A work of Fiction by our Junior Kalamkar, Saanvi Shrivastava.
The Case of the Robbery at Wishwood Cottage
‘Jack, Nora, come on! You know that we have to go in five minutes,’ their mother shouted. ‘Coming Mom!’ Jack yelled, pulling his sister down the stairs. Nora screamed, ‘Jack, let me go!’ Jack left her and ran down. And suddenly, BAM! Nora had fallen down. Now, you tell me what else will happen when a 12 year old pulls a 7 year old down the stairs and suddenly lets her go!! Jack and his mother rushed to help her to get up.
‘Come on now, hurry up and go to Peter’s house,’ Nora’s mother said. Jack and Nora nodded. Now, you must be wondering why is everyone in this house in a hurry, why are all the kids going to Peter’s house? Actually, their parents had to go to a meeting and so they were dropping the kids at Peter’s house as his parents were going for the same meeting. Nora went to Steffi’s kennel and took her out.
‘Bow-wow-ow-bow!’ Steffi barked. Nora hugged her and took her to Jack, who was waiting at the front door. ‘Come on, let’s go,’ Jack said. Steffi barked happily. She didn’t know where they were going but she guessed that they were going to Peter’s house as they usually went there. Nora, Jack and Steffi reached Peter’s house a few minutes later. Peter opened the door and waved. ‘Hi, come in! My parents just left,’ he said smiling. Jack and Nora entered with Steffi at their heels. ‘Steffi!’ Peter squealed and all of them ran to Peter’s room to play. They were just in the middle of their Snakes and Ladders game when suddenly the telephone rang. Peter ran to answer it, while the others followed. ‘ Hello? Who is speaking? Huh! Wait, wait, just wait,’ Peter said. He quickly pressed the speaker button so that the others could hear too. A man’s voice could be heard. ‘Help! Help me, I am getting robbed. Call the Police, help me!’
The Terrific Three and the Dog looked at each other. ‘Ok, where are you but?’ Jack asked.
‘In my house, at Wishwood Cottage.’
‘Don’t worry, we will be there soon,’ Nora said. And suddenly, CLICK! The call got disconnected. ‘Lets rush there to see what happened,’ Peter said. All there ran outside and Steffi ran ahead of them, wagging her tail. They soon reached Wishwood cottage and rang the bell. A girl of about 16 years of age opened the door and said,’ Yes, what do you want?’
‘Umm, well we got a phone call a few minutes ago. It was from a man shouting for help from some robbers. When we asked him where he was, he said at Wishwood cottage. So is he here?’ Peter asked.
The girl gasped. “Yes, he is here, come on in,’ she said nodding. The children went inside and saw a man crying. ‘Paul, look these are kids you had called for help,’ the girl said cheerfully. ‘And we are here to help you,’ Jack said with a smile. The man looked up. He got up from the chair he was sitting on and smiled with difficulty, ‘I am Paul and this is my sister, Jemma.’
The Terrific Three smiled. ‘ Hi, my name is Jack. And this is my friend, Peter and my sister, Nora. And of course our dog, Steffi,’ Jack said by way of introduction. ‘So tell us exactly what happened,’ Nora asked removing the notebook and the pen given to her by Peter.
‘It goes like this – I was in my house reading a book while Jemma was reading hers. I got up after a few minutes and went to my bedroom, ‘Paul said pausing for a few minutes. ‘I have a small safe in my bedroom, where I keep some valuables of mine. Well, today I went to the safe to take out some money. Suddenly, I heard a noise outside our window and turned around. And when I turned back, I saw a man in front of me,’ He continued.
‘Whoa, whoa, whoa, wait a minute. Let’s see our story so far in short (Jack’s way of saying “lets see if there are any clues in your story till now’). So, here is how things happened:
ROBBERY
- Safe in bedroom
- Jemma and Paul busy reading
- Paul goes to the safe and hears a noise in bedroom and turns around
- He turns back and sees a man
‘Oh, so now you may continue,’ Peter said.
‘So that man saw me and grabbed me by my hand and took me in the drawing room where Jemma was,’ Paul said. He then looked at Jemma. ‘When I saw this man with Paul, I ran over to him and asked him who he was. But before I could him ask him anything, he whistled and captured me too. They robbed our safe and our house too,’ Jemma ended. The Terrific Three added to their previous sequence of events all that the brother sister mentioned to them.
Peter got up and said,’ Ok, so now I think we should all leave. Paul and Jemma, don’t worry, we will catch the thieves soon and get you back all the stolen items. ‘ The Terrific Three-And Dog went out of Paul’s cottage. ‘Well, now lets see if we can find some clues or go back to my house for today and find clues tomorrow. Choose!’ Peter said.
‘Find clues of course!’ Nora and Jack said together.
‘Fine, everyone start looking around carefully,’ Peter said. ‘Come on Steffi, you heard what Peter said, didn’t you? Find clues!’ Jack said. Steffi started sniffing around. The others started looking around too. Suddenly, Nora shouted so loudly that Jack and Peter jumped. They turned around and saw Nora staring at the ground. ‘Look, footprints!’ Nora exclaimed, pointing at the ground. Peter and Jack hurried to see a trail of footprints leading into a forest-like area. ‘Lets follow them,’ Peter said. They all started following the footprints. When they reached a small hut, Jack signalled them to stop and keep quiet. Everyone crowded around Jack as he called them to see what was there. In front of the hut, were eight men sitting with lots of money and some other things like a vase, a gold ring, etc. Suddenly, Peter turned around and started walking. Nora, Steffi and Jack followed him. They all came out and Nora asked Peter why had he come out. ‘Because even if wanted to catch those thieves, we couldn’t have. We need to confirm first of all, whether they are the real thieves of not,’ Peter explained. ‘And how on earth are we going to confirm that!’ asked Jack. ‘ Its simple, click their photo. We will then show it to Jemma and Paul and ask them to confirm it,’ Peter said. ‘But all this will happen tomorrow right?’ Nora asked. ‘Of course, this can happen only tomorrow. Who is getting the camera but?’ Jack asked. ‘I will get it,’ Peter replied. Jack looked at his watch. ‘Oh my, its 1 pm. Come on Nora, mom and dad will be home soon,’ he said. Nora nodded and they both said goodbye to Peter and left for their home.
After lunch, Nora called up Peter, ‘Hi Peter, should we carry a magnifying glass tomorrow, I can get it if we need.’ ‘Sure, do get it along please,’ said Peter and they both hung up. The next day, they all went to the same forest like area at a pre-decided time. Before they went inside, Peter asked everyone if they had brought all the essential things. ‘Yes, we have got two torches, three bottles and two magnifying glasses,’ Jack replied. They soon reached the area where the hut was. Peter quickly hid behind a bush when he saw the eight men. Nora, Jack and Steffi hid themselves too. And suddenly, CLICK! SNAP! CLICK! Peter had managed to click the pictures. They silently came out and went to Paul’s house. They rang the bell and Jemma opened the door and took them inside. ‘So, Jemma we have a small plan. We have got some photographs here and we would like you to see them. Jack and Nora will ask you some questions too,’ Peter said. Jemma nodded and took the camera to see the pictures. ‘Jemma, can you see the pictures and confirm if these were the same men who robbed your house?’ Nora asked. Jemma thought for a minute and exclaimed,’ Yes, yes…these are the same guys!’
The Terrific Three thanked Jemma and walked back home. On the way, Jack said,’ So now what are we going to do?’
‘Don’t worry, I have a plan,’ replied Peter grinning as they reached his house. ‘Now, all of you just listen and do as I say because I have a wonderful plan!’ Peter said. They all went to the hut in the forest like area. Suddenly, Peter took out a small blue phone and dialled a number. He crouched down below a bush and beckoned the others to follow him. He muttered something so softly that the other tow could barely hear a thing. Then he winked at them.
Suddenly, they all heard some crunching noise as if someone was crushing dried leaves. And a voice bellowed, ‘ Stop! Stay where you are everybody! Stop, I said.’
Jack, Nora, Peter and Steffi looked behind. There standing behind them was a police officer. He looked at the children. Nora looked at Peter and asked, ‘P-P-Peter whys is there a p-police o-o-officer here?’
Peter grinned and said,’ I called him up. He is going to catch the robbers and get all the things which they stole from Paul’s house.’ Soon all the men were caught and the things returned to the rightful owners. Jack and Peter’s parents were told about everything by the cops. Paul and Jemma thanked The Terrific Three-And Dog and Steffi got a big bone as a reward of course.
A few days later, the four were sitting in Peter’s garden and talking about the mysteries they had solved till now. ‘This mystery has to be called “The Case of the Robbery at Wishwood Cottage”, Peter said. The others nodded.
‘I do hope another mystery comes our way soon,’ Jack said smiling.
It will come soon The Terrific Three-And Dog, it will!!