“Look!” said Reen. “I think that these hand prints are totally different from those I had ever seen. They have some kind of pointy things on the right thumb. Totally different than mine, see? I don’t have any pointy thing on top on my thu ….”
“Stop!” exclaimed Mic. “We’re inspecting these prints and we need to concentrate.” And so they continued inspecting the hand prints carefully. Suddenly Pete had an idea. He suggested that they should all go around Woodsland and check out who might have a pointy thumb on their right hands.
“Great idea!” shouted Reen. And so they all went out to get their scooters. They then rode their scooters excitedly around Woodland, looking for someone with a pointy thumb.
“First, check out for someone with abnormal hand or hands, then look at their thumbs,” said Pete. “When we’ve spotted them, I’ll snap their pictures and we’d ask the Woodsland Supermarket’s cashiers if they can recognise them. The cashiers might had met them since that is the only supermarket in Woodland. We’ll take pictures of three people before asking the cashiers. But if by an hour we could only find one person, we’ll go and ask the cashiers anyway.”
“I can see one of them over there,” whispered Mic. ” He has pointy fingers on his left hand and he has a pointy thumb on his other hand!” After an hour, they could only spot two people with pointy thumbs. They then decided to go to the supermarket and talk to the cashiers. Mic and Reen volunteered to go inside to talk to the cashiers.
The cashier was a very friendly man who knew the children very well. He told Mic and Reen the names and addresses of both men. After thanking the cashier, Mic and Reen went out of the supermarket. They smiled happily and Mic, who was holding the paper with the names and addresses, handed the paper to Safora.
“Now, off we go to the addresses,” said Safora. “First man…,” she looked at the note and read out loud. “His name is Ivan James, also known as Vames and lives at House 23, Summerland. The second man is Henry Maurice also known as Herrice and lives in House 85, near the winter festival building in Chocolate place. So, who’ll be going over there?”
“Me and Reen,” said Pete suddenly. “Among the 4 of us, we are the best at tracking people.”
So Reen and Pete went to Summerland to investigate. When they reached the address, Reen and Pete rang the door bell and waited. After a while a woman opened the door. “Good afternoon. We heard that there is a great lumberjack named Ivan who lives around this area. Do you know him?” asked Reen.
“Oh yes,” said the woman. “This is his house but he went out since this morning. He is a professional lumberjack and is very good at cutting woods. He could cut the woods without making any noises.” They talked to the woman for a few more minutes and headed to the second address.
At Chocolate Place, they looked for House 85. In front of the house, they saw a man carrying a chainsaw. “He might be a lumberjack,” thought Pete. Pete walk towards him asked him politely, “Hello, sir. Are you a lumberjack?”
“Yup!” he answered. “My name is Henry Maurice but people call me Herrice. I came all the way from Netherlands to work in Chocolate Place.” Herrice was very nice and friendly. They spoke for a while and Herrice invited them to visit him again next time.
Back at Mic’s, Mic and Safora were waiting anxiously for Pete and Reen to return home. “Michael!” called Mic’s mother. Mic went to the kitchen and his mother told him to feed the animals. Safora followed Mic to the barn and helped him to feed the animals. After feeding the animals they saw Pete and Reen walking towards Mic’s house.
They all rushed to the garden table for a meeting. Pete told them about their investigation.”Both men are lumberjacks,” said Pete. “So, could it be one of them who cut down the trees in the woods?” asked Pete. “Henry and Ivan are our first two suspects.”
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