by Sally Rippin
Billie stands on the footpath, staring after Edwina. She knows she really should go home. She’s not sure what time it is but when she looks up at the sky she can see one, two, three pale stars have appeared. Billie is not allowed out after dark.
But it’s not dark yet. Billie tells herself. And I’ll only be a few more minutes. I have to find out what Edwina knows! I can’t go home now!
She takes a big breath and runs after Edwina. She catches up just as Edwina reaches her front door.
‘Wait!’ she says. ‘We’re looking for a time capsule. Mrs Singh told us about it. But you have to promise not to tell anyone I told you. My friends would kill me!’
Edwina smiles. ‘I knew it! I heard you talking in Mrs Singh’s office.’
‘What? You were listening to us?’ Billie says, crossly.
Edwina blushes a little. ‘Only because I needed to, to solve the mystery,’ she says. ‘Sometimes detectives have to do that, right?’
Billie is still a bit cross, but Edwina has a point. After all, the SMC has had to listen at doors before too!
‘I have something in my bedroom that I think will help you find the time capsule,’ says Edwina. ‘Come with me!’
Billie follows her into her house. She can hear a TV playing loudly and someone talking at the end of the hallway. Edwina leads her into the first bedroom on the left. She points at her window. It has a clear view across to the school grounds.
‘Wow! You can see everything from here!’ Billie says, amazed.
‘It’s a good spot for spying,’ Edwina says cheekily. ‘I’m a spy as well as a detective.’
‘Me too!’ says Billie. ‘Alex says they’re not the same thing but I think, really? What’s the difference?’
‘Right!’ Edwina grins. Billie grins back.
Edwina opens a drawer in her desk and pulls out a rolled up piece of paper.
‘What’s that?’ Billie asks.
‘This,’ Edwina says dramatically, ‘is the clue you’ve been looking for.’
Billie hovers next to Edwina as she unrolls the paper. ‘Is it a map?’ Billie asks. ‘Of a building?’
‘Not just any building,’ Edwina says. ‘The school building. This is a photocopy of the original plans. Look, it says here: 1923. The school is nearly a hundred years old. Can you believe it?’
‘Wow!’ Billie says. ‘That’s older than my Nanna. And she’s old!’ Then she frowns. ‘Mrs Singh told us that the plans were lost ages ago, though. How did you find them?’
‘My mum’s an architect,’ Edwina says. ‘She was in charge of renovating the school before I was born. The plans must have been lost then, but luckily Mum found this copy when she was tidying out her office the other day. She thought I’d find them interesting.
And when I overheard Mrs Singh telling you about the time capsule, I knew I had the perfect clue to help solve the mystery!’
While she is talking, Edwina unrolls the map across her desk. She and Billie lean over it, staring down at the pale lines on the page.
‘That’s the front entrance to the school,’ says Edwina, pointing. ‘And there’s the main corridor.’
Billie nods. She finds the map a bit hard to read.
The school on the map looks much smaller than it is now. But now that Edwina has pointed out the front entrance, she starts to recognise some of the other buildings.
‘So that’s the music room, right?’ says Billie.
‘Yep,’ says Edwina. ‘And that’s the library.’
‘What’s that, then?’ Billie asks, pointing to a small empty space between the library and the music room on the map.
Edwina frowns. ‘Hmm. I don’t know. It looks like a big cupboard, maybe. But there are bookshelves all along that wall in the library, and there’s no door on that wall in the music room. I can’t believe I didn’t notice that before!’
The two girls look at each other, excited. Billie can tell they are both thinking the same thing.
The space looks like the perfect place to hide a time capsule!
Billie runs all the way home, her bare feet slapping the pavement. She is bubbling with excitement. A secret room hidden between two walls! What could be more thrilling? Billie can’t imagine how her life could get any better.
But just as she arrives at her house, she sees something that makes her heart sink. Her dad is striding towards her with Jack by his side. Jack looks worried and a little apologetic. But Billie’s dad just looks mad. Very mad!
‘What do you think you’re doing, Billie?’ he says, angrily.
‘Oh! Sorry!’ Billie says. It sounds silly, but there is nothing else she can think of to say.
‘You didn’t even tell us where you were going!’ he continues. ‘You must never do that. Luckily Jack knew where you were.’
Billie hangs her head. She knows what she did was very wrong. ‘I’m sorry,’ she says again in a small voice.
Her dad sighs and pulls Billie into his arms. ‘We were really worried, Billie,’ he says. ‘You know you can’t go out on your own at night.’
‘I wasn’t thinking,’ she says quietly.
‘Thanks, Jack,’ Billie’s dad says. ‘You’d better get back to your dinner now.’ He walks Jack to his front door.
Billie is quiet all through dinner. She feels bad that she made her parents worry so much. Even Noah senses something is wrong. Usually he is noisy and chatty but tonight he just pokes at his food with his fork.
He looks up at Billie and frowns. ‘Never do dat again, Billie!’ he says, crossly, wagging his finger at her.
Billie looks at her mum, who is trying not to laugh. She looks at her dad. He bites his smile and looks away. Then they all look back at Noah, who has put on his angriest face possible. At that moment all three of them burst into laughter.
‘What?’ says Noah, surprised. ‘What? Are you happy again, Mumma?’
‘Yes, Nozy, darling,’ Billie’s mum says. ‘I’m happy again now.’
She stands up and puts one arm around Noah and one around Billie and pulls them in tight.
‘Thanks, Noah,’ Billie whispers. ‘You’re the best.’ Noah still looks a little unsure about what he has done but smiles happily all the same.
The next day is Sunday and Billie calls an emergency meeting of the SMC in their secret headquarters. The four of them climb up into the treehouse. Billie’s dad brings them hot chocolate in mugs, and toasted fruit bread with melted butter.
‘Thank you!’ everyone calls out.
Billie’s dad waves as he walks back to the house to put Noah down for his morning nap.
‘So, what’s new, Billie?’ Mika asks, excitedly.
‘Yeah, tell us!’ says Jack. ‘Did you find anything at school last night? She was in so much trouble,’ Jack tells Alex and Mika.
Billie wriggles uncomfortably. ‘You don’t have to rub it in!
Anyway, it was worth it. I think I’ve found the missing clue that will lead us to find the time capsule!’
‘Really?’ says Mika. ‘Wow! What did you find?’
‘Well, it’s not really me who found it,’ Billie says. ‘It’s…um, Edwina, actually.’
‘The spy?’ Alex says, frowning. ‘But that’s terrible news!’
‘No, no, she showed it to me,’ Billie says. ‘She could have taken it straight to Mrs Singh but she decided to show me instead.’
‘Why?’ says Mika, narrowing her eyes, suspiciously.
Billie feels her stomach tightening. She is worried her friends aren’t going to like what she has to say next. ‘She wants to be a member of our club,’ she says, nervously.
The other three glance at each other with frowns on their faces.
‘Hmmm…’ says Jack eventually, looking unsure.
‘I thought we decided it would only be the four of us,’ says Alex.
‘I know what we agreed,’ Billie says. ‘But Edwina has a map! A copy of a hundred-year-old map of the school when it was first built. And listen to this: there is a secret r
oom inside the school. Hidden between the library and the music room. That’s where I reckon the time capsule will be hidden.’
Mika gasps. ‘A secret room?’
Billie nods.
‘How do we know the map’s not a fake?’ Alex says, crossing his arms.
‘Maybe Edwina just drew it herself so she could join our club?’
Billie holds back her smile. ‘Well, there’s only one way to find out! We check it out tomorrow!’ she says. ‘But if the map leads us to find the time capsule, it’s only fair that Edwina gets to join the SMC. After all, she has already shown what a good detective she is! Deal?’
Alex looks at Jack. Jack looks at Mika. Mika looks at Billie. Then they all smile and stick their hands out. ‘Deal!’ they all say together.
Then they all crow loudly. ‘Ock-a-doodle-doo-cay!’
The four of them meet at the school library as soon as it opens on Monday morning. Miss Davenport is surprised to see them hovering at the door. ‘My goodness,’ she says. ‘What are you four doing here so early? Is there anything I can help with?’
‘No, no, it’s fine, thank you,’ Billie says, quickly. ‘We’re just researching a project, that’s all.’
Then she waits until Miss Davenport is busy at her desk again before leading the others over to the far wall, which backs onto the music room. The whole wall is hidden by bookshelves. Billie reaches towards a row of books in the middle and begins to pull them out, one by one.
‘What are you doing?’ asks Jack anxiously, swinging his head around to see if Miss Davenport has spotted them.
‘Stand in front of me so she can’t see!’ says Billie.
Soon there is a pile of books on the floor and a big gap in the bookshelf. Billie reaches her hand inside and runs her fingers along the smooth back wall. At first she feels nothing. She pulls out a couple more big books and slides her hand along further. Then she feels something. A little bump in the wall.
‘I think I’ve found something!’ Billie squeals. ‘It could be the entrance to the secret room!’
‘Let’s go and tell Miss Singh,’ Alex says, helping Billie shove all the books back onto the shelves.
‘Not yet,’ Billie tells him. ‘There’s no way she’ll agree to cutting a hole in the wall without proof that there is something behind here.’
Jack looks at Billie like he knows what she is going to say next. ‘And to prove it, we need…’ he begins.
Billie smiles. ‘…the fifth member of the SMC,’ she finishes.
‘I guess a deal is a deal, right?’ says Mika, smiling back.
‘Right,’ says Billie.
Billie, Jack, Alex and Mika wait for Edwina at the front gate. When she arrives, she looks surprised to see them all waiting for her.
‘You were right!’ Billie says, excited. ‘We found something behind the bookshelves in the library.
It feels like it could be a sealed-up doorway!’
‘Alex didn’t believe the map you showed Billie was real,’ Mika adds. ‘But it must be!’
Alex blushes. ‘Yeah. Sorry, I didn’t believe you,’ he mumbles, kicking at the concrete beneath his feet. ‘I thought maybe you’d just drawn it yourself. You know, so you could join our club.’
‘Wow!’ says Edwina, looking surprised.
‘But we’d love you to join our club now!’ Billie grins. ‘We all think you’re a pretty good detective.’
‘And spy!’ Jack adds, grinning. ‘I can’t believe you were spying on us the whole time Billie was teaching us Pig Latin. You must be good at sneaking around.’
‘So, we’d be honoured to have you,’ Billie says in a formal voice. ‘Can you get your map so we can show Mrs Singh what we found?
It’s the only way we’ll be able to convince her to open up the wall to see what’s behind there.’
‘Um, sure!’ says Edwina, still with a look of surprise on her face. ‘I’ll run back home and get it now.’ She turns to go back across the crossing, but then pauses, and spins around again. Now she has a huge smile on her face. ‘And…anks-thay, Illie-bay!’
Billie laughs. ‘O-nay oblems-pray.’
Within a few minutes, the original members of the SMC along with their newest member are sitting in Mrs Singh’s office. They are jiggling with excitement. Mrs Singh is studying the map of the school on her desk.
‘Well, my goodness gracious me!’ she says, looking up at them and pushing her reading glasses up onto her head.
Billie has never seen Mrs Singh look so excited.
‘You know, I think you might be right! It does look like there’s a little room there. That’s certainly worth investigating! What a clever group of detectives you are!’
‘We couldn’t have done it without Edwina,’ Billie says quickly.
‘Well, once again you have shown how well you work together as a team,’ Mrs Singh says, smiling. ‘And it looks like Edwina will make a valuable member of your club!’
Billie glances at Edwina, who looks proud. ‘Elcome-way!’ she whispers.
‘Ank-thay ou-yay!’ Edwina whispers back. Billie can see the tips of her ears have turned pink underneath her hair.
‘We might have to close the library for a couple of days,’ Mrs Singh says. ‘But I think it’s about time that time capsule was found, don’t you? I can’t wait to see what’s in it! And I think our local media might be pretty interested, too.
I’ll give them a call.’ Then she pauses, looking thoughtful. ‘There is one problem, though.’
‘What’s that?’ Billie asks, feeling a flutter of worry in her stomach. She hopes they haven’t done anything wrong. Mrs Singh looks suddenly very serious.
Then Mrs Singh’s face breaks into a huge smile. ‘I’m afraid your Secret Mystery Club might not remain secret for much longer.
Once the word gets out who discovered the treasures in the school walls, you kids will be famous!’
Billie and her friends squeal and dance up and down on the spot. Famous? This is the best news ever.
That weekend, the Secret Mystery Club have an extra-special club meeting at Billie’s house. But instead of meeting in the treehouse, this time they are all in Billie’s lounge room, gathered around the TV.
Everyone’s parents are here too. They are all crowded into the room, sitting on the couches and on the floor, chatting loudly.
Billie’s dad has baked chocolate cupcakes especially for the occasion, with the letters SMC across the top in green icing.
Noah has already eaten three of their special cupcakes and has left sticky chocolate fingerprints all over the coffee table.
He climbs onto Billie’s lap to make sure he is right in the middle of the fun. Billie rubs off the chocolate he has smeared on her jeans.
‘Hi, Ina!’ Noah says, waving to Edwina. No matter how many times Billie tells Noah her name, he still can’t say it right. She has given up trying to teach him.
‘Here it is!’ Billie’s mum says, dashing over to the TV to turn the sound up. ‘Shhh, everyone!’
They all fall quiet and stare at the TV. Everyone cheers when an image of their school comes up on the screen. They watch the reporter speak into a microphone.
‘For nearly a hundred years, this school has hidden a long-lost secret deep within its walls. A secret message from the students of the past to students of today. The whereabouts of this time capsule had long been forgotten, and it took five intrepid young detectives to uncover the treasure.’
Everyone cheers loudly again. Especially the five members of the SMC!
‘Look, look!’ Mika shouts. ‘It’s Mrs Singh!’
The reporter holds the microphone up to Mrs Singh, who blinks nervously into the camera. ‘Yes, well, I’ve always known there was a time capsule hidden in the school,’ she says, ‘but it had become a bit of an urban myth, handed down from one school principal to another.
I never dreamt ours would be the lucky generation to find it.’
Now the camera shows the library. Even though the area
has been roped off, Billie catches glimpses of people she knows jumping and waving, trying to get on TV.
She giggles. ‘Look! There’s Benny and Sam! And is that Rebecca there?’
They all laugh when the camera catches a shot of Miss Davenport looking annoyed that her once-neat library is such a terrible mess.
Finally, the camera focuses on what they’ve been waiting for. Once Billie had pointed out the seam in the wall behind the bookshelves it had been easy for builders to carefully cut out a square of the wall. Behind it, just as they’d hoped, was a large metal chest tucked away in the little gap between the two rooms.
Everyone in Billie’s lounge room watches, holding their breath, as the camera zooms in on the chest.
The mayor has been invited for the occasion. She makes a speech about what a wonderful day this is. Then she opens the chest carefully.
Two experts from the museum reach into it with white gloves and pull out the things inside, one by one.
‘Here we have a box of old pen nibs,’ one expert says, holding one up for the viewers to see. ‘And here is an inkwell. And this is called a slate,’ he continues, pointing to what looks like a small blackboard.
‘Children wrote on these with slate pencils to save paper.’
‘Like olden-day iPads,’ the other expert jokes. Everyone laughs.
The experts continue to pull out things from the box and explain how each item was used at school a hundred years ago.
‘It’s incredible how well-preserved everything is,’ says one expert. ‘This is really quite a find!’
Finally, one of them pulls out a small bundle of letters.
She gently unties the ribbon around them and reads out the first letter of the bundle:
To the children of the future,
We hope that whenever you find this time capsule, years from now, you will get a glimpse of what life was like in our day.
