Short Story
Author: Natalie Guo

It was 12:00 PM. 

And I was sleeping. 

The dream that I was having was a horrifying one. There was a giant cookie chasing me, so then I jumped into a pool of milk to escape. Unfortunately, in the pool of milk, there was a huge crocodile, with its jaws wide open ready to eat me. Just as it was going to eat me, 

Riiiing!

Riiiing!

Riiiing!

I woke up from my nightmare and looked at my phone. Someone was calling me. I tried my best to sound like I had been awake for hours. I drank some water and answered the phone. 

“Hello?” I mumbled groggily.

“Hi, I’m Nancy!” she chirped. “You must be Natalie. I have called you to help me find where all the Christmas presents I bought for my family went.”

“Sorry, wrong number.” I replied, feeling regretful that I couldn’t do anything to help.

“Please! Just help me.” she pleaded. 

I didn’t know what to do. I felt bad for her, but I wasn’t some kind of detective. Despite my doubts, I, for some reason, said that I could help her. 

After a lengthy phone call with her, I uncovered a few key details. 

1. The presents that she bought went missing at about 8:30 AM. 
2. They went missing while Nancy was dropping her kids off at school. 
3. The presents were on the kitchen island in Nancy’s house. 

Nancy informed me that there weren’t any signs that someone had broken into her house. So, there were only a few possible suspects for the villainous crime of stealing the Christmas presents. 

It could have been Nancy’s children, or even her husband. But, it couldn’t have been Nancy’s children, because they went missing when her kids were being dropped off at school. It also couldn’t be her husband, because her husband left to go to work at 8:00 AM. So who could it be?

Was it Nancy herself? Had she, herself, put the presents away somewhere but couldn’t remember? Nancy was absolutely certain that she didn’t move the presents, but how could I know for certain that she really didn’t move the presents? 

To find out for sure, I walked over to Nancy’s house. Her house was a few blocks away. When I knocked on her door, two children opened. They yelled, “Moooom! There’s someone at the door!” 

“Hello!” I said happily. “I’m the detective that you hired.” 

Nancy invited me in, and I asked to interrogate her children a little. She agreed, so I walked over to the children. 

I interrogated Nancy’s children, asking, “Did you notice a few boxes on the kitchen island before leaving for school, and all the children confirmed that the presents were there. 

So, it couldn’t be Nancy. By then, I had run out of ideas for who it could possibly be. After interrogating Nancy’s children, they went to play with their dog. Their dog was a beagle, and he was very energetic. 

Suddenly, I had an idea. What if the beagle hid the presents? To test this idea, my plan was to bring a box, and place it on the kitchen island. If I see the beagle moving the box, I would watch him closely and see where he placed the box. 

So, the next day, I brought a box, and placed it on the kitchen island. After a few minutes, I spotted the beagle jumping on a chair, and then on the kitchen island. The beagle pushed the box off the kitchen island, and then using the route he used to get on the kitchen island,  he went down. The beagle used his mouth, and dragged the box into the backyard, and buried it near a tree. 

After he did that, I walked to the spot where the beagle hid the box. I used a shovel, and with the help of Nancy, we dug up the area where the beagle hid the box. I was starting to lose hope after we had dug for an hour, but we persevered, and finally, found the presents buried in a place between the fence of the backyard and the tree. 

The presents were in good condition, so Nancy was still able to give the presents. She tried to pay me, but I assured her that it wouldn’t be necessary, and walked back home.