Once
upon a time, on a winter morning in Chicago, it was the first day of
holidays for the children of high schools, 'Rhodesweeps' and
'Rustberry'. Albert and Max aspiring to become detectives came out of
their homes, were shivering because of the morning breeze. Albert was
from Rhodesweeps and Max was from Rustberry. Albert, shiveringly
says, “Good morning Max! Its a long time we haven't met”, “Looks
like we have work out there near the outskirts of Austin. Max says,
“Why not call Susie? She would love to take part in our mystery
adventures”. Walking towards Susie's house, they tell each other
about their previous adventures. Susie feeling dull, looking out of
her window, sees the boys coming towards her house. Before they could
even ring the bell, Susie sprang out of her house to welcome Max and
Albert. After seating themselves comfortably, Susie asks them, “Would
you prefer tea or coffee?”. They together say, “A cup of tea
please” laughing aloud.
Now,
Albert willingly asks “Would you both prefer coming with me in a
mystery adventure?”. Thinking for a while, “Why not, it would be
our pleasure” says Max followed by Susie. Susie in hesitation says,
“Can we take Brownie with us?” Brownie was Susie's pet dog. “Yes
why not! I anyways am fond of him” says Albert; turning towards
Brownie he says, “Right! Brownie”. “Woof! Woof!” says
Brownie as if he understood every single word that Albert said.
Albert now being serious says, “Robert, a businessman on the
outskirts of Austin in Texas says there is a blood-sucking vampire
which is torturing him in his business”. Getting ready with their
bike, which was gifted to Susie by her father on her
fifteenth birthday, Albert says, “Hurry up, we are getting late”.
They called Robert to inform him that they are coming there to
investigate the matter.
They
were travelling all through the day towards Austin through the cold
breeze of the morning, the warm breeze of the afternoon and the
freezing breeze of the evening. It was 24th December, the
Christmas eve. Albert says, “All through the previous years, the
vampire appeared sharp at 12 at night of the Christmas day”. “We
must hurry, its just 5 minutes to 12”, said Max switching on the
light in his watch. The moment they reached the place, they were
greeted by the blood-sucking vampire. Although they went through it,
they weren't aware that they were very near to finding the truth.
Just
as the vampire disappears into thin smoke, Robert gives them a warm
welcome to his house. Max was in a shock to speak anything. By then,
Albert very excited and puzzled says, “Can we start our
investigation now itself??” “No, no! Not at all, I cannot put my
guests to work at their first day itself” says Robert. “Well, can
we get a nice place to sleep?” asked Susie sheepishly. “Ofcourse!”
said Robert and he led them to a warm and cozy tent. On their way
towards the tent, Robert says “If you need anything, there is a
shop just a quarter mile away from here on the west”. The next day
morning, they couldn't find Robert anywhere. Forgetting their
morning meal, they set off to work.
They
divided themselves the work, Albert going towards East, Max towards
West and Susie, and Brownie towards South. During the course, Brownie
felt hungry and couldn't walk anymore. Susie finding sacks of oats in
Robert's barn, led Brownie to it. Brownie, eating a handful of oats,
was choked by something. Susie after helping him take out the piece
from his throat examines what it is and off she bumps into a clue, a
'keyboard key – 'k' from a laptop!' She was in the seventh heaven.
She was too happy to continue the course. “Woof! Woof!” said
Brownie in chorus. Max had gone to examine the road and found that
there were many 'tyre marks, fresh and old too'; this made him think
critically as he felt it very odd. This ended up such that they found
out another clue. On the other hand, Albert searched far and near but
couldn't find a single clue.
Robert,
on the other side had gone to the shop he had previously mentioned,
whose owner was George. He had gone to buy a new hologram machine as
he had postmortemed the older one that had broken down. As it was
lunch time for the young detectives, they had come back to their
starting point. They discussed their searches and decided to go to
the jungle towards North where they thought the vampire lived. They
once again didn't realize how near were they to the truth...
After
Robert came, he was surprised to see them find two clues so fast!
They ate their meal heavily so that they won't be disturbed by hunger
once again. Off they set towards the jungle. Robert was now very
scared to know that the truth was almost to be exposed. Examining the
jungle area for a while, the children get one more clue – parts of
a hologram machine. Now, they were satisfied with their three clues.
Coming back, they were surprised to find Robert sweating a lot even
sitting idle on a rocking chair. Suspecting him, they ask him for his
laptop. As he didn't want the suspicion to come on to him, without
hesitation he handed over the laptop, and indeed the laptop didn't
have the key – 'k'.
They
all were so happy as the mystery was solved and the culprit was
Robert himself. They asked him how did he bring out the vampire. He
told the truth, “I used a hologram to make the vampire and I did it
using a laptop”. When asked the reason behind it, he says, “So
that people feel pity on me and donate money for my poor condition”.
The three tell him the slogan that “Hardwork is the only key to
Success”. He apologizes for his mistake and started putting in
hardwork. His business expanded all over Texas and he became famous.
Whenever he earns money, he thanks Albert, Max and Susie in his mind
for teaching him a lesson and never forgets them.
Suhas
10 July 2011
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