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The Missing Turkey
Tomorrow is Thanksgiving Day. The Cyberkids are excited because all their Cyberfriends are coming to their Thanksgiving feast.
"Let's go buy our turkey," said Matt.
They got to the Cyber Market and went to the turkey section. "How many pounds of turkey do you want?" asked the manager.
"What are pounds?" asked Digit.
"It's how much things weigh," answered Jackie.
"How many people are coming to your feast?" asked the manager.
"Thirty," answered Inez. "Why?"
"Well, usually most people give each of their guests half a pound of turkey," answered the manager.
Matt took out his Squawk Pad. "Okay," he said. He typed "30 / ____ = ______ " into the Squawk Pad. "So, what is half of thirty?" asked Matt.
"How about Smarties anyone?" asked Digit, pointing at a sign.
"That's just we need," said Matt. Matt got out thirty smarties.
"So, what do we know?" asked Jackie.
"Well, we know that thirty is an even number, so it's a double," put in Inez.
"That means we can divide it into two equal groups, right?" asked Matt.
"We know it can't be ten," said Digit "because ten plus ten is only twenty."
"Well, we know it can't be fourteen because fourteen plus fourteen is only twenty-eight. So it's bigger than fourteen." said Inez.
"It must be fifteen," said Matt.
"Then, we'll be going with fifteen pounds of turkey," Jackie said to the manager.
"Right-o," said the manager as he handed them a big, plump turkey.
When they got to their hotel, they went to the kitchenette and started to cook the turkey and all the other goodies that go with it. It was a busy day with lots of measuring, mixing and mashing. The smells filled the whole hotel.
"All done," said Digit.
After they went to sleep Hacker silently broke into their hotel room and stole the turkey.
The next morning Digit woke up early and looked for the turkey but he couldn't find it. "Wuh-oh," said Digit. "What should I do?"
He did the only thing he could do. He woke up his friends. When they looked around and saw all the chaos in the kitchenette they knew immediately it could only be one thing. "HACKER!!" they all yelled together.
"We have no time to lose," said Inez. "Our friends will be here in six hours."
"Hey, look!" said Matt pointing to a trail of turkey drippings. "Let's follow this. It may lead to our man."
The Cyberkids got dressed and headed out the door. Sure enough, there were turkey drippings but there was one problem. They were going in all different directions. "Which way to do we go?" asked Matt.
Then Jackie said, "Look at that scale down that path."
"And look, it has a note," said Digit.
The note said, "Figure out the right weight and the scale will point to the right direction. Good luck. Signed, The Hacker. P.S. You only have four tries to use this scale before it explodes and you'll be caught in a net."
"Let's try fifteen," said Matt, "because that's how much our turkey weighs."
Jackie typed in "Fifteen Pounds". She pressed "O.K." The computer said, "You
are absolutely right" and the scale tipped to the right.
"Let's go," said Inez.
They followed the track and soon came to a castle. Outside the castle a silly looking monster was guarding the castle. He said, "No one is allowed to come in. The Hacker's orders."
"Come on, " said Matt. "You have to help us."
"Why?" asked the monster.
"Because if you help us Thanksgiving will be saved."
"Oh, all right," said the monster. "But only if I can come to your dinner."
"Well, if you come, then we'll have to divide fifteen pounds of turkey between thirty one guests. That's too hard to do," answered Matt.
"Turkey, yuck!! I don't like turkey - but I do like mashed potatoes!!" said the monster.
"Great! You're invited," the Cypberkids all said together.
"Here's the key. You have to find The Hacker's kitchen and use this key to find the right cabinet. You can only use the key once. If you're wrong the alarm will go off and Hacker will come and get you. I'll wait for you here," said the monster.
"Me, too," said Digit.
"No, Digit, you're coming with us," said the kids.
The monster unlocked the outside door and the kids ran into the castle. "I wish we had directions to the kitchen," said Jackie.
Just then they saw more turkey drippings on the floor. They followed the drippings and came to the kitchen. "Which cabinet should we put the key in?" asked Matt.
"Well," said Inez, "let's look at the key hole and the key and see if they match."
"Good idea," said Jackie.
"But there's one problem," said Matt. "It will take hours to figure that out."
"I have an idea," said Digit. "Let's fit the key in each key hole but not turn it. If it fits, then we'll turn it."
After ten tries, they came to the cabinet with the right key hole. They turned the key and inside the cabinet they found their beautiful turkey. They grabbed the turkey, did the inverse of the way they came in and quickly got out of the castle. They locked Hacker in the castle and took the key with them.
They got back to the hotel just a few minutes before their friends started to arrive. Everyone enjoyed a delicious turkey dinner, there were no left overs and the best thing of all was they all made a new friend - the Mash Potato Monster. They had a great Thanksgiving Day feast afterall.
THE END
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| Jonathan, Age 8, Venetia, PA |
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