The Potato Chip Puzzles_ The Puzzling World of Winston Breen - Eric Berlin [49]
They opened the hatchback instead, and Jake dug out an ice-pack. It wasn’t particularly cold anymore, but it was better than nothing, so he wrapped it in some paper towels and held it against his swollen lip.
“What do you think Mr. Garvey’s doing?” Mal said.
“Telling the other teams what happened,” Winston guessed. “Warning them about the cheater.”
“That makes sense,” Jake said. “I wonder why he didn’t just say that.”
Winston kept thinking about that bottle filled with broken glass. What an ugly trick. He imagined the cheater breaking a bunch of glasses and jars, then carefully pouring the shards into empty bottles to make his booby traps. Who would think of doing something like that? And why was he doing it at all?
“Who is this guy?” he said out loud.
“The cheater?” Mal said. “He has to be working for somebody.”
“Who?” said Jake. “A rival potato chip company?”
Mal said, “I was thinking more like one of the other teams.” He stood up from where he’d been sitting on the car’s tailgate. “We all thought the cheater was somebody playing in the puzzle hunt. That’s still true. But instead of doing all the cheating himself, he’s working with somebody else. The kid on the team solves the puzzles, while his . . .”
“Older brother?” Winston suggested.
“Maybe,” said Mal. “While his older brother—or whoever—runs around tripping everybody up.”
They thought about that.
“Jeez,” said Winston. “Someone really wants to win this thing. And it doesn’t make sense. All the prize money goes to the school. It’s not like the kid gets anything.”
“He gets to say he won,” said Jake.
“That’s still a lot of trouble to go through,” Winston said.
They fell into silence, the three of them now sitting in the grass beside the hot car. They were too hot and tired and confused to try to figure out the mystery of the cheater and how Winston’s name wound up in his memo pad. Mal dug out some food, and Jake took a bottle of water. Winston found himself staring up at the big ADVENTURELAND sign in the distance, and within a few minutes he was jotting down an idea for a puzzle.
All the words in this crisscross can be made from the letters in ADVENTURELAND. One word has been placed to get you started.
Can you fit the rest into the grid?
(Answer, page 242.)
After a while the car was aired out well enough, so the kids sat inside with the doors open. They were still mulling over everything that had happened in the park. “It’s ridiculous that you got into trouble for getting that key, Winston. You got us out of there! You’re a hero!”
“What about me?” Jake said.
“Who, you?” Mal said. “The cheater got away!” He gave an exaggerated snort of digust. “Getting yourself beat up isn’t heroic.”
Jake laughed and took a playful roundhouse swing at him.
Winston didn’t feel much like a hero. He’d retrieved the key, sure, but he felt bad about getting Bethany’s team kicked out of the park. If only that security guard had helped Jake catch the cheater instead of chasing Winston for stealing a key! Then everything would be fine, and nobody would have gotten into trouble except the man in the green jacket, the one guy who deserved it.
He looked off toward the park entrance. Mr. Garvey still wasn’t coming, but he saw Bethany and her team heading in their direction. “Guys, look,” he said.
“More happy kids enjoying a fun-filled day of puzzles,” Mal said. He was being sarcastic, of course. Bethany, Elvie, and Giselle all looked miserable. For once they were trailing behind their teacher, who was storming ahead, presumably to her car.
Winston watched them for a moment, then said to his friends, “Come on.” The three of them got out and walked over to the girls.
“Did they let you solve the puzzle before kicking