The Mystery of the Phantom Grashopper

uncomfortably silent for a moment.
    Sammy smiled again. “We’ll see,” he said. “I’ll stick around for a while, anyway.”
    “We’d better not stick around here any longer,” Trixie said. “I promised Moms we’d be on time for dinner for a change.”
    Jim buttoned up his red jacket. “Our station wagon is over in the parking lot,” he said. “Can we give you and Sammy a lift, Miss Lawler?”
    “No, thank you, Jim,” Miss Lawler answered. “We left Sammy’s truck at the school. We’ll walk back there. But—” she smiled suddenly, remembering something— “we will walk down to the common with you. I want Sammy to meet Hoppy.”
    “Sure,” Sammy said agreeably. “I hope Hoppy is as pretty as Di.”
    Di blushed, and everyone else laughed.
    “Hoppy’s undeniable pulchritude, however, would undoubtedly appeal more to an orthopteran,” Mart said. “He’s a grasshopper weather vane atop the cupola of our Town Hall.”
    “Don’t mind Mart,” Trixie said. “He likes to sound like a dictionary. Hoppy is over two hundred years old. He’s a real antique.”
    Miss Lawler nodded. “Tell Sammy the part about the good luck, Trixie,” she said.
    “Oh,” Trixie said self-consciously. “We—I mean, some of us—think it brings good luck to say hello to Hoppy whenever you pass him.”
    Sammy’s grin widened. “Is that right?” he asked. “This I’ve got to see. Lead the way.”
    The crisp October air felt almost frosty after the cozy warmth of the diner. Trixie shivered and turned up her jacket collar as they headed toward the town common.
    They passed a car at the curb, sitting with the motor running. A thin trail of smoke puffed from the exhaust. The man behind the steering wheel was reading a newspaper.
    “I don’t blame him for leaving his heater on,” Trixie muttered. “Jeepers, I’m freezing!” She pushed her hands deep into her pockets, then let out a sudden gasp. “Yipes! I forgot my notebook. I’ll run back to the diner and get it. You guys go on; I’ll catch up.” The notebook was right where Trixie had left it on the bench.
    “Forget something, Trixie?” Mike, the counterman, called to her.
    “Practically a whole social studies report!” Trixie told him as she went back out the door. “See you later, Mike.”
    Trixie could see the others almost at the common. She started to run to catch up, but then slowed down. The car they had passed before was inching along, close to the curb, keeping just behind the group on the sidewalk. I wonder who that is, Trixie thought. She yelled, “Hey, you guys! Wait for me!”
    As the others turned around, the car pulled away from the curb and drove off.
    Honey waited until Trixie caught up with her. The others were already walking across the grass of the common.
    “Did you notice that car that just passed?” Trixie asked Honey.
    “What car?” Honey asked. “We were too busy talking to be looking at cars. Why? Who was it?”
    Trixie frowned. “I don’t know. But it seemed to be following you.”
    “Oh, Trixie!” Honey chided. “It was probably just someone who doesn’t know his way around Sleepyside very well. Come on, the others are waiting for us.”
    They joined the group in front of Town Hall and watched as Sammy craned his neck to stare up at the old weather vane. In the late afternoon light, the old grasshopper looked almost alive and ready to hop from his perch.
    Sammy shook his head. “Now, that’s one mighty big grasshopper,” he said.
    Miss Lawler touched Sammy’s arm. “Don’t forget that it’s good luck to say hello to Hoppy,” she reminded him.
    “Right,” Sammy said. With a mock salute, he called, “Hello, Hoppy! You’re the biggest bug I’ve ever seen! And I think you’re going to bring me a lot of good luck!”
    Miss Lawler laughed. “He’ll bring you a parking ticket if we don’t get back to your truck,” she said.
    Trixie looked at her watch and made a face. “We’ve got to get home!” she said. “It was nice meeting you, Sammy. Good night, Miss Lawler.”
    The Bob-Whites headed for their station wagon, and Miss Lawler and Sammy started off up the sidewalk toward the school building.
    “Miss Lawler seems like a different person already,” Trixie declared as Jim drove home. “Remember how nervous and shy she used to be?”
    “Sammy really changed that,” Honey said. “I wish we could convince him to stay iii Sleepyside. Maybe if we knew of a job for him... but there aren’t