The Da Vinci Code

I'll just take a fast peek!
Tiptoeing across the creaky wood floor to his closet, Sophie peered on the shelves behind his 
clothing. Nothing. Next she looked under the bed. Still nothing. Moving to his bureau, she opened 
the drawers and one by one began pawing carefully through them. There must be something for me 
here! As she reached the bottom drawer, she still had not found any hint of a doll. Dejected, she 
opened the final drawer and pulled aside some black clothes she had never seen him wear. She was 
about to close the drawer when her eyes caught a glint of gold in the back of the drawer. It looked 
like a pocket watch chain, but she knew he didn't wear one. Her heart raced as she realized what it 
must be.
A necklace!
Sophie carefully pulled the chain from the drawer. To her surprise, on the end was a brilliant gold 
key. Heavy and shimmering. Spellbound, she held it up. It looked like no key she had ever seen. 
Most keys were flat with jagged teeth, but this one had a triangular column with little pockmarks 
all over it. Its large golden head was in the shape of a cross, but not a normal cross. This was an 
even-armed one, like a plus sign. Embossed in the middle of the cross was a strange symbol—two 
letters intertwined with some kind of flowery design.
"P.S.," she whispered, scowling as she read the letters. Whatever could this be?
"Sophie?" her grandfather spoke from the doorway.
Startled, she spun, dropping the key on the floor with a loud clang. She stared down at the key, 
afraid to look up at her grandfather's face. "I... was looking for my birthday present," she said, 
hanging her head, knowing she had betrayed his trust.
For what seemed like an eternity, her grandfather stood silently in the doorway. Finally, he let out a 
long troubled breath. "Pick up the key, Sophie."
Sophie retrieved the key.
Her grandfather walked in. "Sophie, you need to respect other people's privacy." Gently, he knelt 
down and took the key from her. "This key is very special. If you had lost it..."

---

Her grandfather's quiet voice made Sophie feel even worse. "I'm sorry, Grand-père. I really am." 
She paused. "I thought it was a necklace for my birthday."
He gazed at her for several seconds. "I'll say this once more, Sophie, because it's important. You 
need to learn to respect other people's privacy."
"Yes, Grand-père."
"We'll talk about this some other time. Right now, the garden needs to be weeded."
Sophie hurried outside to do her chores.
The next morning, Sophie received no birthday present from her grandfather. She hadn't expected 
one, not after what she had done. But he didn't even wish her happy birthday all day. Sadly, she 
trudged up to bed that night. As she climbed in, though, she found a note card lying on her pillow. 
On the card was written a simple riddle. Even before she solved the riddle, she was smiling. I know 
what this is! Her grandfather had done this for her last Christmas morning.
A treasure hunt!
Eagerly, she pored over the riddle until she solved it. The solution pointed her to another part of the 
house, where she found another card and another riddle. She solved this one too, racing on to the 
next card. Running wildly, she darted back and forth across the house, from clue to clue, until at 
last she found a clue that directed her back to her own bedroom. Sophie dashed up the stairs, 
rushed into her room, and stopped in her tracks. There in the middle of the room sat a shining red 
bicycle with a ribbon tied to the handlebars. Sophie shrieked with delight.
"I know you asked for a doll," her grandfather said, smiling in the corner. "I thought you might like 
this even better."
The next day, her grandfather taught her to ride, running beside her down the walkway. When 
Sophie steered out over the thick lawn and lost her balance, they both went tumbling onto the 
grass, rolling and laughing.