Return To The Previous Story - At Mr. Trim's Place
During the summer Greg was sent to a special detective camp to be a better detective. It all started at camp 12 where 12 people were sitting down to have a drink. They started to fall down one by one.
A little later Bert recovered from whatever. He saw the Assistant Camp Master looking at what happened. She saw Bert moving.
“Don’t move!” she yelled. “The poison will get to your heart! You were the only one who didn’t drink all of it!”
“What?” asked Bert.
“Someone poisoned you!” she yelled.
Then she quickly ran upstairs. Then Greg recovered. (He drank so slowly it already left he blood stream safely.) There the two of them heard over the intercom speaker.
“Come in Mr. Hoffman,” said the Assistant Camp Master.
“This is Hoffman. Ready Earline?” answered Mr. Hoffman.
“I took care of everyone except the Camp Master. He went to town to get food,” told Earline. “Then I’ll tell their parents.”
“I’ll kill them as they try to find who did it,” exclaimed Mr. Hoffman.
“Then we’ll give the kids the antidote,” she said. “Which is in the wall safe. And the key is in my chair. Just remove the cushion and you’ll find 12 hypodermic needles where the antidote will be.”
As she said this Bert and Greg took two of them.
“Shall we?” asked Bert.
“I think we shall,” answered Greg.
And with that they gave themselves the antidote.
“Come on,” said Greg. “We got to give it to the others.”
Bert finished his drink to make sure he didn’t get too much of the antidote and Greg gave Juile the antidote when they listened to the speaker.
“Then we’ll poison the movie studio,” explained Mr. Hoffman.
They stopped for awhile and made plans. Then Bert and Greg gave everyone the antidote. Greg carried them all out to the street while Bert got a taxi. By the time Greg got to the last body Juile was helping them. They all got in the taxi and drove off. They quickly got to a special building. (By that time they were all awake.)
“That will be 5 bucks in cash,” yelled the taxi cab driver.
Greg gave him the money then went inside. Then he came to a giant safe. Greg punch in the combination. They opened a closet and slid down a trap door. They were in a secret hideout. There was the Camp Master and Greg’s father.
“Greg and I heard Earline making a deal with Mr. Hoffman,” declared Bert. “And she poisoned us with ‘cola’.”
The first thing they did was call the police. They got Earline easily. The speaker was on and was proof. Back at the hideout they were making plans.
“I don’t like this a bit,” said the 1st campboy. “I’m leaving.”
“I don’t like it either,” said the 2nd campboy. “But we have to stay. Think of the movie.”
“I don’t care. I’m leaving,” said the 1st campboy as he left.
The 2nd campboy ran after him.
“Wait!” he exclaimed. “We’ll be heroes if we do it.”
“All right,” he said. “I’ll help.”
“Now here’s my plan,” said Greg. “We’ll split up in threes. Me and the Camp Master will go alone. When you see Mr. Hoffman in this car with this license plate.”
He held up two pictures.
“Follow him. After they leave the studio warn them. If they stay there will they drink jump out and warn them then run fast.”
So they split up. The 1st campgirl picked her group. Campboys 1, 2, and 3 were in group 2. Campgirls 2, 3, and 4 were in group 3. Campgirl 5 and campboy 4 were back in group 1. Greg took group 4 and went to his spot. The Camp Master took group 5 and watched the road to the movie studio. Greg’s father Bert and Juile were in group 6 and drove around the city.
Meanwhile Mr. Hoffman was making plans with 3 thieves. They got in the car and drove to the shopping center. Greg was near there. He quickly looked at the toy store and saw a skateboard in the window. He went inside.
“I’ll take the skateboard,” he told the owner.
“That will cost $14.95,” figured the owner.
Greg managed to have enough money. He went outside and started moving toward the car. Just then 4 men ran to the car and drove away. Greg follow them. One of the thieves saw him.
“MR. HOFFMAN,” he yelled. “Somebody’s following us.”
“It’s just a skateboarder,” replied Mr. Hoffman.
“It’s one of the kids we poisoned!” exclaimed the thief.
They stopped the car and Mr. Hoffman got out.
“This is a warning,” shouted Mr. Hoffman. “Stop following us or we’ll have to take drastic measures.”
Greg yelled back.
“All right!” he said. “I’ll turn on this next street ahead.”
Mr. Hoffman got back in the car and drove slowly. When they got there Greg turned just as he promised. Greg was not about to give up that easily. He knew they had to turn on the next street. He would take the road that would go on that street and follow them from a further distance. He put his plan into action.
The other groups still didn’t know about this but group 6 was going to go on that street soon. The crooks were arguing about who will get how much of the ransom and how much the ransom will be. They stopped to argue. Greg did not know about this and wondered if he got there too late. He decided to wait.
“Group 5 will find them,” he thought.
Finally they agreed on something. They started the car. Greg quickly hid. He did not want to see them. Then when he though he was a safe distance behind he started following them.
Meanwhile Greg’s father, Bert, and Juile came to Greg’s spot.
“Where’s Greg?” asked Juile.
“Maybe he found the crooks,” replied Bert.
The three of them turned on the road they thought the three crooks had taken.
“I hope we get there in time,” thought Greg’s father.
As the crooks went to the movie studio, Greg followed the crooks and Greg’s father, Bert, and Juile followed Greg. Which one will happen first? Will they catch Mr. Hoffman and his men before they poison the movie studio?
Groups 1, 2, & 3 decided to give up. They thought Greg and Bert had made a mistake. If they knew they would have helped, but they did not know anything about this.
Meanwhile Greg was going slightly faster than the car. To little to notice but it would add up. It was only a matter of time. Greg’s father, Bert, and Juile were moving faster than both of them, noticeable but they were quite a ways back.
As the case went on one of the thieves looked out the window. Luckily a hill came up just in the nick of time.
“I don’t think he gave up that easily,” he exclaimed.
“Well did you see anything?” asked Mr. Hoffman.
“No, but…” replied the thief.
“Well then he gave up,” said Mr. Hoffman.
“I’m not so sure,” said the thief.
“I agree,” said another.
“Me too,” said the one driving.
“Well then look out again in 5 minutes and if he’s there I’ll tell you what to do,” he exclaimed and then smiled in an evil way.
There were no more hills until the movie studio gates which was over 5 minutes away from there. And Greg’s father, Bert, and Julie were too far to catch up in 5 minutes.
The movie studio decided that after these next few scenes they would want some ice cold drinks. (I hope they’re not poison cold.)
The thieves thought somebody was following. Greg thought nobody was following him. If it were a 15 mile per hour zone there was no way he could be following them. Greg’s father, Bert, and Juile thought they were following Greg and the crooks. They decided to move faster than the speed limit. They thought it was for a good purpose. Mr. Hoffman thought it clear. (I mean nobody following them and nobody between them and the movie studio.)
The Camp Master was waiting for something to happen. In the meantime, he watched them making the movie. The other groups thought nobody was chasing nobody after nobody and nobody was going to poison nobody that day.
4 minutes before they looked out and then Greg should look out. Greg’s father went up to 25. He didn’t want his son to get hurt by those robbers, but he did want them stopped. Only three minutes. Can they make it?
Greg was almost close enough to be seen out the rear view mirror. Now they were going faster than Greg but not fast enough for him to be at a safe distance in only 3 minutes. (Now it is 2½.)
One of the thieves decided to look out ahead of time.
“Hold it!” yelled Mr. Hoffman. “It is not 5 minutes yet! Wait 2 more minutes! And then we shall see.”
Now they were going the same speed as Greg followed by Greg’s father, Bert, and Juile who were rapidly catching up with the other two.
116 seconds left. Whoops! 115 seconds. Well anyway thing looked bad for Greg. If only he knew soon it would be all over. If only his father knew he would have gone 30, (maybe even 40). 60 seconds left. (I am using seconds because using fractions of minutes are not right, especially when there is less than a minute left.)
Mr. Hoffman started counting seconds to keep the crooks from looking out ahead of time.
“55…54…53…52…”counted Mr. Hoffman.
Time is running out.
“…44…43…42…41…,” continued Mr. Hoffman.
The crooks ran a red light. Greg follows.
“…32…31…30…,” exclaimed Mr. Hoffman.
(Group 6) Greg’s father, Bert, and Julie were very close but not quite close enough.
“…19…18…17…16…,” said Mr. Hoffman.
Greg was again moving slightly faster than the crooks.
“…6…5…4…3…2…1…Look!” finished Mr. Hoffman.
“There’s someone there,” said one of the thieves.
“Then accelerate!” yelled Mr. Hoffman.
Greg saw them speed up and quickly sped up too.
“He’s still following us,” said the thief.
“Well prepare to turn around,” declared Mr. Hoffman.
“We’ll run smack into him,” protested the one that was driving.
“That’s the whole idea,” explained Mr. Hoffman.
There was no time to turn. The car came closer and closer. Greg prepared for the collision. Greg’s father, Bert, and Julie could barely see it. They watched with great horror. Greg had planned this for hours and it was all going to depend on a few seconds.
Greg jumped on the car hanging on for his life. Somehow he managed to climb up to the top of the car. He hung on tightly. The driver tried to shake him off. Greg started moving down. The driver had to stop for a moment. Greg quickly jumped off in time, but he jumped right into another car. The car quickly stopped and somebody got out. It was his father.
“Are you O.K.?” he asked.
“I think so,” replied Greg.
Hoffman and the thieves quickly went straight to the movie studio. Greg’s father quickly got in the car, but Greg was running to the side of the road.
“What are you doing?” questioned Julie.
“I paid $14.95 for this skateboard,” yelled Greg. “And you don’t pay that much for something you only use once.”
Greg quickly got back in the car and they took off after the bad guys. The bad guys quickly got to the movie studio and got out of the car with the “cold drinks”.
“Thank you,” said the director. “we’re hot and thirsty.”
They quickly got back in the car and left. Greg and the rest got there just when they were about to drink it.
“Stop!” commanded Greg getting out of the car.
He sounded so firm they all slowly put the glasses down.
“How come?” asked the director who was last to put the glass down.
“They poisoned your drinks,” answered Greg’s father. “pour your drink into this saucer.”
Bert and Julie brought the saucer and he poured the drink in. 5 minutes later there were 7 dead bugs.
“Makes a good bug spray,” joked the producer.
Then a bird flew right next to it and started to drink it. It flew a few feet and then fell over dead.
“See,” exclaimed Greg.
“I have some drinks,” shouted the Camp Master who had remained silent all this time.
They quickly drank their drinks and went on with the movie. Greg and the rest left and went to their hideout to make more plans.
Meanwhile Mr. Hoffman was making more plans.
“That plan failed. Plan A failed. Wait ‘till you hear Plan C. Dr. Commor is coming from Hawaii to show Mr. Trim his new invisibility formula. We shall steal it and sell it to crooks all over the world. They’ll pay us high prices for it and we shall be rich.”
When the luggage came in one of the thieves got it.
“Just take one bottle,” ordered Mr. Hoffman. “That way he won’t notice.”
They did what he said and put it back.
The next day Greg went out to get a paper for the group to read and on the headline it said, “DR. COMMOR’S INVISIBILITY FORMULA STOLEN.”
Greg quickly bought a paper and ran to tell the others.
Meanwhile one of the thieves got a paper and went to tell the others.
“He noticed,” declared the 2nd thief.
“Maybe nobody will read it,” said the 3rd.
“The headlines!” yelled Mr. Hoffman.
Meanwhile Camp 12 was looking at the same paper.
“I bet Mr. Hoffman did it,” exclaimed Bert.
“I bet you’re right,” agreed Julie.
“But we need more proof,” declared the first campgirl.
“Then let’s get some,” added the second campgirl.
“But how?” asked the third.
“I don’t know,” answered the 4th.
“While you’re thinking I want to get some lunch. Does anyone want to come with me? If you do raise your hand,” Greg stated. “Bert and Julie, I thought so. Come on!”
First they stopped to get some brownies for desert. They wanted to get the best.
“We’ll take the 25 cent brownies!” argued Greg.
“But the 20 cent brownies are just like them,” protested the guy selling the brownies. “And they’re cheaper.”
“We want the 25 cent brownies,” argued Greg.
“Somebody already brought all of them,” he added.
They were just about to leave when the owner of the store came out. He had heard the conversation.
“Nonsense,” he yelled. “You can have them free. That’s $3.25 out of his pay.”
“I’ll take mine here,” said Julie.
She took the brownie and ate it.
“No,” the other guy yelled.
Julie suddenly began to fade. A minute later she disappeared.
“Where’s Julie?” asked Greg.
“She just stepped outside,” said the 3rd thief. (By now you should know who he is.)
“No I didn’t,” disagreed Julie. “I’m right here.”
“Bert,” commanded Greg. “Eat one.”
“But what if I stay invisible forever,” protested Bert.
“If you don’t I won’t hire you when I get my office,” bribed Greg.
Slowly Bert got one out and reluctantly began to chew. Slowly Bert began to fade and then disappeared.
“Hey! I can see Julie,” exclaimed Bert.
“But I can’t see you,” added Greg taking a brownie out of the bag. “Tell me if you can’t see me.”
Greg started chewing it. By now the thief was loading the brownies in one of the bags. Greg started fading too.
“I can’t see you,” explained the owner.
Just then the thief made a getaway with two other thieves.
“STOP THEM!” yelled Greg.
A minute later Greg’s father came in with one of the thieves.
“Have you seen my son?” he asked. “The camp told me he’d be here. Then I saw three men run by and Greg yell, ‘Stop him!’ I quickly stopped the first one but before I did he threw a bag to one of the other two that got away.”
“Good,” interrupted Greg. “I’ll go get the rope you keep in the car and help him up. Bert and Julie will help us. The owner of the store will call the police.”
He quickly went out and came back with the rope.
“Where are you?” croaked Greg’s father.
“We accidently got the invisibility formula. I’ll explain,” Greg explained to his dad.
While they tied him up, Greg told how the same people that poisoned them and tried to run over him had stolen the invisibility formula and poured it into the brownie mix and finally how Julie got hers ahead of time so Bert and Greg took the brownies.
The police came and put the thief in jail next to Earline.
“Will you do us a favor?” asked Greg. “Could you go to the chicken place and buy some chicken?”
Greg gave his father the money and they all thought that that was the last of Hoffman, but it was not. The other two thieves just got back to Mr. Hoffman’s hideout.
“They got one of us, but he was able to throw what was left of the invisibility formula to me,” whispered the 1st thief.
“Who caught him?” roared Mr. Hoffman.
“The father of the one we tried to run over,” replied the 1st thief.
“Who took the brownies?!” shouted Mr. Hoffman.
“T-the people from the detective camp,” gasped the 2nd thief.
“WHAT?!!” Mr. Hoffman yelled so loud it was heard a quarter of a mile away.
When he finally calmed down, he told them about plan D.
“We shall use the invisibility formula ourselves,” began Mr. Hoffman. “and steal anything without anybody knowing it.”
“Great idea,” complimented the first thief.
“How many brownies do we have left?” asked the second thief.
“Count and find out,” commanded Mr. Hoffman.
Meanwhile back at the camp, Greg and Julie were walking into the camp.
“Hi, Greg. Hi, Julie,” said the 3rd campboy on his way out.
“Hey! You’re not invisible!” exclaimed Bert.
“But you are. Where are you?” asked Greg.
Bert got a piece of chicken and started eating it. Greg and Julie did the same.
“How did you get visible?” questioned Bert.
“I went to the swimming pool and took a dive off the high dive. By the time I was up there the 2nd time, I was visible again,” told Greg.
“I was so surprised by what happened to Greg that I fell in and when I came out I too was visible,” said Julie.
Suddenly an idea popped into her mind.
“Put the chicken down and follow me,” she added.
Greg and Bert did what she told them to do. They went up the stairs, turned right, two or three doors later they turned left and then left again.
“That’s the bathroom,” declared Bert.
“Right,” giggled Julie. “Now check the shower for bugs.”
As soon as Bert got in the shower, Julie quickly turned it on.
“Hey, that water’s cold!” protested Bert.
Greg caught on to the idea.
“Stay in there,” ordered Greg. “Adjust the temperature but stay in there.”
Bert caught on to the idea too.
“Can you see me yet?” he asked.
“No, not yet,” replied Julie.
“Can you see me now?” Bert asked.
“Not yet,” repeated Julie.
About 5 seconds later Bert slowly began to appear.
“I can see you,” yelled Julie. “I can see through you but I can see you.”
When he was totally visible, he turned off the shower.
“That was a dirty trick but thanks,” Bert muttered.
Bert got into some dry clothes while Greg and Julie finished their chicken. They waited for Bert to finish his chicken and then went their separate ways for the rest of the day. Greg was back at the high dive, Juile was with some of her friends back at the table, and Bert was playing tennis (at which he isn’t very good.)
The next morning the 5th campgirl got the paper.
“Jeff’s jewelry store robbed, Jeff claims invisible thief robbed him,” she read.
When Greg, Bert, and Juile saw the paper they knew what Jeff meant. They found out that not all the jewels had been stolen. They got Greg’s father to take them to Jeff’s jewelry store.
Jeff contacted the police who hid by his store. Greg and Juile ate the brownies and got up on the roof. Bert had the hose attached to the fire hydrant and just waited in the car. Greg’s father pretended to be a normal customer.
The 1st thief started climbing up to the roof. He saw Juile and went after her. Greg poured a bucket full of water on him. The thief became visible and started looking for Greg. That’s when the police came and Bert got out of the car. Jeff and Greg’s father went outside.
When the police were ready, Juile pushed the first thief right into the police net. The second thief ran out the door but there was Bert with the hose. He was sprayed with water so hard, he was forced on the floor.
“Please take me to a nice, dry cell,” gargled the second thief.
Mr. Hoffman tried to escape too, but Greg dropped the bucket on his head. By the time he recovered, Jeff (who took over the hose) was able to spray him and Greg too who ran downstairs as fast as he could.
Mr. Hoffman started running to his secret hideout. Greg got his skateboard and went after him. Mr. Hoffman ran down some stairs. Greg ran down after him and used his skateboard as soon as he got to the bottom.
When he finally got to his hideout, Greg told the police where it was and he was quickly put in jail.
One week later he escaped and robbed jewelry in 7 states, but one month later he came back to Jesterville. Greg caught him again with the help of Bert and Juile. He has now been in jail for 10 months and waiting for revenge.
Back at the camp, right after Hoffman’s arrest, Greg told them that the police had caught the crooks that poisoned them. He did not tell them about the invisible formula or that he had a major part in it. Juile didn’t appear until 4 glasses of water (2 hours) later. The rest of camp not much happened.
Two weeks later it was the last day of camp. Greg and Bert asked who would like to join them. Not one volunteered.
“I guess we’re on our own,” said Greg.
Greg got an award that day for being the best graduate there. Bert and Juile hoped they’d get it. (Bert has two more years. Juile had three.) Then they went straight to their office. They managed to squeeze $10 each to rent it. It was at the corner of Main Street and 8th Street.
After they got in and sat down, they saw a door open and close. Greg checked and found 7 brownies. (They bought 13 and ate 5.) Greg took a brownie to find out who was in there and if so who it was. He looked around and saw Juile.
“I’ve changed my mind,” she explained. “I want to join.”
“Glad to have you,” added Bert.
After lots of arguing they decided that Greg should get 30% of the money and Bert and Juile should get 15% each. The last 40% would be used to pay the rent, finance cases, etc. (Juile payed her $10 from her first cases.)
When Greg and Juile were visible, they went to the movies. At the end of the movie on the sceen, it said this movie was made possible due to a group of unknown people who stopped a poisoning attempt. They just looked at each other and smiled. Then it said to come and pick up $500 dollar reward and 1147 dead flies.
Greg got the reward (not the flies) and put it in the case treasury while Bert and Juile waited for the phone to ring. They solved many cases including the rearrest of Mr. Hoffman. They got money and presents. Now their business is pretty successful, though they had to use some of the money to pay off the rent.
They meet whenever they can. They have a color T.V. and some games in case nothing happens. Each time they meet they wait around the phone hoping that it will ring. On this particular morning it did ring and someone answered the phone.
“Hello,” said Greg.
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