Jenna lay in her pale green-colored bed. She had just woken up and felt as if she was drifting through the sky on a soft, pearly cloud. An icicle hung from her window, and she watched tiny droplets of water roll down the ice and drop with a teeny "plop" into the empty flower box. Everything was at peace. Everything was, that is, until Maisie, Jenna's younger sister, burst into the room, panting and gasping for air, her pale cheeks flushed and her chestnut hair as wild as a lion's mane.
"Oh Jennie; Father's package has arrived!" she gleefully announced to her sister.
Jenna gasped. "Really?" she asked, awakening from her daydream.
"Yes, really!" said Maisie, still panting from her dash up the stairs and into her sister's room. Jenna bolted upright and in about 10 seconds she had pulled on a scraggly old, tawny shawl and was clamoring downstairs, Maisie at her heels.
The ancient stairs creaked as the two girls raced into the kitchen, where the little evergreen tree stood with only a ragged brown box under it. Christmas was two days ago, and the tree was dying. It gave the room a sorrowful effect. Mother was already in the kitchen, and she was making the most out of some stale bread and bruised apples, for it was all that the family had to eat. Jenna and Maisie dashed towards the frail and sad-looking three and almost had their hands on the little package from Father when mother called, "Breakfast first, girls!"
The sisters groaned and slid onto their wooden crates, which stood as chairs for the two girls. For, you see, Jenna's family (the Clarks) were extremely poor. Father had left a while ago for a diamond mine near Muffreesburo, Arkansas, and promised a "small fortune" when he returned. This was, unfortunately, an empty promise. So Jenna, Mother and Maisie were doubtful when Father had promised a Christmas package with gifts for his family. Christmas had come and gone without a package from Father. But now, here it was!
"I wonder where Father got the money for gifts?" asked Jenna.
"Yes, it seemed as if he wasn't so successful in the mines," said Mrs. Clark. "Six months and he hasn't sent word of finding even the smallest diamond."
But Jenna was not listening. She was staring the headline on this morning's newspaper, dated December 27, 1907:
The words, bold and black, were printed as plain as day on the top of the paper. Jenna, with sweaty hands, started to read the words written below the startling headline:
MUFFREESBURO, ARK -- December 26, mid-afternoon, all was peaceful in the Crater of Diamonds mine near Muffreesburo, Ark., and it was a very lucky afternoon for miner Tom Stewart. Stewart had just uncovered a diamond the size of a robin's egg and was acting very arrogant. However, his mood would not last for long, as a shady figure silently slipped into the shop where the precious stone was being examined, unnoticed by the joyous Stewart, who was gloating to anyone who would listen. The mysterious bandit lurked by a shelf of supplies until he was ready to make his move. With the brim of his hat tipped down to his eyebrows, casting a dark shadow upon his eyes, a tan bandanna disguising his true identity, he slyly snatched up the sparkling gem. But he was seen. The brave Ben Thompson, also a miner, cornered the thief and recognized him at once as his fellow miner, Joel Clark. Clark fled, taking with him some goods from the store which he stole as well as the diamond, but the search for him is on. A reward has been offered for his capture.
Jenna dropped the newspaper, he face as white as the snow falling outside, her hands trembling as if the Earth was violently quivering. Joel Clark was her father, and he was in Muffreesburo, Arkansas! It just could not be her beloved father, it could not!
"Uh, Jenna, are you all right?" Mother asked nervously.
"Um, yeah, you're as white as a sheet," exclaimed Maisie, using one of Mother's favorite expressions.
"Oh, I'm fine," stuttered a quavering Jenna.
"Well, if you're still up to it, we can open the package now," Mother told her. So trying to forget the devastating article, Jenna sat by the tree and helped open the package. Inside, there was a small bag of taffy for Maisie, a bracelet for Mother, and a small red-headed doll for Jenna.
Later that afternoon, Jenna decided to climb the beautiful oak tree that stood outside of the run-down cottage. Along with her, she took her new doll, whom she had named Bethany. Holding onto her cherished doll, she hoisted herself onto the thickest branch of the tree and looked down onto the world from a birds' eye view. Since it was still winter, there were no leaves on the tree, and Jenna could see everything that was happening on the ground. Maisie was skipping rope and mother was sweeping the porch. A prairie dog stuck his head above the ground. As Jenna craned her neck and scooted farther up the tree branch to get a better look at the prairie dog, she found that she had leaned too far over. Suddenly she found herself sprawled over the snowy ground. She felt pain in her left arm, and gave a loud groan. Not knowing what to do, Jenna sat motionless.
It had all happened so quickly. One moment she had been sitting in the tree, enjoying the view, and next moment she was on the ground, clutching her left arm. Jenna searched with her eyes to find her doll and found Bethany still in the tree, her pretty dress snagged on a low-hanging branch. Her doll's dress was ruined, her arm was throbbing, and her father had probably stolen a diamond. All of a sudden, Jenna started to cry, tears gushing and freezing on her face. And then, the world was black.
"Doctor, will she be all right?" Jenna heard a familiar voice ask.
"I think so," a deep voice grunted.
Jenna was warm, and she felt dazed and nauseous as well. Then suddenly, a white-hot pain shot through her left arm, and she let out a feeble cry.
"She's awake!" the familiar voice exclaimed. And then she realized that it was her mother, and that she was in bed, and that a doctor had been called. Jenna gathered the little energy that she had and weakly opened her eyes. The light was blazing right in her face, and she felt as if the brightness might blind her. When her eyesight was regained, Jenna saw the grumpy face of a strange man (obviously the doctor) and the compassionate and concerned face of her mother staring at her.
"My arm," she murmured before slowly turning her heard to look at her arm. The pain was mixed with terror when she saw two gray and slimy leeches on her arm. Jenna made a revolting face, let out a loud groan, and closed her eyes. She didn't want to look at two parasitic leeches slurping up her blood.
"Are you sure you can keep it a secret?" asked Mother, who sounded very apprehensive.
"I assure you, Madam, I can," the doctor's deep and gruff voice answered.
"Okay," her mother said, sounding unsure. Jenna then felt the icky leeches being removed from her arm and the feeling of wet, starchy plaster being placed on her arm. When her arm was completely covered and layered in wet plaster, the doctor told Jenna to take it easy for a while and left.
Once his footsteps were gone, Jenna looked at Mother with a longing question in her eyes.
"What secret is the doctor keeping?" she asked.
Mother's cheeks flushed. "You heard that?"
"Yes," Jenna told her.
"Well, um, you know Bethany, your doll?" Mother seemed to be avoiding eye contact. "Well, her body was ripped by the tree branch, and her dress is beyond repair." But before Jenna could open her mouth to let out a deafening groan, Mother rushed into another statement. "Jenna, Bethany just needs her hip sewn up, and I can make her a new dress, but it's what was inside of your doll that I'm concerned about."
"Stuffing, right?" Jenna could not keep the sarcasm out of her voice. "Sorry, Mother," she mumbled, after receiving a sharp look.
"Jenna, tell me the truth, have you ever seen this?" Mother was reaching into her apron pocket and pulled out a...
"Diamond!" Jenna gaped. "No I haven't," she said, her jaw almost touching the ground. "Where in the world did you find it?"
"In your doll," Mother told her. "Jenna, close your mouth or your jaw will surely break!" Mother exclaimed, for Jenna was gaping with her jaw dropped as far as it would go. Thoughts raced through her mind. Father would have gotten his family presents from a shop, and the diamond robbery had happened in a shop. The newspaper article also had said that the thief had escaped with some "other goods as well," which could have been the gifts. And if Father was the thief, then he could have slipped the diamond into the doll and stitched the body up...then sent his family the presents.
The evidence was overwhelming. And if the doctor had read the morning paper and seen the reward offer...Jenna shuddered. That would mean trouble.
"What will we do?" sighed Mother, shaking her head. Jenna had just shown her the alarming article and she was very depressed.
"It's not him, I know it!" Maisie announced, after having read the story. "Father doesn't steal," she added, with a solemn look upon her face.
"Whoever Ben Thompson is, he need his eyes checked," Jenna remarked.
"What troubles me," said Mother, "is that our whole family has been put in jeopardy."
"Yeah," Jenna agreed. "If we're found with this diamond, everyone will think that Father somehow smuggled it to us and that we're a family of crooks."
"We can only hope that the doctor keeps his promise and that none of us lets it slip that we've got a stolen gemstone in our house," Mother hoped.
Jenna, Mother and Maisie were all sitting in the kitchen, thinking. It was so silent that if you went into the room and dropped a pin, the sound would ricocheted off of every wall. Mother was frowning and had lots of creases in her forehead. You could tell that she was thinking very hard. Maisie was staring off into space, and Jenna was running all of her worries through her head.
Suddenly, there was a knock on the door. "I'll get it!" Maisie announced. She ran to the door and pulled it open. "Ahhh!" she screamed. Mother and Jenna came running to the door.
Father was at the door, handcuffed and with three men. Two were wearing checked shirts and overalls, the other a suit and a silver badge with "Pinkerton" printed on it. This man was holding onto Father's shoulder.
"Can we come in?" said the man with the badge. And, not waiting for an answer, pushed Maisie aside and entered the worn cottage, still holding onto Father's shoulder. The two men followed.
"I am a Pinkerton detective," stated the man with the badge, "and Mr. Stewart here has hired my company to track down this man." He was gesturing to both Father and one of the men, who was throwing nasty glances at all of the Clarks. "When I caught him, he didn't have the diamond he stole with him, so I figured he sent it to you," continued the Pinkerton. Mother looked confused.
The Pinkerton sighed impatiently. "Okay, let me start from the beginning. You have all seen this morning's newspaper, am I correct?" Everyone nodded. The Pinkerton continued, "This man," he said, gesturing to Father again, "stole Mr. Stewart's diamond, as well as some other goods, and fled. So Mr. Stewart hired the Pinkerton detective agency to track this thief and offered a reward to anyone who could bring in Mr. Clark." He glared around the room to make sure that everyone was listening. "I found Mr. Clark hiding in a train bound for Russilvile so I captured him and notified Mr. Stewart. Then I got a telegram from some doctor who said he had seen the diamond and wanted the reward that the newspaper promised." The Pinkerton paused and looked awkwardly over at Mother, who had a look of anger and hatred upon her face.
"Anyway," he continued, "I asked the doctor where he had seen the diamond and he said that you had it." He was looking again over at Mother, whose fists were clenched and knuckles turning white.
"So," he started, "I telegraphed Ben here because he was a witness and the four of us decided to come over here, get the stolen gem, return it to Stewart, and throw the crook in jail," he firmly remarked as Father's face went from pale to chalk-white.
"I," gasped Father, "did not do it, I'm..."
"Don't lie," the Pinkerton snapped at him.
"So hand it over," the Pinkerton asked, "and we'll be on our way."
"NO!" Jenna boldly exclaimed.
"What did you say, you ignorant girl?" he asked, as if his ears were stuffed with cotton and he couldn't hear clearly. Jenna sucked in her breath. She knew that she had talked back to a Pinkerton detective who belonged to the agency responsible for saving Abraham Lincoln from a certain plot to kill him, for hunting Jesse James, for rounding up a huge gang of counterfeiters, for running down many railroad thefts...and for doing so many brave things.
Jenna gulped. "I think that we should be allowed to give our side of the story," she nervously explained to the Pinkerton.
"Okay, kid," he snapped. "But hurry up; you're wasting my time."
"Well," Jenna stuttered, "I was confused when I read the paper this morning. My father isn't a crook!" Jenna's hands began to perspire. "But I didn't have any time to be confused after that, because Father had sent a package and we were going to open it."
Suddenly, the Pinkerton looked as eager as a child about to receive a treat. "And the diamond was in the package, was it not?" he excitedly muttered.
"Well, not exactly," Jenna told him.
"Then it was the other goods that he stole," the Pinkerton confidently barked.
"What else did he 'steal'?" Jenna asked, her face turning crimson with anger.
The Pinkerton turned to Ben. "You were a witness, you tell us," he instructed.
Ben fidgeted uncomfortably then spoke in his southern accent, "He, he stole a pair of books, some checkered shirts, grain, some twine, and a pair of overalls," Ben stuttered.
"You're darn right he did!" Mr. Stewart nearly shouted.
"Well it must not be father, then!" Jenna exclaimed, sounding very cheery. The three men looked as if they'd been hit in the face.
"What?" Stewart blurted.
"Well," grinned Jenna, "we received a toy, some candy, and a bracelet."
Mother, Maisie and Jenna burst out laughing. When the last giggle was gone, Jenna looked up to see Ben looking guiltily at his feet, his hands shoved in his pockets. Everyone was looking at him. He quickly glanced up. "What'd I do?" he asked in his deep accent.
"Nothing, I hope," the Pinkerton exclaimed in a questioning voice.
Why was the Pinkerton acting so odd? thought Jenna. Then something clicked inside of her head. The list of stolen items consisted of the things Ben was wearing. New boots, overalls, a checkered shirt...it all fit together like a jigsaw puzzle...Was it just a coincidence? wondered Jenna. But then she remembered the guilty look on Ben's face. It was pretty peculiar. By now, everyone was staring over at Ben, with looks of wonder and confusion printed on their faces. Everyone had the same question as Jenna on their minds, and Ben knew that the gig was up, but he ignored this fact, and still played innocent.
"Crook, thief!" he exclaimed, pointing at Father, whose face was regaining a little bit of color. "Unintelligent diamond rustler!" he continued, becoming paler with every word.
Mr. Stewart raised an eyebrow, "How very odd we all find it that the very same objects stolen from the shop in Muffreesburo are with you today," he told Ben.
"Yes," said the Pinkerton. "Your clothes look brand-new. Tell us, did you get them recently? Perhaps right after Mr. Stewart's diamond vanished?"
"Ah don't reckon it was me!" Ben nervously chuckled.
"Well, ever since I met you, which was not very long ago, you've been acting very strange," the Pinkerton replied.
"Me, strange?" Ben asked. "What, did you think that I put the stolen diamond in her doll?" he questioned, gesturing at Jenna.
Mother, Maisie, Jenna and Father's mouths fell into large "O's" and the Pinkerton and Mr. Stewart glanced at each other, looks of puzzlement on their faces.
"I don't think we said anything about finding the stolen diamond in my doll, but that's what happened," a bewildered Jenna stuttered.
"We found it tucked away in her stomach," added a gaping Mother.
"And how did you know that the doll was Jenna's, it could have been mine!" Maisie inquired, looking very perplexed, but shocked at the same time.
"Well, I..." Ben stammered, turning scarlet. And all eyes were on him. Everyone looked over into his eyes, their faces turning from confused or stunned to hatred, rage and anger. All of the color that had been washed from Father's face suddenly returned, as his cheeks flushed violet.
"YOU are the one who framed me, YOU did it, not me. I knew someone framed me, and IT WAS YOU!" Father harangued, the last three words coming out as a shriek.
Ben started to tremble and everyone seemed taken back, even Maisie seemed a little shaken. Father had never in his life bellowed as he had just done. Ben was obviously so scared that he did the first thing that popped into his mind, which was to run. This was a colossal mistake because as soon as he skimmed the doorknob with the tip of his finger, he found himself on the ground, pinned down by the Pinkerton.
"Evidently, Ben Thompson is the culprit," the Pinkerton announced. A huge sight of relief came from the other side of the room, where father was standing. Mother, Jenna and Maisie all went over to give their innocent father a hug.
"Fine," yelled Ben, "Ah geeve up, ah admit ah tampered with the package before smackin' some first-class stamps on it to make sure you folks got it sooner. Ah wanted Clark blamed straight away. Ah don't know why, but Ah always hated that straight-laced goody-goody! Ah saw 'To Jenna' on a tag attached to the doll, and, well that's how Ah knowed it. Ah geeve in!"
"That's right, you give in!" exclaimed the Pinkerton.
When Ben's confession was over, the mood went from glum to gleeful for the Clarks and Mr. Stewart. The birds seemed to sing, "happiness has come." The sun looked brighter than ever before, and the price for capturing Father was given to Jenna, who gaped for a long while.
"Jenna," Mr. Stewart said, "without your boldness and daring in asking for a chance to tell your side of the story, and without you realizing that you had not said anything about finding the gem in your doll, conversations would not have gone as they did, and the truth would have never been found out. They were very brave things to say and I'm glad you said them. Especially when you asked for a chance to say your side of the story. Because there can be two sides to a story and it's important to hear both. So now, I present you the award for helping crack the case of the Diamond doll."
And with a flourish of his hand, Mr. Stewart took out three $100 bills and gave them to Jenna.
"It's too much!" she gasped, but Mr. Stewart pressed the money into the palm of her hand.
"You earned it fair and square, Jenna," he told her.
And from that day forward, the Clarks were always happy, and not nearly as poor as they had been before. And after the newspaper announced the real thief, Father had a good reputation for the rest of his life. The Clarks always had good food on the table, warm beds to sleep in, and a roof over their heads from then on, thanks to Mr. Stewart. And the fivesome lived happily for the rest of their lives -- Mother, Father, Jenna, Maisie and Bethany, the Diamond doll.
Copyright © 2008 Natalie Niles