2. Lost Leprechaun

Chapter 2 Lost Leprechaun Bradley woke up thirsty the next morning. He knew there was a carton of orange juice in the fridge. His stomach growled. Maybe he'd find doughnuts in the kitchen, too. He looked over at his brother's bed. Brian was sound asleep. Bradley slipped out of the room. He tiptoed down the hallway and stairs so he wouldn't wake his family. The kitchen clock said seven-thirty. The sun was starting to shine through the window over the sink. Bradley smiled.

He didn't see any doughnuts, but he poured himself a glass of juice. He drank it and listened to a few birds outside the window. Then he remembered the leprechaun statue on the porch. He wanted to check it out again before the contest the next day. Bradley opened the front door. He stepped onto the porch in his bare feet. Then he gasped. The leprechaun was gone! Bradley turned and ran back 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.