“The Missing Ink Devils”
By Riley Haley
“You don’t understand, I need you to find them! It’s a
matter of my family eating or not,” said a man storming out of the town’s
investigative bureau in overalls and a straw hat. Clearly upset, he went across
the street to where what looked like his wife was standing. She collapsed into
his arms with tears running down her face. Just as Merik was about to walk on
and forget about this whole incident, a man in a suit with a thick british
accent walked out of the bureau.
“I do not know
what else he expects of us. All we can do at this moment is post articles in
the paper,” he said roughly to the young fellow beside him.
“Excuse me,” Merik
said, squeezing between them walking along the road right next to the Newspaper
machines. Walking, he casually slid his hand into the door, grabbed the newest
issue of the paper, and stuffed it in his side bag.
When he arrived home,
Merick took out the paper and sifted through the pages until he got to the
“Missing” section. His eyes scanned through the endless pictures of missing
dogs and pets until he saw something more interesting. In rather small print he
read, “Missing Purple Eared Pigs from Quill Farms,” there it is, he
thought, “Missing since July 18th, if you have any information please call…’’
They’ve been gone
for two weeks. He stood from his chair
and thought to himself before walking over to the bookshelf in the corner and
grabbing a book titled Special Species. He flipped through the pages
until he reached the “P” page where he instantly found “Ink Devils”
known as “Purple Eared Pigs,” in the pig section.
The Ink Devils are
identifiable at birth by their purple ears which are distinctively different
from the others. As they age the pigs will mature fast and grow up to three
times the size of regular sows and boars. Their great size makes them worth
loads more at the market, highest recorded sale $300 for a boar.
The Ink Devil trait can
be genetic but does not have to be. Normal sows have been known to give birth
to Ink Devils, and vice versa.
Merik closed the book
and laid it down on the table. The poor farmer needed these pigs back.
Not knowing where to start, Merik took off to town for more resources.
Arriving at the market
Merik got out of his truck and headed for the building. He did not make it far
before bumping into a gentleman smelling strongly of some type of wheat or
hay.
“My bad,” he spoke in a
country accent lifting his hand up to say sorry. Gloves. Merik noticed
his covered hands, one carrying a small box. He also noticed the small purple
stain on the fellow’s forearm. As he walked away, Merik slowly continued to
walk towards the doors of the market until he heard the loud transmission of
the truck as the guy drove away. When hearing the sound grew further from him,
Merik turned around and rushed back to his truck, and took off after the
screaming sound .
Following the truck for
miles, Merik finally lost him, but luckily he could see the tracks of the truck
in the mud from the rain of the night before. About two miles of following what
he hoped were the right tracks, he pulled up to an old abandoned house with no
sign of the truck.
Merik switched his key
to turn his truck off. He sat in his vehicle for a few minutes listening for
any type of sound indicating someone else being near. After a couple of minutes
of nothing, he slowly got out of the car and quietly headed up the steps of the
trashed house. The squeaky front door opened up to a living room. Merik
adventured to the left which led to a bedroom with a large bookshelf covering
the whole back wall. Dust covered books filled all of the shelves. Merik’s eyes
scanned the old books which all were a dark shade of brown from age, until he
saw a bright white speck in between two livestock books. He walked over to it
and pulled out a piece of paper. Unfolding it, he read the words written on
it,
Edward
lee
651 Raven
Road
Merik took off to his
truck.
When Merik arrived at
the address, he felt defeated by the field of trees in front of him, but hoping
for something more, he got out of the truck and walked through the rows of
pines. He came up to a creek with two branches laid across the water to form a
bridge. Without hesitating, he gained balance and carefully walked across the
logs. When he made it to the other side, he heard voices not very far away.
Taking each step cautiously, Merik made it out of the trees and laid his eyes
on something rather startling, nine purple eared pigs, but normal sized and one
eared. Merik squinted to see a barn at the end of the stretch of land that held
one cow sized pig. The Ink Devil squealed louder than anything Merik had heard
before, as two men sliced one ear off of its head. The pig walked out of
Merik’s sight momentarily, but when it came back around the barn, it looked
just like the rest...normal.
“Take this and put it with the rest,” spoke a man with a
thick british accent, “Make sure all ten are in the box, Mr.Lee paid for all of
them and he will receive all of them, do you understand?” he asked.
“Yes Sir.” replied a young fellow with a country accent,
“When are his sows due?”
“Two days from now, so hurry along and meet him so they
can be fed the ears before the piglets are born normal.”
Merik could not believe what he was hearing. He realized
there was no use in trying to stop them, the damage had been done. He walked
back through the pine trees feeling sorrowful. Merik got in his truck and drove
home.
“The Case of the Well
Fed Parrot”
By Carys Copeman
One early morning,
around 5:00 am, Heston woke up to some noise. It seemed that the rattling noise
was coming from the kitchen, downstairs. He could not fall back asleep so he
decided to go ahead and get up to go eat breakfast. As Heston was trying to
find things to make breakfast for his whole family, he could not seem to find
the pancake mix, toast, and eggs. But he did manage to find some sausage and
bacon.
Time went on and Heston decided not to cook anything,
since he could not find the right foods, and sausage and bacon will simply not
do a whole family justice. It was now 6:34 am and his mom and dad were now up
looking for things to cook while the kids got ready for school. They were
scrambling to try to find some real breakfast food, just as Heston was. Heston
and his older brother, Excalibur, and their sister, Saylor, paused what they
were doing to go check on what was happening downstairs.
The three kids were
walking down the stairs and saw feather tracks on their way to the kitchen. Not
thinking anything of the suspicious feathers, they walked in on their parents
rummaging throughout the kitchen pantry and refrigerator. Looking rather
frustrated Mom sighed and said, “I give up.” Dad looked at her and said, “Let’s
just grab something for the kids for breakfast and Mary Cathrine can get them
something when she picks them up from school.”
School was over by now
and Mary Cathrine, their babysitter, was picking them up. She grabbed the kids
McDonalds for a snack and took Saylor to a friends house while she and the boys
went home. When they got home Exalibur started his homework and Heston was on a
mission to try to figure out what happened to all their food. Mary Cathrine
told the parents she would try to figure it out, but after an hour and a half
of looking she gave up.
Heston shouted, “AH
HAH!!” Mary Cathrine and Excalibur jumped up to see what happened. They walked
outside to where Heston was, where they found him holding up a loaf of bread.
He then explained that he saw Rocky, the dog, running outside with a loaf of
bread. Mary Cathrine called the parents and told them it had been Rocky all
along. But Exalibur noticed that the meat had been left alone and Rocky would
have taken the meat if he was the thief.
The kids' parents got
home from work and Mary Cathrine told them all that happened, explaining how
the thief could not have been Rocky. Everyone was hungry and were mad that they
still had not figured out what happened to their food. But then Heston
proceeded to notice that their parrot, Naisey, had not touched her bowl of
food. He did not say anything because he just figured that Mary Cathrine had
filled it up when they got home today. Mom finally made a decision that tonight
they will just order pizza.
The next morning Heston
noticed that Naisey still had not touched any of her food. He then knew
something was up and told Excalibur. Excalibur noticed that yesterday too, but
did not think anything of it. Together they told the parents that they thought
something was wrong with Naisey since she had not been eating her food. Dad
called Mary Cathrine and asked if she put more food in Naiseys bowl yesterday
and she said she had not since the bowl was full. They then started to worry if
something was wrong with Naisey, so Mom and Dad called Mary Cathrine to come in
early and take the kids to school and Naisey to the vet.
Mary Cathrine got there
just in time as the parents were already loading up to go to work and the kids
finished getting ready. They were told to eat at school today since they still
had no food. Excalibur and Heston were still upset that they had yet to
identify the thief. They talked about it the whole way to school and when the
boys got out, Naisey said bye. Mary Cathrine noticed how Naisey was quiet the
whole way to school and thought that it was very suspicious.
The Veterinarian said
that Naisey looked perfectly fine and healthy. That she had actually been
gaining a lot of weight since the last checkup. Mary Cathrine pondered and
thought what is going on then, why is there no food being eaten out of her bowl
yet she is still gaining all this weight?
That evening, after
everyone had returned home from work and school, they all gathered together in
the family room to discuss their thoughts on the missing food and to hear from
Mary Cathrine about Naisey’s vet visit. As everyone was throwing out
their ideas Mary Cathrine relayed the vet’s comment regarding Naisey’s weight
gain. Suddenly the room fell silent and everyone looked knowingly at the
family parrot.
“The Marabella Gold”
By Mckenzie Hattaway
The storm had just
passed over Miami, and Colby, Jacoby,and Andy immediately set back off onto the
water, in Andy’s boat. It was friday afternoon, so Andy brought his son, Eli.
The sun was bright that afternoon, and the water was a little rocky.
“The signals are picking up.” ,Andy said, “We are above
the Marabella!”
“I’m going down!”Colby said as he finished suiting up.
After about five minutes Colby came back up to the
surface. Jacoby helped him onto the boat, and helped him take off his
gear
“I went through each room, except the captains quarters.
We are so close to the treasure, I can smell it.”Colby said to his crew.
“Guys, me and my boy are
gonna go grab a drink, you two want anything?” , asked Andy.
“I’ll take a coke.” ,
Colby said
The sun went down,
glimmering over the water, and the temperature fell.
“Here Mr. Colby.” , Eli
said, handing him his drink, “Oh and by the way, I like your new watch. It
looks expensive.” Eli said.
“Thank you. I just
bought it.” Colby replied
“Man! Where did you get
that kind of money? How much was that?” asked Jacoby.
“Oh, um, I inherited
money from my parents after they passed away.” replied Colby. They arrived on
shore late that night, and everyone parted ways and went home.
Sunday morning rolled around and everyone met back at the
boat. To everyone's surprise Colby had a new phone, and new shoes. Although
everyone was suspicious, nobody said anything. Andy drove the boat out into the
water.
“Hey man let me go look for the gold this time.” said
Jacoby.
“ NO!” shouted Colby, “I’m sorry man. I didn’t mean come
off like that, but I’ll go down there. Give me the gear.”
Jacoby replied, already putting on the gear, “I never get
to go down there. It’s always you. I’m doing it this time.” Unable to stop him,
Colby backed up.
“Alright I’m going down.” Jacoby yelled.
Jacoby went down and decided to check the whole ship.
About five minutes go by and Jacoby reaches the surface.
“Andy!” Jacoby yelled. “There's no gold, it’s gone!
Someone already got it!”
“What! Who could’ve done that?” Andy replied, while
helping Andy up to the boat.
“Colby?” they both said, turning around, and realising
Colby’s gone. Andy looked down to notice his son tapping him.
“Dad, I think Colby was the one who beat us to it.” Eli
said to his dad. Andy and Jacoby, in that moment, realized Colby had already
taken the gold, and was long gone.
“The Stolen Phone”
By Zane Garrett
It was a normal day for Nick Panten. He was getting
things out of his locker, when he heard someone say something behind him.
“Someone stole my
phone,” said the voice. Nick turned around to see Jerry Starman, a student who
was a year younger than him, standing next to his open locker. Jerry closed his
locker and walked over to Nick.
“You have to help me,” said Jerry. “We’re friends,
right?” Nick looked at Jerry, and then at his locker.
“Fine,” he said, sighing. “What happened?
“Well,” Jerry started, “I had put my phone in my locker,
so that it would be safe. But when I went to get it, my locker was empty.”
Jerry looked around toward his locker, and toward the other lockers. There were
other people looking through their lockers, seemingly looking for their own
phones.
“Is there anyone you know who might have been able to get
into your locker?” Nick asked.
“I think I know someone who may have seen me put in my
combination,” Jerry replied. As he said that, a student walking past bumped
into him, and dropped a piece of paper. The student kept walking, not noticing
the dropped paper. Nick leaned down and picked it up.
There were numbers written on each line of the paper.
There were sets of six numbers on each line. As he was looking at the page, the
bell suddenly went off. Nick took out his phone, entered the password, and took
a picture of the page. He put his phone back in his pocket and kept the paper
in his hand.
“We can talk more in the morning,” Nick said as he walked
away from Jerry.
The next day, Nick saw Jerry in the hallway. He was
walking over to him, when he noticed a student walking by with two phone
chargers in his pocket. It was hard to see from behind, but it appeared to be
the same student that had bumped into Jerry the day before.
“Hey,” Jerry said. “Did you find anything?”
“No,” replied Nick. “What about you?” Nick was still
thinking about it himself.
“Well, last night I called my friend to ask him, and he
said that more people have had their phones stolen, too,” Jerry answered. “That
reminds me, can I borrow your phone for something?” Jerry asked.
“Sure, but it’s almost dead,” Nick replied. “Do you have
a charger?” Jerry reached into his pocket.
“Yeah, my charger was in my pocket, not my locker, so it
didn’t get stolen,” Jerry said, taking out his charger. “Here,” He offered,
holding out his hand. Nick took the warm charger from him and put it in his
pocket.
“I’ll give it back when I’m finished charging my phone,”
Nick responded. “You can borrow my phone then, too.” Nick started walking
toward his next class.
That afternoon, Nick met with Jerry at a restaurant that
was near the school. Nick took the charger and phone out of his pocket and put
it on the table. Jerry picked up the charger and put it in his pocket. He then
picked up the phone and turned it on.
“What did you need to use it for?” asked Nick.
“I just have to make a call,” Jerry answered. He typed
something into the phone, and it started ringing. Nick looked around the
restaurant. He saw someone walk in. It was the same person who had dropped the
paper. He was carrying two chargers in his pocket, just like he was in school.
He took a seat near the window.
“Hey,” said Jerry. He was holding out Nick’s phone. Nick
took it from him and put it back in his pocket. “What’s going on?” asked Jerry.
“Follow me,” Nick replied. He stood up and started
walking over to where the student with the two phone chargers was sitting. The
student turned his head toward Nick and Jerry. Nick stopped when he reached the
table.
“Why did we stop here?” Jerry asked. He looked toward the
student at the table.
“You there,” Nick said, “What’s your name?” The student,
looking confused, opened his mouth to say something.
“My name is Joe,” he said. “Do you need something?”
Nick reached into his pocket and
took out his phone. He pressed the power button, looked at his lock screen, and
put his phone back into his pocket. “I think,” Nick began, “that I’ve solved
this mystery.”
“You have?” Jerry asked, looking surprised. “Who stole my
phone?”
“I’ll tell you exactly
who stole your phone,” Nick stated. “The person who stole your phone, Jerry, as
well as all the other phones, is you.”
“What?” Jerry asked.
“How could it have been me?”
Nick began, “My
suspicions started when you said that you called your friend yesterday. You
would not have been able to call your friend if your phone had been stolen.”
“I used my mom’s phone,”
Jerry responded quickly. “That’s how I called my friend.”
“Anyway,” Nick continued, “when you asked to borrow my
phone, you had a charger in your pocket. When you handed it to me, it was still
warm, like it had just been used to charge something.” Jerry was standing
there, not saying anything. “Finally,” Nick stated, “only a few minutes ago,
when you asked to borrow my phone, my suspicions were confirmed. My phone has a
password, yet you never asked me to put it in for you. I don’t know the details
of how you did it, but you got into my phone and made a call without knowing my
password.”
“How could you figure all this out?” Jerry asked. Beads
of sweat were forming on his forehead.
“It was easy, if you just add up all the details,” Nick
stated. “Now, you are going to give up all the stolen phones, and pay for what
you’ve done. That’s what you get for lying.”
“Candy Bar Thief”
By Shannon Berryhill
Christy was disappointed
with herself for forgetting the one thing that would get her through the long
day. She remembered to fix her coffee, precisely ½ teaspoon of sugar and 1
tablespoon of cream, for she always made it every morning and would only drink
it one way. The coffee would get her through the morning, but the candy bar,
she had left on the counter, was to get her through the afternoon. Chocolate
being her ultimate addiction, the thought of not having it for her afternoon snack
was unacceptable. Luckily she had a quick lunch break, and could rush
home and grab it before she went back to work.
The morning dragged on
slowly for Christy. Her morning coffee was only a mild pick me up, which
did nothing to relieve her craving for chocolate. Thinking of the
delicious candy bar at home was torture and she mentally kicked herself for her
forgetfulness. When her lunch break finally arrived, she hurriedly
gathered her things and scurried to her car. She was glad she only lived
five minutes from her work.
When she got to her
house, much to her surprise, her neighbor, Mrs. Maggie was coming out the front
door followed by her son, Danny and the family dog, Scruff. Christy was
greeted first by Scruff, who was jumping up and down begging for attention. She
bent down and picked up Scruff confused as to why Mrs. Maggie was
there.
“Hello, Christy, I
didn’t mean to intrude, I just needed some eggs for a chocolate cake I’m about
to bake,” explained Mrs. Maggie.
“No, you didn’t intrude.
You can always come over for anything you need. That’s what neighbors are for,”
replied Christy while scratching Scruff behind his ear, “Bedsides you always
bake the best chocolate cakes.”
“Thanks for the eggs,
but I’ll be off now. I still need to bake this cake, but I will bring y’all a
piece or two when it’s done,” promised Mrs. Maggie. As she walked away,
Christy noticed that her son had thoughtfully placed the eggs in a bag to make
it easier for her to carry.
“Thank you, I’m sure it
will taste great,”said Christy imaging how rich and moist it would really
taste. She and Danny walked inside with Scruff following closely behind.
As Christy made her way into the kitchen, she gasped as soon as she saw the
candy bar was not on the counter where she left it this morning.
“Who took my candy bar?”
Christy inquired looking pointedly at Danny.
“ Why are you looking at
me? I swear I didn’t take it! Maybe Mrs. Maggie took it for her cake,”
Danny hypothesized teasingly.
Christy sighed knowing
she didn’t have time to look for it and eat lunch too. She prepared a quick
lunch for herself and puzzled over the missing candy bar. The only two people
who were in the kitchen were Danny and Mrs. Maggie. Danny swore that he
didn’t eat it, but he had been known to play pranks on her before. Mrs.
Maggie was a good neighbor and she enjoyed her company, but often she borrowed
things without asking.
After she finished lunch
and went back to work, she was still plagued by thoughts of who had taken her
candy bar. By the end of the day she had given up. Whoever took her candy bar
had probably already eaten it, so what was the point of trying to find out who
did it? Still her curiosity continued to distract her even after she got
home.
She decided to take
Scruff for a quick walk around the block. When she made it back to her
driveway, Mrs. Maggie rushed over holding a container.
“Here’s the slices of
cake. I promised I’d bring you some, but I can't stay. Got stuff to do, bye,”
she gushed and then rushed off before Christy could thank her. She led Scruff
back inside and opened the container. There inside were two scrumptious
looking pieces of cake with chocolate shavings on top for garnish. Could this
be what happened to her candy bar?
“I wonder if the
chocolate shavings on this cake are your candy bar?” Danny questioned, with an
amused glint in his eye.
“Maybe so,” replied
Christy with defeat in her voice. As she put the dirty dishes in the
dishwasher, she noticed something shiny that caught her eye under the edge of
the refrigerator. Before she could bend over and pick it up, the phone rang. It
was Mrs. Maggie calling to see how they liked her cake.
“It was delicious,”
stated Christy. “By the way, what type of chocolate did you use for the
shavings on top?” Christy was hoping to finally solve the mystery of what
happened to her candy bar.
“Oh just some candy bars
that I had lying around,” replied Mrs. Maggie. “I usually don’t go to
that much trouble, but I thought it gave the cake a nice touch.”
“Well I need to bathe
the dog since he rolled in dirt. Thank you for the cake,” said Christy
realizing that she would receive no further information. While she was bathing
the dog, she noticed something brown on his paw. After closer inspection, she
determined that it was chocolate, and it was also in the fur around his
mouth. Christy remembered the shiny thing under the edge of the
refrigerator, which she now realized was the torn wrapper of her candy bar.
“You sneaky, little,
thief!” Christy exclaimed with surprise and laughter in her voice, for who
would have thought the dog was the candy bar thief.
“The Missing Dog”
By James Cairney
Brock opened the front door with a sigh. It had been a
long eight hours at school, and he was glad to be home. Susie didn’t perform
her usual tail-wagging greeting, but Brock figured she was just sleeping.
Feeling hungry, he wandered into the kitchen to grab a snack, and noticed that
Susie had emptied her bowl again. “That’s strange,” Brock thought to himself.
“We should probably take her to the vet soon.” As he was filling it, he waited
for the clicking of claws against the tile floor of the kitchen as Susie
investigated the sound of food being poured, but he heard none. Starting to
feel a little panicked, Brock began searching the house for Susie, but she was
nowhere to be found.
“Mom? Have you seen Susie today?” Brock yelled while
frantically looking around the backyard.
“No, I think she must have escaped on another one of her
little adventures. Don’t worry, she’ll probably be back anytime,” Mom replied,
not even looking up from her work. Shaking his head, Brock continued to search.
Susie had never been out for more than two hours at a time, and she had been
gone for at least six at this point. Then, Brock remembered the one neighbors
at his parent’s party had been making an almost creepy number of comments on
how pretty Susie was. He was a dog breeder, and Susie was a purebred golden
retriever. Brock put two and two together and realized what had happened.
Immediately, he hopped on his bike and pedaled down the road to the neighbor’s
house, where he quietly made his way to the backyard where the kennel was. The
lights were off in the house, so Brock was fairly confident he would be safe to
search. Hopping over the fence, he searched the entire kennel but found no sign
of Susie. While he was there looking over all the dogs, it hit him that he had
been wrong about Susie’s disappearance.
Brock went home the long way, and along the way he
stopped at the pet supply store. Then, he pedaled back home and, just as he
suspected, he found not only Susie but a whole litter of puppies. Mom asked,
“Where have you been? You missed the birth!”
Brock replied, “I know, I was buying some new bedding for
the litter of puppies.” He held up the bag from the pet supply store
triumphantly.
“How did you know there were going to be puppies?” asked
Mom, looking surprised.
“I saw that Susie had been eating more, which at first I
thought was a problem, but then earlier you reminded me of Susie’s other
mysterious disappearances, and I had a realization that she was probably
pregnant,” Brock said, intentionally leaving out breaking into the kennel and
seeing the pregnant dogs there, which had triggered his memory in the first
place.
“Well, detective,” Mom said, starting to clean up the
puppies, “we have a lot of work to do.”
“The Necklace”
By Lauren Coley
Crash. A loud thud followed by the sound of metal
chains hitting one another came from down the hallway.
“Cat!” her mother
yelled, “Bad boy!”
Bobbett peaked her head
out of her room and saw her brother Robert, whom they called Rob, doing the
same. They shared a look of confusion, and Bobbett, whom they called Bob, waved
her brother to her as she walked quickly towards her parents room. Having been
in the kitchen, her step-father, whom they called Dob, followed behind them, a
look of concern on his face.
The three of them entered the room to find Bob’s mother,
whom they called Mother (because what else would she be called?) sat on her
knees, trying to set the jewelry box back in its nook. Meanwhile the culprit
cowered in the corner with his tail in between his legs and his puppy dog eyes
more pleading than usual. Dob helped her set the wooden box upright and the
children began to collect the scattered jewelry before returning to their rooms
once again.
“Where is it? I can’t
find it; it was just here. I’m sure of it,” Mother muttered as she paced past
the girl’s room.
“Where is what?” Bob asked, stepping into the hallway and
following her mother into her parent’s room.
“My necklace. My favorite necklace. I was going to take
it into town today to repair the broken clasp before Dob and I left for our
anniversary dinner, but I cannot find it.”
Mother called everyone into the room to search for her
necklace. Bob, Dob, and Mother carefully took each necklace and ring and
bracelet and pin and earring out of the jewelry box until it was empty, but
they did not find the necklace. Rob had been sat in the corner all the while;
he had been throwing fits ever since Mother had taken his ipad the day before.
Meanwhile Mother grew more and more frantic, as her favorite necklace was
nowhere to be found.
“Did you have it before Cat knocked the jewelry box over,
Mother?” Bob asked.
“I’m quite sure I did. I placed it on top of the box last
night as a reminder to get the clasp fixed, but I have not gone to wear it
since,” Mother replied.
“Don’t worry, Mother, for I will find it,” Bob assured
her. She hated seeing her mother in such distress, and she knew how much the
necklace meant to Mother. Bob noticed that Rob had left the room, so she left
her parents and went to search for her little brother. As she walked down the
hallway, she passed Cat, who had laid in that exact spot for the past few
hours, unmoving. The dog let out a whimper when Bob rubbed her stomach- almost
as if it were tender. The girl frowned and walked into the kitchen where her
brother lay on the floor.
“What in the world are you doing, Rob?” Bob asked.
“I’m protesting, Bobbett. I want my ipad back,” he
replied in what the family referred to as his ‘tantrum voice.’
Crossing the kitchen to sit by her brother, she asked,
“Rob, did you steal Mother’s necklace?”
His eyes lit up and then dimmed with disappointment as he
said, “No, but I should have. Then I could have bargained for my game. I was
going to get Dob to convince Mother to give it back, but he went to town this
morning before any of us were awake and then the jewelry box was knocked over
at lunch, so I never got a chance to. Help me up; I’m going to talk to Dob
now.”
Bob got onto her feet and laughed as she pulled Rob up
from the linoleum. The porch door slammed as he raced outside to talk to Dob.
She knew when her brother was lying, so pushing her suspicions to the back of
her mind, she crossed into her living room and paced as she thought. The sharp
ringing of the home phone broke her train of thought, so she crossed the room
and answered the phone.
“Pawn and jewelry shop,” the man on the phone said. “I am
calling to say that your order is ready.”
“Bob, I’ll take this one,” Dob said as he took the phone
from her hands.
“Did you get Mother jewelry for your anniversary?” she
said excitedly.
Covering the speaker with his hand Dob replied, “I did,
but you can't tell your mother. I am about to run into town to pick it up for
her.”
Bob hoped that what Dob had ordered her would exceed the
distress Mother felt over the necklace. She walked towards her room and peaked
into Rob’s room where she saw the spoiled boy back on his ipad. She ran into
her parent’s room to see if the necklace had miraculously appeared, but it had
not.
Bob stayed in her room
until Mother asked her to take the dog out. Watching Cat walk was painful. The
creature whimpered and took slow, patience steps and barely moved once he had
made his way outside. Bob waved to Dob as he walked in the house, back from
town. As she lifted the dog into her arms, carrying him inside, a sudden
thought came to Bob, and she raced to her parents room.
“Mother, I believe Cat swallowed your necklace!” she said
as she ran in the bedroom, but no one was there. She turned to search for her
mother elsewhere, but a glint of metal caught her eye from the corner of the
room. The necklace was lying on the jewelry box once again! She held the
necklace in the air and observed that the clasp was fixed. Dob walked in and a
look of panic crossed his face when he saw Bob with the stolen object.
“Why, Dob, you were the thief! But with rather pure
motives I would say,” Bob said, quite pleased with herself for finding out
before her other family members and relieved that the necklace had not been
digested by their dog.
“What a clever girl! You mustn't tell Mother, though,” he
replied.
“Tell Mother what?” Mother asked as she entered the room.
“Nothing! Have fun tonight you two,” Bob replied with a
smile, imagining the look of bliss Mother would wear when she came home from
dinner that night with her favorite necklace draped around her neck once again.
¨Persistence at City
Hall¨
By Johna Bowen
Martha Howler is a quiet
yet prestigious woman who works at the Louisville City Hall. Martha never
really paid attention to what went on around her unless she had to. However,
one day, something strange happened while she was at work. It started when the
fire alarm went off about an hour after everyone had returned from lunch. Once
the alarm went off, everyone made their way outside and Martha noticed she
could not see or smell any smoke. The fire department arrived almost
immediately and, after observing the scene, an official came outside and said
there was not a fire. Martha thought it could have been a surprise drill, even
though everyone knew protocol.
Once everyone was back
inside and back to their jobs, a woman ran down the hall yelling something
inaudible about photos. People started to gather and that is when Martha heard
the woman clearly, “The photos! The Old City Hall photographs! They’re missing!”
Martha wasn’t sure how that was possible. It would take a lot of secrecy to get
them out without anyone noticing. “How convenient, a fire drill and the photos
are missing...” Martha thought.
Once everyone got to
where the photographs had been hanging at the end of the west wing, Martha
noticed they were indeed missing. Her first thought was, “Why would someone
want the photographs?” The photographs were taken right before the Old City
Hall was torn down and the new one built.
The woman who had been
yelling, who’s name is Beverly Walker, said, “How in the world did someone take
the photographs. I was just down here giving directions to the janitors on what
to clean before the alarm went off.”
“When was that exactly?”
asked an older man towards the front of the crowd.
“Right before the fire
alarm went off.”
“So that gives us a 45
minute time frame of when they were stolen.” said the older man.
So that means that they
could’ve left by now with the paintings and no one would know. Maybe the fire
alarm was part of it. Yeah, someone used the emergency exit I noticed on the
opposite side of the hallway. No, that’s wild Martha. Martha thought to herself.
“Wait a minute!” Beverly
exclaimed. “There’s something on the floor! It’s a piece of paper that says
‘persistence’ And there’s a bootprint over there. Do you think it belongs to
our criminal?”
“Maybe whoever did it
wanted us to know they’re persistent. Maybe they work in construction and they
accidentally left a print.” The older guy said.
“That’s far fetched but
okay,” Beverly said
“Who were the janitors
you were speaking to, Beverly?” Martha asked.
Everyone turned and
looked at her, surprised she could speak.
“Um Jonas Whitaker and
Mason Dooly” Grace responded, still a little surprised Martha was
talking.
“So they were here
before the alarm went off and gone after I presume?” Martha spoke again.
“Yes, I do not recall
seeing them afterwards.”
“Okay well maybe they
did it. I mean they were here, then you left moments before the alarm went off.
They could have used the emergency exit over there and walked right out.
Everyone ran out front while they left with the photographs.”
“That makes no sense.
Explain the paper or even why they did it.” Someone said from the back of the
crowd.
“It makes perfect
sense,” said someone from the back.
Everyone turned and saw
a gruff looking man standing in the middle of the hallway.
“I’m Jonas Whitaker, the
man who stole the photographs. I have them right here but I’ll give them back
once I feel like I’ve been heard.
“I work here at the City
Hall as a janitor. I always watch as employees go about their day, always
getting whisked away by their jobs. Everyday, I walk the halls taking in the
beauty of the new City Hall. I still prefer the Old City Hall, it smelt like old
papers and hard work. Of course, the new one is just fine with its marble
floors and stone columns. I’m still reminded of what the Old City Hall looked
like everytime I walk down this very hall and see the photographs hanging front
and center.
“Everyone here is always
getting distracted so I stole the photographs to get your attention and give
you a lesson about being persistent. I know I’m a bit extra but how else
would I get your attention? Here’s the photographs by the way.”
Jonas turned and left,
leaving everyone shocked and unable to move from their stance. Martha thought
he was the smartest man in the whole town after that day.
“The Sniper Bullet”
By John Conley
Out in the grasslands of the hills, officer Roger
Ritchered drove in his police car, patrolling the roads to make sure there is
no danger in this peaceful area. As officer Ritchered drove around a curve, he
noticed a huge column of smoke coming from down the hill, and as he pulled to
the side of the road, he saw that the smoke was coming from a car, a burning
car. Roger quickly pulled out his radio communicator and said, “Bring a
dispatch to route 23, I’ve founded a burning car at the bottom of a hill 30 miles
from the interstate.”
It responded, “Aye, sending dispatch to route 23, it
better not be like last time rookie.”
One hour later, a group of men in police uniforms are
surrounding the area of the wreck, with a CSI operative working on the reason
why the car is burning. The head of the dispatch came to Roger and complimented
him for actually getting something right this time. When the CSI came back onto
the pavement, the head officer came to him and asked, “Do you have any possible
explanations how this could have happened?”
“Yes,” answered the CSI operative, “There was a sniper bullet on
the front left tire of the car, and judging on the angle of the bullet and the
tire streaks about two meters back, I predicted that this bullet was shot from
that rocky hillside about a hundred and sixty-two feet from here.”
“Just like the last two
accidents,” said the head officer, “Both of those vehicles contained a sniper
bullet form the tires of the vehichle, and this is no accident, it’s a murder.
“Well I’m no detective,
but I gotta take this burned finger back to the station to get a confirmation
about who was in this vehicle.” As the CSI operative went back to his car, he
noticed Roger staring at a woman who he knew was a reporter who is always
poking her nose around where she doesn't belong; her name is Rachel Wright.
“Hey Roger.”
“Yes?” asked Roger
Ritchared.
“I’ve noticed that
you’re staring at the reporter, Rachel Wright.”
“Yes,” said Roger, “What
do you know about her?”
“All I know is that
she’s been poking her nose around for the last several months, ever since that
first crash, she’s been showing up. I don’t trust her, not one bit.”
“What makes you say
that?” Roger asked.
“I don’t know, just
something ain’t right about her.”
“All right, I’ll keep
that noted,” said Roger, and with that, the CSI operative drove away from the
site. As Roger watched the reporter arguing with the head of the dispatch, he
noticed that dirt had covered her jeans on her knees, as if she was in a
crawling position. He went to the reporter and the officer and asked, “Is there
a problem?”
“Yes,” answered the
officer, “This woman has no ride to get back where she belongs, behind a desk
doing goodness knows.”
“I rode in a cab,”
claimed the reporter.
“Oh cut the crap!”
yelled the head officer, “You’ve been poking your nose around for a good while,
and you’ve got something to do with it, I just know it!”
“Well, since you’ve
don’t have any proof sir,” said Roger, “maybe I should take the reporter home.”
“Oh that would be nice,
thank you, and I also need to get my camera case.” When Rachel got back with
her case, Roger noticed that her case was labeled, “John R. Wright”, and Roger
noticed something familiar with that name. As Roger was driving the patrol car,
Rachel told him how all these evidences that she got from taking pictures for
the newspaper, and how she concluded that Detective Roy Williams was the one
responsible for the accident. When Roger heard that name, he remembered that
Detective Williams was a former sniper for the U.S. army, and how it all links
up on how he was able to make that hard shot. “Are you alright officer?” asked
the reporter.
“Yes,” said Roger,
“Something you’ve said just reminded me of something. After Roger dropped off
Rachel at the city news building, and went to the police station to give
someone a visit. By the time Roger got there, he saw the CSI operative from
this morning in his lab, working on the report.
“How may I help you?”
asked the operative.
“Did you find out who
was in that car?” asked Roger.
“As a matter of fact, I
did,” said the operative, “But I don’t think you’ve gotten the clearance to
know this information.”
“I think I do, I found
the crash, and if it weren’t for me, you'd have been stuck in this building
playing Mincraft on the computer right now.”
“You wouldn’t dare tell
the captain,” said the operative as he shut down the computer.
“I think I can.”
“Alright, alright!”
yelled the operative, “The man in the car was Detective Williams, happy now!?”
“Yes,” said Roger in a
concerned voice, but the operative didn’t notice about it. Later that night,
Roger sat on his recliner in his apartment thinking, “If the detective didn’t
shoot the sniper, then who did?” As he read the daily newspaper, he noticed
that the article about the crash by Rachel Wright was awfully strange. It read:
The car murder today was just like the previos two car
murders , the car was shot from a position that
only an
expert
can fire. The car was shot on the left front tire of
the
car. After the car got shot, it started to screech on
the
road, and drove over a cliff, and exploded on impact.
It
reminded me of the time when my brother was killed
in
a bombing attack several years back. The officer on
the
scene was officer Roy Ritchared.
After
Roy had read the article, he just stared at the wall constantly repeating the
same thought over and over again, “How could this nice young woman be a
killer?”
“The Vanishing Coins”
By Kyla Davis
School had just ended.
Liam and Macie were going over to Liam’s house to work on homework, as they did
most days after school. It was a fairly short walk so they made it there in no
of time, surprisingly even before Liam's little brother, Hayden who rode the
bus home, did. Snagging some snacks from the kitchen, the two best friends made
their way up stairs to Liam’s bedroom, ready to get the very tiresome school
work out of the way so they could move on to much more interesting
activities.
“Hey, how close are you
to getting that skate board" asked Macie as she made herself comfortable
on the queen size bed,
" Really close
actually, " stated Liam proudly as he opened the closet door and took down
the large jar that safeguarded his hard earned cash," one more weeks worth
of extra chores and I should have exactly enough." Unscrewing the lid, he
dumping the contents of the jar onto the bed and set to counting. “ 19, 20,
2-,” he stopped, thinking this could not possibly be right as he had just
counted the contents of the jar the day before. He counted again, all the way
up to 200 dollars and 21 cents. “ This can’t be right,” said Liam, worry lacing
his voice.
Macie looked up from her
math, “What can’t be right?”
“ I’m missing money,” he
said now pacing the room, “ yesterday I counted 200 dollars and 50 cents and
now I only have 21 cents.”
“ Hey it'll be ok, its
only a few cents and you probably just miss placed them when you were counting
yesterday. Lets just look around the room before we start having a panic attack,”
Macie said calmly. Agreeing, Liam stared to search the area in and around the
closet while Macie worked on under the bed and around his night stand. 30
minutes past and neither one had had any luck of finding the missing coins.
Finally deciding the coins were no where to be found in his room, the pair
eventually decided to focus on finishing their homework and look again
tomorrow.
The next day came and
Macie and Liam once again headed up the stars to Liam’s bedroom, but once he
got to the door he realized it wasn't fully closed. Knowing he had always made
it clear to his family members that no one was allowed in his room, he
cautiously opened the door, not knowing what exactly to expect, and came face
to face with his step mother Karen and her outstretched hand still reaching for
the door.
“ What are you doing in
my room,” demanded Liam in a low angered voice
“ Oh I was just… um…
taking your trash out,” she stated hurriedly, snatching his trash can into her
arms, even though they all could clearly see it was filled with nothing but a
few gum wrappers.
Liam glared at the
woman. “ Put my trash can down and get OUT of my room,” he yelled causing her
to flinch just slightly.
“ Fine,” she said with a
huff, pushing past both teenagers, “ it’s not like I wanted to stay in that
disgusting room a minute longer.” Rolling his eyes, Liam let out a frustrated
sigh and went into the room with Macie not far behind.
" Ugh, why can't
they just get that I don't want anyone in my room," questioned Liam as he
went to sit at his desk, only to realize it was all the was across the room
inside the closet. He looked at Macie, " Did you move my chair?"
"Nope, I haven't
touched it," she said shaking her head. They looked at each other then
back at the chair. Walking over to it, Liam saw that it sat directly under the
shelf where he kept his money jar. He took it down and peered inside, only to
find that there where significantly less coins then yesterday. Instantly
thinking back to the incident that happened not minutes before he stormed out
of his room and down the stairs in search of his step mother. Looking in every
room, corner, and closet he eventually turned up empty handed. Now even more
angered, he once again climbed the steps back toward his room. Avoiding a
random piece of clothing on the floor Liam stopped as he was about to enter his
room. Thinking for a second, he turned and took the few strides to Hayden's
room. Knock loudly he waited a moment until he hear small feet making their way
to the door.
" What," the 6
year old aske, poking his head out into the hallway.
" Do you know where
Karen is, " Liam asked, getting strait to the point.
Hayden shook his
head, " No, but she is taking me to the arcade later."
"Wait, she takes
you every day, right," Liam questioned.
" Yea.. why"
the little boy stated defensively, opening the door wider to now reveal the
majority of the room’s interior.
Liam smiled and said
" Oh no reason," then turned and went back to a very confused Macie
still sitting on his bed.
" So…?" she
asked
"Hayden did
it" he said plopping down beside her.
"Wha- how do u
know," she questioned, now even more confused.
"Easy," said
Liam " the chair was moved and my step mom is about the same height as me
so she wouldn't have been the one to use it. Plus when I went to talk to him
just now, I saw a stack of coins on his dresser."
" Oh, well that
makes sense, but why did he take them if he just stacked them on his
dresser?"
" I don't
know," Liam stated truthfully, "but I'm about to go find out."
Making his way back to his little brothers room, Liam didn't even bother
knocking this time and just went in without and sort of warning. He stopped,
the words just on the tip of his tounge, and looked in astonishment at Hayden.
There was his 6 year old brother, on the floor, painting the bottom of a brand
new skate board that looked exactly like the one Liam had been set on getting
for the past month and a half. Not even knowing what to say, Liam just stared
in at his brother speechless.
Looking up at his
brother then down at the ground ashamed, Hayden quietly said, " I know it
wasn't right to take ur money but I didn't know how else to make sure you
didn't get enough to buy the skateboard before I did."
" Yo- you bought
that for me" Liam stuttered
"Yup," said
Hayden " all those time I went to the arcade I never actually spent the
money Karen gave me. Instead I saved it up to buy you this." He held out
the freshly painted skateboard that was how covered in multi colored and slightly
misshapen fish. Not even bothering to give it a good look, Liam took the board,
set it gently on the ground, and then hugged his little brother a huge hug so
tightly, Haden had to complain about not being able to breath before he let go.
Hayden, thankful to have his breath back, said “ I’m gonna go show Macie,” and
ran off, leaving a proud older brother in the floor of his bedroom.
“The Alleyway Murder”
By Allie Hataway
Percy
walked down the alleyway, whistling. How gullible people were! He
thought. Give them a smile, throw in a compliment, and you’ve got them
hooked. He counted his gainings. A gold watch, a couple wallets, and a few
other items. He’d make a great profit in the Alley.
He
turned a corner and almost yelled aloud. A man, probably in his early forties,
was laying on the ground, covered in blood. A gun was in his hand. Percy looked
closer. A piece of paper was sticking out of the man’s pocket. Against all
instincts, Percy reached for it. A suicide note, he thought as he
scanned the contents. I need to report this to the police.
As he started that way, he stepped on something
hard and almost slipped. He picked it up. It was a gold button, different from
the ones on the man’s coat. Maybe this wasn’t a suicide, after all.
.
.
.
.
At
the police station, the policemen had dismissed the idea of a murder as
unlikely.
“The
man had a gun in his hand and a suicide note in his pocket. I’d say that’s
enough information.”
But
Percy knew something was off about this “suicide”. After speaking with the
officers that came to retrieve the body, he learned that the man was David
Escott, a journalist who inherited most of his father’s money while his brother
got a small fraction of the fortune. Not wasting any time, Percy went to talk
to Mr. Escott’s brother, Tom Escott, who, after getting over the shock of his
brother’s death, was willing to help Percy find leads.
“My
brother had a perfect life,” he said. “I don’t see why he would take it from
himself. I believe you're on to something,”
After
discussing it for a while, they had one man they thought it must be.
“My brother
wrote a story about a man named Ezekial Bennett not long ago. He sells jewelry.
David called him out for selling fake diamonds in the place of real ones. The
man lost a lot of business, and rightfully so. He is also known to have anger
issues. I’d say he’s our guy.”
Realizing
he needed to find out more about this Ezekial Bennett, Percy said goodbye,
apologizing again for Tom’s loss.
“I
am going to miss him very much. I remember,” he reminisced, “how he’d always
complain about his job one way or another. His favorite complaint was that lead
got all over the back of his hand when he wrote. See, he was left-handed. I’d
always get so annoyed at him, because I knew he loved his job, but I’m sure I’m
going to miss it.”
.
.
.
.
.
Over
the next couple of days, Percy took a break from pickpocketing and followed Mr.
Bennett around. Since he was a thief, he had learned to be able to sneak around
and not be seen. He found out Mr. Bennett was a regular in the Alley. Since his
business had been compromised by Mr. Escott’s article, he had resorted to
trading with criminals rather than gentlemen, which explained why Percy had
never seen him at the Alley, despite being a regular for years. This meant he
either traded with criminals or was a criminal himself. To go to the Alley, you
either must be very smart or very intimidating, and Percy could assume which
one Mr. Bennett was. Percy watched Mr. Bennett take a silver necklace from his
pocket and try to sell it to one of the men behind a booth. Mr. Bennett then
started shouting at the man, demanding that he pay full price for the necklace.
Tom wasn’t kidding when he said this man had anger issues, Percy thought as
he observed from a distance. This man was growing more and more suspicious by
the minute. As Percy turned away, however, the booth man started yelling back,
and Mr. Bennett gave into the booth man’s wishes and quickly walked away.
Why, he isn’t a murderer, he’s a coward! Percy exclaimed inwardly, then ran
to keep up with the man. He watched as Bennett walked into a door and listened
as an older woman immediately started degrading him as he stood shamefully in a
corner. He’s afraid of someone three times smaller than him and he still
lives with his mother. Maybe this was a suicide, after all. Then Percy
remembered. David’s brother had mentioned that David was left-handed, and
pencil lead got all over his hand when he wrote. If he had written the suicide
note moments before his death, like it said in the letter, there would have
been lead on his hand. But Percy, who could remember any small detail,
definitely did not see any lead on the man’s hand. Dejected, he walked home, no
closer to the answer than he was two days earlier when he found Mr. Escott. As
he hung up his coat it came to him. Immediately, he rushed to the phone and
dialed the police.
.
.
.
.
“Mr.
Percy? What are you doing here so late in the evening?” David’s brother was
standing in the doorway of his home in a robe. He quickly grabbed his coat and
stepped outside.
“
Mr. Escott, I thought I’d let you know that we found out who murdered your
brother.”
“
You have?”
“Yes.”
Percy held up the button he found to a button hole on Tom’s coat. “You have the
right to remain silent.”
“A Bloody Love”
By Max Cook
The
softly shimmering sun sluggishly awoke itself as it swam through the deep
purples, golden yellows, and strawberry pinks of January 5ths sunrise. Casting
a faint light through the patio door and onto the broken glass off a wine
bottle on the tile floor. The Cyclamen turned away from the burning vanilla
candle and towards the window, ignoring the splattered blood that landed on its
pink petals last night and basking in the rainbow of colours.
Jack's
hand flung onto his screaming alarm as he struggled to lift his lids, the
bright yellow of the sun burning his eyes. He grunted as he sat up, grumbling
about how it's too early for anyone to be awake to a small multicoloured
pitbull that crawled to his side. "G' morning Nina." He said, his voice
deep and gravely. Standing up and stretching, he felt, and heard, a chorus of
his joints popping and cracking.
Jack
went through his morning routine; shower, uniform, feed Nina, find keys and
phone, and head out the door. As he plopped down into his rusty blue truck, his
"borrowed" police scanner crackled a few words out,
"...road...call...everyone...hurry..." Before it lost any signal it
had found. His brow furrowed in worry his phone rang, the chiefs number popping
up on its screen.
All
the chief managed to say before Jack hung up and slammed the gas was,”
Rangefinder, 1564!”
The
truck’s brakes screeched and he hopped out onto the scene, an ambulance and cop
already there. Jack walked over to the cop car, recognizing Alistair, who was
talking with one of the detectives.
“Shards of a Mystery”
By Brooke Burch
Just as Sam was getting
his things out of the car, a shrill voice came from inside the house. He turned
to look at his sister, Amanda, but saw that she had already gone inside as
well. Sam walked inside the house and saw his mother staring at the floor,
which she had just sweeped prior to going out for lunch, with shards of what
used to be a vase. This was not just any vase, it was their mother, Wendy’s,
favourite vase. Just as Sam was about to say something, Amanda came back with a
broom and dustpan in hand. Wendy held her hand out to Amanda, signaling that
she wanted to sweep it herself. Amanda handed her the broom and stepped
away to find the cat, who she personally thought was responsible for the mess
currently on their floor.
After walking all around
the house, Amanda finally realized that the cat wasn’t even inside! A scratch
at the door caused Amanda to go investigate. As she had thought, the cat had
been outside the whole time! Therefore meaning that the cat was off the list as
a suspect in who had broken mom’s vase.
Wendy had just finished
bagging up the vase shards when she realized something. She had not seen the
dogs since coming home. They usually were very excited to see the family when
they got home. This all puzzled Wendy, but she decided to just forget about it
for the time being.
Sam, however, could not
shake the fact that the dogs were not at the door to greet them. Stepping away
from the table he had been sitting at, he started calling the dog’s names.
Sadly, that idea did not work, so he went and looked at their favourite hiding
spots. Neither of them were there either? Feeling defeated, Sam went to his
mother to ask if she had seen the dogs.
“The dogs? Now that I
think about it, I haven’t seen them since we left.”
Wendy thought for a
minute before speaking again. “Have you checked under the beds for them?”
Looking back, Sam realized he hadn’t checked the beds!
“I didn’t,” replied Sam,
“I’ll go do that right now!”
After running to his
parent’s room, Sam kneeled on the ground and saw none other than both of the
dogs laying under there. After coaxing them out from under the bed, Sam brought
them to his mom.
“Oh, you found them!” Wendy
replied as she gently lifted the paw of one of the dogs and saw that it had a
little cut on it. “Aha! I think it was the dogs who knocked over my vase!”
“Why do you think that,
mom?” replied Sam.
“Well, they were playing
and hit the table on accident, causing the vase to fall. When that happened,
the dog cut her paw on a small vase shard, see?” said Wendy as she pointed out
a cut on the paw.
“Oh! That makes so much
sense.” Wendy dressed the paw of her dog, and went online to buy an identical
vase to fill the empty table space.
“The Reappearing Holes”
By Elizabeth
Arnold
A small stray dog scampered away from the yard as the car
pulled into the driveway. Elisa saw all the holes scattered all over the
yard ,like some sort of pattern and sighed ,that stupid stray had messed up the
yard yet again. It was the third time that past week that she had come home
from school to find almost a dozen holes in her yard for her to fill with
dirt. She set her belongings inside her house and got to work. She got a
shovel from the shed and began the work that she hated so much. Then she
noticed a small shining object in the grass. She set her shovel down and picked
up the small object.
The bright sunlight hit the object and it seemed to
shimmer as she held it up to get a closer look. She held her hand up ,like a
visor, to block out the sun and she saw that the object was in the shape of the
letter “A” ,perhaps from some dog tag or keychain. It's probably from the
dog ,she thought. Maybe it was not a stray afterall. The charm must have fallen
off its collar. After all she’d never been close enough to the dog to actually
know if it was a stray. She stowed away the charm in her pocket and
continued her job ,forgetting about the unfamiliar charm.
Eventually Elisa
finished her job and came inside of the house, where cool air greeted her. She
plopped down on the couch next to her father and something hard jabbed her leg
in her pants pocket. She quickly stood up ,fumbling to get the charm out of her
pocket.
“What do you have there, anything interesting?” said her
father.
“ I think so”,said Elisa “I found this charm in the grass
outside when i was filling the holes.” Elisa held up the A-shaped charm and
displayed it between her fingers for her father to see.
“That is quite an odd thing to find in the yard. Did you
find anything else?”
“No, but I think it might have fallen off of a dog’s
collar.”
“That could have happened but It seems more like it
belongs to a person.” Her dad paused for a moment .“Maybe there's someone
digging up our yard who wants us gone!”
“Dad, don't joke like that. It isn’t funny.”
“Alright alright” said her dad ,and they both went on
with their day.
The next day was as normal as any other ,nothing was
wrong until they turned onto the country road where Elisa and her dad
lived. Pulling out from their driveway was a silver truck that neither she nor
her father had seen before. The driver noticed them and the truck darted away.
Elisa wanted her father to follow the truck ,but she didn't say a word. Instead
she stared at her feet as her father turned into the driveway. A million
thoughts ravaged her mind but not a single one made sense. Elisa regained her
composure and sighed. She knew that she would have the terrible task of filling
holes again today. She got out of the car and scanned the yard. Everything
seemed fine ,besides the holes, but something felt out of place. She brushed
off the feeling and went into the shed. The shovel was cast haphazardly on the
ground and a dirty paper ,yellowed from time, laid on the ground. She put the
shovel back where it leaned against the wall and picked up the paper. Elisa
briefly looked at the paper and rushed inside and showed the paper to show her
dad.
“It’s a map,” she said “ and I think it leads somewhere
in our yard. I found it in the shed. The shovel was not where it should be
either! I think someone is searching for something that is in our yard!”
Elisa’s dad took the map from her hand and looked at it.
“Well,” he said “ The map seems a bit dated ,but it seems like whatever the
hole digger is searching is buried in our yard. The marking is near a
tree. There aren’t any trees at our house now but when we first moved her there
was a tree that we cut down.”
Elisa and her father went outside. Her father
called out the directions and she maneuvered through the yard following them.
Eventually they found where they had to dig. Patches of dirt from previous
holes that were filled surrounded the spot. With shovels in hand Elisa and her
dad began digging. Not after long Elisa’s shovel hit something hard, and she
and her father dug it up. It was a rust covered metal box about the size of a
shoe box. The lid was hinged with a clasp that had probably kept the box
shut for many years. Elisa looked at her dad. He nodded , “Open it.” .
Inside the box was
an old envelope,which seemed to be as old as the map. Elisa carefully pried the
envelope open and began to read the letter aloud.
“March seventh
,nineteen-eighty eight. Dear my lovely child Alison Green…”
