Free March Mischief by Ron Roy Page A

inside the house. He bumped into Josh in his pajamas.
    “Whoa, slow down! What’s the matter?” Josh said.
    “The leprechaun is gone!” Bradley shouted just as his parents came into the kitchen.
    “What’s wrong?” his mother asked. “Why the shouting?”
    “The leprechaun ran away from home,” Josh said, cracking a grin.
    Bradley raced up the stairs to his room. “Get up, Brian!” he shouted. He yanked off his pajamas and started getting dressed.
    “What’s all the yelling?” Brian asked. One of his eyes peeked out from under the bedcovers.

    “The leprechaun is gone!” Bradley said.
    Brian sat up. His hair was all spiky. “What do you mean?” he asked.
    “Bri, it’s not on the porch where we left it!” Bradley said. “Someone must have stolen it.”
    Brian yawned. “Who’d want a smelly old leprechaun?” he asked.
    Bradley tossed a pillow at his brother. “I want it!” he said.
    Brian ducked from the pillow. “What are you gonna do?” he asked.
    “Look for it,” Bradley said. He pulled on his sneakers. “And you’re gonna help.”
    Two minutes later Bradley and Brian were in the backyard.
    “Brad, if someone stole it, why are we searching our own yard?” Brian asked.
    Bradley peered inside a clump of bushes. “Maybe someone hid it out here to play a trick on us.”
    The brothers looked under shrubs, in the barn, and even up in trees.
    Their mother opened the back door. “You boys come in and eat some breakfast!” she yelled.
    Bradley and Brian walked back into the kitchen. Before sitting down at the table, Bradley called Lucy. “Someone stole the leprechaun!” he told her. “Call Nate and come over.”
    “Maybe someone just took it for a joke,” the boys’ mother said after Bradley hung up. She looked at Josh.
    “Don’t look at me!” he said. “It’s probably your buddy Nate. He loves playing jokes on people.”
    Bradley thought about Nate. Would he steal the leprechaun they had all worked on so hard?
    While they were eating oatmeal, the phone rang. Josh jumped for it.
    “Hello?” he said. “Just a minute.”
    Josh placed the phone next to Bradley’s orange juice. “For you,” he said. “Someone with a bad cold.”
    Bradley picked up the phone and said, “Hello?”
    “Lucky O’Leary stole your leprechaun,” a hoarse voice said.
    Then the caller hung up.

Bradley stared at the phone.
    “Who was that?” his mother asked.
    “I don’t know,” Bradley said. “But whoever it was said Lucky O’Leary took our leprechaun.”
    “Lucky?” said the boys’ mother. “That’s absurd. He’s such a nice boy.”
    “It can’t be Lucky,” Josh said. “He’s away at college.”
    “He comes home for weekends sometimes,” Brian said.
    Just then someone knocked on the door. Bradley let Nate and Lucy in.
    They sat at the table while Bradley told them about the phone call.
    “Who is Lucky O’Leary?” Lucy asked.
    “He’s this college kid we know,” Josh said. “Trust me, he’d never steal anything.”
    “And he’s rich!” Nate said. “Dink, Josh, and Ruth Rose helped him find a million-dollar lottery ticket!”
    “Wow!” Lucy said. “And you don’t know who called you?”
    Bradley shook his head. “He had a hoarse voice, though,” he said.
    “Could it have been a girl?” Lucy asked.
    Bradley shrugged. He tried to remember the voice. “It was so hoarse I couldn’t tell. It could have been a girl, I guess,” he said.
    Bradley took the last bite of hisoatmeal. “Come on, let’s go to Lucky’s house.”
    “What are we gonna say to him?” Brian asked. “We can’t just accuse him.”
    “I won’t,” Bradley said. “I’ll tell him about the phone call.”
    The kids all wore sweaters. The day was windy but not too cold. Pal was on his leash. He trotted along happily, sniffing the ground.
    “Where does Lucky live?” Lucy asked as they cut through the school playground.
    “On Robin Road,” Nate said. “He’s got about a hundred brothers and