Brendan

 **__ The Mystery of the Disappearing Thermal Socks __**    Finally one of the most exciting times of my hockey career was fast approaching. The Hamilton Jr. Bulldogs were heading to Quebec for the most prestigious International hockey tournament in the world for 10 days. Since the weather is very cold in Quebec in February, we had to pack a lot of warm clothes for all of our outdoor adventures. My mother spent days shopping for my dad and myself purchasing thermals, boots, snow pants, hats, gloves and many more items for the -50c temperatures.   My mother is a very organized person and likes to pack all my clothes and toiletries; she was in her typical anxious pre-tournament mood as she scurried around the house packing. We learn as a family not to get in her way when she gets into this type of mood.   My dad and I were watching the Toronto Maple Leafs game in the family room and my sisters were watching a movie in the basement all staying clear of my mother. Just as the Leafs scored, my mother yelled down to us "I'm losing my mind now I can't find Brendan's 3 pairs of thermal socks for Quebec. They were sitting on the floor in a neat pile beside Brendan's clothes. Can you come up here right now and help me find them?" My dad got off of the couch and went upstairs to help my mother look for the socks. They searched everywhere but they were nowhere to be found. The socks seemed to have disappeared into thin air! My dad told my mom to relax and just pack the rest of the clothes and we will look for the socks later. My mom was not impressed, so she marched downstairs to my sisters and questioned them to see if they were being sneaky and hid the socks. My younger sister Ashlee was known to take and hide other people's belongings. Both my sisters denied taking my thermal socks and they had a pretty good alibi because they had been watching a movie for several hours.   So, a mystery begins. If my mom, dad, sisters or myself did not touch the socks then who did? Could it be a ghost? We had many strange occurrences over the last several years where items just disappeared and then reappeared in a new spot throughout the house. My mom was convinced we had a ghost.   Several hours went by and still no socks. My mother had noticed that our cat Shadow had not been around for several hours, she called him but he did not come. My family went looking for him, and then all of a sudden he emerged around the corner with a thermal sock dangling from his mouth! Sure enough we discovered that Shadow was the culprit, taking my socks one by one to the basement and hiding them. He was the "ghost” moving and hiding our belongings over the past four years!    All my Mom could say was "Shadow" with pure disgust!            <span style="font-family: 'Arial','sans-serif'; font-size: 12pt;">   <span style="font-family: 'Arial','sans-serif'; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;"> By: Brendan D’Agostino True Story,The End