Monday to Friday is always busy. The days are filled with school, nursery, and work. Late afternoon the time is spent on activities like gym, dance, and swimming. By the time we get home, it is all systems go. Daddy cooks dinner, we set the table, Mummy does the washing. After we have eaten, Daddy puts out the washing on the line and Mummy clears the dinner table and makes lunches for the following day. We take a shower, put on clean pyjamas, and read a book and hop into bed. The schedule for the week is quite defined.

Saturday comes around and things are a little bit more relaxed. Mummy went to collect the dry washing from the line but noticed a sock from each pair was missing. She stood and scratched her head. Everyone talks about the washing machine being a sock thief, but this was something else. Mummy brought the washing inside and checked the washing machine for socks but could see nothing. She called Daddy and asked him what he had done with the socks. He just laughed and thought Mummy was joking. Mummy and Daddy then asked Verity and I about the socks. We had no idea and it all became a mystery.

Mummy said, “We will all need to wear odd socks until I have time to go buy new ones.” We all just nodded our heads as there was not anything else we could do. We went to school, nursery, and work with odd socks. People looked and wondered if we had done it on purpose or made a mistake or, we were competing in some sort of challenge. Each night at the dinner table, we would share what people have said to us all about our odd socks. Mummy and Daddy made a joke of it all. Mummy eventually bought us all new socks, and everything seemed back to normal.

We went through a week and followed our schedule. Mummy did the washing and Daddy pegged it out on the line. On Saturday, Mummy collected the dry washing again. To her surprise, socks had gone missing. “What is going on?” Mummy said. Mummy and Daddy both checked the washing machine and the laundry baskets and looked high and low for the socks. Dad promised that he pegged out pairs of socks and not just odd ones. We all had to wear odd socks all week.

People really started to question what was going on. Mummy mentioned what had happened at work to her colleagues. Secretary Stella said that her underwear was going missing from her washing line. Cleaner Chloe mentioned shoes had gone missing from her backstep. The more people shared, the more people realized that something was going on. Mummy said she was going to make a post on the Buckleberry Community Club Blog. Everyone thought that was a promising idea.

When Mummy and Daddy looked at the blog, they could see that other people had written about things going missing from their homes too. Tall Tony had his headphones taken. Just Joan had all her tea towels taken. Farmer Ted had wellington boots taken. Babysitter Mary had her mobile taken. But many people thought Mary had just lost her phone. So, the plot thickened. Mummy added a post about our socks going for a walk. People made jokes about that. Everyone commented about how all the Buckleberry residents would be wearing odd clothing due to items going missing. People would say, “I have joined the club!” Meaning that they have missing clothing as well.

Items continued to go missing without any explanation. Policeman Mike called a community meeting to see if the problem could be solved. People gathered at the community hall. Everyone grabbed a tea or coffee and a biscuit and took a seat. Policeman Mike did his best to keep everyone calm. Some people became angry that their items were taken and others just made a joke. Policeman Mike asked that everyone be vigilant and try to look after belongings and not leave anything outside. Everyone agreed and a second meeting was scheduled.

The whole community was buzzing, and everyone was keen to catch the thief. Policeman Mike would stop people in the street and ask to look into their bags. He was hoping to spot a sock, undies, or a shoe. Policeman Mike found nothing. Postman Percy stopped delivering the mail. People now had to go to the post office to collect their mail and parcels. Postman Percy said, “It is too risky to leave anything nowadays!” People would let out a huge sigh.

Warren the community wildlife warrior thought that he would set up motion-activated wildlife cameras in Buckleberry. He said that if anyone or anything moved, the camera would pick it up. Everyone thought this was a clever idea as things were still going missing. Warren said that it would take a week to collect the data and then he would let everyone know if he had found anything at all or not. In the meantime, people became more vigilant and did not leave anything outside that could be taken.