“Foster, have we ever been to New York?”

Panda’s question, as usual, woke me out of a sound sleep. “I don’t think so,” I mumbled, barely opening my eyes. “Why?”

“Well,” Panda began. “Mom was listening to this Audible book about how they built the Brooklyn Bridge, and I thought it would be fun to go see it. Plus, I heard her say she asked Ben, one of the boys from the Christian school, where we should go for an adventure, and he suggested New York.”

I opened my eyes a little bit wider. “What does Mom have to do with our adventures?” I asked. “She never seems to know we’ve been gone until we get back.” Panda laughed. “That’s because she’s always working on her blog and she doesn’t notice what we’re doing half the time,” he said. “But I saw she left some pictures from Unsplash.com up on the laptop, and they are of New York City!”.

“Well, that’s a fortunate coincidence,” I commented as we went to the living room to look at the computer. “Hey, these are some pretty cool photos!” As we clicked through the photos, we started to get excited about the prospect of going to New York. It wasn’t long before we had checked Google Maps and were ready to go.

It didn’t take long to get there, compared to when we went to South Africa and Australia. However, as we soared over the New York skyline, we realized we were getting hungry.

We checked our travel tunnel at the airport and started in search of a delicious snack.

There were food stands all around, and we followed the smell of pizza to one of them. After ordering our pizza, we sat down to eat and plan our visit to the Brooklyn Bridge.

“This is sure a big piece of pizza,” Panda commented as we sat down. I agreed. “People who have been to New York City have told Mom that you have to try the pizza if you come here,” I replied. We both agreed that the pizza was delicious. “It could have used a few delicious bamboo shoots,” Panda said, “but other than that, it was great!”

Once we finished our meal we decided to go for a walk and see if we could find the Brooklyn Bridge. As usual, we tried our best to blend in with the crowd.

We found a subway entrance and looked down the stairs. “That’s pretty far down,” Panda said. “But I guess we have to go down there if we want to get our tickets to cross the Brooklyn Bridge.” I looked at the information scrolling across the screen above the entrance. Ten dollars sounded like a lot to just walk across a bridge, but, since we were already here, we decided we’d might as well go for it.

Once we got to the bottom of the stairs, we followed the crowd down a long, orange passageway. Everyone was talking about the entry fee to the bridge. “They didn’t charge us last time we crossed the bridge,” one man grumbled irritably. “I didn’t read anything about this in the tourist information,” said another. Panda and I were starting to get a little suspicious, but by now we were almost to the end of the passage.

We were the last ones in line to purchase our tickets. “That will be $20,” the man said gruffly. We paid him and continued out toward the bridge. “He wasn’t very nice,” Panda whispered when we were out of earshot, and I agreed. “Maybe he doesn’t like his job,” I said.

The Brooklyn Bridge was amazing! We didn’t see any place to turn in our tickets, so we put them in Panda’s overalls pocket and started down the pedestrian walkway. There were a lot of people there, and nobody seemed to notice us. As we walked, we discussed what we had learned about the bridge from the tourist brochures we had picked up in the subway. It was hard to believe the bridge first opened in 1883. “I think 1883 was when Mom’s great grandpa Nels Johnson married Britta Helena Larson in Ludington, Michigan,” Panda remarked.

I was impressed. “Wow! I said, in a tone of admiration. “How do you know this stuff?” Panda laughed, responding, “It’s because when Mom is working on her family history, you’re usually taking a nap. She thinks she’s found a picture of Britta with her two children, Emily and John Alfred, but she’s not positive.” As we continued to discuss the bridge, and whether Nels and Britta would ever have seen it, we heard a familiar voice speaking to another tourist. “There’s no charge to cross the bridge, sir,” the voice was saying. “If you were charged for a ticket, it was a scam.”

Immediately we recognized our penguin friends, whom we had last seen in Australia! After the usual greetings and exclamations of surprise, Panda asked the question that was on both of our minds. “Did you say there’s no charge to cross the bridge?” The penguins nodded gravely. “That’s right,” they responded. “Entrance to the bridge is absolutely free. We’re here undercover, investigating for the NYPD. Someone is running a scam where they are charging people to go across the bridge. Most of the people we’ve talked to say they were directed to the bottom of the subway to get their tickets.”

Panda and I exchanged glances. “That’s what happened to us!” we exclaimed in unison. We recounted our experience to the penguins, and one of them wrote everything down in a small notebook. “We’d better text the hamster,” he said when we had finished, “and tell him to get over here as soon as possible.”

“The hamster is here?” we asked, amazed. The penguins answered in the affirmative. “He was transferred here from Australia not long after the men in orange jackets were arrested for running that diamond stealing ring,” they told us. “He’s worked his way up in the FBI, since he has so much international experience now.”

We had to chuckle when we heard this. When we had first met the hamster in Bariloche, Argentina, he was working as what he thought was a chocolate delivery driver. It turned out the men in orange jackets had tricked him into stealing chocolate for them. After helping to catch the real thieves, he had become an undercover agent for the FBI. Just then one of the penguins got a text. “It’s from the hamster!” he exclaimed. “Somehow on his way over here he’s gotten stuck above the freeway!”

“I know what to do!” Panda exclaimed, and before we could say anything he had climbed over the fence and jumped down onto the narrow ledge overlooking freeway. “Panda, be careful!” I called, as we looked over the fence at him. Perhaps more to myself than to the penguins, I said, “Panda learned a lot of rescue maneuvers when he went to Basic Training. I’m pretty sure he can do this.” But suddenly we all realized something. We were on the wrong side of the freeway!

“I see him!” Panda shouted above the noise of the traffic below. “I’m going across!” The penguins and I watched breathlessly as Panda edged sideways along the metal girder nearest to where the hamster was. “Don’t be scared!” he called to the hamster. “I’ll have you down from here in no time.”

“Climb up on my back,” Panda said when he reached the hamster. “Hold on tight, we have to go back to the other side.” Again, we held our breath as Panda made his way back across the freeway with the hamster. We all cheered with joy when they arrived safely.

“That was a close one,” the hamster said afterward, as we waited for our food at a nearby outdoor cafe. We all agreed. “How did you end up on the bridge in the first place?” I asked.

The hamster told us that in order to save time, instead of driving his patrol car, he had asked his seagull friend to fly him to the bridge.

“But as we were talking on the way, the seagull opened his beak to say something and before I knew it, I was falling head over heels onto the bridge!” he explained. “It’s a miracle you got there when you did, Panda.” Panda agreed. “It’s a miracle you landed on the ledge,” he said, and we all shuddered as we thought of what could have happened. “So,” one of the penguins said. “Any news about the ticket scam investigation?”

The hamster’s expression grew grave. “Just before you texted,” he began, “someone came to the station and turned in a whole pile of tickets they had found at the bottom of the subway. We’re not sure, but we think they might be from the scam.” Panda produced our tickets from his overalls pocket. “Were they like these?” he asked. The hamster took the tickets and examined them carefully. “Yes!” he exclaimed. “They’re a perfect match! May I keep these for evidence?” Panda and I agreed wholeheartedly. We were glad to be able to help with the investigation.

Then the hamster showed us a picture on his phone. “One of our officers found a secret closet downstairs in the subway, and this is what was in it.” We stared, incredulous. “Orange jackets!” we exclaimed in unison. “We should have known!”

Just then, Panda remembered he had seen some graffiti on the bridge that had looked suspicious. “It seemed familiar,” he said, “but I couldn’t place where I had seen the initials before. Now I know!” We decided to take the subway back to the bridge for another look. The hamster texted his superiors to let them know about the new evidence, and he and the penguins returned to the police station. “We’ll meet you there in an hour,” we told them, as we all synchronized our watches.

It wasn’t long before we were on the subway, headed for the Brooklyn Bridge. “How do you think they got here from Australia?” Panda asked when we had taken our seats. “Your guess is as good as mine,” I answered. “Knowing them, they probably tried to take a taxi!” Then, as an afterthought, I asked, “Are you sure you can find where you saw the graffiti on the bridge?” Panda nodded. “Yes,” he replied. “It was right after I picked up the hamster.”

When we got to the bridge we walked out to the place where Panda had seen the graffiti. I watched from the fence as he climbed down to the ledge to get a better look. “Yep, it says MIOJ, all right,” he called up to me. “This is the rest of the evidence we need!” He took a few pictures with his cell phone and started to climb back over the fence.

“Hey, wait!” he shouted, turning suddenly toward the river. “I see them!” Down below in the water we could see a boat speeding away, with the men in orange jackets on board! “Quick, call the hamster!” Panda ordered. “I’ll try to get some pictures.”

We jumped back onto the subway and headed toward the police station. We could hardly wait to show them our new evidence. As we got off the subway, we heard a helicopter above us.

The hamster had contacted the NYPD air support, and we watched from the shore as they directed the men in orange jackets to surrender. We all cheered as they were taken into custody.

After a brief celebration at the police station, it was time for us to head back to Fresno. The penguins took our picture in front of the station so we could show it to Mom when we got home. We were happy to have helped our friends and the NYPD to solve the mystery of the Brooklyn Bridge ticket scam, and to see the men in orange jackets in custody once more.

Author’s note: The background pictures for this story are from Unslpash.com, a royalty free photography site. The men in orange jackets were tried and convicted of ticket fraud, and sent back to Australia, where they were still serving a sentence for diamond stealing. How they escaped from the Australian jail in the first place remains unknown.