The Case of the Ruby Slippers Read Online Free Page A

Courtney’s dad used to be a newspaper reporter, and now he has this blog about politics. Since he and my mom disagree about pretty much everything, it can get awkward.
    In the library, Mr. Brackbill, the librarian, welcomed us and said we should set up three to a table. Courtney and I went with Kyle, who is a total expert on history. For his movie-story, he had picked something called
All the President’s Men
.
    â€œWhat’s that about?” I asked.
    â€œPresident Richard M. Nixon,” he said. “You know, the only American president who ever resigned. The heroes are two reporters.”
    Besides newspaper headlines, Kyle’s poster had a postcard of an apartment building where some burglars working for President Nixon broke in and stole stuff. Kyle’s objects were a reporter’s notebook, an old-fashioned telephone with a dial on it and a pair of blue plastic gloves like my dentist wears.
    Courtney pointed at the gloves. “What’re those for?”
    â€œBurglars use them,” Kyle explained, “you know, so they don’t leave fingerprints.”
    It doesn’t take long to set up a poster and organize a feather duster, an apple and a mirror so they look the way you want. When I was finished, I looked over at Courtney’s display . . . and got a big surprise.
    I have known Courtney Lozana since kindergarten. That’s when my mom was elected senator, and we moved here from California. I have been to Courtney’s house a hundred times, and we have watched
Beauty and the Beast
, dressed up as Beauty and the Beast and sung all the songs from
Beauty and the Beast
.
    So when Courtney told me her movie-story was
Beauty and the Beast
, it was like
duh
.
    But her poster was not
Beauty and the Beast
at all! It had pictures of a girl with pigtails, shiny green skyscrapers and a rainbow. There was a book cover, too, and on it a red-and-green illustration of a lion wearing eyeglasses.
    In case you haven’t guessed, Courtney’s poster was
The Wizard of Oz
.
    Now, one by one, Courtney was removing objects from her bag and placing them in front of her poster: a road map of Kansas, a black witch’s hat and . . . two ruby slippers!
    After what happened yesterday, it was totally weird to see those slippers. “Where did you get them?” I asked.
    Courtney looked at me like I was crazy. “Uh . . . I’ve had them with my dress-up clothes for practically ever?”
    I shook my head and said, “Sorry. But what happened to
Beauty and the Beast
?”
    Courtney said, “I changed my mind. I like
Wizard of Oz
better.”
    This was weird. Why all of a sudden . . . ?
    But then I thought of something. “Courtney, this isn’t because you want to be invited to my aunt’s party tomorrow, is it?”
    The party is a secret from Aunt Jen, but not from everyone else. Courtney’s my best friend. Of course she knew all about it.
    Now she turned pink. “We-e-ell, I wouldn’t
mind
being invited. I’ve met your aunt lots of times, and I really, really,
really
love the movie.”
    This was kind of annoying. I mean, if she wanted to be invited, couldn’t she have just told me?
    By this time, parents had started to arrive. The idea was Ms. Nicols and Mr. Brackbill greeted them at the door, then they walked around and looked at the displays and asked us questions.
    Later, we were going to have punch and healthy snacks.
    When Mr. Lozana came in, he headed right toward us. Mr. Lozana is tall with black hair and a beaky nose. He smiles a lot. When he saw Kyle’s movie-story, he laughed. “Excellent choice,” he said. “The reporters who brought down a president!”
    Courtney said, “
Da-a-a-ad!
” and nodded at me.
    â€œOh, hello, Cameron.” He smiled. “Not the current president, of course.”
    I didn’t have to say anything back because just then