Mystery in the Woods

Allie and Logan know they are great explorers. Every day after school, they run straight for the woods behind their houses. 

They are always finding amazing things. They just know that one day, they will find something no one has ever seen before. 

Today, Allie is walking in front of Logan. Then she stops. 

“Hold up,” she says. She bends down. 

“What is it?” asks Logan.

They stare at tracks in the mud. The tracks look like giant paw prints. They have lines at the top of them. 

Logan puts his hand next to one of the prints. “This is way bigger than my hand!” he says. 

They follow the tracks. What animal could have made them? 

“This is a mystery,” says Allie.

“They could be mountain lion tracks,” says Logan. 

“They could be raccoon tracks,” says Allie.

“Those would be some BIG raccoons,” says Logan. 

“They could be bear tracks,” says Allie. 

“The tracks are so big and strange,” says Logan. “What if they’re from a new kind of animal that no one has ever seen before?” 

The kids look at each other. 

“If we discover a new kind of animal,” says Allie, “we’ll be famous.”

The next day after school, Allie and Logan meet up again. This time, they are ready to find clues. They have a magnifying glass. They have Allie’s mom’s old phone to take pictures. 

Allie and Logan find the tracks again. But the tracks are messed up. Shoe prints are all over them. 

“Um, I think those are our shoe prints from yesterday,” says Logan. 

“Oops,” says Allie. She takes some photos anyway. 

“Look! Brown fur on this branch!” says Logan. 

They examine it with the magnifying glass. 

“Raccoons are more gray than brown,” says Logan. “We can cross raccoons off the list.”

They walk on. “We should look up bear and mountain lion tracks on that phone,” says Logan. They look up the tracks.

“Well, we can cross mountain lions off the list too,” says Allie. “Their tracks don’t have those lines at the top. And they seem smaller than these.”

“They could be bear tracks,” says Logan. “But I’m not sure. The tracks are too messy today.”

“We’ll need to keep investigating,” Allie says. “But how?” 

Allie and Logan really want to find out what made the tracks. They need to see the creature for themselves. Then they can prove that they have found a new kind of creature. They will be famous all over the world! 

“We’ll be all over the internet,” says Allie. 

They decide to camp out in Allie’s backyard. They will watch for the creature all night. 

They set up a tent. They have sleeping bags, flashlights, popcorn, cocoa, and Allie’s mom’s old phone. 

Night comes. Shadows stretch over the yard. 

Allie and Logan sit in front of the tent. They wait for the creature in the darkness. 

They stay up as late as they can. Finally, they go into the tent, just to take a nap. But as soon as they zip the tent flap shut, they hear something. 

Rustle, rustle.

“Get a flashlight,” whispers Allie.

“Get the phone,” whispers Logan. 

They peek out of the tent. Logan clicks on the flashlight. 

Something moves in the branches. Then—

“Oh. My. Gosh,” says Allie.

It’s a giant BEAR!

Allie snaps a photo. Then they zip themselves back into the tent as fast as they can.Soon, the noises go away. 

Allie and Logan spend the rest of the night in the tent. They don’t sleep. In the morning, they come out rubbing their eyes. 

“I guess we solved the mystery,” says Logan.

“Yeah, but we’re not going to be famous,” says Allie. “It wasn’t a mystery creature. A lot of people see bears.”

“That’s true,” says Logan. “But I wonder if anyone else in our class has seen a bear in the wild.”

They look at each other. 

“Logan, we’re probably the first kids in our school to see a bear in the wild,” says Allie.

“I think we’ll get on the school website,” says Logan. 

“We’ll be all over the internet after all!” says Allie.