“Now I need to find the thieves,” said Jolly Solly. He looked quite unlike his usual jolly self

It was midnight. Everyone in Sunny Lane was fast asleep. Everyone except Raffi Rabinowitz’s baby brother, Yoni. Yoni was teething. He was about to let out another ear-splitting screech. That always brought someone running. But suddenly, he was distracted. A car’s headlights shone right into his room.

Yoni didn’t know a lot about cars. But even to him, this particular car sounded strange. It sounded like it was zigzagging along instead of driving straight. His father’s car never sounded like this! After a while the car’s lights and sounds faded away. Yoni drifted into dreamland.

Outside, the car continued its erratic way. As it turned onto Main Street, it almost hit a streetlight. The driver, scowling, veered left and right. He didn’t pay attention to the road as he looked out the windows. He was clearly searching for something.

Suddenly, he jerked to a stop. He stopped so fast, he damaged the front of his car.

“Watch out! You nearly took my head off!” complained the man in the passenger seat.

The driver paid no attention.

“Look!” he exclaimed. “There’s a nice, brightly lit store. Perfect for a nice bit of robbery. Ha ha ha.”

He pointed to Tully’s Toyshop with its colorful window display. All sorts of weird and wonderful board games were in there. There was even a game about Vietnam’s Son Doong cave. Players tried to be first at the end of the world’s biggest cave. But they had to get around all the traps on the way.

“It’s got an alarm,” the passenger pointed out nervously.

“So what. We’ll be in and out before anyone notices us.”

The two men jumped out of the car. Grabbing a heavy tool from the trunk, the driver swung it at the window.

SMASH! CRASH!!!

The two men reached inside and grabbed as many items as they could. These toys would sell well on the black market! Then an alarm went off, loudly.

“Let’s get out of here,” said the second man. He looked around nervously.

The pair jumped back into the car. They zoomed off at top speed. In seconds they were gone.

Someone heard the alarm and called the police. The police called Tully. He arrived in minutes, and was horrified. Unfortunately, no one had seen the robbery. One neighbor had seen a red car speeding away from the scene. The police didn’t think that was much of a clue. They didn’t believe they would catch the thieves.

The next morning, Tully was in the store trying to clean up. Then the bell on the door tinkled. Tully looked up. He was in no position to serve customers. They would have to go somewhere else.

But to his surprise it was Jolly Solly. The clown had come to help. Jolly Solly quickly called his friend Gershon the Glazier. Between the three of them, the place was cleared up in no time. And a shiny new glass window was in place.

“Now I need to find the thieves,” said Jolly Solly. He looked quite unlike his usual jolly self.

(Excerpted from Mishpacha Jr., Issue 782)