Club Code Book 1: The Mysterious E-Mail Chapter 3

Chapter 3: How To Solve A Puzzle By Goofing Off

"RRRRRIIIIINNNNNGGGGG!" Carl and Karl jumped out of their bed "Yahoo!" they said quietly so they wouldn't wake up B-Bo. "It's time to get up! It's fou - um..4:56." Karl looked at Carl angrily. "It's your fault for setting the alarm wrong!" he said as he slapped Carl in his face. "Ya-know.." started Carl. "B-Bo's pretty good at sleeping through alarms." Karl rolled his eyes. "Only this once, because you set the alarm clock to ring too early!" B-Bo suddenly woke up and started to jump on the bed again. "Cot as cheez!" and he instantly fell back asleep. Karl said to Carl. "Well, let's go wake up Judy!" A baffled expression leaped onto Carl's face. "This early?" he said as he jumped into the air. "Yeah!" responded Karl as if it were obvious. Karl grasped Carl's hand and lead him toward Judy's room. Once they were in, Carl told Karl, "You do it, I'm not waking her up!" "Okay." started Karl. "1...2..3!" "WAKE UP! IT'S - um.." Karl dashed back to his room. He came back pretty quickly. "4:58!" he continued. "YOU'RE NOT GOING TO WASTE YOUR SUNDAY SLEEPING IN, ARE YOU?" Judy snored. "I guess so.." said Carl. "Well, I'm going to go downstairs to the playroom and look at my E-Mails." stated Karl. "I'm coming too." replied Carl. They held onto the rail and walked casually downstairs. Carl and Karl walked in the playroom. They left off at where they were when they were goofing off. "That's a hilarious symbol!" said Karl as he looked at his IM. It said: ʱ (Alt 689). They were laughing their heads off untill Carl hit Alt 3..."Hey!" he shouted. Carl quickly opened the E-Mail with the weird puzzle on it. "That's the same symbol as the 1st one in the puzzle!" Karl asked, "What did you press?" Carl responded automatically, "Alt 3!" "Okay," started Karl. "Think off all the things that have to do with the number 3." They thought for about 5 minutes untill Carl had an idea. "C is the 3rd letter in the alphabet!" "Hmm...maybe that's it! Make a key up to 26! Carl made this:
A-☺
B-☻
C-♥
D-♦
E-♣
F-♠
G-•
H-◘
I-○
(etc.)
He didn't literally put etc, but you get it. "Okay," Karl said as he rubbed his hands together. "Let's decipher it!" They succesfully decoded it, and it said this:
Contest 3 days after.
"Sweet, we did it! I guess that means the contest is 10 days from today." Carl said. Karl replied, "We planned to show mom, but we solved it first!" "Mmhmm...let's show her now!" Carl said. "Sure!" said Karl in a sarcastic little girl's voice. "Let's show her a bunch of symbols at 5:14 in the morning!"

Club Code Book 1: The Mysterious E-Mail Chapter 2

Chapter 2: The Confusing Code
Carl and Karl were continuing to have fun goofing off at their computers experimenting new symbols by pressing Alt and a series of numbers on the right side of the keyboard. "I wonder if this will change." said Karl. He hit "send" and sent this to Carl: ◘ (Alt 8). "Hey, E-Mail!" They shouted together before Carl could open up his IM. They both opened it up. This is what it read:
Here's a puzzle you need to solve to actually qualify for the contest:
♥ ☺♣ ☺♦ ¶ ♣ ☺○ ¶ ¶ ◘ ☺◘ ♣ ♣ ♦ ☺ ☻♣ ☺○ ☺ ♠ ¶ ♣ ☺◘.
"Hmph!" grunted Karl. "They expect us to waste our Saturday doing that ?" "I guess so..." responded Carl. "Instead, how about we play with B-Bo?" "Yeah!" B-Bo is their baby brother. Carl tugged on Karl's sleeve. "Well then, you fool! Let's go!" Oh, and if I haven't mentioned, they have a sister that's older then B-Bo but younger then Carl and Karl named Judy. So out of the 4 kids, it goes:
Boy (Carl, Age 10, who was born 2 minutes before Karl)
Boy (Karl, Age 10, who was born 2 minutes after Carl)
Girl (Judy, Age 8, who was born 2 years after Karl)
Boy (B-Bo, Age 2, who was born 6 years after Judy)
When they found B-Bo, Carl picked him up and ran towards his computer with the E-Mail still open. "Okay, B-Bo! What's the answer to this puzzle?" B-Bo slobbered. "Affle!" "He says apple." said Karl. "You think apple is the answer to the puzzle, B-Bo?" B-Bo drooled. "Banama!" "He says banana." said Carl. "I wonder what Judy would think." replied Karl. "Too bad she's at summer camp, we could've lived with the fact that we knew what she said at this point of life." responded Carl. "Yeah," said Karl. "But we can live with the fact that we didn't know!" "Haha, yeah!" said Carl. "Time for bed!" called their mother, Marsha. "Hey, mom!" Karl shouted. "Can B-Bo sleep in our room tonight?" Their mother thought about it for awhile. "Alright," answered their mom. As long as you're not being loud. "Yahoo!" they shouted simultaneously. Carl and Karl already had already brushed their teeth and were in their pajamas. Carl pushed Karl a little. "Hurry up!" Karl ran close behind him. "Remember!" he called. "It's my turn to pick which bed he sleeps in! Carl, Karl, and B-Bo crawled into Karl's bed. B-Bo stood up and started jumping on the bed. He feel down on purpose. "Whee!" he exclaimed as he fell on top of Karl's stomach and a little on Carl's back. The door to the house shut. "Judy must be home for the day." retorted Karl. Carl and Karl gave a last hug to B-Bo before their first attempt to sleep for the night. It was 8:01. And B-Bo usually didn't get to sleep untill 9 or 10:30. They planned on getting up at 6:00 sharp. Their blankets rustled a little bit and all 3 boys' heads sunk pretty deep into the pillow. But Carl and Karl wondered what the correct solution to the puzzle was...They'd ask their mom tomorrow.

Club Code Book 1: The Mysterious E-Mail Chapter 1

I'm writing a story, so I've decided to post the 1st chapter on my blog:

Club Code
Book 1: The Mysterious E-Mail
Chapter 1: Carl & Karl
Carl & Karl were having fun goofing off at their computers experimenting new symbols by pressing Alt and a series of numbers on the right side of the keyboard."I hate it when I send an instant message to you and it comes out as a differet symbol." said Karl. For instance, he hit Alt, then pressed 2 (☻). When he hit "send", it changed to a different symbol. Some turn into this: /, But some stay the same symbol. Peculiar, isn't it? "I wonder if this will change." said Carl. He hit "send" and sent this to Karl: þ (Alt 254). "Hey, E-Mail!" They shouted together before Karl could open up his IM. They both opened it up. This is what it read:

All day puzzle contest on June 31 this year at the playground at your school.

"Cool!" said Carl. "That's 8 days from today!" "Yep!" said Karl. "It's the 23rd now - Hey! It doesn't say who sent it!" "What the?" Said Carl rather loudly. "Awkward...well, back to the important things in life!" Carl rushed back to his computer seat. Karl bolted to his. And they continued goofing off.

I hope you liked it! I've got a few more things to say. There is something suspicious in this chapter that will matter later in the book, so don't tell anyone if you see it. Just say "I know what it is!" The symbols in the parentheses might change when I post this, that's a warning. I only wanted the part that said Club Code to Chapter 1: Carl and Karl to be in the middle, so it'll look a little weird. Well, bye!

The End

We're having another Reflections contest this year, and the theme is boring. (Don't take it literally, Uncle Bubs.) The theme isn't "boring." This year, it's "Beauty is..." So I've decided to spice things up a little. I wrote a poem about the "beauties" of nature:

Meteor showers

crush May flowers,

explosives destroy

every plant.

Hornets will sting

every nature-like thing,

mutilation forms by every ant.

Asteroids start the destruction,

which makes nature a site of construction.

And the last you can expect

is a dinosaur reviving effect!

An atomic bomb will strike!

(This is what amnesia is like!)

An alien invasion will start!

Until death do they depart

once they are married

after the aliens'

romantic

date!

Hopefully this at least gets me somewhere...