Steve`s Country
For a smile as wide as a country sunrise
The Investigators, Inc. The Haunted House Case. Chapter 1. Surgeon and Disappearance.
We kind of missed Christmas by a bit, but we still had our Christmas anyway, just a few days late. Nothing wrong with that, we still enjoyed ourselves immensely. Cristy and Yana are still in our medical clinic recovering, but we brought them out here, in their beds, so they could join all of our Christmas celebrations. Then came New Year’s, which we just incorporated into our celebration time, since the two overlapped for us. Then 4 of our girls headed off to the United States to visit with some friends, something they had planned since last summer.
Sherry and three other girls, plus 4 cats, drove them to the airport, as they would be flying on a commercial flight. Sherry asked if they could use the limousine and I gave permission, providing they could get away without Sienna seeing them. They managed to do that, which was quite amazing really. Not long after they left Sienna, Jennifer, Kat and Galyna came along, nicely dressed and I asked what they were doing. “I am taking these 3 women out for dinner,” said Sienna, “do you have any objections?” “Uh, no, none at all,” I said.
“Good,” she said and then she told Galyna to get the limousine for them. Then she saw me whisper to Jennifer after kissing her. “Okay Steve,” she said, “what’s wrong with the limousine?” “Uh, nothing,” I said, “um, it was working just fine when Sherry took the girls to the airport.” Sienna just looked at me. “Did it ever occur to you that I might like to use the limousine once in a while?” she asked. “Well, I didn’t know you wanted it tonight,” I said, “I didn’t even know you were going out.”
“I didn’t want you to know we were going out until the last minute,” she said, “otherwise you would find a way to join us, and this is just for us, no men allowed.” “But if you had told me, then the limo would be here for you to use,” I explained. She sighed, as did the others, and off they went in one of the vans. Oh well. Amazingly, nothing happened with the girls going to the airport or with those going out for dinner. Everything went smoothly for a change. The next morning I met Misty in the hall with a plate full of donuts, 16 of them.
I was about to take one, but Misty slapped my hand and said these were for something special. Then she told me to follow her quickly since the donuts are “sneaked”. I held her hand and made us invisible. “This way we don’t have to run,” I said, “you don’t want to drop those donuts.” “Very true,” she said, “this is a good idea.” Right after we left down the hall to the clinic, Dawn, Charlotte, Emily and Sherry came out of the kitchen. “Where did she go so fast?” asked Dawn. “Bedroom!” exclaimed Emily, and they all ran up to the twin’s bedroom.
However, they were disappointed to not find Misty and the donuts. “Hey, Cristy!” yelled Sherry. “That’s it!” the others chimed in, and off they ran to the clinic, but Kat stopped them by the kitchen and asked what was going on, so they told her that Misty had sneaked away with their donuts and likely took them to Cristy. “If she took them to Cristy,” said Kat, “then leave them alone. Cristy almost died, those two need a treat. You can always make more.” Then she frowned at them.
They looked at each other, then slowly shuffled back into the kitchen, which almost got Kat laughing. Meanwhile, Sky overheard this and disappeared, reappearing in Cristy’s room. “So, this is what you have been doing,” she said, then there was a knock at the door and everyone hid, except Cristy. Misty and I entered and everyone jumped out yelling “surprise!” and I nearly jumped right off the floor. Misty’s team planned this little surprise party for me. There was even a banner which read, “Best Surgeon in the World”.
They even had a beautiful trophy, made from walnut, done by Misty and on top a polished bullet, the one I took out of Cristy, and she did the polishing. I must admit, it made me cry. That plate of donuts was actually the fourth one that Misty “sneaked” away from the other four girls. That part made me laugh, especially when Sky added the part she heard. I remarked that Misty did a wonderful job with her woodworking. Apparently Yves is a fantastic carpenter and he has been teaching Misty some woodworking skills.
“Misty, that’s impossible, there are not enough hours in the day for you to do all the things that you do!” I said emphatically, shaking my head. “I agree,” said Jennifer. Misty and Cristy giggled. A couple of days later Melody said I had a phone call from the father of one friend that our girls had gone to visit. He said it was urgent. I didn’t like the sound of that and I told Melody to put the call through to my laptop so everyone can hear.
“My name is George Stafford,” he said, “my daughter is Shawna, a friend of Cathy from your Investigators team. Two days ago Shawna, her two friends and the women from your team went to explore what everyone here in town refers to as the Little haunted house. It was built by a man named Charlie Little about a hundred years ago and it’s a rather large house. Two 18 year old boys were found dead in the house last year and a 47 year old man the year before, yet none had a mark on them. And they had not been poisoned either.
Autopsies done on them were inconclusive as to the cause of death. There was also a couple in their 30’s about 20 years ago that had bought the house and moved in, but they were also found dead two weeks later, from heart attacks that time. The coroner believed they had been scared to death. I just found out today from another friend who had gone to the house my daughter and her friends were renting. She found the front door open so she went inside and found the house all messed up, so she ran outside and called the police.
My daughter had told her they were going to check out the haunted house, that’s why she went to visit, to see what had happened, if anything. I don’t know what you charge, but if I can, I would like to hire you to look for my daughter and the others. The police said they found nothing in the house so they think perhaps the girls went on a road trip somewhere for a few days. Somehow I doubt that. Do you have time to look into this for me?” “We will definitely look into this Mr. Stafford,” I said, “and since our girls are involved too, there will be no charge. We will be coming just as soon as we can get packed.”
I then got his address so we can get in touch and talk with him about this house and where, exactly, it’s located. Since our 4 girls were from Kat’s team, then the rest of the team will come on this case, plus the Bad Girls and an assortment of cats. Jennifer stayed home this time, so she sent Dawn as my wife, though I’m not sure why I really need one on this case, but she just stared at me so I said it was a good idea. We were soon flying over the ocean once again to explore another so-called haunted house…
To Be Continued. ©2026 Steve McLeod.
Country Pleasures. #1
Hello dear readers and Happy New Year on this Sunday evening here at Steve’s Country! Well, here we are, beginning a new year and we are right into winter. Our summers are very short, so it’s nice to get out and enjoy summer as much as possible. For me I would get out and enjoy it even if we had long summers. That is a pleasure that I treasure. It’s amazing how quick we are to complain about things and yet there are so many things around us each day, so many pleasures that we can treasure. We complain about summer being too hot or winter being too cold. Although our winter so far has not been that bad, it certainly could be much worse.
But think of all the little pleasures that we can treasure. It doesn’t matter where you live, there are always pleasures around. I like to talk about country pleasures a lot since I live in a small town which is close to country living. But pleasures can be found everywhere. Ever walk past a house with beautiful flowers? That is a wonderful pleasure. Have you seen the bees going from flower to flower collecting nectar to bring back to their hive? Often those bees are covered with pollen. That is a real pleasure to see and watch.
What about a brilliantly colored butterfly flitting about? There it goes across the lawn, it stops to rest on a leaf or goes to a flower for something to eat. That is a beautiful pleasure and a real treasure. How about walking across the grass with bare feet on a hot summer day? What a beautiful feeling that is, another pleasure that we can treasure. Or sitting in the shade of a large tree on a sunny, hot afternoon? Perhaps a gentle summer shower and the amazing fresh smell afterwards?
Winter sunrise, unfortunately marred by the security netting on my balcony.
How about the smell of freshly cut grass? These are all wonderful pleasures that we can treasure. If you are an early morning person like me, there is the beauty of a summer sunrise. As the sun peeks over the treetops and shines its golden rays on the still green leaves. Like turning on a switch, those trees just begin to glow. Or if you prefer a time later in the day, there are the amazing summer sunsets with multiple colors of red, pink, purple and gold. Those colors keep changing as the sun sinks deeper under the horizon, until there is just a faint glow. Both of these are true pleasures that we can really treasure.
American Goldfinch
Then we have the many varied songs of the birds. Some can be very plain without any real melody to them. Others are very musical with long, loud songs that carry for long distances. Any time of day birds can be heard. Each seems to have their favorite time of day for singing however. Some will sing any time, day or night, like our robins. Some, like owls, reserve their calling for the night portion of the day.
Common Loon, which is not as common anymore
Our loons will call anytime of the day/night, but they can really get active with their long incredible calls at night. Those calls can carry for kilometers across the water. They are an absolutely amazing water bird. And bird songs/calls are a definite pleasure that can be enjoyed everywhere. How about walking across the hot sand at the beach? Going for a swim on a hot day.
Perhaps going for a walk on a nice country or park path. Sitting on a thick mat of pine needles shaded by the giant trees while looking out across a river or lake. Watching a squirrel high in one of those pine trees cutting down the pine cones which he later gathers up and chews them open to eat the tiny seeds within. A lot of work for just such tiny seeds. But the squirrel doesn’t complain about it. Another bunch of pleasures that we can treasure. We can learn a lot from some of these little critters too.
Well, I will leave it there for this time, but I will be back with more pleasures we can treasure another time. Have a wonderful week and God bless!
Steve and Muffin. ©2026 Steve McLeod.
