The Mystery of the Memorial Day Fire

do,” she said. “How about caps? They’re less expensive.”
    “I wanted something that could be imprinted, though,” the caller said.
    “The caps can be imprinted,” Trixie told him.
    “Not with ‘Carlson Classic Invitational Horseshoe Tournament,’” the caller pointed out.
    “Well, no,” Trixie admitted. “But we could just use an abbreviation, like ‘CC,’ and the year. The people at the tournament will know what it means, and when they wear the cap afterward, people will ask and they can explain.”
    “That sounds good,” the caller said enthusiastically. “Write it up.”
    “Right you are!” Trixie said joyfully.

    Trixie told Honey the story that evening as they biked into Sleepyside. “It’s just like Brian said the first day,” she concluded. “If I keep my mind on the customers’ problems and how my product can help solve them, I’m not nervous at all!”
    “Still, though, it was really clever of you to suggest the caps after the T-shirts were too expensive,” Honey said.
    “You must be the clever one,” Trixie said. “You’re ahead in the contest so far!”
    “That’s been mostly luck,” Honey said modestly. “I started out calling everyone from school that I could think of who was on a summer sports team. But what really put me ahead was the woman ordering seventy-five T-shirts for her family reunion. They all are to say, ‘Proud to be a Bartikowski,’ and all that lettering is enough to put anyone ahead!”
    “Gosh,” Trixie said, “I hope nobody at the reunion is a size small — there won’t be room for all that on a T-shirt. They’ll have to put the extra letters on a hankie that they can carry along!”
    That thought made the two girls start laughing so hard that they had to pull their bikes over to the side of the road. When they were finally on their way again, Trixie said, “I think it’s going to seem real to me tonight for the first time. When we go to Nick’s, I’ll really see my very first order. Then I’ll get to make my very first delivery”
    “The way it’s worked out is perfectly perfect,” Honey added. “I think it was wonderful of Bruce Becker to make the new shirts a surprise and ask us to deliver them to the softball diamond just before the game.”
    Trixie and Honey had to hurry to get to Nick’s house, pick up the shirts, and get to the softball diamond in time, but they made it. They handed the two big bags over to Bruce Becker, who called his team together and, with a flourish, pulled out one of the shirts and held it up.
    A cheer went up from the team, and everyone grabbed for the shirts at once. There was a lot of trading back and forth until everyone found the right size. Then the old shirts were peeled off, and the new shirts were pulled on.
    Within a few minutes, the whole team was arrayed in vivid blue.
    “Well, Trixie, if we play as well as we look, we can’t lose,” Bruce Becker told her.
    Trixie and Honey stayed to watch the game. Sure enough, the Sleepyside Bankers beat the opposing team easily. Afterward, the Bankers sent up a shout of “T-shirts, T-shirts, T-shirts!” that had Trixie and Honey clutching their sides with laughter once again.
    “Well, that’s that,” Trixie said as they pedaled home. “My first sale, my first delivery, and my first satisfied customers.”
    “If they’d all be that good, we’d never want to stop selling,” Honey said.
    The girls rode slowly back through town toward Glen Road. The evening was pleasantly warm and there was almost no breeze at all.
    Suddenly Trixie sat up straight on her bike. “Honey, I just thought of something. You haven’t seen Mr. Roberts’s store since the fire. Let’s ride past it now on our way home.”
    “Do you really think that’s a good idea, Trixie?” Honey asked. “It’s starting to get dark, and that store isn’t in a very good part of town.”
    “It isn’t that dark,” Trixie said. “It won’t take a minute.”
    “Wel-l-l,” Honey drawled. She was curious, and she was also unable to resist her best friend’s wishes for very long. “All right,” she said finally.
    A few minutes later, the two girls stood looking at the burned-out building. “It looks so little to have held such a big explosion,” Honey said.
    “It caused such big problems, too,” Trixie added. She shook her head. “When I was here before, Brian said the fire takes some getting used to. But I just can’t. It keeps seeming more unreal and more