The Mysterious Code Read Online Free PDF

bad dog. He’s a good dog. He minds me,” Bobby said. “Sit down, Reddy! Sit down and watch me slide! Now, mind!”
    Reddy obediently settled himself on his haunches at the top of the hill. He watched as Trixie settled her brother on the sled, then pushed him on his way. Reddy did want so much to play. He whimpered to try to tell them so.
    Down the hill Bobby went. Trixie ran along behind him.
    The next time Reddy did not sit still when Bobby started down. Instead, he ran back and forth barking till the little boy pushed off.
    Then Reddy settled himself on his haunches on the icy slide and went down after Bobby.
    At the bottom of the hill he jumped to his feet and barked furiously. “I can slide, too,” he seemed to say.
    Again and again they went down the hill; Bobby, then Reddy, sliding, and Trixie running along beside them.
    “This is the last time this morning,” Trixie finally called as Reddy, tired of sliding, raced after Bobby.
    “Reddy and me don’t like last times,” Bobby said when Trixie caught up with him at the bottom of the hill. She put his sled in the garage and they went into the house.
    “Reddy slided downhill, too,” Bobby told his mother, “but Trixie only pushed me eleven times.”
    “Oh, Moms, it was lots more than that,” Trixie said. “You should have seen Reddy. He sat down and slid down the hill on his haunches!”
    “I shut him up twice when he tried to join you, then I gave up. I didn’t know Reddy could coast, too. And, Bobby, no matter how many times Trixie pushed you, you were out long enough.” She gave Bobby a piece ofthe apple she was paring. “Trixie has to dust the house for me while I make this pie—I mean these pies. The way my family can dispose of pies is a mystery to me.”
    “You shouldn’t make such good ones, Moms,” Trixie said. “If I made a pie it would last two weeks, and then we’d have to throw it out.”
    “I know of a way to change that,” her mother said, her pink cheeks flushed with the heat of the oven. “Next Saturday, instead of pushing Bobby on his sled, you may have a lesson in pie-baking.”
    “I’ll never in a million years be able to cook as you do,” Trixie said. “We have the best food in all the world in our house—tomatoes, corn, pickles, the things you canned from our garden last summer.”
    “Don’t forget that you and the boys kept the gardens cultivated and gathered all the vegetables and fruit for me. Everyone works in this house.”
    “Yes, we do, but you know, Moms, we aren’t going to be able to do much around the house until after the antique show. I hope we make a lot of money to send to UNICEF. Wasn’t it wonderful of the board members to give us a chance to keep our club?”
    “I suppose it was. I’ve never known what they objected to in the first place. I think the Bob-Whites have done some pretty wonderful things. I’m proud of you.I
don’t
like all the sleuthing you do. Maybe you’ve had enough of that now.”
    “Maybe so. I won’t have time for it now.”
    “You get mixed up in so many things, Trixie.” Mrs. Belden sighed. “I wish you weren’t such a tomboy. You looked so pretty when you dressed up every day and pretended you were impressed with that cousin of Honey’s.”
    “That drip!”
    “Trixie! Watch your language!” Mrs. Belden opened the oven door, slid a pie inside, then started to roll the crust for the next pie.
    “Even Honey thinks he’s one,” Trixie said. “Moms, we have a terrible amount of work to do to get ready for our antique show. I don’t even know where to begin.”
    “I was talking to one of the members of the Garden Club this morning,” Mrs. Belden said. “She told me she’d let you have her two Chinese Chippendale chairs to show.”
    “That’s super!” Trixie cried. “I’ll personally guarantee they won’t be scratched in any way. Regan and Tom said they’d pick up all the things the day before the show. The big problem is where to hold