A Holiday Mystery... Who ATE the Fruitcake?

Susanna Hill hosted her annual Holiday Contest with the theme of a Christmas Mystery. Stories have to be written for children and 250 words or under. 

My story snuck away with an Honorable Mention for the contest as a whole like a Christmas bat with a nibble of dried cherry:)  Read the winners here; they were so good!

Please enjoy...

Fruitcake Bandit (250 words)

By Lauri Meyers

Bits of berries? Crunchy crumbs? Who chewed on the fruitcake?!

Isn’t that festive blob just for show? The tradition is NOT eating it.

Only someone who has never tasted gingerbread men and sugar cookies would make such a disastrous mistake. Could it be Judy?

“Gaa bah!” she says. Nah, she doesn’t have teeth yet. Although, she does nibble her toes.

I see a clue! The garland has fallen. The suspect must be tall.

“Did you eat the fruitcake, Dad?”

“I would never eat Mom’s fruitcake,” Dad says. “Because it’s too pretty…not because it tastes like nutty cardboard.”

Whoosh!

I feel a breeze! A walnut is whisked away. Whoever snatched it must be fast.

“Spike, were you a naughty boy?” But his chihuahua legs can’t even reach the lowest hanging ornament.

I lay a trap of candy cane crumbles on the floor and listen. Without a single crunch, a raisin  disappears. Whoever ate it must have flown.

Santa?! But Christmas is still a week away.

Squeak!

I hear a clue! Whoever ate this fruitcake is squeaky.

“Don’t look at me,” Mom says. “LOOK AT THAT!!!”

A little bat swoops over to the wreath.

“He must live in the Christmas tree,” Dad says.

“Grrrrr,” Spike growls.

 “Ba ba!” Judy babbles.

 
“What a cute fruit bat!” I say. “Can we keep him?”

 “He would be cuter…outside.” Mom carries the fruitcake to the porch. The Christmas bat flies out.

 “Won’t you miss your fruitcake?” I ask.

 Mom laughs. “No one eats fruitcake, silly.”