Willowside POW # 1: Tyrone

The yellow school bus pulled up to Willowside Middle School,  opened its accordion door, and dispersed a long line of students. Tyrone carefully maneuvered out of the crowd and knelt down 

alongside the wall. He burrowed into his backpack, looking for the campaign posters he had carefully made the night before. He pulled out a stack of flyer and some tape and started posting them on a 

window. 

“Vote for Tyrone and you won’t be alone!” the slogan said under a  picture of him with friends. Then he saw Doni approaching. 

“Let’s see, let’s see, what’s this? Tyrone for VP? And your slogan?” He read it out loud. “I don’t know...not catchy at all. How about: Let it be known that a vote for Tyrone will only make you moan and groan?” Doni laughed while Tyrone gathered up his stuff.

“Funny, Doni, real funny” he muttered as he meandered towards his locker. Talk about moaning: he could see Mr Bott  moving determinedly from the office towards his class with a huge stack of papers: last week’s math test. He noticed a new kid dressed in a button down shirt and sport jacket. “Uh oh, that guy’s going to have trouble with that outfit,” he thought. He decided to help out. He walked up to him, holding out his hand just like a V.P. candidate. “Hi, I’m Tyrone. What’s your name?” 

The boy took his hand, looking somewhat awkward, and said, “Justin, my name is Justin. I’m new here, in from New York. I’m in 7th grade. How about you?” 

“7th, too. Hey, I’m running for VP, hope you’ll vote for me,” he blurted out in his usual manner. 

“Sure, I guess so...why not? Tyrone, was it?” Tyrone nodded. Then he was pushed from behind. He turned to see his best friend, Juli, giggling from behind her glasses.

“Hey Ty, who’s the new kid?” Tyrone introduced Justin to her. “Nice clothes, Justin”

“Yeah, well thanks, though I do stick out, I guess.” Tyrone wanted to say something, but Justin cut him off. “Listen, I could really use some help getting to know people here. Can you help?” 

“Sure,” said Juli, mischievously. Tyrone groaned. Juli, the math wiz, was at it again. 

“Look, Justin, some of main characters you’ll need to know early on all live around the school and don’t take the bus like we do. We call it the “Country Club”, kind of snobby kids around here, if you ask me, but heck, they run the school...So, let me think....hmmm...Oh, I’ve got a great idea. How about I make up a puzzle that tells you about some of 

these people?” 

“Well....” Justin started to protest and Tyrone wanted to intervene, but when Juli is on a roll, forget it. 

“So here’s the deal, Justin. Five kids live in those 5 fancy track homes you see all in a row across the street,” she said, pointing. “I’ll give you some clues now: Bee live in the red one; Lynn owns a dog; Wendy drinks water; Red Bull is drunk in the green house; Love Ballads are the preferred music in the yellow house; o.j. is drunk in the middle house; Tyrone lives in the first house, which is next to the blue house; Doni listens to rock music but the green tea drinker listens to instrumental music. The person who listens to Disco Music is next door neighbors with the gecko owner. The hamster owner hates Love Ballads, but the person next door neighbor adores them. The Bluegrass fan owns a gnarly 

praying mantis. Finally, as you can see, the green house is to the right of the ivory one. 

So tell me, Justin, after all that, who drinks milk and who own a cat?” 

Your task: Name the people, the color of their houses, their pets and their preferred drink and music.