MYSTERIOUS THE LIGHTHOUSE

Emmy’s trying to figure out what’s going on with her towns old lighthouse

“Don’t forget your sweater, Emmy!”

“Yup, I’ve got one, Mom,” Emmy called before walking out her front door and grabbing her bike.

She’s lived in Northern Shore her whole life, so she knows that though the weather is nice all year round, it can get pretty windy — even if she’s just heading into town. That’s the case this Saturday morning because she just has to get to the bottom of something that’s been bugging her.

Somebody in town must know what’s going on with the lighthouse, Emmy thought as she pedaled along a familiar path — a shortcut she’d discovered years ago.

The thing about the Northern Shore lighthouse is that it’s never worked, or at least it hasn’t while Emmy’s been alive. She’s heard older people in town talk about how it used to, but she’d never seen it light up … until a few nights ago.

She swears she saw the light flash while she was looking out her bedroom window on Wednesday and then again last night, but no one she’s spoken to saw it — not even Miss Dorothy.

Miss Dorothy is one of Emmy’s favorite people in all of Northern Shore. She has a restaurant on Main Street called Dotty’s Donuts, which is funny because, well, she doesn’t serve donuts. Her menu’s full of greasy diner food. When Emmy asked about the name years ago, Miss Dorothy explained that she’d opened the shop on a whim, thinking it’d be fun to make donuts every day, but quickly realized she was pretty bad at it. She switched to diner food instead and the restaurant became a town favorite. “I didn’t have enough money to get a new sign at the time, so I just kept it,” she’d explained. “And it seems silly to change it now.”

Miss Dorothy always has a story for you. Emmy especially loved the one about the old lighthouse. Before she’d heard it, she’d assumed it was broken and the town didn’t want to bother with fixing it, but that wasn’t the case. Miss Dorothy explained that one of the town’s founding families, the Cunninghams, own the property the lighthouse sits on. Generations of the family lived in the big house next door over the years. But after a scandalous divorce a long time ago, the father fled in the night and mother took her young son, Robert, to the city the very next morning. And no one had seen them since. It was such an entertaining story Emmy wasn’t even sure it was real, but she loved hearing it regardless.

She parked her bike in front of Dotty’s, ran behind the counter and found Miss Dorothy. She had her long gray hair tied up in a bun, so Emmy knew she was working the grill this morning.

“Need me to wait some tables for you?” Emmy asked.

Miss Dorothy looking up from what she was doing. “Uh oh, what do you need?”

“Who says I need anything?”

“You just have that look.”

“Well, I have a few more questions about the lighthouse.”

“Child, I’ve told you everything I know about it.” “I know you told me the history and everything, but I

really think I saw it flash again last night.”

“Not this again,” Miss Dorothy laughed. “Alright, we can talk it through, but can you do me a favor first?” “Sure thing!”

“Please bring this egg melt to the mayor. I’m a little busy back here.”

Emmy snatched up the plate, happy to have an excuse to talk to Mayor Bob because she swears he knows something about the lighthouse. He was at the table next to hers at Dotty’s the other day when she brought up the lights with her friends, and she knows she saw him smile when she told her story. She asked him about it later, but he stammered something about having a meeting and walked out of the restaurant.

“Order up!” she announced herself when she got to his table.

She watched him quickly minimize a window on his laptop before turning to her with a smile.

“Well, thank you, young lady! This looks delicious,” the mayor smiled.

“You’re welcome,” Emmy smiled back. “I don’t think I’ve ever seen you bring your laptop to Dotty’s before.”

“Oh yeah, I was, uh, just working on some town business.”

Mayor Bob seemed distracted, like he wasn’t even paying attention to Emmy. Then, he raised his hand and yelled, “Ham! Ham!”

Emmy was confused. “I’m sorry. Did I bring you the wrong order? Did you want a ham melt?”

“Oh, no, Emmy, I’m sorry. I was just calling a friend over.”

A minute later, a tall man about the mayor’s age came over and sat down.

“This is my old friend, Ham,” the mayor explained.

“He just got into town.”

“Welcome to Northern Shore,” Emmy greeted him. “It’s basically the best place in the whole world.”

“Oh, I know,” Ham said in a knowing voice. “Northern Shore and I go way back.”

Then, he turned to the mayor and apologized for being late. “I got held up at the hardware store, but Zip ordered the, uh, part we need.”

Honestly, Emmy was pretty bored by their conversation. She was going to quickly ask Ham if he wanted her to place an order for him and run back to the kitchen, but then Miss Dorothy came out and stomped over to the table.

“Little Bobby, is that you?” She was looking at Ham in disbelief.

“Not so little anymore, but yes, it’s me,” he stood up and gave her a hug.

“How are you Dotty?”

The three adults were deep in conversation, but

Emmy tuned them out … until a thought popped into her head.

“I know what’s going on with the lighthouse!” she cried out.

Did you figure it out, too? Try to crack the case before reading the box below.