I bring out our map and look, I also look at the lake. “There’s not much gas in that quad,” I said, “but let’s see how far back we can go, they won’t be expecting us to go back.” “That’s because it doesn’t really make sense to go back,” said Kat with a sigh. “It will make sense,” I said, “especially if I go back to nowhere again. Okay, cats, check out the quad for any trackers.” They go at it thoroughly, but oddly there wasn’t anything. Guess they didn’t figure we would get hold of it. We all get back on the quad and turn around. “Now’s the time Muffin,” I said, and off we went. We got to a certain spot, then I carefully steered the quad down a hill.

It wasn’t too steep, but I kept going slowly just in case. Finally we got to some thick underbrush so I stopped while everyone got off, then I drove it into the brush to hide it. Then we went back to shake up the grass as best we could so no one could see our tracks too well. “We need to walk a bit again,” I said, and off we went through the trees to a small round lake and sat down along the rocky shoreline. “Well,” said Kat, “will we be safe while we wait? It will be a while I imagine. And how are you feeling Steve, I’m worried about you.” “I’ll be honest, I’m not feeling too great,” I said, “that nowhere feeling is coming back.”

I started writing some things down on a piece of paper to remind myself that Kat is my wife, the cat’s names and yes, I can understand them talking, Baldwin is my best friend, and several other things. “I’m worried too,” I told Kat, “remember what the doctor said, if I go back to this nowhere state, that’s it, there will be no way back.” “Yes,” said Kat, “I remember that. But I will stay with you no matter what. We’ll work it out together.” Meow,meow.=We go for walk around, we do things right this time. Meow.=Yep, no more bears, we just do job. “Okay,” I said, “but don’t go far and don’t stay away too long.” Meow.=Okay. Off they went quietly through the trees.

“I need to go off for a bit myself Steve,” said Kat. “I’m just going to lie down on this nice soft moss for a while,” I told her. I was soon asleep, since I didn’t get much sleep last night. Meanwhile, a phone call is taking place. “You let them take a quad, how stupid can you get?”, said the woman. “Sorry K, but that PI is smarter than I thought, ” said the man. “I told you it wouldn’t be easy,” said the woman, “now this is where to find them, they’re by a lake, but you’ll have to backtrack to get there. And they have called for help already.” “How could they call for help, we took everything from them,” said the man.

“You left a leg band on that one furball, she can use it to call for help!”, said the woman. “I didn’t think it could do anything, just a piece of leather with a couple stones in it,” said the man, “but we’ll get them first anyway Kat…” “I told you not to use my name!”, she said. “Oops, sorry K, I forgot again. But don’t worry, we’ll catch them and bring them back here before any help arrives,” said the man. “You better,” said K. Meanwhile, back to us. “Do we have anything I can give to this cute chipmunk?”, asked Kat. “That’s who you were talking to,” I laughed, “well, there’s some oatmeal left, he might like that, or some cat food.” That little chipmunk liked both! Off he went after his cheeks were full.

The cats came running back after about an hour. Meow.=Human people coming, 6 of them. “Okay everyone, follow me,” I said, and off we went around the lake, but, we came upon an area of bog that surrounded the other side of the lake. “There’s no way to walk through that,” I said, “we’ll have to go up this hill, go around back to where we started and maybe take one of their quads.” “If they left the key for us,” said Kat. We continued walking until we got back to the road which we crossed over to the pines on the other side. Then we made our way back to the quads. No one was guarding them, but there were no keys either. Then it hit me again, my head was pounding, ready to explode! We turned to go, but…

To Be Continued.

Previous chapters of this story, and other stories, can be found on my home page under “The Investigators, Inc.” Pictures of M.C. are kindly supplied by his human, Nina.

©2021 Steve McLeod.