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 ** The Sleigh Disappearance ** 

 ** By: Riley Boike ** The day Santa's sleigh went missing was strange.

It all started on Christmas Eve. Santa was walking around the sunny, colorful North Pole making sure everything was okay. But when he got to the sleigh garage everything went wrong. "Where is my sleigh?" Everyone at the North Pole heard Santa's scream. "Who took it? We need to call Emma the reindeer sleuth and her dog Summer!" Santa shouted in Elfie (an elf's) ear. "Okay I will,” said Elfie.    An hour after that, Santa was in his office saying to himself, "Where are Emma and Summer?" Suddenly the door blasted open.     "Sorry we were late,” said Emma, "We were Christmas shopping." “I understand," answered Santa.    "What happened here?" asked Emma.     "I was walking into the sleigh garage when I noticed the sleigh was missing!"    "I know just where to go," said Emma.     "Where?" asked Santa.     "The crime scene," answered Emma. Emma and Summer went to the sleigh garage. "Let's look for clues,” said Emma, "I want to find out this mystery so Santa can give out the gifts tonight." They started to look for clues. "Woof! Woof! Woof!" barked Summer. "What did you find Summer?" asked Emma walking toward the shelf Summer was standing next to. Summer pointed with her paw at a letter that was taped on the shelf. Emma read the letter from the ripped piece of paper out loud "Hi, I stole Santa's sleigh. I am not giving it back until after Christmas. From, I will not tell you who I am but I am in the North Pole." “We have one clue,” said Emma excited about the clue, "We need to tell Santa." They went to Santa's office. "Do you know who did it?!" yelled Santa. "No, but we found a clue," Emma answered. "So what is the clue?" asked Santa. "The person who did it is in the North Pole," answered Emma. "Is there anymore you remember?" asked Emma. “I remember that Mrs. Clause was in the cookie shop that is next to the sleigh garage. And at one point she went outside and gave out cookies," said Santa.    "Do you remember any more?" asked Emma.     "I think I remember Elfie, Mr. Elf, and Mrs. Elf were working outside the sleigh garage,” said Santa, "but when I asked them what they were doing outside the workshop they said they were borrowing something from the sleigh garage." "Thanks for the information," said Emma. Emma and Summer decided to go to the workshop because the thing the elves took from the sleigh garage could be the sleigh. They went to Elfie, Mr. Elf, and Mrs. Elf. "Hi,” said Emma, "What were you doing in the sleigh garage this morning?"   "We needed to borrow something," answered the elves. What were you borrowing?" asked Emma. "We borrowed a box for tools to go in," answered the elves. "So you didn't take Santa's sleigh?" asked Emma. "No", answered Elfie, "but I saw Mrs. Clause staring into the sleigh garage and I thought she was looking at the sleigh," said Elfie. Summer and Emma went to the cookie shop. Mrs. Clause was standing behind the counter making Christmas cookies. "Hi, are you here for some cookies?" asked Mrs. Clause. "No thank you,” answered Emma, "But I have some questions for you."    "What questions?" asked Mrs. Clause.    "Did you look into the sleigh garage this morning while you were passing out cookies?" Emma asked hoping the elves didn't lie.     "Yes I did," answered Mrs. Clause.    "Did you take Santa's sleigh?" asked Emma.     "No I would never do that,” answered Mrs. Clause, "Why do you think I stole his sleigh?" "So what were you looking at the sleigh for?" asked Emma. "I wasn't looking at the sleigh. I was looking for the box that was in the sleigh garage, but it was missing." "The elves borrowed it," said Emma. "I saw someone looking in the direction of the sleigh garage and going in it. And a few minutes later the person walked in the opposite direction," said Mrs. Clause. "Thank you," said Emma walking out the door. Emma and Summer walked in front of the sleigh garage and looked for clues. "I can't find anything," said Emma. "Woof! Woof! Woof!" barked Summer. "What did you find Summer?" asked Emma. Summer pointed with her paw at reindeer tracks that came from the sleigh garage and barked some more. "I forgot the reindeer tracks were this way," said Emma. Emma and Summer followed the tracks. They led to a large cave that said Rudolph on the door. "This must be where Rudolph lives," said Emma walking into the cave. "Hi Rudolph,” said Emma, "Were you in the sleigh garage today?"   "Yes," answered Rudolph.     "So did you take Santa's sleigh?" asked Emma.     "I didn't know Santa's sleigh was missing," said Rudolph with a smile on his face. Emma could tell he took it but she wanted to get him to say it.     "Then what were you doing in the sleigh garage?" asked Emma. "Okay stop asking questions I took Santa's sleigh" said Rudolph. "Why did you take it?" asked Emma.     "My leg was hurting because I flew into a tree. And I was having trouble flying, but I can fly better now" answered Rudolph.    "Can you give the sleigh back to Santa?" asked Emma.     "Yes, I will give the sleigh back," said Rudolph. The rest of the day was great. Rudolph returned the sleigh to the sleigh garage, Emma and Summer told Santa the good news, and Santa gave out the gifts on time. But like I said before, the day Santa's sleigh went missing was strange.