text: Anzy Irani The Case of the Missing Scientist 
   
   
     
   I slowly ran my fingers over the dotted lettering. ‘Wanted,’ it read ‘identical female twins. Age: 14, Hair: Long and brown, Eyes: Brown. Names: unknown.’ I ran my fingers on the next lot of Braille. ‘Male Age: 26, Hair: Short and black, Eyes: Brown. Name: Richard.’ I turned around, and feel the police officer’s hot garlic breath on my face. I take hold of my walking cane and take a step back, before I faint. 
  “Good morning Mr. Pat,” I greeted him. “Why did you call the greatest detective at 4 in the morning?” 
  “P-P-Professor Albert has gone mi-mi- missing” 
  “That professor,” I mumble to myself, “when I’m not keeping my cane on him, he goes missing.” 
   “I-I-I’m sorry.”  Pat said.  
  “Why are you sorry?” I asked. 
  “W-we have s-s-searched everywhere for h-him, but he has not been f-found.” Pat answered. 
  I limped home, putting my weight on my walking cane. “1, 2, 3, 4” I murmured to myself, carefully counting my steps. “18, 19, 20 and turn to the right. 1, 2...” “Hey there’s that blind guy talking to himself again!!” some drunk teenagers laughed, “Go get some real friends!” I ignored them like always, turn to the left, took 5 steps, and entered my house.  
  “Hi Albert! I’m home!!” I called to Albert. I got nothing in return. “Albert?” I started panicking, and searching for him. Then I remembered. Who would want to kidnap Professor Albert? I thought, maybe for his inventions? Why don’t they just break in, and steal them? All those questions gave me a headache. Sitting down on my arm chair, I thought of everyone that could’ve kidnapped him. The twins? Maybe...  Richard? Possibly... Pat? Hmm... A loud knock on the door disturbed my thoughts. Startled, I made my way to the door, and opened it. “Wh-o-Who’s there?” I called out shaking. Ever since I have been blind, I have never opened the door. This was the 1st time. I got my cane, and tried to poke my invisible intruder. There was no one there, so I take a step forward. Crunch. What was that noise? I take a step back. Crunch. Hmm... I slowly bend down, and feel the ground. A piece of paper comes to my hand. What could this be? I pick it up, and gradually make my way inside. 
  ]“Hello? This is Vaughn speaking. Can I speak to Mr. Pat please?” 
  “Good morning Sir, how are you?” 
  “Fine thanks. Can you make your way to my place please?” 
  “Sure I will.” 
  “Thanks. See you” 
  I sit back on my chair, and think of all the possible kidnappers.  Another soft knock disturbed my thoughts. “Come in!” I said knowing that it was Pat. He noisily made his way in, and sat down onto a chair. 
  “What’s up Sir?” He asked breathing heavily. 
  “I’m going to give you the job of my assistant.” I said straightforward.  
  “S-S-Sir! M-Me!!” He exclaimed happily. Even though I couldn’t see his face, I could imagine it. Eyes twinkling, mouth shaped as an ‘o’ and so much excitement. “Yes Pat, you.” I told him. Was it really that exciting? “Now, I want you to go down to Albert’s workshop, and get all the inventions in sight. Remember don’t touch anything that has a yellow or purple sticky on them.” “Oka-ay” Pat sang as he thumped his way down into the basement. I slowly close my eyes, and go to sleep. 
  Click. Da Da Da Dum. Click. Click. Dum Dum Dum Daaa. 
  “What?” I said sleepily as I open my eyes. 
  “Hey Sir what’s this?” Click. Click. “Why can’t I see a picture? What is this? A type of camera?” I got up, and stretched. How long had I been sleeping for? Taking the lid of my watch, I felt the dots. 1:24 p.m. “Pat, how long have you been here for?’ I asked my new assistant. 
  “Uh a few hours. I came upstairs with his inventions, and you were snoring, so I got a packet of chips, turned the radio on, and played with the glasses. I knew it was wrong, but it was so tempting.” Pat replied, “Oh yea and I saw this envelope on this table, it said ‘To the human who lives with Albert.’ I presumed the human was you, so I didn’t open the envelope. Can I open the envelope please please pleeeease??” 
  “Yea, sure.” I said as I tried to calculate the hours in my head. 
   “Yay thank you! To Mr. V,” Pat started, “I know who’s got Albert. Call 5672431 for a message. Remember if you get the police involved, this guy is dead. Signed, Richard.” 
  Richard... I’ve heard that name somewhere. “Isn’t Richard that guy on the wanted poster?”								         		          “Yea it is... I think that Richard was the one who delivered this letter to your place...” Pat said sounding quite thoughtful, “I’ll try this number, and see if I get anywhere.”He got up, walked to the phone noisily, and dialled the number, “Hello... Hel... Hello?? Is... Is th... Is this Ri... Richard...?? What?? Hello? Noo!” 
  “What’s wrong?” I asked. 
  “Well there’s a guy here, that’s saying to meet him at the corner of Walkers Street at 2:00 sharp. He’s not going to wait for us.” 
  I felt the watch’s dots again. 1:45.If we left now, we would be just in time.	         “Get your keys Pat. We have 15 minutes to get there.” I got my walking cane, and tried to walk as fast as I could, which is not that fast. 
  “Ok. But don’t go that fast. Be careful! You’re going to trip up! Sir lo...!” 
  CRASH! Down I went. I heard cane rolling away. 
  “Uh Sir are you okay?” Pat asked sounding scared, “No broken bones?” 
  “Hmmm?” I asked confused, trying to get up, “Ow. Leave it. We’re going to be late.”										 	          “No don’t get up! I’ll call the ambulance. Stay there. Don’t move.” 
  Since my leg hurt a lot and my head was throbbing, I did what I was told to. “Hello? Can I have the ambulance please?” I heard Pat saying, “The address is 27 Hermit Road. Number is 5273984. Mr. Vaughn has tripped up and fell. Mhmm. Yes Mr. Vaughn. V-A-U-G-H-N, Okay, thank-you!” 
  I had no idea what was going on in their  
  conversation. All I knew was that my body was aching. 
  “Good afternoon Sir.” 
  I woke up dazed. “W-W—“  
  “It’s 6:40 sir.” Pat said interrupting me, as well as answering my question, “You tripped over a book that was lying around, I called the ambulance, and they said you need to rest, and you’re not allowed to use your leg. I have to stay with you, and go wherever you go. By the way, I made myself a packet of microwavable noodles. ” 
  “Ri-Ri-Richard?” 
  “No I didn’t go to Walkers Street, I had to stay here with you!” Pat said, “I’ll try that number now, and see what I get.” 
  “Hmm...” I said not bothered to say anything. I made myself comfortable on the couch, closed my eyes and listened to the soft Beethoven that was playing on the radio. Beep Beep Beep. I sighed. The beeping of the phone was ruining my favourite part of the 5th Symphony. “Hello Vaughn. I have Albert. Since you didn’t come to Walkers at 2, I’ll give you another chance. Come to Maple Avenue at 8 p.m, with $300, 000.” I sighed again. How could Pat put the phone on speaker and ruin the beautiful music? And where am I going to get $300, 000 from? Feeling annoyed, I carried on listening to the message. “—Albert.” Had I had just missed an important part of the message? It was good that Pat was there to listen to the message for me.	 “Hey Pat,” I started, “what d—“ He cut me off. 
  “Sir! Sir! We’re we going to ge--” I cut him off. 
  “Pa-at just listen.” I said sounding like a 2 year old, “First of all, what did the message say?” 
  “Well it said to come to Maple Avenue at 8 p.m with $300, 000.”  
  “And what did it say after that?” I asked, hoping that he had heard it. 
  “Umm... It said something about Albert...??” Pat guessed.  
  “So you didn’t hear the message?” 
   “Sorry Sir.” 
   In my head I was screaming. How will we find Albert now??	  
  “Pat what’s the time?”			 
  “Ummm 7:00.” 
  “Okay I want you to go to the nearest shop, and buy two or three games of Monopoly.” I told him. 
  “Sir, we don’t have time to play games. We have to try and get that money!!” Pat said.  
   “Just do as your told Pat.” I said angrily. Why did I choose him to be my assistant? I can’t fire him now... I put my feet up, closed my eyes, and listened to Don Giovanni. 
  I’m ba-ack!!” Pat sung, “What do I do now?” 
  Back so early? I thought. For the fourth time that day, I checked the time. 7:20. “Find an empty suitcase and get every single note from the game. When you have got all of them, tie them up in rubber ban—“ 
   “Oh I know what you’re doing now sir,” Pat said interrupting me once again, “You are so smart.” Maybe that’s why I’m the detective and you’re the assistant!  I thought. “Okay done!” Pat said. Wow that was quick. 
   “Did you remember to put some real notes on top?” I asked. 
  “Yes. All done and ready to go sir.” Pat replied. Once again, checked the time. 7:40. “Um Pat, how long will it take us to go to Maple Ave?”I asked Pat. “Umm in car, 5-10 minutes, walking 15-20 minutes.	“ 
  “Let’s go!!” I exclaimed getting up just when the NZSO played the last note of Vivaldi’s Four Seasons. 
  When the car stopped, I jumped out of the car, and landed onto a patch of soft grass. “Are we here?” I asked Pat. Pat mumbled a yes in return. I followed his voice, and nearly tripped up the kerb. “Sir-r!” Pat said sounding annoyed, “please don’t break anything! I can’t do this detective work alone!” I was about to say something in return, when there was a gruff voice.		           “Vaughn!” it said, sounding like Richard, “Give me the case right now with the full money!” 
  “Throw him the case Pat.” I said. I heard a thump of the case hitting the ground, then a skid, as the case slid across the road. 
  “Get the case” Richard whispered. Then there was a shuffle, then a car roaring away.  “Pat.”  I said, “Where’s Albert?” There was a silence. “Pat?”“I’m s-sorry Sir.” Pat said, sounding scared. “They didn’t give Albert back.” “What!?!” I screamed, not caring about who had heard me, and who hadn’t, “Who were they?? Who was with Richard??” I asked Pat. 
  “Sir, it was Richard and the twins. But how do you know it wasn’t just Richard? How do you there was someone with him?” Pat asked confused. I ignored him, walked to the grass and sat down with my head in my knees, thinking. How could Richard do this? I sat there what felt like hours, when Pat finally said “Sir, I think we should be heading home now.” I stood up, limped my way to the car, and sat down. 
  “Sir we’re here.” Pat said a few minutes later. I got out of the car, and walked towards the house. When Pat unlocked the door, I fell asleep on the couch. 
  “Cock-a-doodle-doo.” The radio screeched, “Good morning everyone! This is Phil on Classical FM. It is 6 am and the weather outside is very sunny today, 28 degrees Celsius!!” I groaned. Why does he have to be so cheerful? 	     “Good morning sir.” Pat said happily, “Would you like some coffee?”          “Yes please.” I said getting up. I heard some rattling in the kitchen. I hope he doesn’t break anything I thought. Bring Bring. Bring Bring. The phone rang. “I’ll get it!” Pat said running towards the phone, “Hello? Hello? He... Oh... What!!!?? Okay... Yea... Fine!” Pat slammed the phone down just when some rang the doorbell. “I’ll get it!” I said. I walked towards the door, and opened it. “Hello?” 
  “Hi there!!” the stranger said, “Here is your mail for today.” I reached my hand out, the postman placed the envelopes into my hand, said goodbye and walked off to be cheerful to another neighbour. “Pat! Can you r—“ I stopped and sniffed the air. Something was burning. “Sorry sir, I burnt the toast.” Pat said.  
  “Doesn’t matter. Clean the mess up, and read these letters for me.” 	        “Okay Sir.” I made my way to the couch and sat down thinking. How am I going to get to Richard? “Okay sir, all done!” Pat said as he sat down next to me.  
  “The letters are on the table.” I told him. 
  “Dear Albert,” he started, “Congratulations for winning the-“		      “Next” I said interrupting him. 
  “Letterrrrr nummmber twooooo!!!!!!” Pat said sounding like someone from a game show, “To Mr. V, Thank-you for the money last night. I counted it, and it was a full $300,000!! Since you completed the 1st step properly, I’ll  make the second one a bit easier. Read the next letter for more info. Signed, Richard.” A full 300,000? What did Richard mean by that?”Pat,” I started, “did you remember to put monopoly money in the suitcase?” 
  “Yes sir.” Pat replied. 
  “Do you know what Richard meant by getting his full 300, 000?”	 
  “Uh no. Sorry sir.” Pat said sounding quite thoughtful, “I’ll open the other letter, and see what they say.” There was a lot of ripping, when Pat finally said, “Oh here we go. Hello Mr. V, congrats! You are 1/3 of getting Albert back! 2nd step is to come to 28 Latimer Place at 8:00 a.m, with the Albert’s famous invention. The camera that tells you what will happen in the same spot in 24 hours. Give that to me, and you are 1 step away of getting Albert back.” Pat finished shakily, “But I broke the camera!” He cried. Ignoring what he said, I started giving him instructions. “Let’s leave now, so we have enough time to buy a toy camera.” 
  “But I broke the camera and we can’t buy a new one!” Pat whined obviously not hearing the word ‘toy’. “Just do as I say Pat!” I said nearly yelling.            
  “Right away sir.” Pat said in a small voice, as he went to get changed. 
   “You can turn the radio on if you want, but I’m going to lock all the doors, and windows so no one can come in. Okay?” Pat warned me, sounding quite worried. 
   “Yea sure. Just remember to bring the camera.” I said reassuringly. When Pat slammed the door and walked off, I turned the radio onto my favourite channel. Classic FM. Mozart’s 40th Symphony was playing. I started humming along to it. Just when my favourite bit came, Pat came back. “I’m here sir.” He said greeting me. He placed the plastic bag in the back seat, got into his seat, and started driving. “Where did Richard say we have to meet him?” Pat asked. “28 Latimer Place. It’s the street off Gondawala” I replied. When we got there, we heard people screaming. “What’s happening?” asked Pat. “Oh um.. There are these 8-yr-old girls playing random games.” Pat stammered. “Okaay...” I said probably sounding suspicious, because then Pat said changing the topic, “Shouldn’t we wrap the camera in something before we give it to Richard? Because he’ll know if it’s real or not.” 
  “Great idea Pat!” I told him, trying to get the idea of Pat kidnapping Albert from my mind. Pat stopped the car, got out and went into the backseat. While Beethoven’s 9th Symphony played in the background, Pat worked on the camera trying to make it look as if it was a fragile camera, while asking for my opinion. “Sir, should I put it in a bag or a box?” He asked. 
  “Both.” I answered. 
  “Great idea” Pat said. After a few minutes of silence, apart from the symphony, he asked me, “Should I cover it in news paper?”  
  “Okay” I answered him. 
  “Wow what a fantastic idea!” He said. That went on for a few minutes, when I felt my watch. 7:55. “Done!” Pat exclaimed, as I said “Don’t you think we should be going now?” We got out of the car, when Richard’s voice haunted us again. “Rebecca! Get the camera from him!” He said. I heard a sound of footsteps running towards us. “Pat act as if the box is heavy, and it has breakable things in it.” I murmured to Pat who was standing beside me. Suddenly, he started moaning and groaning as if the box was heavy. Good job I thought trying to send silent telepathy messages to him. I heard this Rebecca person come up to Pat, take the box away delicately. I imagined her carrying the box on her pinkie finger, giving weird looks to us. Oh well. 
  As we headed back home, Pat was getting really excited. “Imagine there faces when they open the box up and there’s nothing but a toy camera wrapped with newspapers!” He said jumping up and down. We did get beeped at quite a few times. I’m glad we didn’t crash into anything. When we arrived home, there was a stranger sitting at the front door waiting for us. “G-G-Goo-Good m-morning s-s-sir-r.” The stranger stammered, “H-h-how--“ Just hurry up and get on with it! I thought. But I didn’t want a bad reputation under my name. “Hello there. I am good thank-you. And you?” I say to this stranger. I must’ve had a bored expression on my face, because then Oat who was standing beside me, said “Hello. I am Sir’s assistant. Is there anything we can do for you?” Pat sounded very confident, as if he had practiced this speech a thousand times before. “R-R-Richard t-told m-m-me to t-tell y-you t-to c-c-ome t-to th-th-the b-big f-forest a-a-at 10:00 a.m.” the stranger stammered and ran off. “What did he say?” I asked Pat as he opened up the door. “Something about going to the forest at 10 a.m.” Pat replied. 	         “Did you  just say the forest?” I asked Pat, “Do you know how deadly it is? Everyone who has gone in there has never come out!”				 “Well, we can be the first people to go out of the forest?” Pat guessed.      "Pat this is not funny!” I exclaimed, “Do you think we should go in there?” 	       “I-I think w-we should.” Pat said.  
  “Do you really think we should go into that forest?”  
  “Y-Yes.” 
  “Okay, fine. We are doing this or Albert anyway.” We silently waited for 10 o’clock to arrive. At 9:45, Pat said, “Don’t you think we should  leave now?” “Sure let’s go!” I told him standing up. We made our way towards the door, and into the car. 
  We reached the forest just when the hand on my watch went onto 10. We climbed out of the car, and walked towards the forest. I was shaking. This is going to be my first—and hopefully last—time I am going to walk through this forest. I am walking through one of the dangerous forests ever in this country, and I can’t even see.  
  We reached the forest just when the hand on my watch went onto 10. We climbed out of the car, and walked towards the forest. I was shaking. This is going to be my first—and hopefully last—time I am going to walk through this forest. I am walking through one of the dangerous forests ever in this country, and I can’t even see. Out of nowhere, the theme song of Spongebob Squarepants started playing. I nearly jumped out of my skin! “W-w-what is that?”I asked Pat who was standing next to me for safety.  
  “Sorry sir.” He said, “that was my phone.” Pat got his phone and spoke, “Hello? Yes What! YES! Okay. Yea. Bye.” Turning to me he said, “Richard said that he is waiting at the middle of the forest with Albert. The only way to get to him is to walk through the forest, until we see him.” 
  “I guess that is our only way left to save Albert isn’t it?”Not bothering to answer my question, Pat started walking, with on hand on my  shoulder. He had promised me that he won’t let me get hurt or trip over anything. “Pat, do you know your way there? Do you have a map or anything?” I asked him feeling stupid. “Uh no sir, but I think we just have to walk in a straight line.” He said sounding uncertain. As we were walking, I found a piece of paper in my pocket. I asked Pat if it said anything on it, and he said no, so I tore it up in tiny pieces, and threw a piece down every 20 steps or so. That way, we wouldn’t get lost. It was a good thing that today was sunny and not windy. I thought happily.  
  “Are we there yet?” I asked Pat. Instead of replying, he stopped walking and took his hand off my shoulder. Then I heard someone running. Had Pat just betrayed me? “Pat? I called to him. How am I going to find him now? Then I heard a muffled Help. I tried to follow the voice, but tripped up a big log that was in front of me. How did it get there? I thought. Not caring about my legs that were now bleeding severely, I listened for the voice again. It sounded like Albert. I made my way to the voice. My legs were throbbing, and hurting really bad. But I had to save Albert first. I heard a ripping noise, then Albert screamed, “Look out!” I ran for it, not knowing where I was going. I just hoped Albert was okay. My walking cane was in front of me, so I knew if I was about to crash in a tree or not. “Albert!” I called, “Where are you?” 		        
  “Over here!” He called back. Was that a car pulling away? I thought. My hearing is quite sharp. “Turn to your right!” Albert yelled. I kept on running until I Albert grabbed my shoulder. “Where’s Richard?” I asked him. 	  
  “Richard, Rebecca, Alice and Pat have left!!” He said.  
  “What! So Pat was involved in this?”	 
  “Yes! He was the one who kidnapped me!! Vaughn I see you have a terrible bleed on your leg.”  
  “Let’s go home, and I’ll tell you everything that happened.”		            
  “No we are not going home, we are going to the hospital. I have a bumps and bruises everywhere, and we need to get those knees fixed. You could get poisoned.” 
  As we made our way to the hospital, a friendly woman saw us and gave us a ride. “What happened?” She asked. 
  “Oh we just had a walk through the forest.” I said smiling as if it was a normal everyday thing. “People these days.” She muttered to herself. When we got there, we got off, and thanked the lady. We were nearly inside, when a nurse came out with 2 squeaky wheelchairs, and made us sit in them. She wheeled us inside, bandaged us, and gave us a ride home. “Thank-you” we said.  
  “The hospital’s pleasure” Nurse Sue said. At home, we discovered that the key of our safe was missing and Albert’s camera was missing as well. Albert also found 3 unopened  monopoly games in his rooms. We sat there, and we told our adventure stories. Before I went to sleep that night, I called the police. Mike picked up, and said that Pat was missing. I told him the whole story, and he said that he will inform the Head police straight away. I thanked him, and fell asleep smiling. What an adventurous day.... 
   
   
   Publication Date: September 15th 2009 https://www.bookrix.com/-anzyi12