The Two Little Detectives and the Cake Thief

Hello, everyone.

    Today, I am going to tell you another story of the two little detectives. I hope you remember them. They are Jack and Susan. This time they help their neighbour to catch a cake thief.

    Read on and find out how they did it.

The Two Little Detectives and the Cake Thief

    Once Jack and Susan were playing catch in the garden. As they were running around trying to catch each other they noticed that their neighbour Mrs. Bentley was searching for something on the ground. The children stopped playing and looked at her. She looked all hot and bothered.

     “I wonder what Mrs. Bentley is searching for?” wondered Susan.

    “Let’s go and ask her,” replied Jack.

    And so they went near their fence and asked Mrs. Bentley what the matter was.

    “Well, I had baked a cake and had kept it on the windowsill to cool,” she said in a puzzled voice, “and now it’s gone. I thought maybe a bird must have come and thrown it on the ground but there is not sign of it. I have guests coming this afternoon that is why I had made it for tea.”

    The children looked at another with one thought in their mind. Here was a chance to use their detective sets again.

    “Don’t worry, Mrs. Bentley,” said Jack. “We will try to get to the bottom of this mystery. Do not touch anything. We will be right back.”

    Mrs. Bentley looked at them doubtfully but she nodded her head and went inside.

    The children ran and brought their sets and set to work. They looked on the ground underneath the windowsill to see if there were any footprints there. Sure enough there were some there. Susan took out her notebook and drew the pattern of the footprint and Jack measured it with his measuring tape which Susan wrote it down.

    Next, they took the plate on which the cake had sat and dusted for fingerprints. There they found beautiful sets of fingerprints which Jack lifted it off the plate.

    “These footprints look like from an adult’s shoes,” concluded Jack. “Also these fingerprints are big, which means they must come from a big person.”

    Susan agreed to that. Then they went searching for more clues and found a small cigarette butt not far from the footprints. Susan took this and put it in a small plastic bag. Then they went home.

    They sat down on the steps and began discussing the case.

    “Since it hasn’t been long since the cake has been stolen,” suggested Susan, “maybe the thief must be eating it right now.”

    “Yes, that is true,” said Jack. “We must look for the thief immediately or else we will never find him. First let’s see what clues we have collected.”

    “Well, we have the fingerprints,” she said, “and then we have the footprints. Then we have this cigarette butt.”

    “Let’s look at the butt,” said Jack. “It is so dirty.  Also the fingerprints were so dirty too. This means our thief has dirty hands. Now let’s look at the footprint. It is big and look at the pattern. In some places there is no pattern.”

    “Yes, this means our thief is wearing worn out shoes,” she said in an excited voice.

    “Who would smoke a cigarette with a dirty hand and wears worn out shoes?” asked Jack.

    Both the children sat thinking and then Jack clicked his fingers, his eyes shining.

    “It has to be a homeless person,” he said, excitedly.

    Susan became excited too.

    “What shall we do now?” she asked.

    “Let’s walk down the street and see if there are any homeless persons there with worn out shoes and most probably eating that cake,” suggested Jack.

    And so they went out of their gate and started walking down the street. When they came to the end of the street they turned a corner and a bit further up the street there was a tree and under that tree they saw someone sitting there eating something. When they went a little closer they saw that it was a very dirty homeless man eating a large piece of cake broken by hand.   

    The children looked at one another excitedly. They had found their thief. But the big question was what to do next? They stood there looking for a while and then Jack made a decision.

    “I will stand here and see that he doesn’t go away, Susan,” he said. “You go and tell Mrs. Bentley that we have found her cake thief and to come immediately. Hurry up and go.”

    “Alright,” said Susan. “I will go.”

    With that she ran to tell Mrs. Bentley. She reached her house in no time at all as it was not very far.

    When Mrs. Bentley heard that she quickly came with Susan. When they reached the place where Jack was still standing the homeless man was still there. Mrs. Bentley gave an angry look and went to tackle the thief.

    The man denied it at first that he had not taken any cake but after much arguing he admitted to taking it. He looked down on the ground and when he looked up he had tears in his eyes. He explained that he had not eaten for two days and so when he saw the cake he couldn’t resist it and had taken it and that he was sorry. He said he would do anything to pay Mrs. Bentley back. He did not have a job at the moment that is why he did it.

    Mrs. Bentley felt sorry for him. She thought quickly and then made up her mind.

    “Would you like to have a job?” she asked him.

    “Yes, Ma’am, I would love to have a job,” he said.

    “Very well,” said Mrs. Bentley and asked, “how would you like to work as a gardener for me?”

    The man’s face lit up with hope.

    “That would be very kind of you,” he said, gratefully.

    “Good,” said Mrs. Bentley. “You can start work today. My gardener has retired and I was looking for one. But first let me give you some clothes and get yourself cleaned up before you start work, alright?”

    The man agreed and then he followed her to her house and she gave him some old clothes and old shoes of Mr. Bentley.

    And so the man worked for Mr. and Mrs. Bentley.

    Mrs. Bentley was very grateful to Jack and Susan and bought them a beautiful jigsaw puzzle as a gift.

    That was sweet, wasn’t it?

Smart Little Ali

Hello, everyone.

    Today I am going to tell you another story of little Ali. You remember Ali, don’t you? Little Ali who had buried his car thinking it would grow into a tree of cars. Well, here is another story of his.

    In this story he is almost kidnapped but is saved by his smart thinking. Read on and find out how it happened.

Smart Little Ali

    One day, Ali and his mother went to a supermarket to do their weekly shopping. As usual Ali followed his mother while she was taking the things she wanted and putting them in her cart. Ali’s mother was busy doing her shopping thinking that Ali was following her as usual. She never knew when he got separated from his mother.

    Now what happened here? Ali was following his mother. Then he got so absorbed by all the things that he never knew that his mother was gone to another aisle and he started to follow another lady. That lady took his hand and started to lead him outside the supermarket.

    Suddenly, Ali looked up and he saw that he was holding the hand of another lady and he tried to free his hand. Now, this lady held his tightly.

    “Where is Mommy?” he asked the lady. “I want to go to my Mommy.”

    The lady looked around and tried to smile.

    “What are you talking about?” she asked him. “I am your Mommy. Come with me I will give you chocolate and ice cream.”

    Ali got alarmed. He started to cry and shout, “I want my Mommy. I want my Mommy.”

    “Don’t be difficult, Danny,” she said, trying to force him to go out of the supermarket door.

    Now near the door there was a security guard standing there. When he heard Ali crying he came forward.

    “What is the matter, Ma’am?” he asked the lady.

    “Oh, Danny is just being difficult,” she said with a fake laugh.

    The security guard felt something was not right and so he squatted down near Ali.

    “Well, little fella,” he said, kindly and asked. “Why don’t you want to go with your Mommy?”

    “She is not my Mommy,” replied Ali crying even more. “I want my Mommy.”

    “He does that sometimes,” she said, sounding a little irritated. “It’s a game he plays.”

    “She is not my Mommy,” repeated Ali through fresh tears.

    “I am sorry, Ma’am,” said the security guard, “but I will have to take you to my manager.”

    “Now look what you have done,” said the lady, angrily to Ali.

    The security guard took freed Ali’s hand and at once Ali went and hugged the guard around his knees.

    “I want my Mommy,” he said.

    The guard patted his head and led him and the lady to the manager’s office. The lady followed unwillingly, grumbling all the time that what sort of supermarket was this where a parent was doubted about their own children.

    Once inside the office the guard explained everything to the manager there. The manager listened to the whole story. The lady began to protest that it was unfair that she was being held unnecessarily and that she would sue them all for it.

    The manager paid no attention to her and told the guard to make an announcement to see if anybody would come forward for the child.

    The guard went to the microphone and made an announcement.

    “Ladies and gentlemen,” he said, “if anybody has lost a little boy, please come the manager’s office immediately. Thank you.”

    Now, let’s see what happened with Ali’s mother.

    She was shopping unaware that Ali was not with her. When she realized it she started to look around and search for him. When she couldn’t find him she got frightened. She asked everybody if they had seen a little boy by himself, but nobody had seen a little boy alone. She got really frantic now. What could she do? Nobody had seen her little boy. She searched everywhere in vain. She felt tears come into her eyes. She did not know what to do. And just as she was thinking of going to the manager’s office she heard the announcement. She just ran towards the office leaving behind all her groceries. She reached there and knocked at the door.

    “Come in,” a voice answered.

    As soon as she opened the door she saw little Ali sitting there on a security guard’s lap. Ali flew into his mother’s arms as soon as he saw her.

    “Mommy, Mommy,” he shouting in delight.

    His mother caught him and picked him up and kissed him.

    “Where did you go, you naughty little boy?” she asked him in mocked anger.

    Now, seeing everybody’s attention was diverted the lady who had claimed to be Ali’s mother started to sidle towards the door. The manager saw her and gave a shout, “She is trying to get away. Get her.”

    The security guard caught her and held her firmly. The lady scowled and tried to free herself but was unable to do so. The manager called the police and they arrived.

    “Well, well, well,” said the inspector, “it hasn’t taken you long to start your dirty business, eh.”

    Then, the inspector explained that she was called Carla and had just come out of jail. She was a professional kidnapper. Soon they handcuffed her and took her away.

    From that day onwards, Ali always found himself seated in the shopping cart when his mother took him to the supermarket. She wasn’t going to take any chances!

The Two Little Detectives

Hello, everyone.

    The story that I am going to tell you is my own creation. It is rather a funny story of two children who help their mother when she loses a gold ring.

    Did these two little detectives find the ring or not? Read and find out for yourselves.

The Two Little Detectives

    Jack and Susan were playing in their room with their detective sets. It been given to them by their father on their birthday for you see they were twins. As they were playing and wishing they had a real case to solve they heard their mother call from upstairs.

    “Jack, Susan,” she called, “could you please come upstairs for a minute?”

    “Yes, Mother,” they answered at once and scrambled upstairs.

    “What is it, Mother?” asked Jack, seeing their mother all hot and bothered and looking here and there for something.

    “I can’t find my gold ring,” she said, in a very puzzled voice. “I had kept it here on the sewing machine cabinet and now it’s gone.”

    She had been sewing and had removed the ring and kept it on the machine cabinet because it bothered her when she hemmed her skirt that she had just stitched. She had just gone out for a minute to check something in the kitchen downstairs and when she came back it was gone.

    “Please, help me look for it,” she said.

    The children were excited. Here was a chance to use their detective set. They at once ran downstairs and brought it up. They each took their mother’s measuring scoops and put them in their mouths to look like pipes. Next they each adorned their caps to look like real detectives. Their mother looked at them, amused and hid a smile.

    “What shall we do first, Detective Jack?” asked Susan.

    “We look for clues, Detective Susan,” said Jack in a very important voice.

    They started looking here and there with their magnifying glasses.

    “Look there is a something on the window seal,” said Susan and they both looked closely and found a small piece of straw. They took this and put it in a small plastic bag that had come with the set. Next they found and unusual pattern on the window seal in the little dust. It was like three crooked lines joining at one end and one line going off the three lines.

    “It looks like a bird’s feet,” said Jack.

    “And look there is the same pattern on the machine cabinet as well,” observed Susan.

    As they were looking they suddenly saw a crow in the branch of a tree that was growing very close to the window. As they looked closely they saw a nest on a branch and some shiny thing was there.

    “Let’s go downstairs and see,” said Jack.

    And they went downstairs and outside under their mother’s sewing room window.

    “Detective Susan, I am going to climb up that tree and see what it is,” said Jack.

     “Alright, but be careful,” said Susan. “See that you don’t fall down.”

    “Oh, I will be careful alright,” Jack replied.

    And so he climbed the tree and reached the branch where the nest was. He almost fell off the branch in delight when he saw what it was! It was their mother’s ring! The crow had stolen it because it was shiny.

    Jack took the ring and came down the tree.

    All this time their mother was unaware what the children were doing. She was busy in the kitchen seeing that her food did not get burnt.

    “Mum, Mum,” shouted Jack and Susan, together. “Look! What we found!”

    Their mother came out of the kitchen wiping her hands on a her apron.

    “What is it?” she asked.

    Then the children gave her the ring.

    “Where did you find it?” she asked, amazed.

    “It was in the nest of a crow,” said Jack.

    “Do you mean to tell me you climbed that tree and got it from the nest?” their mother asked.

    “Well, yes I did,” said Jack going red in the face, knowing he was not supposed to do that. “But if I hadn’t climbed that tree we would never have found it.”

    “You did a naughty thing,” she said, “but I will forgive you this time. Please, don’t do it again.”

    Their mother smiled at them in amusement. She hugged them and declared she would never leave anything shiny on her cabinet.

Shy Little Sandra

Hello, everyone.

   This is my own story. It is the story of a little girl who was very shy and scared of people. Her life turns around when a new teacher comes to teach in her school.

    Read on and find out what happened.

Shy Little Sandra

    Sandra was an eight year old girl. She loved school and she loved all the lessons, but there was a big problem. She was a very shy and scared little girl. She just could not understand as how other children mingled with each other so freely and talked and laughed. They even talked to the teachers like they were their friends. She couldn’t even greet a teacher when she saw one in the corridor let alone talk to one. She felt like the ground would give way and she would get swallowed up! She felt so scared. The teachers thought she was shy and would get over it when she grew up and let it go at that.

    One day the headmistress came to the class and told them that they were going to have a new class-teacher as their old one was being transferred to another school. The new teacher’s name was Miss Elaine Brown.

    The next day, Miss Elaine came and introduced herself. The class settled down to work. As the days went by Miss Elaine noticed Sandra’s strange behaviour. She asked other teachers about it and she could get was that she was a very shy little girl and would not talk to anyone. Miss Elaine was not at all satisfied with this answer. She decided to get to the bottom of this matter.

    The next day, she called Sandra to the staffroom when no-one was there and she knew that Sandra had a free period. Sandra was scared to death as to why her teacher wanted to see her. Normally teachers only called the children to the staffroom when they had misbehaved or done something wrong. As she was walking to the staffroom all kinds of thoughts were going on in her head. She was on the edge of tears when she reached there. She knocked nervously and waited.

    “Come in,” said Miss Elaine and Sandra entered the room.

    Miss Elaine smiled kindly at her. Sandra smiled back somewhat relieved that her teacher did not look angry or anything of the sort. She went and stood near her teacher.

    “Do you know why I have called you here?” her teacher asked.

    Sandra shook her head.

    “I have called you here to know if something is wrong or what,” said Miss Elaine. “I have been watching you ever since I got here. Why are you so shy? Or is it that you are scared of something?”

    Sandra just looked down and did not say anything.

    “Sandra, look at me,” said the teacher. “I am worried about you that’s why I called you here. Can you please tell me why you are behaving like this?”

    “I don’t know, Miss,” said Sandra in a small voice.

    Then, her teacher asked if she ever went out to buy anything for her mother or if she went to play at her friend’s house?

    Sandra explained that her mother went to buy everything even if was to a nearby shop. She was not allowed to go to her friends’ house to play and so even her friends did not come to play with her. The only friends she had were in school.

    Miss Elaine was surprised to hear all this. She looked at Sandra who was standing there looking like a scared rabbit. She made up her mind and wrote a letter which she put it in an envelope and gave it to Sandra to give it to her mother. She had called Sandra’s mother to come and see her the next day.

    Sandra’s mother was very much puzzled as to why would Sandra’s class teacher would want to see her.

    Sandra’s mother, Mrs. Jones went to see the teacher the next day.

    After the introductions were over Miss Elaine asked Mrs. Jones a lot of questions and then when she learned that what Sandra had told her was true she explained to her that it would be a good idea for her to let her daughter mingle with other children and let her go out to buy things in the neighbourhood so that she would know how to behave with people and overcome her shyness. Mrs. Jones agreed to do as Miss Elaine said.

    Suddenly, Sandra found herself going to buy things and told to make friends with the neighbour’s children.

    Miss Elaine called the monitor of the class and told her to tell other children to be more friendly to Sandra.   

Suddenly, Sandra found herself going to buy things and told to make friends with the neighbour’s children.

    In the class as well everyone was trying to be friends with her.

    Sandra started to change as well. Soon she was no longer scared or shy of people.

    One day, as she was walking down the corridor she met Miss Elaine. Sandra greeted her with a smile. Miss Elaine stopped her to talk to her.

    “Why, Sandra, you have changed completely,” she said, pleased.

    Sandra just smiled at her and did not say anything.

    “If there is anything,” went on Miss Elaine, “you can always come and talk to me, alright?”

    “Yes, Miss,” replied Sandra and added shyly, “thank you so much for all that you have done for me.”

    And now Sandra is different person. She has many friends and is always helpful to everyone around her thanks to her teacher.