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Warning: Within this chapter, the Table of Contents puzzle will be revealed. Just letting you know in case you want to try working it out more before it's revealed.
CHAPTER FOUR
Mr. Peabody was in a panic. An absolute panic. He was running around the park like a madman. A few of the people in his way suddenly found themselves sitting on the ground. Sherman was in so much trouble for this.
If he found Sherman, that is.
He suppressed the thought, and continued his mad search. Where was he? The swings, the slides? No, neither. His scent was all over the place, since he had been playing there a short while ago.
Where, oh where had his little boy gone?
Peabody stopped in his tracks and tried to get rid of the childish nursery rhyme that was now stuck in his head.
"Think, Peabody," he told himself, "Where would Sherman go when he discovered he was lost?"
The police? Perhaps. But before he looked there, Mr. Peabody took a deep breath and went to the gazebo where he had last seen Sherman.
And there, sure enough, was Sherman, crying his eyes out alone.
"Sherman!" Mr. Peabody said, running forward. The boy met him halfway.
"Mr. Peabody!" He said, "I'm sorry I walked away, but I saw a butterfly, and all the people came, and I got lost! And-and I couldn't find a policeman, so I came back here, and you were still gone!"
"Oh Sherman, you had me so worried!" Said Peabody, "Don't ever do that again!"
"I won't, Mr. Peabody," Sherman said, still crying.
"Hush now," said Mr. Peabody, picking up Sherman. He was still small enough that Peabody could do it rather easily, "Let's go home."
"B-but what about the park concert?" Sherman asked.
"They'll be another recital tomorrow," said Peabody, "For right now, let's go home and have something to eat."
"A-alright," said Sherman. "You know, Mr. Peabody," he continued as Peabody carried him homeward, "You're taking care of me right now, right?"
"Yes?" Peabody said, wondering where this was going.
"Someday," said Sherman, snuffling away his tears, "I'm going to take care of you."
Mr. Peabody smiled. "Thank you, Sherman." he said.
He decided that Sherman had been punished enough that day, so he resolved to treat the boy to one of his favorite meals that night.
Present Day
The colossal, Grecian-style building in front of them was taller than some of the surrounding buildings. It had multiple stairs of steps leading up to its front door. It was either a Parthenon, a courthouse, or a bank; and since Sherman and Penny knew the Courthouse and knew it wasn't a Parthenon, it had to be the bank.
"Alright, Sherman. You've had your fun being secretive. Now tell me why we're here." Penny demanded.
"Fine," said Sherman, "I'm going to prove to the bank that I can handle Mr. Peabody's money."
"And just how are you going to do that?" Penny asked, "Even better: how can you be sure they'll give it to you, or that this is Mr. Peabody's bank?"
"Of course it's his bank," Sherman said, "Mr. Peabody's taken me here tons of times. And they'll have to let me have his money since his will gives it all to me, right?"
"We'll see," said Penny, and the two of them traversed the multiple flights of steps.
"Oh no!" Sherman said, looking at a sign in the window, "They're closed!"
"Closed?" Penny asked.
But just as they both put their faces to the door to see if it really was closed, the doors opened inward, throwing them inside.
"Ah, Sherman! And I see you've brought a friend!" said the voice of the one who opened the door.
The voice helped them to their feet.
"Allow me to introduce myself," the man said to Penny, and she saw that he was a bank employee, "I am Mr. Williams, and I am in charge of this bank. And who might you be?"
"Penny Peterson," she said, shaking his hand.
"A pleasure," he said, "I was expecting Sherman to come alone; I am delighted he brought a friend."
"Wait, you were expecting me, Mr. Williams?" Sherman asked, "I didn't tell you I was coming."
"Ah, but I got your email," said Mr. Williams.
"He didn't send any email," Penny objected.
"No? Well then, somebody told me you were coming," said Mr. Williams, looking a little flustered. He quickly shook it off. "Ah well, it doesn't matter now. Am I correct in that you want to look at Mr. Peabody's wealth, and possibly arrange for some of it to be put to other uses?"
"Um, yes?" Sherman asked, more than answered.
"Then follow me," said Mr. Williams, leading the way.
"How did someone else know that we were coming?" Penny asked Sherman in a whisper.
"I don't know, I didn't tell anyone!" Sherman whispered back.
"Most of Mr. Peabody's wealth is not contained in this bank," said Mr. Williams, pressing the button for the elevator, "Much of it is in property all over the world. A lot of it is also in stocks and bonds. Are you aware that Mr. Peabody also has his own stocks? They are called the 'Peabody Stocks,' and they are famous worldwide."
"Um, interesting," said Sherman, as they all got into the elevator.
"While the ground floor of this bank is used for normal transactions," said Mr. Williams, "The top floors contains all the 'goodies'."
The elevator door opened, and Mr. Williams directed them to the first door.
"Go ahead and open it," he said, "Look around a little."
Sherman hesitantly opened it, and both children gasped.
The room was filled with gold coins and gold bars, all neatly packed into the space of the room.
"Don't go in just yet," said Mr. Williams, "The security beams are still active. Try the next door."
They both ran to the next door, and Penny was the one who opened it. It was filled to the brim with purple jewels.
"Amethyst," explained Mr. Williams.
They ran to the next door, and this one was full of anything that was silver. They kept opening the doors down that hallway-and each room was filled with priceless minerals and stones.
"It must be really cool for the people who get to store their stuff in this bank," Sherman whispered to Penny.
"Agreed," she whispered back.
As soon as they had seen everything on that floor, Mr. Williams brought them to another elevator at the end of the hallway.
"Let's look at the next floor," he said.
This floor was filled with a variety of priceless artifacts, all assorted into rooms based upon the era they were from. Many of them were portraits, but there were also pieces of furniture. Sherman liked the room about the Knights the best.
"Most of these artifacts are constantly on loan to museums across the world," said Mr. Williams, "This is the first time that they've all been in the museum at once. Hah, we almost couldn't fit them all!"
As Mr. Williams continued his tour of the bank, Sherman and Penny found themselves almost overwhelmed by all the treasures within the bank.
"And finally, we will visit the top floor," said Mr. Williams, "Which, I'm told, contains the most valuable treasures of all."
"Is that where Mr. Peabody's stuff is, Mr. Williams?" Sherman asked.
"What?" Mr. Williams said.
"Which of these things are Mr. Peabody's?" Penny asked.
Mr. Williams looked at them hard, then laughed.
"I see!" He said, "Well then. I'll have to show you."
The elevator had arrived at the top floor, but Mr. Williams didn't get out. He pressed the button again, and the elevator went down. It landed at the hallways with all the precious minerals and stones.
"This way," Mr. Williams said.
He led the way past the topaz, past the bronze, past the diamonds, past the rubies, past the pearls, past the silver, past the amethyst, past the gold and into the other elevator. He then took them out of the elevator, into the hallway, past the more common vaults, past the main room, out the front door and down the steps.
"This," he said, demonstrating with his hands while looking at the bank, "This is Mr. Peabody's."
"Wait, the whole bank?" Penny asked.
"No way," Sherman said, "You mean everything in there is Mr. Peabody's?"
Mr. Williams nodded his head. "Now, are you ready to see his greatest treasures?"
Sherman and Penny nodded, and were once more led into the bank and up to the top floor.
"Now," said Mr. Williams, as the elevator reached the top floor, "I'll be in the lobby when you're ready to talk to me about monetary matters."
The elevator door opened, and the children got out without Mr. Williams.
"Have fun!" He said, and the elevator doors closed, leaving them alone at the top of the bank.
"Here's the door, Sherman," said Penny, "There's only one."
"Then the room inside has to be huge," said Sherman, opening the door.
Sherman gasped.
"This is Mr. Peabody's greatest treasure?" Penny asked.
The room, in contrast to the lower levels, contained all manner of memorabilia, including toys and baby shoes, and especially hand-drawn pictures of Mr. Peabody.
"I gave him this!" Sherman said, running into the room and grabbing a worn-out stuffed animal, "I used to play with it all the time, until I gave it to him for Father's day."
"Wow," said Penny, walking around the room, "Most of these things seem to be yours, Sherman."
They spent a good hour within that room, and while Penny amused herself by playing with a puzzle she found amidst the memorabilia, Sherman was walking down memory lane.
"I can't believe Mr. Peabody has never shown me this room before," Sherman said, "Whenever we went to this bank I always thought he was a customer."
"I guess he didn't want it to all go to your head," said Penny, "Oh! And speaking of which, since all the stuff in here is yours now, can I have this really awesome diamond and gold tiara I found? I really like it."
"Um, no, sorry Penny," said Sherman, "But I have to prove to the court that I can handle all of Mr. Peabody's money, remember?"
"And how are you planning to do that?" Penny asked.
"By giving it all away," Sherman said.
Penny gasped.
"What?" asked Sherman, "It's not like I need it. I'll just keep enough to be able to live on until he gets back. Then he can always get it back again."
"Really, Sherman?" Penny asked, "You're going to give all of this up?"
"Yes," said Sherman, "Everything but this room. Mr. Peabody wouldn't mind. And all this money is only giving me trouble anyway. Without it, Edwin Whiner wouldn't be trying to be my legal guardian."
"Are you sure about this, Sherman?" Penny asked.
"Positive," said Sherman, "I'll give the money away to someone who needs it more than I do. And...I'll let you pick out a jewel or something to keep as a souvenir."
"Why not the tiara?"
"Because I want that to go to the poor too," said Sherman.
"Fine," said Penny, "Then let's go talk to Mr. Williams. He can help you give it away."
Hours later, after much legal jargon, Sherman and Penny left Peabody's bank. Mr. Williams had agreed to handle the money for them, and to give away as much of Peabody's wealth as he could while still leaving Sherman a decent amount to live on. He had asked them both to come back the next day to view his progress. And somewhere along the way Sherman had managed to assign him the project to use some of the money to build modern, up-to-date hospitals in poor countries around the globe.
"That...was exhausting," said Penny, "But thanks for the diamond necklace."
"You're welcome," said Sherman, "After lunch, do you want to go back to my apartment again to look for clues?"
"Definitely!" said Penny, "I also think we should look at the beginning of Peabody's book again."
"Same here," said Sherman. "You know, I've been thinking about whoever told Mr. Williams we were coming."
"What about it?" Penny asked.
"Mr. Williams was waiting for us," said Sherman, "And he wouldn't have been without the email."
"So somewhere we have a friend," said Penny.
"Do you think it was Mr. Peabody?" Sherman asked.
"If it was, how would he know what you wanted to do?" Penny asked.
The two were silent, until finally they had reached a restaurant. After lunch-which Sherman paid for with some of the pocket money Mr. Williams insisted he have on hand-they walked into Peabody's apartment.
The place felt empty and abandoned. Sherman shivered, and turned on the lights.
"I don't like it here without Mr. Peabody," he said.
"Then let's get started," said Penny, "Should we start with the book, and then search the place again?"
"Alright," said Sherman.
They laid the book on the floor and began looking through it.
"Here's the table of contents," Sherman said. They read it over again:
Chapter One...Unpuzzle the Mystery of Time
Chapter Two...Reading is Paramount in Time Travel
Chapter Three...Operation: On Good Piloting Skills
Chapter Four...Viewing the World through the Traveler's Eye
Chapter Five...Xandler's Paradox
Chapter Six...Zoning Issues and Temporal Displacement
Chapter Seven...Yellow Signs: Cautionary Tales of Travel
Chapter Nine...Rules Every Time Traveler Should Know
Chapter Ten...Mechanics: Knowing Your Time Machine
Chapter Eleven...Valor: When to Be a Hero in Time
Chapter Twelve...Good Luck, Future Time Travelers!
"Alright," said Penny, "Let's review what we know. There is no chapter eight."
"Right," said Sherman.
"...And that's about it," said Penny.
"Hmm," said Sherman, "Look at chapter five. Xandler's Paradox? I've never heard of it. Mr. Peabody probably made it up."
"So let's turn to chapter five," said Penny.
"Wait!" said Sherman, "It isn't about chapter five! It's about the X!"
"Huh?" Penny asked.
"Look, Penny!" Said Sherman, "The first word of each chapter stands out!"
"So, is it a clue?" Penny asked.
"Let's find out!" Sherman said. He wrote down each of the first letters of each chapter.
"UROVXZYRMVG," said Penny, "It doesn't exactly read anything. And what does that have to do with chapter eight?"
"I don't know, but this is in code!" said Sherman, "I thought the chapter titles sounded weird!"
"Alright, what code?" Penny asked.
"Let's find out!"
The two of them pulled out paper and pencils, and began trying to work out the letters. Eventually they even turned to the books in Peabody's library-but still, they came up with nothing.
"Are you sure this is even a code?" Penny asked, "It might not mean anything at all."
"I got it!" Sherman said, "Penny, I got it!"
"You got it?" Penny asked, excited.
"Yes!" said Sherman, "Look, I found the key! It's a backwards alphabet!"
He showed her his piece of paper:
ABCDEFGHIJKLMNOPQRSTUVWXYZ
ZYXWVUTSRQPONMLKJIHGFEDCBA
"So what's it say?" Penny asked, "Nevermind, let me do it!"
Although Sherman had already figured it out, Penny was so eager to translate the code herself.
She took the nonsense word UROVXZYRMVG, from the first letter of each chapter, and with the help of the decoder she translated it.
"It says, 'FILECABINET,'" she read.
"That almost doesn't help," said Sherman, "Because in his room, Mr. Peabody has, like, twenty file cabinets."
"Sherman," said Penny, "Chapter eight!"
"You're right!" He said, "It's in the eighth file cabinet!"
The two of them dropped what they were working on, and ran into Mr. Peabody's bedroom.
