Embedded Files
by Seerat Dang
I don’t know if I landed in Aladdin’s fairy tale story,
but somehow, I magically reached into a pile of gold coins! I saw a ring, a lamp, a mug, and a purse. The ring was for the ring genie and the lamp was for the lamp genie. But what were the mug and purse for? I touched the purse, and a bright magic rainbow light wrapped around me.
“Make a wish,” said a voice, “Make a wish for someone else.”
I thought hard to myself. Who could I wish for? Not my annoying little brother. Maybe my mom…Nahh. Who else could I wish for?
“Uh uh… I dunno” I stammered. Just then, I remembered my friend Jessica! She’s wanted a double phone for a year so we both can play games together. I was ready.
“I want a double phone for my friend Jessica,” I said.
“1...2...3...double phone! Here it is” said the same voice.
Suddenly the light unwrapped me. I looked at the phone. It was outstanding! It had the best games, an updated camera app, social media, Facebook, Instagram, and more. It had a fingerprint sensor, a security camera, and even came with a bonus purse! I rubbed my eyes and was back in the real world, with the phone!
“Elisa!” called my mom, “It’s breakfast time.” I sprinted to the table, and chocolate pancakes were waiting for me. I ate my food, quickly put on my jumper, grabbed my backpack, and jumped on the bus. I looked around for Jessica and gave her the double phone.
“Elisa!! You are my best friend! I finally got my double phone,” Jessica said, surprised and excited at the same time.
“So,” I asked, “Which game do you wanna pl—"
I abruptly opened my eyes. Was this a dream? Probably. I ran to the living room where my mom was sitting with my twin sister, Sophia, munching on chips. We’re the only detective family in town!
“Hey, Sophie! We both are gonna solve another case!” Sophia announced with a few chips in her mouth.
“Shush!” my mom scolded Sophia, “Noah’s sleeping.”
“Okay, okay! Sophie, we’re gonna find out who is stealing the cakes from the Perfect Pastries shop! Our favorite shop!” Sophia said, impatiently.
“Yay!” I said, running to my room to get our blue and purple detective suit. I tucked them in the purses while Sophia grabbed our walkie-talkies.
“Girls,” mom said, “Be careful and make sure you aren’t caught. Dad and I will be taking Noah for another case. Call us on our walkie-talkie if needed.”
“Sure”, I said quickly, rushing out of the door.
* * *
We jumped on our shiny silver flying bike and pedaled until we were in the air.
“Over there! Perfect Pastries is right in front of us!” Sophia steered down, and we parked our vehicle. Sophia got out her sketchbook, and I got my magnifying glass, and we started curiously asking the busy cashier some questions.
“Hello! I just saw on TV that someone has been stealing your pastries. That’s sad. But this can be something I can draw! What did the thief look like?” Sophia asked.
“Lemme think, I didn’t fully see the thieves, but I do remember there were three women and they each had a purple heart ring and hair down ‘till their hips with bangs. They were wearing the same light purple dresses and same slippers.” The cashier remembered.
“Okie Dokie! What color was their hair?” Sophia asked again.
“The top part was black, and then was shaded to blonde,” The cashier responded.
“Thank you!” Sophia said as she added her finishing touches.
“Hey Sophia”, I whispered, ”Look, light purple fabric. Go ask if this is the color of the dress. This can be one of our clues.”
“Um, excuse me?” Sophia politely interrupted.
“Yes, sweetie, what is it?” The same cashier asked.
“Uhh.. is this the color of light purple the thieves were wearing?”
“Why yes! And,” the cashier added, “I have more here. Gimme a sec, here it is.”
“Thank you, thank you!” Sophia happily said. “Go, you ask her a question,” Sophia whispered to me, “I’ll be waiting there, at the back of the shop.”
“Excuse me? I have a question,” I interrupted.
“Yes?”
“When was the last robbery?”
“Hmmm… The day before yesterday at 5:30 pm, sharp.” She said, after thinking.
“Thanks!” I rushed out of the back door and found Sophia sketching.
“Any clues?” she asked, looking up.
“She told me that the last robbery was the day before yesterday, sharp at 5:30 pm.”
“Okay, from the last case we solved, there were also three girls, and they had bangs, and their hair was down ‘till their hips. The only difference was their clothes.” Sophia added.
“Now that I remember,” I said, sitting down, “The other case also involved three girls, and they wore a light blue dress and slippers. Maybe they wore the same slippers...”
She flipped through her book. “Aha!” she said, like a magician, “Is this the shade of blue you are talking about?”
“Yup! And look, these are the slippers, ” I said, trying to find my notebook. I scribbled all our clues, and then we both ran into the shop bathrooms and changed into our detective suits.
“We want to talk to you, over there,” we both asked the cashier, at the same time.
“Uh, 1 minute, I’ll be there,” she said, looking back at the customer in front of her.
“I placed a pre-order of a dozen chocolate cupcakes”, a mother said, holding her son’s hand.
“What’s your name?” The cashier requested.
“Jane,” The mom responded, hoping that the cashier would be able to find her order.
The cashier walked to the part of the shop where they had kept all the pre-orders, “Jane," she whispered to herself, “Should be here, in Row J.”
“I-I can’t find it,” the cashier stammered.
“We can find it!” We confidently told the mother.
Once the cashier, Sophia, and I went to the back, I asked, “My name is Sophie, that’s my twin, Sophia, we’re detectives, as you can see. What’s your name?”
“My name is Isabella, Bella for short” the cashier answered.
“Nice to meet you, Bella”, Sophia continued, “We got a few Qs. First one up, what type of pastries did the thieves steal?”
“Only chocolate cakes and cupcakes,” Bella answered, with her hand on her chin, as I jotted the answers on my secret notebook with my favorite erasable pen.
“And, usually, what times of the day do the robberies happen?” I asked, looking back at Bella.
“Always between 5 pm and 6 pm,” Bella responded.
“Which type of clothes do they wear, dress, shirts, what? And which colors?” Sophia asked.
“They always wear dresses down ‘till their slippers, and it alternates between yellow and purple. Last time they wore purple, so this time they are gonna wear yellow.”
Bella said carefully.
“And which days does it happen?” I questioned, again.
“Every other day, so the next one is today...in exactly 35 minutes!”
“Thank you so much, give me and Sophie 1 sec, we’ll be back, stay right here,” Sophia said, as she dragged me away from Bella.
“Okay, I am thinking of setting a trap for those thieves. What do you think?” she asked me.
“Let’s meet with all the PP cooks and staff, and ask them if they can somehow prepare all types of chocolate cakes and cupcakes and fill them with ice. You can go home and get our special Freeze Guns, and we will be able to catch the thieves,” I continued, “But we need police, so can you bring them too?”
“Sure!” Sophia responded.
“Isabella,” I said, walking to her, “We have a plan. We want to request the cooks to bake chocolate cakes and cupcakes filled with ice. Sophia is gonna get the police and the guns that make everyone frozen so we can catch the thieves. Is that okay with you?”
“Yes!” Bella exclaimed. “Just to clarify, the thieves split up, meaning that one of them distracts us by ordering chocolate cakes, and then the other two sneakily steal some pre-orders. Then all three run away, without paying!”
Sophia ran to our flying bike and set off, with our detective card. Bella and I met with seven of the many cooks to discuss our plan. As soon as they agreed, they got right to work.
* * *
“Hey there, Sophia! Park here!” I said the moment I saw her, with a police officer following behind, looking a bit terrified by the ride.
It was 4:55pm and everyone was ready. “Isabella,” I announced, “Stay calm and act like nothing happened. Police officer, please hide somewhere where you are not noticeable, take Sophia’s walkie-talkie. When I say, ‘Ahem’ in mine, you come out to arrest them. Sophia, you are gonna hide under the preorder counter and make two of the thieves freeze, and I’ll duck down below Bella and freeze the thief who distracts us. Okay?”
Everyone agreed, with creepy smiles on their faces. We were ready! Soon, three women in elegant yellow dresses entered the shop.
“Why hello there,” one of them asked, “May I please have a mega chocolate cake?”
“Yes, mega chocolate cake, coming right up,” Bella said confidently.
The moment she turned away, two of them entered the shop and creepily snuck into the preorders. While they were deciding what to steal, Sophia abruptly stood up and shot them with ice, and they were frozen! I stood up too, and the thief who distracted Bella was frozen! We locked all the doors, and windows, and surrounded the thieves.
“Ahem,” I spoke into my walkie-talkie. The police officer took no time to come out, and arrested three sneaky, creepy thieves.
We then decided to close the shop early, and had a mini party with a real mega chocolate cake to celebrate our victory. Everybody stuffed their mouths, and we had a stupendous evening.
“Thank you, a thousand mega chocolate cakes and back, for helping us!” Bella laughed.
“Any time!” We said, as we hugged everybody. “We love Perfect Pastries!”
We set off back home. “Case solved!” Sophia and I exclaimed as we opened the door.
THE END
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