Chapter 7 – The Clues Come Together

Later, at the Wilson household, attendance was mandatory in Michael's bedroom. Though SpongeBob SquarePants was inadvertently spirited away from home by the clutches of Happy Chapman, those with enough wits and leadership skills matching his own took the opportunity to handle an important meeting. Every toy congregated around at the center to discuss about the individual who stole their friend.

The blue Etch a Sketch drew a sketch of SpongeBob with the words Exhibit A, the first scene of the predicament. Cody Maverick stood on a podium consisting of a gameboard and projected the situation over the crowd. "All right. Let's review this crisis one more time. At precisely 8:32 a.m., Exhibit A, SpongeBob SquarePants, was kidnapped." Cody presented. "Exhibit B..." Etch a Sketch erased the Exhibit A picture and drew a new picture consisting of Happy Chapman with SpongeBob in hand, but with a long beard. "An accurate sketch of the kidnapper."

"He doesn't have a beard like that." Abby said.

"Fine. Etch, draw how he looks." Cody confirmed. Etch erases the picture and draws Happy with his balding head.

"The kidnapper's more devious than that." Clifford said.

"Picky, picky, picky." Cody sighed.

"Let's go straight to Exhibit F." Oscar interjected. The menagerie of toys stand in front of a model of the crime scene: the house made with multicolored LEGOs and the road and driveway with some of the parts from a Lincoln Log cabin. They even used a SwaySway figurine and a mini car as the thief who stole their friend. "The kidnapper's vehicle; now, the vehicle fled the scene in this direction." Oscar pointed to his right, compelling the car to drive forward.

"Pfft, your eyes are in backwards. It went the other way." Cody said.

"Hey, put a cork in it." Oscar retorted.

Alex came in, accidentally disrupting the crime scene. "We can call up the FBI!" Alex announced. He accidentally wrecks the scene, and when he turned, his tail accidentally breaks down the small house.

"My crime scene!" Oscar complained.

"Alex, look what you've done!" Cody cried out in frustration.

"Sorry. I didn't know there was a crime scene." Alex apologized.

Behind the bed, Jimmy came out. "Excuse me, excuse me. A little quiet, please. Thank you."

"Huh?" Cody wondered. He looked over to Oscar, who shrugged. They go by the bed, where they find Jimmy using Speak and Spell as a deciphering machine, whilst overlooking the stray confetti. He's trying to remember the license plate. A row of blocks are arranged to form the same license plate number from the getaway car.

"Hippy Tin Stall. Hardy Tub Stan." Speak N Spell droned.

"What are you doing, Jimmy?" Alex asked.

"It's some sort of mysterious message encoded on that vehicle's ID tag," The Space Boy explained.

"Happen Ton State." Speak N Spell droned again.

"What's the point about this license plate stuff, Jimmy? It's just a jumble of letters." Oscar interjected.

"Yeah. And there are about 3.5 million registered cars in the tri-county area alone." Cody said smartly.

"Having Tow Stump," was Speak N Spell's next sentence.

"Oh, this can't help," Oscar grumbled. "Let's just leave Jimmy to play with his toy." As the toys begin to disperse, Jimmy came to a sudden realization of something certainly familiar.

"Toy..." Jimmy whispered softly. "Toy. Toy!" Jimmy immediately brimmed with intent. "HOLD ON!" Quick as a flash, the young Space Boy punches the letters on the keyboard. With the press of the ENTER button, he watches closely as Speak N Spell displayed a new sentence on the screen. "Happy's Toy Stadium."

"Happy's Toy Stadium!" The toys pointed out. Why would a license plate refer to a toy store?

Jimmy curiously stared at the confetti in his hand. And just like that, with the connection between the license plate and the confetti building up, the clues became more obvious, and he finally figured it out. The young Space Boy action figure turned to Etch and pointed to him with the confetti piece, "Etch! Draw that man in the football suit!" Quick as a whip, Etch erased the current picture, and sketched a new Exhibit B diagram of Happy Chapman wearing a football costume with SpongeBob in his hand. Everyone gasped in shock as the truth is revealed.

"It's the football man!" Alex recognized.

"That's our guy." Jimmy confirmed.

Cody shook his head, "I knew there was something I didn't like about that talking football."