, and Miranda’s parents, whom Flo introduced as Jack and Debbie Wright, came outside. Debbie lifted Miranda and hugged her tightly.
“This was her favorite jack-o-lantern,” Mr. Wright said, as he swept up the pulpy mess with a broom and dustpan. “We’d just carved it this afternoon.”
“Did you see who did it?” asked Samantha.
“Not really,” Mrs. Wright answered. “Since we’re on a corner lot, we give out candy at the front and back doors. The doorbell rang out back, and Jack and I gave treats to a ghost and a witch. That’s when I heard Miranda start to cry.”
“Ghost an’ witch,” repeated Miranda. “Ghost an’ witch broked my pummin.”
“No, honey,” said Mr. Wright. “The ghost and the witch were out back with us. There’s no way they could have broken your pumpkin in the front yard.”
“Don’t be so sure,” said Sam, pointing toward the sidewalk on Holmes Avenue. Four kids, two dressed as ghosts and two dressed as witches, were walking there.
“Hey, you kids,” called Mr. Wright. “Come over here!”
They did. Jack asked them who was responsible for breaking the pumpkin.
“Not me,” said one witch, pulling off her mask. Underneath, she was Lora Dublin, a high school girl who lived in the neighborhood.
The other three Trick-or-Treaters also unmasked. Flo knew them all and introduced Samantha to them: Susan Taylor, Mark McMasters and Brett Sloane. Samantha noted that the two boys were the same height, as were the two girls. Their costumes were also similar: Standard issue sheets and pointy hats. The girls’ masks were identical.
“Look, if you’re trying to pin this thing on us, you’re …well, bananas,” said Mark. When his friends started to snicker, he looked at Samantha’s costume and smirked. “Uh, no offense.”
Miranda, hidden behind her parents, popped her head from around her mother’s legs and screamed, “Bad witch an’ ghost! Broked my pummin!”
Samantha asked Mrs. Wright what kind of candy she was distributing that evening. She answered Tootsie Rolls, a very popular Halloween giveaway.
“Mind if I take a look into your bags?” she asked.
The teens looked at one another, shrugged their shoulders and opened their treat sacks, grinning. Samantha saw Tootsie Rolls among the candy that all four had collected. Samantha sighed.
“Mr. and Mrs. Wright,” she said, “are you sure that only one ghost and one witch came to your door a few minutes ago?”
“Absolutely,” said Mr. Wright.
“Look, I’ll make this easier,” said Brett. “Mark and Lora were the two who came to your door. I had enough candy for one night, so I decided to wait around the corner of the house for Mark and Lora, while Susie went to the front door for candy, but …”
“So you broke the jack-o-lantern?” interrupted Mrs. Wright, turning toward Susie.
“Hey, let me finish,” Brett said. “She didn’t make it to the front of the house, because she doubled back through the yard to sneak up behind me and me half to death.”
“That’s right,” said Susie. “He was just standing there with his back to me, looking bored. It was too good to pass up.”
“She was just as quiet as could be,” sniggered Brett. “Got right up behind me, then – Boo! I jumped right out of my skin, believe me!”
“I wish I could,” said Samantha, shaking her head. “I wish I could…”
HOW DOES SAMANTHA KNOW THAT BRETT IS LYING? SEE BELOW FOR THE SOLUTION.
Brett said that Susan had been able to surprise him from behind while he waited in the Wright’s yard, but that would be impossible in a yard filled with a six-inch layer of leaves. Remember, when Samantha ran through the yard earlier, she made plenty of noise.
When Brett started to tell his lie, Susie went along with it, right up to the point where their alibi was spoiled by a seventh-grade-sized banana named Samantha Spade!
Once they realized they were exposed, Brett and Susie admitted they had smashed Miranda’s pumpkin, and Mark and Lora admitted their role was to ring the back doorbell and distract the Wrights.
To make up for their misdeed, the four teens raked all the leaves from the Wrights’ property the next day.
Her face, arms and legs were the only body parts poking out of the furry, yellow costume. Samantha’s friend, Flo Mason, giggled as Samantha waddled up the sidewalk to Flo’s front porch.
“That’s an ap-peel-ing get-up,” Flo said.
“Very funny,” replied Samantha, “especially coming from a giant cell phone. Happy Halloween!”
“Same to you,” said Flo, touching the pound-sign button on her wireless telephone costume. A computerized version of “Monster Mash” played for ten seconds. “Pretty cool, huh? Having a mother who works for Sprint sure pays off for trick or treat.”
Flo opened the door and yelled inside to her parents, telling them that she and Samantha were going trick or treating. Her mother shouted back the usual precautions – stay together and only visit homes of people you know – and then the two girls, plastic bags in hand, were on their way.
As they went door to door, Samantha thought how lucky she was to spend Halloween in the city of Sallami. She had been afraid that her dad’s temporary computer installation job would end months ago, but so far he was still happily buried in line after line of binary code at the city school.
This was the longest she’d ever remained at one school; consequently, her reputation for solving mysteries – usually in one minute or less – had grown to an all-time high. She was now regularly known as the Sixty-Second Solution throughout Sallami.
But tonight she wasn’t thinking about mysteries. She was thinking, instead, about candy: M&M’s, Clark bars, Smarties and many others that filled her bag as she and Flo trekked along Watson Lane. But mysteries had a way of finding Samantha, even when she wasn’t looking for them!
At the intersection of Watson and Holmes Avenue, Samantha and Flo heard a child scream, “My pummin! My pummin!”
Flo said, “Hey, that’s Miranda!. Come on!”
She ran toward a small ranch house located on a wooded, corner lot. Samantha followed, doing her best to navigate in her Chiquita banana costume. The entire yard was filled with a six-inch carpet of fallen leaves, and they crunched loudly beneath her feet as she ran.
When Samantha caught up to her friend, Flo was already hugging a little girl dressed in bunny ears and a cotton tail. The child was sobbing uncontrollably, pointing at a shattered jack-o-lantern on the sidewalk.
“My pummin! My pummin!” she cried. “Somemody smashed my pummin!”
Flo wiped away the little girl’s tears. “Sam, this is Miranda, the little girl I babysit after school. She’s three years old. Somebody’s smashed her pumpkin.”
“They certainly did,” Sam said. Pumpkin pieces were everywhere.
“Just then, the front door opened, and Miranda’s parents, whom Flo introduced as Jack and Debbie Wright, came outside. Debbie lifted Miranda and hugged her tightly.
“This was her favorite jack-o-lantern,” Mr. Wright said, as he swept up the pulpy mess with a broom and dustpan. “We’d just carved it this afternoon.”
“Did you see who did it?” asked Samantha.
“Not really,” Mrs. Wright answered. “Since we’re on a corner lot, we give out candy at the front and back doors. The doorbell rang out back, and Jack and I gave treats to a ghost and a witch. That’s when I heard Miranda start to cry.”
“Ghost an’ witch,” repeated Miranda. “Ghost an’ witch broked my pummin.”
“No, honey,” said Mr. Wright. “The ghost and the witch were out back with us. There’s no way they could have broken your pumpkin in the front yard.”
“Don’t be so sure,” said Sam, pointing toward the sidewalk on Holmes Avenue. Four kids, two dressed as ghosts and two dressed as witches, were walking there.
“Hey, you kids,” called Mr. Wright. “Come over here!”
They did. Jack asked them who was responsible for breaking the pumpkin.
“Not me,” said one witch, pulling off her mask. Underneath, she was Lora Dublin, a high school girl who lived in the neighborhood.
The other three Trick-or-Treaters also unmasked. Flo knew them all and introduced Samantha to them: Susan Taylor, Mark McMasters and Brett Sloane. Samantha noted that the two boys were the same height, as were the two girls. Their costumes were also similar: Standard issue sheets and pointy hats. The girls’ masks were identical.
“Look, if you’re trying to pin this thing on us, you’re …well, bananas,” said Mark. When his friends started to snicker, he looked at Samantha’s costume and smirked. “Uh, no offense.”
Miranda, hidden behind her parents, popped her head from around her mother’s legs and screamed, “Bad witch an’ ghost! Broked my pummin!”
Samantha asked Mrs. Wright what kind of candy she was distributing that evening. She answered Tootsie Rolls, a very popular Halloween giveaway.
“Mind if I take a look into your bags?” she asked.
The teens looked at one another, shrugged their shoulders and opened their treat sacks, grinning. Samantha saw Tootsie Rolls among the candy that all four had collected. Samantha sighed.
“Mr. and Mrs. Wright,” she said, “are you sure that only one ghost and one witch came to your door a few minutes ago?”
“Absolutely,” said Mr. Wright.
“Look, I’ll make this easier,” said Brett. “Mark and Lora were the two who came to your door. I had enough candy for one night, so I decided to wait around the corner of the house for Mark and Lora, while Susie went to the front door for candy, but …”
“So you broke the jack-o-lantern?” interrupted Mrs. Wright, turning toward Susie.
“Hey, let me finish,” Brett said. “She didn’t make it to the front of the house, because she doubled back through the yard to sneak up behind me and me half to death.”
“That’s right,” said Susie. “He was just standing there with his back to me, looking bored. It was too good to pass up.”
“She was just as quiet as could be,” sniggered Brett. “Got right up behind me, then – Boo! I jumped right out of my skin, believe me!”
“I wish I could,” said Samantha, shaking her head. “I wish I could…”
HOW DOES SAMANTHA KNOW THAT BRETT IS LYING? SEE BELOW FOR THE SOLUTION.
Brett said that Susan had been able to surprise him from behind while he waited in the Wright’s yard, but that would be impossible in a yard filled with a six-inch layer of leaves. Remember, when Samantha ran through the yard earlier, she made plenty of noise.
When Brett started to tell his lie, Susie went along with it, right up to the point where their alibi was spoiled by a seventh-grade-sized banana named Samantha Spade!
Once they realized they were exposed, Brett and Susie admitted they had smashed Miranda’s pumpkin, and Mark and Lora admitted their role was to ring the back doorbell and distract the Wrights.
To make up for their misdeed, the four teens raked all the leaves from the Wrights’ property the next day.
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