EXERCISE: They took what?

[mbarker.livejournal.com]

originally posted 4 March 2007

Aha!

Here in Japan, one of the news stations did a report this morning on a puzzling set of thefts.

Apparently in a fairly small area, someone has made off with such oddities as stainless steel trays and fittings from a cemetery, a stack of aluminum hubcaps from a tire store, more aluminum from a recycling center, stainless steel posts from a park, and more aluminum and stainless steel. They may also have been responsible for the disappearance of one large temple bell (probably bronze). Oh, and there was a 550 Kilo (that's about 1,000 pounds!) spool of cable.

What apparently is causing the police and the reporters to scratch their heads is that most of this is not worth stealing. After all, a stack of junk aluminum in a recycling place - where you have to pull down the gate and then lift it into a truck somehow - isn't exactly the most salable article. They showed the junk yard owner scratching his head and saying "I think it must be someone else in the same business, but I don't know anyone in the area who would do this?"

One theory seems to be that the stuff has been hijacked onto a ship and taken to China. The notion here is that perhaps these goods are worth more there, so stealing it here in Japan and shipping it might make sense. Of course, I think they could just buy it and ship it. I'll bet that junk yard owner would be more than happy to sell you all you want cheap.

So, here's your assignment. Let's take the list as including the temple bell, aluminum odds and ends, stainless steel, and cable. Who would steal such an eclectic set of stuff in the middle of the night? Feel free to make your own list, but here's a beginning:

1. the crashlanded alien trying to fix his/her ship
2. goblins bent on confusing the issue
3. kids - although that spool of cable would have been a bear to get out? And where would you keep the stuff?
4. The Weird Scientist, now retired, who is building a ??? in his garage
5. It's a coincidence - these are totally unrelated thefts, with the only connecting link being the imagination of the police and reporters
6. Super mechanical monster # 9, who is valiantly trying to repair the damage inflicted during his last fight?

Okay, so have fun with it. Figure out someone or something that could be making these odd thefts, then tell us their story. Pathos, a bit of melodrama, and fun!