March Mischief (5 page)

A minute passed.

“He’s thinking,” Brian said.

Nate giggled.

“Something is wrong here,” Bradley
said finally. “Don’t you guys wonder how the leprechauns got from Lucky’s closet to this storage room?”

“Maybe one of the cops found them and stuck them in here,” Ben said.

“Found them where?” Ralphie said. “They never came inside to look in Lucky’s closet.”

“Besides, if a cop found the leprechauns, he’d have told Officer Fallon,” Bradley said. “And he would have returned our leprechaun to us.”

“And he wouldn’t keep Lucky locked up,” Ralphie said.

“You’re right, Bradley,” Lucy said. “Something weird is going on.”

Just then they heard someone laugh.

Bradley turned around. “That came from Officer Fallon’s office,” he said.

Bradley thought for another minute. He tiptoed over to Officer Fallon’s door. The others followed.

Six pairs of ears listened at the door.

“Your move, Officer Fallon,” someone said on the other side of the door.

“That’s Lucky’s voice!” Ben whispered.

Very gently, Bradley turned the knob. He opened the door a few inches.

Officer Fallon was sitting at his desk. Lucky sat opposite him. They were eating burgers and playing chess.

Both had big smiles on their faces.

I thought Lucky was in jail
, Bradley said to himself. He heard Ralphie and Ben take in deep breaths.

“How’d you happen to find the three leprechauns in your closet?” Officer Fallon asked Lucky.

“My mom saw Ben and Ralphie come in with the leprechauns,” Lucky said. “She heard them say they were going to blame me for it. So Mom and I decided to teach those two a lesson.
That’s why we brought the leprechauns here to you.”

Officer Fallon laughed. “Those poor kids,” he said. “They think I really arrested you. When do you want to go back home?”

“Mom says I should come back today,” Lucky said. “I’ll take the leprechauns with me and return them.” He moved a chess piece. “But first I have to beat you at this game!”

The kids backed away from the
office door. “Did you hear that?” Ben asked. “Lucky and Officer Fallon are playing a trick on us! Lucky’s not in jail at all!”

“And our mom knew about it, too!” Ralphie said.

Then he and Ben looked at each other. “I guess we deserved this,” Ben said. “We started the whole thing.”

“So what do we do now?” Ralphie asked.

“I have an idea,” Nate said.

Nate led the kids into the room where the leprechauns stood on the table.

“What’s your idea?” Bradley asked.

“Lucky and Officer Fallon think the leprechauns are in this room, right?” Nate said.

“Yeah, and in a few minutes, Lucky’s gonna come and get them to take home again,” Ralphie said.

“Only they aren’t gonna be here,” Nate said.

“They aren’t? Where will they be?” Ben asked.

Nate grinned. “We’ll hide the leprechauns again. Then, when Lucky comes to get them, they’ll be gone!”

He yanked the lid off the trash barrel. There were some old newspapers in the bottom. Nate carefully lowered the leprechauns onto the papers. Then he put the lid back on.

“But what happens if someone empties the trash?” Lucy asked.

Nate shook his head. “It’s Saturday,” he said. “No one will look in here till Monday.”

“I can’t wait to see Lucky’s face when he opens this door!” Ralphie crowed.

Bradley tiptoed back to Officer Fallon’s office door. He peeked inside. Then he came back to the others. “I think they’re finishing the game,” he whispered.

“We have to hide!” Ben said. He peered around the dusty room. He pointed to the covered desk. “We can hide behind that.”

They all crawled behind the desk. Pal let out a woof.

“Quiet, Pal,” Bradley whispered. He pulled Pal next to him.

“I forgot the light,” Ben said. He went over and hit the light switch.

Now it was black in the room.

Brian giggled. “I’m afraid of the dark,” he said.

“I’ll protect you,” Lucy said.

“I need to sneeze!” Nate said.

“Hold your nose!” Bradley said.

“Who wants a cookie?” Ralphie mumbled through a mouthful of cookies.

Just then the door opened. Officer Fallon and Lucky looked into the dark room. The kids could see them, but they couldn’t see the kids.

“They’re not here!” Officer Fallon
said. “I left them on this little table!”

“I don’t get it,” Lucky said. “How could three statues just disappear?”

Then Bradley heard a small, muffled voice. “We’re in the trash can,” said the voice.

Officer Fallon didn’t say anything.

Lucky didn’t say anything.

They just stared into the dark room.

“Please let us out of the trash can,” said the small voice. “I can hardly breathe in here!”

Officer Fallon and Lucky stepped into the room. Lucky pulled the lid off the trash can. They both peered inside.

“Well, I’ll be a donkey’s grandpa!” Officer Fallon said. “There they are!”

One by one, Lucky lifted the three leprechauns out of the barrel. “Can you really talk?” he said to the statues.

Behind him, six kids burst into laughter.

The next day was St. Patrick’s Day. It was a cool, sunny morning. Bradley and Brian carried their leprechaun to the town hall lawn. Pal walked along next to them. Lucy and Nate were waiting.

“There must be a million leprechauns here!” Nate said.

The kids looked around. Leprechauns stood everywhere. They had all started out looking exactly the same. Now they were all different.

The leprechauns were all dressed or decorated or painted. There were rock stars, sports figures, and nurses. Bradley saw a Mickey Mouse and an Elvis. He waved to Josephine and her fairy princess. He saw Officer Fallon holding the police leprechaun.

Ben and Ralphie came over to say hi.

“What’s yours supposed to be, anyway?” Ralphie asked. “A giant hamster?”

“It’s our dog, Pal,” Bradley explained.

“I wonder who will win first prize,” Ralphie said.

Brian grinned. “Us,” he said. “We have the only talking leprechaun.”

They all laughed. “At least Lucky and Officer Fallon were cool about getting busted like that,” Ralphie said. “They admitted how they tricked us.”

“Which one of you guys did that funny voice yesterday?” Bradley asked.

“Not me!” Ben and Ralphie said at the same time.

“We had cookies in our mouths!” Ralphie said.

“It wasn’t me, either,” Nate said. “I was trying not to sneeze.”

“I certainly didn’t do it,” Lucy said. She looked at Bradley and Brian. “I thought it was one of you two.”

Brian shook his head. “Not guilty,” he said. “And it wasn’t Bradley, either. He was squished right next to me.”

“So who was it?” Nate asked. “We all heard somebody say, ‘Please let us out of the trash can,’ right?”

“Gee, maybe it
was
your leprechaun,” Ben said. He put his hand on the leprechaun dressed as Pal.

The six kids stared at the statue.

Just then the mayor of Green Lawn stepped out of the town hall. The crowd cheered and the mayor waved. He walked among the leprechauns, chatting with people and patting kids on the
head. His assistant walked with him, taking notes on a clipboard.

The mayor stopped in front of the leprechaun dressed as a dog.

“And what have we here?” the mayor asked. “A dog leprechaun?”

“Yes, sir,” Bradley said. “It’s a basset hound. It’s supposed to look like our dog, Pal.”

Pal woofed at the mayor.

“Oh, I see,” said the mayor. “Very cute. Very clever.” He whispered something to his assistant.

She scribbled a note.

The mayor walked away.

Soon the mayor had examined all the leprechauns. He and his assistant walked up the town hall steps. A microphone was waiting for him.

“Good morning, and happy St. Patrick’s Day!” the mayor said. “I’m happy to see that so many of you believe
in leprechauns! This is the biggest turnout I’ve ever seen!”

More clapping and whistling.

The mayor took the clipboard from his assistant. “It seems we have a tie this year!” he said. “We have two winners!”

Everybody looked at one another’s leprechauns.

“Our first winner is Fairy-Princess Leprechaun!” he yelled. “Will its owner please come up here?”

Josephine O’Leary and her whole family ran up the steps and stood by the mayor. Ben and Ralphie carried the fairy-princess statue.

The mayor placed a big green ribbon around the leprechaun’s neck.

Everybody cheered. Lucky lifted Josephine up onto his shoulders.

“And our second winner is Basset Hound Leprechaun!” the mayor went on. “Where are its owners?”

Bradley grabbed the leprechaun. He led Brian, Nate, Lucy, and Pal up to join the mayor. The mayor dropped a ribbon around the leprechaun’s shoulders.

Bradley grinned and hugged his leprechaun. The crowd cheered.

Then Bradley heard a small voice in his ear. “Leprechauns rule!” it said.

Bradley stared at the leprechaun.

The leprechaun stared back.

Maybe it was the sun in his eyes, but Bradley could have sworn the leprechaun was winking.