Little Sock Thief

It was laundry day at Emma’s house. She carried a big basket of clothes downstairs to the basement. Her socks tumbled around as she bumped down each step.

“I don’t like sorting clothes. It’s boring!” Emma told her mom.

Emma sat on the floor and rummaged around the pile for matching socks. She rolled them together in little balls.

But suddenly Emma noticed one pink sock was missing! She looked under the dryer and in the laundry bins.

“That’s weird,” Emma said. Where did that missing sock go?

The next laundry day, Emma carefully counted four more socks gone!

“Mom, something strange is happening! My socks are vanishing from the baskets,” Emma yelled upstairs.

“Oh my, that certainly is odd,” said Mom.

That night at dinner, Emma told her dad about the case of the missing socks.

Dad chuckled, “Hmm, it sounds like we have a little sock thief in the house!”

The next morning, Emma noticed more socks gone from her drawer upstairs. She started to worry.

“I need to catch the sock thief red-handed!” Emma said. She decided to set a trap.

Emma took an old winter sock. She filled it with toy bricks to make a fake foot.

“I’ll trick the thief with this silly sock puppet!” she said. Carefully Emma placed the trap sock on top of the laundry pile. Then she hid behind the door to watch and wait.

Soon Emma heard tiny footsteps tiptoeing downstairs. She peeked around the door and…gasped!

A furry robber with a long tail and twitchy nose stood holding the sock puppet in his tiny paws! He tried to stuff the big sock down his hole in the wall.

Emma leaped out. “Aha! A mouse is stealing my socks!”

The frightened mouse dropped the puppet and scurried back to his hole empty-handed. Emma quickly blocked the hole with boxes so he couldn’t escape.

“Got you now, Little Sock Thief!” Emma said.

Soon Emma’s mom and dad came downstairs laughing.

Emma grinned. “I caught the real sock thief…a tricky mouse!” Mom and Dad were quite impressed with Emma’s clever plan.

Dad fetched a bucket to catch the furry thief. Gently he placed it in the hole in the wall. The scared mouse crawled inside.

“What should we do with the sneaky sock burglar?” asked Emma. She felt bad seeing the tiny mouse shiver in the plastic pail.

“Let’s free him in the park so he can find a new home,” said Mom.

Emma left bits of paper, wool, and fuzz in the bucket to make a warm bed for their little captive. Dad poked holes in the top for air.

At the park, Emma knelt down. “So long, Little Sock Thief! Stay cozy in your new house,” she whispered. The mouse blinked his shiny eyes at Emma before disappearing into the grass.

Back home, Emma patched up the hole with cardboard so no new mice could sneak inside.

That night at dinner, Emma told funny tales about the fuzzy sock thief. Her family laughed and laughed!

Now Emma keeps her socks safe in a basket on her closet shelf. And she always double-checks the laundry room before starting to sort clothes.

Emma kind of missed seeing the mischievous Little Sock Thief from time to time. She hoped he liked the soft nest she left in his bucket house.