“Maybe we can help you get organized,” said Jessie. “Until your memory comes back.”

  Mr. Muldaur was surprised. “Are you sure?” he asked.

  “Yes!” said Benny. “We’re good at finding out secrets!” The thought of hidden treasures and old secrets made him forget all about the last time he had visited the shop.

  “All right, come with me,” said Mr. Muldaur, standing up. “Into my ‘secret office.’”

  He led the children behind a bookcase in the back of the shop. There was small room with a huge wooden desk, which was buried under an equally huge pile of papers. There were more stacks of paper scattered on shelves. Open filing cabinets stood against the walls, stuffed with even more loose paper.

  “It isn’t really a secret office,” said Mr. Muldaur. “It’s more of a secret pile of paper.” He chuckled. “I’m sure I wrote everything down. But I have no idea which papers belong to which items. Everything is all jumbled up. Sort of how my mind feels these days.”

  Mr. Muldaur looked up with a glint in his eye. “Still,” he said, “I’m happy to feel better and to be back with my shop and my dog. And I’ve met you four! This must be my lucky day.”

  “You’re meeting us again!” said Benny. “And it’s double lucky. We’re on summer vacation. We can help you a lot.”

  CHAPTER

  Curious Customers

  “Right now, I’ve got some errands to run,” said Mr. Muldaur. “Since the accident, I haven’t had anyone around to be able to keep an eye on things. Would you children be able to watch the shop and keep Mitzy company while I step out?”

  “Of course,” said Henry. “We can start organizing too.”

  “Wonderful,” said Mr. Muldaur. He looked around the office. “I can tell you that papers for items of little value are probably in those file cabinets. The ones on the shelves would be next, and the papers on the desk are for things that are of great interest.”

  “What do you mean ‘little value’?” asked Benny. “Are those things worth less money? Are the things in the desk worth lots of money, like treasure?”

  “They might be worth a lot of money,” said Mr. Muldaur. “But value isn’t always about money. Some antiques aren’t worth much, but their families value them anyway. Others have value because they are unusual.”

  “Oh,” said Benny. “Then maybe my bear isn’t exactly a treasure.”

  “That depends on what you mean by treasure,” said Mr. Muldaur. “You know, Benny, I might have a special job just for you.” Mr. Muldaur opened a drawer in the desk and took out a cardboard box. Inside the box were dozens of small keys.

  “These look like the one in my bear,” Benny said. “They all have the same shape, but they’re different sizes and colors. Are they for winding things up?”

  “Yes, they are,” said Mr. Muldaur. “They belong to other mechanical toys. I need someone to match up these keys with the toys they belong to. Do you think you could do that, Benny? You would have to find the toys and then try the keys on each one.”

  “I sure could!” said Benny. He took the box of keys from Mr. Muldaur and stood up straight. Benny liked having a job to do.

  “Is there anything special about the antiques behind the front counter?” asked Jessie. “Those look extra special.”

  “Yes! You have sharp eyes,” said Mr. Muldaur. “Those are my most valuable items. And their papers are…” He rubbed his head for a moment. “In the middle desk drawer! And now I really do need to do those errands.”

  “Don’t worry,” said Benny. “While you’re gone, we’ll take extra good care of Mitzy. And Mitzy will guard your treasures!” Benny patted Mitzy, who stood up and wagged her tail.

  Mr. Muldaur laughed. “I’m sure you’ll do a great job. See you all soon.” He went out the front door.

  Jessie looked around the office and took a deep breath. “We’ve got our work cut out for us,” she said, picking up a paper from the top of a stack.

  Violet peered at the paper Jessie was holding. “It looks as if each item has its own papers with whatever information Mr. Muldaur knew about it.”

  “The papers don’t have all the information, Violet,” said Jessie. “Remember the stories Mr. Muldaur knew? They’re not here. The papers only tell us what the item is, how much it’s worth, and some other facts about it. I sure hope Mr. Muldaur’s memory comes back. If it doesn’t, how will he be able to tell those interesting stories?”

  “I want to know about my bear,” said Benny. “I just know he has a good story. Maybe he’s worth a whole lot of money now! And…maybe there are more amazing things in this shop!” Benny ran out of the office, and Mitzy followed him.

  Henry called them. “Benny, don’t forget we’re here to help Mr. Muldaur.”

  Benny called back. “Mitzy and I are guarding! We’re doing a good job. And looking for toys.”

  The other three Aldens laughed.

  Then Jessie turned to her brother and sister. “Can you believe Mr. Muldaur is even the same person? Before the accident, he didn’t like having children in the shop. Now he’s letting us watch it for him.”

  “He wouldn’t let us pet Mitzy before either,” said Violet.

  Henry shrugged. “The accident really seems to have changed him. I’m glad we can help him get back on his feet.”

  The children turned back to the stack of papers. They started by looking for any sign of organization, but there did not appear to be any.

  “Wait, what’s this?” said Violet. She pulled a small piece of paper from the top of one of the stacks. The children gathered around to look at the scribbled note:

  Schedule cuckoo clock appraisal

  Meeting in park at 7:30—wrap and bring package!

  Send letter to G. H.

  Pick up air cleaner from hardware store

  “Look,” said Jessie. “It’s dated a week ago. That was around the same time that Mr. Muldaur got hurt.”

  “That’s probably why only the first thing on the list got crossed off,” said Henry. “Mr. Muldaur never got a chance to do the other things.”

  “There’s something else,” said Violet. “Can you read the writing at the top of the list?” The children peered at some very small words on the note. The words seemed to have been written very quickly.

  “It looks like a website address,” said Jessie slowly. “There’s a username and password too.”

  “‘Findyourancestors.com,’” Henry read. “We’d better save this note. It could be important.” He pinned it onto the bulletin board on the office wall.

  “What’s an appraisal?” asked Violet, still looking at the note.

  “You get an appraisal when you want to sell something that’s valuable, like a house or an expensive antique,” said Henry. “You ask an expert to tell you what they think it’s worth. The expert writes it all down for you. Then you have a fair price you can charge for the item.”

  “I’ll bet there are appraisals mixed in with these papers,” said Jessie. “They would be important to keep.”

  The bell on the front door jingled. Violet, Jessie, and Henry left the office to see who it was. Benny and Mitzy looked out from behind a shelf.

  A tall woman dressed all in black stood at the entrance to the shop. She wore large gold earrings that shone against her dark hair and clothes. Before the children could speak, the woman hurried over to the front counter. She looked up at the shelves behind the counter.

  Jessie recognized the woman. It was Lydia Sweeting. She had been Jessie’s history teacher at school. “Ms. Sweeting!” Jessie called.

  The woman swung around to face Jessie and the other children. “Oh! Jessie Alden!” she said, her eyes widening. “You startled me. What…what are you doing here?”

  “We’re looking for a birthday present,” said Jessie. “We stayed to help Mr. Muldaur. I didn’t know you liked antiques, Ms. Sweeting.”

  “Well, um…” Ms. Sweeting fumbled with the large bag she was carrying. “It’s nice to see you while you’re on summer break, Jessie,” she said. She looked around the shop. “Yes…I do like antiques. After all, antiques are all about history.”

  Jessie smiled. “Is there a special kind of antique that you collect?” she asked. “Maybe we can help you find it.”

  Violet pointed to Ms. Sweeting’s bag. It had an image of a motorcycle with clock faces for wheels. “That’s such a cool design!” said Violet. “Do you collect clocks? Or motorcycles?”

  “Or motorcycle clocks?” asked Benny.

  Ms. Sweeting blinked a few times. “What? Oh. No, not motorcycles. I mean, yes, I do like motorcycles, but not from an antique shop.”

  “I saw some old cars in the toy section,” said Benny. “Come on, Mitzy. Let’s go find Ms. Sweeting a motorcycle.”

  “Please don’t bother!” Ms. Sweeting called after Benny. “I’ve changed my mind. I need to get home now. I’m…expecting a package in the mail today.”

  Ms. Sweeting hurried to the door. “It was nice to see you, Jessie,” she called as she went out.

  Henry, Jessie, and Violet started back toward the office. “That was strange,” said Jessie. “Ms. Sweeting is not nervous like that in school.”

  Henry shook his head. “At first I thought she was looking for something. But then she didn’t want to see a single thing,” he said. “Why did she come in?”

  “Maybe we just surprised her,” said Violet.

  “Good point,” said Jessie. “Maybe we should let the customers browse a little bit more.”

  The doorbell jingled again.

  The children were going to go back to organizing and let the customer browse, but Mitzy ran to the front of the shop, barking. The dog was usually so calm; the Aldens worried she might break something. They followed Mitzy to the front of the shop.

  “Achoo!” A loud sneeze came from the young man near the door. He was bent over Mitzy, who jumped up and wagged her tail. The young man sneezed again and blew his nose on a handkerchief. His long brown hair flew into his face. Then he went back to petting Mitzy. “Good old dog!” he told her, rubbing Mitzy’s fur.

  “Hello,” said Henry. “Are you here to look around?”

  The man stood up and pulled his hair back. “Oh, hello,” he said. “I just stopped in to see how Mr. Muldaur was doing…after the accident.”

  “He’s not here right now,” Jessie told him. “But he’s getting better.”

  “Do you want to leave a message? We’ll tell him you came by,” said Violet.

  “Oh, no. That’s okay,” said the man. He looked over toward the back of the shop. “I enjoy seeing Mitzy, anyway.” The young man blew his nose again and went out.

  Henry shook his head. “I guess I don’t understand how antique stores work,” he said. “Two people have come by today, but no one was really shopping for anything.”

  “They barely looked at what was for sale,” said Violet.

  “And another strange thing: Mitzy seems to know that man,” said Jessie. “It was almost like they were friends. Mr. Muldaur would never let anyone pet Mitzy before his bump on the head. How could that man and Mitzy have gotten to be friends?”

  It was yet another mystery. The antique shop seemed to have a lot of them.

  CHAPTER

  All Jumbled Up

  The next time the doorbell jingled, the Aldens were hard at work. They had looked at a lot of papers to figure out what kinds of information was on them.

  “I think I know the best way to organize these,” said Jessie. “If we—”

  “Hello again!” It was Mr. Muldaur. He was carrying several shopping bags. “How are my young shopkeepers doing?”

  “We’re fine,” said Violet. “Except we didn’t sell anything.”

  “Oh, that’s all right,” said Mr. Muldaur. “We usually get plenty of people who are just browsing.” He put down his bags and started pulling out items. “I bought little price tags. Also, sticky labels, file folders, and markers. I thought they might help get things into better order in the office.”

  “Great,” said Henry. “We’re just starting to figure out what to do.”

  Mitzy trotted into the office and put her nose into a bag. “Don’t be a snoop, Mitzy,” said Benny.

  Mr. Muldaur laughed. “Mitzy’s nose is telling her about some treats,” he said. “Some for her, and some for my human helpers too!” He handed out fancy frosted doughnuts and small cartons of milk to the children. Mitzy got a big dog bone from the pet store.

  As everyone munched on their snacks, they talked about how to organize the office.

  “I’m glad you brought labels, Mr. Muldaur,” said Jessie. “We have a plan that would use them.”

  “Very good,” said Mr. Muldaur as he sat down at his desk. “Let’s hear it.”

  “Well,” said Jessie, “you said before that you weren’t sure where things are in the shop. Maybe you could put a number on every shelf. Then you could put that same number on the papers that went with the items on that shelf.”

  “That sounds pretty good!” said Mr. Muldaur. “If I remember correctly, that’s like the way libraries are organized. Each book has a special number that tells you where to put it on a shelf. If a customer comes into my shop and asks about an item, I could find its papers easily. If someone wants an item, maybe I could look it up somehow and know where it is. Maybe…” He drifted off in thought.

  “I think that’s not quite enough,” said Violet. “You could use a map of the store, so you know where each shelf is.”

  “And,” said Henry, “wouldn’t you also want a list of everything that’s on each shelf? Sort of like having a little map inside a big one?”

  “Yes!” cried Mr. Muldaur. “You children are wonders. I’ll be able to find everything once you have this place organized.” He sat back and sighed. “Well, mostly everything.”

  Mr. Muldaur put his hand to his head, and Mitzy leaned on his leg. Mr. Muldaur gave a small smile. “She knows when I’m feeling sad.”

  “Don’t worry. Your stories will come back,” said Henry. “Didn’t the doctors say it might take a while? We can help you in the meantime.”

  “It’s not just my memories I’m sad about,” said Mr. Muldaur. “I was thinking about the time I spent in the hospital. It was lonely. I thought I would have visitors. But no one came.”

  “No one?” asked Violet. “Don’t you have family, Mr. Muldaur?”

  “From what I’ve figured out, I have quite a big family,” said Mr. Muldaur. “I have all kinds of pictures of family members at home. But I’m sad to say, even that part of my memory hasn’t come back yet.”

  “Do you know if anyone from your family lives in the area?” asked Jessie.

  Mr. Muldaur scratched his head. “In the hospital the nurses called my sister, Jean, but she did not come to visit. I have a feeling we must not have been very close before the accident.” He lowered his head. “I don’t think I was a very good person.”

  “You should not say that,” Jessie told Mr. Muldaur. “You’ve been so nice to us.”

  “Besides,” said Violet, “maybe you can fix things with your sister. She might be happy to be in touch with you again.” Violet sat down next to Mitzy. “Before we met our grandfather, we thought he was mean. But he turned out to be the best grandfather ever.”

  “You know, someone did worry about you when you were sick,” said Henry. “A man visited you today. He knew Mitzy, and he asked how you were doing.”

  “What was his name?” asked Mr. Muldaur.

  “He didn’t tell us,” said Violet. “He had long brown hair. He really likes your dog. Don’t you think he’s a friend of yours?”

  “I really don’t know,” said Mr. Muldaur. “Someone who knows Mitzy? I can’t remember.”

  “That’s okay,” said Henry. “You will remember. And that man will come back if he’s your friend.”

  “I hope you’re right,” said Mr. Muldaur.

  Mr. Muldaur and the children started organizing. Violet drew up a map of the store with all its shelves, counters, and tables. Jessie worked on a numbering system for matching papers and items.

  Benny went to find the toys. He took the box of keys with him.

  Henry and Mr. Muldaur decided to start making the list of items. They began with the most valuable things, the ones behind the counter.

  “I can call out what each item is,” said Henry. “Mr. Muldaur, will you tell me if you want to give it a different name after that?”

  Mr. Muldaur nodded. “I’ll write down the name and what shelf it’s on. Let’s get going.”

  Henry looked at the bottom shelf, where there was a locked glass case. “I see a big leather book in there,” he said. “It looks like it has a lock on it. Why would someone lock up a book?”

  Mr. Muldaur unlocked the case with a key. He bent down and pulled out the book. “This isn’t an ordinary kind of book,” he said. “It’s a stamp collection.” He opened the top of the stamp collection and studied the inside. “Let’s call this ‘Nineteenth-Century American Stamp Book’ for now. I hope I have papers in the desk for it.”

  They went through all the items in the glass case one by one. It took a lot of time, and the list was long. Henry decided to bring his laptop next time. That way, he could put the lists into a spreadsheet to keep track of everything.

  Mr. Muldaur was locking the case when Benny appeared. “I haven’t found the rest of the toys yet. But I will,” he said. “Wow! What’s that?” He pointed to one of the clocks high up on a shelf behind the counter. “It looks like part of a time machine!”

  Mr. Muldaur chuckled. “That is a mantel clock,” he said.

  Henry climbed up the small ladder and brought the clock down, setting it on the counter. The clock had many gears, wheels, and springs, which were all visible. The face of the clock was gold colored. And if you looked closely, you could see tiny pictures had been etched into its surface. There were also fancy looking painted numbers for telling the time. The whole clock was surrounded by a single piece of curved glass, and all of it was fitted onto a wooden base.