Animal Shelter Mystery Read Online Free PDF Page A

tending to all these strays. And Henry here has been sent from heaven.”
    â€œWe’ll have this old shed fixed up by this afternoon since Mr. Seed gave me the rest of the day off,” Henry told Dr. Scott. “Then you won’t have to double up so many animals.”
    â€œThat’ll be a great relief,” Dr. Scott said. “These poor animals can start living like dogs and cats and not like sardines.” She peeked into the dusty old shed. “I’ll call for the junk man to remove that old desk and those chairs in there to make more space.”
    â€œOh, no, we want them!” Jessie cried out.
    Dr. Scott winked at everyone. “I was teasing! After watching the four of you save every bit of string, every scrap of paper, and every bottle and can this summer, I knew you would find some use for these old pieces of furniture. I’ll arrange to have everything sent to your grandfathers, so don’t you worry.”
    â€œWe’ll use the desk and chairs for an office in our garage,” Jessie told the doctor. “We want our shelter to be just like the Greenfield Animal Shelter.”
    â€œJudging by the excellent repair job you’re doing on this old shed, I know you’ll turn your boxcar into a safe place for my strays,” Dr. Scott said before heading back to the barn.
    â€œI like tearing down old things, so I can fix them up again,” Jessie said when she held up a new shingle for Henry to nail in.
    â€œSo do I,” Benny said. He easily pulled off the last few boards from the rotted section of wall. “Hey, look at this!” he called out a few minutes later. “There’s something stuck between these last two boards.”
    â€œLooks like some old black notebooks,” Henry said when he took a close look at what Benny had discovered. “On the cover it says, ‘Property of Jacob Kisco.’ ”
    Jessie, who loved old books, took a closer look. “Jacob Kisco must have been a dairy farmer. Look, this page tells how much milk his cows gave and how much food they ate.”

    Benny was disappointed. “Just a bunch of old notes about cows. Nothing good.”
    â€œWhy, Benny, we can use these to keep track of our animals when we set up our shelter,” Jessie said.
    â€œYou and Violet can do that,” Benny said. “I want to feed the animals and play with them.”
    Henry, Jessie, and Violet couldn’t help laughing. Benny always liked jobs where he could run and play and not have to stay still for too long.
    â€œLet’s finish up here,” Jessie said. “There’ll be time to look through these old notebooks when we get home.”
    Henry put the heavy books in the top drawer of the old desk. He shut the drawer and went back to work measuring and hammering.

CHAPTER 5
    Boxcar Days
    T he Aldens spent all their time getting the boxcar ready for business. Jessie and Violet made good use of the leftover boards Henry brought back from Seed’s Hardware Store. In no time, they had added four new shelves to the boxcar to store the food, dishes, blankets, and old towels they needed to feed their orphaned animals and keep them warm. On opening day, the needy orphans included four cats, three fat white rabbits, one crow, and three dogs.
    Benny’s job was to sort and clean the dishes they had used in the old boxcar days. “There are just enough dishes so that each animal gets one water dish and one food dish,” he told Violet and Jessie.
    Out back, Henry finished framing the last few yards of chicken wire with old fence posts. “Come on, Lad. Here you go, fellas,” he said when he led all the dogs into the spacious dog run.
    When everything was ready, Benny ran inside and brought out Mr. Alden to take a look at what they had all built.
    â€œWell, Grandfather, what do you think of our shelter?” Jessie asked Mr. Alden.
    Mr. Alden took a step up the tree stump that led into the