Helping Captain Fearless

By Lois Tennant

Otto's friend, Jim, has an uncle who runs his own detective agency.  Jim dearly wants to be a detective when he leaves school, and decides that now would be a good time to start.  Otto joins him in all kinds of activities related to being a detective, even though Otto is more interested in becoming a doctor when he is older.  Otto's parents and his sister are often worried that the boys are up to mischief.  They explain that if you want to be a detective, you have to observe and be aware of all that is happening in town.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Lois Tennant
• Release date: Oct 26, 2020
• ISBN: 9781393977377

Book preview

Description

Otto's friend, Jim, has an uncle who runs his own private detective agency.  Jim dearly wants to follow in his uncle's footsteps when he leaves school one day and decides that now would be a good time to start!  Otto, who would prefer to be a doctor, joins him in all kinds of strange experiences related to being a detective.  Otto's parents and his sister are often worried that the boys are up to mischief.  But then, if you want to be a detective, you have to observe and be aware of all that happens in your town!

Reviews

A fun read with some serious and even dangerous moments! G. Untiedt

One forgets that small town life can be great fun and has challenges as well, especially if you are training to be a detective! Candice Tennant

CONTENTS

Chapter 1  My Name is Otto

Chapter 2  What are Friends for?

Chapter 3  Almost Aliens

Chapter 4  The Clue of the Twisted Snake

Chapter 5  The House on the Hill

Chapter 6  Action

Chapter 7  Danger

Chapter 8  The Light

Chapter 1:

My Name is Otto

My name is Otto, Otto January.  It is quite an ordinary name, but I like it!  I once asked my grandfather if the month of January was named after us, but he laughed and said that we were named after the month! 

It seems that our ancestors were brought to South Africa as slaves in the 1600’s.  They could not speak English or Dutch, so no one could understand them.  Some were given the surname of the month in which they arrived.

Our ancestors came from islands near Madagascar, he told me.  They were caught and put in the holds of ships.  Those who lived through the terrible sea voyage, were sold at a market in Cape Town.

I think that is very sad, but I try not to talk about it too much at mealtimes.  My father says you can’t live in the past.  You must make a good future for yourself.  My mother and sister always tell me to eat my vegetables and not to talk so much! 

One of the main reasons that I like my first name is that my friend, Jim, can’t twist my name around.

My friend, whose surname is Abrams,  likes to twist things around.  He wants to become a private detective when he is grown up.  He is starting already, I think, because he always writes notes to me in a funny code.  One of the ways he writes is to write all his words backwards.  He writes things like:  Raed Otto, woh era uoy?

It can be very irritating to get a letter like that.  You just about have to write it over to understand what he is trying to say!  And sometimes his spelling is not so good either!  But he says that is what private detectives do when they want to send a secret message.

Anyhow, I play the game with him and write to him too sometimes.  I call him Mij, which is Jim spelled backwards.  (Jim does not quite like that, I think, because our teacher once told us that a midge – which sounds the same as Mij – is a small two-winged fly!)

Another reason why Jim wants to be a private detective, is that his uncle is one.  During the longer school holidays he goes to his uncle’s office to help him with his investigations.  Jim even has a small desk of his own in his uncle’s office. 

His office is called ‘The Fearless Detective Agency’.  Once someone asked him what his name was and he jokingly said: Captain Fearless.  Now, although everyone knows his name is really Abdul Abrams, most people call him Captain!  He says I must call him that too.