The minus mystery
Mildred Minuette wrote mystery stories. Her books were very popular.
In fact, they were so popular that her fans showed up at all hours of
the day and night, begging for autographs. Mildred was so busy signing
autographs, she didn’t have time to write!One day, Mildred disappeared. None of her friends knew where she had
gone. But the next day, her best friend, Penelope Puzzle, got a note
in the mail. It said:Gone to 10 – 4, 20 – 2, 5 – 4, 20 – 6, 9 – 6, 8 – 3
Working on 9 — 7, 19 – 4, 20 — 5, 14 — 3.
Don’t 26 – 3, 16 – 1, 20 – 2, 19 – 1, 26 – 1.
Back 20 – 1, 17 – 2, 18 – 3, 19 – 5.
Where was Mildred Minuette, and what was she doing? Help her friend
Penelope find out.The first step in solving the mystery is to subtract to find the
answer to each problem. Then write the answers in the right order in
the message. In this sentence, the answer to 10-4 goes in the first
blank:Gone to
Now you have a message in code. What will you do next? (Hint: In the
code, the number 1 stands for A and 2 stands for B. What will 3 stand
for?)If you need help, Mildred’s message is below.
Answer: Gone to France. Working on book. Don’t worru. Back
soon.
