It was dark and the whole house was quiet. Well, almost quiet.
Suddenly something strange was heard. Mickey heard it first. He stopped in the middle of playing with his toy cars and pricked up his ears. "Do you hear that?" he whispered toward his sister, who was drawing on the carpet.
Anna lifted her head. Her pencil stopped in mid-air. She listened for a moment and then nodded seriously. "I hear it."
The sound came again. It sounded like... well, that was exactly the problem. "It's such a quiet tinkling. Like a little gnome fixing a watch with a tiny hammer," Anna whispered. "Such... tick-tick-tink!"
Mickey shook his head. "Not at all! It's a deep sound. Like a huge bear in the basement quietly grumbling in its sleep. Such... rumble-hum-whoosh!"
They looked at each other. Both heard the same thing, but to each it sounded completely different. The sound was quiet for a moment and then came again.
"It's definitely tick-tink!" Anna insisted. "No, it's rumble-whoosh!" Mickey wouldn't give in.
They ran to their mother in the kitchen. "Mom, there's some sound in the house!" Mickey blurted out. "Yes, but we don't know what kind," Anna added. "I think something's tinkling," said Anna. "And I think something's rumbling," said Mickey.
Mother smiled. "My children, houses make all sorts of sounds at night. It's just the old pipes working. Nothing's wrong."
But Anna and Mickey knew it wasn't just an ordinary sound. It was a mysterious sound. And mysteries must be solved.
"We're becoming sound detectives," Anna solemnly declared the next day. "I agree!" Mickey joined in. "Our mission: find that sound and come up with the best word in the world for it!"
They armed themselves with notebooks and pencils. Their first task was to describe exactly what they heard. Since they couldn't agree with words, they tried another way. "Let's draw it!" Anna suggested.
Anna took a red pencil and drew many small, sharp dots and short, jagged lines on the paper. Her drawing looked quick and prickly. Exactly like her "tick-tick-tink."
Mickey took a blue pencil. On his paper he drew a long, slow, wavy line that stretched across the entire length. Here and there he added a few gentle, round bubbles. His drawing seemed calm and deep. Exactly like his "rumble-hum-whoosh."
They placed their drawings next to each other. They were completely different. "See? It pricks," Anna pointed to her drawing. "And see? It waves," Mickey pointed to his.
They looked at the papers in silence for a moment. Then Anna got an idea. "What if... what if we show the sound with movement?"
Anna stood up and began quickly tapping her fingers on the table. She made short, jerky movements. It looked like her fingers were dancing a quick, cheerful dance.
Mickey stood up and slowly swayed from side to side. With his arms he made smooth, large arcs in the air, as if imitating a slow river or trying to embrace something huge.
They looked at each other again, this time with smiles. It was fun, but the mystery was still unsolved.
"Alright," said Mickey thoughtfully. "Your sound is fast and thin. Mine is slow and thick. What if they don't happen one after another, but at the same time?" Anna placed Mickey's paper over hers and held them up to the light. And then they saw it. Through Anna's prickly drawing, Mickey's slow wave showed through. It looked like a river with little, sharp sparks jumping out of it.
"You're right!" Anna exclaimed. "The sound has two parts!"
That night they lay in bed with a flashlight and waited. It didn't take long before the mysterious sound came. Slowly, quietly like mice, they snuck out of their room. Mickey shone the flashlight on the floor and Anna pointed in the direction the sound was coming from. It led them down the hallway to the old, white radiator that had been warming their home for years.
They stopped and listened. The sound was much clearer now. Anna knelt down and carefully put her ear to the top part of the radiator. She smiled. "I hear it! It's tiny cracklings, as the metal expands from heat. Tick-tick-tink!"
Mickey knelt down and put his ear to the thick pipe that led into the radiator from the floor. He smiled too. "I hear it too! It's the whooshing of water flowing through it. Rumble-hum-whoosh!"
They stood up and looked at each other with triumphant smiles. They were both right! The radiator made a complex sound that had both high and low parts. It was prickly and wavy at the same time.
"Sound detectives have solved the case!" Mickey laughed. "Not quite yet," Anna reminded him. "We need the best word in the world for it."
They sat on the carpet and began combining their ideas. "Tickrumble?" Mickey suggested. "Whooshink?" Anna tried.
They combined and experimented until Anna cried out: "I know! It's obvious!" Mickey looked at her curiously. "The sound is like it's knocking and grumbling at the same time. It's... Tickrumblk!"
Mickey repeated the word. "Tickrumblk. That sounds exactly right! Not fast, not slow. A bit prickly and a bit soft. Perfect!"
In the morning they proudly announced to their parents that they had solved the mystery. "Mom, Dad, the night sound was the old radiator!" said Anna. "And we already know what it's called. It's a tickrumblk!" Mickey added.
Their parents were amazed by their detective work. From then on, whenever the radiator sounded at night, Anna and Mickey would just smile conspiratorially at each other and whisper: "Do you hear? That's our tickrumblk."
And maybe in your home too there's some mysterious sound that's just waiting for its detectives and its own perfect name. Will you try to find it?