The Hudson River Mystery

bacon dressing. Trixie forced herself to ignore her discomfort when talk drifted to Brian’s personality.
    ”Your astrological sign is Libra, isn’t it, Brian?” asked Mr. Belden as he passed the carrots to his son.
    ”But he’s close enough to Scorpio to be influenced by that sign, too,” said Mart, who always seemed to know some miscellaneous facts about nearly every conceivable subject.
    ”You would believe in that stuff,” Trixie sniffed.
    ”You can’t deny that it seems to apply to our elder sibling,” argued Mart. ”He’s gentle, well-balanced, and sympathetic to pain, just like a Libra. Plus he’s quiet, determined, and intelligent—just like Scorpios are supposed to be.”
    ”It doesn’t seem to make any difference whether you believe in it or not,” said his mother, getting up to clear the dishes. ”All you have to know is that Brian’s got everything it takes to make the best doctor in the world!”
    Brian smiled, but he looked more embarrassed than pleased.
    Mrs. Belden brought an angel food cake to the table, and everyone cheered and sang ”Happy Birthday” to Brian.
    ”Speech, speech!” demanded Mart and Bobby.
    Brian smiled again, then made a show of standing up to address his family. It seemed to Trixie that he came close to losing his balance when he pushed his chair back, but she told herself that she was just imagining things.
    What happened next, however, was not her imagination.
    ”Thank you for everything,” he began.
    ”Oh, it was nothing, really,” Mart interrupted modestly.
    ”I’m sorry for—”
    Brian’s eyes were closing. He staggered back a few steps from the table and, without another word, suddenly slumped to the floor.
    Trixie shrieked and rushed over to him. Brian was still breathing, but it sounded labored. Bobby burst into tears.
    Amid the terrible pandemonium, Mr. Belden ordered, ”Call an ambulance, someone.”
    To everyone’s horror, Brian had not regained consciousness by the time the ambulance attendants entered and began loading him onto a stretcher.
    Tears streaming down her face, Trixie watched mutely as the ambulance sped away with her brother, followed by her parents in the Belden station wagon.
    ”I’ll call as soon as we know anything,” her mother had promised, but to Trixie that was small comfort.
    Why didn’t I tell her? she screamed silently. Why didn’t I tell someone? This might never have happened. I could have prevented it!
    In shocked silence, Mart and Trixie cleaned up the kitchen, then went into the living room to watch TV with Bobby. The two of them took turns holding their frightened little brother. None of them could make sense of the programs, so intent were they on waiting for the phone to ring.
    An hour that seemed to drag on for years went by, and the phone call finally came. Mart grabbed for the phone, was silent a moment, then turned to the others.
    ”Brian s been poisoned,” he said grimly.

Still More Surprises • 6

    IS—IS HE GOING to die?” Trixie asked hoarsely.
    Mart turned away from the phone he’d just hung up, blew his nose, and shook his head. ”Cyanide detoxification is quite rapid. Moms said that there usually aren’t any permanent aftereffects.”
    Bobby looked as bewildered as Trixie felt. ”What’s shia—whatever you said?”
    ”I believe its technical name is hydrocyanic acid,” Mart said, mostly for Trixie’s benefit. It s an extremely poisonous substance—instantly lethal in its pure form.”
    Trixie fell back on the couch with a terrified moan.
    Mart turned to Bobby and translated gently, ”Brian was very sick. Now he’s getting better in the hospital. He’ll be home soon.”
    Trixie sat up with a gasp. ”But why didn’t he die, if it’s so lethal? What saved him?”
    ”They don’t know yet,” Mart said simply.
    It wasn’t until the following morning at breakfast that Trixie got some answers. What she learned, though, raised even more questions.
    Her parents had stayed up most of the night with Brian and looked like it. Their faces were tired, but their eyes were shining with relief.
    ”Yes, Brian’s going to be absolutely fine,” said Helen Belden for the twentieth time. ”They think he’s coming home tomorrow, and he’ll be able to get back to normal very quickly.” A strange, confused expression crossed her face.
    ”It was quite easily determined that cyanide was causing all of Brian’s symptoms,” Peter Belden went on. ”The main clues were the condition