Kelley and the Mystery of the Multiplying Coats

Nancy Drew in the act of sleuthing

CYFM regulars may not be aware of this, but kids who come on the day retreats figure it out pretty quickly: Kelley Borowy loves Nancy Drew. On every day-retreat we always answer a question of the day. “What’s your favorite Christmas present?” “My Nancy Drew computer game.” “What do you like doing on a rainy day?” “Playing my Nancy Drew computer game.” “What did you give up for Lent?” “My Nancy Drew computer game…”

For those of you not familiar with this particular character, Nancy Drew was a young teenage detective who had her own series of mystery books. She was kind of like the female version of the Hardy Boys and in fact, Frank and Joe Hardy make an appearance in her books. (Kelley has commented multiple times on the ironic fact that despite the name, I’m much more like Frank than Joe Hardy.) Sleuthing around, searching for clues, catching bad guys red-handed, all while living the life of an otherwise ordinary teenage girl: that is Nancy Drew.

Little did Kelley know that her Nancy Drew detective skills would soon be required as a real life mystery was about to unfold.

See? Kelley's always cold...

When Kelley moved into the Red House, she came well prepared. All the supplies necessary to complete her tasks for the year were on hand: candles that smelled like something delicious was baking the kitchen, extra lamps, a map of the US to track where she had traveled to, and of course her collection of coats. The coats were a big deal. Kelley gets cold very easily and besides, they looked pretty snazzy. But alas, there didn’t seem to be room in her closet for all the coats. Piling them unceremoniously in a corner of the room didn't seem like a great solution and hanging them over the stairwell would work, but was a little strange. What to do, what to do...With a little exploring Kelley found the solution: there was a closet out in the hall labeled “Strangers’ Coats” that nobody was using. The community wouldn’t mind if she took it over.

Days passed and nothing seemed particularly out of the ordinary. On the other hand, Hollis was looking especially dapper lately. Kelley couldn’t quite put her finger on it, but Hollis just seemed to have good tastes. In fact, it looked like Hollis had the same coat as her. What were the odds? They could be twins! But soon things started to get fishy…

The next day, Hollis again was looking pretty spiffy. She was wearing a nice coat again one just to Kelley’s to tastes. In fact, it looked like another coat Kelley had stashed back in the Red House. Two of the same coats? Something strange was going on. These weren’t coats you see everyday.

Now you never know what to expect in the Red House. The Lord works in mysterious ways. Perhaps it was coincidence or perhaps we were dealing with a miracle not unlike the multiplication of loaves: perhaps Christ was multiplying coats.

"Who would do such a thing?!"

Then again, maybe not... It was time to investigate.

Going up to the hallway closet, Kelley looked in where her coats were kept. All were accounted for, except one and it looked just like the one Hollis was wearing earlier in the day. This was a little too much of a coincidence.
The coats weren't multiplying at all: they were disappearing. It seemed the mystery was pretty much solved. The only thing that remained was the motive. Kelley decided to question the suspect.

“Ummmm, excuse me Hollis. Is that my coat?”

“No! I got it from the hallway closet.”

“Uhhhh, the one labeled “Strangers’ Coats?””

“Yeah! There were all these coats that people had left behind. I figured somebody should use them.”

"Oh yeah!!! Mystery solved!"

“Wait, those are my coats!”

Hollis turned a dark shade of red.

“Oh…”

The mystery was solved: the coats had been mislabeled. Whereas Kelley looked at the closet and saw extra storage, Hollis saw long forgotten clothes. There was a moment of panic when Kelley found out Hollis tried to wash the coats. (The tweed one wouldn’t have survived so well…) but all was well. Hollis was very apologetic and the coats were now accounted for.

Kelley retired to her room quite satisfied. All those skills she'd learned from Nancy Drew had paid off. Little did she know that those skills wouldn't be used again until she solved the mystery of the disappearing food...

THE END