The Mystery of the Memorial Day Fire

1 * The Torchlight Parade

    “OH, HONEY, AREN’T PARADES WONDERFUL?” Trixie Belden didn’t wait for an answer, because she knew her best friend would agree. “I just love the clowns and the horses and the marching bands.” Trixie’s blue eyes were shining, and her cheeks glowed under their dusting of freckles. Her sandy blond curls, which always bounced when she was excited, were practically dancing.
    “My sororal sibling has particularized a procession that has not yet commenced,” Mart Belden said, rolling his own blue eyes upward in a look of mock-disbelief. Mart was Trixie’s “almost twin,” just eleven months older and with the same sandy hair and freckles. He used his almost-constant teasing to hide his deep affection for his younger sister.
    “I think he means that you just described the parade even though it hasn’t started yet,” Honey Wheeler told Trixie. Both of the girls loved to decipher Mart’s inflated sentences, to show him he wasn’t the only smart one in their group. “But I don’t see what’s so strange about that, since the Sleepyside-on-the-Hudson Memorial Day Torchlight Parade is always the same, every single year. That’s what I love about it — that and getting to see absolutely everyone in town lined up along Main Street to watch.” Honey’s hazel eyes were shining, too, and the cool breeze made her honey-blond shoulder-length hair look pleasantly windblown.
    Jim Frayne put his arm around Honey’s shoulders and gave his adopted sister an affectionate hug. I can’t believe there was ever a time in my life when I didn’t spend Memorial Day eve watching the parade on Main Street,” he said.
    I can’t, either,” Dan Mangan agreed.
    I have spent every Memorial Day watching this parade,” Di Lynch said. “But I can’t believe I didn’t always watch it with the other Bob-Whites of the Glen.”
    “Well, at least we’re all together this year,” Brian Belden observed in his reasonable way. “That’s really all that matters.” Brian, the oldest of the Beldens, was also the calmest and most logical.
    Happily, Trixie nodded her agreement. The seven young people standing on the curb in the twilight were more than good friends. They were the total membership of a semisecret club called the Bob-Whites of the Glen, which was dedicated to helping others and to having fun.
    The fun certainly included times like this, waiting together on Main Street for the Memorial Day parade to begin. But making the club a success had also required giving lots of help to one another, as well as to the community.
    Not too long before, Jim Frayne had been a runaway, hiding from his cruel stepfather and having nowhere to turn after his great-uncle died. Then Jim had met Trixie and Honey, and Honey’s parents had adopted him.
    Dan Mangan, too, had once been without a real home. Instead of running away, Dan had gotten involved with a street gang in New York City, where he’d lived. His Uncle Regan, the Wheelers’ groom, had brought Dan to Sleepyside to get him away from those bad companions.
    Di Lynch had always lived in Sleepyside. Her life had changed, though, when her father suddenly made a lot of money and the Lynches moved into a luxurious mansion. Di had been confused and frightened by the change, but her friendship with Trixie and Honey had helped her to adjust.
    Honey, too, had gone through her share of unhappiness to get to this Memorial Day parade. It was almost impossible to remember that the Honey Wheeler who had first come to live in Sleepyside had been thin and pale and afraid of her own shadow.
    Honey’s parents had always been wealthy. Her father was a hard-working businessman who traveled a lot. Her mother was loving but not very strong. As a result, Honey had lived at boarding schools and summer camps. That had left her feeling unloved and insecure.
    The Wheelers had bought the Manor House, a mansion just west of the farmhouse where Trixie lived, to give Honey a more stable home. Their plan had succeeded beyond their hopes mainly because of the sturdy, fearless tomboy who lived next door. In fact, Honey’s parents sometimes wondered if things hadn’t gone too far, especially when Honey got involved in the mysteries that Trixie was always trying to solve.
    “We’re going to have a beautiful starry night,” Trixie pointed out. “That will make the parade even better.”
    “Oh, it certainly will,” Honey agreed. “There’s nothing sadder than seeing everyone