Arly was eight years old. He loved to read, he loved to write, and he loved to do martial arts. He was a purple belt in martial arts. His best friend Asher was also eight years old, and they pretty much had everything in common. They were both in martial arts when Arly’s belt fell off. The instructor picked up Arly’s belt and put it on the side. Then when they were finished with the drill, he tied Arly’s belt onto Arly. After that, when they were finished with martial arts class, they went out to lunch together and Arly left his belt there.

When they reached Arly’s house, Arly said, “Where did my belt go, Asher?!” (You need a belt because it tells you what level you are).

Asher said, “You must have lost it at the restaurant. I don’t know where else it could be.”

So they went back to the restaurant, and Arly said, “It’s not here anymore. Maybe somebody took it.”

Asher said, “It’s a purple belt, so it’s a pretty high belt. They must want to be higher at martial arts. Do you know anyone who would do that?”

“Only one person,” Arly said. “He’s a yellow belt at martial arts, and he really doesn’t like me.”

“Why doesn’t he like you?” asked Asher.

“He thinks I show off too much, but I don’t show off at all.”

“And who is he?” asked Asher.

“His name is Max,” replied Arly.

“Okay, then let’s go find him!” said Asher.

“Where would he be?” Arly asked.

“Let’s look around the restaurant and see if he’s still around there,” said Asher.

“Okay,” Arly said.

After 30 minutes of looking around the restaurant, they came back together, and Arly said, “It’s no use. It took 30 minutes to look for it. It must not be here. Maybe Max took it and took it home with him.”

“Do you know where Max lives?” asked Asher.

“No,” Arly said.

“Oh look, there’s Max out the window. Maybe we can follow him and see where he lives without him knowing,” Asher suggested.

“Okay,” said Arly. “Let’s go!”

So they went and they followed him, and he did not know at all. When he opened the door, they snuck in behind him. They were army crawling, so he wouldn’t hear them. (If you don’t know what army crawling is, it’s when you crawl on your stomach.)

Arly whispered to Asher, “Do you think he has the belt in his mom’s bag or in his pocket?”

“He couldn’t fit the belt in his pocket,” Asher whispered back.

“Then it must be in the bag,” Arly whispered excitedly.

When the mom was in the bathroom and Max was in his bedroom, they snuck to the bag and looked all around in it, but they just couldn’t find the belt. They snuck out of the house and went back to Arly’s house to discuss it.

“I do not think that Max has it,” said Asher. “And also, how do you know that Max was in the diner?”

“He’s always in the diner,” Arly answered.

“Okay,” said Asher.

“How about let’s think about how we got to the diner?”

“Okay,” said Arly.

So they walked and walked and walked until they walked 50 blocks, going back and forth and back and forth and back and forth.

“My legs are tired,” Arly said

“How about we get some rest and then get back to the case,” Asher replied.

Asher went back to his house, and Arly went back to his house, so they both took a little nap and then met again at Arly’s house.

“How about we check people to see if they took the belt,” Asher suggested.

Arly said, “They always put our names written down on our belt, so we can look for that too.”

“Okay,” said Asher. “Let’s go!”

After an hour of looking, they couldn’t find anyone with a purple belt that had Arly’s name on it.

“It’s no use,” Arly said. “Nobody has my belt.”

“Let’s look harder. Maybe somebody does have your belt. We just haven’t seen it yet,” Asher said.

After another hour of looking, they finally found a purple belt on the sidewalk, but this belt had zero stripes on it and did not have Arly’s name. Arly’s belt had four stripes and had Arly’s name. After an hour more of looking, they finally found a purple belt with four stripes, and it said Arly’s name on it.

“Excuse me sir,” said Arly. “That’s not your belt.”

“Yes it is,” said the person that stole the belt.

“No it’s not,” said Arly. “It has my name on it and four stripes, and it’s my purple belt.”

“It’s mine now because I took it.”

“It has my name on it, four stripes, and it’s a purple belt. It’s definitely mine.”

The man ran away.

“HEY, COME BACK HERE!!!” Arly screamed.

The friends raced towards the man. The man ran around the block, crossing the street and making a turn to his house. They followed him the whole way. The man slammed the door right when Arly was going to go into the house. Arly banged into the door.

“Ow!” Arly screamed.

“We have to find a way to get into the house.” Arly explained to Asher.

“I know we do,” Asher joked. “Check if it’s locked. He might not have locked it.”

Arly checked if it was locked. He pulled. It didn’t work. He pushed. It didn’t work.

“I think it’s locked. I can’t get in” said Arly.

“Oh look! He has a back corridor. Let’s see if we can get into it through the back corridor,” Asher said.

They ran into the backyard. They walked up the steps to see if the door was opened.

“It’s our lucky day,” Arly said “He didn’t lock it!”

“Yay!” Asher shouted. “What are you waiting for? Open it!” Asher told Arly.

Arly opened it. They army crawled to the belt, so he wouldn’t see them. The belt was on the table. The man saw them.

“WHAT ARE YOU DOING IN MY HOUSE?!” he screamed.

Arly was standing tall with his hands on his hips.

“I’m sorry,” Arly said. “I’m just getting my belt.”

“NO YOU’RE NOT!” screamed the man.

Asher was shaking. He was so scared.

“Let’s get out of here,” Asher said stuttering.

They ran out of the house. They made a mad dash to the street. This time, the man was chasing them. They ran all the way to Arly’s house. The man managed to make it in through the door.

“Give me my belt back!” the man yelled.

“Maybe you should take martial arts classes. You need to earn the purple belt.”

“Why earn it when I can just steal it?” the man asked.

“Because stealing isn’t a good thing to do,” Arly said.

The man fake threw the belt to the table, but Arly thought he actually threw the belt on the table. The man ran away. He was so mad.

“Yay! Now we have our belt!” Arly said. He looked at the table to take the belt, but the belt wasn’t there.

“HE TOOK THE BELT!” Arly screamed. “Let’s chase after him!”

“Let’s go!” Asher said. They ran as fast as they could. They beat the man to his house. This time, they were in the house with the man. The man was very mad that they went to his house and figured out where his house was.

The man threw the belt on the floor and said, “I give up.”

“Thank you,” Arly said as he took the belt.

Arly went back to Arly’s house with Asher, and they had a dance party.

The End