With the oppressive heat and humidity of the summer finally giving way to the crisp cool of fall, the early morning bus trip to the pumpkin patch provided a much-needed break from the rigorous routine of the elementary school day for both students and teachers alike. 

The two busloads of kindergarteners from Willis Road Elementary were taking the annual October trip to Pete’s Pumpkin Patch and Farm. After the hour-long drive winding down narrow country roads and navigating small southern towns, the buses passed through the gates and pulled into the parking lot of the 100-year-old pumpkin farm. 

Cheers rose up from the children as the buses came to a halt signaling the beginning of their long-awaited adventure. After getting instructions from their teachers to stay together and obey all farm rules, 80 excited students stepped out of the buses and onto the fields. Unknowingly, they also stepped out into something else. 

A real-life mystery.

A large man in overalls greeted the students and waved them over to a long row of pens containing farm animals. “Welcome to Pete’s Pumpkin Patch and Farm. I’m Pete.” A loud honk came from one of the pens. In response, Pete gave a hearty laugh along with a huge smile. “And that there’s Gertrude the goose. She’s one of many animals on the farm happy to see y’all today.”

 The children laughed as Gertrude continued to honk.

“Don’t mind her. She’s just hungry. All the animals are. Been waiting for ya to feed them. Y’all wanna give them breakfast?” 

The children shouted their agreement. 

Another laugh from Pete, “Well, alright then. We’ll split y’all into four groups: the corn maze, the hayride, the county extension service, and feeding the animals. Why we got cows, goats, chickens, and a couple of swans…”

“Honk! Honk! Honk!”

“And of course Gertrude.” 

The children laughed again as teachers directed them over to their first stations to start the day at the farm. As they did, Gertrude honked her way through the crowd of delighted children with Pete rushing after her. 

“Gertrude! Get back in your pen!” After a brief chase, he led the wayward goose back to her pen. “Sorry, kids. She’s always getting out. A little magician and escape artist that one, but we love her.” 

Gertrude honked one last time as he latched the gate shut.

For the next three hours, the children delighted in getting lost in the corn maze, riding the tractor-pulled hayride, learning about farm life from the extension service, feeding the animals, and of course, honking back at Gertrude. After a picnic lunch, the children visited the small farm store before walking back to where the buses were parked. 

Pete stood next to the open bus doors to say goodbye to all the kids. “Thanks for ‘coming. Hope y’all had a good time.” 

“Honk! Honk! Honk!” The children laughed as Gertrude waddled across the field and over to the buses.

“And Gertrude says bye too.” Pete laughed then added, “Oh, almost forgot. Got something special for you. A little something to remember your trip to the farm. My boys done put them on the bus.” He waved goodbye to the busloads of excited but tired children as they left the pumpkin farm behind. 

What they didn’t leave behind was the real-life mystery.

The buses pulled into the school parking lot moments before the dismissal bell rang. Teachers gave their instructions as the bus doors opened. “We’ll go back to the room and quickly get packed up. Make sure you take everything with you off the bus. We’ve got to hurry. It’s time to go home.”

After dismissal, the teachers went back over to the field trip buses to gather the large boxes placed on the buses by Pete’s boys. The boxes on the floor in the back of the buses were filled with miniature orange pumpkins – one for each child who visited the farm that day. When they returned to their classrooms, the teachers counted out the pumpkins only to find they were sixteen short. An entire kindergarten class would not receive their pumpkins the next morning!

A hasty radio call was made to the field trip bus driver who had just left the school asking her to search for the missing pumpkins on board. None were found. 

Security cameras in the office were checked to see if anybody had boarded the bus after it had returned to school. No one had.

Lastly, a quick call was made back to Pete’s Pumpkin Patch and Farm and to Pete himself. 

“Don’t know how it happened. My boys always double-check the count. We know how special it is for all the kids to get their pumpkins. They’re in the fields now, but I’ll check with them when they come in and call y’all back tomorrow.”

The morning phone call from Pete provided no insight as to the whereabouts of the missing sixteen pumpkins. Pete’s teenaged boys swore they’d placed a large, open cardboard box inside of each bus right next to the driver’s seat – insisting they had checked and rechecked the number of miniature pumpkins in each box.

The missing pumpkins were only half the mystery. Two days later, a large, open box was found outside the front doors of the school. Inside were sixteen miniature pumpkins.

When the principal called back to thank Pete for the special delivery, Pete’s reply was a surprise.

“Ain’t got a clue. Don’t know where they came from. We were gonna bring more your way this afternoon. Guess we don’t have to now. Just glad the kids got them, but they didn’t come from us.”

If indeed the pumpkins had been placed on the bus and not miscounted, how did the sixteen pumpkins vanish during the drive back? And how, two days later, did the pumpkins reappear in a box in front of the school? And why had no one taken credit for the delivery?

The mystery befuddled students, teachers, the principal, and even local police department for months. At a loss in the investigation, the police chief finally turned to the one person who had solved other “impossible to solve” cases in the past – like the Case of the Flying Trampoline. When called upon, this person gathers a crew of unique students to assist with the sleuthing. Classmates and teachers know the real name of this team leader, but when the mystery-solving hat goes on, they become…

The Fifth Grade Detective.