Sage Greene and the Mystery of the Vanished Package

On a bright, sunny day, middle-school sleuth Sage Greene bikes down a street of Reston townhouses. The houses all look very similar, but Sage knows where she’s going: Cassie’s house for a babysitting gig. She parks her bike beside the front porch. Cassie’s mom greets her at the door.

“Thanks for watching Cassie while I’m out, Sage,” says her mom. “Can you try to get her outside for a walk? She’s been playing video games all day.” Sage agrees and walks down to the dark basement where Cassie is playing. The room glows from the video screen.

Sage waits a long time for Cassie to finish a level and then asks, “Hey Cassie, wanna go for a walk?” Cassie mumbles, “No, I don’t want to go outside.” Cassie’s phone goes “Bing!” She looks at it and squeals in delight. “I gotta go outside!!!”

Sage asks, “Why?” as she chases Cassie running to the front door. “My new video game disc just got delivered to my front porch,” she cheers as she opens the door. The bright sunlight shines in her eyes through the doorway. “Aaah! My eyes!!!” Cassie screams.

“Let your eyes adjust, Cassie,” says Sage. Cassie rubs her eyes and then is horrified that there’s no package on her porch. “It’s been stolen!” she shouts. “How do you know?” asks Sage.

Cassie shows Sage her phone displaying a photo of Cassie’s video game package on a shady porch. Cassie cries “This photo was taken only five minutes ago! Someone snatched it right after!” Puzzled, Sage says, “Hmm. My bike isn’t in the picture.” “Oh no! Was your bike stolen, too?” asks Cassie.

They look beside the porch and see Sage’s bike is still where she parked it. Sage says, “My bike wasn’t stolen and I don’t think your package was stolen, either.”

How does Sage know?

Solution: Sage shows the photo to Cassie. “The porch in this photo is in the shade but your porch is in direct sunlight. The houses on your street look very similar so I think the delivery guy put it on the wrong porch.” “So where is it?” asks Cassie.

“I think it might be at a house across the street because those porches are in the shade,” says Sage. “Then let’s go!” cheers Cassie.

Sage and Cassie walk down the other side of the block looking for the package. Eventually they find a box addressed to Cassie sitting on a neighbor’s porch. They dance to celebrate their success. Cassie got her package and Sage got Cassie outside for a walk!