*All ages
Author's Note: This story assumes that all the BWGs grew up together and such. Just want to say thanks to Misty for telling me to just send it in! Hope you like it!
Author's Note 2: Sorry, this is Halloweenish, but a lot was going on right before Halloween (which I will hopefully be writing a story based on soon), and I didn’t have time to finish it. Just pretend its Halloween!
Disclaimer: None of these characters are mine… No money… Blah Blah Blah, you guys know the drill…
The Mystery of the Missing Peanut Butter Cups
By Rachele
"Mart Belden, you get out of here right now!" little seven-year-old Trixie Belden shouted. She was getting dressed to go trick-or-treating with all her friends. Trixie was keeping her costume a secret to everyone except her best friend, Honey. They were both dressing up as detectives. Someday, when they were all grown up, they wanted to be real detectives and solve real mysteries. Mart, Trixie’s older brother by only 11 months, hurried out of the room at her scolding. He went back to the room he shared with his older brother, Brian, and continued getting himself ready for the night. Mart was going to be the Headless Horseman, a classic ghoul from an old fairy tale. Brian, ten years old, was not happy that he was going trick-or-treating. He thought he was too old for it, but deep down inside knew he would have tons of funs. Brian, not sure at all what to dress up as, finally decided on being Hoppy, thinking about the good luck legend that was behind the old brass weather vane.
Someone knocked on the boys’ door.
"If that’s you, Trixie, go away!" Mart was still upset.
"No, it's Jim, and Dan. Come on, guys, let us in…"
Brian walked over and opened the door for two of his best friends. Jim, only a year younger than Brian, was very interested in birds. He was dressed as a Bob-White, a pheasant-like bird. Dan, on the other hand, was dressed as a biker, in leather. He had a Black Jacket, and a white T-shirt. His hair was slicked back, and he had a pair of sunglasses casually hanging from his shirtfront.
"You guys done yet, or what?" asked Dan in a mock "too cool for you" voice.
"Yeah, just about," mumbled Mart as he stuck on the oversize shoulder pads that would be completing his ensemble. He turned and almost knocked Jim over. "You ready, Brian?" Mart said, apparently from his neck, not his mouth.
"Yeah, let's go."
The four boys walked out into the living room of Crabapple Farm and were practically blinded by the camera that the pregnant Mrs. Belden was using.
In the girls room
Honey and Trixie were both standing in front of the mirror when a soft knock came from the door.
"Who is it?" Trixie asked cautiously.
"It's me, Di."
Trixie walked over and opened the door, smiling at her beautiful friend. Even though Di was only 7, she was still the prettiest girl around. For her costume, Di had found an old black cloak and wrapped it around herself. She had a towering black hat. Di was getting a little sick, and her voice was getting scratchy. This had earned her the nickname "Whispering Witch" for the night. Honey and Trixie both commented on Diana’s apparel right away. Di blushed slightly, smiling.
"Wow," Honey said, "you look just like a real witch!"
"Thanks. And you guys look great! Where did you find those magnifying glasses and those coats?"
Honey smiled, and gestured at the magnifying glass in her hand. "Aren’t they perfectly perfect?! Daddy bought them just for Trixie and me to use tonight. And we even get to keep them!"
Trixie smiled too, catching on to Honey’s enthusiasm. "I found the old coats in the attic. I fell in love at first sight!"
Trixie looked at the alarm clock on her dresser. "Gleeps, guys! We need to get downstairs now!"
After the final touches on their costumes, the three girls headed down the stairs.
The girls were also startled by flashing cameras as they came into the room. After 10 minutes of picture taking, everyone headed out to the car. They were going into the closest town, Sleepyside-on-the-Hudson, to trick or treat there.
In Sleepyside
When they got out of the car in Sleepyside, the children were speechless. The entire main street was covered in dark lights and scattered with jack-o-lanterns. Trixie begged Moms to let them roam around Main Street by themselves, just as long as they brought their candy to her so they wouldn’t eat so much that they got sick. Since Moms was pregnant with a little boy on the way in a few months, she agreed, as long as Brian kept an eye on them, and everyone stayed together. After hugging Moms and thanking her, all the kids ran off on their own little adventure.
First, the kids went around to every shop on the left side of Main Street. Their bags got full and they took all the candy and dropped it off with Moms. She was putting all the candy into larger bags, one for each child. Again, they all left, as Moms began to look through the candy they had left. After a few rounds of going around town and then bringing their candy back to Moms, the kids decided to go to the houses just down the road from Main Street. Moms happily agreed, and off they went. These houses were more decorated than the stores were, and the environment was much spookier. At one house, all seven kids went through a garage that had been transformed into a haunted house. Honey came out hugging tightly to Brian, who had a protective arm around her and was patting her head, trying to comfort her. On down the road, there was a house with a scarecrow and a jack-o-lantern sitting on the porch. Being the brave one, Trixie went ahead and was just about to knock as a frightening voice coming from the scarecrow boomed at her, "I seem to have lost my head. Would you hand it back to me?" Trixie ran screaming all the way back down the driveway listening to the maniacal laughter filling the air. Tears were flooding her eyes. Everyone was laughing at her and she had made a fool of herself. Quietly, after trying to help Brian calm the other kids, Jim walked down the driveway to Trixie.
"Hey, Trix, it’s okay. There was just a man inside the door. He didn’t mean to scare you that bad. He said he's sorry, and he really wants you to go back up there." Jim smiled at her.
"B-but everyone th-th-thinks that I am stupid because I-I-I… I ran away." Trixie was crying hysterically, and her words were hard to make out.
"They do not think you are stupid, Trixie Belden. Come on, I’ll go with you. Don’t be afraid. It’s okay, I promise." Jim held out his hand to Trixie, and she took it. The two children walked back up the driveway and collected multiple handfuls of peanut butter cups from the regretful man. "Hey, I’m really sorry, kids."
"That’s okay, sir. Thank you for the candy," said Brian, always the mature one. All the kids were happy. All of their buckets were filled with peanut butter cups. All the other children mumbled their thanks in the excited rush of all the candy they got, and turned around to go and drop it off, Jim’s small hand still holding on to Trixie’s.
When they finally arrived back at the car, all their candy was dumped out everywhere. Each trash bag was almost full. Brian hurriedly explained to Moms what had happened, and Trixie frowned. Jim just squeezed her hand reassuringly. After agreeing that this would be their last trip, the kids were off yet again. They had all decided among themselves that they would take their time, not yet wanting to return home. After walking around gathering all the candy they could stuff into their buckets, the children returned to the car, and then returned home. Everyone was spending the night at Crabapple Farm. The kids went up to their respective rooms and got out of their costumes and into their pajamas, meeting again downstairs.
That Night
All the children were sitting in the middle of the cozy living room of Crabapple Farm. They had just emptied their candy into heaps, and were comparing the amount to each other. Everyone was talking excitedly about all the candy they had gotten.
"…Never gotten so many Pixie Stix…"
"… This tastes disgusting…here, try it…"
"…Oh, trade you a Kit-Kat for an Almond Joy…"
"… Yuck, I hate these things…"
Just then, Mart stood up and shouted, "Hey, who took all my peanut butter cups?!"
Everyone looked at him incredulously.
"Oh, Mart, I know you like the peanut butter cups, but that doesn’t mean you can hide them and expect us to give you ours in pity. Sorry, bro," commented Brian.
"I didn’t! Someone stole them!"
"Mart, calm down. Me and Honey will find them for you. We are, after all," Trixie said, winking at Honey, "detectives."
Everyone rolled their eyes at this, but Honey and Trixie stood up, happy with their chance to prove everyone wrong.
"Mart Belden, I will find your missing peanut butter cups if it’s the last thing I do!" Trixie huffed, and stomped up to her room to get her magnifying glass.
The kids were alone, and they all were laughing at Trixie. Honey didn’t believe that they could find out who took them, but knew she had to help Trixie.
Trixie ran around the room, looking at everyone’s hands, and demanded that everyone bring out their costume to be checked for chocolate smudges. Now, all the kids looked at Trixie with admiration, for they hadn’t thought of looking on the costumes.
"I have an announcement to make," said Trixie. "Will everyone please meet me in the living room in five minutes?"
Five Minutes Later…
Five pairs of eyes were staring up at Trixie and Honey. Trixie stood in front of the group smiling.
"My partner and I have found out who the culprit is. Let me explain this to you. Would everyone here agree that we were not, under any circumstances, allowed to eat any of our candy until we got home?" Everyone nodded at Trixie. Then she continued, with a satisfied smile on her face. "So, when I checked the costumes, I should have found no chocolate stains, correct?" Again, they all nodded. "Well, then, how do you explain the chocolate stain on the leg of this grasshopper suit, Brian?" Honey had just stepped forward with part of Brian’s costume. She was very shy, and obviously felt bad for exposing Brian. Everyone gasped as they saw the small brown stain on the suit.
"I… I… I can explain it all. I know we weren’t supposed to eat any of our candy, but I did. But it was my candy, not Mart’s. I don’t even really like peanut butter cups. In fact, I gave all of mine to Moms, she loves them. I had a Kit-Kat. If you check the pockets of my costume, I’m sure you will find the wrapper from it. I am sorry."
Trixie jabbed her hand into the pocket, and returned with a small red wrapper. She frowned.
"Well, Brian, if it wasn’t you, then who was it? Moms?" She said the word like it was a complete joke.
Moms came running into the room, hearing her name. "Yes, kids? Did you call me, Trix?"
"Oh, no, Moms. I was just telling Brian that if he didn’t take Mart’s peanut butter cups, then who did?"
Moms thought for a moment. "Oh dear…" she mumbled.
"What is it, Moms?" Trixie, Mart, and Brian rushed to their Moms side, worrying that the baby may be coming. It was due any time now.
"Oh, no, I’m fine kids." She smiled at her children’s loving gesture. "I just realized, I think I know what happened to Mart’s peanut butter cups."
Honey decided to speak up. "I think I do, too, Mrs. Belden. Do you mind if I guess?"
Moms gestured for Honey to go right ahead.
"Well, when we went back to the car the second to last time, we all had a bunch of peanut butter cups, from that one man who scared Trixie." Honey stopped at this to look at Trixie, who was blushing. Jim saw her also, and gave her a warm smile. "Brian doesn’t like them very much, so he told Moms that she could have them if she wanted them. While she was sitting there waiting for us to return, she began to eat the peanut butter cups. When she handed out the bags, she made a mistake…" Honey walked over to where the bags that Mart and Brian’s candy had been in, and looked them over. "Aha! Look at the names. The bags got switched!!! You just got the wrong bags. So, really Mart, you still have all your peanut butter cups."
Honey smiled proudly, and switched the bags. "One for you, and one for you!"
Moms smiled and clapped. "Very good, Honey. I suppose you are right. Good sleuthing!"
Trixie, obviously upset that she didn’t find out, just smiled weakly. "Yeah, good job, Honey."
Honey, embarrassed at all the attention, smiled and hugged Trixie. "If it weren’t for her proving that Brian didn’t do it, then I would have never found out. Trixie did most of it."
Brian walked over and gave Honey a bear hug, lifting her up in the air. "But if it weren’t for you putting two and two together, I would have been blamed for it. Thanks, Honey!"
Moms smiled at Honey and Brian. Kids will be kids, she thought. And then she looked over to Trixie and Jim. Trixie was frowning and looked on the verge of tears. She always liked to be the center of attention, and was not very happy that she didn’t find the solution to this case. Jim also saw that she was upset. He stood up and hugged her.
"Don’t worry, Trix. I know you would have found out what happened if they would have just given you two more seconds. I’m proud of you." Trixie blushed a little, embarrassed at all of Jim’s praise. She felt something on her wrist. Jim, taking his turn to blush moved back to let Trixie look at her wrist. She smiled and grew an even deeper red. On her wrist was a candy bracelet. Jim looked at his feet and shifted around. "I just wanted you to know that you’re special to me, Trixie."
"Oh Jim… You’re special to me too." She ran over and hugged him. Then all the kids, mysteries forgotten- for now- rifled through their piles of candy, Honey and Brian leaning on each other, and Jim and Trixie holding hands.
The End