PETE RICEPUDDING AS A THIEF


One day, when the family Reuvers were having supper, the doorbell rang : RRRINGG! Michael went downstairs to open the door.
There was standing a nice young man, the hair on his head was like the hair of a broom. "Good evening", he said, "my name is Pete Ricepudding. Are you at home tomorrow?"
Michael said that the family Reuvers would leave for Groningen the next morning, to visit grandad and grandmother. Then Pete Ricepudding said goodday again, and disappeared.
Michael went back to his plate, to eat the potatoes and the sprouts. He said that there had been a strange and confused fellow at the door, and that this man would probably come back another day.


The next morning there was a great fuss. Everybody was packing his own things. Suzanne packed her cuddling-doggy, but she preferred to leave her negro-puppet at home. Frank packed his Lego building-stones, but not the Suske&Wiske-books .
Dad and mum packed there own books. Erik and Michael packed the set of chessmen and the cards, but the set of memory-cards stayed at home.
After much shouting and running they went out through the door just in time. They catched the bus in the nick of time. The journey lasted almost the whole day. They stayed two nights with grandad and grandmother in Groningen.


As soon as they were back from Groningen, everybody went straight to his own things. Dad and mum looked for the letters, but HOW STRANGE, they were already neatly laid on the kitchen-table. Erik and Michael went to the chest for the games, but OH NO, the memory-cards were away.
Suzanne ran to look for her little negro-puppet, but this puppet was away too. And, you guess it, Frank's three Suske&Wiske-books were all gone.
Michael knew at once that there must have been a thief in the house. He thought that this thief could only have been that strange fellow with the hair like a broom. And dad called the police immediately. He told them about the strange fellow that had been at the door, and what this fellow looked like.


The rest of the day, the family Reuvers were waiting in suspense. Only late in the afternoon, the police rang up: the thief had been found in café 'de Perroen'. He was Pete Ricepudding with the hair like a broom, there was no doubt about it.
He had just begun reading his third Suske&Wiske-book. The memory-cards laid scattered on the table. And on a chair near him, there were sitting the little negro-puppet and an old cuddling-bear.
Of course, the children got back their things. And Pete Ricepudding had to go in prison for three days. There he received only dry bread with no jam or nothing, and a cup of water.