Bree Phone Home puzzle
In Bree Phone Home, Bree calls several of her relatives in hopes of finding out what could have happened to her parents. When she dials great uncle Franklin from San Francisco, her call is picked up by an answering machine for Powell's Dry Cleaners.
Contents
Powell's Dry Cleaners Message
Bree said the phone number aloud as she dialed it: 287-0211. Since she mentioned Franklin was in San Francisco, one of the possible area codes was (415). Calling 415-287-0211 allows you to listen to the same message heard by Bree.
- Hello and thank you for calling Powell's Dry Cleaners. We are open 7 days a week from 9 am until 5 pm. Our current specials are as follows: Dress shirts 3 for $5 with an 8-9 day turn around time. We also offer wash service at a rate of 3 shirts for $12. Please leave a message after the tone and we'll get back to you as soon as possible. Thank you.
Solution
The numbers of shirts and days that it will take to clean them are the real message. The message below has the numbers in bold.
- Hello and thank you for calling Powell's Dry Cleaners. We are open 7 days a week from 9 am until 5 pm. Our current specials are as follows: Dress shirts 3 for $5 with an 8-9 day turn around time. We also offer rush service at a rate of 3 shirts for $12. Please leave a message after the tone and we'll get back to you as soon as possible. Thank you.
The numbers are 7953589312. This is not a phone number. However, when reversed, it yields (213)-985-3597, which is indeed a phone number. When this number is dialed, a voice message plays. It is from Bree's father, or someone pretending to be him.
Bree's father's message
This is the message heard after dialing (213)-985-3597.
- Bree, it's your father. If you are listening to this message, you managed to crack my code. Your mother and I are safe but I need to talk to you alone. Confirm that you got this by sending me a secret message back. I'll meet you one week after that at the place where we used to talk about Feynman and Jared Diamond. I know you're confused right now. But all will make sense after we talk. I'll see you soon sweetie.
Solution
Still in progress.
Richard Feynman is a famous physicist for whom Bree has great admiration. She quoted him in her blog Daniel Returns, and More Interesting Factoids (Yay!), in which she tells a story from his book Surely You’re Joking, Mr. Feynman.
Bree also quotes Jared Diamond' Guns, Germs and Steel in the The Tolstoy Principle (and Dad "talks" to Daniel).
Since Bree is homeschooled and these readings have been assumed to be part of her coursework, it's possible that her dad is referring to some place where they used to go to work on her studies. It is still unclear what kind of secret message he wants her to send back.
Some have compared the sound of Bree's father's voice to that of Brother from the OpAphid and Tachyon ARG. This might be an attempt from Tachyon to get in touch with her. Tachyon's travels have taken her to San Francisco, where great uncle Franklin was supposed to be.
Another possibility is that this could be another trap from OpAphid.
Bree's response
When Bree hears the answering machine's message for Powell's Dry Cleaners, she seems disillusioned and says she's run out of leads. She either has not yet realized there is a puzzle behind the message, or she was acting as if she didn't notice. In her video Mystery Movies, Bree names the movies she watched that day and mentions
- Citizen Kane
- Usual Suspects
- Sneakers
- Out of Sight
- Ocean's Eleven
- Never Say Never Again
The first letter of the titles of these movies spell out "CUSOON", as in "See you soon." Bree must have indeed figured out the puzzle and this is her response to his message. Although even in this video she acts like she can't figure out the puzzle, presumably she's putting on that act because her father wanted it to be a secret message. Since her father had requested that she meet him a week after receiving the message, Bree should be meeting him on Saturday, December 30th, 2006. Bree's frequent mention of movies and how she used to go watch them with her dad might be another clue as to the location of the meeting place.
