Mara Louis; Girl of Mystery

by Timothy Paterson

watching on the monitor and when he saw that Mara had found the opening to the cave, he and the other adults got into their vehicles and drove around, behind Mark Twain Cave, until they located the opening that Mara had discovered. Since the opening was still on his property, Mr. Riggs owned the cave and could include it in his cave tours.

  When he walked into the cave, Mr. Riggs saw Mara and Troy sitting down, taking a much-needed rest.

  “Mara”, he said. “I can’t thank you enough for location this cave. It is spectacular. We would have never known it was here if it were not for you. Just think, you and Troy are the first people to step foot in the cave in over a hundred years, and, so much history. Jesse James, Daniel Boone, Mark Twain, Lewis and Clark, President Truman, and so many other great Americans have been in this cave.”

  “Don’t forget to thank Troy; my cameraman” said Mara as she put her arm around the boy’s shoulders, “I couldn’t have done it without him.”

  Troy had a big smile on his face.

  When everybody returned to the office, Mara took the bag of money and the journal out of her backpack. She hesitated to hand them to Mr. Riggs.

  “Mr. Riggs” she said, “Promise me that you will never sell this journal to a private collector. If you do not want to put in on display at your cave, donate it to a public museum, for all to enjoy it. Don’t let it be put in someone’s safe and be buried again.”

  Mr. Riggs promised to donate the book and the moneybag with some of the money, to museums and said that he would sell the rest of the money to collectors and donate the proceeds to the local school system. He told Mara that he would keep her last name and address out of the story, when the film was shown on the news and the public education channel.

  Mara and her parents said goodbye to Mr. Riggs and Troy’s parents. Then, Mara turned to Troy and said, “Try to stay out of trouble, Troy.” Troy ran up to her and gave her a big hug. “Thanks again for saving my life, Mara” he said. “I will never forget you.” Somehow, Mara knew that he meant that.

  Before Mara got in the car, Mr. Riggs handed Mara a handful of coins and some of the paper money from the bank bag. “I heard that you have a coin collection. I hope you can use these.” Mara thanked him, and then got into the car.

  Mara was very relaxed over the next few days, as she and her parents took their time driving back to Baltimore. Mara had a more restful sleep then she could remember.

  When they arrived home, Mara checked her email and found that she had messages from friends all over the country. Almost everybody on her Facebook page had seen her interview on the news. They told her how cool it was that she had saved the life of the little boy. Mara trusted her friends to be discreet when it came to her private life, so she did not have to worry about any of them talking to the press.

  Mara was also pleased to see several emails from Tony. She saved his for last, so that she could take her time reading each and every one of them.

  Mara was daydreaming and thinking about Tony, when Scott called. He told Mara that he and Betsy wanted to get together with her. After Mara talked to her parents, they gave her permission to spend the night at the White House with Betsy and Scott.

  When Mara arrived at the White House the next day, she was met by Scott and Betsy. They told her that they had seen her on television. “I see you have been very busy over the past couple of weeks,” Betsy told Mara.

  “What do you mean?” Mara asked her.

  Betsy held up several articles she had saved for Mara. They were about the mysteries that were solved in Illinois, Indiana, Missouri and Michigan. “I know that you were the one who solved all of these mysteries, even though they didn’t mention your name.”

  Mara confessed that Betsy was right, and then proceeded to tell her and Scott all of the details that the newspapers left out.

  “Where you scared about entering the cave?” asked Scott. Mara was silent for a moment and then confided to her friends, “I was terrified, Scott. I thought that my dream was finally going to come true.”

  “Then why did you go in?” asked Betsy.

  “Because, I knew that a small boy’s life was at stake,” said Mara. “Something deep inside of me, something stronger than my fear, told me it was the right thing to do. Besides, I couldn’t live with myself, if I had done nothing and the boy had died.”

  Mara hesitated and then continued; “But, do you know what really scares me?” she asked. “I don’t think that was the cave from my dream. The cave in my dreams is still out there, somewhere in my future. I just know it. At some point, I will have to face my fears head on.”

  Betsy realized that Mara did not want to talk about it anymore, so she quickly changed the subject. “Mara, guess what?” she said. “Scott and I have some news of our own. “We are officially dating.”

  Mara’s eyes lit up and she hugged Betsy and Scott. “Congratulations” she said. “When did this happen?”

  “Well, unbeknownst to me, Scott asked my father for his permission to go on a date with me,” said Betsy.

  “How did that go, Scott?” asked Mara.

  “Well” said Scott, “her dad told me that he trusted me as long as the Secret Service went along on our date. Then he smiled a sinister smile and said that if I hurt his daughter, he would have me deported. You know what, Mara? I believe that he meant it.”

  Mara, Betsy and Scott all laughed for a long time. Then, Betsy asked Mara how things were going with Tony. Mara got nervous and Betsy realized that she did not want to talk about Tony, while Scott was in the room.

  “Scott, get lost, so that Mara and I Can talk,” said Betsy. Scott knew better than to argue with Betsy, so he went to find something else to do. When Betsy and Mara were alone, Mara opened up a bit. “I really like Tony” she said, “but I am afraid that if I tell him how much I really like him, I might scare him away. I would rather have him as a good friend, then to risk losing him forever.” Betsy did not agree with Mara’s logic, but she did not want to make Mara feel uncomfortable, so she suggested that they go find what trouble Scott had gotten into.

  Mara realized that she had a lot to think about in her life, about Tony, about her future and about her fear of caves.

  A Father’s Final Gift

  Mara enjoyed the rest of the summer. She had no prophetic dreams during the entire month of July. On July 29th, her 15th birthday, Mara got a surprise present. Tony arrived in Baltimore with his parents, for a visit. That afternoon, Tony and Mara went out to a movie. They spent the rest of the day catching up on their summer activities.

  Tony had played the violin at many competitions and was quickly becoming one of the nation’s greatest violinists.

  Mara told Tony about her vacation and the mysteries that she had helped solve. She also showed him the latest coins in her collection.

  There were some awkward moments for both of them as well. Mara almost told Tony her true feelings for him, but she stopped herself, just in time. Then, at one point, it looked like Tony was going to say something, but at the last moment, he changed his mind.

  When it came time for Tony and his parents to leave, Mara and Tony hugged for what seemed like an eternity. Neither of them wanted to let go.

  They stood there hugging for over ten minutes. Finally, Mara forced herself to let go of Tony. That night, Mara cried herself to sleep. She missed Tony already, and he had only been gone for a few hours.

  When Mara finally fell asleep, it was not a restful slumber. Mara had the cave-in dream again. It had been over six months since she last dreamed it.

  As the month of August arrived, Mara started training for the track team. By the time school started, she was running between five and ten miles per day. When she ran, she felt good. It gave her time to think, but it also gave her the ability to let go of all of her worries, to be free.

  When school
started at the end of August, Mara immersed herself in her schoolwork, running, and other school activities. She made many new friends. Everything was going great.

  It was the end of September, when Mara had another prophetic dream. It was a little different from her usual dreams. In the dream, Mara was sitting in the audience of a concert hall. The legendary country-rock star, Eddie Phillips was up on stage singing. Suddenly, Mara was all alone in the hall and Eddie was singing just to her. Then, Mara noticed that Eddie was talking to her. He told Mara that he had hidden a gift for his baby girl to give to her on her tenth birthday, but he died before he could give it to her.

  Mara asked Eddie, where he had hidden it. Eddie said he could not remember exactly, but he knew that it was in Nashville, in his mansion, that had been turned into a museum. Mara then asked Eddie how she could get in contact with his daughter, Leann Phillips. Elvis told Mara that Leann would be at the museum in Nashville that weekend.

  When Mara woke up, she wrote down everything from her dream. At breakfast, she asked her parents if they could go on a road trip that weekend.

  “Okay, let’s have it,” said her mother. “What’s your assignment this time?” Mara laughed at her mom’s nonchalant attitude. “How would you like to visit the Eddie Phillips Museum, Nashville, Tennessee?” she asked. “Mr. Phillips wants me to find a gift that he never had a