Steve`s Country
For a smile as wide as a country sunrise
The Investigators, Inc. The Castle Mystery. Chapter 6.
Everyone gathered in the kitchen for tea and an early breakfast. There is a door to the kitchen which they closed so scramblers could be used and they could talk freely. Annelie whispered to Baldwin and he then told Candace and Angel to go with Annelie and Elsa. Off they went to Elsa’s bedroom, Annelie had another scrambler to use there too. “This device will let us know if there is a camera here as well,” she told Elsa. “A camera?,” she asked, “in my bedroom?” “Yes, there was a camera in each of our rooms,” said Candace.
Sure enough, there was a camera, hidden in the ceiling light. They moved a dresser over so Annelie could stand on that and reach the light. She removed the light and disconnected the camera. “Th, that is scary,” said Elsa nervously. Apparently Elsa could often hear voices, which she thought were real ghosts. Everyone listened carefully. Meow,meow.=Voices in here. They opened a large old wood wardrobe and put a listening device on the back.
Sure enough, they heard voices clearly. “What are we going to do with all those people?”, said a woman. “They will leave, don’t worry,” said a man, “and if not, we will kill them all one by one. We have the advantage of knowing this castle and every passage hidden within it.” “I still do not like it,” said the woman, “even using their friends has not scared them away.” “They will give up and leave,” he said, “and it will be soon. Wait until they get word from their home, and that will be within half an hour.”
“I wonder what that means?”, said Candace, “do they know where we live?” “They do if Darren is working with them,” said Angel. “They are a bunch of bullies trying to push us around,” declared Elsa, “that won’t happen to me!” “That is a big change Elsa,” said Annelie, “we will help you, so do not worry.” Meow,meow.=Yes, we help, and look after you. You help us big with this. “Thank you Muffin,” said Elsa, “somehow I am not so worried now.”
Meow,meow.=That good, you very nice human people. Elsa smiles at Muffin, then suddenly she stares. “I must be going insane or something,” she said. “Why is that?”, asked Annelie. “I just thought I heard Muffin talking,” she said, her eyes still wide. The others laughed. “You did hear Muffin talk,” said Candace, “her and MC are special cats, and they will let certain people hear them speak, that means she trusts you.” Elsa just looked at the girls, then at Muffin. “That is real?”, she asked. “Yes Elsa, it is real,” said Angel.
Meow,meow.=I go tell human Baldwin what we hear. They let her out and watched as she ran down the hall to the kitchen. “I do not like letting Kara be alone so long watching Kat and MC,” said Angel, “I will go up and stay with her.” And off she went in a hurry. “She should not go by herself,” said Candace. “True, but we won’t tell Baldwin this time,” said Annelie.
Meanwhile… “I’m sorry Steve,” said Kristina, “you should not have to go through this for me.” “It is my choice, so don’t worry about it,” I said, rather weakly. “Meow,” I said to her. “Meow,meow,” she answered. It was part of a code we developed to talk to each other, which also included numbers and a few words that would make no sense to anyone but us. We do have alert devices in our clothes, but they took our clothes and gave us other clothes instead, while we were knocked out. I also have one embedded under my skin, but the way I am chained up I cannot reach it.
Every 2 hours they come to beat us just a little, to make sure we do not keep our strength. They have been nice enough to allow me to take Kristina’s beatings as well, for the most part, saving her from a lot of pain. That is what she was talking about. She is chained up also, not too far from me, so I had asked her if she could reach me and activate the alert device. She tried several times but was unable to reach far enough. If I could just move myself a little bit…
Meanwhile, back to the others… Not long after Muffin told Baldwin what we heard, he got a phone call from Chung. His eyes went wide. They were all together again in Kat’s room. “Shirley was found by Chung in the chateau,” said Baldwin, “and found her beaten. She had gone there to check on it. She is okay though, it was not too serious.” Angel started to cry. “I am going back,” said Baldwin, “would you like to come with me Angel?” She looked up, “NO, I am staying here to find these cowards!”, she said adamantly. It is now 4am…
To Be Continued.
©2022 Steve McLeod.
Wandering Through Wednesday. #9
Good morning to everyone! It is another beautiful, sunny morning with that rich blue sky overhead. The birds are busy, mainly with redpolls leading in numbers. There are also at least 8 evening grosbeaks and 4 pine grosbeaks. Red-breasted and white-breasted nuthatches are here as well. At one point all 3 suet cakes had a red-breasted nuthatch and each one was upside down pounding at the suet. Chickadees are here as well, but there are definitely fewer of them now.
Downy and Hairy woodpeckers are busy here each day and I will soon need to replace the suet. I showed the two different woodpeckers yesterday, they look nearly identical except for the size and the fact the downy woodpecker has a much shorter beak. Blue jays were here as well, but I think they have gone again. Oops, I see they just arrived again so I will need to give them more peanuts. There, they are happy again. It was quite nice yesterday, although it did get cloudy around noon, just before I went for my walk to the river.
It was about time for another walk, something I had to put off for a while due to the bitter cold and extra snow we had been getting. The man with the snowmobile had opened the path again, though we have had snow since then, another 4 inches covered the path. Plus, because of the milder weather, the path was getting soft a bit, so walking was definitely harder than usual. It certainly gives a good workout anyway. I probably should not have gone all the way after not walking for such a long time. But I did it.
Even the footpath down to the river was open, sort of, it had been walked on anyway. It was quiet all the way to the river. No birds or other animals. I did not even see Scramble, though I left him some peanuts. And they were mostly gone on the way back. It was cold by the river with the wind coming down that long stretch of open water. There is no ice left, except a little in one bay. The water is much higher now, they are letting water out of the lake in anticipation of heavy runoff from all the melting snow.
We have much more snow than normal on the ground right now, and we will likely get more yet. So the river will be high this spring, unlike last spring. Even now the river is high and turbulent, with heavy swirls of current as the water moves past. I did not stay there long and headed back home. I measured the snow in places, between 3 and 4 feet (90 to 120cm) deep. I fell twice on the walk, at the same spot, going in and coming out, even though I was trying to be extra careful right there. The fall coming out was the worst and I am still feeling it today. I have an idea for getting past that spot next time.
The joys of winter. Have a wonderful day everyone and God bless!
Steve and Muffin. (praying for the people of Ukraine)
©2022 Steve McLeod.
Steve`s Country 