The Mystery of the Phantom Grashopper

without any electric guitars.”
    Peter Belden raised an eyebrow. “Don’t any of you have any homework assignments for tomorrow?” he asked.
    “Gleeps!” Trixie said. “I’ve got to finish my social studies report.”
    “Me, too,” Honey said.
    Jim nodded. “And we just got through telling Regan that there was no chance of any of us flunking out of school. I guess we’d better prove it. See you guys tomorrow... and thanks for the great indoor cookout!”
    On the way upstairs, Trixie noticed Mart’s puzzled expression. “What’s your problem?” she asked.
    “I was just wondering who invented the electric guitar,” he said.
    “That’s easy,” Trixie said with a grin. “It was Ben Franklin!”

Sam, Sam, the Medicine Man • 3

    THE SCHOOL BUS was bouncing down Glen Road, and Trixie, her notebook balanced on top of her other books, was trying to keep her handwriting legible. It wasn’t easy—the bus made frequent stops and starts, and Trixie’s paper had streaks and blots where her pen had shot off suddenly in an unintended direction.
    “Almost finished?” Honey asked, glancing anxiously at Trixie’s messy paper.
    Closing her notebook, Trixie sighed. “All done except for sketching in the coins.”
    Brian looked up from a book he was reading. “What kind of a paper are you doing, anyway?” he asked.
    “We have to write a report on the culture of one of the groups of people we’ve been studying,” Trixie told him. “I’m doing the Chinese. They’ve really got an interesting culture.”
    “I’m doing the Romans,” Honey said.
    Trixie looked smug. “We’re both going to include sketches of some of the old coins from Mr. Quinn’s collection,” she boasted. “That’s Honey’s idea, not mine,” she added truthfully.
    Honey gave Trixie a poke. “You didn’t have to tell him that,” she said.
    The bus pulled up in front of the school, and the young people gathered up their books and started down the aisle toward the door.
    “Using drawings of those coins sounds like a good idea,” Brian said. “They should add a lot to your reports.”
    Trixie nodded. “Now all we have to do is to talk Miss Lawler into letting us stay after class so we can sketch them,” she fretted.
    The warning bell sounded as they entered the building. Trixie and Honey hurried off to their homeroom. Di and the others ran down the corridor to their own homerooms.
    “See you at lunch,” Trixie called.

    Unlike most Mondays, this one passed quickly. Jeepers, today seemed short, Trixie thought as she walked down the hallway to her last class.
    Miss Craven was standing by the open door, and she nodded as Trixie entered the social studies classroom. Trixie slipped into her seat beside Honey and arranged her books on her desk as the bell rang to signal the start of class.
    Miss Craven closed the door promptly. “Good afternoon, class,” she said, walking to the front of the room. “Miss Lawler will begin by telling us about another one of the fascinating coins from Mr. Quinn s collection.”
    Miss Lawler was seated at a small table that served as her desk. A glass display case with a nameplate engraved RONALD QUINN stood beside the table. The sliding glass doors across the back of the case were locked. Inside, the three shelves were covered with black velvet. Laid out in neat rows was an assortment of ancient coins—Roman, Greek, Oriental, Hebrew—all of different shapes and sizes. Some were so blackened with age that they were almost unrecognizable. Many were sealed inside special plastic envelopes.
    While Miss Lawler described one of the coins and told about the people who had used it, Miss Craven busied herself taking attendance and looking over her own notes.
    “Thank you, Miss Lawler. Now, class....” Miss Craven folded her hands and leaned forward. “Today we’ll discuss an ancient Roman city.”
    The remainder of the period was spent learning the fascinating story of the excavation of the famous city of Pompeii.
    Trixie didn’t even hear the bell sounding to end the period. She was strolling through the gardens of Pompeii, admiring the houses, the public baths, and the great halls and theaters.
    Honey giggled and nudged Trixie. “Class is over,” she informed her.
    “Oh!” Blinking her eyes, Trixie looked around at the other students leaving the room. “Jeepers, that was really interesting,” she said.
    “Let’s ask Miss Lawler about sketching the coins,” Honey urged. “She’s