The Code in the Garden

1. NarratorWhen Zara and Kofi arrived at Grandma Ruth's house, nobody opened the door. A note was pinned to the gate: Gone to buy tea. Garden is open. Look at the labels.
2. KofiWhat labels?
3. ZaraThose, I think.
4. NarratorAll along the vegetable beds, white wooden labels stood beside each plant. Instead of names, each label had a number and a letter: 4S, 9A, 1D, 7D, 2I, 10L, 5U, 3G, 8I, 6N.
5. KofiGrandma has made a puzzle.
6. ZaraA code! I wonder how it works.
7. NarratorThey copied every label into a notebook. The numbers were all mixed up, but the letters looked like the start of a message.
8. KofiWhat if each number is a position, and each letter belongs in that position?
9. ZaraSo the letter with the number one goes first, then the letter with the number two.
10. NarratorZara wrote a new line in the notebook, one letter at a time: D, I, G, S, U, N, O, I, A, L.
11. KofiDIGSUNOIAL. That is not right. There is no word like that.
12. ZaraWait. I think I copied one label wrongly. Let me check them again.
13. NarratorThey ran back to the beds. The label for number seven was not an O. It was a D. Mud on the wood had made it look like an O.
14. ZaraSo it should be D, I, G, S, U, N, D, I, A, L. Dig. Sun. Dial. Dig sundial!
15. KofiDig at the sundial! It stands at the end of the lawn.
16. NarratorThe sundial stood beside the old apple tree. The two friends knelt on the grass and dug gently with their hands. A few centimetres down, they found a flat wooden box.
17. KofiTreasure!
18. NarratorInside the box were two small packets of seeds, a pair of gloves and a note: Well done, detectives. Your garden bed is number thirteen. Plant these and wait for the surprise.
19. Grandma RuthDid you solve it?
20. NarratorGrandma Ruth was standing at the gate, with a paper bag of tea and biscuits.
21. ZaraWe did, Grandma, but it took us three attempts.
22. Grandma RuthGood codes should. Now come and plant your seeds.
23. KofiGrandma, why did you hide a puzzle in the garden?
24. Grandma RuthWhen I was your age, my father hid my birthday presents at the end of a trail of clues. It taught me to look carefully, to check my work and to keep trying when the first answer was wrong.
25. ZaraThat is exactly what happened to us.
26. Grandma RuthOf course. That was the whole idea.
27. NarratorThey planted the seeds in bed number thirteen, side by side, and watered them from the can that Grandma Ruth kept by the gate. In August, three tall sunflowers stood there, taller than Kofi, taller even than Zara.

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