Sage Greene and the Mystery of the Missing Cupcakes

Mystery Fiction by Arthur Semicolon Doyle

Family Fun Night in the elementary school gymnasium is chaos. Children run around between activity stations of hula-hoops, obstacle courses, dancing and more. Middle-school mystery solver, Sage Greene, stands in the middle of it looking around nervously.

“22… 23!” shouts a man in the corner. A boy screams, “22! That’s me!” and runs past Sage so fast it spins her around. She comes face to face with her elderly friend Mrs. Gray, who asks, “Aren’t you a little old to be here, Sage?”

Flustered, Sage says, “I’m babysitting my neighbor Cassie because her parents couldn’t come. But I’ve lost sight of her.” Mrs Gray comforts her, “Don’t worry, I’ll help you find her.” As they look around, Mrs Gray says, “I’m a little old to be here too. This is my grandson’s school so I donated 24 of my famous cupcakes for the giveaway.”

“And finally 24!” yells the man. Mrs Gray says “That’s Mr. Rash. He gave out my cupcakes to kids with numbered tickets.” They find Cassie by a wall, looking gloomy. “What's wrong?” asks Sage. “I didn’t get my cupcake and he’s all done now,” says Cassie, handing Sage her ticket with six written on it.

They hustle over to the giveaway table. Mr. Rash is putting on his coat in a hurry. Sage asks him, “Excuse me–” but gets interrupted by a little boy. “Mr. Rash, you’re looking very Skibidi today!” Mr. Rash loses his temper. “Uggh! You kids and your meaningless sayings! I can’t take it anymore!” Mr. Rash storms away. Before leaving the gym, he barks at Mrs. Gray, “Your cupcake container is in the corner.”

Sage is stunned, until she hears a kindergarten girl sniffling beside her. She shows her ticket to Sage and cries, “I’m s’posed to get a cupcake.”

Looking at the ticket, Sage says, “Oh, I see what happened. Don’t worry, girls. Your numbers got skipped but I think your cupcakes are in Mrs. Gray’s container right now.” Mrs. Gray opens the container and two cupcakes are there. She asks Sage, “How did you know?”

Why did Mr. Rash skip the girls’ numbers?