Rachel

**__The Mystery of the Missing Cell Phones__** "Lilly, don’t forget to pack your swimsuit," her mother yelled. For sometime now, Lilly and her mother have been so excited for their vacation in Atlanta. When they arrived at the hotel to check in, they met the hotel manager Mr. Merdock. "Enjoy your stay at the Majestic Hotel," he said, handing them their keys. As they headed for the elevator, Lilly spots a girl that looks around her age. "Do you need some help?" the girl asks. "Sure," Lilly replies. While in the elevator, Lilly introduces herself. "My name is Mary Tompson, and I live right here in the hotel. My father is the hotels’ maintenance man," replied the girl. By the time they reached their room, Lilly thanked Mary for the help and asked her for her cell phone number. "Umm.. my dad just took my phone away because I was using up too many minutes, but you can leave a message at the front desk for me," Mary said with a miserable look on her face. * * * The next day when Lilly and her mother arrived back at the hotel from lunch, there seemed to be a dilemma at the front desk. Mary came running toward them. "You’re never going to guess what happened Lilly. Mr. Merdock’s phone was stolen!" Mary explained. A few days later, more and more guests reported that their cell phones had gone missing too. Throughout the hotel Mr. Tompson (Mary’s dad) is one of the people on staff that has access to every hotel room. Mr. Tompson denies taking the cell phones. After questioning the other staff members, the hotel decides to hire security guards on every floor. * * * Two days later since the security guards have been put in place, no further cell phones have gone missing, but the missing cell phones have not yet been located. Mr. Merdock decides to take a walk down to Mr. Tompson’s office to give him his daily tasks. When he arrives Lilly and Mary are also in the maintenance office. While discussing the hotel’s needs, there is a ringing noise coming from the broom closet. Mr. Merdock opens the closet door to find a small box full of cell phones. Mr. Merdock picks up the ringing phone only to discover that it is his cell phone. Mr. Merdock turns to Mr. Tompson with an angry look on his face and says, "I can’t believe you would do such a thing. I have trusted you for a long time. This is unacceptable. You’re fired!" Mr. Tompson is so flabbergasted! Mary looks at her father wondering what to say to him. Then all of a sudden Mary yells out, "My father didn’t do it, I did! So please don’t fire him!" Mary’s dad looked at her in a confused way. Mary continued to confess that she was the one who stole the keys from her father’s maintenance office and took all the cell phones. She thought that since her father took her phone away, everyone else should suffer too. She now knows it was wrong. After a very long discussion, Mr. Merdock decided to give Mr. Tompson his job back, while his daughter Mary apologized to all of the guests and returned all their phones safe and sound.