Little Cottage in the Northwoods

Johnny Solves the Case

Henry stood over his soiled bike. Covered in dirt, tomato juice, and weeds. Someone had taken his bike and ridden it through Mrs. Brown’s tomato garden.
Henry was now grounded for life! He had to pay for the tomatoes, too! Henry didn’t have enough money to pay Mrs. Brown. He had to find out who used his bike to destroy the tomatoes!
Trent took out his fingerprint kit and started dusting the handle bars for prints. “There’s nothing on the hand grips, but right here in the middle by the speedometer is a bunch of prints.”
“So the thief must have been holding the bike in the middle of the handle bars,” Eric suggested.
“Yes,” Henry said. “Now we have to find a way of identifying the fingerprints.”
“Let’s get fingerprints from all the kids in the neighborhood,” Trent said.
Johnny, Henry’s ten year old brother, stood in the bushes watching Henry and his friends. He waited until they came back and went up to the tree house. Johnny climbed up the rope ladder to the tree house to see what they were doing.
“Squirt alert!” Trent called.
“Take your positions!” Henry commanded.
As Johnny reached the last step, the wooden door slammed shut. Johnny tried to push it open, but he couldn’t. He knew Henry was standing on it.
“We have very important work to do, Squirt. Now get lost!” Henry shouted.
“I know who took your bike,” Johnny called, hoping his brother would let him in.
“Really? Who?” Henry asked.
“It was Andy Meyers,” Johnny said.
“Good guess, Sherlock. We already have him on our suspect list.” Henry sighed. “If you don’t have any real clues, then get lost.”
Johnny frowned. Why did he even want to hang out with them? They teased him and wouldn’t let him do anything with them. Just because they were older, cooler, and in junior high weren’t good enough reasons to hang out with them.
“I’ll prove it was Andy before you do!” Johnny shouted.
The three older boys just laughed.
I’ll show them! Johnny thought climbing down the rope ladder. I know Andy did it!

Johnny went to examine his brother’s bicycle. He found it strange that the fingerprints were in the middle of the handlebars and not on the hand grips.
He couldn’t find any other clues on the bicycle.
“Tee-hee, hee, hee.” Johnny heard giggling coming from the street. He looked up. Andy Meyers was taking his little brother, Justin, for a ride. Justin’s bare feet were sitting on the middle of the handlebars!
“Wee! Faster, Andy, faster!” Justin shouted. “Tee-hee, hee,hee.”
That’s it! Johnny snapped his fingers. “I solved the case!” he shouted to his brother in the tree house.
“Maybe if we ignore him he’ll go away,” Henry told his friends. “I can’t believe none of the fingerprints match.”
Johnny beamed. He knew why the fingerprints didn’t match, but he wasn’t going to tell Henry until he had more proof.
“Let’s check Andy’s fingerprints again,” Henry said. “They have to match.”
Johnny laughed. He didn’t need his brother! He could see Andy and Justin up ahead. Without being seen, he followed them.

“Okay, I’ll take you for another ride tomorrow,” Andy promised as he dropped his brother off at home and continued riding on. When Andy was out of sight, Johnny rang the doorbell. Justin answered.
“Hey, Justin, you want to come over to my house and play?” Johnny asked.
“Oh, boy!” Justin’s face lit up. He clapped his hands together.
Johnny wondered why Justin was so excited, then he realized Justin liked playing with older kids, just like Johnny did.
“Mom can I go over to Johnny’s?” Justin asked.
“Okay, but make sure you take your shoes with you!” his mother called.
“I got ‘em!” Justin called, hugging the shoes to his chest while following Johnny with bare feet.
“Didn’t your Mom tell you to wear your shoes?” Johnny asked.
“Nope, she just told me to take ‘em with me, and I did.” He grinned, chanting, “I hate shoes, I hate shoes.”
When they got to Johnny’s house, they went up to Johnny’s room and Johnny began to explain the rules of the game they were going to play. Johnny had a black ink pad from his rubber stamp collection and sheets of white paper spread out on the floor.
“You get the black ink on your toes,” Johnny said, “then you hop on the sheets of paper. Watch!”
He used his big toes to make three black dots. “See, it’s Mickey! Now you try.”
Justin made Mickey with his big toe, too. Then Johnny got more complicated and added in his other toes, making abstract pictures on the white sheets of paper.
“Tee-hee, hee, hee. This is fun!” Justin cheered hopping on one foot, making toe print designs.
When Justin wasn’t paying attention, Johnny grabbed one of the sheets of paper Justin had stepped on, folded it up, and slid it into his pocket.
“Johnny, dinner!”
“I have to get home. My mom’s making sloppy joes.” Justin smiled, picking up his shoes and putting his toe print designs under his arm. “Thanks for playing with me, Johnny.”
“Anytime.” Johnny patted Justin on the back as he headed downstairs to have his own dinner.
“Have you solved the case yet?” their mother asked Henry.
“No, none of the fingerprints we took match the ones found on my bike. It must have been a kid from another town.”
“Well, I solved the case,” Johnny said brightly.
“In your dreams, Squirt,” Henry told him.
“You just wait and see. I’ll prove that Andy took your bike,” Johnny promised.
After dinner, Johnny compared Justin’s toe print design to the prints on the handle bars. It was a perfect match!
He asked Mrs. Brown, Andy, Justin, and Andy’s parents to come over. Henry, Johnny and their parents were also in the front yard.
“Okay, Johnny, what are we all here for?” his mother asked.
“To prove Henry didn’t destroy Mrs. Brown’s tomatoes,” Johnny said. “It was Andy Meyers.”
“You can’t prove that,” Andy said. “Are my fingerprints on the bike?”
“No,” Johnny answered.
“I let your brother and his friends fingerprint me earlier. They couldn’t prove anything. How can you?” Andy asked.
“You let them fingerprint you because you wore gloves and knew your fingerprints weren’t on the handlebars.”
“They aren’t on the handlebars because I didn’t steal his bike!” Andy shouted, putting his hands on hips. He was angry now.
Johnny unfolded the toe print design Justin had made. “Andy, would you agree these prints match the ones on the handlebars.”
“Yeah, I guess so,” Andy shrugged.
“Thank you, Andy. Justin, do you recognize these as your toe prints?”
Justin looked at the paper then put his hands on his hips to imitate his brother. “Yes!” He shouted.
“Are you sure about that?” Johnny asked.
“Sure, I’m sure. I made ‘em just a little while ago. I haven’t had my bath yet so the ink’s still on my toes, see!” He held up his foot for everyone to see.
“It’s all very simple. Andy wore gloves so he wouldn’t leave fingerprints on the handlebars, but he let Justin ride on the front of the bike with his toes sitting on the middle of the handlebars,” Johnny explained. “Justin never wears shoes so he left toe prints, and Andy agreed that these prints match the ones found on my brother’s bike.”
“That’s right,” Justin said. “You told him that, Andy.”
“Shut up!” Andy shouted
Justin frowned.
“Don’t say shut up to your brother,” Mrs. Meyers scolded him.
“That’s why we couldn’t match the fingerprints.” Henry snapped his fingers.
“I’m very sorry about this, Mrs. Brown. Andy will certainly be paying for your tomatoes, and I promise you this will never happen again,” Mrs. Meyers apologized.
“Thanks a lot, you little reject!” Andy pushed his little brother out of the way.
“Hey!” Justin shouted.
“Andy, don’t call your brother names,” Mrs. Meyers said. “We’ll talk about this at home.”
“I knew you’d get me in trouble one of these days. You’re not riding on my bike ever again.”
“I’m sorry, Andy.” Justin’s bottom lip quivered.
“Shut up.”
“Don’t say shut up to your brother,” Mrs. Meyers said again.
“But, Andy,” Justin cried.
“Get lost.” Andy snapped.
Johnny felt the power of the words even though they weren’t meant for him. Johnny felt bad for Justin. He knew how it felt when your big brother told you to get lost. He heard Justin sniffle and watched him wipe his nose. Johnny was a little brother, too. He had to make it up to Justin.
“Justin, I’m sorry,” Johnny apologized. “I didn’t mean to make Andy mad at you.”
Justin was quiet.
“You can come over and play with me anytime,” Johnny said, “and if Andy won’t let you ride on his bike, you can ride on mine.”
“Gee thanks, Johnny. I’d like that.” He smiled and turned around to run home.
“You were right. Andy did take my bike, and you proved it,” Henry said as he patted Johnny on the back. “Next time I need a case solved, I’m going to ask you. You’re okay, Squirt.”
Johnny grinned. He would remember this moment forever. Not just because he solved a case, but because his brother had patted him on the back!