It took about a week before Gloria and David had photos of all three men from both sides of their faces and a direct straight on shot. They had decided to name them Larry, Curly and Moe. To make it easier to record in their book who was doing what, when.

Although there was a pattern emerging as to when each of the men was at the house and the rotation of which one stayed and which one left was lost on the two 10 year olds as they were at school all day and were only watching between getting home from school and supper time.

By the end of the second full week they also had a picture and license plate number of the men's personal vehicles, an open topped jeep, a mustang and Ford pick-up truck. The delivery van hadn't been seen since the bed and table were dropped off.

David suggested at the beginning of the third week that they needed to get closer to the house to see what was going on. Gloria wasn't so sure and she spouted things she'd heard her father say about stake outs. Not being seen, not approaching the suspects etc. David explained day after day that any investigation progresses past the point of observation and moves to inquiry. It took all week for Gloria to be convinced. But since no more information came to them, and they were running out of things to write in their book, she finally agreed.

So they were to think over the weekend about ways of approaching the house that would be considered normal and come up with a plan on Monday.

Both kids spent the weekend trying to figure out ways to get near the house and even talk to the new neighbours. By Monday after school both had several ideas. In the end they decided that baking a plate of cookies and taking them over would be the best way to both see inside the house and get a chance to talk to whichever guy was home.

Mrs. Marshall was happy to help the kids bake on Tuesday afternoon as soon as they got home. She was so pleased that the children were thinking of others and wanting to welcome the new neighbours. It reminded her of old times when the street was first being built. A time when being neighbourly was expected and done well.

Gloria and David each had a cookie to test them. They wanted to make sure they were good enough to give away, or at least that is what they convinced Mrs. Marshall they were doing.

Armed with their plate of cookies the two children crossed the street and confidently strolled up the front walk. David was carrying the plate so it was up to Gloria to ring the bell. They could hear the chimes on the other side of the door, and then a gruff voice saying "Who the hell is that?" The kids knew there was only one man home at the time so were confused as to who he was speaking to. Undaunted they waited, but didn't hear any movement towards the door.

Looking at each other David nodded with his head towards the bell and Gloria pushed it for a second time. Nondescript mumbling was heard and then a screech of a chair being pushed back along the floor. Heavy foot falls got louder as they neared the door. The two children still jumped when the door was flung open as the man, Larry, the only one they thought was non military gruffy spewed "What do you want?"

Gloria, so much like her mother, was able to recover the quickest. Tapping David on the shoulder to remind him to hand over the cookies she answered "We wanted to welcome you to the neighbourhood" she paused as the Larry looked rather confused and she wanted to give him time to process the information. She then continued "We brought you cookies! We baked them ourselves, well really we did most of the work but Mrs. Marshal, she looks after us after school you see, well she helped a bit too". Gloria was not about to stop anytime soon on her own and so David bumped her with his elbow to get her to hold up.

Larry, was looking very confused. He obviously had never been in a nice neighbourhood where they might welcome you with a plate of cookies. Or at least that is what the kids thought.

David held the plate up higher. Still confused, the man they called Larry, took the plate and then looked around outside as if he was expecting someone to be hiding in the bushes or just around the corner of the garage.

"We will come back tomorrow for the plate" Gloria said as the man began to close the door without saying a word.

As the latch clicked the kids turned and ran back to Gloria's not even looking both ways when they crossed the street. They continued to run up to the bedroom, not bothering to remove their shoes or answer Mrs. Marshall's inquiries as to how the cookie drop off went.

Throwing the door closed they both fell onto Gloria's bed laughing hysterically. The tension of the encounter being released through their gales. Mrs. Marshall entered the room to find them in the recovery phase of intermittent giggles.

"Now you two!" the older woman began "you are to take your shoes off when you come in and I expect an answer when I ask a question."

"Sorry Mrs. Marshall" Gloria was able to sputter out as she finished gaining control of herself. David still holding his breath to not continue giggling.

Both kids toed off their shoes and David asked "what was it you wanted to know?"

"How did the drop off go?" the older woman asked again, this time to a more receptive audience.

"Ah… OK" I guess David answered, Gloria eyeing him as she didn't want Mrs. Marshall thinking anything was amiss. "We told him we would come back for the plate tomorrow" Gloria finished.

"Oh lovely. Do they have any children?" Mrs Marshall asked knowing that really that was all the kids would care about.

"Uh… No" they answered in unison.

"What a shame" the older woman said as she exited and shut the door behind her.

The two kids howled with laughter again, neither even knowing why.

When they finally had themselves under control they started to dissect their mini adventure.

They realized that neither of them had done their pre planned jobs. They were to look into the house and see if they could see anything. They were supposed to ask if the man had children, even though they had never seen any, they thought getting the man to answer questions would give them more information.

The fact finding mission they decided wasn't a total waste as they had left the plate and told Larry they would be back tomorrow to collect it. They had a second opportunity to ask their questions.