The Guitar Pig Mystery

“Why were you in Aunt Kim's room, Daniel?” asked Evelyn.

Daniel shut the door behind him. “I'm looking for her pig.”

“Aunt Kim has a pig?” asked Evelyn, wide-eyed. “She didn't show it to me.”

Daniel and Evelyn were cousins. They were at Grandma's house for a family reunion. Right now, people were listening to each other play music on the front porch.

Daniel said, “Aunt Kim asked me to bring her pig down to the porch. She said she always plays the guitar with it.”

“Oh, her pig must be like my reading teacher's dog at school. When I'm reading to Coco, it's easier.” Evelyn smiled. “What's her pig's name?”

“She called it Lucky. She said it was pink, and she'd left it on her bed. But it wasn't there.”

Evelyn said, “Pigs like to eat. Maybe somebody's giving Lucky a snack in the kitchen.”

But the kitchen was empty of pigs and people. Just to be sure, they opened the pantry door and looked under the table. “It rained this morning. Maybe Lucky's rolling in a mud puddle,” said Daniel.

The cousins went out the back door. Their sneakers squished in the wet grass. They looked all over the yard. “No mud puddles out here,” said Evelyn. “And there aren't any holes in the fence, so Lucky didn't run away.”

Back inside, they checked around sofas and chairs and bookcases. “Here, Lucky!” But they couldn't find the pig.

Evelyn folded her arms. “I don't think Lucky's in somebody else's bedroom. The doors were all closed. Wouldn't you see a pig coming in when you were going out?”

“But Lucky is little. Aunt Kim told me she looked in her purse, and the pig wasn't there,” said Daniel.

“She keeps a pig in her purse? Lucky must be really small,” Evelyn said. “Are you sure it wasn't in Aunt Kim's room?”

“My cat hides under beds sometimes. Maybe Lucky does, too,” Daniel said. He led the way back upstairs. On his hands and knees, he lifted the blue and white quilt's edge. “No pig here.”

Meanwhile, Evelyn spotted something pink and plastic on Aunt Kim's quilt. It was shaped almost like a triangle. “Daniel, did Aunt Kim ask you to get her guitar pig? Or did she say guitar pick?”

Her cousin shrugged. “It was hard to hear her, because Dad and Uncle Mike were playing their fiddles. What's a guitar pick?”

Evelyn held up the pink triangle. “Yesterday, before your family got here, Aunt Kim played the guitar for me. She was using this. I think it's called a guitar pick.”

Daniel tilted his head. “Well, it is pink, and it was on her bed...”

The fiddle music was over when the cousins walked onto the porch. Aunt Kim was talking to Grandma. Before the cousins could say anything, Aunt Kim said, “Oh thanks, you two! I really don't like playing without my lucky guitar pick.” Evelyn handed it over, and Aunt Kim strummed a few times. “I hope it wasn't hard to find.”

“It was just where you said,” said Daniel, winking at Evelyn. She laughed so hard her braids bounced.