“Wake up! Wake up!” said Tito, as he shook his younger brothers, Coco and Rio. “We have a mystery to solve!”

“Whaaat?” said Rio, the youngest of the three, rubbing the sleep out of his eyes. “What are you talking about?”

“Look!” said Tito as he pointed to a pile of clothes, stacked high in the middle of the room. “What do you see?”

The younger detectives leaned closer to examine the pile. “Those are our clothes!” they shouted.

“But there’s more,” Tito said. “Put on your thinking caps and take a closer look; something else is missing.”

As Coco and Rio studied each piece of clothing, they noticed something: Their pockets were gone. All of their pockets were gone: front pockets, back pockets, shirt pockets, jeans pockets, shorts pockets — all were missing!

“How can we carry our rocks, if our pockets are missing?” said Coco.

“And where are we going to put our hands?” said Rio.

“This looks like a case for the Yada Hoodie Detective Agency,” proclaimed Tito.

The three pulled out their spyglasses and began searching for clues.

“Look!” said Rio, pointing to a single blue pocket by the door. “Whoever stole our pockets must have dropped one as they were leaving, let’s see if we can find another clue.”

Opening the door and looking down the hallway, the brothers saw a trail of pockets. A red pocket, a green pocket and a gray pocket lay several feet apart. Each of the Yada Hoodies recognized where the pockets had come from.

“We are hot on their trail” Coco said. The three detectives followed the pockets out the door and down the sidewalk.

“Whoever stole these were having a hard time carrying them, he keeps dropping them.” Tito said to his younger brothers.

Ahead of the three detectives lay a white pocket from a doctor’s coat, a pocket from a lady’s dress and a blue pocket from a police uniform. There were all kinds of pockets.

“What kind of a person would steal these pockets? And why steal our pockets, doctors’ pockets, and girls’ pockets? It doesn’t make sense,” Rio said, as his brothers nodded their heads.

“We must find out who is stealing these and why!” exclaimed Coco.

As they turned the corner, they saw a furry blue beast carrying an armload of pockets as high as a giraffe’s neck. “Wait!” yelled Tito, and the beast started running.

It turned a corner and disappeared from them. The Yada Hoodies looked at each other, wondering where it had gone.

Rio got out his magnifying glass to search for a clue. “Aha!” he said as he pointed to a long piece of red thread running under a door.

“He must have gone in there,” said Tito.

As the Yada Hoodies opened the door, they saw a room filled with pockets of every shape, size, and color stacked to the ceiling. There must have been a gazillion and one pockets.

There in the center of the room stood the notorious Blue Zsebek: blue from head to toe, eyes as big as saucers and a sheepish look on his face.

“We’ve got you cornered!” said Tito. “Why are you stealing pockets?”

“Yeah!” said Coco and Rio in unison.

Tears formed in the Blue Zsebek eyes. “This is why,” he said, pulling a picture out of his pant ‘s pocket and handing it to the three detectives.

The Yada Hoodies studied the picture, which showed a kangaroo with no pocket.

“I heard there are kangaroos that didn’t have any pockets to carry their babies,” the Blue Zsebek said. “I thought I could help these no-pocket kangaroos by collecting pockets and sending them to Australia for Christmas. Can you imagine how terrible it would be not to be able to carry your own baby?”

The Yada hoodies agreed: This would indeed be a terrible thing.

“Mr. Blue Zsebek, we thought you were mean, stealing all these pockets,” Tito said. “We now understand that you have a good heart and want to help others in need. But you have been doing a good thing the wrong way.”

“How can I get the pockets the kangaroos need if I don’t steal them?” asked, the Blue Zsebek.

“The Yada Hoodies Detective Agency, at your service!” said the boys in unison.

They teamed up with Mr. Blue Zsebek and made posters announcing a Pocket Drive. They then went around town, hanging the posters in stores, schools, and churches, attaching a picture of the pocketless kangaroo, along with boxes where people could donate their pockets.

Donations poured in with pockets and money to help with the cost of packing. A boat captain even offered to deliver the pockets to Australia, free of charge. Just in time for Christmas, Mr. Blue Zsebek was able to give all the pocketless kangaroos pockets for their babies. Seeing all these momma kangaroos carrying their happy babies in their brand new pockets, brought a smile to the Blue Zsebek face.

The Yada Hoodies again reminded Mr. Blue Zsebek that his heart was in the right place.

“You see, you always have a choice, Mr. Blue Zsebek,” said Tito. “You can do good things the wrong way or do good things the right way. And the right way is always … good!” The Blue Zsebek put his hand over his heart and said, “and good makes your heart happy!”

“But if anyone has the world’s goods and sees his brother in need, yet closes his heart against him, how does God’s love abide in him?” (1 John 3:17, ESV).

“And let us not grow weary of doing good” (Gal. 6:9a ESV).

From the Moore family to yours we wish you all a Merry Christmas and encourage you to do good!

Copyrighted by Back Forty Ministries INC, Tulsa OK. www.back40.org