The Case of the Jumping Frogs Read Online Free PDF Page A

whiplash.”
    “Maybe he just ate his first raw oyster,” Encyclopedia offered hopefully.
    Scott saw the detectives and stopped dancing and twitching and scratching and shaking.
    “Scott! What itches?” Sally inquired anxiously.
    Scott laughed. “Nothing. I’m tuning up is all. Today is the day.”
    “For what?” Encyclopedia was almost afraid to ask.
    “You’re detectives,” Scott said. “I’ll give you a clue. Check out my hair.”
    “It’s long,” Sally said.
    “I grew it an extra five inches for the air guitar contest,” Scott said. “You have to look like a musician if you want to catch the eye of the judges.”
    Encyclopedia had heard of air guitar contests, in which the performers pretended to play a guitar. The guitar couldn’t be seen or heard because it didn’t exist.
    “I finished third last year,” Scott said. “I’m not resting on my laurels. A win today and I’m in the state finals.”
    Sally said, “We were on our way to the early movie. But we’d rather see you play air guitar.”
    “Come on. The contest starts at eleven-thirty at the dance school on Third Street,” Scott said.
    The detectives went with Scott to the dance school. The main room had some two dozen folding chairs in front of a stage.
    The stage was empty except for a piano.
    “I’ll show you around,” Scott said.
    He led the detectives backstage, where the equipment was stored.
    He pointed toward a door. “That leads to the office.”
    “There’s someone in there,” Sally whispered. “Listen.”
    Two boys were speaking in low voices.

    “
Make sure it’s his and not one of ours
.”
    “
It’s his. Let’s go. It’s nearly twenty minutes past eleven.
”
    “
You’re fast. It’s only eleven-eighteen—oops, eleven-nineteen.
”
    “Who’s in there?” Scott called.
    Encyclopedia opened the door as the other door in the office slammed shut. He crossed the office and opened the other door. It led to the street.
    “We’re too late,” Encyclopedia said.
    Whoever had been in the office had turned the corner and was out of sight.
    “I don’t like this,” Scott muttered.
    They went back into the main room and took seats. Friends and relatives of the air guitar players were filing in.
    Mrs. Watson, the elementary school music teacher, sat down at the piano. She placed several sets of sheet music on the rack above the keyboard.
    “Each person performs to the music he’s chosen,” Scott explained.
    At eleven-thirty, Mr. Jurgens, one of the two judges, announced the six contestants.
    Scott and the other five performers took off their wrist-watches and laid them on the piano.
    “Each kid has exactly one minute to perform,” Scott explained upon returning to his seat beside the detectives. “You lose points if you stop playing more than ten seconds before or after the music ends.”
    “So no one can cheat by checking his watch?” said Sally.
    “That’s the idea,” Scott said. “The judges look for artistic style, ability to stay with the music, and airiness.”
    First up was Adam Lang. He wore a red wig and played his invisible guitar to “Rowdy Rob Robin.”
    He flung himself this way and that. Alas, he became dizzy, lost his footing, and knocked himself out in twenty-two seconds.
    Scott, Harold Johnson, Phil Twining, and Manny Foster had their turns. Each strummed the air wildly, hopping and flopping as though hooked to a live wire.
    “It’s going to be a tough call,” Scott remarked. “We all cracked down without cracking up.”
    Herb Carter was last to perform. “Herb won last year,” Scott said. “He really rattles his bones. He’s going to be hard to beat.”
    Herb swaggered onto the stage, grinning confidently. He spread his feet, ready to do his thing the moment Mrs. Watson started playing.
    She didn’t play. She fumbled through the stack of music she had on the piano.
    “I can’t find Herb’s piece!” she exclaimed. “I’m sure I had it in the office with the other music