Mystery of the missing keys at North Bay

Ispent a lot of time during August at North Bay beach. Fabulous! Hundreds of families most days, enjoying the seaside. Wonderful! Here is a mystery beach story, starring Miss Turry and Mr Rhee.

Here is a mystery beach story, starring Miss Turry and Mr Rhee.

The mini-bus pulled up at the North Bay car park. Out came the children, driver and teacher Miss Turry, assistant Mr Rhee, and some parents ready for a day at the beach – the annual school visit.

It was a glorious day, the sun was shining brightly. Sun cream and sun hats, buckets and spades, and words of warning and instruction from Miss Turry. Keep safe! Enjoy! Back on the whistle! Off they went!

Cricket, frisbees, kites, sand castles, buckets of seawater, seaweed, jumping waves, wind breaks and deckchairs.

Now, what was Ian up to? Ian, an energetic child, charged down to the sea, a huge green bucket in his hand. Rock pools! Mr Rhee watched him.

Miss Turry could relax a little. She popped the minibus keys on the large blue cool box, intending to put them safely in her handbag, when… “Stop it Ian!” Ian was chasing Mr Rhee with a huge crab in his hand.

Miss Turry went down and had a teacher chat.

Ian said he was sorry. He thought it was just a bit of fun. “Please may I keep the crabs I get in a bucket of water for a while”. “You must put them back in the sea later.”

Miss Terry left the minibus keys on the box, safely in view. She enjoyed seeing Ian putting crab after crab in his huge green bucket. He took his bucket round the whole group, showing off his catch.

Ian ran up proudly with his bucket full of crabs, put it rather clumsily beside the large blue cool box.

No-one heard or noticed the mini-bus keys gently slide off the top of the box.

Miss Turry blew her whistle. Lunch time! The children gathered. Miss Turry picked up the large blue cool box.

Gulp! She remembered! The keys for the mini-bus! “I put them there, on top.” The keys had gone. Oh dear,

where were those keys? Mystery!

What had been a great morning turned into a panic lunchtime. Everyone had to search. Those keys could be anywhere, easily covered over by sand and lost. Miss Turry emptied her handbag on a blanket to see if the keys were there. No keys!

It was like looking for a needle in a haystack without a metal detector. Miss Turry would phone school later for someone to bring along some spare keys. Luckily, school was not too far away, so no real harm was done.

Finally, the afternoon came to an end. Time to gather things together, leave the beach tidy. Despite the missing keys, it had been a great day.

“Ian, those crabs. Be kind! Pop them back in the sea. They are wild creatures”.

Ian took the bucket. Each crab plopped into the water, one at a time. Ian gulped. When he returned, he looked sheepish. Miss Terry was just about to phone school when Ian meekly handed her the missing keys. They had been at the bottom of the crab bucket all the time. “Sorry, Miss.”

What a day at North Bay! The mystery was solved.