Chapter 1 Breakfast!
Alfie Briggs was a burglar.
But he wasn't a good one.
Tonight, he'd stolen a broken lawn mower and a bird.... ... a talking bird.
It almost woke up the whole street.
"Stop thief!"
"Button it, bird brain."
After a hard night, Alfie liked to go home to a tasty breakfast.
Breakfast was his main meal of the day.
He always ate at least three courses.
He tried to make sure he never ran out of the five breakfasts foods he liked best.
Looking around his kitchen, it was easy to see what they were.
Chapter 2 No breakfast...
Alfie's stomach gave a hungry growl.
It was time for breakfast.
"Mmm. What shall I have first? Cornflakes I think."
He hunted high... and low.
But he couldn't find the cornflakes.
"That's funny. I thought I had a box left."
Just the, he noticed a trail of cornflakes leading out of the door...
... and up the street.
It could only mean one thing.
"I've been burgled!"
Someone had stolen Alfie's cornflakes.
He decided to track down the thief and get back his breakfast.
Chapter 3 On the trail
Nose pressed against his magnifying glass, Alfie followed the cornflake trail.
"Just wait till I find out who stole my cornflakes."
He followed the trail into the park.
He followed it to Pet's Corner.
The thief would be sorry he'd stolen from Alfie.
Suddenly, Alfie came face to face with the thief.
The thief looked even grumpier than Alfie.
What's more, he had two sharp horns.
"Ooops!"
"Er, nice goat!" said Alfie.
The goat glared.
Perhaps he didn't like having his breakfast interrupted.
"I don't think I want cornflakes after all. Too cruncky."
On his way home, Alfie thought about what he'd have for breakfast instead of cornflakes.
"Scrambled egg. Nice and runny with lots of butter."
Feeling happier, he strode along when crunck!
Alfie stepped on a broken egg shell beside the hedge.
"Someone else has had the same idea!" he said and grinned.
He thought he knew who that someone was.
Alfe knelt down.
He crawled through a hole in the hedge.
On the other side were more broken shells and one happy fox.
Been raiding Farmer Till's chickens have you? Ha Ha.
Good luck to you.
The fox ran off.
Alfie spotted something.
"The little rascal. Those eggs weren't Farmer Till's at all. They were mine!"
Alfie was cross.
First, his cornflakes had been snaffled by a greedy goat.
Now his plan for eggs had been scrambled by a cheeky fox.
He stomped home.
He flung open his front door.
Then he stormed into the kitchen.
Chapter 4 Cat and mouse
"This is getting beyond a joke."
"Right," Alfie said, crossly.
"It will have to be sardines. Now, where I did I put them... Huh?"
He was staring at an empty plate.
All six sardines had vanished.
But this time, he had a good idea who the thief was.
"TIBBLES! Keep your thieving paws to yourself."
"OUT!"
"It's a dog's life!"
Alfie was furious.
First, no cornflakes.
Then, no eggs.
Now, no sardines.
He would have to make waffles.
Alfie set the table and turned on the oven.
Then he went to get his waffles.
Grrr! Someone had beaten him to it.
Luckily, they'd left a trail.
Alfie followed it.
"Cheese not good enough for you, eh? You little villains."
The thieves hadn't eaten the waffles.
But now Alfie didn't want to eat them either.
Chapte 5 Sugar shock
Alfie sighed.
No cornflakes, no eggs, no sardines, no waffles.
Was there anything to eat?
He was in luck.
There was a big juicy grapefruit in the fruit bowl.
"Mmm, lovely," said Alfie.
He licked his lips.
"I'll just get the sugar..."
"What kind of sneaky low-down creep steals the sugar from under my nose?"
It wasn't just one sneaky creep.
There were hundreds.
But they were very small.
Alfie took out his magnifying glass.
He'd soon find out who was making off with his sugar.
Chapter 6 Still no breakfast
By the time Alfie had solved the mystery, there wasn't a single grain of sugar left.
Alfie felt hungry and very, very cross.
"No cornflakes, no eggs, no sardines, no waffles!" he yelled.
A few seconds later, he had no grapefruit either.
"What good is a grapefruit without any sugar?"
"SMASH....!!"
Then he paused.
Oh dear!
Maybe this was how people felt when he burgled their houses.
Alfie felt ashamed.
But he also still felt hungry.
There was only one thing left to do.
He would have to go out for breakfast.
"If I'm going to buy breakfast, I'll need to find some... What do you call that stuff
again?"
"Money..."
Chapter 7 Paper plan
At Rosie's Cafe, Alfie ate an enormous breakfast.
But even that didn't cheer him up.
"I don't want to be a burglar any more. But what else can I do?"
As he drank his coffee, Alfie glanced at a newspaper.
He read something which gave him an idea.
He took a closer look.
=======
NEED A JOB?
Can you:
Follow trails?
Track down stolen goods?
Catch crooks?
Spot cluse?
Keep a cool head?
The STOP_A_THIEF
Detecive Agency needs
YOU!
=======
"Can I follow trails?" thought Alfie, remembering his trip to the park.
"Can I track down stolen goods?" he wondered.
"Without even trying!" he said.
"Can I catch crooks?" he asked himself.
"I certainly can - and Tibbles won't steal my fish again!"
"Can I spot cluse?" he said.
He rubbed his chin.
"Ha! I can spot clues almost invisible to the naked eye."
Chapter 8 A new job?
"I can do all of those things!" said Alfie.
Then he read the last line of the list.
"Can I keep a cool head? Hmmmm..."
"Well, I can do most of those things!"
Alfie shrugged.
He hadn't been cool about the grapefruit.
But who can keep their cool when they're very hungry?
The Stop-A-Thief Detective Agency gave Alfie a job the same day.
The boss had never known anyone like him.
"Caught red-handed!"
Alfie caught more crooks in his week than all the other detectives put together.
And he never stole another thing - not even breakfast.