The Clock in Room Nine

The big clock in Room Nine has a secret. Every Monday, it is five minutes slow. On Tuesday, it is right again.

Ximena notices it first. She sits near the wall. She looks at the clock a lot. She likes numbers.

"Is our clock broken?" she asks the teacher on Monday.

The teacher looks up. "It is a mystery," she says. "A new battery does not help. A new clock does not help. Every Monday, the same thing."

Ximena opens her notebook. She writes at the top: The Clock Case.

Clue one: the clock is slow only on Monday.

Clue two: it is right by evening.

Clue three: nobody in class sees the change.

She thinks about it all week. On Tuesday, she asks the caretaker. He is a kind man with a big key ring.

"I do not touch that clock," he says. "I only clean the room at night."

"Then who does?" Ximena asks.

He smiles and shrugs. "A good question for a good detective."

Ximena goes home with a plan. On the next Monday, she wakes up very early. She walks to school in the gray light. The building is still quiet. She slips into Room Nine at seven o'clock. She hides behind the coat rack.

She waits. She hears her own heart. A bird sings outside.

At seven-thirty, the door opens. Someone walks in. It is a boy with a big green bag. It is Zane, the quiet boy from the back row.

Zane looks at the door. Then he looks around. He does not see Ximena. He pulls a chair to the wall. He stands on it. He lifts the clock down. He turns a small wheel on the back.

Ximena steps out. "Hello, Zane," she says.

Zane jumps. He nearly falls from the chair. The clock shakes in his hands.

"Ximena!" he says. His face goes red. "Why are you here?"

"I am a detective," she says. "I want to know about the clock."

Zane sits down on the chair. He holds the clock on his knees. For a moment, he says nothing.

"Every Monday, my little sister has dance class," he says. "It ends late, and I walk her home. My mother works at the hospital. So I come to school late on Monday morning."

"The clock helps you," Ximena says slowly.

"A slow clock helps me," Zane says.

"My name is not on the late list."

"It is only five minutes. But I was afraid to ask for help."

Ximena looks at the clock. She looks at Zane. "You do not need a trick," she says. "You need to tell the teacher."

"What if she says no?"

"She will not," says Ximena. "She is not a monster."

Zane laughs a little. He hangs the clock on the wall. Ximena helps him. They set it right.

At eight o'clock, the other students arrive. The teacher comes in and puts down her bag. Zane stands up. His hands shake, but he walks to her desk. Ximena watches from her seat.

Zane talks for a short time. The teacher listens. Then she smiles and puts a hand on his shoulder. She writes something in her book.

When he returns, Zane sits down beside Ximena. He whispers, "She says Mondays are fine."

Ximena opens her notebook. Under the last clue, she writes two big words.

Case closed.