An Averyverse Special Short
(Originally Posted January 2024 for a friend’s birthday)
If you traveled far enough North from Stillwater Bay, left the State of Social Media in the U.S., and entered the Province of Social Media in Canada, you might have found yourself in another small town built beside a large lake. A town called St. Stillmas.
St. Stillmas was famous for being the home to some famous detective groups throughout the years. First the Maple Leaf Mystery League emerged, although, after some differences of opinion, they split up. This then made room for the creation of the Canadian Conundrum Committee.
However, years before either of these groups existed, a young Aaron lived in St. Stillmas. All Aaron wanted to do was become a great detective like Basil of Baker Street, from the movie. He had hung up flyers all over school, advertising his detective services, but no classmates ever hired him.
One January morning, seemingly no different than any other day, Aaron woke up a little grumpier than usual, as this was no ordinary day. Today was Aaron’s birthday. Not that he didn’t enjoy his birthday, but he was disappointed another year had passed without solving any mysteries.
Despite his grumpy mood, Aaron knew he had to get ready for his party today, so he put on one of his favorite songs while he got dressed. He finished tucking in his white shirt, and was about to put on his classic orange bowtie, but decided with this birthday, he had outgrown it.
Aaron knew this day was coming and had prepared for it. He reached into his drawer, pulled out a brand new orange ascot, and fastened it around his neck.
“Perfect”, he said looking at himself in the mirror. Now that he was ready, he started to head downstairs to wait for his guests to arrive.
A couple short hours later, Aaron was blowing out the candles on his birthday lasagna, surrounded by the people he loved. After the lasagna, it was time for the presents. Suddenly, Aaron had such a towering pile of presents in front of him, he wasn’t sure where to begin.
As he dug into the pile, tearing through different wrapping papers, Aaron thanked his guests for the gifts they brought.
“Thank you Jiles”, he said. “Thank you Merrick. Thank you Wesley”.
Aaron received many great gifts, but his favorite was a large anthology of the top wrestlers that year.
After a few games of “Pin the Antlers on the Moose”, the party ended and everyone left to go home. As Aaron waved goodbye to his last guest, he noticed something sitting on his front porch. It was a birthday present, but where did it come from, he wondered.
Aaron picked up the box, and looked it over intently. The box had a big bow and a small gift tag, but when he read the tag, it said “?” and nothing else.
“How odd”, Aaron said to himself quietly.
Aaron removed the bow and slowly started to open the box, uncertain of what could be inside.
He reached inside and pulled out a brown book, with the word “Encyclopedia” printed on the cover. Aaron opened the book and found that the front cover had something written on it, a short message:
“The next clue can be found where someone like Thomas Saggese would hang out?”
Aaron knew immediately where he needed to go. Without telling anyone he was leaving, Aaron jumped on his bicycle and started pedaling towards the St. Stillmas Baseball Diamond. His heart was racing with excitement.
“A clue!” he remarked to himself, pedaling faster.
Young Aaron arrived at the baseball field and realized he wasn’t sure where to start. He walked around the bases while he thought about the clue, and suddenly a lightbulb went on, and Aaron rushed into the dugout. Sitting on the bench was another present with a large bow and anonymous gift tag.
There was no hesitation this time, as Aaron ripped the box open to get to the clue inside. It was an old photo of two young men standing in front of an old mill. Aaron flipped it over to see writing on the back. The corner read “Frank and Joe H. – 1927”, though the ink was old and faded.
In the middle of the photo, in fresh ink, was another short message:
“The next clue can be found where terrible food is made”.
Aaron thought about the clue and the photo of the old mill. He suddenly had an idea, and jumped back on his bicycle, pedaling quickly away from the baseball field.
A short ride later, Aaron arrived at his destination. He rode his bike into the parking lot of the St. Stillmas town bakery, Hot Fruit, and cringed at the thought of eating any of the store’s wares. Unfortunately for Aaron, he knew he had to go inside to find the next clue.
Aaron walked through the door into the store, and immediately started looking everywhere, but he didn’t see another clue. The woman behind the counter was watching Aaron as he searched the bakery, but he was doing his best to avoid eye contact, fearful she would try to get him to eat something.
After a moment, the woman spoke. “Are you Aaron?” she asked.
Aaron looked at her cautiously, hesitant to answer. He wondered if the bakery was behind all of this. He wondered why they would do this to him. He needed to know more though, so he finally nodded his head yes.
“This is so cute”, the woman said, seemingly to herself. She stepped into the back room of the bakery and returned with another box with the same big bow. “Someone left this here for you”, she said as she handed the box to Aaron, with a big smile. He grabbed it and quickly ran from the bakery.
Once Aaron was safely back outside, he ripped into the box. Inside was an envelope, blank and unsealed. Aaron opened the envelope and removed a piece of paper. It was another short message, written on a page of stationary. The stationary’s header read “N. Drew – 1932”.
The message:
“Find what you’ve been looking for where you might find monkeys and typewriters”.
Aaron wasn’t sure why, but he felt something pulling him towards an old warehouse on the edge of town, so he jumped back on the bike and was off.
When Aaron arrived at the warehouse, the first thing he noticed was there were two other bicycles leaning against the fence, so he leaned his bike there as well. He walked towards the building. Suddenly, two children jumped out from the corner of the building, laughing happily.
“You found us!” a girl in a purple dress exclaimed.
“You’re a pretty good detective”, said a boy who was eating snacks out of a small box.
Aaron looked at them confused.
“We saw your flyers at school, and we want to be detectives too”, the girl said. “I’m Dani”.
“I’m Mark, but everyone calls me Kubey-Doo”, the boy said, holding out his small box. “Kubey-Snack?”
“How do you both feel about setting traps?” Aaron asked.
The three new friends rode home together, discussing all the future cases they might solve, and celebrating the rest of Aaron’s birthday.
Averybody Writes 
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