The Whodunnit Club – Chapter 4 – The first Club Meeting

Molly, Bev, and Harold assembled at her locker when the final bell released them from their sixth hour classes.  Molly collected the books she needed to complete homework that night and pushed them into her backpack.

  “So the Whodunnit Club, what do you think this club is all about?” Harold asked as he hoisted his backpack higher on his back.

  “I don’t know,” Bev had already unwrapped a Tootsie Roll Pop and waved it at him.

  “I guess we are going to find out,” Molly said as she closed her locker door and spun its combination lock.

  The three friends started to walk toward Hall 01. Molly draped her backpack over her right shoulder, wondering about the club and, most of all, who is Miss Marvel.  She had decided to dress up for the day and was actually wearing a dress.  Her favorite.  Powder blue and it reached for but not quite met her knees.  She wore a white, long cardigan sweater over it.  The only item she always wore were her bright red high-top tennis shoes.  She wasn’t going to get that dressed up. 

  “What room do we meet in?” Bev asked as they neared the hallway.

  “Room 101,” Molly answered looking down at her hand where she had written the room number.  “My homeroom.” 

  They turned left into the hallway and a quick turn into the first room on the right.  They paused at the door and saw three students already there.  The three of them, two boys and a girl, looked up at Molly, Bev, and Harold.  Molly smiled and walked toward them as Bev and Harold followed her.

  “Hi,” Molly said as she half waved again to the people in the chairs.  “I’m Molly.  This is Bev and Harold.  To get it over with, we are all in sixth grade.  You?”

  “I’m Jason and I am in eighth grade,” the boy with dark, almost black, hair that hung over his left eye spoke first.

  “I’m Carol, “ the black girl with a brilliant, bright smile spoke next.  “I am in sixth grade and I am in your Choir class, Molly.  I sing soprano.”

  “That’s right,” Molly said to her.  “I thought I recognized you.”

  “I’m Ted.  Seventh,” the final boy half waved to them.  He was blond with dark eyebrows.  “We were just talking.”

  “About?”  Harold asked as he slid into a desk that was next to Ted.

  “We were wondering about this club,”  Carol answered.  “The Whodunnit Club.”

  “Sounds mysterious,” Bev stated as she sat next to Harold leaving Molly as the only one still standing.

  “It must be a mystery club,” Molly said as she sat down completing the circle of six.

  “Like Scooby-Doo,”  Jason laughed.  “I’m Fred.”

  They became silent, waiting in their seats when Molly heard footsteps approaching in a quiet cadence.  She turned her head toward the door when Miss Marvel walked through it.  The assistant principal smiled at her.  She was dressed today in a long, pink dress that fell to her ankles.  There was a floral pattern on it, and she wore a light pink sweater with sleeves stopping mid-length on her arms.  Her red hair was pulled up into a high ponytail and when she smiled, her green eyes sparkled.  She continued to walk toward them, pulled a desk around to face them and quietly sat on its chair.

  “Hi, I’m Miss Marvel.  I have met Molly and Beverly but who are the rest of you?”

  The group went around the circle introducing themselves to her.  With each introduction, Miss Marvel reached out her hand and shook each person’s hand.

  “This is it, The Whodunnit Club,” she said.  “We seven, a perfect number, are The Whodunnit Club.  What do you think we are about?”

  “A mystery club,” Jason replied to her as he sat up in his chair.

  “A mystery club, yes!” Miss Marvel exclaimed.  “But not just a mystery club but a mystery solving club!”

  “What mysteries are there to solve at SLMS?” Bev asked skeptically.

  “I can think of one,” Molly volunteered.

  “You can?” Harold turned and looked at her.  “What?”

  “Miss Marvel,” Molly turned from Harold to look at Miss Marvel.

  Miss Marvel looked at Molly, smiled at her and then she admitted.  “I don’t know yet, but we are going to get prepared.”

  “How?” Carol asked sitting up in her chair.

  “Well, I think we need to study the best detective ever known,” Miss Marvel leaned forward.  “Sherlock Holmes.”

  “Who is Sherlock Holmes?” Jason asked, leaning back in his chair.

  “He’s a detective,” Carol answered him.  “A fictional detective.”

  All eyes turned toward her with wondering looks on their faces.

  “What? I read a lot,”  Carol explained.

  “So,” Miss Marvel interjected saving Carol from the questioning looks. “How many of you, besides Carol, heard of Sherlock Holmes.”

  No one responded.

  “As Carol said, he is a fictional detective written by a doctor, Sir Arthur Conan Doyle.  Holmes has a skillset that is a good toolkit for any detective.  It seems we need a trip to the library.”  Miss Marvel stood and smiled at them.  “You may leave your backpacks here.”

  With that, she turned and walked to the door, turned around and waited for them.  Molly stood up and walked toward the door.  The remaining five students rose as Miss Marvel turned to the right and walked out of the room.

  “Last one out, please close the door,” she called behind her as the rest of the club scurried into the hallway.  Harold shut the door and hurried to catch up with the bewildered teenagers as they followed their sponsor down the hall to the last room on the right.  As they entered the library, Miss Marvel led them to the wrap around ledge that surrounded the working area of the school’s librarian.  She turned to face them as they surrounded her.

  “We need to do some research.  I guess this is our first mystery to solve, who is Sherlock Holmes?  I must admit that I know a little bit about him but, truthfully, not a lot.  I know he was written by Doyle.  I think to start we need to find these Sherlock Holmes books.”

  “Most of them are short stories,” Carol informed the group.  “There are anthologies of them.”

  “Good, let’s look for those,” Miss Marvel said and turned to the desk and reached over the counter.  She blindly felt around, stretching onto her tiptoes, and when she finally found what she was looking for, she stood up holding a huge index card box in her hands.  She placed it on the shelf and opened it.  Her fingers began to rifle through the cards and pulled one out.

  “Sir Arthur Conan Doyle,” she read to them. “Section 813, English Literature, fiction.”

  “Let’s go,” Ted said as he led them to the far corner of the library.

  The Dewey Decimal markings were on the front of each bookshelf with bright yellow labels with bold, black letters.  They found 813 mid-way down the aisle of shelves.  They scampered down the aisle looking for Arthur Conan Doyle in the alphabetical setting of books.  Bev found them first ad the others nudged next to her.  There were several titles containing Sherlock Holmes with several copies of each, The Adventures of Sherlock Holmes, The Memoirs of Sherlock Holmes, The Return of Sherlock Holmes, His Last Bow – Some Reminiscences of Sherlock Holmes, among them.  There were a few other Arthur Conan Doyle titles, too.

  “I know the first Sherlock Holmes book was A Study in Scarlet,” Carol remarked as they continued to stare at the many books in front of them.

  “Everyone, select a book.  Fill out the card for the book and leave it on the desk,”  Miss Marvel said as she reached for one and pulled it from the others.  “Bring it back to our room and we will talk.”

  Each student reached for a book and followed her.  Molly took a minute looking for a specific title, reached up when she found it, and pulled A Study in Scarlet from its resting place on the shelf.

  Back in Room 101, the group had returned to their circle.  When they had all settled into place with their book selections in front of them on their desks, Miss Marvel began to speak.

  “Here is our task for next week.  We are to read our books, keep track of what methods Sherlock Holmes uses to solve the mystery, and we will make a list of those skills next Monday.  Agreed?”

  The Whodunnit Club nodded their heads in agreement.

  Molly spread her hands over the cover of the book she selected, “A Study in Scarlet”. She wondered what she would learn about Mr. Holmes.

To be continued…