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Who Stole The Popsicles?

Kindergarten

May (6), Leaf (6), Gary (6), Drew (6), Paul (6), Ash (6)

Normally, the heatwaves didn't arrive until June or July. This year was an exception. It was only the month of May, and the heat was sweltering. The weather forecast reporters were calling it the hottest day ever!

"I'm soooo hot," May moaned.

She and her friends were at Leaf's house. Leaf always had cold treats in her freezer, so they had all come over to play and snack on those. Unfortunately, Leaf's popsicles had all run out, so her father had gone to the store to get a box. But in the meantime, the six six-year-olds were trying to survive the high temperature by sitting in front of an electronic fan.

"Are you sure don't have a better fan?" Drew asked. "It's still so hot."

"I have one upstairs, but it's attached to the ceiling in my mom and dad's room and we're not allowed to go in there," Leaf explained.

"Oh."

"Aw, why don't you have popsicles today, Leaf?" Ash whined. "I want some yummy popsicles!"

"They're all done. We ate them all yesterday."

"Can we go swimming? Gary said, wiping his forehead.

"No, I don't have a swimming pool."

"I'm so hot…." May complained.

"Then let's do something!" Leaf said decidely. "Let's play a game."

"What should we play?" Drew wondered.

"Hide-and-seek," Ash suggested. "We can play hide-and-seek till Leaf's dad comes back."

"Good idea," May said. "Let's all play!"

"Yeah!" Leaf cheered. She turned to Paul, who had been lying on his back silently with his eyes closed. "Wake up, Paul! We're gonna play a game!"

"Mm?" Paul opened an eye.

"We're playing hide-and-seek."

"It's too hot."

"But you have to play," May argued. "We all are. It won't be fun if you don't."

"I don't wanna hide."

"Then you count," Leaf said. "Let's all go and hide! Paul can count!"

They scattered, leaving Paul lying on his back while they went to find hiding spots. After a while of waiting, an annoyed Gary called out. "Paul! You have to find us!"

Paul grumbled but stood up, starting to walk around to locate his friends. He discovered Ash behind a sofa, Drew in a closet, May under a bed, Gary in a different closet and, finally, Leaf squeezed into a tiny cupboard.

"Okay, you found me last, so I have to count!" Leaf announced.

She started counting, and the others (a very begrudging Paul included) hid. But just when she started seeking, her father was heard.

"Kids! I've got the popsicles!"

"Yeah!" Ash cheered loudly from his hiding spot. "I want one!"

"But I'm not done finding you," Leaf whined. "Let's finish the game."

"But I want a popsicle!"

"Let's have them after I find you all. I'm a very good seeker, so it won't be fun if we don't finish. And I found you, Ash."

Leaf loudly announced to everyone hiding that they would have popsicles after finishing the game. Initially, some of her friends were very reluctant to remain hidden but, in the end, they agreed when Leaf added that the one she found last would get to have two frozen treats.

After a while, the girl discovered Paul, Drew, and May in various places. May had been quite difficult to find because she no doubt wanted the extra popsicle. Gary, on the other hand, was yet to be found. The others began growing bored, and Leaf became frustrated at her failure to locate her friend. Even Ash was getting tired of the game, which he expressed when he returned from a washroom break to find that everyone was still searching for Gary.

"Why don't you give up?" Ash asked. He wanted the game to end quickly so they could get right to the deliciousness that awaited them.

"No!" Leaf said stubbornly. "I can find Gary!" Suddenly, there was a noise coming from the kitchen.

"What was that?" said Drew, becoming alert.

"Maybe it was Gary," Leaf whispered excitedly. "Let's go see!"

They crept toward the sound, holding their breaths, and arrived just in time to see Gary dive under the kitchen table.

"Ha! Found you, found you!" Leaf chanted, pointing at him victoriously. But then she frowned. "But I already checked under this table and you weren't there. Were you moving around? That's not fair!"

"Is too," Gary argued, crawling out from his hiding spot. When he stood up, though, he groaned slightly and clutched his stomach.

"What's wrong?" Drew asked, taking note of his behaviour.

"Nothing," Gary said quickly, slipping his hands into his pockets.

"Do you have a tummy-ache?" May said sympathetically. "I get tummy-aches too sometimes. My mommy says it's sometimes 'cause of the heat."

"Yeah," Gary said. "It's the heat."

"Don't worry!" Ash said cheerfully. "We'll have popsicles, and it'll be all better! Right, Leaf? Come on, let's get the popsicles!"

The six headed over to the freezer where Leaf's father had stored the popsicle box. But once they opened the door, the box fell right out. And… it was empty!

"Where did they go?" May exclaimed in horror. "They're all gone!"

"I want a popsicle!" Ash wailed.

"What are we gonna do? It's too hot!" Drew said anxiously.

"There isn't even an orange one left," Paul noted bitterly.

"It's a mystery!" Leaf proclaimed. "Someone took all the popsicles, and we gotta find out who!"

"But how?" Ash said. "How're we gonna find out who did it?"

"I know how," Leaf said solemnly. She suddenly ran off, leaving the others standing in place in bemusement. She soon returned, this time wearing a brown fedora hat and a beige trench coat (that seemed a smidge too long). She tipped her hat and pulled out a small notepad and a blue crayon from her pocket. The others stared as she drew a picture of the empty box in her notepad

"What are you doing?" May questioned, intrigued.

"Lookin' for clues," Leaf answered.

"That's a cool hat, Leaf," Ash commented.

"Thank you," said Leaf. "But my name is not 'Leaf' right now."

"Huh? What is it, then?" Drew asked.

"It's"—Leaf twirled dramatically—"Detective Grassy."

(Detective Grassy's POV)

Gary scoffed. "Detective Grassy? You're not a detective!"

"What's a detective?" May asked. I decided to educate my fellow crime-fighter.

"A detective is someone who solves mysteries," I explained. "I can find out who took all the popsicles."

"You can?" Drew marvelled.

"Are you sure?" Paul said doubtfully.

"I don't think you can," Gary said.

It appeared some of my friends were dubious of my abilities. But I could assure them with confidence that I was up to the task. After all, I was Detective Grassy. Besides, I had watched enough episodes of Blue's Clues to know how it worked. Many may not know it, but Blue, the Shinx protagonist, was fairly talented in acquiring the relevant information for uncovering the searched-for answers. Not only that, Scooby-Doo was also particularly informative on the topic of catching culprits. I had learned a lot from that snack-loving Herdier.

"Well, I will solve the mystery and prove you wrong," I declared. "Now, first of all, we need to search for clues. Did anyone notice anything strange around the house during our game?"

"Leaf's acting weird. She's even talking weird," I heard Ash whisper loudly to Drew, who nodded in return.

"She watches a lot of TV," Gary told them.

I irritatedly tapped my handy-dandy notepad with my crayon. Perhaps Detective Grassy's usage of vocabulary differed from Leaf's, but it was beyond my comprehension why they would label such a difference as 'weird'.

"Well," I said, catching their attention. "Answer the question. Did any of you see anything strange?"

Everyone shook their heads.

"Alright, then," I said, scribbling down a frowny-face and flipping the page. "Who was the last one to touch the box before I opened the freezer door?"

They thought for a moment before May suddenly let out a panicky gasp. "Your dad!" she cried out. "Your dad brought the popsicles and ate them all before us!"

"Hm…" I tapped my cheek with my crayon. "Maybe. But I don't think my dad would do that 'cause he brought them for us. Nevertheless, he is now a suspect!" I drew my dad's face on my notebook.

"Or your mom," Drew said logically. "Maybe when we were playing, your mom didn't know they were ours, and came and ate them."

"Hm, you're right. But she wouldn't eat all of them. She always eats only one. But now, she's a suspect too!" My mom's face was soon drawn beside my dad's. "Anything else?"

"May," Paul said, shrugging.

"What?" May turned to him.

"May might have eaten them."

"No!" May said in shock. "I didn't!"

"But you really, really wanted a popsicle," Paul said. "And we found you after a long time. So maybe you ate them when we were looking for you and then you hid so it looked like you were hiding the whole time."

"I didn't!" May protested, turning to me desperately. "I didn't, Leaf!"

"Fear not, my friend," I said. "Detective Grassy will find the culprit, and, if you are what you claim to be, prove your innocence. But in the meantime, I will have to put you down as a suspect."

"What's she saying? I'm confused!" Ash said to Drew in a low tone.

"I don't know," Drew replied.

"She hears people say stuff like that on TV, and sometimes she starts saying that kind of stuff too," Gary informed them.

"Now it's time to look for clues!" I said, ignoring what Gary had said. "Let's go around and see."

We walked around the kitchen, searching for anything that would be a hint for solving the mystery. At first glance, it appeared as if there were nothing out of place, nothing out of the ordinary. But I knew my house well enough to know there was something wrong.

"Ah ha!" I exclaimed, pointing to the sink.

"What?" May asked. "Is it a clue?"

"Yes," I affirmed. "A clue. Right there by the sink."

We all headed over there. Ash frowned. "But there's nothing there. It's just a sink."

"Maybe that's what it appears to you. However, there is one crucial difference. There is water on the counter-top beside it!"

"So?" Drew said, puzzled.

"My mom always keeps the water completely clean and tidy and my dad and I have to too, so someone used the sink and did not clean up! They might have used it to wash their hands of the popsicle juice!"

"But that's not really a clue," Ash said. "Maybe someone's hands got dirty with something else, and they washed them and accidentally dripped water. I do that all the time."

Bingo. My eyes lock onto him immediately. "Well then, Ash," I said. "So were you the one who ate the popsicles?"

"No!" Ash protested. "Why do you think I did it?"

"Well, think about it," I said. "You just admitted that when you wash your hands, you drop water on the counter, so it could have been you."

"But other people drop water too!"

"But you took a washroom break when we were playing," Paul pointed out.

"Exactly!" I said. "Maybe you went and ate the popsicles!"

"No, I really had to go."

"And you really, really wanted a popsicle too, but I found you first, so you knew you wouldn't get an extra."

"But I thought maybe if there were many, many popsicles, I could have two…."

"And you look chubbier than usual. Is it because you ate all those popsicles?"

"I'm chubby?" Ash patted both his cheeks with his hands. He frowned.

"But Ash is always chubby," Drew said.

"I'm always chubby?"

"I know, Drew, but he's even chubbier than usual. It's due to the popsicles!"

"I'm not chubby," Ash said, sulkily. "My mom says it's baby fat."

Gary snorted in laughter. "Ash is a baby! Ash is a baby!" he chanted.

"I'm not!"

"But you are a suspect!" I said, nodding my head and drawing Ash's face into my notepad. Once I was done, I looked up again. "Okay, let's see what else."

We walked around the kitchen some more, trying to spot more clues. It was hard to find any, but I decided that the empty popsicle box might have something on it to help us find the answers.

"It has the number six on it," I said. "That means there were six popsicles in it. Who could have eaten six whole popsicles?"

"Ash and May like to eat lots of stuff like that," Gary pointed out.

"But if there were six of us and only six popsicles, then no one could have gotten an extra," Drew said frowning.

"Ah ha!" I turned to my green-haired friend immediately. "Drew might have eaten them!"

"Me?" Drew said in surprise.

"Yeah," Paul said. "That's why he's so quiet."

"Yeah, you're right!" I said. "I've heard that it's always the quiet ones who are the bad guys."

"I'm not a bad guy!" Drew said defensively. "I'm quiet 'cause we have to be serious!"

"But you're a suspect now." I drew Drew's face beside Ash's.

"But Paul's really quiet too," Drew whined.

"But he's helping me," I explained. "He can't be the bad guy if he's helping me."

"Or maybe you ate the popsicles!" Gary said suddenly, pointing at me with accusation in his eyes.

"No, I didn't," I said exasperatedly. "I'm the detective."

"Maybe you're just pretending to be," Paul said.

"Nu-uh!" I said, frowning at Paul. Wasn't he helping me? Why wasn't he helping me now?

"Uh-huh!" Gary countered. "You're just pretending you're the detective so we wouldn't think you ate them!"

"I'm not!"

"Yes you are!"

"No I'm not!"

"But you're still a suspect, so you'll have to draw your face too."

I huffed. I knew I didn't do it. The fact that the detective would be the one to commit the crime was ridiculous. It would be an interesting show to watch but, right now, it wasn't true. Nevertheless, I complied with his wishes and drew my face down, just so he would stop bothering me.

"There, happy?" I said.

"Yup!" He grinned rather triumphantly.

Suddenly, my dad walked into the kitchen and spotted us all. "Hey, you guys done eating the popsicles?" he asked.

"No," May said sadly. "Someone ate all of them."

"All of them?" My dad raised his eyebrows in surprise. "All the popsicles? Who?"

"We don't know," I said. "But I'm going to find out. You mark my word!"

He chuckled. "Of course, Detective Grassy." Yes, he knew exactly who I was at the moment. I had solved many of his mysteries too. Like where the car keys went.

"What are we gonna do now?" Ash said. "I really wanted a popsicle, but the box is all empty."

"Well, lucky for you, I actually bought two boxes."

To our delight, my dad reached into the freezer and pulled out a brand new box from the top drawer. We all cheered excitedly as he opened the box and handed one out to each. Since there were only six, everyone (except my dad) got one.

"I guess you guys will still get popsicles. But really, whoever ate all of them from the first box, don't do that. Eating too much is not good for you, and it's not fair to the others. Well, you kids enjoy and I'll be in my study."

My dad left. I was pretty sure he was definitely not guilty so I took the liberty of crossing him out in my book. He wasn't a suspect anymore.

"It's not fair, though," Drew said. "Whoever ate all the other popsicles is getting an extra."

"Maybe they'll get a tummy ache," I said.

And then, all of a sudden, I knew who was the culprit. I pointed at my spiky-haired friend and yelled, "It was you!"

"What?" Gary said quickly. "No, it wasn't!"

"Yes it was! You were the last one we found, and you were hiding in the kitchen, so you had lots of time to eat all of them! And then, you washed your hands and dropped water, and when you going to hide under the table, we came and found you! And you had a tummy-ache, and that was because you ate so many! And why aren't you eating your popsicle now?"

"Because I don't wanna," Gary mumbled. He hadn't even opened the wrapper, and his hand was on his belly, as if thinking about having one more popsicle made him feel queasy.

"You ate all of them, Gary, that's why!" I accused.

"And I saw him eating one too," Paul said nonchalantly, licking his orange-flavoured popsicle.

We all gaped at him. "If you saw him eating them, then why didn't you tell us he did it?" I yelled.

He shrugged.

"Fine!" Gary yelled. "I ate the popsicles! It was just so hot, and I was the last one anyways, and you said the last one would get an extra, so that's why!"

"Gary, how could you?" May cried. Then she went back to licking her strawberry popsicle.

"Hmph! Well, this means you don't get that popsicle you have right now. I'm putting it back in the freezer." I snatched it from his hand and put it back into the freezer's coldness.

"I don't care," said Gary. "I don't want one right now!"

"And I won't let you have any popsicles six times now," I added.

"That's not fair!"

"It's your punishment." I tossed my head up and went back to licking my popsicle.

The culprit had been discovered and brought to justice, all thanks to Detective Grassy!

(Detective Grassy out)

And with that ends the chapter! I hope you all enjoyed!

Thanks for reading!

Bye bye for now! Have a great day and smile the whole way! :)