The flame danced in spirals and circles, echoing back and forth, mirroring itself. It was a fiery baton being thrown up and about into the sky. It was your typical circus act, in your typical circus tent. Unfortunately, there was nothing peculiar. That morning there had been news reports that a pair of diamond earrings had gone missing. The owner, Miss Tasmine Balin, was the richest lady in all of Smoothstone. Yes, Smoothstone, a terrible name for a town. Apparently, the settlers were so impressed with all the smooth stone they found. What a bunch of idiots - imagine if they had found a ton of butt shaped rocks. I would be living in Buttrock, West Virginia. Anyways, not only is Miss Baline the richest lady in town, she’s also the stingiest. She would probably have played Scrooge’s mother. This is why I would understand stealing from her, I wouldn’t be looking for this Jewel Thief if it wasn't for the reward. She was offering a thousand dollars, yes, a thousand dollars. You know what I could buy with that? I could buy a hoverboard, a new phone, the new Nike Jordans, honestly anything. A thousand dollars is alot for a 13 year old boy. Plus, I would be famous, the talk of the town.

People around me started applauding, the act had finished. The duo stood back to back, the baton still lit in their hands. I clapped along too, but stayed back as people clambered out of the tent. I was sure that someone from the circus had stolen the earrings. Of course they had to, it was only practical. In every book and movie when something new comes to town something is stolen. It's always the newcomers that did it. So that’s why I’m here to snoop around the stands and get into the tent. As there were fewer and fewer people I started searching for clues. There were none. It probably wasn’t my best idea to start by looking strictly only where the public can go. As I realized this I hurried out.

        "Hey! Kid, what are you doing?” I heard from behind me, it was the flame juggler. He was short and had a stocky figure, with an unshaven face. I was screwed, so I did the only thing I could do, try and charm him. I had no chance of running away.

        “Um, um,” I fidgeted with my hands. “I was looking for my phone, I left it here,” I lifted my phone out of my pocket as a sign of proof. The man relaxed.

    “Good, I thought you were lost. I didn’t want another goose chase looking for a parent.”

    “Yeah, well I’m not lost, so I’ll be off,” I walked away as soon as I was out of view I ran. I did not want him to come back with any more questions.

    I needed to rethink my whole plan, obviously the earrings wouldn’t be hidden in the public or plain view. I passed the ferris wheel, the lights twinkling somehow visible in the bright daylight. The grounds were super busy, people bustling around everywhere I looked. I got in line for funnel cake, I always thought better on a full stomach. The line was about ten people long, the smell of the sweet, sugary cakes floating through the air. As I stood in line my mind wandered, looking for the best solution to get intel. I couldn’t search the whole park for two tiny earrings.

    “Hi Ryan,” shot into my ears, forcing me back to reality. It was one of my best friends, Nadia Ladell. She was a fairly tall girl, with straight dark brown hair braided down her back. 

    “Oh, hi.” taking a step forward as the line moved up.

    “What’re you up to? Did you hear about the stolen earrings? I can’t believe that Miss Baline is rewarding one thousand dollars. Imagine if I found it, I would be rich,” she finally air. She was quite the talker, she got that from her Mom.

    “I did hear about it. Don’t tell anybody, but I’m actually looking for them too. I have a hunch that they might be here,” her face lit up, I could tell she was about to ask me something.

    “Could I help you look for it? We’d make a great team,” she said giddy. I quickly considered it, she was a smart girl and I had already told her too much to say no.

    “Okay…”

    “Thank you!” 

    “But first, funnel cake,” I said as we reached the front of the line.

We sat at a nearby picnic table with our funnel cake conducting a plan. It took a while but we finally came up with a plan. We decided to use our ears, listen around for any performers to mention anything suspicious. We spent the whole afternoon bustling around the park, trying to listen in on conversations. We decided against sneaking around in places we shouldn’t be. We would have no shot at the one thousand dollars if we were caught. At one point we had thought we found the one, he was saying things about how, it was so expensive, It’ll sell for so much. Unfortunately, as we listened in we realized that he was talking about some vintage comic book that he found for cheap at a garage sale. 

    It was getting close to sundown when we finally found the scoop. We had stopped for cotton candy at one of the booths and overheard; 

    “Yeah, we’ve got it. It’ll be ready at seven tonight,” said a short man with a thick brown beard. He started walking away from the booth. Nadia and I turned to look at each other.

    “This might be it,” Nadia whispered. The man continued walking and we quickly followed, catching little snippets of the conversation.

    “It’ll be under the seat of the purple car on the ferris wheel,” and that was where we lost him. Nadia ran right into big, burly man carries boxes of cupcakes. He was wearing an apron that said ‘Warrens Cupcake Delights’. He fell to the ground, cupcakes flying everywhere. Nadia and I looked each other in the eye and bolted. People darted out of our way like minnows, shouting coming from the scene of the collision. We ran for about a minute, finally stopping behind the bathrooms. We were catching our breaths when, all of a sudden, two police officers came around the corner. There was nothing we could do, they had ]recognized us immediately. 

    “Crap,” I said, realizing defeat. This would be on my permanent record forever, we were going to be in so much trouble.

    “Come with us,” the officer on the right said. She was young, or at least younger than the other officer. He was probably older than the Statue of Liberty. He had a big nose and thick square glasses. She had plain brown hair pulled back into a skin-tight bun. We followed them throughout the circus grounds. We were luckily spared from the embarrassment of handcuffs. They brought us to a mini security base they had up, from there they began to call our parents.

    “I’m so screwed, I’ll be grounded for all of eternity,” I told Nadia. “We need a way to get out of this.”

    “We could tell them about the earrings, its probably almost seven. It would definitely distract them, besides we have nothing to lose,” she said, turning to face me in the grey sticky chairs they told us to sit in.

    “Okay, I guess you’re right,” I told Nadia as the female police officer walked over to us.

    “Okay, your parents will be here in about thirty minutes,” the officer said and began to walk out.

    “Hey, wait!” Nadia called. The officer turned around,

    “Yeah, what?” she responded.

    “What if we told you we knew where the earrings were? Right before you found us we heard exactly where they were hidden,” I told her.

    “If you told us we would look for them, you would have to stay put here,” she said.

    “Well, what if we refuse to tell you unless we get to come along?” Nadia prodded.

    “I’d just believe you were lying,” she said, crossing her arms. “If you really knew you would be quick to tell me, I’d assume you’d want the reward.” Nadia and I glanced at each other and nodded.

    “Okay, we heard that it's going to be under the seat of the purple car on the ferris wheel.” I reported.

    “Okay, we’ll go check it out and let you know. Don’t leave, if you do we’ll both be in big trouble,” she threatened as she left the area. We both glanced at each other, knowing that we would leave as soon as they left. We wanted to be able to see them find it.

    A couple minutes later we heard a big crash and a scream. We heard the old police officer grunting and complaining.

    “Darn, those pesky kids. Can’t they mind their own business. This was going to work great, we were going to be rich. Now I have to go and get rid of them.” Nadia and I both slowly got up, realizing that whatever was going to come next wouldn’t be good. We slowly sneaked out of the makeshift station that was made out of connected tents. We quickly passed the room where we heard the commotion. The female police officer laid on the floor. A giant bleeding gash on her forehead, dripping more blood every second. The man was rifling around, filling a bag with guns and various equipment. Once we saw this we bolted, we did not want to be around anymore. We heard the man chasing us shouting, we ran to the ferris wheel. Hollering we pleaded,

    “HELP! WE’RE BEING CHASED! HE HAS A GUN!” People jumped in and out of the way. A nearby police man ran up to us as we fled. He asked about who was chasing us, we violently gestured to the man chasing us. The officer quickly turned to go after him. We continued running, we were headed towards the ferris wheel. We jumped the line, people yelling and cursing at us. We got in though and headed for the purple car. We ducked inside it, the walls high enough to block any gunshots if we ducked down enough.

    Once the ride started we sat up, clutching the bottom of the seat, looking for the earrings. The bottom was rough until one little patch where the texture suddenly got smooth, I pushed it and prodded it. After a couple of seconds it slid out. Inside it was a ziploc bag with two grogues gems. The earrings! They were crystal kaleidoscopes, with reflections dancing everywhere. 

    “We found it!” I exclaimed.

    “We’re gonna be rich,” Nadia whispered. I sat up and waved the earrings in the air.

    “WE FOUND THEM! THE EARRINGS!” I yelled. This was not my brightest moment. I attracted the attention of the fake police man that was chasing us. He was still being apprehended, and was winning the fight against the authority. He had a gun in hand and when he saw me he started firing shots. Nadia and I both dropped down, but a bullet managed to snake its way in. It pierced my forearm, sending me crashing to the bottom of the arm.    

        I promptly passed out, waking up a day later in the hospital. There I found out that everything had worked out. The criminals had beene caught and Nadia and I would be okay. Miss Baline had split the money between the two of us, we each received five hundred dollars. We were both declared heroes in the town and were suddenly the most popular kids around. My arm is covered in signatures, everyone wants to say they signed the heroes cast. Maybe one day they’ll name the town after Nadia and I. Welcome to Nadiryan, home to the smartest detectives in the world.