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See?”
    “That’s as much money as twenty entries in the show!” Honey exclaimed.
    “What a wonderful man!” Di said.
    Trixie nodded, then she said thoughtfully, “We actually owe this forty dollars to that loud-mouthed man who attracted the nice man to our table.” She broke into a grin. “If you don’t mind, though, I’m not going to go track him down to thank him.”
    The girls’ laughter was interrupted by the arrival of more entrants in the show, and the next few hours passed quickly as the table stayed busy. By the time Brian came to get the girls in his car, they’d signed up forty-two entries.
    “Added to the thirty we signed up at school, that’s seventy-two pets. And we still have two more weeks to get entries!” Trixie said enthusiastically.
    She repeated her good news to her brothers that evening as they all sat in the den watching the news on television. “At this rate, we won’t need any help from you boys at all,” Trixie said.
    “I congratulate you on your success at the sign-up booth,” Mart said. “But might I remind you that I spent that same period of time in the computer room at school, working on the program for the pet show?”
    “Is it almost ready?” Trixie asked.
    “Almost,” Mart said. “There are still a few glitches to be straightened out, but the teacher says that’s to be expected in undertaking a task of this complexity.”
    “Good,” Trixie said. “Because we’ll have a lot of pets and a lot of categories. I had no idea people owned so many different—” She paused as the picture on the television screen caught her eye. “It’s him!” she shouted.
    “It’s who?” Brian asked.
    “I don’t know. I mean, I don’t know his name. Turn up the sound and let’s find out.
    Brian turned the knob, and Trixie heard a familiar voice: “People are starving to death all over the world today. Today, when technology has grown to such proportions that no task as basic as feeding humanity should be beyond our grasp.”
    The face of the man disappeared from the screen, and the television news reporter came on. “Those were the words today of Paul Gale, the noted anti-hunger crusader,” she said. “Gale, whose World Anti-Hunger Foundation raises money to buy supplies that are flown directly to Burma, Thailand, and other Third-World countries, will be in Sleepyside for the next several weeks to assist in the opening of a foundation office here. Gale said he chose our community because its relative prosperity should permit large donations to those less fortunate.”
    The reporter’s face was replaced by Paul Gale’s. He looked serious—and very angry. “People who have the most must share the most. Why, here in Sleepyside people have so much that they’re literally throwing their money to the birds. This, while children are dying. Something must be done!”
    The camera stayed on Paul Gale’s face while the reporter said, “Those interested in making contributions may mail them to the World Anti-Hunger Foundation, Seventy-five South Tenth Street.”
    The news program moved on to other events, but Trixie didn’t hear them. “That was our pet show he was talking about when he said people are throwing money to the birds!” Briefly, she told her brothers about her encounter with Paul Gale at the sign-up table. “He’s going to wreck the whole pet show if he keeps talking like that,” she concluded worriedly.
    “I doubt it,” Brian told her. “His worthy cause doesn’t make ours any less worthy. People will understand that.”
    “Maybe you’re right,” Trixie conceded. “It’s just that things have been going so well. I’dhate to see us run into problems now.”



5 * Honey Uncovers a Rumor

    THE FOLLOWING WEEK, Trixie realized that the pet show was having serious problems.
    At school Monday, the flow of entrants at the sign-up table slowed to a trickle. “That’s okay,” Trixie said as she and Brian packed away the meager stack of dollar bills