The Bad Hair Day

Sam and Henry hide two of Henry’s prized comic books in a secret cave. Henry values them because Matty Stanson of the Odyssey Hawks has handled and read them, although Matty merely found the comics after they had been left behind and gave them to a janitor. When the boys return to the cave the next day, the comics are gone. Henry immediately suspects Rodney Rathbone, but Sam points out that they have no evidence.

At Whit’s End, Rodney angrily announces that someone has stolen his special pocketknife from Wonder World. He is just as ready to blame an unknown thief as Henry is to blame him. Whit warns that an accusation requires evidence and says the police - not a group of children - should investigate a real theft. Rodney ignores him and declares that the Bones of Wrath will find the culprit themselves.

Rodney invites Henry to join the search. Henry is still furious about his missing comics and agrees, but Sam wants no part of the gang’s vigilante justice. Instead, Sam hires private detective Harlow Doyle to investigate the cave. Harlow’s methods are confused, yet he and Sam discover torn pieces of the plastic bag in which the comics had been stored. Farther inside, strange noises and a pair of shining eyes send them scrambling away from what they think is a monster.

Rodney, Rusty, Henry, and the rest of the Bones follow footprints leading away from Wonder World. They find the torn cover of a comic like Henry’s and soon discover Charles Thompson sitting alone and reading copies of the same two issues. The gang surrounds him, blindfolds him, and searches him. Charles does not have Rodney’s knife. He calmly explains that he bought the comics at Finnerman’s and was never at Wonder World, but Rodney treats the matching titles as proof of guilt.

Since the gang cannot find stolen property, Rodney decides that Charles must be marked so everyone will recognize him as a thief. He produces blue dye and orders the others to color Charles’s blond hair. Henry knows that this is wrong and protests, but Rodney threatens to give him the same treatment. Frightened of becoming the gang’s next victim, Henry backs down and allows them to dye Charles’s hair.

Back at Whit’s End, Sam and Harlow report what they have found. Their cave monster turns out to be a raccoon. The animal has a habit of collecting objects, especially shiny ones, and its cache contains both Rodney’s pocketknife and Henry’s missing comics. Sam then remembers eating a cookie while reading Henry’s books. Crumbs had fallen between their pages, giving the raccoon another reason to carry them away. No person stole anything.

The discovery makes Henry ill. He rushes outside and becomes sick, and Whit follows to ask what is wrong. Henry confesses that he helped the Bones punish Charles even though Charles denied the charge and no knife was found. He says he went along partly because he was angry about his comics and partly because he was afraid Rodney would turn on him. Whit understands the pressure Henry faced but makes clear that fear does not remove his responsibility. Henry cannot undo what happened, but he can admit his wrong and ask forgiveness.

Henry visits Charles and brings him new copies of the two comics. He apologizes for accusing him, standing by while the gang mistreated him, and failing to speak up when he knew their actions were wrong. Charles is surprised to see that Henry’s own hair is now bright blue. Henry has dyed it deliberately so that whenever anyone asks about it, he can tell the truth about what he did.

Charles accepts the comics and forgives him. Whit observes that blue hair may not become a fashion, but taking responsibility and offering forgiveness are habits worth spreading. Henry cannot erase Charles’s bad hair day, yet he chooses to share its embarrassment and make his apology visible.