Case # 1:
Sly and the Soccer Switch
My Policies
Iâm Sly the Sleuth. I run an agency called Sleuth for Hire. People bring me their problems. I solve them. So far I have solved every case.
My father says I should not get too cocky about it. Cocky people make mistakes. Plus, no one likes them. And he points out that Iâve only had three cases so far. They were all about pets. And they rhymed: the case of the Fat Cat, the case of the Wish Fish, and the case of the Frog Dog.
Iâm not cocky. Iâm just optimistic.
I like solving problems. Itâs fun.
Thatâs one of my policies: I only take cases that are fun.
And only cases that a cat would care about. So when someone tells me a problem, I first ask myself what my cat, Taxi, would think.
These policies have never failed me yet. The cases I take make me happy.
I love being a sleuth.
Islands
My fourth case started with a bang.
Brian and I were sitting on the floor drawing. Brian is my neighbor. He goes to nursery school.
Bang! The porch door shook.
Brian jumped to his feet. âEarthquake!â he screamed.
âThere are no earthquakes around here,â I said.
Bang!
âVolcano!â screamed Brian.
âNo volcanos either,â I said.
Bang!
âCall the police,â screamed Brian.
I opened the door.
A soccer ball hit me in the belly.
âOuch,â I said.
âSorry.â Jack fetched his ball and held it under one arm.
âKnocking is better,â I said. âItâs more traditional.â
âI canât help it,â said Jack. âI love to kick.â
âI love to kick too,â said Brian.
They both looked at me. I shrugged. âI play baseball. Not a lot of kicking in baseball. Whatâs up, Jack?â
âThereâs a problem.â
âI knew it,â said Brian. âLava!â he screamed.
âWhatâs he talking about?â said Jack.
âWhat are you talking about, Brian?â
âBoom.â Brian swung his arms over his head. âVolcano, lava, islands. Water everywhere.â
âBrian, has your teacher been talking about how islands are formed?â
âWe can get boats,â said Brian. âI love boats. And Wilson will be happy. Islands are good for Wilson.â
Wilson was Brianâs name for all his frogs. He had a few dozen.
âHow do you do that?â said Jack. âHow do you figure out what Brianâs talking about?â
âIâve had a lot of practice,â I said.
âAnd youâre good at that sort of thing,â said Jack. âThatâs why you can solve my case.â
Mistakes
I went to the kitchen drawer.Thatâs where
I keep my sharpest pencil and my special pad of paper. Those are tools of the trade.
âStart at the beginning,â I said.
âSoccer,â said Jack.
Soccer is not my idea of fun. And Taxi hates soccer balls.
I put the pencil and pad back in the drawer.
âGo talk to your coach.â
âCoach is baffled too,â said Jack.
âBaffled?â said Brian.
âConfused,â I said to Brian.
âBaffled booffled,â said Brian.
âGo back to your drawing,â I said.
I sat on the floor, picked up my pen, and went back to my own drawing.
âI need your help,â said Jack.
âI donât know anything about soccer.â
âI do,â said Brian. âI know everything.â
My drawing was homework. And I wasnât going to finish it if Brian kept talking and Jack didnât leave.
I went back into the kitchen. I filled a bowl with brownies. I filled another bowl with grapes. I held both bowls in front of Brian.
Brian stuffed a brownie in his mouth.
I knew he would. His mother makes only health foods.
I held the bowls in front of Jack.
Jack stuffed grapes in his mouth. Then he stuffed brownies in his pockets.
âWhat are you doing?â I said.
âI might get hungry later,â said Jack.
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