BACK TOYS2 6' Detective and the missing toys The little girl next door walked right into Michaela's house and right into her bedroom. "Michaela, you have to help me!" Emily cried. "What's wrong now, Emily?" asked Michaela. "Somebody stole my XBOX and WII!" Emily cried, "I bet Tommy did it!" Michaela replied, "The world's greatest detective doesn't jump to conclusions. Let me look at the crime scene." Michaela went over to Emily's house and looked for clues. "Were all the doors locked?" she asked. "Yes, we always lock the doors." replied the girl, "We played both games last night. But when we woke up this morning, they were gone." Michaela inspected all the doors and windows beginning with the windows closest to the room where the games were taken. Finally, she found dirty footprints on a window sill and on the floor under the window. "This is how the robber got in." concluded Michaela, "This window is unlocked." "But we always lock all the windows at night." replied the girl's mother, "How could he have gotten in through a locked window?" Then she inspected the window frame with her magnifying glass. "Aha!" exclaimed Michaela. "Did you find something?!" asked Emily's mom. "Yes, there are small scratches here next to the window lock. They're tool marks. Tommy didn't do this robbery." "How do you know?" she asked. "These are SMALL scratches." explained Michaela. "Tommy is too young to know how to use tools without leaving BIG scratches. This robber reached through and unlocked this window without leaving hardly any marks at all. And Tommy is too small to carry a ladder big enough to reach your bedroom window. No, this robber was older." Then, with her magnifying glass, Michaela examined the dirt left by the robber when he stepped from the ladder through the window. "Aha!" exclaimed Michaela. "Did you find something?!" "Yes." replied Michaela, "There's a teensy tiny feather here in the dirt." "A feather?" asked Emily's mom. "Yes." replied Michaela, "You don't have a pet bird, do you?" "No." replied Emily's mom, "Maybe the robber stepped on a feather outside in our yard." Michaela explained, "This is not the feather of a wild bird. It's bright green. Do you know anyone in the neighborhood who has a pet parrot or parakeet?" All of them answered at once, "Tommy!" Michaela replied, "No. I've already ruled out Tommy. He's too young and to small to get in through a second story window." "Then maybe it was Tommy's older brother." suggested Emily. So, Michaela went over to Tommy's house with Emily and knocked on the door. Tommy answered the door. "What do you want? Are you trying to get me into trouble again?!" he asked. "No. This time it's your brother, Jimmy." replied Michaela. "What did he do?" asked Tommy. "Does he have an XBOX and a WII?" asked Michaela. "Sure. He just got them today. You don't think he stole them, do you?" asked Tommy. "Not sure." replied Michaela, "We'd just like to check to be sure." Tommy led them to Jimmy's room. But Jimmy wasn't there. So, Tommy pushed open the door and went in. "They're gone!" said Tommy pointing, "The games were right here on his desk next to the computer." Michaela pointed to a steel box and replied, "Maybe he put the games in there." Just then, Tommy's mom came into Jimmy's room saying, "What's going on in here. Tommy, what did you do now?" Michaela stepped in front of Tommy and explained, "Oh, Tommy didn't do anything. He's helping us get back some video games that were stolen from Emily's house last night." "Stolen?" exclaimed Tommy's mom, "You think those two new games Jimmy brought home are stolen?" Michaela replied, "I think it's possible. We'd like to look at the games just to be sure." "But," asked Tommy's mom, "why do you think Jimmy stole them?" "The burglar left a footprint on Emily's window sill." explained Michaela, "The footprint had a tiny bright green feather stuck to it. And yours is the only family on the block who owns a green parakeet." "Oh, well, I'm sure Jimmy has a good explanation for this." replied Tommy's mom, "I've never had any trouble with him. But it does seem rather suspicious that two new video games showed up in our house the day after two games were stolen from our neighbors house. Have a look." "That's the problem." replied Tommy, "The games aren't here anymore. Michaela thinks Jimmy locked the games in that box on the desk." Tommy's mom replied, "Well, let's have a look." But when Michaela tried to open the steel box, the cover wouldn't budge. She examined the box and found a wire coming out the back that was connected to the computer. She pressed a key on the computer and the screen lit up. The message on the screen read, "Enter Password". Michaela explained, "It looks like the lock on the box is controlled by the computer. Do you know what Jimmy's password is?" Both Tommy and his mom shook their heads. Michaela suggested, "Well, people usually use a password that's easy to remember, like their own name or their birthday." So, Michaela typed in these passwords: JIMMY JOHNSON (that's Jimmy's last name) 021291 (that's Jimmy's birth date: February 2, 1991) None of them worked. Then Michaela got the idea to try these passwords backward: YMMIJ NOSNHOJ 192120 As soon as Michaela typed in Jimmy's birth date backward, she heard a click and a green light went on on the lid of the steel box. When Michaela opened the box, she found the XBOX and WII. Emily pointed to the WII controller and exclaimed, "That's my princess sticker on the back there!" Sure enough, the video games that Jimmy brought home were stolen. And Jimmy was in big trouble with his mom. But, thanks to Michaela, the world's greatest detective, everyone else lived happily ever after. ©2008 Bob Snook. Conditions for use: This story is free. Pay no fees or royalties. Do not sell this story or rewrite it. You may reproduce and distribute this story freely, but all copies must contain this copyright statement. http://www.fea.net/bobsnook/kid email: bobsnook@fea.net BACK |