For a smile as wide as a country sunrise
Katharina fell back against the wall and down to the floor, motionless. Gisela held onto the counter, but she too fell to the floor. Katharina had my dart gun and managed to get Gisela in the throat with it. Both down, the two enemies. The cats heard Gisela’s men running to the kitchen. Muffin got ready and as they reached the kitchen doorway she fired one of the new ‘screamer’ rockets. It gives a very high pitched scream, enough to burst a person’s ear drums if too close. The men dropped their guns to cover their ears. The screaming only lasts about 20 seconds, but that’s long enough for a surprise attack. Just as it was stopping, the cats rolled out of their hiding place by the back entrance and each shot twice, taking down 2 of the men.
But one turned and ran toward the lobby entrance. However, I was standing there. He stopped and I didn’t wait for a response, I just shot. Then I ran to the kitchen. The cats were next to Kat, with their heads and ears drooping. Meow.=Bad Gisela kill Kat. I got down to check for a pulse, but just then my head began to pain once more. “My head”, I yelled, “I can’t take that pain!” I tried to shake that, then I noticed something. “There’s no blood,” I said. I checked and smiled to the cats. “She’s wearing my vest,” I said to them, “she’ll be okay I’m sure. Maybe she hit her head and knocked herself out.” Meow,meow!=She hit head on wall when she fall backward.
“That’s it,” I said, and I picked her up and carried her into the lobby and put her on the sofa that was there. My head started to clear as well which was certainly a nice thing. Meow!=Listen! I listen, but I can’t hear anything. Then it hit me, the thunder was in the distance, the rain had stopped and so had the wind. Meow,meow!=Boat can come now! “Yes, it sure can,” I said, “where’s my phone?” Meow,meow=Phones disappear, but I call human Baldwin. And she did, I told Baldwin he should be able to send the boat in soon and told a bit about what had happened. It took a couple more hours and the boat was here and we were soon on our way back home.
I called Baldwin from the boat to talk a bit more. “Gisela is dead, and all her men,” I told him, “so call the police to go clean up everything.” “I will do that Steve,” he said, “but what about Katharina, what happened to her?” “Well, it seems she got away from us again,” I said, “but it was Gisela that was the main problem with everything that was going on. She even wanted to kill Katharina too.” “I don’t believe it,” he said, “you let Katharina get away again. But, since you were out so much at the end, guess I can’t blame you for that one.”
“Oh, and I’m bringing someone back with us too,” I added, “there was a young woman hiding on the island that really helped us a lot in this. In fact, I wouldn’t be here if not for her.” “Great,” said Baldwin, “what’s her name?” “Her name’s Kat,” I said. Silence on the other end. “Kat? You really expect me to believe that story Steve?,” he asked. “Well, it’s my story, and I’m sticking with it,” I said, “and the cats are backing me up with that 100%.” Silence again, then he laughed his usual boisterous laugh. “Okay Steve, have it your way,” he said, “bring her along. Maybe she could help Calanthe with the business here.”
“Well, I think she’s going to need some time to relax after this,” I said, “all of us will.” “Good idea,” said Baldwin, “and I’m going to make sure you don’t take any cases for a while, until you’re fully rested.” “I think we all will agree to that,” I said, “but the first thing for you to do is to take me to Lena, wherever you have her hidden.” “Absolutely Steve, I will do that,” he said slowly and quietly. It seemed like a long time getting home but we finally made it and Baldwin was there with his new “car”. “What do you think of my new vehicle?”, asked Baldwin.
“I didn’t know they made these things so big,” I said, “how do you turn corners with this?” “That’s my driver’s problem,” he said and laughed. We were soon at the place to meet Lena, but I already knew where she was, just by the way Baldwin had answered me. We walked quietly across the well manicured lawn. “There she is,” said Baldwin, “I’ll leave you alone and wait in the car, take as much time as you want.” He went back while the cats and I stayed behind.
I got down on my knees, the cats sat down, one on each side of me. We bowed our heads and cried. After a few minutes we walked slowly back to the car. “I’m so sorry Steve,” said Kat. “I want you, Kat and the cats to stay with Calanthe and I for a while, until you get rested Steve,” said Baldwin, “we’ll have the doctor look at the medicine Kat gave you, he needs to check you anyway.” I agreed with him. Once we get settled in at the chateau Kat comes to talk with me and the cats. “Thanks for giving me a second chance,” said Kat, “I won’t let you down.” “I know you won’t,” I said with a smile, “it would be terrible to go chasing you again!” What a case, it was exhausting, a rest will certainly be good.
The End.
Β©2021 Steve McLeod.
Excellent Steve! π. Totally unexpected ending. So sorry about Lena. π. Letβs see how long this rest lasts. Not long, is my guess.
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Thanks Beverly! I wasn’t really quite sure how the ending would be until today. I had a couple different ones ready, didn’t use either one! Yep, it was tough writing Lena out of the story,π but hopefully this will work. Well, the rest should last until Friday at least!ππΊπΊπ©
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Youβre welcome Steve! Wow, nice…the way you ended it fit in nicely. It sent a lot of inspiring messages (forgiveness) and was heart wrenching (Lena dying) and also uplifting (you rallied through your illness to take care of that last bad man). I donβt know about that aiding and abetting part with Kat π, but I am sure, if questioned, you would do the right thing with the authorities. π. Yes, hard decisions have to be made in writing, you have to weigh in a number of factors to determine what is best. Well, rest up today and tomorrow, looking forward to the next great case in this amazing series! π³π¬π€π
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There’s no aiding and abetting involved, honest. Katharina is gone totally and is replaced by a whole new woman. I’m giving her another chance at a new life after she messed up her first life so badly. She sees it and was will to turn herself in, but since Kat is not Katharina any longer, there’s nothing for her to admit to doing. It’s all been taken care of, washed away as it were.π
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Love it! ππππ
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Thanks!ππΈπΈπ©
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Youβre welcome! π
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ππΊπΊ
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This was not a very good ending! Iβm very sorry for Lena! ππΏ Just take a good rest! You all deserve it!
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I actually had two endings written for this and ended up changing and using neither one of them, went for this one instead. It was a sad ending.π PI Steve isn’t doing well with marriage.π Maybe he’s right, a PI should remain single.π€ Yes, a good rest is what we need and maybe an easy case, like finding a lost dog or something. For the first time I have nothing planned at all for the next case, that’s not good!π¬πππ©
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Or maybe a PI shouldnβt go for such difficult cases and just go with some simple onesβ¦but then finding a lost dog for you for sure will not be easyβ¦if Iβm not wrong you had a case of a lost cat and was not really easy ππ
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That’s true, the lost cat was not easy, but it wasn’t a real cat though. But knowing us 3, even a simple case is likely to turn out complicated! We seem to get stuck with those ones. Maybe I should check my PI handbook and see what it says about that.π€π³πππ
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No more Lena??ππ
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No more Lena. Gisela won.ππΏπΏ
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Well she’s dead too !! Good riddins!!π€¨
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One less enemy to worry about.
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Yay!! But now who??πππ€π€
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I’m sure someone new will show up eventually. Of course there is still John, even though he’s in prison right now, but he could get out, he did that before.
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Or he coumd have help on the outside!π―π²π³π€―
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That wouldn’t be like him, he likes to run the show himself. I’m sure we will meet again sometime. Kat also told me Gisela has a brother, but she really didn’t know anything about him except he’s the youngest sibling, and the last.
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Oh…π²π²π²π²
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But we’re only taking easy cases from now on, like finding lost dogs and cats and hamsters.ππΊπΊπ©
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You mean lime when Lady Gaga’s dog was kidnapped?π³π² Cool!!π
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Well, something like that I guess.π€π
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Hehehe you!
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You were in a serious haze Are you sure Gisela’s dead. She’s killed one wife and a wife to be. you need to make sure she’s out of the picture. I’ll miss Lena
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Laugh Try it you’ll like it
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Yep, she’s dead this time for sure. But Kat told me she has a brother, so perhaps we will meet him in the future. Yes, I will miss Lena too. Even though Gisela lost, she also won.
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Victory is often not complete ππ
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So very true.
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ππ
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What a finale! Sorry about Lena but there must have been a reason. π’
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I wasn’t planning to have Lena die, it was a last minute decision. But it did make it easier to bring Kat back home, even though she is living with Calanthe and Baldwin.π€πππ©
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So that is the ending…I am all for second chances…but…I know you are sure that Kat has changed…I am not sure ! …yet…rest is so important ! π»πΌπ΄
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I guess we’ll find out what she’s really like, so far so good. She did save my life and she didn’t need to. A good rest and we’ll be ready to go again!ππΈπΈπ©
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What an exciting read! You simply made this story awesome π I’m late, but definitely enjoyed my late read at this late night π . no more Lena nowπ it’s okay, a lot of killing too in this part π€― Amazing ride it was.. Keep going π
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Glad you enjoyed it Simon! And now we have a new character to join our PI group, Kat! But will she stay around? Or will she…π³πππ΅οΈββοΈπ©
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That I’m more worried, you know why? because you either kill them, or get married, or send to jail ππππ
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What else is there to do?π€ππ³
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π€£ππ π€£that triggered a laughter here π ππ€£ what else is there to do? Kill πππ
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Happy to give you a laugh there Simon!ππΉ
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ππ€£π thank you so muchβ€οΈπππ€£π
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