Masanori wants to teach Miki all his nicks and tricks on mischief

“Miki, pay attention!” Masanori giggles. “I have something to show you.”

“Okay.” His sister is not nearly as adventurous as he, but Masanori’s sure that’s because she hasn’t tasted adventure yet.

“We’re going to steal cookies from the cookie jar.”

“Isn’t stealing b – bad?”

“No, because they taste good.” Masanori smiles. “I’ve never gotten in trouble. Watch me. The trick isn’t to taking the cookies; that’s easy. The key is not getting caught after.”

“Huh?”

“Watch.” Masanori takes two cookies. “Mommy and Daddy will find the crumbs. So, here’s what we do.” 

He leads her back to their room and opens their closet. “See the ceiling door? That’s the attic.”

“How can you reach?”

“I climb my clothes.” Placing the giant cookie securely in his mouth, Masanori climbs his clothes until he dangles beneath the attic door. A ladder tumbles out, nearly impaling him, but Masanori doesn’t care. 

“Let’s go up! We can make all the crumbs we want.” He leads a giggling Miki to the stuffy attic and turns on his flashlight. A sea of crumbs greets Miki. “Look, here are my pet ants!”