The Case of the Missing Jump Ropes
1On Monday morning, the jump rope bin in the school gym was empty. All six jump ropes were gone! Kofi stared into the bin. He wondered where the ropes could be. Jump ropes cannot walk away by themselves.
2At lunch, his friend Lena leaned across the table. "I heard that some fifth graders took the ropes out to the playground," she whispered. Kofi did not know if that was true. Lena had heard it from someone else, and nobody had seen the ropes outside.
3After lunch, Kofi looked around the gym. He spotted a tiny red bead from a jump rope on the floor. Then he spotted another one, and another. The beads made a trail to the storage room. Now Kofi suspected the ropes were in the storage room, but he had no proof.
4Then Kofi noticed a note on the storage room door. It was in Coach Rivera's handwriting: "Fixing the jump ropes. Back soon!" Kofi believed the mystery was almost solved. He ran to find the coach.
5Coach Rivera unlocked the storage room. There, on a long table, lay all six jump ropes. Now Kofi knew exactly where they were. The coach explained that one rope had broken on Friday, so she took them all in to check them.