Steve`s Country
For a smile as wide as a country sunrise
Coffee For Thursday. #16
Good morning on this very dull, cloudy Thursday! Those clouds out there are thick and dark, which makes it very dull and dark looking outside, and inside too for that matter. It keeps looking like it will rain, but the clouds pass by and not a raindrop falls. That is supposed to change later though. And we did get a few raindrops very early this morning, but not enough to get the deck wet.
Yesterday was such a beautiful, sunny and warm day. So I decided it was time for another walk to the river. It was so beautiful back there. And quiet. Very quiet. No birds at all singing or chirping in the trees. Such a difference from my last walk to the river when birds were everywhere in the trees. Not yesterday, it was just quiet. No insects at the wildflowers.
But I spot a dragonfly, a small one, beautiful gold color. I sneak around through the long grass to get close enough for a picture and…it flies away. Not just a few feet either, it flies away, completely gone. So I keep walking and spot another one, this one is a darker color. Great, a new one. I move so very slow to get closer and…it flies away. Completely and totally away. It is gone. Sigh. I keep walking. Hey, a frog jumped across the path. Can I get close enough?
Yes, a nice picture of it. This is a Wood Frog. A very common frog in the north woods. I will talk more about it another time, but wanted to show a picture of it now. It made the walk more interesting since I seldom see frogs along the path. This is the second time this year. I have not yet identified the other one.
While walking to the river I spotted 2 butterflies, both different, but I was unable to get a picture of either one. That was a bit frustrating. Oh well. I keep walking and get to Scramble’s territory but he is nowhere in sight. I call to him and right away I heard some chattering, quite a distance away. But soon he came running along his roadway of fallen trees and over to the peanuts I put out for him. He even stopped so I could get some pictures.
That was very nice. Next stop is the river and I sat on the tree stump at my usual spot. The river has gone down a bit more now, so it is now down about 2 feet. Only another 7 feet or so to go and it will be at its normal level. I still do not think that is possible before winter, but we will see. Some of the trees are now out of the water, almost. There are some that are not looking too good right now.
I guess being submerged for so long was hard on them. They often get submerged in spring and sometimes in the fall, but all season like this year is something totally different. The water levels on the lake and river have not been this high since 1950. Well, I am glad that you all stopped by today, thank you so much. I hope you all have a wonderful day and God bless!
Steve and Muffin.
©2022 Steve McLeod.
The Investigators, Inc. The Northern Mystery. Chapter 9. Attack.
Mriya knew right away what was wrong and got me to lie down on the stretcher. She moved Muffin a bit so we would both fit on the stretcher. Then she called Chung right away to let him know I was coming in too. She spoke in their clinic code, but I knew a bit of what she said. I tried to remain calm at the news, but it was not easy. Chung called Baldwin to let him know what was happening.
“Benson!”, yelled Baldwin. Benson left the library where all the team had congregated. “Yeah boss?”, he asked as he entered Baldwin’s home office. “Take Kat to the clinic, fast!”, he yelled again. Benson ran back to the library and looked around the room. “Um, I cannot tell you two apart,” he said to Kat and Jenny, “but I need to take the real Kat to the clinic, now.” Kat got up without a word and followed him out to the car.
“What is wrong with Steve,” she asked Benson. “I have no idea, honest,” he said, “Baldwin just ordered me to take you to the clinic in a hurry.” Now that really got Kat worrying, she knew it must be something serious. Could it be I am falling back into “nowhere” again? The arrived at the clinic in record time, not much behind the ambulance.
“Please wait,” she said, “unless Baldwin wants you.” “Shall do,” he said and parked the car next to the clinic. He then came into the clinic to sit in the waiting room and watch a movie. Meanwhile… Baldwin went into the library and told everyone the news. “But no one is allowed to leave and go to the clinic,” he said firmly. MC was already there because he wanted to stay with Muffin. Now he was worried about both of us.
He knew how my death would affect his Muffin. Right now she needs good news, not bad news. Meowr?=Me can go and be with Muffin and MC? MC call, he need me. “Rock, take Storm to the clinic, he should be there too,” Baldwin said gently. Rock took Storm quickly and when he saw Benson in the waiting room watching a movie he decided to stay there too.
However, it was not long and Baldwin called them both back home. Kat was sitting on the bed beside me holding my hand. She did not like all these machines around my bed. Mriya came running into the room, apparently one of the machines sent her an alarm, and she went to work getting my heart going again. Chung arrived about a minute later, he had been tending to Muffin, getting her leg into a cast. They finally got my heart beating again.
Kat had to leave the room and once she was able, Mriya came out to talk with her about my heart attack. Then Mriya called Baldwin and asked for Galyna to come and help Kat. Soon Benson was taking her to the clinic, however, he had orders to come right back home. I am sure glad we have Galyna on our team now, her ability to help people is amazing. Baldwin called the McCreary’s and told them there would be a pause in searching for the inheritance.
They understood, and they were willing to wait until we could resume the search. Day by day went by and nothing seemed to change, but Chung insisted that my body and heart were getting stronger each day. The others were allowed to visit, just one at a time and only for a few minutes. Two weeks later and I was back at home feeling very well. It did not seem like I really had a heart attack at all. At least I know it was not an attack by the enemy.
I had known something was wrong for a while, but I did not say anything, something that Baldwin reminded me was against our own rules. We are supposed to register if we do not feel well for whatever reason, even just a mild headache needed to be reported. I was the one that made that rule very early in our PI work. I was ashamed to admit I had kept my heart condition a secret for at least 2 months before my heart attack.
Apparently Chung said I had several small heart attacks before having this latest major one. I will need to take it easy for a while but Chung assured me I would make a full recovery. Chung had helped to solve our second clue and our team went to Scotland and an old castle to find our third clue. At least we know the others did not find it yet.
Someone suggested it may have been found and copied, then returned to its spot. But why would they help us out? Besides, even with being extra careful marks were left on the stone that covered the hiding place for the clue. This clue was worse than the others, it was only a series of dots, and it was not Morse code. But that was not our only problem…
To Be Continued.
©2022 Steve McLeod.
Steve`s Country 