For a smile as wide as a country sunrise
Well, here we are, settled back into our home in Canada, trying to do some thinking about all that just happened in the last case. I remember it all, unfortunately, though right now it seems more like a nightmare experience. The cats are busy playing on their play structure, Muffin wants to buy more to make it even bigger. But then we would need a bigger house, and we do have that in France. We could move there and still continue our PI business, and I think we just might do that. Maybe. Lena is working with Calanthe and they should be opening their resort very soon. Even Baldwin decided to stay and help them out for a while, he thought it might be a lot of fun.
But the cats and I are going on a vacation finally. Just relaxing, no cases, we need some time off. “Now, I wonder where we should go,” I said very quietly to myself. Poke, poke. Two little heads looking around the corner from the hallway as I sit in the living room. “How did you two hear that when you’re playing?”, I ask. Meow.=We have good hearing. Meow,meow=Yep, it time for vacation brochures. Out they come with their little wagon overflowing with brochures. I’ve never seen so many. They come jumping onto the chair and look at me, then it’s hugging time again! We do this a lot now, Muffin is so happy to have me back to normal. And so is Mr. Cat.
I have had my 5 shots of this experimental drug combination to combat what Pete had given me. So far it seems to be working good, my memory is back to normal and I feel so much better. But the doctor figures I may need a booster shot yearly to prevent a relapse, because if that happens I will likely stay that way. I don’t mind the booster shots, as many as I need. “Okay, let’s see the brochures,” I said and we divided them between us. Meow!=Oh look, big castle, 1,000 years old! Meow,meow!=NO castles! That mean ghosts and we not want ghosts! Rip, rip, shred, shred. Meow.=She rip my brochure.
Meow,meow!=Look here, tropical island, big sand beaches. Meow!=NO sand! It get in fur and it mean big bath, no big baths! Rip, rip, shred, shred. Meow,meow=He rip my brochure. “Here’s a nice city vacation…”, I began to say. Meow,meow!!=NO cities! They both said together. Rip, rip, shred, shred. “My brochure,” I said. This went on for over an hour and the only thing we accomplished was filling the room with tiny bits of paper ripping up all the brochures. Well, half of the brochures anyway. Meow,meow=That okay, we have more in playroom. “There’s more brochures?”, I asked, “oh my, we’re in trouble, we need to agree on something fast.”
We keep looking for another half hour. Finally I see something that might work. “Here’s a nice quiet place in the mountains, on the shore of a lake, small quiet town nearby, lots of attractions close as well, hiking trails, or just relax by the lake. And, it’s a nice log chalet,” I explained, “this sounds great, there should be something we will all like at this place.” Meow,meow!=Oh, me like that one! Meow.=Yep, me too, let’s pack. They both look over the brochure and I book our own private chalet for 3 weeks. Soon we are flying to our destination, and what a place it is too! It should be easy to relax here, that’s for sure, just what we need.
There is a restaurant at our location, but it’s only open for breakfast, which is okay since the town is close and there are several restaurants there. Our first breakfast was an interesting one. The restaurant allowed cats inside, but we had to stay away from any other customers. That was easy, there was only 2 other guys in the place. This is the off season here and this year it’s less busy than normal for some reason. That’s nice for us though. Meow,meow?=Why we have to sit in corner, they think we have disease? “Well, some people don’t like animals in a restaurant, they consider them dirty,” I tried to explain.
Their ears went straight up! Meow!=Hey, we not dirty, we just wash ourselves this morning! “Don’t worry about it,” I said, “let’s talk about something else, like maybe what our next case might be.” Meow,meow.=Yep, we need another case soon, have to keep in shape with PI skills. The waitress brought our breakfast, we all had pancakes and bacon. Then she came back with a cup of coffee in her hand and asked if she could join us. I said that would be fine. Her name was Caren Fager. She looked at the cats and said, “they can talk, I heard them, they said you were PI’s. I need some help, how much do you charge?”
To Be Continued.
Pictures of Mr. Cat are kindly supplied by his human, Nina.
All chapters of this story, and other stories, can be found on my home page under “The Investigators, Inc.” and “20/20 Investigations, Inc.”
©2021 Steve McLeod.
It doesn’t take people long to find you. All you need now is the sleazy office of a noir movie.I have to know Is Caren cute?? Here we go again.
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Laugh because… Why not??
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Maybe I do have that sleazy office, but I’m not going to tell! Hmm, I didn’t describe Caren did I? That will come in chapter 2. So much for our vacation, for the second time. But maybe this will be a quick and easy case.
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Does the term “Not BloodyLikely” mean anything to you???
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Besides, I promised the cats no cases until after our vacation. And since she asked how much I charge it means she can’t afford to pay. As Muffin always says in such cases, “say NO to case, we unpack”.🤔😾😾
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You lied to the cats.
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No way, not me, nope, never happen. Just wait and see.
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Waiting
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The answer will come tomorrow!
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Hmm…Caren can hear the cats…interesting…😕
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And she didn’t seem to be too startled by the fact they talked. That puzzled me. What will we be getting into?🤔😾😾🕵️♂️
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Mmm…true!
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And she had to ask how much I charged, that means she can’t afford to pay, so as Muffin would say, “say NO, we unpack”. Vacation first, I promised the cats.
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Oh no!!!!!! Not again????🙄😮😯😲😳
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We just can’t seem to get a vacation. Still, it could be something very simple.🤔😾😾🕵️♂️
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Those poor kittens!! They need a break!!🤨 You wirk them too hard!!🙄🙄
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Staying in a log chalet overlooking a beautiful lake and eating pancakes for breakfast is too hard work?🤔🙄
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Yeah… when you’re suppoed to vacationing!!😛 Please tell me you’re not gonna take the job 🙏🙏🙏
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Why would I take the job? She had to ask how much I charge, that means she can’t afford to pay, so as Muffin always says, say no, we unpack!😂😹😹
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Glad you pointed that out!! Makes PERFECT sense!😊😁
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Yep, just like hand written letters, it means stay away! We are on vacation and that’s the way it will be!😒😾😾
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You sound disappointed .. Not enough excitement??
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Hey, I just don’t want to disappoint the cats, this is their vacation too you know.
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Exactly! Besides hard to get those toes tanned if the have bandaids on them🤭🤭🤭🤭
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How would they get tanned without the bandaids?🤔🤔
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By sitting on the beach ⛱in the sun 🌞 with barefeet! You really need to get out more…😂😂😂😉
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I do go out, but not in bare feet. You think I’m crazy?🤨🙄
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Now you’re making it way tooooo easy!!🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣
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Wow, you were fast! Thank you! Whatever I did.😁🤔
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You’re welcome!😁
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Thank you.😁
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Sounds like thunderstorms here again tonight… I love watching the lightning at night and listening to the thunder!! I’m excited!!🤸♂️🤸♂️🤸♂️🤸♂️
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Yeah, lightning at night can be nice to watch, especially when there is no rain to get in the way. Good time to get good pics.😁📷 I would like that opportunity. As long as there is enough rain with it.😬🙀
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Yep! Don’t want to start any forest or wildfires!😬😬
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Too wet up here right now. It rained from last evening until noon today. Apparently it’s also supposed to stay below normal in temps all month. Sigh.😳🙄🙀
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Ugh… yuck! That stinks!!
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And cold too. As they say in the old country, “inflatable canoes are great until you hear ssssssss in the middle of the lake.”
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What??? Snakes??😳😳 ahhhhhh they bite holes in the canoe??😂😂
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Snakes? Where? Hit em with the plastic paddle!😬😬
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What did it do to you??
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I was just protecting you, I know how scared you are of them.🙄
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How did you know??😳
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I’m super Steve! Faster than a raging volcano!🚀🌋 Quicker than a raging bear!🏃♂️🏃♂️🏃♂️🏃♂️🏃♂️🏃♂️🏃♂️🏃♂️🐻 And less intelligent than both!🤪😂😹
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I agree!! Im not sure why though??🤔🤔
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Me too!😄😄
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I thought you were posting something…🤔 did i miss it?
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It’s up and ready to be read by anyone ready to read.
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Ok now I’ll brb!😁
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Okay, I’ll be here.
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Im back!!😁😁😁
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Good!
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Very good!!
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I have to shut down, having internet problems again and it’s making it hard to comment. Sigh. Good night, talk tomorrow!
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Nighty night!! 😴
Sleep Well!!😁
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I am really loving the weather this week!! I feel like I’m home!! Now I just need a job here!😁🤔
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It’s cold and rainy. Only 39 today, should be low 50s the rest of the week, we should be mid to high 60’s. Sigh.
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Well it shouldn’t last forever…
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It’s going to make a very short summer.😬
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That it will… Just can’t waste any days…😁
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Yep. As they say in the old country, “a canoe and a waist are alike.”
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Okay… I can’t take it!! In what way are they alike??🙄🙄😏😏
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The bigger they are, the harder they are to carry.
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Are you implying I have a big canoe?🤨🤨🤫🤫
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If the suspenders fit, better use them.😂😹
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Ooooooooooòòoooooooooooooooooooooooooo!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! 😛😛😛🤭🤭🤭🤭 you don’t need to tell everyone!!🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣
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Just sayin.😛😛😂😂
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Caren sounds suspicious, overhearing you in the corner of the dining room. Just too convenient. Telling her, “no,” until you have your vacation would be wise. But….it appears you are ready to say. “YES!”
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Well, the fact she had to ask how much I charged likely means she can’t afford to pay. And as Muffin would say, “say NO, we unpack!” Nothing will get in the way of our vacation this time. I promised the cats that.
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I hope so! You have a big heart but need time to recuperate from all the trauma and drama of the past few cases!
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Yes, I agree, we need a break first, then maybe…
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You know, Steve, when someone asks for help, you will naturally take on a new case !…if Carin could hear you and who understands what the cats are saying, you can be sure that she sounds like TROUBLE ! ☕️☕️🕵️♂️😺😺🤔
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But I promised the cats it’s vacation first this time, no cases until the vacation is over. She had to ask how much I charged, so that means she can’t afford to pay. As Muffin says, “say NO to case, we unpack”. Actually, since she can understand the cats it means she’s okay, bad guys can’t understand them.🤔😾😾🕵️♂️
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How many of them exists that could understand what your cats can talk 🧐😁 so far so good, let’s be good with Caren fager hoping she is good too 😎😅 excited for next chapter 😄😉
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It’s always the good guys that can understand the cats,😁😺😺 not the bad guys,😾😾 except once, but she started off good and turned bad.🤔
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bad 🤔 that we need to wait and see, let’s hope she don’t turn bad 😄
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Haha!😄 Yep, we have to wait and see.🤔 I’ll ask the cats, they know.😸😸
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Yes, good one to ask 🙄no I’m not joking 😅😺 Ask with them 😺😺
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Yep, I will do that today.😸😸
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Yay!!! What did she say ? 🙂😺
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I don’t know, can’t remember.🙄😹
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