BACK MINI9 8' Mini-mysteries for the mouse detective "It's here! It's here!" exclaimed the hummingbird as she flew into the park, "The magic show is here!" Many of the animals from the smallest insect to the largest squirrel ran down to the creek to watch the magic show floating down the creek on a pizza box. By the time the spider anchored the pizza box to the shore with web silk, the banks on both sides of the creek were jammed with cheering animals. Even Michaela Mouse was there. In the first magic trick, a caterpillar crawled into a small box, then the lid was closed. Only one second later, the lid was opened again and out flew a butterfly! "Ooo! Aaah!" shouted the animals, then they clapped and cheered. In the second magic trick, a worm crawled into a tunnel -- really it was a small piece of garden hose -- but out of the other end crawled a cockroach. "Ooo! Aaah!" shouted the animals, then they clapped and cheered. In the third magic trick, a grasshopper hopped into a long box, the lid was closed, then a praying mantis sawed the box in half. "Oh no!" exclaimed several animals, "They cut that poor grasshopper in half!" But when the lid was opened again, the grasshopper hopped out in one piece. "Ooo! Aaah!" shouted the animals, then they clapped and cheered. In the next magic trick, the same praying mantis held out a stick for all to see. And before their very eyes, the stick turned into a bouquet of tiny white flowers. "Ooo! Aaah!" shouted the animals, then they clapped and cheered. Without warning, a cloud of smoke covered the flowers. One second later, the flowers disappeared and a beautiful little butterfly flew out of the mantis' hands. "Ooo! Aaah!" shouted the animals, then they clapped and cheered. Hearing the "ooo!" and "aaah!", more and more animals in the park came to the banks of the creek to watch the magic. In the next magic trick, two small boxes were placed on opposite ends of the pizza box. A cricket crawled into the box and the lid was closed. Then two other crickets, reopened the box and tipped it on its side to show the audience that the cricket had disappeared. "Where did he go?!" exclaimed several animals in the audience. Then the crickets crossed over to the second box and opened the lid. Out popped the missing cricket! "Ooo! Aaah!" shouted the animals, then they clapped and cheered. By now all the animals in the park were on the banks of the creek clapping and cheering. For the final magic trick, a spider on a branch overhanging the creek lowered a small box on a strand of web silk. When the box landed on the pizza box, the crickets opened the box and tipped it toward the audience to show them that the box was empty. Then, a centipede crawled into the box and the lid was closed. Then, the spider lifted the box slowly up and up and up. When the box was almost up to the branch on which the spider was sitting, the box exploded with a bang that could be heard all over the park. Many animals in the audience exclaimed, "Oh no! What happened to that poor centipede?" "Here I am!" shouted the centipede as he sat upright on half of his many legs and waived the other half. He was now on top of a dandelion on the other side of the creek. "Ooo! Aaah!" shouted the animals, then they clapped and cheered. After the final magic trick, the spider untied the pizza box and it floated down the creek toward the next stop of the magic show. "That was a really good magic show, wasn't it?!" exclaimed the hummingbird as she flew above Michaela Mouse on the way home. "Good show!" said Michaela Mouse. "Where do they get their magic powers from?" asked the hummingbird. "It's not REAL magic." explained Michaela Mouse, "They're just tricks that make it looked like the performers can do magic." "Really?!" exclaimed the hummingbird. "Yes," replied Michaela Mouse, "It's just tricks." "How do they do it?" asked the hummingbird. "Mostly it's just what they call a DIVERSION." replied Michaela Mouse. "A what?" asked the hummingbird. "A diversion makes you look in the wrong direction at just the right moment." explained Michaela Mouse, "Like the explosion on that last trick. It made everyone in the audience look up so they couldn't see the centipede climbing up onto the dandelion." Five minutes after Michaela Mouse returned home, there was a knock on the door. When she opened the door, she saw about 100 animals surrounding her house. "Michaela Mouse, you have to help us!" exclaimed the chipmunk, "Somebody stole all my seeds and nuts while I was at the magic show." "Somebody stole some of the honey from our hive!" exclaimed the queen bee. "And somebody took all the insects I had wrapped up and collected on my web!" exclaimed the spider. "Who would do such a thing?!" exclaimed the hummingbird. Michaela mouse thought for a moment, then replied, "I'll tell you after I investigate." She questioned all the animals in the park, not just those who said they lost food. Then she took her little magnifying glass and inspected the homes of animals who lost food. "Aha!" exclaimed Michaela Mouse. "Did you find something?" asked the hummingbird as it hovered overhead. "Yes." replied Michaela Mouse, "Here, next to the spider web, there's a small black feather." "A BLACK feather?!" asked the hummingbird. "Yes." replied Michaela Mouse, "We don't have any blackbirds or crows living in the park. These robberies were done by outsiders." "Outsiders?!" asked the hummingbird. "Yes," replied Michaela Mouse, "And I don't think it was a mere coincidence that these outsiders robbed us on the same day that those other outsiders put on that magic show. I think the magic show was a DIVERSION to keep our eyes off of our food while the outsiders stole it." "Another magic trick!" exclaimed the hummingbird. Michaela ran down to the creek, then rummaged through the trash can there until she found an empty juice box. She floated the box on the water, climbed on, and used the straw as a paddle to row down the creek toward the magic show. When she caught up with them, she saw not just one pizza box, but two of them. Michaela Mouse jumped off of her juice box onto the magic show box and shouted, "You insects are in BIG trouble!" "Please don't hurt us!" exclaimed the cricket, "It wasn't our fault." Michaela Mouse asked, "Was it blackbirds or crows?" "It was the crows." replied the centipede, "They said that if we didn't create a diversion while they stole your food, they would eat US!" "I thought so!" said Michaela Mouse, "Where is all the food they stole?" "It's in the other pizza box." said the praying mantis as he pointed with both arms. Michaela Mouse lifted the lid on the other box. It was full of seeds and nuts and honey and insects wrapped in spider silk. "Where are the crows now?" asked Michaela Mouse. "They flew on ahead to spy on their next robberies." replied the bee. When the crows returned, the magic show performers were all gone and so was their pizza box. But the pizza box containing the food was floating down the creek. So, the crows swooped down after it. But the box went into a tunnel. When the crows followed, the pizza came out the other end of the tunnel, but the crows did not. The crows found out to late that the tunnel was really a plastic trash bag with the end cut out. It was a magic trick. As soon as the crows flew into the tunnel, the animals from the park closed both ends of the bag. They threw the bag into the trash can. And the next morning, the crows were picked up by the trash truck and noone ever saw them again. The food from the pizza box was returned to the park and, thanks to Michaela Mouse, the world's greatest mouse detective, all the animals lived happily ever after. ©2008 Bob Snook. Conditions for use: This story is free. Pay no fees or royalties. Do not sell this story or rewrite it. You may reproduce and distribute this story freely, but all copies must contain this copyright statement. http://www.bobsnook.org/kid email: bob@bobsnook.org BACK |