The Globe's Afternoon Address

Every morning, the classroom helpers placed the globe on the tall cabinet beside the dictionary. Every afternoon, Dalia found it on the low table across the room. On Monday, she carried it back. On Tuesday, she pointed it out to Emmett. By Wednesday, they had given the puzzle a name: the globe's afternoon address.

"Maybe it rolls," Emmett suggested. Dalia examined the globe's broad, flat base. Then she looked at the open floor between the cabinet and the table. "It would have to climb down and walk," she said. Emmett grinned, but he crossed rolling off their list. Someone was carrying it. They wanted more evidence before deciding who or why.

In her notebook, Dalia wrote the heading Globe Clues. Under it, she drew the low table, the globe, and two small paper arrows taped near the table's edge. Her caption said, "The globe stands between the arrows." Emmett noticed that the globe faced a different direction each afternoon, although its base stayed between those same marks.

"Ren stays inside for a minute when we leave for recess," Emmett said. "That's a clue, not an answer," Dalia replied. "We shouldn't accuse someone of doing something wrong when we don't even know whether anything is wrong." They agreed to watch what happened instead of inventing a story about it.

Thursday's rain brought indoor recess. While some classmates played board games, Ren carried the globe to the low table. He borrowed the classroom tablet from Ms. Vega and propped it on a stand. On the screen, the globe's round outline fit neatly between the paper arrows. On the tall cabinet, its top would have been above the camera's frame. Dalia's pencil stopped moving. The table wasn't a hiding place. It was a filming spot.

Ren slowly turned the globe. "Here is a place with a very long coastline," he said toward the tablet. Then he paused before giving another clue. When he finished, Dalia asked about the recording. "My sister's kindergarten class is taking pretend trips," Ren explained. "Their teacher asked for globe riddles. Ms. Vega said I could make one each afternoon."

Ren showed them yesterday's recording. Between clues, he left enough quiet time for the younger children to point or guess. "I leave the globe here so Ms. Vega can check the video beside it," he added. "The helpers put it away the next morning." Emmett looked from the low table to the tall cabinet. "So its new address is really a tiny studio."

Dalia added the explanation below her drawing. Then Ren asked whether they wanted to help write Friday's riddle. Emmett reached for an atlas, and Dalia turned to a clean notebook page. She was glad they had collected clues without calling Ren a troublemaker. Their careful search had found more than an answer. It had found them a job.