Cam Jansen and the Sports Day Mysteries (5 page)

“Here I come,” Danny yelled again.

Danny ran to the ball. He quickly swung his foot far back and kicked the ball hard. It flew high into the air. It flew off to the side and way beyond the field.

“Wow,” Danny said.

The ball had gone high over Mr. Day’s head. It flew beyond the benches along the path.

“I’ll get it,” Eric shouted.

Eric ran off the field. He looked around. “Hey,” he said. “Where did it go?”

Players from both teams joined Eric. They helped him look for the ball.

Between the path and the lake were lots of bushes. The players searched in the bushes.

“It’s not here,” Eric said. “It’s not anywhere.”

“It must be somewhere,” Cam said. “Soccer balls don’t just disappear.”

“Well this one did,” Danny said. “I kicked it way into outer space.”

Mr. Day blew his whistle. He left the field and walked onto the path. “What’s taking you so long?” he asked. “We’re in the middle of a game.”

“We can’t find the ball,” Eric answered.

“This time I really kicked it far,” Danny said. “I didn’t know I was so good at soccer.”

“Well, those of you who are not playing can keep looking for the ball,” Mr. Day said. “But those in the game should get back on the field. We’ll use one of the practice balls.”

Cam and Eric watched the players return to the field.

“My son lost the ball,” Mr. Pace said, “so I’ll help you find it.”

“I’ll also help,” Hector said.

“We looked in the bushes and on the path. Where else could it be?” Eric asked.

“Maybe it’s in the lake,” Hector said.

“A soccer ball is filled with air,” Cam said. “It would float.”

Cam, Eric, Hector, and Mr. Pace walked to the edge of the lake. They saw a few boats in the water, a few ducks, and some branches. They didn’t see the ball.

“Where could it be?” Eric asked.

“It’s probably in the bushes,” Mr. Pace said. “Lots of people looked there, but they weren’t organized. Maybe they all looked in the same few bushes. Maybe they missed the one with the ball. We should look again.”

“We’ll start at one end of the row of bushes,” Eric said. “We’ll keep looking until we find the ball.”

The bushes were high and thick. Cam, Eric, Hector, and Mr. Pace started at the bushes at the beginning of the path. They spread apart the branches of one bush after another. They found candy wrappers and a Frisbee. They didn’t find the soccer ball.

“That’s it,” Hector said when they came to the last bush. “We checked them all.”

“Maybe it landed on the path and rolled away,” Mr. Pace said. “It could have rolled all the way to the other end of the park.”

“It wouldn’t roll away,” Hector said. “Both ways from here the path goes uphill.”

“Maybe someone walking by caught it,” Eric said. “Maybe he took it home.”

“I don’t think so,” Cam said. “We got here right after Danny kicked the ball. If someone caught it, we would have seen him.”

“Things don’t just disappear,” Mr. Pace said. “I know. I once did magic on stage.”

“You did?” Eric asked.

“Yes, and Mrs. Pace was my assistant. My best trick was dropping a cloth over her and saying a few magic words. I lifted the cloth and she was gone.”

“Wow!” Hector said.

“She didn’t really disappear,” Mr. Pace said. “There was a trapdoor under her chair. She snuck through it to the basement. She waited for me in the car.”

“That’s good,” Hector said.

“Sure it’s good,” Mr. Pace said. “I would miss her if she really disappeared.”

Eric turned. First he looked at the soccer field. He turned slowly and looked up the path toward the baseball field, at the lake, and then toward the park entrance. “This is some mystery,” Eric said.

When Eric said the word “mystery,” he looked at Cam. Hector and Mr. Pace also looked at her.

“What?” Cam asked.

Mr. Pace asked her, “Don’t you solve mysteries?”

“Sometimes,” Cam answered.

“Well, please try to solve this one.”

Mr. Day blew his whistle.

“Let’s go!” he called to Cam, Eric, and Hector. “It’s your turn to play.”

Cam, Eric, and Hector crossed the path and walked onto the field. “Let’s see if you can kick the ball as far as I did,” Danny said as he walked to the sidelines. “I kicked a home run!”

“I wish you had kicked it into the goal,” Hector told him. “Then we would be ahead.”

“What’s the score?” Eric asked Beth.

“It’s tied, one to one.”

Mr. Day told Eric, “It’s your turn to be goalie for Ms. Benson’s team. Sarah, you’ll be the goalie for Mr. Dane’s team.”

Eric and Sarah each walked to a different end of the field. They stood in front of their goals.

Hector stood in the center of the field. Mr. Day blew his whistle. He dropped the ball and Hector kicked it toward Sarah. A player from Mr. Dane’s team stopped the ball with his foot. He kicked the ball the other way.

“Pass the ball! Pass the ball!” Mr. Dane shouted. “Move it down the field.”

Players from both teams ran toward Eric’s goal. Mr. Day ran with them.

A player from Mr. Dane’s team kicked the ball to another player on his team. They kicked it from one to another as they hurried toward Eric.

Eric stood by the goal and waited.

Fernando, a boy in Mr. Dane’s class, kicked the ball hard. It flew fast and straight toward the goal.

Eric jumped. He caught the ball before it reached the goal. He threw it toward Cam.

“Good play,” Ms. Benson yelled to Eric.

Cam didn’t see the ball coming. She was thinking about the missing soccer ball.

“Pay attention,” Hector said as he ran in front of Cam.

Hector kicked the ball toward Sarah and the other goal.

Players from both teams ran toward Sarah’s goal. Mr. Day ran with them.

Then Hector kicked the ball hard. It flew past Sarah and into the net.

Trill!
Mr. Day blew his whistle. “That’s a goal,” he shouted.

Mr. Day stopped running. He took a deep breath. “Let’s rest a minute,” he said.

Cam stopped. She looked toward the path and thought about the missing soccer ball. She saw Sam. He was still playing with the remote-controlled toy car.

“Sam,” his wife called as she put down her newspaper. “Sam!” she shouted.

Sam turned and his wife pointed to the toy car. Sam pushed a button on his remote control. The car turned and went right to her.

Sam’s wife opened her purse. She took out a pen and a small sheet of paper. She wrote a note and stuck it onto the car’s antenna. Sam pushed a button and the car traveled back to him.

Sam’s wife opened a bag that was on her bench. She took out two wrapped sandwiches and two juice containers.

Sam took the note off the car and read it.

“Good,” he said, and laughed. “I’m hun gry.”

Sam picked up his car. He joined his wife on the next bench. They unwrapped the sandwiches and began to eat lunch.

“Let’s go!” Mr. Day shouted. “Let’s finish the game.”

Mr. Day placed the ball in the center of the field. A player from Mr. Dane’s team kicked it toward Eric’s goal.

Cam stood by the sideline. She watched Sam and his wife eating. The toy car was on the bench.

“That’s it!” Cam said. “That’s where I’ll find the soccer ball.”

Cam ran off the soccer field.

“Hey,” Ms. Benson yelled. “Where are you going?”

Trill! Trill!
Mr. Day blew his whistle.

“Get back here!” he shouted.

“I think I know where to find the missing soccer ball,” Cam said as she ran off the field. Mr. Day followed her.

Cam ran across the path to the edge of the lake. She waved her hands. “Look in your boat. Is there a soccer ball in your boat?”

A man and a woman in a boat near the edge of the lake looked at Cam. Then they looked in their boat and shook their heads. They didn’t find the ball. The others in boats didn’t look at Cam. They hadn’t heard her.

Eric ran to Cam.

“What are you doing?” he asked. “We’re in the middle of a game.”

Ms. Benson, Hector, Sarah, and others also hurried toward Cam.

“I know what happened to the soccer ball,” Cam said. “I know why we didn’t find it.”

“Hey,” Mr. Day said as he walked toward Cam. “You can’t just run off the field.”

“Did you see when Sam’s wife stuck the note onto the antenna of his car? The car carried the note to Sam. Well, I think that’s what happed with our soccer ball. I think it landed in one of the boats when it was close to the path. Then the boat carried it away.”

“That could have happened,” Hector said. “But wouldn’t someone know if a ball landed in his boat?”

“Maybe it landed behind him,” Eric said. “Maybe he’s like Sam, the man with the remote-controlled car. Maybe he doesn’t hear very well.”

“You have a loud voice,” Cam said to Mr. Day. “Can you call to the people in the boats and ask them if they have our soccer ball?”

“Hey!” Mr. Day shouted. “Is there a soccer ball in your boat?”

People in boats 7 and 4 turned toward Mr. Day. They shook their heads.

The old man in boat 6 kept rowing.

Trill! Trill!
Mr. Day blew his whistle. He waved to the man. But the man didn’t turn.

“He’s rowing toward shore,” Ms. Benson said. “I’ll wait for him.”

“We can’t wait for him to get back here,” Mr. Day said. “We’ve got a game to play.”

Mr. Day went to the rental booth. Cam, Eric, Ms. Benson, and others followed him.

“How do you call to the boaters?”

The woman in the booth showed Mr. Day a megaphone. She let him borrow it.

Mr. Day stood at the edge of the lake. He blew his whistle into the megaphone.

Cam, Eric, and many others along the lake held their hands to their ears. People in the boats turned. Even the man in boat 6 turned.

Mr. Day pointed to the man in boat 6. Then he shouted to him through the megaphone, “Please, look behind you. Is there a soccer ball in your boat?”

The man looked in front of him. Then he shook his head. He didn’t find the soccer ball.

“Please,” Mr. Day shouted through the megaphone. “Turn and look behind you.”