Granola
Graham
& The
Earthsavers
C.A. LESSARD
BOOK
1
Case 1: The Case of the Rising Smoke
Case 2: The Case of
the Stolen Stars
Case 3: The Case of the Blue Haired Swimmer
Copyright © 2011 Granola Graham and The Earthsavers. All rights reserved. Any unauthorized reproduction, use, copying, distribution or sale of these materials without the express written consent of the author is strictly prohibited.
Contact us at theearthsavers@ggandtheearthsavers.org
SECOND EDITION
Smashwords
Edition, License Notes
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This book is dedicated to Jane Orr.
Other books in the series:
Book
2: The Case of the Pilfered Pig
contains: The Case of
the Pilfered Pig
The Case of the Fishy Name
The Case of 2
Wheels Good
Book
3: The Case of the Frozen Farm
contains: The Case of
the Cotton Caper
The Case of the Frozen Farm
The Case of the
Compact Crook
Book
4: The Case of the Barefoot Race
contains: The Case
of H2OX2
The Case of the Clean Coal
The Case of the Barefoot
Race
Table of Contents
• Case 1: The Case of the Rising Smoke
• Case 2: The Case of the Stolen Stars
• Case 3: The Case of the Blue Haired Swimmer
Case 1:
The
Case of the Rising Smoke
Scientists around the world are asking the same question: what’s going on in Peak City? Why is there no pollution? Why is the air so fresh? Why are the lakes, rivers, and streams so clean? Why are the forests so green and tall?
Few would guess the answer is grade school eco sleuths, Graham and Gwenda Parker.
The Parker twins were born in an open field, beneath the stars, in the middle of a family camping trip. Their first bath was a dip in a lake, and their first meal was a handful of wild berries. Their favourite game is anything outside. All of Peak City is their backyard, and no-one makes a mess in their yard without getting caught. If someone starts up a dirty engine or tosses something recyclable in the trash, sooner or later they’ll face the Parkers.
The headquarters for the twins’ defence of Peak City is a converted shed behind their parents’ house on Gore Lane. It was a cloudless Sunday when Nicky ‘the nose’ Richards ran into the shed shouting for Graham’s help. Nicky lives next door to the Parkers. She’s only 13, but she’s already considered one of Peak City’s finest chefs. Her nose is the reason. She only has to smell a dish once and she knows every ingredient that went into it. What’s more, she can usually recreate it a little better than the original. There’s a long line of kids waiting for a dinner invitation to Nicky’s house. But it wasn’t the smell of food that brought her to the Parker’s shed. It was the smell of smoke: dirty, polluting fumes were drifting over the tree-tops. Nicky had smelled the fumes first, but Graham could see them now.
Graham was installing a solar panel on the clubhouse roof when Nicky ran in. He dropped his tools and raced to his bike. He could smell the fumes now, and he rode toward the smell with his nose leading him like a smoke-detector.
He stopped in front of Lee’s Convenience Store. The smoke was gone, but the smell told Graham this was where it had come from.
The store is owned by Mr. & Mrs. Lee and their daughter Annie. There are two doors at the front of the store, one marked “in” and one marked “out.” The handle on the “in” door was missing, so Graham used the “out” door to enter the store.
Annie was at the counter when Graham walked in, and she didn’t look surprised to see him. She called him by his nickname. “Hi, Granola. Did you see the smoke?” she asked.
“Saw it and smelled it, thanks to Nicky,” said Graham. “Do you know where it came from?”
Annie answered with two words: “Dirty W.”
Dirty W’s real name is Dennis W. Clearcut. He’s 17 and he doesn’t like much about Peak City. In fact, he acts as if planet Earth just isn’t his kind of place. He’s the leader of a gang of kids called the Tuffs, and if anyone would pollute the air, it’s Dirty W.
But Graham wasn’t ready to make any accusations without getting the facts, so he asked Annie to tell him what she’d seen.
“About half an hour ago,” she said, “Dirty W pulled up in front of the store driving his parents’ mini-van.”
“Doesn’t W live just down the street?” interrupted Granola.
“Yes, but he won’t walk next door if he has a chance to drive,” replied Annie. “He’s as lazy as he is dirty.
“When he got out of the van, he looked like he was in rush, and he ran up to the store. Our door handle is loose, and he pulled it so hard it came off in his hand. So, he pushed in through the ‘out’ door, marched up to the counter, and asked for a pack of gum and a magazine. He paid, left the door handle on the counter and marched out without saying sorry, please, or thank-you.
“But that’s not the worst part. You’re not going to believe it, Granola, but the whole time W was in the store, he left his old van running! The dirty smoke you saw was fumes rising out of his tailpipe like pollution from an old smokestack.”
Hearing this, Granola looked so angry Annie thought he might blow his stack.
“Did you say anything to him?” asked Granola.
“No, I was stocking the shelves. He didn’t even know I was here. It was my dad who served him.”
“Where’s your dad now?” Granola continued.
But before Annie could answer, Mr. Lee walked into the store with supplies from Henderson’s Hardware he’d bought to fix the door. The three of them made the repairs. Then Mr. Lee left to run some more errands.
Annie looked at Granola. “What should we do now, Graham?” she asked.
Graham smiled and answered, “We cut through Dirty W’s smoke. Here’s how . . .”
Annie listened to Graham’s plan, and then she called W and asked him to come to the store. W complained that his parents were using the van and he would have to walk, but Annie told him it was important and, finally, he agreed to come.
Five minutes later, W pushed his way through the “out” door and walked up to the counter.
“What’s he doing here?” W snapped at Annie as he glared in Granola’s direction.
Graham answered for himself: “I’m here because someone left their van polluting the air in front of Annie’s store, and she says it was you.”
“She’d better think again,” answered W. “She doesn’t have any proof, and neither do you. This is the first time I’ve seen Annie all day, and I haven’t been in this store for a week. It’s her word against mine.”
Annie stepped forward to argue, but Granola stopped her.
“You don’t need to say anything, Annie,” he said. “W’s story is full of hot air. He just proved he’s guilty.”
What did Granola mean?
Re-read the story looking for clues or turn the page to read the solution.
Solution to The Case of the rising smoke
Dirty W said he hadn’t been in Annie’s store for a week. But when he arrived he came in through the “out” door. He would only do that if he knew the “in” door was broken. And, of course, he did know since he was the one who had broken it earlier in the day. Graham explained this to W and pointed out that the door was now fixed.
When confronted with the error in his story, W admitted he had lied about not being in the store earlier. He apologized for leaving his van running and promised to turn it off in the future. Annie suggested W consider walking a little more often, but that just made him walk out the store, grumbling as he went.
Case 2:
The
Case of the Stolen Stars
When Lunar Henderson approached the Earthsavers’ headquarters in Gwenda and Graham’s backyard, it was Sunday, and it was morning. These two facts told the twins something was wrong. Lunar’s real name, which no-one calls him, is Leroy. The other thing no-one ever does is see him during daylight on a weekend.
Lunar Henderson is Peak City’s resident “boy astronomer.” When the weekend comes, Lunar goes nocturnal. He stays awake and studies the skies all night and sleeps all day. His appearance in Gwenda and Graham’s backyard on a Sunday morning was definitely a cause for concern.
At the age of 9, Lunar identified an undiscovered star and registered it with the National Astronomy Association. To support his talent, Lunar’s parents purchased a plot of land just outside Peak City. Since there are no bright lights there, the sky is darker and the stars, planets, and comets are easier to study.
Lunar’s family isn’t rich. The land is beside Dawson’s Auto Recyclers. The Hendersons were able to buy it cheap since no-one wants to live next to the noise of crunching cars. The location is fine by Lunar, as he only goes there at night when the wreckers are usually closed. His parents even built him an observatory, which is just a small platform with a telescope and a roof where he can sit and examine the stars all night.
“What’s up, Lunar?” asked Gwenda. “Other than you, I mean.”
“It’s no time for jokes, Gwen,” replied Lunar. “Last night someone stole The Great Bear Constellation, and I need your help to make sure they don’t do it again tonight.”
Lunar explained that The Great Bear is a bear-shaped group of stars that is only visible for two days every five years.
“I planned to study it all weekend,” continued Lunar. “I have a theory about why the stars are so seldom visible, and this is my chance to prove it. But when I went to my observatory last night, someone was working late at the wreckers. They had the yard lights on and they lit up the sky so much I couldn’t see the stars. Whoever turned those lights on stole my view of the constellation.”
“Why didn’t you ask them to turn the lights off?” suggested Gwenda.
“I did,” said Lunar. “I walked over and called to them from across the fence. I couldn’t see anyone, but someone shouted at me from inside a car. They said I should go take a moon walk before they set the dogs on me. I didn’t stick around to see if they meant it.”
“Do you know who they were?” asked Gwenda.
“I only heard their voice, but I’m sure it was Billy Blunt. He hangs out with Dirty W and works at the wreckers on weekends. He’s usually gone by the time I arrive. Like I say, he must have been working late. Tonight is my last chance to study the constellation and prove my theory. If I’m right, I’ll go down in astronomical history. You have to help me.”
Gwenda could see that Lunar was serious, but she didn’t know how she could help. “What can I do?” she asked.
“I need you to come to the wreckers with me. Billy won’t listen to me, but he might listen to you. You can explain the problems of light pollution. Maybe you can convince him to keep the lights off tonight.”
Gwenda knows that too much light at night is a waste of energy. It can spoil everyone’s view of the stars, disrupt people’s sleep, and confuse wildlife. She agreed to go with Lunar, and the two of them got on their bikes and began the ride out of town.
They arrived just past noon. Most of the yard was on lunch break.
“Where’s the car you say someone shouted at you from?” asked Gwenda.
Lunar pointed ahead of them. “It’s that blue jalopy over there.”
The pair moved toward the car, and Gwenda saw that the blue jalopy was pretty much stripped to its shell. The engine and battery were gone, and so were the tires and the wheels. There were two feet sticking out of one of the doors. The feet belonged to Billy Blunt. He wriggled out of the car and flashed a dirty look as he stood up. He was at least a head taller than Gwenda and Lunar, and he didn’t look like he wanted to be interrupted.
“I thought I told you to take a space-walk, moon boy,” he snarled at Lunar. “I’ve got work to do.”
“What are you working on?” asked Gwenda.
“Same thing I was doing last night,” snapped Billy. “I’m taking the interior out of this car. Someone else removes the mechanicals and electrics. I do the interiors. It’s a bigger job than it looks. We don’t just rip the stuff out. We remove it carefully so it can be re-used or recycled. We don’t waste stuff around here.”
“You were wasting last night,” shouted Lunar. “You were wasting energy lighting up the whole yard to work on one car, and you were wasting my chance to see the Great Bear Constellation.”
“If you couldn’t see the constellation, that’s your fault,” said Billy. “Maybe you need a new telescope. Don’t blame me. The yard lights were off all night.”
“If the lights were off, how could you see what you were doing?” asked Gwenda.
“Uh, well, I turned on the interior light of the car,” stammered Billy. “That much light wouldn’t steal anyone’s view of the stars. Now get out of here and let me finish my work.”
Lunar looked confused. “Maybe I was imagining things, Gwen,” he said. “Maybe the yard lights weren’t on. Maybe I need more sleep. Let’s go.”
“No,” answered Gwenda. “You were right, Lunar. The yard lights were on. Billy’s story has a missing connection.”
How was Gwenda sure Billy wasn’t telling the truth?
Re-read the story looking for clues or turn the page to read the solution.
Solution to The Case of the Stolen Stars
Billy said the yard lights were out and he could see what he was doing by turning on the interior light of the car. But when Gwenda and Lunar first approached the car, Gwenda noticed the engine and battery had already been removed.
In his story, Billy confirmed that someone else removed the car’s mechanicals and electrics before the car came to him.
With no engine or battery, the car’s interior light wouldn’t work.
When Gwenda pointed this out to him, Billy admitted he had turned on the yard lights. He had lied about it because his boss, Mr. Dawson, had warned him that the lights were wasteful, and told Billy he should setup a small spot-light if he was working alone at night. Billy hadn’t wanted to admit his mistake for fear of being fired.
He apologized to Lunar and promised to keep the lights off in the future.
Case 3:
The
Case of the Blue-Haired Swimmer
Sandy “Flippers” Fernandez is the fastest swimmer in the seventh grade. In fact, he’s the fastest swimmer in any grade. Every year, Peak City competes against the nearby towns of Rosemont Cove and Bethany Harbour in the annual Tri-City Swim-Offs, and every year, Sandy brings home the hardware. He’s got more medals than a Four Star General. His coach, Bucky Night, says Sandy cuts through the water faster than a pack of sharks chasing the last goldfish at feeding time.
Sandy never stops thinking about ways to swim faster. Granola Graham has seen Sandy try all kinds of swim suits and swim caps to shave seconds off his time. He even watched Sandy shave the hair off his head right before a big race because he’d heard it would make him more aerodynamic in the water. But he’d never seen Sandy dye his hair blue before, and he couldn’t think why he would do it now.
Granola was playing Frisbee with Kenny Anderson on Burtynsky Beach when he spotted Sandy walking along the shore. Sandy never likes to be completely dry, so he was walking just on the edge of the surf to keep his feet wet. Sandy’s hair is blonde, but there was no doubt it was now sky blue. As Sandy got closer, Granola could see that the blue wasn’t just in Sandy’s hair. His eyebrows were blue and so was the tip of his nose. In fact, the blue seemed to be dripping from his ears, leaving a trail of small blue dots in the sand.
Sandy spotted Granola and headed straight for him.
“I heard you were here Granola,” he said. “I need your help.”
“Sure,” Graham answered, “but what’s with the hair? Did Bucky put too much chlorine in the pool again?”
“I suppose that’s funny,” Sandy replied, “but the truth isn’t. You’re not going to like what you hear, Graham.”
“Then you’d better tell me the whole story,” Graham suggested. “And don’t leave anything out. I can handle it.”
“Sure thing,” said Sandy. “But I’m starting to dry out. Do you mind if we stand in the water while we talk?”
The two boys walked into the surf as Sandy started his story.
“I was practicing swimming under-water in Platters Bay,” he explained. “The water’s deep, and there’s never too many other swimmers.”
As soon as Granola heard the name Platters Bay, he began to suspect what might be coming next. The Bay is at the end of the beach, and there are lots of reasons people don’t swim there. It’s close to the main road. The sand is rocky and hard to walk on. But the main reason people avoid it is an old broken-down lifeguard hut at one end of the bay. During the summer, that hut is the clubhouse of Dirty W and his gang of Tuffs.
“Are the Tuffs mixed up in this?” asked Granola.
“You guessed it,” answered Sandy. “At first they didn’t know I was in the bay. I was doing a new exercise Bucky taught me. I stay under-water as long as I can. Holding my breath increases my lung capacity. When I can’t stay under any longer, I push off the bottom and try to rise as high out of the water as possible. That part is for my leg strength.”
“It sounds good,” said Granola, “but what does this have to do with the Tuffs and your blue hair?”
“That part’s coming,” Sandy answered. “I’d been training at the east end of the bay to stay away from the old lifeguard hut, but I guess I was drifting west without knowing it. When I jumped up out of the water I was right in front of the Tuffs’ clubhouse. Then, bang, someone threw a bucket of blue paint right in my face. I ran out of the water, but with the paint in my eyes, I couldn’t see what I was doing. Whoever threw the paint was shouting at me and telling me to get off their beach. I could hear more voices coming my way and I thought I better scram. That’s when I started looking for you. What should we do Granola?”
“First we pay a visit to that lifeguard hut,” answered Graham.
“I was afraid you’d say that,” Sandy replied. “I’m not really in the mood for another face-full of paint.”
Granola turned to Kenny Anderson, who had been listening to the story.
“You can’t play Frisbee on your own, Kenny. Why don’t you join us?”
“Sure thing,” said Kenny. “The Tuffs aren’t so tough when they don’t have you outnumbered. Let’s go.”
The three boys walked the length of the beach until they came to Platters Bay. The first thing Granola noticed was, the old faded hut was now a freshly painted shade of blue. As they approached the hut they saw an empty paint can. The label read, “Henderson’s Sky Blue Oil-Based Paint – 1 Gallon.” Next to the paint can were some buckets, brushes, and rollers. Sandy was nervous and not watching where he was going. He walked into the tin buckets and knocked them over. The racket echoed across the bay and the door to the lifeguard hut burst open. Standing in the doorway was Dirty W.
“What are you doing on my beach?” shouted W.
“It’s not your beach,” answered Kenny.
“Maybe not,” snapped W, “but I seem to be the one taking care of it. Look at the job the Tuffs and I did fixing up this old hut. Why, the city should be paying me for this work.” W smiled at how clever he thought he was being.
“It’s not a bad paint job W, but I hope you didn’t let any of it get into the water. There’s a proper way to clean your brushes and get rid of left over paint. Dumping it into the surf just pollutes the water, and I suspect that’s what you did. The way I see it, Sandy poked his head out of the water just as you were dumping a bucket of leftover paint into the bay. Sandy was in the wrong place at the wrong time, and took your paint in the face.”
“As usual Granola, the way you see it is all wrong,” W said with a sneer. “When we finished painting, we filled some buckets with soap and water from the outdoor tap up the beach and washed our brushes clean beside the hut. We never let them get close to the shore. We were in the clubhouse playing cards when we heard some noise outside. We came out and caught Sandy here trying to steal our stuff. I guess we scared him and he ran right into the side of the wet hut. That’s how he got paint all over his hair. We were laughing so hard that we just let him run away.”
“He’s not telling the truth, Granola,” said Sandy, “but it’s his word against mine.”
Granola smiled. “That’s OK, Sandy. No-one will believe W’s version. His story is all wet.”
How did Granola Know?
Re-read the story looking for clues or turn the page to read the solution.
Solution to The Case of the Blue Haired Swimmer
The label on the paint can read, “Oil-Based Paint.” Granola knows that oil and water don’t mix. You can’t clean oil-based paint off of brushes using “soap and water” as W claimed he and the Tuffs had done. To clean oil-based paint, you need mineral spirits or turpentine.
When Granola pointed out W’s error, he admitted that he and the Tuffs had tried cleaning up using soap and water, and when it didn’t work they got frustrated and threw the brushes and leftover paint into the bay.
The Tuffs apologized to Sandy and promised to stay out of the painting business.
To read more cases download books 2, 3 and 4.
Available now!