April Antics

“Guess what?” asked Dink Duncan “There’s

a circus coming to Green Lawn”.” Really?”

Ruth Rose Hathaway asked. She always dressed in one colour. Today, from her headband to shoes was blue. Josh Pinto’s freckled face appeared over a book. His twin brothers Bradley and Brian had finished eating. They had red hair and brown eyes. Dink’s Cousin Lucy Armstrong and Ruth Rose’s brother Nate were playing

Chess. Dink and Lucy had blond hair and

Blue eyes. Nate had black hair and brown eyes like his sister. “Shall we go to the

Circus today? “Lucy asked. Dink shook his head”No.Not today, I have to do some errands for my mom”.

The next day at the circus, Ruth Rose was

Green from head to toe.” You look like a tree” Brian joked. They bought the tickets and went in. Josh and the twins bought popcorn as soon as they went in.

They saw clowns, horses, trapeze, an elephant playing baseball and performing

Dogs. A clown was always tripping over his feet. He had make-up on his cheeks a red nose and a feathery hat. There were white horses and brown horses.They also saw a talking parrot. Then, they all ate ice creams in Ellie’s Diner. After eating ice creams they went home.

Next day, Lucy bought a newspaper. On top of the page was written in big, black

Letters:

BURGLARY IN WALKER HOUSE

Lucy rushed into the house to show it to Dink. Dink’s mom told her that Dink, Josh and Ruth Rose had gone for a picnic.

Then Nate came to Dink’s house. “Did you see the newspaper?” he asked breathlessly. “Yes, let’s go to Josh’s house”.

At Josh’s house, they showed the twins the newspaper. ”Let’s go and talk to Mr.Walker. We can try to solve the mystery like the older kids” said Lucy. ”And look for clues” Nate added. ”We can find suspects” Bradley continued. ”And write it down in my notebook” finished Brian. They all laughed.

.

They walked over to Mr.Walker’s house.

They rang the bell...A man who appeared to be thirty years old opened the door.

He was wearing red sneakers, a yellow shirt and a blue baseball cap. “Are you Mr.Walker?” Brian asked. The man nodded,

“Come in” he said.

The kids introduced themselves. ”Ah!” He said”So, you are the siblings of Green Lawn’s detectives Dink, Josh and Ruth Rose”. Lucy said “We are here to try and solve this mystery. I Hope you don’t mind if we ask you some questions?”. “No, I don’t mind at all”. “Can you tell us what happened exactly?”. “My cook and I had our dinner and went to sleep” he said.

“Was there anyone else other than your cook and you?” Lucy asked. ”No, no one else. Then suddenly we heard a sound of someone going out through the window. I took a stick and went outside. There was no one out. I switched on the lights only to find that all my money, my mother’s jewels, the old objects that I had collected and some old stamps”. Brian was taking it all down in his notebook.

“What time was it when you woke up?”. .Lucy asked. “It was about 1;00 A.M.

I then called Officer Fallon”. He said.

“Thank You Mr.Walker. Can we look for clues now?” asked Nate. “Yes, you can”

They searched high and low. Then suddenly, Brian gave a yell. They saw some white paint on a wall. Lucy took a photo using her camera which she had got for her birthday from Dink.They went outside and stood near the window. There was a big, green feather lying down.

Bradley picked it up and kept it in his pocket. “A man could easily get in through this window.” Lucy said. They went back in. Lucy had one last look in the bedroom. She saw something shiny under the bed. She took it. It was red and circular. She kept it I her pocket. They said thanks to Mr.Walker. When they were about to leave, Bradley asked “What’s the cook’s name and address.” Mr.Walker said “His name is Jack Harris. He lives in Oak Street.” They said thank you and left.

The kids trooped into Nate’s house. ”I am hungry”, Brian announced. They made sandwiches and ate them. After eating, they wrote down the suspects and clues.

Suspects;

· Jack Harris

Lucy displayed the three clues on the table. Brian looked at the red thing and said “That looks like Rudolph’s nose”. “Of course, that could be part of a disguise” said Lucy.

Clues;

· White paint on the wall(have taken a photo)

· Long, Green feather

· Red, Plastic nose (probably for disguise)

“I think we should go and ask some questions to Mr.Harris” said Lucy.

“Cool, then we can have ice creams in Ellie’s Diner when we come back” said Bradley.

They went to Oak Street and found the cook’s house. They said to Mr.Harris that they were trying to solve the mystery.

Mr.Harris said” I saw a torch light in the hall, I thought that it was my master trying to find something. After sometime I heard my master yell to me. I went and saw that everything was stolen. I have some work to do now. I am sorry I have to go now”. The kids said thanks and went to Ellie’s Diner to eat ice creams.

They saw a flyer on a tree. It was about the circus:

COME TO THE CIRCUS

SEE:

· WALTZING HORSES

· CLEVER DOGS

· FUNNY CLOWNS

· TRAPEZE WALKERS

AND MUCH,MUCH MORE…

Then suddenly, Lucy got it “Clowns” she suddenly cried.

”Of course, why didn’t I think of it before?. Clowns wear white make up, they wear feathery hats, and they have shiny, red noses. It will also be a perfect disguise. Nobody will recognize the thief because of the clown costume.” She said.

“There are three clowns there. Mr.William, Mr.Robin and Mr.Potter. Have you also noticed that the hats of the clowns had nine feathers each.” Said Bradley. ”The clown with eight feathers must be the thief. He also won’t have his plastic nose” said Brian.They went to the circus again.

They saw the circus clowns again.Nate said that his legs were feeling tired. They found a bench and sat down. They didn’t find anything unusual there. Just as they were about to go. Lucy remembered that she had left her coat in the bench.

The others waited for her. When Lucy took her coat, she heard some quarrelling nearby. She bent down to look. One of the clowns Mr.Potters was saying “I am sorry but I lost my fake nose somewhere” to the head of the circus.

Lucy ran back to tell the others what she had heard. All of them went to Officer Fallon.

They told him the whole story from the beginning to the end. They showed him the clues and the suspects. When Lucy had ran back to get her coat, Brian had added three more suspects to his list.

Suspects:

· Mr.Jack Harris

· Mr.William

· Mr.Potters

· Mr.Robins

Officer Fallon heard the story and went to the circus. He asked Mr.Potters whether what the kids said was true. Mr.Potters was scared and confessed. The clown was arrested and the stolen things were all returned to Mr.Walker.

Officer Fallon said to the kid’s parents “Without them we wouldn’t have caught the thief.”. They had a ‘Great Job’ party for them.

Brian, Bradley. Lucy and Nate all told about their mystery to Dink, Josh and Ruth Rose and they listened big-eyed and amazed.

THE END

(This story is based on Ron Roy's Calendar Mysteries series.)