5. Lucky’s Unlucky Day

Chapter 5 Lucky's Unlucky Day The cruiser took off. All the O'Learys were in the house. The yard was quiet. The fairy-princess leprechaun stood all alone on the porch. "Boy, that was weird," Nate said. The kids and Pal started walking toward Main Street. "Do you think Lucky really took the leprechauns?" Lucy asked. "No. Lucky is honest," Brian said. "But someone must think he did it," Bradley said. "Someone called the cops on him."

"Maybe Mrs. Wong or Mr. Paskey saw Lucky do it," Nate said. "I'd bet anything he didn't steal them!" Bradley said. "This has to be a big mistake." "I feel bad for Lucky," Lucy said. "But how can we get our leprechaun back? The contest is tomorrow morning!" "We'll figure something out," Bradley said. "If we can find the real thief, Lucky will get out of jail. And we'll get our leprechaun." When the kids and Pal reached the twins' house, they got a surprise. Two beat-up bikes leaned against the porch. Two of Lucky's brothers were sitting on the steps. They stood up. "Hey," Bradley said. "How'd you get here before us?" "We took River Road," one of the boys said. "I'm Ben, and this is Ralphie. We have something to tell you." All six kids sat on the porch. Pal found a tennis ball to chew on.

"Sorry about Lucky," Brian said. "That's why we're here," Ben said. "Lucky didn't take your leprechaun. We did. We took the others, too." "We called you this morning and blamed it on Lucky," Ralphie said. "But why?" asked Bradley. "We were mad at Lucky," Ben said. "He got Mom to punish us for messing around in his room. So we came up with an idea. We stole the three statues last night. We dragged them home in our

sister's wagon. Then we hid them in Lucky's closet, under his gym clothes." "Then we called you," Ralphie said. "We just wanted to mess with Lucky, not get him arrested!" "Anyway," Ben went on, "after Officer Fallon took Lucky away, we ran upstairs to his bedroom. We figured we'd bring the three leprechauns to Officer Fallon and tell him the truth." Ben and Ralphie glanced at each other. "So, what happened?" Nate asked. "When we looked in the closet, the leprechauns were gone," Ben said. Bradley thought Ben O'Leary was going to cry.