Steve`s Country
For a smile as wide as a country sunrise
20/20 Investigations, Inc. The curious Letter. Chapter 12.
Well, now we just need to figure out a way to open the door. “Here, let me put on your mini headlamps before we go in there,” I said, “it could be a nice hidden passageway for us to explore.” Muffin and Mr. Cat were jumping around like kangaroos, they were so excited about exploring another passage. After all, it’s been awhile. I hold Mr. Cat up higher so he can look around the door better. He’s our lock picker, there’s not much he can’t open I’m sure. Meow.=Door not up here, must be short door. Hmm, just a crawl through type door, they always make me more nervous. Meow, meow.=Yep, look, here is top of door. Both cats look around but there doesn’t seem to be any way to open it. That’s rather strange. But if this is part of the mystery to find the treasure, then it does make sense it would be hard to open.
There are 3 small shield decorations on the door so I try pushing them but nothing happened. Meow, meow.=Maybe push all 3 together. Hmm, so the cats each pushed one and I pushed the third. There was a clicking sound and my shield pulled out a bit. I tried turning it and…the door opened. Nice. Once open I put a box in the way so it can’t close again and lock us in there. I’m learning a bit about these secret passages. We all go in and right away there was a narrow stairway going down. The place was full of dust and cobwebs showing that no one had been in here for a very long time. That’s a good sign. Once inside it was tall enough for me to stand up which made it easier to go down the stairs.
Half way down the cats stop. Meow.=Look here, this step a trap, not joined at side. I look with my flashlight, sure enough it is a trap. The cats jump down to the next step. Nothing happens so I stretch down to that step as well. I wonder what that trap step does? Something tells me I don’t want to know. The steps turn sharply and keep going down. Now we’re at the main floor of the house. Another turn and… that takes us to the basement. At the bottom is…nothing, but walls. The letter said we would find the key to unlock the mystery. But there’s nothing here. Does that mean the treasure is nothing? Behind the one wall would be the basement, behind the other wall is the foundation, so the wall straight ahead of us could lead somewhere, but it sure doesn’t look like it would open.
Just then I heard a noise at the top of the stairs. I ran up to see and sure enough, the door had been closed and locked. But who would do that? Charlie and his friends want us to find the treasure so they wouldn’t do it. Chantelle is too sick to move around. That leaves Lena. But why would she do that? She knows we went to the attic, so if she saw the door open it would make more sense for her to come and join us. I started back down the stairs. On the way up I remembered the trap stair, but on the way back down I was thinking too much and…I stepped on it. I heard a noise coming from the bottom of the stairs and the cats meowing. I ran down. The wood floor at the bottom had opened revealing another passage.
We don’t have much choice now but to follow it, so in we go. It didn’t go far then there was a few steps going up. I pushed on the trap door above us and it opened easily. Once in there was…more stairs, going up this time over top of the stairs we just came down. How strange. But the letter did say stairs going up and down. Maybe it should have said down and up. It was just as dusty in here and more narrow, plus I couldn’t stand up, I had to crawl up. The cats went first again checking each stair along the way. Finally we were back at the attic level, but further down from where we started. There was also a square hole in the one wall. I shone my flashlight inside. There was an envelope! But do I want to reach inside? It seems too easy. There might be a trap inside. Still, it had to be done. I had to put my whole arm inside and…
To Be Continued.
Pictures of Mr. Cat are kindly supplied by his human, Nina.
Previous chapters of this story and previous stories can be found on my home page under, 20/20 Investigations, Inc.
©2020 Steve McLeod.
Steve`s Country 
On Wednesday, November 18, 2020, Steve`s Country wrote:
> stevescountry posted: ” Well, now we just need to figure out a way to open > the door. “Here, let me put on your mini headlamps before we go in there,” > I said, “it could be a nice hidden passageway for us to explore.” Muffin > and Mr. Cat were jumping around like kangaroos, they ” >
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Thanks for reading Cathy!😀😺😺🕵️♂️👩
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This is a true mystery ! It could be that Lena was protecting them…after all you left the door open…hmmm…perhaps Lena purposely locked you in for other reasons…hmm ☕️☕️🕵️♂️👩😾😾🙀🤭
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It could be there is someone else around that we haven’t met yet.🤔 Or not. Have to wait and see if we get out of this little mess.😬 Alive that is.😳🙀🙀🕵️♂️👩
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Oh, oh! The plot thickens and it’s getting scary! There could be traps everywhere! 😬👻☕️☕️ 🔦 🕯
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Yes, it’s those hidden traps that can be a real problem.😲😾😾 Plus hidden people, who closed that door on us?🤔😳🙀🙀🕵️♂️👩
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😊
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Hmm…something is not quite right…so many stairs up and down, down and up….but for sure the cats never misses anything 😻😻
But who closed the door? and an envelope in a secret passageway? 🕵️ 😼🙈
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Yes, this is very odd indeed. I would like to know who closed that door, it doesn’t make sense.😒 Will this envelope be the key to find the treasure?🤔 Maybe today we will find out some answers. Or not.😳😾😾🕵️♂️👩
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Wow, this is getting incredibly exciting!🙀😸 Wonder why they have so many traps around 🕵️♀️
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Must be a valuable treasure and they want to make sure it’s hard to find. Or maybe there is no treasure at all, that would be terrible.😳😾😾🕵️♂️👩
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Eeeeeekkkkk!!!!! 🙀🙈😉🖐😺
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Let me peel myself off the ceiling after that shriek.😳🙀🙀🕵️♂️👩 Nice that you enjoyed that part!😁😺🖐😻
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and 😳 what did you see 🧐 here he did it again, no, he does it all the time 😅😂 what kind of passage this is? and who did this? to trap you all inside,? knowing you smart pi’s can crack any codes 🤔 no that’s not the plan, the did this with a purpose 🧐 hm what was that then? and who? lena? or the sick Chantelle or Charlie 😳🤔🧐 lot of questions again 😾
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Yes indeed, maybe it was someone new that we haven’t seen yet.🤔 Maybe it was the butler, or the maid?🤔👨💼👩💼 Wait, they don’t have one,🙄 okay, guess they’re innocent then, take them off the list.😁 How are we supposed to solve this with no butler?😳🙄 Yep, more questions, we need more answers and we’ll get them too!😒😾😾 Maybe.😛
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Butler? maid? that’s a good way to link the story, a character that never revealed suddenly comes out 😍 wow, only you could bring such a plan 😍amazing… Looking forward to the next chapter 😎
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More strange twists are coming yet!😳 Or is it strange?😬🤭 Can 2 be one, or can one be 2?😲🤯 We’ll have to wait and see!😒 Enjoy your evening Simon!😁😺🌙 Did Nisha come back with you or is she still away?🤔
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She is still away, coming by Dec 5th. Is it 2 or 1 🤔? or 1 is 2? 😼 PI mind are so confusing 🧐 Let me read the next chapter asap 😎👍
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Hi Simon, I will be writing a post this morning titled “Warning!” Please read it if you have time, it will explain some things going on right now and I thought it was time to say something after I was contacted by someone this morning. Thanks.😳😕😾
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🙄What was that? 😳😳😳
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It is ready to read now Simon.😬😾
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You haven’t posted that? 🤔 I can’t sleep without reading that 😳😳 what is that about 😟
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It’s ready now.😁😳
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I don’t understand, why they reach out to you and play 😟 These internet barbarians should start coming out, I would love to kiss their cheek with my fist 💪💪 they’ll regret why they met us 😾 crazy people , have you planned of creating a newer one already? write an email common to your dedicated followers, people will catch u back in your blog. Let’s be prepared. and don’t forget to teach these morons a lesson 😎
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I have actually thought of a new blog when I started getting these abusive comments.🤪🙄 Coming up with a new name isn’t easy though since it can’t be too close to another blog name.🤔 I may change my email as well.😳 Have to wait and see what happens. Hopefully nothing happens and I can keep going with this blog.😀😺🌨☕
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