It is a tremendous gift for one to create moving, beautiful short stories. It takes a great amount of talent to bring someone from laughter, to tears, all within a tapestry of finely woven words.
Canadian writer, and story teller, Stuart McLean had this gift. Canada lost Mr. McLean in 2017, but his short stories live on.
In 1994, Stuart McLean launched "The Vinyl Cafe", a radio/live audience series of short stories featuring a variety of characters, but mainly focusing on; Dave, his wife Morley, and their two kids, Sam, and Stephanie. These characters are fictitious, but we truly get a sense that they are real. Real in a sense that we can relate, laugh, and through McLean's writing, clearly see the quirks that they encounter as they navigate through life.
Stuart McLean captured human decency so confidently in his short stories, they weren't all sunshine and rainbows, but Stuart always seemed to find a way to get to a poignant conclusion. My mother and I would often sit in our car, long after arriving at our destination, just to listen to the end of one of his epically simple, yet sincere endings to "The Vinyl Cafe."
This mystery cache pays tribute to a man who shot Canada with such a warm literary lens. Who saw the generosity, kindness, and uniqueness of this nation.
Your task is rather simple. Listen to his story called "The Bird". I have supplied a related webpage link. Answer the questions below to find out the coordinates to the final cache. Enjoy!
A. What consisted of the "thuggish gang"?
A) Chickadees (2)
B) Sparrows (1)
C) Hungry squirrels (0)
D) Deer (3)
B. What did Gerta Laubier think the bird was?
A) Summer Tanager (9)
B) Northern Flicker (7)
C) Cardinal (6)
D) Gross beak (8)
C. When did the bird stop eating that night?
A) 8:00 pm (8)
B) 10:00 pm (7)
C) 7:00 pm (6)
D) 9:30 pm (3)
D. Where was this bird supposed to winter in?
A) Ecuador (2)
B) Brazil (7)
C) Florida (5)
D) Cuba (3)
E. How many motionless men were in the backyard?
A) 60 (4)
B) 90 (9)
C) 50 (3)
D) 42 (6)
F. Who was trying to flush a (then illegal) substance down the toilet?
Arthur Turlington (7)
Sam (6)
Stephanie (5)
Dave (8)
G. Where was the long distance caller calling from?
A) Vancouver (9)
B) Halifax (7)
C) Regina (2)
D) Calgary (6)
H. How big was one of the birder's camera lenses?
A) About a foot in diameter (1)
B) Bucket sized (5)
C) As big as a toilet bowl (2)
D) About the size of a finger tip (0)
I. How much did Dave spend on meal worms?
A) $200 (6)
B) $700 (5)
C) $1,000 (4)
D) $1,500 (8)
N 49 AB.CDE W 122 4F.GHI
Enjoy the story! Watch your footing on the way to the cache.
While this is not part of the puzzle, why not listen to a beautiful tribute song written by Buddy MacDonald. Rachel Davis is on the fiddle, and Buddy on the guitar. It's from an interview at Cape Breton University. Watch the whole interview, or jump ahead to the tribute song at 10:30. Click here.