Encyclopedia Brown and the Case of the Secret UFOs Read online

  “Step right up,” said the boy. “My name’s Jack. Jack Higginbottom. I’ve got a lot of treasures here from my attic. My family has lived in Idaville a long time, so there’s plenty to see.”

  “I didn’t know kids could rent space here,” said Sally.

  “Oh, sure,” said Jack. “Everybody’s welcome.”

  Sally picked up a brass letter opener. “Do you have anything really old?” she asked. “Anything historical?”

  “I do,” said Jack. He opened an old box. It was filled with papers. They were all yellowed and brown around the edges. “I hadn’t taken these out before,” he explained, “because I didn’t want the wind blowing them around.”

  “Those do look old,” Sally said.

  “More than two hundred years old,” said Jack. “You’re looking at pages from the diary of George Washington’s mother.”

  The other kids at the table all stopped what they were doing to listen.

  “Her name was Mary Ball Washington,” Jack continued, “and she was quite a lady. Born in 1708, she was the second wife of George’s father, Augustine. They got married in 1730.”

  “That’s all true,” said Encyclopedia.

  “Of course it is,” said Jack. “Mary, as I like to call her, had a strong opinion of herself. Women in those days, however, weren’t allowed to speak their minds, and so she kept a diary. Now, if I had the whole thing, it would be worth a lot of money, but I only have a few pages.”

  “That sounds perfect,” said Sally.

  “I have to admit,” said Jack, “that most of the pages are concerned with everyday things like chores and life on the farm. By far the best page is the one she wrote the day after George was born.”

  “What does it say?” asked Sally.

  “I’ll read it out loud,” said Jack. “If you don’t mind, I’ll handle it myself. The page is pretty delicate.” He carefully looked through the papers in the box. “Ah, here it is. Now, it’s not a long entry—which is understandable considering that Mary was still recovering from giving birth. These are her words:I am so impressed looking at little George lying in his cradle. Augustine and I have a feeling he is destined for great things. Why, I wouldn’t be surprised if someday he grew up to be president. I only hope I live long enough to see it.

  “That’s amazing,” said Sally.

  “Believe or not,” Jack added, “she actually did live that long. Mary Ball Washington died in 1789, a few months after her son George was inaugurated the first president of the United States.”

  “That’s true,” said Encyclopedia. “I’m sure she was very proud.”

  Sally could barely contain her excitement. “That’s the one I want! I just hope I can afford it.”

  Jack smiled. “I’m sure we can work out something. I want that page to find a good home.”

  “My mother will be so excited,” said Sally. “Right, Encyclopedia? Isn’t it just perfect?”

  “That’s the one I want! I just hope I can afford it.”

  Encyclopedia took a long look at Jack. “I cannot tell a lie,” he said finally. “The diary is a fake.”

  WHY WASN’T ENCYCLOPEDIA FOOLED?

  (Turn to page 84 for the solution to “The Case of Mrs. Washington’s Diary.”)

  Solution to The Case of the Stolen Stamps

  Encyclopedia wondered why an ordinary stamp would be stolen along with the rare ones. He also wondered why a knowledgeable thief would waste his time disturbing some stationery. Then he realized that the thief had taken something else, something Mr. Terrence hadn’t noticed—an envelope.

  The thief took the envelope and the ordinary stamp so that he could mail the rare stamps home to himself as soon as he left the store. That way if he was caught, he would have nothing on him. When Chief Brown checked Red Finster’s mail the next day, he found the stolen stamps delivered in an envelope just as Encyclopedia had predicted.

  Solution to The Case of the Secret UFOs

  There was nothing about the alien spacecraft itself that showed the picture was a fake. The problem surfaced when Bugs said the pictures were taken by the air force. The air force, as a branch of the military, uses military time, which doesn’t start the time again at noon, as standard time does. In military time 2:05 in the afternoon would be 1405. If the picture had truly been photographed by the air force, the time cited would simply have read 1647. Since the pictures were stamped 4:47 P.M., Encyclopedia knew that Bugs made the pictures himself. When Encyclopedia explained this, Bugs confessed.

  Solution to The Case of the Scrambled Eggs

  Bugs claimed that he had been following Encyclopedia around ever since he saw him carrying a carton of eggs. If Encyclopedia had egged the two house windows, he should only have ten eggs or fewer left in the carton. But Encyclopedia knows he still has the full twelve. Bugs said that he was watching Encyclopedia the whole time, and so Encyclopedia couldn’t possibly have added any more eggs to the carton. When Encyclopedia explained this and showed the policeman the full carton, Bugs confessed to attempting to frame the detective.

  He had to clean both the windows at the house as punishment.

  Solution to The Case of the Roman Pots

  Gus did a good job of sharing many facts about ancient pots and Roman times. However, he went a little too far when he started talking about dates. While it’s true that the Romans used Roman numerals, Encyclopedia knew that they never put B.C. on anything. B.C. was only created hundreds of years later as a way of distinguishing one era from another. Encyclopedia wasn’t fooled, and when he told why, Gus admitted he had made the pots himself, copying pictures he had seen in an old book.

  Solution to The Case of Grandma’s Cookies

  When Ziggy and Encyclopedia approached Rocky, they only asked him if he had seen Ziggy’s cookies. No mention was made of the kind of cookies they were. When Rocky said that he hoped they found the boy before he ate all the chocolate chip cookies, Encyclopedia knew he had been lying. Only if Rocky had opened the tin could he have known what kind of cookies they were.

  Once Encyclopedia pointed this out, Rocky confessed he was the thief. He gave the cookies back to Ziggy.

  A grateful Ziggy shared the cookies with Encyclopedia.

  Solution to The Case of the Grabbed Groceries

  Rusty said he had bought the groceries hours earlier. Yet he was nervous at the thought of Encyclopedia opening a can of soda near his face. The only reason for that would be because he expected the soda to shoot out if it was opened. That would only have happened if the cans had been shaken up recently—as they would have been if Rusty had been running with them back to the clubhouse only a few minutes before.

  Faced with the prospect of being sprayed with a soda from the shaken cans, Rusty confessed to taking the groceries. He returned them to Ginger.

  Solution to The Case of the Giant Shark Tooth

  Unlike most animals with teeth, sharks don’t keep their adult teeth for their whole life. They actually lose all their teeth every month or so when new ones grow in to replace the worn-out old ones. Therefore sharks’ teeth do not get the chance to grow over time as Duke said.

  When Encyclopedia confronted Duke with the facts, Duke admitted that he made the sharks’ teeth himself. He had carved them out of wood and painted them white. His fake shark teeth ended up in the trash along with his dream of some quick cash.

  Solution to The Case of the Missing Medallions

  Mr. Cuthbert claimed that the glass had been broken by the thief standing outside the shop. But if the glass had been broken that way, the broken pieces would have fallen inside the shop onto the display case. However all the pieces of glass were outside the shop on the sidewalk. That meant the window had been broken from the inside—and only Mr. Cuthbert himself could have done that.

  Encyclopedia caught the telltale clue of the glass. Mr. Cuthbert had to confess to having faked the crime. He hadn’t planned it in advance, but when Winslow showed interest in the medallions, he thought he could throw sus
picion onto him. Cuthbert had hoped to collect an insurance payment and then secretly sell the medallions as well. He needed the money because business had been bad.

  Solution to The Case of the Shipwreck

  It’s a really hot summer day in Idaville, which lies in the Northern Hemisphere. According to Wilford, it was also a really hot day at the beach where his uncle was at the southern tip of South America, which is in the Southern Hemisphere. However, when it is summer in the Northern Hemisphere, it is winter in the Southern Hemisphere. The seasons are reversed. Thus anyone at the bottom of South America only a week earlier would be freezing in the middle of winter—not going to the beach.

  When Encyclopedia pointed this out, Wilford admitted that he had made the story up. The only uncle he had lived in Nebraska.

  Solution to The Case of Mrs. Washington’s Diary

  As Encyclopedia knew, it would have been quite a feat for George Washington’s mother to write that someday her baby boy would be president. After all, he was born in 1732. At the time, there was no president, and no United States, either. Both of these things only came to be fifty-seven years later, after the Constitution of the United States had been adopted. Washington did become the first president in 1789, and his mother lived long enough to see him inaugurated.

  When Encyclopedia informed him of his error, Jack admitted he had made the diary pages himself. He apologized to Sally and offered her anything she wanted in his booth for free. Sally found a nutcracker shaped like Teddy Roosevelt’s head and took that instead. Her mother was delighted.