THE CASE OF THE

VANISHING

GUION:
Setting: The film studio at Westlake Middle School
Narrator: It’s Tuesday, lunchtime. The Westlake Film Club has a big
problem, so a special meeting has been called.
Sally (Vivian): What are we going to do about this?
Rob (Carlos): I don’t know what we’re going to do. All I know is that I’m
going to be in big trouble.
Wanda (Fany): Maybe your mom will understand.
Rob (Carlos): Do you think your mom would understand if her expensive
digital video camera were stolen?!
Jason (Vicente): Rob, calm down—let’s not go haywire.
Madison (Janella): I know! Let’s try to track down the culprit and get the
camera back!
Rob (Carlos): That’s a great idea, but how do we start?
Wanda (Fany): Well, first, let’s go over exactly what happened.
You put the camera in your locker and then went to homeroom, right?
Sally (Vivian): When you came back after first period, your locker was
open and the camera was gone, right?
Rob (Carlos): Right.
Jason (Vicente): Did you lock your locker before homeroom?
Rob (Carlos): I’m sure I did. I never leave my locker open.
Madison (Janella): Let’s check around to see whether anyone was late for
homeroom this morning. If anyone was late, then we have our thief.
Jason (Vicente): What if more than one person was late?
Wanda (Fany): Then we’ll look for the person who doesn’t have an alibi
and can’t tell us what they were doing at the time of the theft.
Sally (Vivian): That’s a great idea. Everyone, check the attendance sheet in
your homerooms. Then let’s rendezvous again after school.

Narrator: That afternoon, the Film Club meets again.

Jason (Vicente): What information have we unearthed so far?
What’s the extent of our knowledge? Was anyone late for homeroom this
morning?
Madison (Janella): Jennifer was late.
Rob (Carlos): Tom was late as well.
Wanda (Fany): Grace was late, too.
Sally (Vivian): Okay, we have three suspects. Let’s confront them
tomorrow to see which one doesn’t have a good reason for being late
today.
Jason (Vicente): That’s a plan. Let’s meet outside the cafeteria at
lunchtime, and we’ll do it then.

Narrator: The next day, at lunchtime, the club Members wait outside the
cafeteria.

Wanda (Fany): There’s Grace. Let’s ask her why she was late.
Narrator: The club members intercept Grace.
Rob (Carlos): Hey, Grace, can we talk to you for a minute?
Grace (Ammy): Sure. What’s up?
Madison (Janella): We were just wondering why you were late for
homeroom yesterday morning.
Grace (Ammy): Umm, I woke up late and was late getting to school. Why
do you want to know?
Jason (Vicente): Someone stole Rob’s video camera during homeroom
yesterday. We figure that whoever it was must have come to homeroom
late. You were late, so we were checking.

Grace (Ammy): Tom was late, too. Plus, I saw him showing his friends a
new video camera at lunch.
Sally (Vivian): Aha! We’ve found our thief!
Wanda (Fany): Not so fast, Sally. Tom may have a perfectly good
explanation for everything.
Rob (Carlos): Well, I’d like to hear his justification for the fact that he has a
new video camera the same day Someone stole mine.
Madison (Janella: You can hear it now. Here he comes.
Narrator: The group stops Tom when he is about to go into the cafeteria.
Sally (Vivian): Hi, Tom. We heard you got a new video camera.
Tom (Joseph): Yeah, I got it for my birthday. Want to see it? It’s in my
locker.
Jason (Vicente): Your birthday, huh? Was yesterday your birthday? Is that
why you were late to homeroom?
Tom (Joseph): Yes, it was. My parents gave me the camera in the morning.
Then I stopped to do some filming outside school. I didn’t realize the time,
so I was late.
Wanda (Fany): Did anyone see you filming?
Tom (Joseph): Yes, Jorge was with me. Why?
Rob (Carlos): Someone stole my video camera out of my locker during
homeroom yesterday. We were just checking.
Narrator: Tom’s face turns red, and anger seems to seep from his pores.
Tom (Joseph): Well, it wasn’t me! My new camera came from my parents.
It was a very special present!

Narrator: Tom stomps off angrily, and the group stares after him.

Madison (Janella): Do you think he’s telling the truth?

Sally (Vivian): I’m not convinced that we can rely on what he said. Let’s
ask Jorge and find out.
Jason (Vicente): Well, I don’t see Jorge or Jennifer, and I need to eat
before lunchtime ends. Can someone track them down, and then we can
meet again after school?
Wanda (Fany): Jorge is in my math class. I’ll talk to him then.
Rob (Carlos): I have art with Jennifer. I’ll ask her why she was late to
homeroom. Maybe she has an ordinary, good excuse.
Sally (Vivian): Great! Let’s meet in the film studio after school.

Narrator: That afternoon, the group gathers in the film studio.

Wanda (Fany): I talked to Jorge. He says he was with Tom when he was
filming in the morning. He also said that Tom had been talking about
getting a video camera for his birthday for months.
Madison (Janella): Hmm. Sounds like he might be telling the truth. I guess
that’s one theory rejected. Of course, I guess Jorge could always be lying
for him.
Jason (Vicente): What about Jennifer? Rob, did you talk to her?
Rob (Carlos): I tried, but she wouldn’t tell me why she was late. She said
the information was confidential.
Wanda (Fany): That’s suspicious.
Sally (Vivian): Yeah, it sure is. Who would think that Jennifer was a thief?
She seems like such an innocent person.
Madison (Janella): What a scandal. Jennifer, the sweet and talented,
sinuous ballet dancer, is actually a thief.
Jason (Vicente): Not so fast. I admit her behavior seems suspicious, but
we don’t actually know that she took the camera.
Wanda (Fany): I’ll try talking to her tomorrow. Maybe she’ll open up to
me.
Narrator: Just then Assistant Principal Hammond barges into the studio.
Assistant Principal Hammond (Mafer): Oh, excuse me! I didn’t know
anyone was in here. I just came to return this video camera.
Rob (Carlos): My camera!
Assistant Principal Hammond (Mafer): Oh, is this yours? A student found
it in the cafeteria the other morning. I waited for someone to come and
claim it, but no one did. Then I thought it might belong to the Film Club, so
I decided I would bring it to the studio.
Rob (Carlos): Thanks, Ms. Hammond. The camera belongs to my mother.
She would have been very unhappy if I had lost it for good.
Sally (Vivian): Well, I guess that settles it. The camera wasn’t stolen after
all.
Jason (Vicente): Not so fast. Don’t concede so quickly. Don’t you wonder
how the camera got into the cafeteria in the first place?
Narrator: Everyone looks at Rob. It makes him uncomfortable, and he
smiles sheepishly.
Rob (Carlos): I thought I put it safely in my locker.
Madison (Janella): I wonder who found it in the cafeteria.
Assistant Principal Hammond (Mafer): It was Jennifer Johnson.
Wanda (Fany): Jennifer! Is there more to this story than meets the eye?
Rob (Carlos): Do you think Jennifer may have stolen it and then
accidentally left it in the cafeteria?
Assistant Principal Hammond (Mafer): Jennifer Johnson does not strike
me as a thief. She said she found it with the power on and still filming.
Someone had just taken a movie following an ant crawling down the
hallway into the cafeteria. When the morning bell rang, the person put the
camera down.

Narrator: Rob looks as if he’s just seen a ghost. Everyone stares at him.
Rob (Calos): I can’t believe I forgot to put the camera away. I was so
worried about getting to homeroom on time.
Assistant Principal Hammond (Mafer): Well, I guess you kids won’t be
vying to solve this mystery anymore.
Narrator: Ms. Hammond leaves, and the club members turn to each
other.
Madison (Janella): That must have been one interesting ant.

Narrator: Everyone nods and looks suspiciously at Rob.

Rob (Carlos): I think we should make the ant the main subject ofour next
film.