Nobody Likes a Spoiler

Two ballpoints in the front pocket of a shirt end up in the laundry.

What happens when you discover this tragedy? And who is the owner of the shirt? Who forgot to remove the ballpoints?

Sheila read the card through twice, slowly, before looking up. The other players had already got in or on to their vehicles - depending on whether they were driving a car or a bike - and started off. They were all going in the same direction.

She frowned.

Sheila was never one to hurry. It didn't matter that she was the last treasure-hunter left at the starting point, and that the organisers were packing up and getting into their vans to go to the next pit stop before the players got there. She wouldn't start moving till she had figured this first clue out.

She knew where everyone else was headed. They were going to 'Royal Dry Cleaners', the biggest laundry in the vicinity, to solve the ballpoint clue. But something in Sheila's instinct was telling ehr that this wasn't it. Royal Laundry was too obvious. The first clue could not be that easy.

"Hey, you're the only one left," one of the organisers called out, as the van raised some dust. "Hurry!"

Sheila watched the vans ... they were vans ... the were blurs of purple and silver ... they were dust ... and then it struck her.

The vans were not going in the same direction as the other players had driven to. They were certainly not headed for Royal Laundry.

Now, she hurried. She could still see two clouds of dust, growing tinier. She must not lose sight of them.

She donned her helmet, mounted ber bike, kicked, and immediately went full throttle. The vehicle lurched a bit, steadied, and raised some dust of its own.

She didn't recognise the lane she found herself on, but she knew it was the right one. The purple and silver vans were blurs again. She kept it that way, she didn't want to get too close and have them realise she was following.

The film studio?

They were heading for the film studio? The new facility that the eccentric millionaire had had built for his latest wife, who loved the movies? They were headed there?

As the vans slowed, Sheila dismounted from her bike, wheeled it to the edge of the road and, somewhat hidden by the hedge, pushed it along. She managed to slip in the 'walk' gate unnoticed while the security guard was checking the credentials of the passengers in the van.

She smiled.

Yes, this had to be right.

The millionaire's new wife wanted to make realistic movies, and this one was hyper-real, about day-to-day conflicts in an otherwise cosy nest. Conflicts that all couples face.

Like who forgot the ballpoint pens in the shirt pocket when sending the shirt to the laundry.

The name of the film was "Flirt, Shirt, Dirt" and it had an all-new cast of aspiring film-stars. Quickly, Sheila asked them the questions - who owned the shirt? Who had forgotten the ballpoint pens there? What had happened?

The young actors were a bit reluctant - 'the script has to be kept confidential till the date of release' - they didn't want to break their contracts - but Sheila had chocolate to give, and what's a broken contract-clause in the face of chocolate?

Getting the answers, she mounted her bike and followed the van tracks to the pit stop. She was, of course, the first one to check in. (It took a couple more hours for all the teams to get there.)

Her prize for being first in the round?
A nice, white shirt with a front pocket, and two delightfully leaky ballpoint pens.


(Note - for reasons of confidentiality, the plot of the upcoming movie 'Flirt. Shirt. Dirt.' has not been revealed in the making of this story. Nobody likes a spoiler!)