Paper Cranes

When mysterious origami cranes start appearing for Otis, each one hides a clue that leads across town toward a long-lost time capsule and the secret of who keeps folding them.

Otis found the first paper crane sitting on his bike seat like it had landed there on purpose. It was folded from a page of old graph paper, its little wings crisp and exact, and somebody had pressed every crease so hard the lines looked carved.

'Weird,' he said out loud, because there was nobody else in the driveway to say it to. He turned the crane over in his hands. On the underside of one wing, tiny letters were written in pencil: BEGIN WHERE THE TOWN REMEMBERS.

Otis was ten years old and the most curious kid on Maple Street, which his mom said was a gift and his teacher said was a problem. He slipped the crane into his jacket pocket. A puzzle had just walked into his Saturday, and there was no way he was letting it walk back out.