See you soon Caroline! Chapter 2. The Code

Chapter Two:

 The Code

Mr and Mrs Weaver were not pleased with their daughter. She had upset her grandfather by asking personal questions and forcing him to tell her that he was adopted. This had always been a family secret, and Alan Weaver saw no reason why his children should ever need to know about it. So Caroline had gone to bed after a severe telling off, and she had not mentioned the torn scrap of card with the picture and the unreadable message to her parents.

The next day grandfather arrived for lunch, but not a word was spoken about what had happened yesterday.  Caroline didn’t feel able to show the picture with the mysterious writing to her parents after what had been said the previous evening, and her brother Simon was away camping with some friends. So she had to be patient and wait until the weekend was over.

Next Monday at school, she told her history teacher that it was unlikely that she would be able to do the family history project. He was sympathetic, but suggested that she should trace her mother’s father’s family instead. However, Caroline had a stubborn streak, and was not willing to give up so easily. She still had the picture in her bag, and she was determined to solve this puzzle if at all possible.

During the afternoon break, she showed the piece of card to her brother. “Grandad doesn’t recognise the place or the people” she said. “But what do you make of the writing on the back?” He held it up to the light, but had to admit defeat. “Have you tried computer enhancement?” he asked.

“What – you mean like the police do? With fuzzy images on a CCTV picture?”

“Yes! Something like that. We could try putting it into Photoshop, and then fiddle around with various settings to see if we could make something stand out more clearly!”

“Ok! Let’s try that! Let’s meet in the IT room after school!”

One hour later, having obtained permission to use the scanner, they were looking at an image of the strange writing on the computer screen. It was still unintelligible. But as Simon moved the sliders to vary the brightness and highlights, it became possible to make out the shapes of some letters.

“I think we can make a guess at this” he said at last. “There are some letters which are quite clear now, but there are others where we will just have to use trial and error until something makes sense.”

“But it’s not English, is it?” objected his sister.

“Just write down the letters as I call them out. Then we’ll try to make some sense of it. The first two letters are still really difficult – my guess would be an F and a P. Then there’s an I, a C and a K, no doubt about that. Then it looks like a P again, followed by “AUCH”. Underline the letters that I’m just guessing.”

A few minutes later they were both looking at the result of their work. Caroline had written:

F P I C K P A U C H P I V F S A L T F S I L O T K

“There are some English words there” said Simon. “Look, there’s “pick”, “salt” and there’s “silo” And “Auch” isn’t English, but it’s a town in France I think! And so is “Pau”!

“But it doesn’t mean anything” objected Caroline. “And of course, we can’t be sure about those six letters I’ve underlined.  Do you think it’s in code?”

But Simon wasn’t listening. He had just seen Mr Shaw, passing down the corridor, and he was on his feet and after the history teacher as fast as he could go. A minute later they were both in the room, looking at the screen.

Caroline showed Mr Shaw the mysterious piece of card, and explained how they had managed to decipher most of its contents. “Have you any idea what it could mean?”

“Well, let’s have a look at this picture first! It’s quite old I should think, probably one hundred years or so! Look at the style of clothing those people are wearing! I don’t think its English either! That’s not an English cottage, more likely Eastern Europe I’d say! Very interesting! Now, let’s see what this writing has to say!”

He examined the writing, and then looked again at what his students had written down. “Tell me more about this piece of card. Where did you get it?”

So Caroline explained about the yellow envelope with the ancient photographs belonging to their grandfather, and how this picture with the writing on the back had been hidden in the envelope for years. Again she asked, “Can you understand it? What does it mean?”

Mr Shaw drew up a chair and sat down at the computer desk.  “There’s one word there which stands out for me. It’s not spelled quite right, but you had to guess some letters, didn’t you?” If those “F’s” are really “E’s”, and the “P” is an “R”, then you’ve got the word “Rivesaltes”

“And what does that mean?” asked Simon

“It means you are on to something really interesting! You may be able to find the answer to your grandfather’s mystery – who his parents were, and why he was adopted!”

“Well – go on! Tell us more!”

The teacher smiled. “That would be to do your homework for you! You two are really lucky! You’ve probably got the most interesting piece of homework I have ever set anybody since I started teaching three years ago! You’ve got a word – ‘Rivesaltes’. Now, spend this week finding out all you can about that word! You’ve got the power of the World Wide Web at your finger-tips. Just use your common sense. And if you get stuck, see me again next week. But don’t come back to me until you can tell me what you think that word might have to do with your grandfather!”