The Mysterious Disappearence of Leon by Ellen Raskin

bed for the next few days.

    Mrs. Carillon slept peacefully through the night. No one else in the household did.
    Tina lay awake trying to figure out the Pinky-Pinckney relationship.
    Tony lay awake fidgeting. Waiting for Mr. Kunkel’s return had become unbearable. He was tempted to take one of Mrs. Carillon’s pills but was afraid it might contain something for women only.
    Mrs. Baker was the one who most needed the pill, but she believed that the best medicine was a well-balanced diet. She lay awake picturing her poor sister Minnie locked up in what Tina so luridly described as the “pest-hole.”
    Mrs. Carillon slept through the morning. Mrs. Baker couldn’t remember if she had made breakfast; and the twins couldn’t remember if they had eaten any.
    It was going to be a long day.
    The Long Day
    “I saw your father on television last night. You look just like him,” Tina said, fishing for a clue.
    “So they say.”
    Tina studied Jordan Pinckney as he walked away. Tall, thin, handsome; his father must have been the character who pulled down his kerchief and said, “Let’s go.” That was when Mrs. Carillon fainted.
    Tina suddenly remembered that Mrs. Carillon was confined to bed. She stopped at a newsstand to buy her a magazine with a picture of Christmas Bells on the cover. Tony hadn’t forgotten, either. He brought home a library book about seals.
    “How thoughtful,” Mrs. Carillon said, wondering why the pictures in the book didn’t look like the seals she knew. “Now that I’ve got plenty to keep me busy, why don’t you two go help Mrs. Baker. She’s so jittery, today.”
    “She’s jittery!” Tony said, but went into the kitchen, anyway. Tina went to her room; she had more thinking to do about Pinky-Pinckney.

    “Tony, I’ve been trying to reach Mr. Banks all day,” Mrs. Baker said, twisting and untwisting the potholder in her hands. “Would you do me a favor and call him for me? I’m so nervous.”
    “ You’re nervous!” Tony said.
    Mr. Banks had just returned from the Women’s House of Detention. Mineola Potts was, indeed, there. He had arranged for Mrs. Baker to visit her tomorrow morning at nine o’clock.
    “What a kind man,” Mrs. Baker said when Tony finished his report of the phone call.
    “Ugh!” said Tony.

    “Is Mr. Kunkel here yet?” Tina appeared in the dining room just as Tony finished setting the table. “I’ve got something terribly important to tell him.”
    “ You’ve got something to tell him!”
    “How do I look?” asked Mrs. Carillon. She was wearing a purple-flowered hostess gown.
    “Like the sofa,” Mrs. Baker said. “It’s a good thing Mr. Banks isn’t here to see you looking like that.”
    “I think you look smashing,” said Tina.
    “B-b-beautiful,” said Augie Kunkel when Mrs. Carillon opened the door. He was so overwhelmed by the warm welcome that he was stuttering again. It hardly mattered, for everyone was talking at the same time.
    “Mr. Kunkel, I have something to tell you. . .”
    “...Mineola Potts. . .”
    “. . .something terribly important. . .”
    “. . . and I fainted dead away.”
    “...the first part of the glub-blubs. . .”
    “. . .Christmas Bells. . .”
    “Did someone say Christmas B-B-Bells?”
    “I did,” Mrs. Carillon replied. “Christmas Bells is the horse that. . .”
    “Yes, I know. Strange, I n-n-never noticed the c-c-coincidence.” Augie Kunkel paused to control his stammer. “You see, the French word for Christmas is ‘Noel,’ and ‘Carillon’ means ‘bells.’ ”
    “You mean Christmas Bells means Noel Carillon?” Mrs. Carillon said. “No wonder I like that horse.”
    Tony knew that it was more than a coincidence. “Mr. Kunkel, I’ve just got to talk to you—alone. Please.”
    “I have to talk to you, too, Mr. Kunkel,” Tina said. “In private. It’s terribly important.”
    Mrs. Baker emerged from the kitchen. “If you two talked to each other for a change, instead of always arguing, you