The Case of the Stolen Chickens by Elijah Hetrick (My nephew, when he was eight years old).

The day started out like any other day. I hopped out of bed and jumped into my clothes. I bolted to the fish tank to feed my fish. Five minutes later I ran to the barn to chop wood. Suddenly I remembered I was supposed to furnish the eggs for breakfast. So I sprinted to the hen house to see if there were any eggs for breakfast. When I arrived at the hen house, I saw that all the chickens were gone.

I rushed to search for some clues. When I jogged in the forest, I looked on the ground for some clues. I saw a chicken feather. I picked it up and dropped it in my pocket. Finally I walked deeper into the forest. All of a sudden, I bumped into a thorn bush! I yelled, "Ouch!" I thought to myself, someone's clothes caught on this branch and a piece of it tore off. I yanked the piece of chothing off the branch! I grabbed my magnifying glass out of my pocket and looked at the piece of clothing! It had the initials S. H. on it. I had two choices of people with those initials, and they were Seth Hammer and Scott Hinkle.

Then I rushed deeper into the forest and while looking to find clues on the ground I saw a messy footprint. I studied the footprint and memorized what the bottom of the shoe looked like. I left the footprint in the woods beside a creek and continued to walk on looking for more clues. I stepped on something squishy. I picked it up and held it cautiously away from me. It was a half-bitten donut. So I threw it down and walked on into a field. There was a campfire. Over the campfire was a half-eaten chicken on a stick. I walked farther into the field and I saw buzzards circling something! I ran over in the middle of the field and saw chicken guts. On the way back I met Seth Hammer. I asked him, "Did you eat a donut or at least half of it?"

He responded, "No!" He looked serious. I trusted him and let him go. Then I rushed out of the field and onto the street then down to another kid's house with the initials S. H., Scott Hinkle. I knocked on his door. Scott opened it and I saked him, "Did you make a campfire in the field?"

He muttered, "No."

I brought him to my lie detector in my barn and I sat him down in a chair. I asked him, "Did you eat any chicken last night?"

He exclaimed, "Maybe."

I demanded, "It's a yes or no question."

He answered, "Yes, why?"

I asked, "Where did you get it?"

He replied, "Wal-mart."

I said, "Oh, okay."

He made a weird face at me like he didn't know what I was talking about then he ran like a cheetah to his house.

After that was over, I started looking for clues beside the road. Suddenly I bumped into a kid named Steve Harris. I was thinking to myself, "His initials are S.H., too." I demanded to Steve, "Come to my office!"

Slowly, he came and I spotted his shoe. It was the same sole as the footprint in the woods. I asked him, "Did you take a walk in the forest?"

He said, "No." Then I sat him down in the lie detector and it said he was telling a lie. Next I tied him to a chair and I asked him, "Where are the chickens?"

He said, "Behind that house." I left him tied up while I ran quickly behind the house, but the chickens weren't there. When I got back to my house I found a fork and a plate and a CD player with headphones. When I returned to the barn, I put on the headphones, turned the music up, and began scratching the fork on the plate next to Steve's head. The scratching made a sound like erererererere.

Steve said, "Okay-okay! I'll tell you where they are."

I questioned, "Where?"

He answered, "There across the creek." I jumped across the creek and I saw a chicken running around. I ran after it and jumped and caught it by the legs and threw it in a box. I caught some more and shoved them in boxes, and then I caught the rest and flung them in boxes. I brought them home and put them in their pen.

Steve Harris had a penknife up his sleeve that he used to cut the rope that was tied to his wrist. He jumped up, burst out the door, and ran crying to his parents.

The chickens were plucking on the ground so I got a bunch of corn and fed it to them.

CASE CLOSED.