Talent Show Tricks

  CONTENTS

  CHAPTER 1 OPENING ACT

  CHAPTER 2 WARMING UP

  CHAPTER 3 BUBBLE TROUBLE

  CHAPTER 4 ON THE CASE

  CHAPTER 5 BEWARE THE PHANTOM

  CHAPTER 6 SOUR NOTES

  CHAPTER 7 FRIEND OR PHANTOM?

  CHAPTER 8 A SLIMY SURPRISE

  CHAPTER 9 IN THE SPOTLIGHT

  CHAPTER 10 THE GRAND FINALE

  ‘SCAVENGER HUNT HEIST’ EXCERPT

  ABOUT FRANKLIN W. DIXON AND MATT DAVID

  Chapter 1

  OPENING ACT

  Nine-year-old Frank Hardy sat in the school auditorium, going over a big checklist in a binder.

  “Hey, Frank!” Chet Morton, Frank’s best friend, waved from the stage. “Check this out!” Chet held up three microphones and pretended to juggle them. “Maybe I can be in the talent show too!”

  Frank laughed. He’d been chosen as a Bayport Backstage Buddy member for the school’s yearly talent show. That meant he was going to help with anything people needed during the show and make sure everything ran smoothly. He even had his own walkie-talkie to help him communicate with everyone around the auditorium. Mrs. Castle, the music and arts teacher who directed the show, said she picked Frank to work with her because he was so organized and reliable. He didn’t want to let her or the students in the show down!

  The kids in the show, including his eight-year-old brother, Joe, were in the restrooms, changing into their costumes. Rehearsal would start in just a few minutes. It was Monday, and the show was at the end of the week, so they had a lot of work to do!

  Frank took a few moments to check in with the rest of the BBB crew. First he talked through the walkie-talkie with Eli Ramsay, who was helping to work the lights up in a booth above the stage, and made sure he was ready to go. Then he checked on Chet, who was at the back of the auditorium. Chet was going to help with the sound—making sure each act had the right music and making sure the microphones all worked.

  “Hey, Chet,” Frank called out. His friend was half-hidden behind a huge panel with all sorts of buttons and levers. “You ready to go?”

  “You bet!” Chet said, flashing Frank a thumbs-up. “You know, this stuff is pretty cool. Maybe I’ll be a sound designer someday. Or a DJ!”

  Frank grinned. Chet was always picking up new hobbies. As he walked away from the sound booth, he grabbed the walkie-talkie that was clipped to his jeans.

  “Come in, Speedy,” he said.

  The walkie-talkie crackled, and the voice of his friend Speedy Zermeño squawked over the line. “I’m hearing you loud and clear, Frank!”

  “How are things looking back there?” he asked. Speedy was also helping backstage, making sure everyone was ready to go before their act.

  “We’re ready to go when you are!” Speedy said.

  Now that he’d checked in with the crew, Frank looked around the auditorium to see if the student director had arrived yet. Olivia Shapiro was an eighth-grade drama student from Bayport Middle School, which was just down the street. At that moment, Olivia and her seventh-grade assistant, Zoe, came sweeping into the auditorium. Olivia’s face was red and both girls were out of breath. It looked like they both ran from the middle school. Plus, although it was a warm day outside, Olivia always insisted on wearing a scarf wrapped dramatically around her neck. Frank had heard her tell Zoe in a rehearsal last week that all the great directors wore scarves.

  Olivia took her usual seat in the auditorium with Zoe beside her. Zoe handed her a bottle of water, a notebook, and a pen while Olivia fanned herself.

  Frank went up to Olivia. “Everyone’s ready to start.”

  “Thank you, Frank,” she said. “Can you call the cast to the stage, please? I want to talk with them before we begin.”

  “Sure,” Frank said. He got Speedy on the walkie-talkie and told her to send the cast out. Slowly, students started to trickle onto the stage. Most were dressed in colorful costumes or fancy clothes. Some held props, like Joe, who was clutching the half-dozen orange balls he juggled in his act. Others carried instruments, like the new kid at Bayport, Ezra Moore, who held his violin and bow.

  “Attention, everyone!” Olivia said, waving her hand to get the cast’s attention. “I have an announcement to make.”

  The students stopped their chattering and turned toward their student director.

  “I want to remind all of you to have your friends and family book their tickets for Friday’s show now,” Olivia said. “You don’t want them to end up without a seat, do you?”

  The cast shook their heads.

  “Please feel free to see me after today’s rehearsal for more tickets if you need them,” Mrs. Castle chimed in. She was watching from the back of the auditorium.

  “Okay, then. You’ll remind them tonight when you get home.” Olivia clapped her hands. “Places, please!” Frank saw a few kids roll their eyes. Olivia could be pretty bossy, and not everyone liked that!

  The students scattered into the wings at the sides of the stage. The first and last numbers of the evening were songs that Olivia had choreographed herself, and they featured everyone in the show. Frank took his usual place in a seat behind Olivia and Zoe and got out his walkie-talkie.

  “Eli,” he said. “Can you bring up the lights for the opening number?”

  “Roger, boss!” Eli radioed back. The lights in the auditorium dimmed, while those on the stage brightened.

  “Chet,” Frank asked, “is the music for the opening number ready to go?”

  “Whenever you are, Frank,” Chet replied.

  “Speedy,” Frank said, “is everyone in position backstage?”

  “We’re ready!” she said.

  Frank leaned forward to tell Olivia they were ready to start, but she was deep in conversation with Zoe.

  “. . . think it’s going to be okay,” Zoe was saying to Olivia. “I heard Mrs. Castle say that over half the tickets have already been sold.”

  “Okay isn’t good enough,” Olivia said. “I want to be a professional director someday, and this is my first chance to prove myself. This show has to sell out. What happens if they take the show away from me? Then what will I do next year?”

  “Um, Olivia?” Frank interrupted. “Everyone’s ready to start when you are.”

  “I’m ready,” Olivia said. “Let’s go.”

  “Chet,” Frank said into his walkie-talkie, “start the music. Eli, hit the lights. Here we go, everybody!”

  Chapter 2

  WARMING UP

  When the opening number was over, Joe walked off the stage with a frown. He did not like to dance, but Olivia had him stepping and jumping and turning all over the stage in the first song, which featured the entire cast of the talent show. At least it was over for now!

  Joe followed most of the other acts to Mr. Palmer’s classroom, which was just across the hall from the entrance to the backstage. The talent show was using it as a greenroom, the place where acts not performing could hang out while they waited for their turn. Frank stood at the door with a walkie-talkie that connected him to Ellie Freeman. She’d let them know whenever it was time for them to get ready backstage before it was their turn to go on.

  Joe sat down at a desk and took a swig from his water bottle. Then he grabbed his juggling balls from his backpack and practiced his routine in his head.

  “What happens if you drop one?” Ezra asked as he sat down at the desk beside Joe. Ezra had only been going to Bayport Elementary for about a month. Joe knew him a little because he had recently joined Joe’s baseball team, the Bandits.

  Joe shrugged. “I just pick them all back up and try again.”

  Ezra played with the latch on his violin case. “I wish I had a cool talent like you
rs.”

  “The violin is cool!” Joe reassured him.

  “I hate it,” Ezra complained. “I mean, not the violin. I actually like the violin, but I hate the idea of everyone knowing that I play. Almost every school I’ve gone to, I’ve been teased for playing. I wish I could just keep it a secret.”

  Joe frowned. “Then . . . why are you doing the talent show?”

  Ezra sighed. “My parents are making me.”

  “Oh,” Joe said.

  “Maybe I’ll get a cold before Friday,” Ezra said, “and I won’t have to perform.”

  “Ezra, it won’t be that bad!” Joe reassured his new friend.

  “Or maybe the power will go out in the whole school,” Ezra continued. “Or my violin will break. Or . . .”

  Joe bumped Ezra’s shoulder with his own. “Hey, don’t worry. You like the violin, right?”

  Ezra nodded.

  “Then that’s all that matters!” Joe said. “Besides, you play really well. No one will make fun of you when they hear how awesome you are.”

  Just then Adam Ackerman, the school’s biggest bully, stuck his head into the greenroom.

  “Hey, nerds!” he said. “How’s your stupid show going?”

  Joe just rolled his eyes, but he could see that Ezra was upset. He hadn’t yet learned to ignore Adam the way most of them had.

  “Keep moving, Adam,” Ellie said. “What are you even doing here after school is out?”

  “I bet he had detention,” Joe said. A couple of kids giggled.

  “As a matter of fact, I did. Detention’s the only reason I’d hang out at this school after the bell. Not like you geeks.” Adam cast his eyes over everyone in the room, looking for something else to make fun of. His eyes landed on Ezra and his violin case. He started to laugh. “You play the violin, Moore? Wow. And I actually thought you might be cool.”

  Ezra gave Joe a defeated look.

  “Hey, leave him alone,” Joe said.

  “Yeah, Adam! We all know you’re only jealous,” Ellie added, “because when you auditioned for the show, Mrs. Castle wouldn’t let you in.”

  A couple of people around the room gasped, while others laughed or hid their smiles. Joe wondered what Adam’s talent had been. He’d have to ask Ellie later.

  Adam’s face turned red.

  “Yeah, well, I hope your stupid talent show is a disaster!” he yelled.

  Chapter 3

  BUBBLE TROUBLE

  At the beginning of rehearsal the next day, Olivia asked Frank to gather the cast. With the help of Speedy and Ellie, soon they had everyone on the stage, where Olivia was standing with Zoe and a boy who had a notebook in his hand and a pencil tucked behind his ear. Frank recognized him from the hallways, but he was a in a different class, so Frank didn’t know his name.

  “Attention, everyone!” Olivia said. When everyone was looking at her, she motioned to the boy beside her with a flourish. “This is Diego Mendez. If you don’t know him already, he’s one of the writers for the school paper. He’s here to write a very special article about the talent show. Let’s give him a round of applause.”

  The cast clapped for Diego, who bowed his head.

  “Diego, would you like to say a few words?” Olivia asked.

  “Sure,” he said, taking a step toward the group. “Thanks for letting me watch your rehearsal today! It’s going to help me write a really great article about the show.”

  “We’re going to be famous!” Joe exclaimed.

  The cast laughed, and Frank shook his head. Joe loved to be the center of attention!

  Olivia told everyone to get into their places for the opening number. After Frank told her everyone was ready to start, he went to the back of the auditorium. Olivia raised her hands and shouted “Action!” just like a movie director.

  Frank looked down at the binder open in his lap. His job as the Backstage Buddy to the stage manager, Mrs. Castle, was to help keep everything from the lights and sound to the entrances and exits of the cast running smoothly. It was a big job, and he had every step of it written down in front of him.

  He got on the walkie-talkie and told Eli to dim the lights in the audience and bring them up on the stage. Then he told Chet to start the music for the opening number. Once the music began, he radioed Speedy, who was in the wings, and had her send the dancers who were waiting there out onto the stage. The show had only started, and already Frank was nervous! There was a lot to do.

  They ran through the first few acts, took a small break, and then went on with the rest of the show. Every now and then, when Frank had a moment to relax, he would sneak glances at Diego. He wondered what the older boy was writing about the show in his reporter’s notebook. Olivia also seemed very curious. She was leaning so far forward in her chair to try to get a peek that she nearly fell out of her seat.

  “Okay, Eli, turn on the spotlight,” Frank said over the radio after the Connolly twins had finished their acrobatics routine. “Speedy, send Daniel out.”

  Daniel Tate, a fourth grader who was in the same class as Frank, walked out onto the stage. He stepped into the bright pool of the spotlight with his gold trumpet held in one hand. He lifted the instrument to his mouth to play “When the Saints Go Marching In” just the way he’d done at every other rehearsal, but Frank could tell something was wrong this time. Daniel blew and blew, but no sound came out of the trumpet.

  Daniel frowned as he gave his trumpet a little shake. He put the trumpet up to his lips again, took a giant breath, and then blew with all his might. His cheeks puffed out and his face turned red, but no sound came out. . . .

  Instead a stream of soapy bubbles exploded from the bell of the instrument!

  For a moment, everyone just stared in shock. Then the auditorium went crazy. Frank could see Eli burst into laughter. Onstage, Daniel shook his trumpet some more and then tried to play it again, which made more bubbles come floating out of it. He started to laugh along with the others. Olivia screeched and bolted out of her seat.

  “What is going on here?” she demanded. “Is this a joke, Daniel? The show is in three days, and I don’t think this is funny!”

  “It’s not a joke!” Daniel said. “I swear! I don’t know what’s happening!”

  “Frank!” Olivia barked. “Stop the show!”

  Frank nodded and got on the radio. “Eli, turn on the lights in the auditorium.”

  As the lights rose around them, Olivia started to march down the aisle toward the stage with Zoe on her heels.

  “Where are you going?” Frank called after them.

  “I’m getting to the bottom of this!” Olivia said back over her shoulder.

  Diego, who only minutes before had been slumped in his seat, looking a little bored, was scribbling furiously in his notebook as he jumped up to follow Olivia. Frank went after them and caught them onstage, where Olivia was questioning Daniel.

  “You swear you didn’t do this, Daniel?” she asked him.

  “I swear on my favorite stack of Car Racer games!” Daniel said, holding up one hand. His eyes were wide and he looked a little nervous. “I warmed up before rehearsal started, and it was playing just fine.”

  “Could anyone else have messed with the trumpet between then and now?” Olivia asked. It was exactly the same question Frank would have asked. His father was a private investigator, and he’d taught Frank and Joe practically everything he knew.

  “I don’t know,” Daniel said. “I put it back in its case before the opening number and got it out again just now. I guess someone could have done something to it in between.”

  “Where’s the case?” Olivia asked.

  “In the hall,” Daniel said. “I’ll show you.”

  He led them offstage, through the wings, and into the hallway just outside the auditorium. This was where a lot of kids in the cast had left their things because there wasn’t enough space in the greenroom for everyone’s stuff. Backpacks lined the hall, along with some books and stray props for the show. Most of t
he props were right off the wings backstage, but not all. Daniel led them to a brown rectangular case sitting between a blue gym bag and a pair of black tap shoes.

  “Here it is,” Daniel said. He opened the case.

  Everyone gasped.

  Inside was a bottle of Mr. Fantastic’s Wonder Bubbles from Mr. Fun’s Joke Shop, and a note:

  This is just the beginning. I won’t stop until the talent show is canceled!

  Chapter 4

  ON THE CASE

  “Who do you think could have messed with Daniel’s trumpet?” Joe asked. He and Frank were in the woods behind their house, on the way to their secret tree house. Their dad had built it for them, and it was perfectly hidden in the trees. You’d never see it if you didn’t already know it was there. Joe grabbed the rope that was tucked behind the trunk of a tree and gave a tug, which released the hidden rope ladder. He and Frank climbed the ladder into the tree house.

  “I don’t know,” Frank said, “but it looks like we have a case to solve!”

  The tree house wasn’t just a cool place to hang out. It was also the headquarters for Frank and Joe’s investigations. It was their top-secret place where they looked over clues and talked over any theories they had on each case.

  “We’ve got some pretty good clues already,” Joe said. “Did you grab the note you found in the trumpet case?”

  Frank pulled the piece of paper out of his pocket and handed it to Joe. “Sure did. Take a look.”

  Joe looked at the note, taking in every detail just like his father had taught him. The paper was from a school notebook, the edges frayed from being torn out. The words were written in pencil and in block letters that disguised the handwriting.

  Joe stared at the note. He still couldn’t believe it. Who would want to ruin the talent show?

  A part of him was excited, though. He and Frank had been solving mysteries around Bayport for a while now, and Joe loved solving mysteries more than anything else. More than video games, macaroni and cheese, or even baseball!