Mara Louis; Girl of Mystery

by Timothy Paterson

chance to give to his daughter.”

  “Well, your father will be out of town” said her mother, “but I don’t see why we can’t fly to Nashville for the weekend. We can use some of your father’s frequent flier miles, to purchase the airline tickets.”

  So, on Friday evening, Mara and her mother flew to Nashville. At the airport, they rented a car and drove to the hotel. That night, Mara had another dream. Eddie told Mara to give Leann a message. “Tell her that I am sorry that I wasn’t there for most of her life, but that I have been watching over her and my five grandchildren,” said Eddie. “Tell her that I am very proud of the woman that she has become, and that I think she sings even better than I ever did.” When Mara woke up, she wrote down the message, just as Eddie said it.

  At nine o’clock, Mara and her mother drove to the Eddie Phillips Museum. Daily tours did not start until eleven o’clock, but Mara hoped to find the hidden gift, before the mansion was filled with tourists.

  Mara knocked on the front door, and a security guard told her to come back at eleven o’clock for the first tour of the day.

  “I’m here to see Ms. Leann Phillips; please” said Mara.

  “She’s not here,” said the security guard.

  “But, I was told that she would be here today” said Mara. “Would you please tell her that Mara Louis is here to see her?”

  “Sorry kid.” The guard said, and then he shut the door.

  At that moment, Ms. Phillips walked into the room and asked, “Who was that?”

  “Some teenage girl” said the guard. “She said that she was told you would be here today. It was one of the better excuses that I have heard,” he said.

  “What was her name?” asked Leann.

  “Mara something or other” said the guard.

  “Mara Louis?” asked Ms. Phillips.

  “Yeah, that’s it” he replied.

  Leann walked over and opened the front door. She called out to Mara just as she and her mother were getting into their car. When Mara and her mother walked back to the house, Mara introduced herself and her mother to Ms. Phillips.

  After they walked into the museum, Ms. Phillips invited them to sit down in her office.

  “I know that this is going to sound crazy,” said Mara, “but your father’s spirit visited me in my dreams over the past few days. He wants me to find a gift that he hid in his old mansion, years ago. He wanted to give it to you for your tenth birthday, but he died before he could give it to you.”

  “That doesn’t sound crazy at all,” said Ms. Phillips. “You see, I wasn’t planning on being at the museum this weekend, but in two of my dreams, I was urged to come and meet with a girl named Mara Louis.”

  “Did my father say where he hid the gift?” asked Leann.

  “He doesn’t know exactly where he hid it because it was over thirty years ago” said Mara. “He just remembers that he hid it here in the mansion. Ms. Presley, I have been blessed with psychic visions, and occasionally I have the ability to sense where items are hidden. If you will take me around the mansion, I may be able to locate the gift through a vision”.

  As Mara, her mother and Ms. Phillips walked from room to room, Mara could sense memories of Eddie in each room. As they entered Eddie’s former music studio, Mara got a vision that there was a secret safe in the room. Very slowly, Mara began moving her hands slowly along each wall. On one wall, there were several gold records. Mara sensed that the safe was on that wall. Mara carefully checked each gold record, to see if there was a safe behind any of them, but nothing happened.

  Mara placed her hands on the wall again and closed her eyes. She slowly moved to the end of the wall where the doorway started. Mara instantly knew that there was a hidden switch along that edge. She opened her eyes and began tapping on the wall, up and down the wall. She heard a click, and she felt the front part of the wall pop open. She pulled it and it swung open, revealing a hidden set of bookshelves. There, on the middle shelf, was a wrapped present that was labeled; “To Leann, From Daddy”.

  Leann opened the gift and found a videotape. Since there was a videotape player in the room, she played the tape. The video was a one that Eddie had recorded for Leann. He told her how much he loved her and that she would always be his baby girl. Then, he sang her a song that he had written just for her, titled “Leann”.

  After the tape had finished playing, Mara noticed that Leann was crying tears of happiness.

  Mara noticed that there were several other things on the hidden shelves as well, including Eddie Phillips’s personal journals, an autobiography that was nearly completed, and several love songs that Eddie had written, but had never recorded. As Leann read the songs, she realized that they were just the kind of songs that she liked to sing.

  Leann Phillips told Mara that she could never thank her enough for finding her father’s final gift to her, as well as his last songs that he had written and his journals. “If there is anything that I can do for you Mara, just let me know” said Leann.

  “Ms. Phillips” said Mara. “I have read about all of the work you do with your charitable foundation. You do so much to help underprivileged children. I am very proud to know you. You have helped so many people. I know that your father would approve.”

  Then Mara suddenly remembered something. “I almost forgot to tell you. The other night, when your father came to see me in my dream, he asked me to give you a message. He said that he was sorry that he missed so much of your life, but that he has been watching over you and his five grandchildren. He also said that he is very proud of the woman and the singer that you have become. He thinks that you are an even better singer than he ever was.”

  Mara could tell that Ms. Phillips was about to start crying, so she quickly said goodbye and then she and her mother left the mansion. Mara and her mother drove to the airport to wait for their flight to Baltimore.

  Mara felt good inside. She was able to reunite Leann with her father again, after more than thirty years.

  Colorblind

  It had been only a week since Mara and her mom had returned home from Nashville. Mara was watching the evening news with her parents when she saw that Leann Phillips had released a new album of eight songs, written by her father, the late Eddie Phillips. In an interview, Ms. Phillips said that she was dedicating her new album to “Mara, a very special teenager”

  “I want to get that CD when it comes out”, said Mara. Just as she said that, Leann faced the camera and spoke to the television audience; “Mara, don’t you dare buy one, because I am sending you an autographed copy.”

  “That was really freaky,” said Mara. “And I mean freaky, even for me.” Both of Mara’s parents started laughing.

  That night, Mara had another dream about the south, but this time it was about the state of Mississippi, instead of Tennessee. Mara received many images that flashed through her mind, including the cities of Jackson and Natchez, as well as the names Lynch, Johnson, Green, Bradley, Keith, Wesley, Margo, Nellie and Amanda. Mara also saw a big mansion, a train, a garden of thorns and a secret dungeon.

  When Mara woke up, she wrote down all of the clues in her notebook. As she walked downstairs to breakfast, Mara was trying to figure out a way to suggest a trip to Mississippi without her parents figuring out that it was about a mystery to be solved. As she sat down at the table, she got an idea.

  “Mom, can we go to Mississippi for fall break? I hear that it’s really beautiful this time of the year, with all of the leaves changing colors.”

  Mara’s parents just looked at each other and then they both burst out laughing.

  “What’s so funny?” asked Mara.

  “I have to admit,” said her mother, “you are getting more imaginative with your stories. “What’s your assignment this time?”

  “I don’t know exactly,” said Mara. “All I kn
ow is that we need to go to the cities of Jackson and Natchez.”

  By the time fall break arrived, Mara had learned a lot about Mississippi. She pieced together some of the names from her dream. Bradley Lynch was the governor of Mississippi and was trying to be elected to a second term. His opponent was Wesley Johnson. Governor Lynch was white and Mr. Johnson was African-American. Governor Lynch was forty-one years old and Mr. Johnson was fifty-nine.

  Mara realized, from the news stories on the internet that the campaign was really heating up. Recently, a newspaper had printed a story that one of Governor Lynch’s ancestors had owned one of Mr. Johnson’s ancestors as a slave, back in the 1800’s. The story had stirred up quite a bit of controversy among the people of the state.

  Mara was still confused about the thorn garden, train and the dungeon. She did not know how they fit into the mystery, but she was getting the general idea of what she needed to investigate.

  When fall break started, Mara was eager to get to Mississippi. Their flight left Baltimore at seven a.m. on Friday morning, and they arrived three hours later in Jackson. Mara’s plan was to go to the state capitol first, and try to get an interview with Governor Lynch. She knew that it might not be that easy, but she knew she had to start somewhere.

  When they arrived at the state capitol, Mara asked to meet with Governor Lynch. She introduced herself and her parents, to the governor’s