Melody's Letter

Melody's Letter

by

Meagan Szemerda

(age 14)

    I was written a long, long time ago. It was the year 2015 in a town called Kotor in Montenegro. A girl named Melody came up with the code that makes me who I am. She showed it to no one and burned the key to the code. And thus the mystery of what I say- of what I am. 

   Fifty years after I was written, I was put into a museum. People came and stared at me, trying to figure me out. After another 100 years in the museum, universities started hiring academic professionals to solve me, to no avail. Soon enough- over 1000 years after being written- I was forgotten, put aside. No one thought about me anymore. 

   But that, of course, was just the beginning. A big fire at the museum destroyed almost every artifact except me. All eyes were on me again. I was famous. People remembered me! I felt important again. People far and wide came to look at me: Americans, Canadians, Italians, Croatians, Japanese, Chinese, Russians, Germans. Everyone was attempting solve me mystery. 

   But the hype died down. I was a pointless code that would forever remain a mystery. I was never going to be solved. People would come and go, but no one would be as smart as my Melody. 

   Suddenly, I was the oldest paper document in existence. I was popular, and mentioned in the news, but I don't care anymore. It's happened too often. I'll be left again. It has happened for over a thousand years; I was popular, then I wasn't. No one would ever figure out my code, and I was coming to terms with that. 

   In the year 4026, a man named John walked through the museum doors. He reminded me greatly of my Melody. He was intelligent. He was also very different. He was very serious and quite a bit older than Melody. He stared at me for days; weeks even. He was trying to crack my code. One day, he just up and left, but not before memorizing me. 

   John came back the next year. He stood on the stage in front of me, looking at the many cameras in the room. He cleared his throat. "Hello. My name is Doctor John Smith. Today, I have some wonderful news concerning Melody's Letter. I believe I have solved the detailed code that has had people confused for generations." He went on to explain how the code 

worked that day. After over two thousand years, Dr. John Smith had me figured out. 

   "The message written long ago by Melody Williams is this, 'I knew when I met you that an adventure was going to happen -Winnie the Pooh'."

(assignment for Lesson #2 of Polliwog Writing Lessons)

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