November 17, 2007

Simon and his friends were the most adventure loving kids. They used to dare each other to do different things. Simon was their gang leader, a tall, emaciated looking guy.

There was a frightening and lonely place called ‘Crooney Manor’ at the farthest end of the town. Hundreds of superstitions and rumours were spread about it. Some said, ‘a girl’s ghost lingers there’, some said ‘it was a witch’, some said, ‘they saw a lonely soul wandering there’. So this place was the only thing which Simon and company were afraid of.

One day their worst fear came true. What happened was that Armagus, a class fellow who was jealous of their fame, dared them to go to the haunted manor. Simon, to save their respect, accepted the dare.

His other two team members, Todd and Franheit, were not happy about the dare. “Why did you have to except the ‘Science Whiz’s dare. He couldn’t have eaten you if you let him down,” Todd complained. They kept grumbling and complaining so Simon got exasperated. “Ok guys, now shut up I’ll do it alone.”

The other two went away, happy to get rid of the frightful dare. “I’m going to show them. I’ll do it,” Simon promised himself.

The next day he packed his hiking bag and set off for the Crooney Manor. He didn’t tell his mother that he had a dare; he said that he was going over to Franheit’s place. After walking for two hours, he was standing before the lonely looking building. He suddenly felt cold though the sun was just setting.

Walking cautiously, fearful of waking some unknown thing, he entered the building. Suddenly howling and shrieking started. He stared shivering but he plucked up courage and went on. There were mice scuttering about the place. Large cobwebs and thick layers of dust covered the walls. Old, broken furniture stared at him. He didn’t find anything interesting downstairs so he decided to check upstairs.

When he reached the first floor he felt that the noise had grown louder. He pushed the nearest door and it opened easily. A wide smile played on his lips, when he saw a big, black tape-recorder plugged on. “Maybe the racket makers are still here,” he thought and without turning off the tape-recorder he moved towards the other rooms in the corridor.

Loud whispering voices were coming from a room. The people inside were talking about how genius their boss was and how easily they had fooled the poor, unintelligent people of the village. After hearing their conversation, Simon came to the conclusion that they were smugglers who smuggled heroine and cocaine in the village. He quickly hid in the other room and phoned his father who was a police inspector. After understanding the situation Simon’s father came with his force.

The startled and horrified criminals were arrested. Soon they told the name of their gang leader. Simon’s father was given a promotion and Simon a detective kit and a cheque of $2,000. So because of his bravery and boldness he had saved his village from the cunning smugglers.