Izzy’s Gone!

Carl looked out the window. He could barely see the park across the street because of the fog. He had to stay at his house all day today because of the fog warning. Now all he had to do was to get his baby sister to bed so he could sit back and relax. She had had her bath and was in her pj’s and ready for bed. When he looked back at his living room, he groaned. The day had been a long one, and the whole living room was a wreck. Lego pieces scattered everywhere on the floor and white shreds of paper taped to the table. His baby sister apparently was having a blast. His parents had gone out for a meeting before the fog set in, leaving Carl to babysit his messy sister.

“One, two, three!” she said as she made a whooshing sound like an airplane and ran around the table. “I can count to three!”

“Isabelle, it’s time for bed,” he said in his nicest voice. Of course, Isabelle didn’t want to go to bed yet.

“Let’s play airplane!” she giggled.

“Isabelle, if you want to play airplane, that’s fine with me!” An idea began forming in Carl’s mind. He stopped her and carried her up the stairs to her room. “Whoosh!” he said as Isabelle laughed the whole way up. He opened her bedroom door and set her down. But immediately Isabelle ran out of the room and down the stairs again.

“I’ll read you a story!” he yelled down the stairs as he rapidly ran down after her. He heard a door slam but couldn’t tell which door it was. His four-year-old sister was small, making it hard to find her if she decided to play hide-and-seek. First thing he did was open the main closet door. Just coats and muddy shoes. Next he ran down to the basement. The lights were on, so she may have run down here. He checked under the Ping-Pong table, but with no luck. Next he checked behind every Rescue Heroes toy set, but still no Isabelle. He checked behind chairs, underneath blankets, and just about every place in the house. Isabelle seemed to have disappeared.

“Isabelle!” he yelled. “Come back here right now!”

Footsteps came from the main living room, so he ran in there, just to see that it was his toy robot on the table. It automatically turned on whenever someone walked past it. If Isabelle had gone in here, she must have accidentally turned on the robot. He pushed down on the robot’s head to turn it off and then looked thoroughly through the living room. Of course, he still couldn’t find Isabelle. Suddenly, he got an idea. He ran up to her room and dug through the pile of books on the floor and found the book entitled Story Time for Children. Then he ran into her walk-in closet and flipped a switch on the household intercom. Now everything he said would be amplified throughout the house. He cleared his throat and said loudly, “This sure is a good story! Too bad Izzy isn’t here to listen to it!” He flipped a switch on the intercom and listened. Footsteps were running through the house and, according to the lights on the intercom that told where the sound was coming from, were going through the rooms, up the stairs, and finally into Isabelle’s room. She sat down on the bed and got under the covers while Carl got out of the closet and sat down to read the story to her. He had finally gotten his baby sister to bed. Now he could sit back and relax. But then he remembered something. The horrible mess in the living room.