Seven Keys Found on the Ferry Ramp
When the ferry bumped against the island dock, Tomas was the first passenger off, which is the only reason he noticed the steel ring lying beside the ramp. Seven keys hung from it, and each one wore a scrap of faded colored tape with a number written across it in marker.
"Somebody is probably panicking right now," said his aunt, who picked up the ring and turned it over in her hand. "The numbers must mean something, so let's think it through carefully."
Tomas studied the keys while they walked along the harbor road. The tape came in red, blue, and yellow, but the numbers repeated themselves, so he guessed that the colors and the numbers were meant to work together. Near the end of the road they passed a rental shed with a long row of kayaks, and every kayak was secured with a lock that had a red, blue, or yellow tag.
"These belong to the kayak locks," Tomas announced. Sure enough, the red key marked 3 opened the red lock on the third kayak. Nobody was inside the shed, but a hand-painted sign promised that the owners would return after lunch.
They waited on a bench until a girl about Tomas's age came racing down the road, completely out of breath. Her name was Ines, and she had been searching her pockets since early morning. When she saw the ring in his hand, her whole face softened with relief.
"My mother would have been so upset," she said. To thank him, she let him paddle one of the kayaks around the cove, wearing a life jacket, at no charge.