Charlotte's First Mystery, by Zoe Brozyna

Chapter 2: a trip to Florida, and a potential mystery

"What?!" everyone asked. "well.....," said aunt Olivia, "just very wierd things have been happening." "Like what?" Mama asked. "Oh, just things like .......... wellllll....well alright, dogs have been going missing in the town that I live in and I think that there might be a dognaper and....." "Oh Olivia, it sounds like you are just imagining it." Mama replied. Charlotte was uneasy. "But...." aunt Olivia began. "Olivia." Mama began. "Oh, alright, I guess I am really imagining it. Maybe I am just home sick." Then aunt Olivia's face lit up. "Hey", she said. "I've got an idea. How about you guys come visit me for a while? You could stay at the house me and two other girls I know are sharing. Oh, I am sorry, I forgot to tell you. Well I couldn't possibly afford a house in florida on my own, so I am sharing it with two other girls, named Elizabeth and Flora Pearl." "Oh can we Mama? Can we Daddy?" Paige asked. Charlotte was wondering the same thing. "Well...." Daddy began, but Charlotte inturupted him. "After my birthday, and my birthday party which is tomorrow of course." She said. "Well..." Daddy said again. "What do you think about this Belle?" He asked Mama. "I think that if you want to go, and if we can get a ticket some time tonight, after the girls go to bed, it would be nice." She smiled. "Well then, lets go!" "Yay! Yay, Yay yay!!!!!!" Charlotte screamed, and Paige echoed her. Mama, Daddy, and aunt Olivia laughed. "Alright now, calm down, calm down. How about you put on the Judy movie movie,...." The girls giggled. "I am sorry the Judy Moody Movie." Mama laughed.

When it was time for Charlotte and Paige to go to sleep at 9:00, Charlotte grabbed her stuffed Bear Cuddles, and climbed up the ladder to her top bunk. Mama and Daddy came in to say good night, and aunt Olivia came in too. Then Daddy turned off the lights and left the room. Soon she could hear the grown-ups laughing and talking down stairs. Charlotte lay in bed for a long time thinking. Finally, she kicked of her blanket, and climbed down the ladder. First, she checked her clock. It was 9:12. She crept over to Paige's bed. She was relived when she saw that Paige was awake too. "Paige", she said. "Paige I have been thinking. I don't think aunt Olivia was imagining those things that she told us about." "What? but..." Paige started the say. "Paige!" Charlotte said. "Are you kidding?! you really think that a grown up would imagine somthing like that?" Paige looked worried. "Hmmm...... I guess you have a point. But how could all those dogs be going missing?" "That," Charlotte said, "is why, I, think that there is a mystery. Somthing scary is going on at the town aunt Olivia is living in."