The Donald Duck Caper

My best friend's name was Becca Wilson. We met in fourth grade and we just sort of...clicked. Becca was a lot of things I wasn't. She was outgoing, wild, crazy, and she loved to have fun.

She was gorgeous, even in fourth grade, with this wild, frizzy blonde hair and big hazel eyes that always sparkled with mischief. Next to her I felt like a little mouse. Brown hair, grayish-eyes...I was short too. Becca--and most of the other people in our grade--towered over me.

Becca loved to play games at recess. I don't mean like basketball or four-square. I mean story games. She always came up with great ideas for what we could do. For half an hour a day we were princesses or hunters or characters from a book she was reading. Usually Becca was the hero and I was the sidekick but I never minded. It was still fun.

In fifth grade Becca got into mysteries. She became obsessed with Nancy Drew and Sherlock Holmes. At recess we became Detective Rebecca Black (she insisted on going by her full name) and Withers (my last name; Becca said sidekicks were rarely called by their first names and besides, Withers was sort of like Watson from Sherlock Holmes). We--or rather, Becca--solved the mystery of the missing dodgeball, found the boy who hit Katie Mason in the head with a basketball, and the secret of the shadow by the pine trees. Each time Becca found "clues" and I stood by and exclaimed about them each time, then told her what a genius she was when she solved the mystery.

Our greatest case, however, took place just after Spring Break. Becca came over to me at lunch, her curly hair bouncing around her shoulders.

"Jenny, you'll never believe it! I found a real case! We'll call it The Donald Duck Caper."

I raised my eyebrows. Becca could raise them one at a time but I hadn't figured out how to do that. "Donald Duck?" I asked. "What does he have to do with a mystery?"

Becca was too excited to tell me. "I'll tell you later, Withers," she said in her detective voice. "Right now, eat your sandwich."

I ate my sandwich. When the bell rang Becca practically pulled me out to the playground. Our secret hideout was under the jungle gym. When I was seated on the woodchips, Becca began explaining the mystery.

"Allie Comings is the richest girl in our school. She just had a birthday party on Saturday. She got a lot of presents from all her wonderful friends and today she brought one here to show it off. She had it in the coat room until just before lunch. But when she went in there to get her precious toy, it was gone! Allie has hired me--us--to find it again. She's going to pay us. This is my--our--big break!"

I still didn't see what Donald Duck had to do with all this. But I'd learned not to question Becca, especially when she was this excited. Besides, we were getting paid. It might be fun.

"Where do we start?" I asked.

"At the scene of the crime,Withers," said Becca. "At the scene of the crime."

Becca's idea was for the two of us to pretend we really had to go to the bathroom so we could sneak into the coatroom upstairs and look for clues. The playground aide was a very nice lady and she let us go in. Once the doors closed behind us, Becca slipped off her shoes.

"What are you doing?" I exclaimed. We were never allowed to have our shoes off in school.

Becca rolled her eyes. "Take yours off too," she said. "It'll be easier to sneak around if no one can hear us."

I was sure we were going to get caught but I didn't want to go against Becca. I pulled off my shoes and followed her down the hall to our classroom.

The door was closed. We couldn't see any light through the little window. Our teacher, Mrs. Johnson, must have been gone. Becca turned the doorknob very slowly. To my surprise, it moved. Becca put a finger to her lips and opened the door. We slipped in.

"Check the coat room," Becca hissed at me. "I'll look around the desks."

I nodded. Even as I went into the coat room, I didn't know what I was looking for. I peeked in all the cubbies and behind the coats. Nothing unusual. Then from the classroom, Becca said loudly, "Jenny! I found it!"

I hurried out. "Shh!" I said, then looked around to see what she had found. She was holding a small stuffed Donald Duck in one hand.

"Case closed," she said. "It was in her desk all along. Now let's get out of here before someone catches us."

I followed her gratefully out of the classroom and back onto the playground, where we presented Allie with her toy and went back to playing. For the rest of the time I was friends with her, which was until we started high school, Becca never found another "real mystery" to solve. But she was very proud of herself for solving the Donald Duck Caper.