Steve`s Country
For a smile as wide as a country sunrise
The Investigators, Inc. The Case of Mystery. Chapter 9. I Don’t Like Bad News.
After we got home Annelie and Baldwin filled us in on the phone call from Toledo. Likely he had not gone too far, he was probably sitting in a tunnel waiting for us to leave. But at least he was nice enough to call us. In the morning we will arrange for my family to come home, right now we are all tired and need some sleep.
Baldwin said he was too tired to go home and we do have a special bed for him in the library for such occasions. I think he just wanted to be here for breakfast instead of making his own. Baldwin and Annelie, plus a couple of the girls were up early. Baldwin has just returned from the kitchen with his coffee, anxiously waiting for breakfast.
But, prior to this, someone got a phone call. “Hi Frank, what is up?” the man asked. “Got bad news here,” said Frank. “I do not like bad news,” said the man. “Yeah, I know, but that is all I have,” said Frank, “we got to the house and no one was here, except Muffin and MC. And, man, they are hurt bad. Someone is sending a message for sure.
Everyone else is gone. We talked to some kids across the street, they saw a blue van come here just a few minutes before us and took everyone away. They asked the kids if they knew where to find a certain address, but they did not know. However, they told us the address and I know where it is.” “Good, get after them Frank,” he said, “put the cats on a blanket and I will have someone else pick them up.
I will also have some of the boys meet you at that address. Do not let them get away Frank, got that?” “Got it, we are on our way,” he said, after wrapping the cats nicely in a blanket. Then we got a phone call and Baldwin answered. “Hi Mr. B.,” he said, “is Steve around too? I have news for him and you.” Baldwin called for me and I came running downstairs, as did everyone else, and into the library.
“I have very bad news Steve,” said the man. “I do not like bad news,” I said, “especially this early, and from you.” “Sorry Steve,” he said, “but Frank called and someone has kidnapped your family and everyone with them, except Muffin and MC. The cats are hurt, seriously, they need medical attention and are already on the way to you, a chopper will be landing at your hospital in about 40 minutes.”
“Rock, take Li Jing, Marlene, Angel and a couple of Mandar’s guards with you and get over to the hospital now,” I told him. “Right, we are on our way,” he said. “Storm, you go too, you can be helpful by staying close and purring for them,” I said. Off he went. Meowy, meowi!= We go too, we nice fluffy and warm, can purr good too.
They looked at me so concerned, that I told them to go and they ran so fast out to the car and jumped in just in time. “Okay, what else?” I asked. “Let my boys handle this Steve, at least for a while,” he said, “they can probably do better right now than you. This might be a hit against us and not you, but in case they are asking for ransom money, what are your rules on that?”
“The Investigators do not pay ransom for anyone, not even my family,” I said slowly, “but personally, I will pay if I have the money. I do have some savings to draw on if necessary, so let me know. But if they hurt anyone, I will hunt them down no matter how long it takes. You can tell them that as well, if you talk with them.”
“Sounds good Steve,” he said, “those are our rules too. I know how you feel, remember? But please, trust me on this one, give us a chance to find them for you. I just do not know how anyone could find them, that is one of our safe houses, probably the best one I think, it just makes no sense.” “It is amazing what our enemies can do sometimes,” I said, “never underestimate them.”
“I agree with that,” he said, “I will let you know as soon as I have more info.” “Thanks,” I said, “and I do not blame you for what happened, I trust you completely.” “Thanks Steve,” he said and he hung up. That is when my headache returned causing me to bend over groaning loudly. “Where is Sigurbjorn?” I asked weakly.
She and two other girls were making breakfast, so they missed the news, but they were quickly filled in by the others. Sigurbjorn came in and began to massage my back and neck. This was the first headache since starting my new treatment. Perhaps the stress from the news brought it on…
To Be Continued.
©2023 Steve McLeod.
Saturday Sharing! #16 Stories From My Past.
Good morning everyone! Well, today it is sunny and cool, with a temperature of 20F (-7C). Hardly feels like it is near the end of April and certainly does not look like it either. That snow we got yesterday is still with us, and likely will be around for a couple days or so. Anyway, back to our story from last week while dad and I were out looking for insulators and we had found a pile of crossarms.
As I reached down deeper into that pile of crossarms, I noticed there were 2 purple insulators, not just one. But one was not as dark as the other. I got the darker one finally but needed to move another crossarm to reach the second. I checked to make sure dad was not in the way and also noticed I could slide that other crossarm into the pile to move it out of the way. Perfect.
But something stopped it and I needed a bit more to reach that insulator, so I gave it a good hard push. Dad screamed which made me jump. “Did you hurt yourself?” I asked. He was rubbing his ankle. “Bonehead!” he said. I shook my head. “You need to be more careful,” I said, “you are hurting yourself too much today. Maybe we should stop for coffee now.” “Good idea,” he said, “over there by those rocks.”
We went over and dad told me to sit on a rock while he went about 50 feet away to sit. “Why so far?” I asked. “Safety,” was all he said. Just then a train went by and it was hard to talk, especially since it was windy too. Dad motioned that he wanted his thermos of coffee. I tossed it to him. His eyes got real big, but he caught the thermos nicely. Unfortunately he fell backward off his rock.
That got me laughing again. “Good catch!” I yelled. “Where is the wasp nest?” he yelled back. “The train is going east, not west,” I replied. “That is why we are having coffee, to rest,” he yelled. He then came over. “Where are my sandwiches?” he asked. I handed him a sandwich. “That is only one,” he said. “You only asked for one,” I said. “I said to make me some sandwiches,” he said.
“No, you said, make me a sandwich,” I said. Dad put his head down. “Why do you have 2 sandwiches?” he asked. “Because I wanted 2, I get hungry out here on these hikes,” I said. “So do I,” said dad. “Then you should have asked for more than one sandwich,” I replied. Dad just looked at me. “I give up,” he said and went back to his rock.
“There is cake,” I said. Dad came back over to get his piece. He took the biggest piece. On the way back to his rock he tripped on a smaller rock and dropped his cake. “It’s covered with small bits of stones,” he said. “Just wipe them off,” I suggested, then began laughing again, loud and long. He did wipe them off, but still managed to get a couple in his mouth.
So he tossed his cake on the ground. “I brought an extra thermos of coffee if you want some more,” I said as I brought it over to him. “Well, you did that right at least,” he said sighing. I started pouring him some coffee. “Hey, look at that,” I said pointing to an insulator. Dad turned to look and moved his cup. “AAAAAAAAAAA”, he yelled.
“You should not have moved your cup,” I said, “that coffee is hot.” And his lap was now wet. I laughed again, loud and long. It was hard to finish my coffee I was laughing so much. We went back to the pile of crossarms and filled our packs with insulators. Dad bent down to get one more insulator.
I did not see dad around anywhere, so I moved another crossarm, sliding it out of my way. Dad got up just then and the crossarm hit him in the stomach and he sat down on his backpack. He was moaning and holding his stomach. “Must have eaten too many stones with that cake,” I said laughing. We got our stuff together and headed back to the car.
Dad told me to walk 100 feet ahead of him, for safety reasons. Not sure what he meant by that. But we had a great day out, and got a lot of easy insulators. I was still laughing back at the car. “Amazing,” was all that dad said. Yep, it was an amazing day. Nice that dad enjoyed it too. Well, that is all for our story today. Next week we will have something different to enjoy! Have a great weekend everyone and God bless!
Steve and Muffin.
©2023 Steve McLeod.
