Solving The Real Problem
Mr Halpern fixed the latch on the window that afternoon. He took the bag of birdseed out of the classroom and put it in a tin in the storeroom, where mice could not get to it.
But he did not get rid of the mouse.
"That mouse," said Mr Halpern, "is part of the school now. We will leave a small bowl of seed for him outside the window. We will not feed him in the classroom, but we will not be unkind."
Pim approved. He wrote at the end of his notebook page:
*Case 7: SOLVED.*
*Cause: a mouse, a broken latch, and a forgotten bag of birdseed.*
*Lesson: when something does the same thing every day, find what's making it happen. The cause is rarely a person.*
That evening Mr Halpern locked the window. The latch held. The classroom was tidy.
In the morning, the window was — closed.
The class clapped.
The mouse, outside, was sitting at his small bowl of seed, eating contentedly. He waved one tiny paw at the window. (Pim said the mouse waved. Most of the others didn't see it. But Pim knew.)
Mr Halpern, much later that day, said: "Pim. Thank you. That was very good detective work."
"It was just paying attention," said Pim.
"That," said Mr Halpern, "is most of detective work, isn't it?"
Pim nodded. He was very pleased. The notebook went into his coat pocket. The case was closed.
Outside, the mouse finished his seed and went home through the hole in the wall by the bin sheds,