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want Mr. Pickett’s factory. Some of you don’t. This isn’t the place to decide. Come to the town meeting tomorrow night, right here in the town hall. That’s the place to discuss it. You boys—take those signs and get out. I will not have trouble here.”
    The boys did not argue. Perhaps they had done what they wanted to do. They had started people talking about the river.
    The Aldens spent another hour looking around at the exhibits. At last Jessie asked, “When does the bus leave, Henry? We don’t want to miss it.”

    Henry said, “We can spend half an hour here and still have time to get the bus. Where’s Benny?”
    “He was here a minute ago,” Violet said. “Oh, there he is, over there with the manager.”
    “I’m glad you came all the way from Greenfield to see our hobby fair,” the manager was saying to Benny. “It was too bad about that fuss around Mr. Pickett’s exhibit.”
    Benny asked, “Who are those boys who wanted to picket Mr. Pickett?”
    “Oh, everyone knows Jud and Troy. That’s what makes it so bad. You saw their wildlife exhibit. I’ll have to say they are smart boys.”
    “We saw them first at the bus station at Plainville Junction,” Benny said.
    “Yes, I imagine that is where you’d meet them,” the manager said. “If they were my boys, I’d have something to say to them. They may be right, but they shouldn’t act like that. Mr. Pickett has a right to show what he makes.”
    “You said something about a meeting tomorrow,” Benny said.
    “Yes, the voters of Plainville Township are going to meet here at the Oakdale town hall. Posters announced the meeting ten days ago. It will be a regular town meeting. Mr. Pickett is coming. People want to ask him about his plans. He wants to buy more land. He says he needs a parking lot. He put his paint factory out there in the country because he needed the water and he didn’t think anyone would care.”
    “But people do care, I guess,” said Benny. “Can they stop him?”
    The manager said, “Well, yes, I guess they can. But I don’t know if that’s what most people want to do. His business is good for Oakdale, and Oakdale is part of Plainville Township.”
    “Benny, time to go!” Jessie called.
    Smiling at the manager, Benny said quickly, “I’m Benny Alden. Perhaps you know my grandfather, Mr. James Alden.”
    “I do indeed,” said the manager. “He has a smart grandson, I see that.”
    Benny ran to catch up with Henry. “That was a great fair,” he said. “I’m glad we came. It turned out to be exciting!”

CHAPTER 6
    What Did Happen?
    T he bus for Greenfield was right on time. Quite a few people got on the bus. A man asked the driver, “You stop at the junction, don’t you?”
    “That’s right,” the driver said. “I’ll call out the name when we get there.”
    “But you just stop there to let passengers off, don’t you?” a man asked. “You just go right along to Greenfield?”
    “Right,” said the driver.
    Then Benny got on.
    “Good evening,” the driver said pleasantly to Benny. It was the same driver who had taken them from Plainville Junction to Oakdale. “Did you have a good time at the fair?” Everyone seemed to speak to Benny.
    “Oh, swell,” replied Benny. “You ought to go.”
    “I’ve been there,” said the driver. “I go every year. And I always see something new.”
    The Aldens found seats in the middle of the bus. Jessie and Violet sat near each other. Benny took a seat in front of Violet. Henry found an empty seat across the aisle. The bus was not crowded.
    Benny half expected to see the two boys—Jud and Troy—catch the bus. But they were nowhere to be seen.
    While Henry pushed the back of his seat into a comfortable position, Benny said, “I’m glad we don’t have to change buses at Plainville Junction. I don’t want to wait there again.”
    “I wonder if the tree across the road to the bridge has been moved,” Henry said, settling back. “That could make us