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For a smile as wide as a country sunrise
We decided to eat before checking out this next clue we just found, well, Celestine found it actually. “I want to wear my new dress,” she said, “but it’s a shame to wear it for the first time at home.” I think she was probably hinting at something, so I suggested we should go out for dinner. “I’ll change right away!” she said and ran off to her bedroom, with me running behind her. “Hey, you can’t come in here while I change,” she said, with her hands on her hips.
“If I don’t come in, then you won’t change,” I said firmly, “remember I said that we stay together at all times. I will turn around while you change, but I must be in the room with you, for safety reasons, that’s all.” “Oh, right, I forgot,” she said, “but you don’t have to turn around, I have one of those changing screens to use.” It didn’t take long and we were sitting in the restaurant.
“Hey, that’s the real estate agent,” said Celestine, “and he’s with 2 men, one is quite chubby, just like one of the ghosts that came into my room.” I had sensed trouble when we came in, but thought it must be from outside. Obviously not. I looked over to their table. That chubby man was actually quite a big man and likely quite strong. Glad I’m a ghost, or I might be worried. He’s the kind of man that would be good for Rock, but, Rock is not here, I am. I’m certainly not leaving Celestine alone until this has been taken care of, totally. I looked at her.
“You look positively beautiful in that dress, my little sister,” I said, smiling. “You be careful with those compliments Mr. Steve,” she said, “or I might have to throw you out of my house.” “Would you really do that?” I asked, looking at her rather worriedly. She giggled. “No, of course not,” she said, “I enjoy having my new older brother around.” Then she looked out the window and I could see tears sliding down her cheeks.
“No you don’t,” I said, “we are here to enjoy ourselves, this is no time for tears. So, what are they for?” “Oh, I was just thinking about when you go back home,” she said, “and I will be alone again.” She looked at me. “Would it be possible to take me with you?” she asked, her voice quivering a bit, “Or would your wife not want me around?” “I already decided to bring you home with me,” I said, “there is no way I would leave you here all alone again. I could never live with myself if I did that.”
Then Rosie, our waitress, returned with our food. “Rosie, you know everyone around,” said Celestine, “who is that big man with the long beard?” Without even looking at the man, she told us to stay away from him, he is trouble. “He owns a big nightclub and has lots of big, tough men working for him,” she said, “he scares me every time I see him. The other two are new, I have never seen them before, neither has our boss, and he knows more people than I do.”
“He told us he is a real estate agent and knew some people that wanted to buy Celestine’s house,” I said. “No, he isn’t, he’s just trouble,” she said again, then she returned to the kitchen. I then asked some questions about Celestine’s family. “How did you get your brother’s phone so quickly?” I asked. “Hmm, don’t trust me now,” she said smiling, “it’s quite simple really, he was here visiting me for a week when he was shot by some thieves one evening when he went out for a walk.
I had to go identify the body and they gave me his belongings that he had on him, which wasn’t much. I was going to send them to his wife, but she told me to keep them. She has 3 young kids to raise and has no job, so her parents are helping her and she lives with them for now. He had a good job with an insurance company and had life insurance through them as part of his contract. But when she tried to collect, they said there was no insurance and he never even worked at their company.
That was a lie! She met him at work many times because there was a restaurant on the main floor and they would go there for lunch. Why would they lie like that Steve?” “Because someone put some pressure on them,” I said, “I know this might hurt, but he may have had some illegal dealings with someone else and those people had great influence.” “I believe that Steve,” she said, “he told me, when he was here, that he was working on some other type of employment, but he wouldn’t say what it was.
My two oldest brothers are involved with a criminal group of some kind too. I think my parents were also involved in the same one.” She then looked straight at me. “You are probably saying that you don’t want me around with you now, right?” she asked. “No, I wasn’t saying that at all,” I said, “more than half of the people that are on my team came from criminal organizations or are women who had been involved, involuntarily, in sex trafficking. I don’t think you’re involved in anything criminal, and what your family does has no reflection on you.”
We finished our desert and left. We then drove down to the beach and walked around for a while, talking the whole time. That night I checked Celestine’s bedroom again and discovered the cameras and projectors were back in place, so I removed them again. I then made another phone call to Jennifer after I communicated with her what to do. She then made the call public this time and I didn’t say much, but Celestine said something that would have been barely audible. I’m being really bad now.
Meanwhile, back home. “It sounded like someone said something at the end,” said Aari. “It was a woman,” said Carine, “and she said, “time’s up”.” “That proves that Steve is in trouble!” exclaimed Misty. “Yes, I agree,” said Dawn. “It still could be a test,” said Tracy, “though perhaps that option is less likely now.” Just then Storm came in the library pulling his little wagon full of vacation brochures. “Storm, not now!” exclaimed Cristy, “We have more important things to do.”
So, he turned around and hauled it back to the cat’s playroom. Meow, meow?= “What they say?” Meowr.= “They say go away, not want to look.” Meow, meow.= “Okay, then we look for missing brochure, we show humans we good detective cats.” All the cats jumped with excitement and Rascal dumped over the wagon and they divided the brochures around to all the cats. After a while Misty came looking for the cats.
Meowr!= “Hey, no human people allowed, we do own detective work!” “Wait, I didn’t chase you away, that was Cristy,” said Misty, “I want to help too.” She smiled. Meowr.= “Okay, we look for missing brochure, all have numbers and here is checklist. We find brochure and take it off list, last one on list is where human Steve is.” Misty looked at them, blinking her eyes. Meow, meow!= “AAAAAA, she trying to hippo two eyes us, run!”
“Come back here!” she called, “I’m ready to help, this is a great idea!” Now, back to Celestine and I. “Can we wait until tomorrow to tackle that next clue?” asked Celestine, “I’m really tired tonight.” “Sounds good to me,” I said. I convinced her we need to stay together at all times, so that means sleeping too. Sir Night slept between us, stretched out long. “Tomorrow morning we work on that last clue,” I said. “Oh no, right after an early breakfast we go on a hike, remember?” she asked, “Afternoons are for clues.”
“Okay, but you must promise to wake me up before you get up in the morning,” I said, “it’s important.” “Okay, I promise,” she said, and both of us were soon asleep. I was awake first this time and shook Celestine, but it didn’t work. Meower.= “Need to lick nose.” I couldn’t see me doing that, so I decided to kiss her nose instead. However, she moved, I missed her nose and she slapped me. But she did wake up…
To Be Continued. ©2025 Steve McLeod.
On the way back home, Celestine just had to stop at the store where “her” dress was, but she was so disappointed when she discovered that some man came in yesterday and bought it for his girlfriend. “Well, she certainly has a nice boyfriend,” Celestine said finally, about half way back home. “Maybe he’s not really her boyfriend,” I said, “might have been her brother. The lady at the store wouldn’t necessarily know who he was.” “I have 3 brothers who have good jobs,” she said, “and none of them would buy me a dress like that.
But, the only brother who would even speak to me is the one who was shot. I haven’t heard from the other 2 since the funeral of our parents 3 years ago. They only showed up to get their share of the inheritance…and my share too. They were going to invest it for me so I would make more money, but all they did was steal it from me.” “Hey, no tears now,” I said, “they are not allowed with me around. I have 6 younger sisters and I buy nice things for them all the time.”
“Like that new swimsuit you bought me?” she asked. “Yes, I have bought one for each of them,” I said smiling. “I’m not sure I should accept gifts from you,” she said, looking at me out of the corner of her eyes, “you do remember that you’re married, right?” “Yes, I remember, and I will never forget that,” I said, “I love my wife very much. Just think of me as your older brother buying you something nice. Besides, you are doing so much for me, and saving me a lot of money by allowing me to stay at your home, free.”
We got home and parked, but I sensed trouble now. I think perhaps I was still too stressed out before that I didn’t sense trouble like I should have. Oddly, the trouble didn’t seem to be coming from inside the house though, but from a car parked on the street. When we got out of Celestine’s car, a big man with a long beard got out of that other car and came walking over to us. He introduced himself as a real estate agent working for a local company, and he gave us his business card.
Apparently a man and his wife came into his office this morning asking about Celestine’s house, to see if it was for sale. He talked and talked, trying to make Celestine believe that she shouldn’t turn down this wonderful opportunity to sell her house, especially with the housing market not very good right now. These people were willing to pay a very decent price for such an old house that needed a lot of work. I reminded him that the house was in immaculate condition, it needed no work at all.
But he proceeded to say it would need to be completely gutted to get rid of mice and bugs, put in new insulation, new wiring, new plumbing and so on. By the time he was finished talking these people may as well tear the house down and build a new one, it would likely be cheaper. I told him that my sister wasn’t interested in selling her house. Conversation over. We then went inside and the man got into his car and drove away.
“So, I’m your sister now?” she asked. “Sometimes it’s best to keep things simple,” I said, “rather than saying you just met me and I moved in with you.” She looked at me, blinking like Misty and Cristy do. Amazing. “Okay, that makes sense,” she said. I then told her to sit down and wait for me to return. “I was going to wait until I left before giving you this,” I said, “but I can’t wait after seeing those tears earlier.” I handed her the package. She opened it slowly, looking at me.
Then she screamed. And hugged me tight. “I hope your wife forgives me for this,” she said. Meower.= Oooo, that a long one. “Now for that clue,” I said, “is there a way into the attic?” “Not that I know of,” she said, “and I have certainly looked for it.” “Hmm, that means there is a hidden passage,” I said, “I already figured there is one, or more, since that must be what those ghosts use to get around. First, the basement.”
Down we went and looked around but we could find nothing, so, back upstairs, then upstairs again. “What’s in this room?” I asked. “This was a toy room for my parents when they were kids,” she said as we went inside. “There is dad’s racing set, and his toy rocket with a moon painted on the ceiling above it.” “That’s what we want,” I said. I searched under the table and found a button which I pressed. The moon lifted up and a foldable ladder came down. We then climbed up into the attic.
“Now to look for a portrait of your grandmother,” I said. “Why?” asked Celestine. “The clue mentioned a face,” I said, “so I figured…” “How about the face of a clock?” she asked, looking at an antique clock hanging on the wall. I took it off the wall and Celestine removed an envelope from the back of the clock. It was indeed very hot up here in the attic, like the clue said, so we headed back down to the main floor.
Now to read our new clue which said; “Now, my dear, do this if you can, it’s time to get yourself a man. The two of you get in my bed, lie down, think, use your head. Use your feet to find it fast, now my dear, soon ’twill be last.” “Wow, how did my grandmother know about you?” said Celestine giggling. “Which bed was hers?” I asked. She said to follow her and off we went to a bedroom on the main floor and we both quickly jumped on the bed.
“Um, I don’t see any clues,” said Celestine. “Same here,” I said, “but I didn’t expect to see any that easily, the others were hidden. It was a large wood bed with big, heavy looking posts at each corner with a big, round, wood ball on top of each. “Well, it did say feet,” I said. I then tried taking the ball off one post, but it didn’t move. Celestine tried the other one and with a bit of twisting it came off. The post was hollow, partially anyway, and inside was a piece of paper with another riddle. “I was hoping this would be the last one,” sighed Celestine, “but I guess not.”
Meanwhile, back home. “Maybe we should just wait for Steve to come back,” suggested Aari, “after all, he called you, so we know he’s okay.” Others seemed to agree with this idea. “I don’t believe you people,” scolded Jennifer, “if you were missing, Steve would be looking for you round the clock and you want to give up after a couple of days because it’s too hard!
We know Steve isn’t a ghost like us, so maybe he can be brainwashed by one of our enemies and used against us! Well, if you want to just sit around the pool all day and relax, then fine, I will look for Steve myself!” She then stormed out of the library and went back to our bedroom. “I still think it’s just a test,” said Tracy to the others. “Well, if that’s true,” said Misty, “then he would have left us some clues, so, let’s find them!”
To Be Continued. ©2025 Steve McLeod.
Steve`s Country 