Mara Louis; Girl of Mystery

by Timothy Paterson

internet in Idaho, to protect minors from child predators. He also added that he was encouraging the governors of the other states to do the same thing, as well as petition the federal government to impose stiff penalties for child predators who lured children on the internet.

  The next day at school, Mara showed the letter to Scott, Jordan, and Bailey. Bailey came up with a brilliant plan. She urged the rest of her classmates to write letters to Congress in Washington, to enact legislation to protect minors on the internet. Mara urged the sophomores to do the same. By the end of January, every student in all of the schools of Baltimore had written to Congress. They also urged their friends on their Facebook page to do the same. Gradually, the letter writing campaign spread across the nation, with students, parents, teachers, clergy, and relatives, writing letters, emailing and calling their congressional representatives.

  By the beginning of March, Congress was inundated with millions of letters, emails and phone calls. Congress began to take the issue seriously, and began drafting legislation to protect the children.

  Meanwhile, the video that Bailey and Mara had made was being shown in schools and churches across the nation. Parents were encouraged to watch it as well and discuss the topic with their children. Teens around the nation, who personally knew Mara and Bailey, cheered when they saw them on the video. President Morgan told Mara and Bailey that child safety on the internet was the hot topic in Washington.

  A week before spring break, Mara had another dream. In the dream, Mara heard pleas for help that seemed to be coming from children, but Mara could see no one. She saw pictures flashing by. The pictures included pebbles, Noah’s Ark, a tin can, and a crosscut saw. She also saw a diamond necklace, a high school, and algebra and chemistry symbols. She saw the names Murphy, Dunlap, Nelson, Alex, Marissa, and John Adams. She saw a sign with a picture of a hotel, a blue bird and the number 105 on it. She also saw a table with half-empty bottles of alcohol and drug paraphernalia on it.

  When Mara woke up, she wrote all of the clues in her notebook. At breakfast, she asked her mother if she had made any plans for spring break. “Not so far” said Mrs. Louis. “Where would you like to go?” “I’m not sure, yet” said Mara, “but I should know by this evening. I have to do some research first.”

  That morning, when Mara got to school, she saw Scott, Jordan, Bailey, and she asked them to meet her in the library during lunch. When the four of them met in the library, Mara told the others that she needed their help figuring out clues to a mystery. Scott was always anxious to help with a new mystery, and Jordan wanted to help as well. Bailey thought that helping Mara was a good way to help repay her for all that she had done for her in December.

  Mara read the clues aloud and each person took certain clues and started searching the internet with the clue words, for possible answers. Bailey was a quick learner. She put the words Noah’s Ark, the tin can and the crosscut saw together, and Ark-can-saw jumped out at her. “I think that the mystery will be in Arkansas,” she told Mara. “That makes sense” said Mara, “because I think that the pebbles represent little rocks, as in Little Rock, Arkansas”. Scott located a high school in Little Rock named John Adams High School. Jordan located a list of hotels in Little Rock and saw that there was a ‘Blue Jay Motel’.

  Mara tried to make sense of the rest of the clues. She asked Scott to see if he could find a list of teachers at John Adams High School. When Scott found the list, Mara told him to look for either a science or a math teacher named Dunlap, Nelson, or Murphy.

  After a few minutes, Scott yelled “Bingo! There is a math teacher named Mr. Simon Murphy and a science teacher named Mrs. Jane Murphy.”

  “Well” said Mara. “I think that I have enough information to get started. Hopefully, I will learn more once I get to Little Rock.”

  “I wish that I could go with you,” said Scott, “but I am going with Betsy’s family to Europe.” Jordan told Mara that she could not go, because she and her parents were going to Vancouver for the week.

  “We’re not going anywhere” said Bailey, “because my mom has to work. Do you think that your parents will let me go with you? I’d love to help you solve a mystery.”

  “I’m sure that it will be okay,” said Mara. “I’ll have my mom call your mom tonight.”

  When Mara got home from school, her mom was reading the newspaper. The middle school, where she taught only had a half day, so Mrs. Louis was able to go home earlier than usual.

  “Can we go to Little Rock, Arkansas for spring break?” asked Mara.“Bailey wants to go with us. Could you call her mother and see if she can go?”

  After Mara had showered and changed her clothes, she returned to the kitchen. Her mother told her that Bailey’s mom said that Bailey could go with them. She was pleased that Bailey would not have to stay at home while Mrs. Fuller worked.

  Mara noticed that her mother had made a list of motels in Little Rock. Mara crossed them all out except for the Blue Jay Motel. Next to it, she wrote; ‘room 105’.

  Mrs. Louis looked at Mara strangely, as she called the motel to make reservations. She asked for a room on the first floor, and then said; “Would room 105 and the room next to it be available?” The clerk told her that rooms 105 and 107 were available.

  Mara called John Adams High School in Little Rock and found out that their spring break was not until the week after her school’s spring break.

  When school got out on Friday, Mara went home to finish packing her suitcase. That night, Bailey’s mom dropped Bailey off at the Louis home, so that the Louis family would be able to leave early the next morning.

  By seven o’clock the next morning, the Louis family and Bailey were on their way to Little Rock. Since it would take over sixteen hours to reach their destination, they decided to stop in Knoxville, Tennessee that evening.

  On Sunday morning, they continued on their way, arriving in Little Rock that afternoon. After they checked in to the motel, Mara and Bailey went swimming in the heated pool. That evening, Mara and Bailey got permission to order dinner from room service and eat dinner in their room while they watched a movie. The girls ordered pizza and root beer. There was so much pizza, that there was still two slices left when they were both full. Mara put the tray with the dishes and the remains of the pizza on the sidewalk outside of her door.

  Fifteen minutes later, Mara realized that she had forgotten to put some silverware on the tray. She opened the door and as she was placing the forks on the tray, she noticed that the pizza was gone from the tray. As she closed the door again, she told Bailey; “There must be stray dogs around the motel. The pizza was missing from the tray.”

  The next morning, when Mara was getting directions to the high school from the desk clerk, she asked if they had a problem with stray dogs at the motel, eating food left on the trays. The clerk mentioned that some other guests had also mentioned it over the past few days.

  Mr. and Mrs. Louis knew that Mara liked to work on the mysteries alone, so they dropped her off at John Adams High School and told her and Bailey that they would be back to pick them up in three hours.

  Mara and Bailey had decided what they were going to say, ahead of time. They walked into the front office and asked to speak to the principal. When they walked into his office, he recognized them right away.

  “I’m Mr. Alonzo,” he said. “What can I do for you young ladies?”

  “We are spending our spring break in Little Rock and while we were here, we wanted to see if our video we made was making an impact on the students,” said Mara. “Would it be possible to meet with some of the teachers to see what they think?”

  “A few teachers have a free period at the moment,” said Mr. Alonzo. He escorted the girls to the teacher’s lounge. As Mara and Bailey walked through the school building, they peeked into the classrooms. They saw that the classrooms were overcrowded with students and
the building itself could use some repairs. When Mara asked Mr. Alonzo about it, he agreed with her, but told her that they did not have enough money.

  When they walked into the teacher’s lounge, there were six teachers drinking coffee and going over lesson plans or grading papers. Mr. Alonzo introduced the teachers to the girls. Mara and Bailey were in luck. Both Mr. and Mrs. Murphy were in the lounge. As it turned out, they were husband and wife.

  Mara and Bailey answered questions about the video and then listened to comments about the video as well. They told the girls that Bailey’s story really scared many of the students, and they really paid attention to the lesson that Mara and Bailey tried to teach on the video. Each time the video was shown; there was a lively discussion afterwards.

  When only Mr. and Mrs. Murphy remained in the lounge, Mara and Bailey talked with them for quite a while. The girls learned that both teachers started teaching at the school twenty-seven years earlier. They had been married for twenty-five years. Because they were both so dedicated to teaching and loved working with the students so much, they had never gotten around to having children of their own.

  Mara and Bailey both got the impression that both teachers were very popular with the students. As the four of them