Solve The Mystery of the School on Fire with the SMS Gang | EXTRACT

A charming hill town. A close-knit community. A school cradled in the lap of nature. And three young children in search of mystery…Meet the Super Mystery Solvers or the SMS gang of Aditya and Akriti, the nine-year-old twins, and their close friend Kabir.

Read an extract from this first mystery in the newly-launched SMS Detective Agency series by Ravi Subramanian, in which the SMS gang solves the perplexing case of how and why their school catches fire, not once but twice!

The Fourth Graders of Sacred Heart Public School were on a visit to the local post office in Solan. Solan was a small picturesque town at the foothills of the Himalayas. It was a town where gossip spread quickly and nothing—absolutely nothing—remained hidden. A place where crime was unknown till a few years ago. So much so that lack of work had made the city police rusty and lethargic.

Since Solan was in a valley, the mornings and evenings could get quite cold. But not today. Today was unusually warm. The sun was at its brightest.

Aditya was the first to take off the red sweater that was part of the school uniform and tie it around his waist. His classmates were quick to follow. Fortunately for the children, Sister Maria Leena, the school principal, did not notice this as she and the Postmaster General of Solan were walking a few steps ahead of the students.

Sister Maria Leena was a stickler for discipline. She had been the principal of Sacred Heart for as long as one could remember. In fact, almost every family in Solan had been through the portals of her school at some point or the other.

The post office was an imposing brick structure set in the middle of Solan. Legend had it that during the freedom struggle, it was the place where the local freedom fighters would meet and draw up plans to fight the British. Spread over a large parcel of land, it was one of the oldest and prettiest buildings in Solan. Though emails and telephone calls had taken over, a visit to the Solan post office was an annual trek for the Fourth and Fifth Graders at all schools in Solan.

As they approached the imposing structure, the postmaster pointed towards a small pebbled pathway that led towards the side of the building. ‘The mail sorting room is to the right,’ he said. ‘This is where letters are sorted area-wise, for delivery.’

‘No one writes letters these days,’ the postmaster complained to Sister Leena. He had been the postmaster long enough to see changes not just within his building but in the town as well. ‘Couriers and emails have taken over.’ Although they were speaking in hushed tones, Aditya, who was in the bunch of kids right behind them, was close enough to hear their lament. Aditya of the popular Kapoor twin duo was, for a change, standing ahead of all the other kids, a privilege he otherwise never got, because of his height. Curious to hear what was being said, he nudged his way ahead to listen in on the conversation.

‘I am not surprised,’ Sister Leena said, shrugging her shoulders. ‘Something like that is happening to us too. Look at the new school that has opened down in the valley.’

‘Which one? Solan International School?’ The postmaster asked, moving his hand through his mop of grey hair.

‘SIS,’ Sister Leena corrected him. ‘It is S.I.S, not Solan International School.’ She frowned and rolled her eyes. ‘SIS sounds cool. Doesn’t it? New building, modern amenities. They are paying more money to teachers and weaning them away from our school,’ she said sadly. ‘The old order changeth, yielding place to the new.’

‘Yours is definitely a better school,’ the postmaster said, trying to cheer her up. ‘You don’t need to worry.’

‘We know that, the students know that, but somehow the coolness quotient of the new school is so much higher,’ she sighed.

‘And who doesn’t want to be cool these days,’ the postmaster nodded, completing what Sister Leena wanted to say.

‘Exactly,’ Sister Leena found herself rolling her eyes again. ‘I mustn’t do that too often! How will I tell the students to stop rolling their eyes if I get better at it than them,’ she thought, shaking her head. ‘We have a school inspection coming up. The inspection will decide which is a better school. Ours or the new one. Let’s see.’

Aditya was sad to hear his principal feel uncertain about the school’s future. Truth be told, even his parents had discussed shifting him and his twin sister Akriti to the new school. Happily, it had remained just a discussion. The twins had protested so wildly to the suggestion that their parents had to relent. ‘We love Sister Leena, our teachers, our friends! How can you think of moving us to another school?’ they had cried, mirroring each other’s expressions perfectly.

As the postmaster led Sister Leena into the building, he asked, ‘When is the inspection?’

‘Friday,’ Sister Leena replied.

‘Four days to go,’ the postmaster said. ‘Knowing you, I am sure you will be fully prepared.’

‘Oh yes!’ Sister Leena’s face lit up. ‘We do this every year. It is now a complete and thorough exercise. We paint the school. Refurbish the classrooms and labs. Train the students.’ Then she smiled and added, ‘We will come out on top. Lots of effort has gone into it.’

‘I am sure you will,’ the postmaster smiled reassuringly as they entered the mail sorting room on the far left of the post office complex.

Suddenly, the quiet mail sorting room was filled with the sound of choral music. Sister Leena quickly pulled out her phone from the pocket of her habit.

‘Call from school,’ she said as she lifted the phone to her ear, walking away from the crowd. By this time all the other children and the rest of the teachers had also collected in the mail sorting room and were surprised to see Sister Leena rushing out of the room.

Within a few minutes a very agitated looking Sister Leena returned. Her face was a deep red, and droplets of sweat were streaming down her sideburns.

‘I am extremely sorry. I will have to rush,’ she said to the postmaster.

‘Is everything OK?’ the postmaster asked, with a look of concern on his face.

‘There has been a fire on the school premises.’

A collective gasp went up in the air.

‘In the science lab,’ Sister Leena muttered as she hurriedly left the room.

 

To read more from Ravi Subramanian’s new series, order your copy of The Mystery of the School on Fire today!