So this is my story about a five year old Neal who hits the streets running. An adorable tale focused around Neal being loved by the Burke family as they try to mend his broken heart. Poor Neal has seen such wicked sights for being so young and there isn't an ounce of trust left in him. Can this little genius be tamed? Read and find out!
Peter shuffled quickly down the stairs while tying his tie around his neck; he had overslept and was going to be late to work. When he walked into the kitchen sweet aromas filled his nostrils as he saw his wonderful wife had already set out a plate of bacon and pancakes along with coffee just the way he liked it. He wrapped Elizabeth up in his arms and planted a kiss on her lips, "Thanks Hon." She beamed a dazzling smile and lifted her hands around his neck to flatten out his collar over his tie as her rushing husband had left it up by accident.
"No problem sweetie, now go eat!" She said lovingly as she ushered him to the table. She sat down beside him and took a sip of her own coffee. Peter barely had time to finish half of his breakfast before he looked at his watch and a renewed sense of urgency came over him. "Here, you go get your jacket and I will wash your plate," El said has she took the plate willing to help her husband. She had to go into work soon as well, but she wasn't in such a hurry.
"How did I ever get so lucky," Peter answered with an adoring grin as he got up to fetch his suit jacket. Just as he was ready to walk out the door, the doorbell ring filled the house. He opened the door but strangely no one was there; until he looked down. At his feet stood a small boy with bright crystal blue eyes, wavy dark hair, and in an adorable boy scouts uniform. The child barely rose above Peter's knee and the tall man had to bend down a little to look the boy in his ocean blue eyes. "Hey there kiddo, what brings you to my door step?" he asked hurriedly not wanting to waste time.
The little boy gave an incredible sales pitch smile and said in a precious voice, "My name is Aiden Monroe and I'm a boy scout!" The charming child held up what looked like a catalog and spoke again, "I'm selling Cracker Jacks to raise money for my troop, would you like to buy some?"
Peter smiled at the little kid who hardly even looked old enough to be in boy scouts, "I love Cracker Jacks, of course I'll buy some," he told him. At this time Elizabeth arrived at her husband's side only to gasp at the unbearable cuteness before her. "But hey buddy, I really have to get to work so I'm going to let you talk to my wife, she will buy some," he said as he turned to her wife with a smile and a wink. He gave her a kiss on the forehead before stepping out of the doorway past the tiny boy and walked swiftly to his car.
El took her place in front of the child and put her hands on her knees to lessen the height difference, "Hey there sweetie, what's your name?" The child's blue eyes sparkled along with a grin as he repeated his name. For the first time El wondered why the boy scout would be here in the morning and alone as well. "Why are you here at this time of day? Shouldn't you be at school?" she inquired with plenty of care and sweetness in her voice, "And where is your daddy?"
The little boy didn't skip a beat as he answered her question, "My school hasn't started yet; we start at nine. And my daddy is around the block," he turned and pointed in some direction down the street before justifying his reply, "he wants me to learn inda-pen-dance," he said sounding out the big word.
El smiled warmly at the cute little boy and ruffled his soft dark waves, "How old are you anyway? And we will take four boxes of Cracker Jacks," she said knowing how much her husband enjoyed the caramel popcorn. She remembered how he told her how he and his dad would snack on it while watching baseball games.
Aiden held out the form with a pen for her to sign her order, "I am five, and so is each box so that will be twenty dollars." He seemed to radiate an aura that showed he was proud of his intelligence. Elizabeth laughed at his smart little answer and applauded his math skills. "Oh and we only take cash," he added.
Elizabeth reached into her purse, pulled out a twenty dollar bill and handed it to the tiny business man who quickly stuffed it into an envelope. After the boy politely thanked the nice lady he ended with something strange, "Your Jacks will be here in two weeks. Enjoy your waiting and bu-bye!" With that he turned and hopped down the steps.
Caught off guard with that sudden exit El gave a giggle and called goodbye after the small figure that disappeared down the sidewalk.
After he left the residential area little Neal made his way to a food stand carrying the envelope of money he had just made. Even at the tender age of five, this little conman was a smooth criminal. He peeked a glance at his plunder which he had counted at two hundred and forty dollars. A sly grin covered his irresistible face.
A week ago he had watched as a kid a couple years older than him went door to door with his father collecting money from people. Curious, the street orphan asked the uniformed boy what he was doing. He had learned that with just a uniform and a catalog there was a much easier way of obtaining money rather than picking pockets like he had been doing. Neal felt a little bit of guilt from sneaking into the other kid's house and pilfering his uniform and catalog, but that shame left quickly as he had made his first easy money.
The child sat down on a bench in the park to enjoy his omelet sandwich for breakfast. Despite his young age, he had a well-educated taste pallet. Neal was not surprised at all as a short bald man approached him and sat down next to him. "Alright small one, I admit you are good for such a tiny street urchin," The odd man sighed.
Neal nodded his head with a proud grin, "Yah Mozzie, so now I get to be your distraction right?"
"You're hired," Mozzie said with a sigh. A few days before he had been talking with a partner about a jewel heist they had planned. Everything was set, except they needed a distraction for the security guard as Mozzie disabled the cameras. Unknown to the clever criminal, what he had thought to be an inconspicuous location backfired as a genius kid had been eavesdropping. Unexpectedly the boy piped in on their conversation and offered to be their distraction for a hundred bucks. At first the two thieves had laughed and denied that they knew what the kid was talking about, but the kid insisted that he wasn't stupid and then repeated their plan word for word. Shocked, Mozzie inquired about how they were to trust him and the boy had told the older man about his little cons and invited him to watch in order to prove that he could do the job.
The incredibly intelligent child had a smug grin on his face as he added nonchalantly, "Oh and by the way, I want two hundred dollars now." Mozzie's mouth dropped and he was about to offer a rebuttal when the child stopped him, "Look, I went to the library and looked into the place your robbing. According to your plan you're going to make off with a few million dollars, giving me two hundred is like a drop in the bucket!" To further enunciate his proposition he stuck his tongue out.
Unexpectedly Mozzie let out an impressed chuckle, "You are a talented little conman. I like you." He placed a hand on the small shoulder beside him, "I shall train you and together we shall do great things," the man said excitedly as he thought how useful having a five year old kid in his pocket would be.
A couple days later Peter and his team sat in the conference room trying to get to the bottom of their current case. No evidence, no surveillance footage, just millions of dollars in gems were gone. The only lead they had to go on was that the security guard was distracted by a small boy who stumbled into the shop crying a river of tears. Worried, the kind man had left his post monitoring surveillance cameras and attended to the child only to learn that he was lost and couldn't find his mommy. After he had finally distinguished a name from the kid's sobbing he went back behind his desk to call for help only to find that all security was disabled. Utterly confused he turned around to discover that not only was the security missing, but so was the distraught child. Catching on to the suspicious activity, he checked the vault and reported the stolen stones.
Now all Agent Burke had to go off of was the mysterious child's supposed name: Aiden Monroe. And that name seemed all too familiar.
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