Simon looked down at the fridge shelves. Why was there chocolate
in the fridge? He didn't recall wanting to buy chocolate.
"Mom! Did you buy chocolate? Whatever for?"
"No, I didn't buy chocolate. Did you?"
Did I buy chocolate? I don't remember. But I did go to the grocery. Simon
shrugged, it was getting late for school.
"Hey Simon, what are you staring off at again?"
He looked up at his friend Thomas. "Ah, that. Something happened
this morning. "
Thomas looked at him inquisitively. Simon could feel the question
already. He shrugged, "It's just something out of place. I saw chocolate
in the fridge that I didn't buy. "
"What?" Thomas laughed and patted him on the back, in a friendly way,
"Is that it? Your mother must have bought it then. "
"Yeah, I thought so. But she didn't buy chocolate that time. I remember. "
Thomas shrugged and sat down on the seat in front of him. "Why crack
your head over something as small as this? You've better things to do. "
Simon nodded, reluctantly. But he was sure, he knew what he was doing
all the time. And he didn't do things like buy chocolate on a whim.
Nevertheless, he wasn't to know that it was only the beginning.
"It's strange," Simon muttered to himself over lunch.
Floe looked at him concernedly, "You're still worried over the chocolate?"
He shook his head, "No. It's not just that anymore. There's a blank seat
in class. "
Floe and Thomas looked at the empty chair. "Er… ok, there's always been
one there. So what's so troubling about it?"
"Remember how our teacher assigned us our seats?" Simon stood up,
there was definitely something wrong.
"You mean by index number? That was at the start of term right?" Floe
asked him, hesitantly, not following his logic.
Simon frowned at her, "The problem is staring you in the face, why don't
you see it? Look, if we were assigned seats one by one according to
index number, there shouldn't be an empty seat in the middle of class,
right?"
The two of them looked at him. "I guess so. But what's there to get
worked up about?" Thomas asked, a little bewildered. They weren't
completely surprised though. Simon was a stickler for accuracy.
Everything had to match up or he wasn't satisfied.
"It must have just been a mistake. It's not that big of a fuss, right?"
Simon looked around, still getting the feeling of something not right.
Slowly, he sat back down. Looking around is not going to solve this. I need
more evidence. Two unexplained incidents. It might just be coincidence.
Or it might not.
It was more by luck than by his own observation that the third clue came
to him. He was still counting the chairs and tables when it happened.
"23 chairs and tables. But we have only 22 classmates," Simon said to
himself. Behind him, Floe looked at Thomas worriedly. Who merely
shrugged. There was no stopping Simon.
"Kya!" there was a scream from Floe as the class representative tripped
over and fell on her. Simon turned around. While returning the class
register, the representative of the class, Sarah, had fallen over and
bumped into Floe. Simon bent down and picked up the register that
landed at his feet as Thomas helped the girls up.
"Are you ok?" Thomas asked. Sarah nodded. She reached out for the
register but Simon pulled away, still looking at the list.
"What is it, Simon?" Floe put out a hand, taking the register from Simon's
shaking hands, "Found another one?"
Sarah looked at them curiously, "What's going on? Did I make another
error?"
Thomas shook his head, what a reputation Simon had. "He's been going
on about some inconsistencies in the world since this morning," they
looked at Simon's frown and signature thinking poise, "Maybe he thinks
there's some sort of conspiracy going on. "
"Ah… ok. Good luck with that then," Sarah took the class register and left.
Floe shook Simon out of his trance. "What is it? How many other titles do
you want to earn? You're already known for being a perfectionist, Sherlock
Holmes and a daydreamer. "
Simon smiled, he had a hint. A puzzle does exist! "I got it. There's a trail.
Something is afoot. "
After all, they wouldn't have 23 lines in a 22 person class register. And it makes
no sense that the blank line is the 12th…
The exact same index number the non-existent person in the blank seat would
have.
