帽子之謎

By+Bonnie+Katz

“What are you staring at， pipsqueak？”Tanner yelled from across the classroom， crammed into a desk too small for his large frame. I hadnt really staring at Tanner. I was just looking at his hat—the same hat hed worn every day since he moved here three weeks ago. It reminded me of Sherlock Holmess detective cap.

After school， Tanner was waiting for me in the hallway.“I asked what you were looking at， runt，”he said gruffly， staring downatme.

“Well， I was looking at your hat，”I said. I pointed at the checkered hat with front and back brims and side flaps tied to the top.“ItsaSherlockHolmeshat，”Isaid.

“A what？”Tanner demanded， pushing me up. I gulped.“Sherlock Holmes， the great detective. He wears a hat just like that. Have you ever read any Sherlock Holmes mysteries？”Tannerletgoofmyshoulders.Justthenthebellrang.

Later that day， I was at home making a peanut butter sandwich when the phone rang.“Sanchez residence， Josh speaking，”Isaid.

“Hey，shrimp，”agruffvoiceresponded.

“Uh， hi， Tanner，”I stammered， my heart racing. There was a long pause. Then finally he said，“Tell me more about that detective.”

“Uh， sure，”I said.“Well， Sherlock Holmes solves mysteries that no one else can solve by using his intellectual abilities and astuteskillsofobservation.”“Huh？”wasTannersreply.

“I mean， hes smart， and he can tell things about people just by looking at them，”I added. I took a deep breath.“So， uh， where did you get that hat？”“None of your business！”he roared， and hunguponme.

I couldnt sleep that night. Was Tanner going to pick on me tomorrow？Whydidhewearthathateveryday？

“Why do you think some kids act tough at school？”I asked mymomthenextmorningatbreakfast.

“Well， maybe they feel awkward and insecure about something， so they try to act tough to make up for it.”she said as sheslidtwofriedeggsontomyplate.

“Like being the biggest kid in class？”“Possibly，”she said， sippinghercoffee.“Beingdifferentcanbehardforpeople.”

That morning， Tanner was waiting for me outside the classroom with his arms crossed， wearing his hat.“Give me your lunch money，”he hissed， and held out his hand. I spotted his openbackpackonthefloor.

“Why do you need lunch money when you brought a tuna sandwichforlunch？”Iasked，thensteppedbackandlooked up at Tanner nervously.“Hey， how did you know that？”He demanded.“Well， I can smell the tuna， so I deduced that you have a tuna sandwich in your backpack.”

Tanner scowled.“Big deal， you can smell. Now give me your money， runt.”Heleanedovermemenacingly.

“Uh... I can also tell that you had powdered doughnuts for breakfast， and that you took the shortcut to school this morning，”I stammered.“How could you know all that？”he asked in disbelief.“Well， for starters， you have white powder on your lips.”Tanner wiped his face with the back ofhishand.

“Theres redclayonyour shoes，”I explained.“The only place around here with red clay is the path that cuts through the park.”I thought back to what my mom had said at breakfast.“You know， Sherlock Holmes was over six feet tall，”I said.“He was？”Tanner replied， standing up straight.“Yeah.”I paused.“So，Ireallylikeyourhat.”

He took it off.“It was my grandfathers，”he said.“When he died I got to pick out something to remember him by. He used to wearthishatallthetime.”

Inodded.Ididntknowwhattosay.

Tanner put his grandfathers hat on my head. He smiled for thefirsttimesinceIdmethim.“You can borrow thehat， ifI can borrowoneofyourdetectivebooks，”Tannersaid.

“Deal，”Irepliedwithagrin.

“你在盯著看什么，小東西？”坦納從教室那頭沖我大喊，然后擠進(jìn)了座位，那座位對他這大塊頭來說太小了。我并沒有真的在盯著坦納看。我只是在看他的帽子———自從三周前他轉(zhuǎn)學(xué)到這兒，他每天都戴著這頂帽子。它讓我想起夏洛克·福爾摩斯的那頂偵探帽。

放學(xué)后，坦納在走廊里等著我。“我剛才問你在看什么呢，小矮子。”他粗聲說道，低頭瞪著我。

“呃，我當(dāng)時(shí)在看你的帽子。”我說。我指著坦納那頂前后都有帽檐、兩側(cè)的護(hù)耳系在帽頂?shù)姆礁衩弊诱f：“那是一頂夏洛克·福爾摩斯式的帽子。”

“一頂什么？”坦納逼問道，邊問還邊上前推搡我。我喘不過氣來。“夏洛克·福爾摩斯，那個(gè)大偵探。他就戴著一頂那樣的帽子。你讀過任何關(guān)于夏洛克·福爾摩斯的探案故事嗎？”坦納松開了我的肩膀。就在這時(shí)，鈴聲響了。

那天晚些時(shí)候，我正在家做花生醬三明治，電話鈴響了。“這是桑切斯家，我是喬希。”我說道。

“嗨，小東西。”一個(gè)粗啞的嗓音回答道。

“啊，嗨，坦納。”我結(jié)結(jié)巴巴地說，心狂跳不已。很長時(shí)間的停頓之后，他說道：“多跟我說說那個(gè)偵探的事兒吧。”

“嗯，當(dāng)然，”我說道，“呃，夏洛克·福爾摩斯能破解其他人無法解開的謎團(tuán)，他用的是他的聰明才智和敏銳的觀察力。”“啊哈？”坦納這樣回答。

“我是說，他很聰明，僅僅通過觀察別人，就能知道跟他們有關(guān)的事情。”我深深地吸了一口氣，“那么，嗯，你是從哪兒得到那頂帽子的呢？”“關(guān)你什么事！”他大吼一聲就掛了我的電話。

那天晚上我睡不著。坦納明天會(huì)找我的碴兒嗎？……