“I’m hoping for a history question,” Margo Holla chimes in. “That’s my best subject.”
“Geometry,” says Linda Ochoa.
“Geography,” adds Bill Trident.
“Art,” says Andrea Cicero.
Suddenly, the doorknob to Mr. Michael’s classroom turns from the inside, and the door squeaks open.
“Welcome. Come in.” Mr. Michael beckons the students to enter his classroom as if they were invited to a party rather than an exam. He is a slender man with smiling eyes and a bushy mustache that holds more gray hair than the rest of his nearly bald head. His checked blazer has brown leather patches on the elbows. A stack of note cards juts out of his lapel pocket.
Catherine enters and looks around the large classroom. Four neat rows of student desks face a teacher’s desk with a black rotary-dial phone on one corner. A long high-top lab table spans one side of the room. Cabinets labeled “Science Equipment,” a deep sink, and a mirror cover the wall beyond. On the opposite side of the room, a reading lamp and globe sit atop a rolling cart. The far wall is lined with floor-to-ceiling shelves jam-packed with books.
Catherine claims a student desk in the front row, comforted by Mr. Michael’s cheerfulness. The exam question can’t be too hard if he smiles like that. Janie sits next to her. Kevin heads to the back row with Peter and Tony. The other students find seats in the middle.
Mr. Michael walks to the front of the room. “You have each taken a significant step toward joining my honors program by coming out for this exam.
“The Golden Answer Award will be given for the first correct answer to the question in this envelope.” Mr. Michael sets a red greeting-card envelope onto his desk, next to a stack of smaller white envelopes. “But first, the rules.” He takes the note cards out of his jacket pocket.
“Number One: You may use any resources in this room to answer the question, including each other. No electronic devices are allowed. I will not be in the room, so you may not ask any questions of me.
“Number Two: Enclose your answer in a white envelope, write your name on the outside, and deliver it to me in the teachers’ lounge down the hall. Once you submit, you may not return to the classroom for the remainder of the exam.
“Number Three: Think critically before submitting. The question may have more than one possible answer, but I am looking for only one right answer.
“Number Four: You have one hour to complete the exam. Once time expires, I will not accept any further envelopes. Do you understand?”
Nine heads nod.
Mr. Michael beams. “Your time will begin as soon as Miss McCleary reads the question out loud to the group.”
Catherine’s head jerks up in panic. Reading the question aloud puts her at a disadvantage for jotting down an immediate answer and winning the Golden Answer Award. But she stands, walks the few steps to the front of the room, and picks up the red envelope.
Mr. Michael crosses to the door. “Remember, one hour.”
Catherine opens the envelope and removes the question with trembling hands. She takes a deep breath and reads: “This man’s name is synonymous with the order of things.”
“Dewey!” shouts Margo, even before Catherine finishes. She jumps out of her chair, races to Mr. Michael’s desk, and grabs a white answer envelope. “The Dewey decimal system is named after Melvil Dewey, who invented it in 1876. His name is synonymous with the order of books in the library. Dewey is the answer and I’m first!” The door slams behind her as she rushes out.
Catherine stares after Margo slack-mouthed. All her hard work down the drain. Margo has claimed the Golden Answer Award.
The rest of the class looks equally dejected. Kevin stubs his toe into the floor in the back row.
“Wait.” Janie’s voice is calm. “Mr. Michael told us to think critically. That means not jumping to conclusions.” She takes the slip of paper out of Catherine’s hand and examines it closely. A smile comes to her lips.
Catherine looks over and sees what Janie sees. “Tiny writing.” She squints but can’t make out the words.
Tony rummages through the marked science cabinets. “Microscopes, prisms, flashlights . . . aha!—magnifying glasses.” He strides to the front of the room, pumping his fist.
Tony deciphers the tiny words haltingly. “Do we know . . . the answer? Not . . . yet.”
“It’s not Dewey.” Catherine laughs with relief. “Get it? ‘Do we know’ means ‘Dewey, no.’”
“Great, McClever,” Kevin calls from the back row. “We know who it’s not. Any idea who it is?”
“Not a clue,” Catherine says. “Tony, please study the page again, and the red envelope.”
Tony doesn’t find any more words.
Catherine gazes at the long wall of books. “The Dewey decimal system puts books in order. Margo was right about that. We need to find the book in those shelves that is not in order.”
“That’s like finding a needle in a haystack,” Linda groans.
“If the books are organized the way they should be,” Catherine responds, “it’s more like finding a science book in the literature section.”
Tony looks at his watch. “Fifty-four minutes left. Let’s get started. The clock is ticking.”
“I’ll take this section.” Catherine points to the first set of bookshelves. “Spread out along the wall, everyone.”
Tony and Janie hop to the next two areas, but the rest of the students remain in their seats.
“I know we each want to win the Golden Answer Award,” Catherine says, “but to have any chance of finding the book in time, we have to work together.”
Reluctantly, the students fan out across the library wall.
“What are we supposed to do?” Linda huffs. She tosses light brown hair with blue streaks over her shoulder.
Catherine considers for a minute. “Start with the call numbers along the bottom of each book spine. Books on the same subject are grouped together in number order. Fiction books are organized alphabetically by author’s last name.”
Precious minutes pass.
“I found it!” Bill waves a book over his head. “Erik the Red Discovers Greenland was not with the right call numbers.”
“Me, too,” says Janie. “Green Threads, a book about sewing, was sandwiched between books about flags.”
“Maybe Betsy Ross stuck it there,” jokes Kevin.
“Maybe she also put the poetry book Cowboys, Tenderfoots, and Greenhorns with books about philosophy.” Peter holds up another out-of-order book.
Catherine raises a heavy textbook with both hands. “Chlorophyll in the Boreal Forest should have been with other plant books. It was shelved in computer science.”
“A Beginner’s Guide to Eco-Travel does not belong with the dictionaries.” Andrea reports her discovery.
“One more,” Tony says. “A novel called The Leprechaun’s Treasure Map. The author’s last name is Green, but the book was shelved with the r’s.”
They line up the six books on the long science table.
“Green!” Andrea shouts. “Greenland; green thread; greenhorns; a leprechaun book by someone named Green; chlorophyll; the boreal forest; and an eco-travel guide, which is about ecology, a different kind of ‘green.’”
“Are you sure the boreal forest is green?” Linda sounds unconvinced.
“Definitely green,” Bill responds, and Catherine recalls that geography is his favorite subject. He retrieves the globe from the rolling cart. “The boreal forest is the forest ring that circles the top of the globe. It covers parts of Canada, Norway, Sweden, Finland, Russia, and even Alaska.” He hesitates. “Greenland isn’t part of the boreal forest, though. It has too much ice.”
Catherine’s eyes light up with an idea. “Greenland may not have the boreal forest, but it’s famous for something else that uses the word boreal: the aurora borealis.”
“The northern lights?” Janie asks. “I’ve heard of them, but I’m not sure what they are.”
; Science fan Tony jumps in: “The northern lights are colorful bands that light up the far-northern sky when particles from the sun collide. The lights can show up in almost all the colors of the rainbow. Pale green and pink are most common, but they also can be red, yellow, blue, or violet.”
“I don’t think we need to worry about the northern lights,” interrupts Kevin. He holds up a yellow sheet of paper with a series of marks on it.
“I found this page in the Greenland book,” Kevin continues. “It looks like a message of dashes, dots, and slashes.”
– • • • / • / • – / – • / • • • / • – – / • / • – • / • / – • •
“I’ve seen that before,” says Peter. “It’s Morse code, like they used to send telegraphs in the old days.”
“Samuel Morse invented it,” Andrea adds excitedly. “Morse was a well-known painter. He got interested in electricity and developed the code with some scientist friends.”
“Did he paint anything green?” Kevin cracks another joke.
Catherine rolls her eyes. “Anyone know Morse code?”
“Dot-dot-dot, dash-dash-dash, dot-dot-dot means SOS.” Tony taps the table as he speaks. “It’s the international distress signal. You send it when you’re in trouble.” His voice falters. “That’s all I know.”
“We should send an SOS signal now,” Linda complains. “We need our phones or a computer to translate the code.”
“We have everything we need.” Catherine points to the library wall. “Books.”
“I saw dictionaries earlier.” Andrea returns to the shelf she reviewed. “Maybe one of them has a Morse code chart . . . Yes!” She carries the open dictionary to the table.
“Dash-dot-dot-dot . . . then a slash. I bet the slash divides the letters.” Andrea studies the dictionary. “The first letter is . . . B. Next is a single dot, which is the code for E . . . B-E . . . Be.” She writes the letters down on the yellow page. “Then A . . . Be a.” Her eyes go back and forth between the message and the dictionary. “N . . . B-E-A-N . . . Bean? . . . Be an?” She continues translating. “S . . . Beans.”
Just then, Janie finds another sheet of yellow paper taped in the middle of the sewing book. “Another code—numbers this time. It looks like an enormous locker combination.”
2-5-19-15-18-20-5-4
Catherine and the boys crowd around Janie for a look at the new message.
Suddenly, Andrea jumps out of her chair, races to the front desk for a white envelope, and flies out of the room.
Catherine retrieves the now-decoded Morse code message that Andrea left behind: “BE ANSWERED.” Catherine shakes her head in dismay. “Andrea just submitted Samuel Morse.”
“Morse’s name is synonymous with the order of dashes and dots in his code,” Tony agrees. “But I don’t think Morse is the right answer to Mr. Michael’s question.” Six faces look at him.
“Remember Rule Number Three? The question can have more than one possible answer, but only one right answer.” Tony holds up a third yellow sheet with a grin.
“This message is written in braille, the raised dot alphabet for the blind,” Tony continues. “That means its inventor Louis Braille is a possible answer, just like Samuel Morse.”
“We need to translate the braille message.” Catherine points to the dictionary. “But we share the answer with the whole group. No more rushing off like Andrea did.”
“Who put you in charge, McClever?”
Tony whirls to face Kevin. “Her name is McCleary. Catherine McCleary. She’s the reason we looked for the books and found the messages. Listening to her and sticking together is our only chance of answering the question. The least you can do is get her name right.”
“Cool it, Tony Boy. I’m the captain of the basketball team.”
“Too bad you aren’t a team player.”
Kevin lets out a deep breath. “I’ll figure out the braille message,” he mumbles, “and I’ll share what I find.”
“The message ‘BE ANSWERED’ came out of the Greenland book,” says Bill. “I’ll study that book more closely.”
“Janie and I will work on the number message,” says Catherine, picking up the yellow paper.
“Peter and I will search for messages in the other books,” Tony says. “Forty-two minutes to go.”
“The braille message says ‘BE CAUGHT.’” Kevin closes the dictionary. “It came out of the leprechaun book, right? What does a little Irish dude have to do with being caught?”
Peter looks up. “If you catch him, you get the pot of gold at the end of the rainbow.”
“Speaking of gold, or yellow at least, here’s another message.” Tony tugs a yellow page from the index of the chlorophyll book and hands it to Kevin.
“It’s music.” Kevin looks at the page. “Garcia, I mean, Janie, you play violin.” It’s a statement, not a question. “Take a look at this. Please.”
Janie takes the page and hums the tune softly. “I don’t think it’s a song. It just repeats the same notes over and over again.”
“Musical notes can be written as letters, right?” Bill looks up from the Greenland book. “E-G-B-D-F, E-G-B-D-F, these are the lines of the treble clef.” He smiles sheepishly. “Third grade music class.”
“I learned it as Every Good Boy Does Fine,” Janie remembers. “Both ways are useful mnemonics, or memory aids, for the notes on the staff.”
“My Very Extravagant Mother is the beginning of a popular memory aid to learn the planets in order,” Tony says.
Janie looks at the musical message again. “B-E-F-A-C-E-D. The notes spell ‘BE FACED.’”
“Eureka!” yells Catherine.
“You know what ‘BE FACED’ means?” Janie looks at Catherine incredulously.
“No, I solved the number message.” Catherine slides her yellow page to the middle of the table. “The other messages started B-E. I guessed this one did, too. I replaced the number two with a B, and the number five with an E. Then I saw the pattern. Here’s the chart.” Catherine flips the yellow paper over. She has listed the numbers one through twenty-six in one column, and the letters of the alphabet next to them. “Once I had this, the message was easy to read.”
“What does it say?” Janie asks.
“BE SORTED.”
“BE SORTED. BE FACED. BE CAUGHT. BE ANSWERED.” Kevin ticks off the messages the group has solved so far. “What do they mean?”
Catherine motions toward the remaining books. “We need more yellow clues.”
“These sheets are well hidden.” Tony pulls a clue from the poetry book. “I missed this one the first time around.”
Peter barely glances at the yellow paper. “It says BE WASHED.” The other students stare at him. “It’s mirror writing, like Leonardo da Vinci used. Check the mirror if you don’t believe me.”
Catherine smiles. “You really do know grammar backward and forward. Tony, which book is left?”
“The travel guide.” Tony flips through the book page by page. He unfolds the pull-out map stapled in the back. “Here it is.” He blinks. “It’s blank.”
“Blank?” repeats Kevin.
“Nothing on it,” Tony confirms.
“Invisible ink!” Catherine rushes to the sink and dampens a paper towel. “I’ll wet a corner and see if anything shows up.”
Kevin frowns. “Water might ruin it. We should hold it over the reading lamp. Heat could make the ink appear.”
“Hold on.” Tony heads to the science cabinet and pulls out a small flashlight. “Bill, please turn off the room lights.” Tony flips on his flashlight, which casts an eerie blue glow. “Black light,” he says, shining it at the page. Words appear: “BE GLOBAL.”
“The globe again.” Bill flips the lights back on and walks over to the globe still sitting on the science table. “Greenland, the boreal forest, Ireland and leprechauns, seven continents, five oceans, north pole, south pole, equator.” He drums his fingers on the base of the globe, picks it up, turns it over, a
nd hears a rattle. “Something’s in here!”
Bill pries the bottom off the base. He sticks two fingers inside and retrieves a blue plastic bag filled with small items. “Puzzle pieces,” he announces.
Catherine turns to Tony. “How much time is left?”
“Twenty-nine minutes.”
“Bill and Linda, you start putting the puzzle together. Fast. Everyone else, search the room for more puzzle pieces.”
“I think ‘BE FACED’ means the mirror,” Peter says. “That’s why we had the mirror-writing message.” He runs his fingers across the top of the frame and finds another blue bag.
“‘BE WASHED’ . . . the sink!” Catherine finds a blue bag taped to the bottom of the outflow pipe.
“BE ANSWERED. BE CAUGHT. BE SORTED.” Janie chants the remaining clues. “What gets sorted? Papers? Maybe there’s a filing cabinet.”
“How about recycling?” Linda looks up from the puzzle. “Sorting trash for recycling fits the ‘green’ theme.”
Janie thrusts her arm deep into a green wastebasket with the recycling symbol on its side. “Got it!”
Bill stands up. “I’m terrible at jigsaw puzzles. I’ll help search for the bags.”
Catherine scans the science table. “Fortunately, Linda is awesome!” The straight-edged puzzle border is mostly in place. Inside the frame, Linda joins matching green stems and dark blue blossoms into a flower bouquet. The flowers aren’t violets or bluebonnets; the color falls somewhere in between.
“Puzzles I can do.” Linda sounds happy at last. “It’s geometry. The angles make sense.”
“Woo hoo!” Tony rushes over another bag. “‘BE CAUGHT’ led me to the butterfly net in the science cabinet.”
Linda continues fitting pieces into the puzzle. “The picture has a bowl of fruit, a note, and flowers. We need more pieces to read the writing on the note.”
The boys mill around the classroom turning over random objects. “BE ANSWERED . . . BE ANSWERED . . . BE ANSWERED.”
“Ha!” Kevin laughs. “We can’t use our phones, but the room still has one.” He picks up the old-fashioned black phone sitting on Mr. Michael’s desk and finds the sought-after blue bag taped to the bottom of the housing. “Last bag.”
Super Puzzletastic Mysteries Page 13