Chapter 1

After Jim won his tenth major tennis tournament, he was so happy that his family rented a black shiny limo for him. When it pulled up, everyone got in. It was only a 40-minute drive into the rural side of New York. They poured him a glass of sparkling water and they were there. Everyone stayed in the limo except him.

He went inside to change and put his trophy away when he saw all his others were missing. He hollered to his family to come out. They came as fast as they could. Even their driver. And they all asked what was wrong. The only word Jim said was “Look.” So they did. They were all gone. The nine other grand trophies he won– gone. Nothing left. Not one. Zero. He just couldn’t speak. Gone, all gone.

They went to his favorite Italian restaurant and he got pasta and red sauce, but it didn’t change a thing. After they went home, they slept for 12 hours: 9 p.m. to 9 a.m. When he woke up, he went into the security room to see what had gone wrong. He asked the security guard Tom to pull the video from two nights ago. He saw the thief. And from under his gloves a note fell out.

So Jim went downstairs and picked up the note, and he read it. It said, “I’ll be back.”

 

Chapter 2

Jim was frightened picking up the note, so he had to get traps to catch the robber… falling cages, laser beams, maybe some trap doors. He got them and put them in the house. It was a little messy. Only some of the floor, wall and ceiling had broken apart, so he got a ladder to put the cages up just about four feet away from the trophy case, and with laser beams zigzagging across from each other. Then he put in the trap doors with a boiling pot of hot water underneath. That night he was happy to go to bed, because in the morning, hopefully, he would be calling 9-1-1 to pick up the robber.

When Jim’s sister went downstairs to get a glass of water, she didn’t know the traps were there so she walked right under the cage, and it fell right on top of her! And then the alarm went off. Jim sprinted downstairs only to see that it was his sister, not a robber.

“Why is there a cage on top of me?” his sister asked.

“Because I was trying to catch the robber,” Jim said.

He picked up the rope and pulled it so the cage came up off her.

“I’m very sorry about the traps,” said Jim.

“Well, you should be sorry. You know you have a photo shoot with the ten trophies on Thursday. If they show up and you don’t have them, they will probably be mad at you and not even reschedule,” said his sister.

“I forgot about that! That’s only four days away!”

“Well, you better get them back,” said his sister.

Jim started to sweat. He looked very nervous.

 

Chapter 3

Jim knew he had better get the trophies back before Thursday or he was going to have to tell them the truth.

His next plan was risky. He was going to have to spend some time in the security room to find out some things about the crook.

“Tom, pull up the same video I asked you about last time,” said Jim. “I need to find out where the crook came into the house.”

“Here,” said Tom.

“This is the right video,” said Jim.

“I think he came… no, I’m positive he came into the house through the front door,” said Tom.

“Thanks,” said Jim.

Jim hollered to his wife downstairs. “You are not going to see me tonight,” he said.

“Where are you going to be?” asked his wife.

“Outside,” he said.

“Okay,” said his wife.

Four hours later, it was eight o’clock and Jim had just woken up from a nap in his car, spying on the criminal to see if he went into the house.

Jim saw a man carrying a black bag from his house to a car.

“The robber!” Jim said to himself. Jim got out of his car and ran after him. “The thief! The thief!” he yelled.

“What?” said The Man With The Black Bag.

“Why are you carrying that bag?” asked Jim.

“I am taking out the trash,” said The Man.

“Why are you coming from my house?”

“Because I was wondering if I could get some money for taking out your trash.”

“Oh, well, I’m very sorry,” said Jim.

Jim went inside and told his wife because she was still awake. “I couldn’t find the crook this time,” said Jim, “but I’m not giving up.”

“Just remember, you only have three more days until the photo shoot.”

 

Chapter 4

The next morning Jim went down the stairs to get breakfast. On the bottom of the orange juice was a note that said, “Meet me in the mall by the fountain at 10 o’clock.” So he had a quick breakfast and got dressed and then left for the mall.

When he got there he saw a man in a black hat and black coat by the fountain. He walked over and asked, “What do you want for my trophies?”

“I want thousands of dollars,” said The Man.

“Like how much exactly?” said Jim.

“Forty thousand,” said The Man.

“Okay.”

“Money first,” said The Man, “and then I’ll give you the trophies in my car. There’s an ATM over there. You can get the $40,000, and then I’ll lead you to my car.”

So Jim went over and got out 40,000 dollars.

“Here’s the 40,000. Now my trophies,” said Jim.

The Man led Jim to his car and opened it. But then suddenly he jumped in and closed the door and locked it, trapping Jim outside. He sped away until he got to a red light, but sped through it anyway. Gladly, there was a cop there to stop him. That gave Jim some time to get in his car. He got in and drove to the same block where The Man With The Black Hat was.

The Man sped away with Jim right behind him. They both went across someone’s lawn  and made tire tracks in the grass. The Man With The Black Hat got onto the 10 Freeway with Jim still right behind him. They were going 92 miles per hour. Luckily there wasn’t another police officer there to stop them. Jim had to get off at the fifth exit they passed because he was low on gas. So he went home much slower.

Now Jim had only two days until the photo shoot.

 

Chapter 5

When Jim walked outside he remembered the note that said, ‘I’ll be back.’ He thought the robber would be back tonight to get the last trophy. He decided to take the day off from trying to catch the robber. What Jim didn’t realize was that the robber was already in his house! When Jim walked inside, Tom asked him, “What are your plans for today?”

“I might go to the lake,” said Jim.

“That sounds nice,” Tom said. “I’m gonna stay around and just make sure the robber’s not gonna come today.”

“I’m gonna get ready,” said Jim.

Jim got ready by putting on his blue swim trunks and a lot of sunscreen. Then he walked downstairs and passed by the empty security room. He went down and got in his car, but then he forgot his towels so he got back out.

When he got back inside the house Jim heard footsteps going up the stairs, so he followed them. What Jim saw when he got to the top of the stairs made him gasp. There was Tom stealing his newest silver trophy out of the case and putting it inside a black duffle bag.

Jim got out his phone and snapped a picture of Tom standing with the trophy. Tom heard the snap of the picture and spun around. He saw Jim.

“Why do you have my trophy?” asked Jim.

“You don’t deserve it,” said Tom.

“What do you mean I don’t deserve it? I worked hard for those trophies!”

“I work even harder than you! I’m your security guard and I guard everything you have, but you don’t pay me enough!”

“How much money do you want?” said Jim.

“All of it!” said Tom. “I want to be a very rich man, and I don’t want to work!”

“Well, you’re not going to have to work in jail,” Jim said. Suddenly, Jim dialed 9-1-1 and told the police that they had to come over quick.

When the police came over Jim showed them the picture and the police took Tom away to jail. He was fired, of course, but not before Tom told Jim where he hid the other trophies. He hid them in the biggest cabinet in the upstairs security room.

The next day, Jim waited for hours for the photographers to come and do the shoot. Finally, at the end of the day, they called and said they had to cancel.

THE END