The Easter Egg Mystery

Written by Tom Fowler, Published on 9/21/2009

Karen Sheldon had loved Easter egg hunts ever since she was a little girl. That is why she eagerly volunteered to assist with this year’s Hunt for the children at her church.

This year, the Children’s Day Out mothers decided to do something different. Because there were so many children of all ages in the congregation, they split the hunt up into age groups. Karen’s job was to oversee several of the 6-10 year olds.

Within her group were five children she knew well. They were Rachel Smithson, whose mother Karla had volunteered to help a very grateful Karen, Justin Bates, a classmate of Rachel’s, Karen’s daughter Lizzie, Lizzie’s best friend Anna Laughlin and Cole Bryant, who was also the Sheldon’s next door neighbor.

The Easter egg hunt was on Saturday morning, the day before Easter Sunday. It was held in the large field in back of the church. Karen and Karla were grateful that today was sunny and warm although it was a bit windy. Karen was excited as the children prepared for the hunt, which was to begin at 10:00 am and last for one hour. Just before the start whistle blew, Karen told the children, “I have placed a golden Easter egg in our hunting area. There is an extra bag of candy for the child who finds it.” Only Karla and she knew that the golden egg was placed in back of the largest tree in the field, an old oak in the far corner to the left of where she and the children now stood and an area dedicated to the 6-10 year old age group.

During the hunt, Karen and Karla visited while they watched the egg hunt. During the hunt, Karen noticed that Cole stayed focused on the evergreen shrubbery in the middle of the field, finding several eggs there, much to his delight.

Karen was amused when Rachel ran to her mother and told her, “I have found a lot of eggs. I’m heading back to the rock pile. I bet I will find the golden egg there!” The rock pile was to the right of the evergreen shrubbery.

In the middle of the hunt, Karen excused herself to go inside the church to get a drink of water and sit for a few minutes. When she returned, Karla told her, “I had to run over and warn Lizzie to be careful of the dead branches on the big oak tree. One of them fell last week, hitting one of the older kids.”

As the hunt began to wind down, Karla walked out to speak with a very agitated Anna. After returning to Karen, she told her, “Anna is upset because she has found only a few eggs. I told her to keep looking; there are still a few minutes to go.” Karen noticed that Anna stayed close to Karla for the remainder of the hunt.

As the whistle blew to end the hunt, Karen walked to the center of the field to wave Justin back in. He was in the far right corner of the field, where he had been for the entire hunt. There was a sand pit in that area and Justin found several eggs there.

As the kids headed back to the start area, Karen once again excused herself to go inside. The wind had blown a speck of dust in her eye when waving Justin down and it was very painful. When she returned from rinsing her eyes, Karla and the five children were smiling at her. She asked, “What’s up?”

Karla answered, “One of our kids found the golden egg. We want you to guess which one.”

Karen smiled in return, saying, “So that’s it!” Thinking for a moment, she said, “I only have one question. When I was inside the first time, did any of the children move from one side of the field to another?”

Karla answered, “No.”

Karen tousled Justin’s hair and said, “Good. Then I know who has the golden egg!”