By Maanvi Singh (age 10)
“Aaargh!” Iris thought, “Where in the world are the hamburgers?! I’ve searched every single store and there aren’t any hamburgers?!” It all started when Iris got back from downtown yesterday, and put her coat on the hanger when she found some paper in her coat pocket! Iris didn’t remember putting anything in there. In fact, she just got it the day before. Scribbled on the paper was a list of grocery items and a small note.
It said, “Get these items and drop them off at Alley 674 by 10 pm tomorrow. If you don’t, I know where you live…”
“How did it get in my pocket? My hands were in them the whole time!…Except when we went to the ice cream store! And when that man bumped into me! He must have put it in my pocket!” And that’s right about when she got scared. Iris sure did think he looked a little scary, but little did she know he was one of the most wanted men in America!
Iris got all the things except for the hamburgers, and now she was freaking out. With hurried steps Iris made her way to the car and stomped her foot on the pedal and made her way to the next grocery store on her list, which was 30 minutes away. But she needed hamburgers, this was a life or death situation!
She parked in the first open spot, grabbed a basket, and ran inside the store.
“Excuse me?” she asked one of the employees, “Do you happen to have hamburgers? I’m kinda in a hurry.”
“Sorry no, they’re all sold out by some man in a black coat.”
“A man in a black coat?” she asked, “Did he have tannish skin and a mustache?”
“Uuh…yes, precisely,” he said in a surprised voice.
“That sounds an awful lot like the man who put that note in my pocket!” she thought, “He bought all of them so that I can’t get the items, and he’ll be able to do something to me!!”
She gave up. The man probably went to all the stores and took the hamburgers. “Why would he even want that?” Iris muttered, “That’s such a random thing! But then again, it is my favorite food.” Iris went to the alley anyway, to drop off the things, when she saw birthday decorations and a HUGE stack of hamburgers.
“SURPRISE!” yelled a chorus of people from behind the tables jumping up.
“What!?” Iris yelled before she could stop herself. She was so caught up in getting the items that she had completely forgotten that it was her birthday!