“Your Mom and brother will be attending your fund raiser tonight, Molly,” Dad said as he drove Molly and her friends to school.
“I know Dad,” Molly said rolling her eyes.
“So guys, are you going to give me an advance clue to your case?” he asked.
“It was me,” Harold said from the back seat.
“No, it is me,” Bev yelled from the seat beside him.
“You are both wrong,” June said from her seat next to Bev. “It is me.”
“There, Dad,” Molly turned in her seat next to him. “Someone in this car might have done it.”
They all laughed as he turned into the school’s parking lot.
It is four o’clock in the afternoon on the first Saturday in April. The gym was again the location of another school fund raiser that begins at 6:00. The four friends walked toward the front door. They were all dressed alike, black slacks, matching jackets, white shirts, and black ties. Harold hurried ahead of the girls and opened the door for them to walk through before him.
“What’s wrong with you?” June asked him as she walked by.
“Yeah,” Bev stated as she followed June into the lobby.
Molly stopped in front of him and simply said, “Thank you.”
Harold shrugged and walked in with her and said,” I was holding it opened for you anyway.”
The lobby was empty, but sounds were coming from the inside the gym. In front of the gym entrance, the remainder of The Whodunnit Club was waiting for them. They all were dressed the same, including Miss Marvel, who smiled at them when they joined the group.
“Hi guys,” she said. “Well, is everybody sufficiently nervous? I am.”
The group laughed. Jason actually had combed his hair and he looked like a grown up to Molly. Carol colored her hair a deep dark red and it was perfect for her outfit.
“You colored your hair,” Harold said to her. “Looks nice.”
“What are we waiting for?” Ted asked. “Don’t we have a lot of work to do to set up?”
“About that,” Miss Marvel said. “We have a little help from the Letter People Clubs, the Cooking Club and the Drama Club. Mrs. Young is making sure everything is exactly right. They all wanted to help since we solved the Photo Booth case earlier this year. All we have to worry about is entertainment.”
The lobby door opened, and Detective Tracy walked in. He was dressed like the rest of them, black suit , white shirt, and black tie, except he also wore a black hat. He stopped and stood by Miss Marvel. Molly was sure she was right about them. They did turn out to be a couple. She looked at them as they stood together. Miss Marvel was taller than the detective as he is only as tall as her shoulders. She was wearing high heel shoes though. They looked cute together.
“Hello, Club,” the detective greeted them. “Ready for your big night to raise a lot of money for the school and your special charity, Mrs. Young’s family. I heard you sold out.”
“We did,” Bev told him. “We had a maximum of twenty tables of ten to start with, but we added ten more tables because of the demand. At $10 per person, that’s about…”
“$3000.00,” Jason completed her sentence.
“Yeah, and how are we going to be servers for all of those tables and all of those people when there is only nine of us? And we also are the entertainment?” Ted asked.
“I told you, we have help,” Miss Marvel said. “Let’s go inside, shall we?”
Detective Tracy held open the door and they entered the gym. Molly was the last one to enter and she paused to take in all of the activity going on around her. The long rectangular tables of the cafeteria were arranged around the room in five sections of six tables. There were three sections nearest the stage and the two remaining sections behind them. The six tables in each section were arranged in two rows and angled toward a center aisle. The tables were decorated with alternating blue and gold tablecloths, the school colors. Mrs. Young was supervising volunteers as they placed flower vases on the tables. Each flower vase also contained a flag with a large black number on it. Everybody in the room is dressed like them in black suits, white shirts, and black ties. Molly was excited to see Mr. Eichenberger’s band was setting up on stage. They were dressed in the same outfits as they were, too. Mr. Dalton looked up when they entered the room and waved to her. She waved back.
Behind the seating area, five tables were set up in one long row. They also had tablecloths of alternating blue and gold and Miss Heinz was supervising the Cooking Club as they placed salads on the tables. They, too, were dressed in the same outfits as The Whodunnit Club.
“Well, you can see how we are getting our help,” Miss Marvel said to them. “You will be working with a few others at your serving section. When it is time for our play, remember there are three acts to our Mystery dinner. They will be presented after each course, salad, the main course, and dessert.”
Detective Tracy had left them while Miss Marvel reminded them what was going to happen and had returned. He started handing each of them a small stack of pamphlets.
“Take a look at these,” he began telling them. “Inside, it lists the characters you are playing. We will give the audience instructions on how they will be participating in the solving of the Mystery when the dinner starts. When we serve each course, each table will discuss what the scene we acted out tells them to help them solve the case. You can answer questions during that course as you serve them but do not tell them whodunnit. After the last scene and after dessert, each table will have to come up with who they think did the crime and then we will reveal it. We have a prize for the winner or winners. Remember, one of you will not be returning or seen after the salad course because you are the victim.”
“Excuse me for interrupting,” Mrs. Young said as she entered the club’s circle. “I hope everything looks all right.”
“It looks lovely,” Miss Marvel said. “Is your daughter here?”
“No, not yet. My husband will be bringing her. She has to use a wheelchair still, but the pins are going to be removed from her ankle next week.”
“Oh, that’s good to hear,” Molly said to her.
“I just wanted to quickly tell you once again, thank you for helping us out. The portion of the money you receive for your Mystery Dinner fund raiser that you are giving to us, will help us immensely. Thank you all your kindness even after I did to the others.”
“Your very welcome,” Miss Marvel assured her.
“Well, thanks again,” Mrs. Young said and hurried away to supervise someone, somewhere else.
“As we agreed, we will be working in teams of two,” Miss Marvel said. “One team, will have three because the victim will be gone after the first course.”
“Yes, it’s June and Ted, Jason and Carol,” Bev started to remind everyone of their teams. “And me, Harold, and Molly are the last team.”
“And me and Miss Marvel are another team,” Detective Tracy added.
“That’s four teams accounted for, so the Letter People and Drama Clubs are heading up the other teams and helping us out, too. The Cooking Club is, of course, cooking for us,” Miss Marvel said to them. “Before we start. I wanted to say how proud of you I am and thank you for making The Whodunnit Club is so special to me. Have fun tonight and don’t worry if you mess up tonight. We are doing this for fun so let’s have some fun! Let’s get everyone together in front of the stage.”
The group spread out and started telling everyone to come up front. Miss Marvel climbed the steps onto the stage and approached Mr. Eichenberger. He then led her to the microphone closest to the front of the stage. Mr. Dalton started a drumroll and ended it with a crash of a cymbal. The gym quieted down.
“Hello everyone,” Miss Marvel began to speak. “Thank you for helping us out. First, I want to let you know how much we appreciate your helping us with our club’s fund raiser.”
A small ripple of applause sounded from the group in front of her, followed by another cymbal clash.
“I hope you all understand what you are doing as the doors will be opening soon. We have lists taped to the wall with names of the individuals and their assigned table number if they need help finding them. Thanks to Mrs. Young for handling all of that for us.”
Another ripple of applause, followed by another cymbal clash. Miss Marvel turned to look at Mr. Dalton who shrugged at her and crashed the cymbal again. Molly laughed to herself.
“Now as people get seated, try to get a drink order for them as soon as you can, and exactly at 7:00 p.m., I will stop the band, welcome everyone, and introduce the characters of our mystery game and how it is going to work. After each act, we will serve the meal, one course at a time. The solution will be announced after dessert. The way we will do that is, first, collect each table’s guess. Second, we will announce the criminal and the winning table or, tables, and then the prizes will be presented. Are there any questions?”
After act one, and Molly helped serve the main course, she walked around the lobby and entered the gym behind the stage and climbed of few steps to be on it. She found a chair in the wings, sat down, and watched the band play. Mrs. Ironside was singing “The First Time Ever I Saw Your Face” and she wondered how old that song was. She laughed to herself as she turned herself to the mystery. It was a murder mystery and she was the victim. She wondered if the tables were using Sherlock Holmes powers of observation, deduction, and knowledge to solve her case. She was hoped some will solve whodunnit. After all, doesn’t the butler always do it.
The End – April 9, 2021
My First Stories 