*** Encyclopedia Brown and the Case of the Grabbed Peach ***
** By Random Answer Generator **

Encyclopedia Brown was sitting in his garage on Rover Avenue once
again, waiting for someone to stop by. He was beginning to get
worried. He hadn't made a single quarter today, and he was growing
increasingly concerned that the community no longer needed his
services! In fact, he had barely seen any people at all strolling down
the street that day, and he was beginning to feel quite disheartened.

Just as Encyclopedia Brown was starting to despair, the local
greengrocer, Mario Mushroom, strolled by.

"Howdy, Encyclopedia. How're you doing this fine morning?"

"Well gee, Mr. Mushroom, I'm feeling a bit down in the dumps. You see,
nobody seems to have any mysteries they need solved!"

"Of course nobody's around, they're all down at the county fair!"

Encyclopedia Brown could barely believe he had forgotten about the
county fair! So *that's* why nobody was around!

"Naturally! But, Mr. Mushroom, why aren't you at the county fair
yourself?"

Mr. Mushroom frowned.

"Well, you see, Encyclopedia," he explained, "I was going to enter my
famous peach in the produce competition, but just yesterday, someone
stole it! It was displayed at the front of my store, and somebody
grabbed it! You should have seen this peach - it was the most
beautiful, the most perfect, the most outstanding peach I had ever
seen. She would have won the blue ribbon, I'm sure of it! And now I
don't know where it is!  Mama Mia, it's a disaster! I couldn't bear to
show my face at the county fair without it."

"Do you have any idea who it was?" Encyclopedia inquired.

"Well, the last person who came by my shop before the peach vanished
was that kid, what's his name, Bugs? Bugs Meany. He came to the shop
and said he wanted to buy a starfruit, but when my attendant Ms. Toad
told him he needed to have twenty coins first, he got upset and
stormed off. A while later I went into the back of the shop to take
inventory with her, and when we came back, my peach was gone!"

"What did Bugs have to say for himself?"

"He claimed he couldn't have possibly taken it, because he went home
immediately to finish an important part of the video game he was
playing. He said he was in the middle of Wind Waker and was just about
to learn Song of Storms when his mother sent him to buy a
starfruit. He said he couldn't possibly stay away from that game long
enough to steal a stupid peach, since it was such an exciting part."

Encyclopedia Brown closed his eyes tightly and thought for a moment.

"Aha! I solved it!" Encyclopedia exclaimed. "It was Bugs, after all!"

"How did you figure that out?" Mr. Mushroom asked, astounded.

"Well, Mr. Mushroom, if Bugs said he was playing Wind Waker, then he
couldn't possibly have been about to learn Song of Storms. Even though
there are plenty of storms in that game, the song of that name only
appears in *other* Zelda games. So Bugs must have been lying! It was
*him* who stole the peach!"

Encyclopedia Brown was very pleased he had solved the mystery once again.

"Mr. Mushroom, you'd better hurry and find Bugs quick so you can get
to the county fair in time!" Encyclopedia exclaimed.

"Sure thing, Encyclopedia! One quick question, though. Do you know why
he did it?" Mr. Mushroom asked.

"No," Encyclopedia replied, "But I do have one guess. He seems to
spend a lot of time these days building this weird robot he calls
'glad-DOS'. It's possible he needed the Peach as part of his machine!"

"Right, that makes sense!" Mr. Mushroom quipped. "Well, thanks for
your help, but I can't stay - I've got to save the peach!"

"Good luck, Mr. Mushroom!" said Encyclopedia, before packing up his
table and going inside to ask his father to take him to the county
fair.

THE END.