Thinking on the Fly!

Today saw me in a rush to accomplish the finishing touches to the Mystery Party/Clue Hunt that I was giving for my sweet Great Niece, Aero.  Michael and I have been working on this for months now as we wanted everything to be perfect.  Aero and a group of her friends were to be at the house about 5:30 in the afternoon to start their quest.  They arrived and soon were in the process of trying to solve the mystery. An empty box was their first clue.  With the Bayou House locked up tight, they needed to find a key.

I was impressed with the kids ability to solve the random assortment of puzzles and locks that we had set before them.  Sure, some were tough but with only a few hints they succeeded.  One after one the clues were found and locks were opened.  Things were going swimmingly! Then the group became bogged down.  One puzzle, well, bepuzzled them completely!  It took some doing for them to unravel the clues to continue but they eventually passed each test and were ready for the finale.  This should have had a "wow" factor to it but it sort of fizzled.  Michael and I built a font to be the site of the finale.  It was here that the "ghosts" were to be released.  The font (recycled flower pot) had been filled with dry ice and was awaiting the trapped essence of two souls (aka known as bottles of water).  After much mysterious banter and a long trip down to the Bayou edge, the deed was done.  The water  met the dry ice and..........nothing!  I have never seen such a dead bunch of dry ice in my life!  I had to quickly come up with an alternative ending.  I was sure glad that in the hodge-podge  of weird and wonderful items that I used as decorations, I had included two soles of shoes.  Why may you ask, would I use the bottoms of old shoes?  I have no idea. Still, I am glad that I did.  Quickly, I came up with the excuse that perhaps uniting the two souls was a misunderstanding. Perhaps it was not souls at all but soles!  Yep..it was far-fetched but at least it would buy me a bit of time!  While the group raced about finding shoe soles, Mark slipped back to the shed to grab a fresh piece of dry ice.  We thought maybe, just maybe, something strange had happened to the other that made it not work.  He filled the font once again.  A wispy layer of moss was laid across the dry ice and I gathered the crew together.  We tried to release the "ghosts" again!  Slowly pour the water...nothing.  Once again, no reaction between the water and the dry ice took place.  What is wrong with my dry ice?  It had worked phenomenally earlier during the trial run!

Finding a alternate ending to the Mystery Party was not an easy task.  I made up a story that sometimes, spirits did not want to be released from their torment.  Sometimes ghosts that haunt an area are not ready and need a bit more time.  Perhaps the crew of kids should come back again and find more clues. This bit of an idea was met with excitement that another Mystery Party/Clue Hunt was in the works!  The saga continues! (Perhaps I should find another method of making a ghost!  That wow factor cannot hinge on dry ice and water!)