Miles Gardner and the Secret of Blissville: A Blissville Mystery Series

By Angela Barnickle

Welcome to the town of Blissville, the Knitted Egg Sweater and Walking Egg Cup capital of the world. A town that managed to bypass modern change and stayed with old values. But Blissville has a problem now a thieving madman called the Geezer is on the prowl and its causing havoc in the town. When Miles and his three best friends decide to help an elderly neighbor down the block with chores, the children stumble upon more than they could imagine downstairs in the basement.

They notice the Fleur-de-lis emblem is constantly with them giving guidance. With the help of a special toy soldier and the movies of old Hollywood the children are able to transport themselves to a town called Swallowtail. This is where they not only find adventure and new friends, but also stumble upon danger when closely encountering the Geezer.

Their time is limited in Swallowtail and they must figure out how the newly found clues can help them. Where Byron Redplume, a close friend of the McGreeveys, is being held against his will, and how to return home to Blissville.

Miles Gardner, Argyle Turner, Dita Cooper and Birdie Flynn have no idea that they are being groomed to carry on a tradition of Master Casters toy soldier makers. The four must work together and fast, but most important is forever watching out for the Geezer who is always right behind them.

• Language: English
• Publisher: AuthorHouse
• Release date: Jun 21, 2011
• ISBN: 9781463416744

Angela Barnickle

Angela Barnickle was born and raised in New York City. She and her husband now live in Las Vegas, Nevada, with their Yorkshire terrier Abigail.

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© 2011 Angela Barnickle. All rights reserved.

No part of this book may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted by any means without the written permission of the author.

First published by AuthorHouse 6/15/2011

ISBN: 978-1-4634-1676-8 (sc)

ISBN: 978-1-4634-1675-1 (hc)

ISBN: 978-1-4634-1674-4 (e)

Library of Congress Control Number: 2011909772

Printed in the United States of America

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For my husband, Gerard, with all my love

fleur-de-lis, noun (\flər-də-lē), Middle English flourdelis, from Anglo-French flur de lis; plural: fleurs-de-lis

1: Lily flower

2: Artistic decoration

3: Design used in heraldry

4: Symbol representing the Boy Scouts of America

5: Insignia of the New Orleans Saints professional football team

6: A unique motif that gives guidance to four brave children journeying through time

Table of Contents

One

Two

Three

Four

Five

Six

Seven

Eight

Nine

Ten

Eleven

Twelve

Thirteen

Fourteen

Fifteen

Sixteen

Seventeen

Eighteen

Nineteen

Twenty

Twenty-One

Twenty-Two

Twenty-Three

Twenty-Four

Twenty-Five

One

Walking in Blissville was interesting in so many ways. Looking down any street one could see rows and rows of chisel-shaped brownstone row houses, each one having a unique character of its own. It was a simple design, but each had its own style, color, brick texture, and all-around beauty. A wrought iron gate guarded each door entrance and had its own design atop each bar. On Heinlein Avenue, you could see tiny black fleurs-de-lis; atop each iron bar, all lined in a row. Miles Gardner walked these sidewalks, back and forth, each day—going to school, playing with his friends Argyle, Dita and Birdie, or just running an errand for his dad Tom or Aunt Girlie. At each corner and along the sidewalk were huge cast-metal lampposts topped with circular globe lights. They looked so tall in Miles’s eyes. At the base of each lamppost was a striking design made up of a geometric square in interlocking patterns on all four sides of its large iron base. The glass globes atop each post were a frosted white, which when looked at from a certain angle gave Miles the impression that the moon was within arm’s reach. They were all painted a uniform avocado green.

Blissville was a small town in a state that was advancing by leaps and bounds and in every direction imaginable. But for some reason, Blissville chose to set aside the new and continued with the old—it was a quaint sector in the borough of Queens, New York, with old styles, old values, and old ways. It worked for the town, and it worked for its residents. Every Blissviller didn’t want a single thing to change. It seems the contemporary age left Blissville behind, even though so much was happening in the modern world.

At the south end of Heinlein Avenue, starting at the corner was a line of small local stores, such as Pescadore’s Vegetable Market, Hauser’s Barbershop (with spinning red, white, and blue barber pole), Koch’s Butcher Shop, and Blissville Bank, which brought the block to an end. Right outside the bank stood an enormous clock. Its round face was massive, bearing a sunburst design in its center. At the end of each pointed sunray was a roman numeral that seemed to shout out the time.

Around that corner from the bank stood the Blissville Police Department and the Blissville Fire Department, and then came Stone’s Throw Park, which was enjoyable year-round. The park was completely outfitted with slides, swings, long benches, and square tables with chairs for anyone wanting to play chess, checkers, or backgammon—a little something for everyone in the town to enjoy. Just a few streets past the park were large factories, where most of the residents worked. Among the many factories were those that manufactured chocolates and chewing gum. At certain times of the week, anyone walking to work or school could detect that the air was with flavors. Raspberry Danish and Vanilla Plum were just a tease of the freshly made bubble gum from the F. E. Gumm Company. But the two biggest, most-famous factories, known throughout the continental United States and Europe, were the Blissville Egg Sweater Factory and the Blissville Egg Cup Factory. Both factories had been in full operation since 1909 and employed the majority of men and women in the town. These two factories shared a common wall and occupied the entire block.

A sign to the left read Blissville Egg Sweaters—Makers of the Original Finely Knitted Egg Sweater. Established 1909. Louella Hutzler, Proprietor.

A sign to the right read Blissville Walking Egg Cups—Manufacturers of the Famous Walking Egg Cup. Established 1909. George Hutzler, Proprietor.

Blissville egg sweaters were shipped all over the globe. There were countless colors, but each had a style all its own. The variety included picot borders, cables and herringbone patterns. Each was produced in round neck, turtleneck, and boat neck. Louella Hutzler made things convenient for her knitters, as the ladies who worked at the factory had their own quaint workstations. But those ladies who found it difficult to work at the factory could take their work home and complete the orders as needed. It always worked out well and suited everyone. Aunt Girlie was one of many who began working at the factory but then found it much more convenient to work at home, especially now that she was caring for Tom and Miles. Most times, she produced more sweaters than if she’d worked at the factory.

If there was such a thing as a well-dressed egg, Louella Hutzler knew exactly how to create it. While Louella was manufacturing egg sweaters, George, her husband, was just as busy with his walking egg cup business. These egg cups were by no means common in any way, shape, or form. Legs—with feet and wearing shoes—emerged from the bottom half of an oval-shaped cup. The variety of shoes on the egg cups was infinite. For ladies, the walking egg cups had shoes with high heels or low heels, penny loafers, and Mary Janes, to name a few. For the men, the egg cups walked wearing wing-tipped shoes, oxfords, saddle shoes, and loafers. There were golf shoes, boat shoes, riding boots, rain boots, and more. Every house in Blissville had sets of walking egg cups that sported a variety of colors and styles of egg sweaters.

There was one vacant store in Blissville that the children would walk by every day. They would stop for a quick peek inside but could see nothing through the white swirls of paste that covered the storefront window. The store had been unoccupied for quite some time, and now the children couldn’t even remember what was there originally.

The Top Hat Diner was a fixture at the corner of Miles’s street. It was a great place to get a bite to eat. Many of the policemen, before or after their shifts, would stop for a grand meal or just a cup of coffee and a Danish. Miles often heard his dad say to a fellow officer, Meet you at the Hat. Opposite the Top Hat was the store the children loved most—the store that began this wonderful corner on Heinlein Avenue was what everyone called Kraussie’s. The full name on its sign was Kraussie’s Sweet Shop—It is Blissfully Good! Kraussie’s was owned and operated by Walter and Mary Krauss, each known to all of Blissville as Kraussie—pure and simple. It made no difference if you were talking to Walter or his wife, each answered to the same name: Kraussie. Kraussie’s had every variety imaginable of chocolates, hard candies, toffees, chewing gums, mints, cakes, and ice cream. Of course, there were other items, such as magazines, comic books, newspapers, and just about anything you could want. Oh, how the children loved the assortment of penny candy. For eight cents, a child could select a variety that made him feel as rich as royalty. The satisfaction of sweets from Kraussie’s was indescribably good. Toward the back of the store one could sit on any of the fifteen spinning stools at the soda fountain counter. Everything from the stools to the counter trim to the mechanical devices behind the counter was made of polished chrome. The black-and-white checkered tile floor was always spit shining clean. The best ice cream in town could be enjoyed at Kraussie’s counter—this, Miles and his friends knew quite well. The four devoured many varieties of Kraussie’s hand-dipped ice cream but had a favorite soda treat called a Birch Beer Float. Tall, cold, sweet, and satisfying, the Birch Beer Float was for the true connoisseurs that they were.

There was always a reasons for Miles and his friends to pay a visit to Kraussie’s—to just indulge in a little bit of heaven in the eyes of nine-year-olds. A heavy presence of soft-style modern was strong in sight and mind; it gave the neighborhood a wonderful, contented feeling for both young and old. Blissville had a character all its own … with a secret that was soon to be discovered by four little friends.

It was the beginning of spring, a lovely time of the year. Yet there was still a cool, crisp feeling in the air from winter’s remnants. The sidewalks seemed cleaner than usual, perhaps due to the recent melting snow. The trees were beginning to fill out their bare branches with unique bouquets of green foliage. Soon they would cover so much that you couldn’t see a speck of sky when standing under any oak.

School was following its regular, routine, and all that was running through the little minds of Miles and his friends—Argyle, Dita, and Birdie—was that there were only two more months of school and then it would be summer vacation. The four best friends were always thinking of the end of the school year, even on the first day of a new school year, but now that spring was here, they practically could smell and taste the closeness of no more classes, no more studying, no more books, no more exams, no more paying attention to Miss Spicebush’s writing assignments on the blackboard—no more school!

The Gardner family was as average as could be. Their address was