It was a warm summer day, and Sparkles the pig was on his way home from school.

He was excited because today wasn’t just any day. Today was his birthday, and he was expecting a package from his grandma. And he just knew it would be coming in today.

He ran as fast as he could all the way home, not stopping until he reached the mailbox. He opened it up and there it was! A big brown box filling up the mailbox. He grabbed it and ran inside yelling the whole time,” It came, it came!” He tore the tape off and as fast as he could he ripped it open.

A new toy! It was a toy train that had caught his eye the last time he was with grandma. He had wanted to buy it then and there, but grandma told him to wait and just maybe he would get it for his birthday, and here it was!

For the rest of the day Sparkles did nothing but play with his new toy, he loved it so much! And that night as he got ready for bed, he set his new toy down on his nightstand and said goodnight.

When he woke up the next morning, Sparkles reached for his new toy, but it was nowhere to be found! He searched the whole house but couldn’t find it anywhere! He looked all around the house, he even looked in the trash can, but he couldn’t find his toy anywhere.

Sparkles decided that someone must have come in and taken it, and he had to find out who!

He headed down the road towards town to go ask the police if they could help.

As he walked into the police station the policeman behind the desk said, “Hi, I’m Peter the Parrot, how can I help you?”

“Somebody took my toy last night and I was wondering if you could help me find it,” said Sparkles.

“Your toy?” said Peter,”Why, I know exactly who took it.”

“You do!”said Sparkles,”That’s great!”

“I wouldn’t be so sure, Jangles the Cat stole your toy, he’s an outlaw who’s been stealing toys all over town”,said Peter, “We’ve been looking for him for months.”

“Oh, no!” said Sparkles,” What should I do?”

“Well we’ve recently heard that Gary the whale knows how to find Jangles but we haven’t been able to talk to Gary since he’s always in the ocean.”

“I’ll just have to track him down then!” said Sparkles.

And that’s just what he did.

Sparkles searched for a long time. He went to every beach he could and called for Gary.

He asked every fish he could get to talk to him.

He walked through forests and deserts trying to get to where Gary was. Until finally one day, just when Sparkles was going to give up, he heard an answer to his call.

“I am Gary the whale,”it said, “who are you that has tried so hard to find me.”

“ My name is Sparkles and I’m trying to find Jangles the Cat so I can get my favorite toy back.”

“ I will tell you how to find Jangles, but only because you have come so far just to find me.”said Gary. “ He is in a small cave near the edge of the jungle, but I warn you Jangles will not give you back your toy easily.”

“Thank you!,” said Sparkles,” I will do whatever it takes.”