- Chapter 1: Art in the Park
The town council had installed a new, modern sculpture in the main park. It was called “The Swirl,” a massive, abstract coil of steel painted bright cobalt blue. Zara and her friends thought it looked like a giant, metal snake.
Every afternoon, Zara walked past it on her way to her piano lesson. She noticed something strange. On Monday, the sculpture was facing the playground. On Tuesday, it seemed to be facing the path to the library. Zara mentioned it to her friend, Kian, who was known for his love of logic and deduction.
- Chapter 2: The Unbelievable Claim
“It’s moving,” Zara insisted on Wednesday. “Someone is turning it in the night.” Kian scoffed. “Zara, it’s a huge steel coil. It must weigh a tonne! It’s bolted to a concrete slab. You’re just seeing things because of the light and the angle.” He suggested it was an optical illusion.
Zara refused to let it go. She decided to gather irrefutable evidence. She took her phone and, on Thursday afternoon, she stood exactly ten metres away from the sculpture and took a photograph, making sure to include the bench and the gum tree in the frame for scale.
- Chapter 3: The Proof
The next day, Friday, the sculpture appeared to have shifted again, now facing the flowerbeds. Zara returned to her photo spot, measured ten steps, and took a second photo. She rushed home and put the two images side-by-side on her computer screen.
The evidence was clear: the bench and the tree hadn’t moved, but the angle of the blue steel coil in relation to them was distinctly different! Kian was amazed. “You were right! But how? And why?” The question of the motive was now more intriguing than the question of the action.
- Chapter 4: The Night Watch
The children decided to conduct a brief stakeout on Saturday night. They hid behind a cluster of thick shrubs near the park, armed with a torch and warm jackets. They waited for hours. Nothing happened. Around midnight, just as Kian was starting to nod off, a large white utility van pulled quietly up to the kerb.
Two people got out, wearing dark clothes and high-visibility vests. They looked official. They walked straight to “The Swirl.” One person held a large wrench, and the other operated a small hydraulic jack! They were not vandals; they were the council workers.
- Chapter 5: A Mechanical Mystery
Zara and Kian walked up to them, shining the torch. The workers smiled. “Hello, kids! You caught us.” The workers explained that “The Swirl” was designed to be rotated once a week. The artist’s intention was for the piece to reflect the shifting light and shadows of the park throughout the week, making it seem like a living sculpture.
The heavy steel coil was not bolted down permanently; it rested on a rotating base for this very purpose. The workers were simply following the weekly maintenance schedule. Zara and Kian realised they had solved a logical mystery, only to discover an artistic one. The sculpture wasn’t just metal; it was a clever, interactive piece of art designed to trick and delight the observant viewer.
Exercise: Literary Devices and Analysis
- Figurative Language: The story calls the sculpture “a giant, metal snake.” What literary device is this (Simile or Metaphor)?
- Motive: What was the reason the sculpture was being moved?
- Critical Thinking: Why did the council workers wear high-visibility vests?