There was an air of suppressed excitement about Mr. Krankowitz, Moishy Morris noticed in surprise. The normally grumpy old man actually looked quite pleased with himself.

Mrs. Morris had sent Moishy over to Mr. Krankowitz’s house with some freshly baked cupcakes. Moishy had gone reluctantly. The last time his mother had sent over a plate of buns, the old man had exclaimed, “Buns? Who needs buns? Give me a jam tart any day.” But when Moishy had returned the following day with jam tarts, Mr. Krankowitz had growled, “Jam tarts? I don’t like jam tarts.”

And yet, now here he was, accepting the cupcakes without a word of complaint!

He leaned over and whispered into Moishy’s ear, “Guess what? I’m going to strike it rich.”

“Really?” gasped Moishy.

“Yes. See this letter? It’s from a company based in Antarctica. It tells me I’ve been specially selected to help them out. They’ve found some valuable diamonds there worth $21 million but can’t release them for sale because of some regulations. They need someone living abroad to act on their behalf. All I have to do is send them $5,000 within the next three days to cover administration costs, and then I get $5 million of the profits, guaranteed!”

“Wow!” exclaimed Moishy, impressed.

He rushed home as fast as he could.

“Daddy! Guess what! Mr. Krankowitz is becoming rich. He got a letter from a company about diamonds in Antarctica. Maybe you can get rich as well.”

“Oh, I got that letter too.” Mr. Morris shrugged dismissively. “I threw it straight in the garbage.”

Moishy was shocked.

“But why?” he asked. “It guarantees huge profits!”

“That’s exactly what aroused my suspicions,” explained Mr. Morris. “Along with the fact that the company was so far away, and they were requesting money. I checked it out, and it’s a scam.”

“A what?” asked Moishy.

“A swindle. Anyone that sends them money will never see it again.”

“There aren’t any diamonds?”

“Not a single one. The whole thing’s a trick.”

“We’d better warn Mr. Krankowitz,” gasped Moishy. “Before it’s too late!”

“You’re right,” agreed Mr. Morris. “I’ll call him right away.”

But the old man refused to listen to reason. So Mr. Morris turned to the only person he could think of who might be able to help. He called Jolly Solly.

Mr. Morris and Moishy went over to Mr. Krankowitz’s house to monitor the situation until the clown arrived. He was there in a jiffy.

To Moishy’s surprise, Jolly Solly didn’t say anything to Mr. Krankowitz about diamonds or scams. Instead, he asked him how he was feeling, and inquired about his roses. Moishy nearly fell asleep.

Then Jolly Solly took out a newspaper cutting from his pocket and unfolded it.

“What’s that?” asked Mr. Krankowitz suspiciously.

“Oh, just an article I saw in the newspaper. Sad situation, actually.”

“What happened?” demanded the old man.

“Some woman got swindled out of her life savings,” replied the clown, shaking his head sorrowfully.

“How did that happen?”

“She got taken in by crooks,” replied the clown. “They told her she’d been specially selected for some get-rich-quick scheme in Nigeria. She didn’t check them out properly. In the end, they vanished into thin air with her money. She never saw a cent of it again.”

(Excerpted from Mishpacha Jr., Issue 750)