“That is strange,” Henry said.

  “I have a backup generator though,” Ms. Freeman continued. “So if the power does go out, the generator will turn on. It will keep the ice cream cold and run the security system.”

  Benny’s eyes got wide. “Security system? Do you think someone will come and steal the ice cream?”

  Ms. Freeman smiled. “More likely they’d steal money from the cash register. We don’t keep much overnight, but it’s better to be safe. Things can get a little crazy when a storm hits. You never know what people will do.”

  “Maybe we should stay here and protect the ice cream,” said Benny. “Just in case.”

  Everyone laughed. “We’ll be more comfortable at Ms. Freeman’s house,” said Grandfather. He winked at Benny. “We can get some ice cream to go, for after dinner.”

  Benny nodded. “That’s a good idea. And after the storm, we’ll come back and make sure the ice cream is safe.”

  CHAPTER

  Unplugged

  The wind blew hard all night. Rain drummed the roof and washed down the windows.

  In the morning, the power was out. Everyone gathered in the kitchen. As Violet peered out the window, she thought back to the children’s first night in the boxcar.

  After their parents died, Henry, Jessie, Violet, and Benny had run away. A bad storm hit, and they had no place to stay. Then they found an old boxcar in the woods. It had rained and rained, but no water came in. The boxcar was such a good shelter the children made it their home. That was where Grandfather found them. At first, Violet and her siblings had been afraid Grandfather would be mean, but they realized he wasn’t mean at all. He gave them a real home in Greenfield, Connecticut. He even moved the boxcar to their backyard to use as a clubhouse.

  Henry looked over Violet’s shoulder. “I don’t see lights on anywhere. Maybe the whole area lost power.”

  “Probably,” said Ms. Freeman. “After a storm like that, we might not have power for days.”

  Violet turned from the window. “Mrs. McGregor will be worried. We should call and tell her we’re okay.” Mrs. McGregor was the Aldens’ housekeeper. She was back in Greenfield with their dog, Watch.

  “I’m worried!” said Benny. “With no power, what will we make to eat?”

  “We can eat cold food, Benny,” said Jessie.

  Benny nodded. “But will the food in the refrigerator go bad?” he asked. “We should eat the rest of the ice cream before it melts!”

  Grandfather ruffled Benny’s hair. “We can find a healthier breakfast. Let me call Mrs. McGregor first.” He pulled out his cell phone. “Uh-oh. I can’t get a connection.”

  “Without power, the cell phone towers don’t work,” said Ms. Freeman. “A few have battery backups, but they run out quickly when many people use them after a storm.”

  Violet looked at Grandfather. “What are we going to do? I don’t want Mrs. McGregor to wonder if we are okay.”

  “Not to worry,” said Ms. Freeman. “We’ll just have to do things the old-fashioned way.”

  She went into the next room and brought back a big telephone with a spinning dial and a long cord. “I still have a landline,” she explained. “The wires go underground, so they are protected from storms. This phone might look old, but it almost always works when the power goes out.”

  Ms. Freeman showed Violet how to use the spinning dial on the phone, and Violet called Mrs. McGregor and told her everyone was okay. “It’s strange not having power,” Violet added. “We can’t use our computers or the TV. But we’ll take care of ourselves.” She passed the phone to Grandfather.

  Ms. Freeman put another object on the table, and the children gathered around. The thing looked like a plastic clock with a handle on top.

  “What’s that?” Benny asked.

  “A hand-crank radio,” Ms. Freeman said. She pointed at a black arm attached to the radio. “That is the crank.”

  “What does it do?” asked Benny.

  “Turning the crank charges a battery inside,” Ms. Freeman said. “After a few minutes, you’ll get an hour of power.”

  “Cool!” Benny held the radio and turned the crank.

  “Now we can listen to music,” said Jessie.

  “And get news,” Ms. Freeman said. “This is a weather alert radio. It will tell us about any emergencies.”

  “You really know how to prepare for a storm,” Henry said.

  Ms. Freeman nodded. “I have an emergency supply bag. It has a first aid kit, two flashlights, batteries, and a whistle to call for help. I keep packaged foods in the pantry and drinking water in sealed jugs in case something happens to the water supply.”

  Benny put down the crank radio. “My arm is getting tired. I need breakfast!”

  “It’s your lucky day, Mr. Benny,” said Ms. Freeman. “We need to eat a lot of food.”

  Benny bounced in his seat. “Really?”

  Ms. Freeman nodded. “Without power, the fridge is getting warmer. Things will start to spoil. We should eat what we can before it goes bad.”

  Jessie tapped her chin. “We shouldn’t open the door for very long,” she said. “The closed door helps keep in the cold. Why don’t you tell me what you want, and I’ll get it.”

  “Let’s see,” said Ms. Freeman. “Grab the eggs, milk, and cheese.”

  Jessie opened the refrigerator. She quickly passed the food to Violet, who put it on the counter.

  “Get the hash browns from the freezer,” Ms. Freeman said. Those joined the pile near the stove.

  “You can cook without electricity?” Benny asked.

  “You sure can.” Ms. Freeman lit a match, turned a knob on the stove, and held the match to a burner. A circle of flames lit up. “It’s a gas stove. It usually uses electricity to light the gas, but a match works just as well.”

  Ms. Freeman cooked omelets. She made coffee in a pot that brewed on the stove. Jessie poured milk while Violet set the table. Henry cranked the radio to build up its power. Then they all sat down to a big breakfast.

  A few minutes later, Grandfather patted his stomach. “That was delicious. I’m stuffed.”

  “The freezer is still almost full,” said Jessie. “We won’t be able to eat everything today.”

  “We can try!” said Benny. “We don’t want to waste good food, remember?”

  Ms. Freeman laughed. “I’ll show you a trick.” She got a penny from her purse. “This will let us know if the food stays good. Can you guess how?”

  The children all thought for a bit. Finally, Violet asked, “Is this a riddle?”

  “Maybe it’s a mystery,” said Benny. “We like mysteries!”

  “It’s more of a handy little trick,” said Ms. Freeman. “I’ll give you a hint. If the power is out for a long time, the food in the freezer will melt. How do you know if that has happened?”

  “The frozen food will be soft,” said Henry.

  “Or, if you have ice cubes in trays,” said Jessie, “the ice will become water.”

  Ms. Freeman nodded. “When the power goes back on, the freezer will get cold again. Something might thaw and go bad, then freeze again.”

  Jessie frowned. “You wouldn’t know. The ice cubes would refreeze. The food would get hard again.”

  “Right.” Ms. Freeman opened the freezer and put the penny on a cube in the ice tray. “The ice cubes are hard, so the penny sits on top. If the ice thaws, the penny will sink. And if the ice cubes freeze again, the penny will stay on the bottom.”

  Jessie grinned. “I get it. If the penny is on top of the ice, the food is still good. If the penny has sunk, the food might have gone bad.”

  “That’s a neat trick,” Henry said. He carried their dishes to the sink. “What are we going to do today, after we clean up? We can’t visit the tall ships festival anymore.”

  Violet looked out the window. “It’s still raining hard. I guess we won’t play outside.”

  “We can’t watch TV or use computers,” Jessie said. “Ms. Freeman, do you have board games?”

  “A few,” she said. “And if you’d like to try a compass, I have one.”

  “Yes, please,” Henry said. “We can practice navigating like the ships at sea.”

  The Aldens kept busy all day long. Henry taught Benny to use the compass. The children played board games. Grandfather taught them to play charades, and each of them took turns trying to act out a word without speaking. The rest of the group tried to guess the word, which usually led to lots of laughter. They ate food from the freezer and refrigerator, starting with the items that would go bad first. After dinner, they each had a bowl of ice cream.

  In the evening, Ms. Freeman said, “It looks like the weather is finally starting to clear up. I wonder if there’s any news. Turn up the radio, please.”

  Henry adjusted the dials on the radio, and everyone listened. A report came on. “The tropical storm weakened as it moved up the coast,” a man said. “However, we have reports of flooding and wind damage in Port Elizabeth. Residents should stay indoors until the storm lets up.”

  “Well, there’s nothing we can do tonight,” Ms. Freeman said. “We’ll have to wait till morning to check on the shop.”

  After the sun went down, the children found it easy to go to bed early. In the morning, they woke to bright sunshine pouring in their windows. The power was still out, but the storm had passed. Reports on the weather radio said that floodwater in town had started to recede.

  After breakfast, the Aldens rode in Ms. Freeman’s pickup truck into town. Jessie helped Benny follow along using the compass and a map. As they got closer to town, they passed by several downed trees. There were also places where the drains were clogged, and deep puddles covered the street. At one point the water was too deep to go through.

  “Where to, navigator?” Ms. Freeman asked Benny.

  Benny scrunched up his face and whispered something to Jessie, who nodded. “Take a left!” he said to Ms. Freeman.

  “See, Benny? It isn’t so hard to find your way the old-fashioned way,” said Grandfather.

  “At least not with street signs!” said Benny.

  Before long, Ms. Freeman pulled up outside The Happy Bear Ice-Cream Shop. “The roof looks okay,” she said. “No broken windows.”

  “Something’s different…” said Henry, but he could not tell what.

  It was Jessie who figured it out. “The happy bear…” she said. “It’s gone!”

  Ms. Freeman hurried into the store to make sure nothing else was missing. She flipped a light switch back and forth. “The power is out! What happened to the generator?” She rushed to the back of the shop.

  Benny went to the ice-cream case and frowned. “My double-chocolate ice cream is double-chocolate soup!”

  The Aldens joined Ms. Freeman in the back alley. She stood in front of a silver metal box, which must have held the generator. “I don’t understand what went wrong!” she said.

  Jessie tried to see past her. “Did the storm damage it?”

  “It must have.” Ms. Freeman opened the door to the generator. “I can’t see anything wrong though.”

  “Wait a minute.” Jessie moved in closer. “The lock on the door is broken!”

  The Aldens looked at one another. Henry said, “Storms might cause damage, but they don’t break locks.”

  CHAPTER

  The Bear Facts

  “Let’s look for clues,” said Jessie. “If someone shut down the power to the shop, there must be a reason.”

  Grandfather and Ms. Freeman stayed in back to look at the generator. Henry and Violet went in front of the shop to look for clues about the bear. Jessie and Benny searched inside.

  After a while, the children went over what they had found.

  “The only thing wrong in the shop is the melted ice cream in the display case,” said Jessie.

  Benny pressed his face against the glass. “It’s very sad.”

  “We didn’t find much either,” said Henry. “But it does look like there was some flooding on the street outside. The water left behind lots of sticks and dirt.”

  “That makes sense,” said Jessie. “The radio did say there was flooding, and that the water had receded.”

  “Well,” said Grandfather, coming back into the shop. “We can’t seem to find anything wrong the generator.”

  “I’m afraid to touch the thing,” said Ms. Freeman. “I don’t want to make things worse. I need an electrician, but I’m sure they are all busy today.” She looked at her watch. “Where’s Sarah? We should have opened twenty minutes ago.”

  Ms. Freeman’s words reminded Violet of something. Ms. Freeman had called her employee Savannah when they first were in the shop, but the girl’s name tag had said Sarah. “I’m confused,” said Violet. “Is her name Sarah or Savannah?”

  Ms. Freeman explained. “Her real name is Sarah Pierce, but Savannah is what she answers to. It’s the name she uses for her online store.”

  Benny tilted his head. “Why doesn’t she just use one name? Having two names sounds confusing.”

  “I suppose Savan—er…Sarah, thinks that Savannah sounds better for selling her jewelry,” said Ms. Freeman. “That’s what her online store sells—homemade jewelry. I admire how much work she puts into it, as long as it doesn’t affect her work here. And normally it doesn’t. She’s usually the first to arrive and the last to leave.”

  “Maybe she thought the shop wouldn’t be open today,” said Jessie. “If she doesn’t have a landline, she couldn’t call you to find out.”

  “That’s true,” said Ms. Freeman. “Mr. Williams is opening his store next door. I’ll tell him about the generator. It powers both our shops.”

  The children followed her outside. Ms. Freeman explained to Mr. Williams what had happened with the generator.

  Mr. Williams spoke in his southern accent. “The power outage doesn’t hurt me. Nothing in my shop will melt. If losing power for a day or two is the price I pay for not seeing that bear again, that’s fine by me.” He opened his door and glanced back at Ms. Freeman. “Sorry about your ice cream,” he said as he went inside.

  Benny crossed his arms. “He didn’t sound sorry.”

  “He really didn’t like the bear,” said Ms. Freeman, leading the way back into her shop. “And he doesn’t care much for my ice cream either. He’s always complaining about people getting runny ice cream on his floor. Speaking of which, I’d better dump out the ice cream in that case.”

  “Can’t you freeze it again?” Benny asked.

  Ms. Freeman shook her head. “Ice cream is made by churning—it works air into the cream. If it melts and freezes again, it will get grainy with larger ice crystals.”

  “It still might taste good,” said Benny.

  Ms. Freeman smiled at him. “I suppose so. But it might not be safe to eat. Bacteria can grow on warm dairy products. I wouldn’t want to make anyone sick.”

  “We’ll pour out the ice cream,” said Henry. He went behind the counter and opened the back of the case. Jessie joined him. Together they lifted out a large tub of strawberry ice cream and poured pink soup into the sink.

  Benny put his hands up to his face. “It hurts to watch!”

  Ms. Freeman patted his shoulder. “Don’t worry. I have more ice cream in the freezer.” Then she sighed. “I only hope it stays cold. If it doesn’t and I have to throw it out, I don’t know what I’ll do.”

  Violet thought about the broken lock on the generator door. “Do you think someone did this on purpose?” She didn’t like to think anyone would be so mean. But George Williams had seemed pleased that Ms. Freeman’s shop was in trouble. “Could Mr. Williams be trying to put you out of business?”

  Ms. Freeman pulled out a chair and sat at one of the tables. “That would be one way for him to get a new neighbor, I suppose.”

  “Would he really go that far?” Grandfather asked.

  Ms. Freeman shook her head. “George Williams might not like my shop. That doesn’t mean he’d break our generator to put me out of business. And he couldn’t have planned the storm.”

  Violet sat down at the table. “Maybe Mr. Williams wouldn’t break the generator, but he might move the bear. He seemed happy that it was gone.”

  Ms. Freeman frowned. “I can’t imagine I have two enemies. Surely the bear was simply washed away by the storm. That kind of thing happens.”

  Henry and Jessie joined them at the table. They needed to wait for the sink to drain before pouring in more ice cream.

  “We should see what else the storm did,” said Henry. “If it washed away other stuff around town, it might have taken the bear too.”

  Jessie pushed her hair out of her face. The air seemed damp after the storm. “You said the bear is a town mascot,” she said. “How did that happen?”

  Ms. Freeman leaned back with a smile. “It started two years ago. A really bad storm hit Port Elizabeth—worse than this one. Dozens of homes and businesses were destroyed.”

  “That’s awful,” said Henry.

  “It was, at first,” said Ms. Freeman. “But good things started happening. People started helping each other. Then one day, a black bear came to town. It walked right down Main Street, walking on two legs like a person.”

  “Were you scared?” asked Violet.

  “No, I watched through that window right there.” Ms. Freeman pointed to the front of the shop. “Most people knew to stay away. But people took videos. The bear looked funny walking on its back legs. People posted the videos online. Thousands of people watched those videos within a few days.”

  “The bear got famous!” said Benny.

  “That’s right,” said Ms. Freeman. “Animal control got some bear experts here. They discovered the bear had hurt its front paws in the storm. That’s why it walked on its back legs. They brought the bear in, and a vet fixed its paws.”

  “Thank goodness,” said Jessie. “Do you think the bear came to town trying to get help?”

  Ms. Freeman shrugged. “I don’t know. In any case, once it had healed, the bear was released back into the wild. It became a symbol for the town. The bear got through a tough time and survived. So would we. People had stopped coming to town right after the storm. They thought everything would be closed. But then Port Elizabeth made the news with the bear. People got interested. More tourists came.”