The Great Escaper

This is a story about the great escaper.  It takes place in downtown New York City.  Henry Bates is a famous escape magician who mysteriously disappears in the night. Henry unlike any ordinary person is always getting into mischief.  He can disappear anytime during the hours of the night.  Mr. Bates decided he was going to come up with a great escape plan so no one in New York City would know where he is. The great escape plan goes like this, if you can’t find him, don’t bother to look where he is at Henry unlike any ordinary person is always getting into mischief.  He can disappear anytime during the hours of the night.  Mr. Bates decided he was going to come up with a great escape plan so no one in New York City would know where he is. The great escape plan goes like this, if you can’t find him, don’t bother to look where he is at.

Every New Yorker wanted to know where this great Magician went.  Several police officers where out looking for Mr. Henry Bates.  They searched downtown, uptown, all over New York City, and couldn’t find him anywhere. The police knew Mr. Bates was mysteriously very clever. He was known to out smart people all the time.  Henry Bates always knew how to fool people when ever he would mysteriously disappear.

         Tonight happen to be that night he would attempt his great escape. The police wanted to know his where abouts.  They would search every single nightclub, then they would go to every single restaurant. The police still were unable to find Mr. Henry Bates. Where could he be?, “They would say to each other“.  The news reporters would go on the air and recite the story about where Mr. Bates went to plan his great escape.  They needed to have more information on where he would escape to. 

         “Oh Henry Bates where are you“? The New Yorkers, police and the news reporters would say.  Mr. Bates was no where to be found. This was like trying to find a needle in a huge haystack.  The great escape plan seemed to be working just fine.  Everyone was talking about it.  New York City was in despair.  Couldn’t believe where Henry Bates was hiding.  He really did it this time with his great escape plan.  Where was he hiding? And why did he want to escape New York City. This was such an exciting city. Everything was happening in New York.  The broadway shows were kicking, the subway trains were always on the move.  Something was just not right about this great escape plan.  No one could figure out why Henry Bates had suddenly disappeared into the night.  Maybe it may have to do with his childhood.  Let’s take the story back when Mr. Bates was a child.

         Henry Bates grew up in Queens in a town called Briarwood. His parents, John and Debbie Bates both worked in a circus. The circus was called,” The Big Apple Circus“.  They would perform in various parks in Queens.  John was a clown and Debbie was an acrobat.  Henry liked the circus very much.  He would always go with his parents and watched them perform.  Little Henry was a very shy and smart kid.  He didn’t have many friends, he was always by himself.  Henry liked to play by himself.  His parents lived in a two bedroom apartment.  Henry had his own room. He would like to entertain himself and his parents. At a young age, Henry was interested in magic.  He loved doing magic tricks, especially card tricks. His parents encouraged him to become a magician.  Henry studied and performed magic only in his apartment.  He didn’t like performing with other people.

         When Henry was eighteen years old, he moved out of his parents apartment to New York City. He wanted to live in the city and perform his magic there. Henry wanted to get out of his shyness shell and perform his magic tricks in front of people.  He thought that New York City would be the perfect place for him to start. The people were amazed at his tricks that he began to draw a huge crowd. He became the talk of town, everyone wanted to know where Henry was going to perform next.

         This went on and on for the next ten years. At the age of 28,  Henry became well known in New York City. Everyone loved his work.  Henry was feeling very lonely inside, kind of depressed. It was if he had missed being alone all by himself. This is where he felt the most comfortable being shy and lonely. This was why he decided to do the great escape plan. To disappear out of New York City altogether. Everyone began to miss Henry Bates so much that they all decided to look all over the city for him. They even traveled as far as Staten Island. They couldn’t find him anywhere. People began to send out flyers about him, and newspaper ads for missing person. No one could find him at all. What happened to Henry Bates remains a mystery to this day. He could be anywhere the New Yorkers and the police said. The police even called his parents, John and Debbie Bates over in Briarwood. They didn’t even know where he is. “Oh where oh where has our Henry gone oh where oh where has he gone“!  Nobody knew where he has gone.  This is a big mystery.  A great escaper named Henry Bates has mysteriously disappeared. Do you know where he is? Whoever is reading this story? No we don’t know where he is either. Even the writer of this story, Antonette Reeves doesn’t know.

         Maybe he went to another country or city. Let’s try to see if he might be in London. We can fly to London to see if he is there. We can imagine flying in an airplane to London.  Leaving Lagardia Airport to London flight number 1010. Does anyone here in London know where Henry Bates. Sorry chaps we don’t know anyone here by the name Henry Bates. Oh well let us go to another country. How about Spain. We asked the people in Spain if they have seen Henry Bates? They replied, no we haven’t seen Henry Bates here.  “Oh where oh where has our Henry gone oh where oh where has he gone“!

         This story is getting more and more exciting. Henry Bates has indeed disappeared. He is no where to be found.  He is called the great escape magician who mysteriously disappears in the night. What about during the day? If he is gone at night, isn’t he also gone during the day?  Oh yes he is gone both during the day and night. We have looked everywhere replied the people in New York City, the writer of this story, and the readers reading this story cannot seem to know where Henry Bates is. Where can he be?  We have searched high and low, east and west, north and south, and still haven’t found our Henry. “Oh where oh where has our Henry gone oh where oh where has he gone“!  Henry is so clever, and is such a great escaper that nobody can find him. I wonder if he can be hiding somewhere in the subway. Let’s check the subway.  Henry are you here down in the subway?  He doesn’t seem to be here at all.  Could he be somewhere in Central Park? We haven’t looked there?  No sign of Henry in Central Park. Boy Henry is good.  He seems to be no where insight.

         Henry’s parents, John and Debbie are also looking for him. They have searched their apartment in Briarwood for him and even checked in his room. There is no sign of him anywhere in their house.  They also have looked in the streets of Briarwood, and cannot find him anywhere.  New Yorkers seem to be getting nowhere, and the police can’t seem to be getting any warmer.  How about you?  Do you know where Henry Bates is?  He could be anywhere.  Let’s look at some possibilities.  We know he doesn’t really like being around people, and he is a very shy and lonely guy. Maybe he is somewhere in his own little island just lying around performing magic tricks with himself.  Could this be true?  Well maybe this could be true.  Let us look at all the islands in the world.  No that would take too long.

         How about choosing just one island like the big island in Hawaii or Maui.  We started to search for Henry in the big Island of Hawaii, and couldn’t find him anywhere.  Next, we looked all over Maui, and Henry was not there at all.  “Oh where oh where has our Henry gone oh where oh where has he gone“!  Henry has to be somewhere.  Well maybe he took off on a rocket ship to the moon.  We can ask one of the astronauts in NASA to take a rocket ship to the moon to find Henry there?  The astronaut named Sammy Taylor said he would look to take a rocket up to the moon to find Henry Bates there.  Mr. Taylor preceded to take a rocket to the moon, and found no Henry there.  This is getting really frustrating, Henry is nowhere to be found.

         Well we did try to look for him in different places.  He has to be somewhere. Hmmm let us think for a moment.  Maybe he is in his apartment in New York City.  Let’s check the kitchen, no Henry, let’s check the bathroom, no Henry, let’s check the living room, no Henry, let’s check the bedroom, no Henry, let’s check the closet.  Surprise we found Henry Bates.  He was hiding in his closet all this time.  This has been truly Henry’s great escape.