The Shed Gets Hit

Gnome climbed under the yellow crime tape and stared at the damage. "Stand back sir, this is a crime scene." Gnome realised that he was not recognisable in the dark. He showed his key as ID and the officer immediately realised that he was the owner of the shed. Gnome found his flashlight and walked towards the wooden door of his shed - a length of wood had been ripped off the side of the door and the sliding bolt, normally secured with bolts, had been ripped straight out of the wood and left on the ground. Gnome peered inside. As he guessed, the thief did not want any of his gardening tools. It was the brand new sledge hammer that had been spotted and taken.

The phone call had come at 6 o'clock. Gnome was only just back in the house and had not removed his coat. "Gnome ? Theres been a breakin. Your hut. The doors wide open. A lot of huts have been broken into and they've even burned one down to the ground."

Cabbages had been knocked for six. Whoever did this was out for some high level damage and not just for the fun of it. But they did not know the difference between a savoy and beetroot. They at least had been saved.

The hut door had been held shut with a stone block. Gnome prized it open. The loss of the sledge hammer was ok. It was the fact that the small 2lb engineers hammer had gone as well. It was a family heirloom. It had been hanging up on a hook. Someone had been searching for hammers.

Gnome did all that he thought a victim would do. What else had been taken or done that he had not spotted ? Damn, this was just a shed, a hut for tools. But it was his hut, his tools.

Then he discovered the others. The thugs had broken into a lot more. Everyone had lost something.

The other phone call came two days later. The sledge hammer had been found. Probably used to damage the other huts. Thrown away. Abandoned at the end of the plots.

"Don't lock your hut Gnome, then they can't damage it. " Yeah. The horse had bolted.