How To Identify And Catch A Burglar

Alan was just reading a book. Did he know what adventure he would just get into in a couple of minutes? So, Alan was left alone in his house. His mother was in her friend’s home just down the street. His brother was with his friends to study, and his father, he was on his duty in Albania, miles away from Alan and Australia. Ultimately, Alan was alone. While his other friends felt scared at such times, Alan was different. He was calm. He was just too busy reading his book.

A long time passed by, perhaps an hour, and it was nearly midnight. He suddenly heard a loud crack. It was loud enough to scare away anyone but Alan, for he took a deep breath. According to his estimation, the sound was from the terrace. Before he could act anymore, he heard a loud scream. It echoed all around the room, making the windows shudder. Alan’s nerves were cold, and his breath stopped. He was tensed for the first time in hours. He started imagining every possibility - a burglar, a kidnapper, a killer, or even a ghost. His heart seemed to tremble like him too. He slowly squeaked, “Password please.”

The next thing almost killed Alan with laughter. A hoarse voice echoed all over the house, “Son! It's me! Why do you need the password? I’m your dad!”. Alan wanted a little entertainment. And so went on the conversation of ‘squeaky Alan’ and ‘hoarse-voiced ghost’.

“My dad wouldn’t come through the terrace window,” Alan spoke, “Why wouldn’t he? He just now has. I want to follow the trends, son.”

“You’re back from your duty?”

“Yes.”

“Then you must be tired! I’ll butter some bread for you.”

“So caring of you! Where is my car key, son?”

“We don’t own a car, dad!”

Alan and the ‘ghost’ were speaking to each other, but neither of them had seen the other. Alan didn’t even seem to care about that. He sprinted to the kitchen but didn’t pick up butter. Instead, he bottled chilli powder and pepper powder with water and caught it steady in hand.

He heard his ‘father cum ghost’ yell again, “Why for god’s sake is this room filled with chewing-gums?”. Alan wanted to laugh hard. But in his ‘squeaky’ voice, he replied, “Richard must have thrown all that”.

“Who is Richard?” the voice barked again. Alan grinned and spoke again, trying to be innocent, “Your elder son, my brother of course! Dad, what’s wrong with you today? Too much work pressure?”

But Alan had gone too far. The ‘ghost’ sensed the trouble and suddenly entered the kitchen with sticky shoes (pink with chewing gum) and was holding a gun. He was wearing a maroon shirt and jeans. He was a man pretending to be a ‘ghost cum father’ after all. He spoke harshly, “You can’t fool me, boy. Tell me quietly where everything is or…”. But Alan was invincible today. He threw the water filled with chilli and pepper powder from his bottle straight at the man’s face, and the man shrieked out in pain. The windows shuddered again, but it was the man trembling this time.

“I don’t have time to catch filthy burglars like you. The police have arrived next door, for I called them the moment I heard you try to pretend to be my dad, but unfortunately, he’s in Albania,” Alan spoke bossily. And then he went back to read his book - How to identify and catch a ‘burglar’.