say for yourself?”
“I think that Mara will be good at writing fiction stories, because she has a good imagination. Everything Mara said is just a story to help Billy. I do keep money in my briefcase, and Mara has probably seen money in there in the past. The money I have in there now is for my car payments, but it is my money.”
“Then, you won’t mind opening up your brief case, will you?” asked Mrs. Jacobs.
Mr. Gregory took a key from his pocket and unlocked the briefcase. He handed Mrs. Jacobs the stack of twenty-dollar bills. He explained that the ATM he had used that morning, only dispensed twenty-dollar bills.
Mara spoke up again. “What I have to say now, is a little embarrassing. Up until now, I had a crush on Mr. Gregory. Before I put my twenty dollar bill in the envelope, I practiced signing my name and his name on it.”
Mrs. Jacobs started going through the twenty dollars one by one. When she was about two-thirds way through the stack, she stopped and held up a bill that had the signature of “Mara Louis Gregory,” and “Mrs. Mara Gregory.” She handed it to Mr. Gregory, who looked at it and then put his head down in his hands.
He admitted that everything Mara said was true. He said that he was behind in his car payments his car would be repossessed if he did not make the payments that afternoon.
Miss Curtis looked at Billy and Mrs. Decker and apologized for accusing him.
Mrs. Jacobs asked Mara what she thought should be done about the situation, if she could decide the punishment.
Mara thought about it for a moment and then gave her verdict; “First of all, I don’t think he should ever teach at this school again. I no longer have any respect for him. Not only did he steal money from our class, but he also watched the other kids treat Billy like a thief, and he watched Billy cry all day.”
“Second, since he stole money that was to go to the homeless shelter, I think that Mr. Gregory should volunteer to serve Thanksgiving dinner to the homeless.”
Mrs. Jacobs was very impressed. “Mara, I like the way you think, and I agree with you one hundred percent.”
Mr. Gregory, You are no longer welcome here at this school, and do not ask us to recommend you to any other school. Also, we will not call the police, as long as you complete forty hours of community service at the homeless shelter, starting with serving Thanksgiving dinner there.”
Mara raised her hand and said; “Miss Curtis, I don’t think it is enough to apologize to Billy and his mother here. You accused him in front of the entire class and now, everybody thinks he stole the money. I think that you should apologize to Billy in front of the entire class as well. I also think that Mr. Gregory should apologize to the class in person.”
Miss Curtis looked at Mara and said, “You are right Mara. I will do just that, first thing in the morning, and Mr. Gregory will, as well. Mara, I am sorry for letting you down. You have taught me a valuable lesson today. You might think about becoming a lawyer when you get older.”
As Mara and her mom were preparing to leave the room, Billy’s mom thanked Mara for what she did. She nudged Billy, who tried to hug Mara. Mara pushed him away, and said; “Ewww, gross, get away from me.”
“I just want to say thank you for proving that I was innocent”, said Billy.
“The only reason I defended you, was because it was the right thing to do,” said Mara. “You are still a boy and a bully. And, if you ever tell anyone that I had a crush on Mr. Gregory, I don’t care how big you are, I will beat you up in front of the entire class.”
“And when she does;” said Mrs. Decker, “don’t come crying to me.” Then, Mrs. Decker winked at Mara.
The next day, Miss Curtis apologized to Billy in front of the class and told them that she was wrong to accuse Billy in front of the class. When the class asked who did take the money, Mr. Gregory walked into the classroom and admitted that he did it. As he looked at all of those disappointed faces, Mr. Gregory apologized for abusing the trust they had for him. Mr. Gregory was crying when he left the classroom for the last time.
During his community service, Mr. Gregory, saw the despair in the eyes of people, who had no jobs, no education, and he realized that the children from those neighborhoods needed to be able to trust their teachers to do the best job possible. When he obtained his teaching degree, Mr. Gregory started teaching in the inner city schools, where he could really make a difference in the students’ lives. He also sent Mara a hand written letter, thanking her for turning him in.
From that day forward, Billy was no longer a bully. Perhaps, he changed, due to Mara defending him, or maybe, his parents had something to do with it. Either way, he became a better person from that point in his life. He even became protective of the smaller kids in the school and would not let anyone else bully them. Billy become more popular and he made new friends over the next couple of years. In the fifth grade, his family moved to the west coast.
Mara did think about becoming a lawyer; and she decided that if she did, she would defend people who could not defend him or herself.
The Mystery at the Old Cemetery
Mara liked to solve puzzles and mysteries. She had been solving mysteries since third grade. Now, she was nine years old and in the fourth grade.
She was reading the newspaper one morning, when she found an article about some old stolen treasure that had never been recovered. That got Mara’s attention and she kept reading.
It seemed that back in June 1861, at the onset of the Civil War; there was a very wealthy man named James Grant who lived in Northern Maryland. When the war began, he became an officer in the Union Army.
While he was away fighting for his country, his mansion was robbed. The robber got away with all his gold, over 50,000 twenty-dollar gold pieces.
His staff at the mansion identified the robber as Daniel Walker, an acquaintance of Mr. Grant.
When he was tracked down two weeks later, he did not have any of the gold with him. He had apparently buried it somewhere and refused to tell anyone where it was. He was sent to prison where he remained for the rest of his life.
Daniel Walker died in prison in 1920 at age 79. Just before he died, he told his nephew Joe Walker Jr., that he had hidden the gold in the old Calvary Cemetery in Northern Maryland. Joe Jr. was the son of Daniel’s twin brother who had died in 1862 at age 21.
Over the years, Joe Jr. searched for the gold, but never found it. After many years, the local citizens figured that Daniel Walker must have been senile when he told Joe Jr. that the money was hidden in the cemetery.
Joe Jr. died in 1940 at age 80. He had never recovered a single gold coin, nor had anyone else.
Mara knew where the cemetery was located. It was the old Civil War cemetery about 30 miles from her house.
She asked her mother if she would drive her to the cemetery so that she could look for clues. Her mother agreed, as long as Mara did not disturb anything.
When they arrived at the cemetery, they were both shocked to find the cemetery in such a rundown condition. Some of the head stones had fallen over, or were broken, and there were weeds growing out of control. The dates on the headstones ranged from the early 1800’s to the 1940’s.
Most of the headstones were about the same size, but there were a few that were much larger than the others were, probably for people of wealth or power.
One particular stone caught Mara’s eye. It was very large and shaped like a house. The stone looked out of place. It was six feet high, three feet wide and three feet thick.
Mara read the inscription on the gravestone:
Here lies
JoeThe SMIITH
Buried June 15, 1861
Mara told her mother that the person who engraved the inscription was a poor speller because he put a capital letter in the middle of a name and he put an extra I in the name Smith.
Ma
ra made some notes in her notebook and she took some pictures with her camera of various gravestones and of the layout of the cemetery.
After they left the cemetery, Mara and her mother went to see the house that used to belong to James Grant.
When Mr. Grant died in 1912, he had no surviving family, so he left the house and the land, including the land where the cemetery was located, to the local historical society.
The house was built in 1785 and was over 200 years old. It was located a quarter of a mile from the old cemetery.
The mansion was in need of many repairs, and the historical society was trying to raise money to restore the mansion to its original condition.
Mara looked through some old records at the historical society and made copies of articles and records pertaining to James Grant, Daniel Walker, and his brother Joe Walker.
When Mara had finished writing down the information in her notebook, she and her mother returned home.
Over the next few days, Mara went through her notes and the photos she had taken, as well as the articles and documents from the historical society.
As she read the articles, she took more notes.
Daniel Walker had learned stone cutting from his father and he was a mason as well. He was very talented at working with stone and cement.
His father had cut headstones for the local cemeteries for many years with Daniel and his brother Joe helping him.
While looking through the photos, Mara kept thinking that