The Cookie Thief - Cathy Yan (graded readers txt) 📗

“Look, Jake!” Charlie ran into her twin brother’s room, waving a plastic Ziploc bag and looking excited. “It happened again!” She shoved the bag into Jake’s face.
“What happened again?” Jake asked, alarmed at the bag filled with some kind of powder dangling in front of his face. “And get that out of my face!”
“Sorry.” Charlie said quickly, taking the bag back. She held it up. “Look here. These are cookie crumbs, the same kind Mom keeps in the laundry room and reserves for guests only.” She paused to let this information sink in. “Well, we haven’t had any guests, but for two days in a row now, I have found crumbs on the washing machine when I go down to drop off my dirty clothes.”
“And how does this concern me?” Jake asked, making a face. “Why do I care if some fancy cookies are going missing?”
“Because,” Charlie said impatiently. “Mom is going to go on a rampage if she finds out. And guess who she’ll blame?”
Jake’s eyes widened. “Us?” He asked incredulously.
“Us.” Charlie confirmed with a solemn shake of her head. Suddenly, she grinned. “You know what we have to do now, don’t you?”
“What?” Jake asked, cringing. “What kind of stupid plan do you have this time?”
“My plans are not stupid.” Charlie said stuffily, crossing her arms and sticking her nose into the air. “They are brilliant. And this time, it involves us catching the thief before Mom even finds out these cookies are missing.”
Jake frowned. “And how, exactly, are we going to do that?” he asked doubtfully. “Are we just going to sit in the laundry room with your old butterfly net or something?”
“No!” Charlie said loudly, impatient. She lowered her voice to a whisper. “We’re going to go on a stakeout, stupid.” She said. “We’re going to hide in the laundry room with a camera and a flashlight and when the thief comes, one of us will shock him by shining the light into his face and the other one will snap his picture.” She said quickly.
“Cool.” Jake said, after a moment. “When do we go?”
“Tonight.” Charlie said, smirking. “At ten, we’ll sneak down to the laundry room from my bedroom.”
“Wicked.” Jake replied. “I’ll bring the camera, you bring the flashlight.” Charlie nodded.
Grinning mischievously, they both parted ways to wait out the moments before ten o’clock.
At ten that night, Jake met Charlie at her room and together, they crept down the stairs to the laundry room, careful not to make the floorboards creak. Getting to the laundry room, they eased in through the door.
“I’ll hide in the laundry basket; you hide behind the chest of drawers.” Jake said, making his way towards the large, comfy basket filled with just washed sheets.
“No way.” Charlie grabbed her brother by the back of his shirt and pulled him back. “You’ll just fall asleep. We both hide behind the drawers.”
“Fine.” Jake replied, scowling. They both went behind the large chest of drawers in the laundry room. The fit was tight, but they both managed it.
Several long hours ticked by uneventfully, and both twins fell asleep, exhausted. Suddenly, there was the unmistakable sound of the laundry door opening. Charlie rose first.
“Jake.” She hissed, “Wake up.” She nudged her brother. Jake woke up immediately when he heard the door opening and saw that his sister’s eyes were as round as saucers.
There was the wrinkling of cookie wrappers being opened. Charlie raised up three fingers. Slowly, she lowered one, then another. When she lowered the last one, both twins jumped up.
“HA!” Charlie screamed shining the flashlight right at the thief’s face. Jake popped up and took a picture. Both twins were disoriented by their exhaustion and the bright flashlight, but it didn't dampen their spirits of having caught the cookie thief.
When Charlie’s eyes adjusted, she realized that she was staring right into the eyes of her father, who was wearing a bed sheet as a cape and boxers, cookie crumbs coating his mouth.
“Dad?” Jake asked incredulously. “Are you mental?”
Their dad stared at both of them, his eyes blank as he tried to figure out what was going on. “Are you going to tell mom?” he finally asked.
Both twins looked at each other; then they both shrugged their shoulders. “Nah.” Jake answered. “I want the new laptop and Charlie wants the new eBook reader. I don’t think we have to elaborate anymore.” There was a pause.
“I’m going to bed.” Charlie said, yawning. “Just remember that the eBook reader I want comes out next month.” Jake yawned as well and followed his sister out.
As they walked up the stairs, Charlie realized something. “Jake, you do know that in the bright light of the flashlight, the camera wouldn't have worked properly, right? We probably just got a lot of glare.”
Jake frowned and took out the camera. He clicked view and saw that they had in fact, just got a picture of white light. There was nobody distinguishable in the picture. There was a pause. “Are we going to tell Dad?” Jake asked hesitantly.
Charlie thought for a moment. “No way.” She replied grinning. Jake grinned back, and together, they walked up the stairs just as dawn shone down upon them from the skylight.

Publication Date: 12-02-2012

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