Closed for the Season

Arthur is over the next morning for breakfast once again. Logan’s parents are busy arguing about paint colors, so the boys sneak into the attic to look through all of Mrs. Donaldson’s old things with Bear right behind them. They find a multitude of trinkets, from books, pots, and broken lamps to old newspapers. While they are looking through her things, they notice that Bear has begun to “nose through a box of old kitchen stuff, whimpering and whining to himself” (61). Bear wags his tail and barks when Arthur finds what he is looking for. Arthur pulls out a bag filled with plastic toys from the Magic Forest gift shop, along with a letter to Violet. In the letter, Mrs. Donaldson reveals to her daughter that she has a hunch who stole the money. During her lunch break, Mrs. Donaldson searched the suspect’s office and found a briefcase with his initials, and within it, an immense amount of money. In an attempt to prove her own innocence, she stole the briefcase and buried it in the place where they “used to play the finding game with the little plastic gingerbread men” (63). The letter is only half finished and cuts off after Mrs.