May 27, 1982

Ricky Carlson, a third grader at Kennedy Elementary School in Hastings, was recently named one of 31 winners in the Multiple Sclerosis READ-a-thon Creative Writing Contest. His winning mystery story, “The Old Woman,” will be included in a book of the winning stories, published by B. Dalton Booksellers.

His story was about a little old lady who lived on a hill. She was frightened one day by a dart that flew across her room. Her screams were answered by a neighbor who hear her cries of distress while mowing his lawn. The story tells of the investigation to determine who shot the dart. 

The mystery is finally solved by a child who said he had written a similar story for the READ-a-thon. The neighbor had to be the one who shot the dart. The neighbor had to be the one who shot the dart. If he had not been the one who shot the dart, he would not have heard her screams. The noise of his lawnmower would have locked out any other sounds.