Birthday Clues

It’s been three weeks since I found it underneath the bench. I’ve thought about handing it over to the police but…what if, y’know? What if it was left for me? What if it means something? So far, I haven’t been able to make heads or tails of what’s inside, but I’m sure it’s significant somehow. It has to mean something!

Who leaves something like this just lying around under a bench? It’s a mystery and I wanna solve it. It could’ve been left by accident but if it was why hasn’t anayone tried to come looking for it? I have lunch on that bench every day … surely if it was lost, I would’ve been approached by now … or someone would’ve put up signs or something…unless…it was left for me!

…

… …

… … …

Ok, that sounds paranoid even to me.

Who would want to leave me, of all people, a briefcase with nothing but a little black book?

I’m sure this book holds something, but I can’t make out the writing. I think it’s a made-up language or something because the databases I’ve checked have turned up squat. I feel in my gut that it’s like a map or something Maybe the answer is in the briefcase…

Three hours later …

Well, that was bust. I turned that briefcase inside out and nothing. Nothing inside it I missed, nothing in the lining I tore out … it’s gonna suck if someone comes for this now … anyway, zilch. Ugh! I’m never gonna figure this out … or am I? It’s like one of those lightbulb moments and suddenly all those hours of reading and watching mystery dramas no longer seem a waste. It may sound crazy but … what if the scribbles in the little black book are a cipher?

I go to my computer but not before grabbing some of my mystery books with ciphers and start working on my abstract little book. Once I know what I’m looking for it takes no time at all to figure out that I’m screwed. It’s a Ottendorf cipher … which means I need a specific book or text to figure out what it all means. UGH!!! In a fit of frustration, I throw the book across my room … and immediately regret it. It’s after midnight and I can hear a door open … I woke someone up and my room still has the torn-up briefcase and now the battered little book lying near it.

Before I can get to them my mom walks in.

“What on Earth are you doing up at this hour? And on a school night!” she chastises me. Before I can get a word out, she sees the briefcase and book.

“Where did you get that? And what have you done to your mother’s briefcase!?” she pokes at the thing with her foot and looks at me expectantly. All I can do is stare back. Mother’s briefcase? Does that mean …

“Mom…if that’s mother’s briefcase, is that hers as well?” I question pointing at the little black book next to the briefcase. Mom seems to hesitate for a second, but she answers.

“Actually … no. That would be yours … or at least it was going to be … for your birthday.”

I’m visibly confused and excited at the same time. So, it WAS meant for me … but my birthday is tomorrow … mom seems to sense my confusion and continues explaining, looking rather bashful.

“You and your ciphers …” she picks up the book and flips through it. “Your mother and I wanted to give you a special surprise for your Sweet Sixteen. Your very own mystery to solve.”

I had about a million questions to ask but she got to them first.

“Your mother lost the briefcase and with it the book a while ago, so we gave up on it. Having that cipher made took two months and it wasn’t saved so we couldn’t just reprint it. We made the executive decision to change the plan to a small murder mystery party at the hotel on Watson street, all your friends are coming. I’m sorry sweetie …”

Sorry? She’s sorry?

“Mom. You have, like, no reason to be sorry. I mean … I got the cipher, didn’t I? I figured out it was a cipher on my own. I’ve been playing with the mystery for three weeks now and, while somewhat frustrating, it’s been mostly awesome.” I meet mom’s gaze and grin, “So … what was the original plan? I mean, now that I have the book and know it’s an Ottendorf cipher, all I need is the next clue. As in, what’s the correct text? How were you going to give me that?”

Mom looks at me in what seems like awe before answering, “Well, it was going to be a riddle, but we never got around to finishing it … it, the riddle, would lead to the first story you read on your own. That would be the key and everything else is already in th—.”

Before she can finish her thought, I’m sprinting past her to our little library room and grabbing my first book: Hercule Poirot: The Complete Short Stories. I run back to my room and find mom is still there. She’s beaming and I’m weirded out.

“Why are you looking at me like that?” I ask, heading to my desk to find a notebook and pencil so I can get to work on my birthday present.

“I’m just so happy it all worked out. You look so excited and that’s exactly the reaction we were hoping for, but,” and at this she walks towards me and starts putting away everything I took out, “it is a school night and you are going to bed right now!” She takes the black book away before I can secure it and heads towards the door. “I’ll give this back tomorrow after school and you can solve your little heart out. Now, goodnight!”

She leaves, closing the door behind her and I’m left there slack-jawed, downcast, and outright excited. I would’ve loved to finish it today but tomorrow works just fine.

The next day …

“MOMS! I’m home!” I yell the moment I’m through the front door and I run to their shared office. “Where’s my book? Where is it? Where is it?!” They both smirk (seemingly amused by my excitement) and mother turns to her desk and from a drawer pulls out the cipher book.

“Now,” mom begins after mother hands me the books but before I can leave, “listen to your mother’s explanation before you go running off.”

I look at mother expectantly. She begins, “Within this little black cipher book is a clue that will lead you to your birthday present. Once you figure out the cipher and find the clue to you present you come straight to us first. We want to be there when you open your gift. Understood?” I nod obediently and before they can stop me, I’m in my room and ready to solve the cipher.

It takes me just under two hours to spell out the clue and I’m both excited and confused. It’s a website to a bank and a username and password … I shrug and head to my moms’ office where they are still working.

“Moms, am I getting a credit card for my birthday?” I ask, having thought of nothing else that could be tied to this clue.

“What? No! Close though. Now stop guessing and come to your mom’s computer,” mother says waving me over. “Sweetie, this present had been in the making for a few years now, we hope you’ll use it wisely,” mother says as I sit at mom’s computer.

I open the browser and go to the bank website. I enter the credentials they created for me and it takes me a second to register what I’m looking at, but when I do I can’t hold back:

“TWENTY THOUSAND DOLLARS!?!?!?”

“Happy Birthday, honey!”

THE END