For a smile as wide as a country sunrise

Hi everyone and welcome back! Today’s bird is the “double-crested cormorant”, though that double crest is not always easy to see unless you’re fairly close to the bird. These are a rather odd type water bird that has less preen oil for their feathers than other water birds like ducks. So their feathers can get quite wet, therefore they spend a lot of time resting on rocks, in trees, on buildings, with their wings outstretched to dry them. They will even swim with their wings outstretched. They will also often swim with only their head and neck sticking out of the water. They are an excellent diving bird and their diet is almost totally fish. They make an odd grunting noise to communicate. They nest in colonies in trees or on the ground, their nests can be up to 3 feet (1 meter) across. The male chooses the nest site and provides most of the nesting material while the female builds the nest. They will lay up to 7 eggs. The chicks often congregate together while parents are out fishing and return to their own nests for feeding. Have a wonderful day everyone and God bless!
Steve and Muffin.
©2021 Steve McLeod.
All the time we have been back here in Canada, the cats and Lena haven’t noticed anyone following us or anything suspicious at all. That’s a good thing, I think. That would mean they don’t know where I normally live. Or it could be that our plan worked out so well that we managed to give them the slip back in France, so they didn’t know where we went. Whichever the case, we are going back a different way, so that hopefully they won’t know where we have been. Right now we are heading down to the US, and from there we are off to Germany. Daniel (Baldwin) will have a car waiting for us and we will drive back to France and our chateau. Or will we?

I keep seeing pictures in my mind, but they don’t make sense. We are now over the ocean on a very long journey. I admit, these plane trips are long, not sure why my former self would want to take on cases so far away. Why not stay with cases in Canada? Doesn’t anything happen back there? Something about Germany keeps coming back to me. That’s where we were taken and dropped off in that forest. That’s also where people first started following us. “Did we ever have any cases in Germany before?”, I ask the cats. Meow,meow.=Yep, that was kidnapping case of rich man’s daughter, except she not really kidnapped. Part of big drug gang. Meow.=That where you meet Karin who hired to kill you but instead became your girlfriend.
“Oh, okay, and she’s the one that tried to kill me again, but instead I killed her,” I said, remembering what they had told me before. “How well do you know Daniel and Calanthe,?” I asked Lena. “I don’t really know much about them, you know more than I do, I have only known them really for about 3 weeks,” she said, “Calanthe seems to be very nice, I like her, and Daniel (Baldwin) is also very nice and helpful. I remember you did a big check on his background and he was completely clean.” “Then there is this mystery person I said I wanted to kill,” I added in. “Sorry we can’t tell you Steve, but the cats said you go crazy just mentioning the person’s name,” said Lena. “Yes, I remember they told me that,” I said, “but that person is a key to this whole thing.

Perhaps if you just describe the person to me.” “Might work,” said Lena, “but not until we land, just in case you go crazy.” “Okay, that’s fair,” I said, then I turned to Muffin, “what happened to the people in that Germany case?” Meow,meow.=They all arrested and go to prison. What you think about? “Well, if they were part of a big drug gang, they probably didn’t like the fact we sent them to prison, especially since we are not professionals, that could be embarrassing for them so they might want to get even. If I kill someone, then I go to prison for a long time, or maybe even get killed. And perhaps they don’t like this other person either, so they get two in one.” “That’s a good thought,” said Lena, “maybe we should check and see if that person knows these drug people.” Soon we were landing, that trip went faster than I thought.
The car was there, as were 4 of Daniel’s (Baldwin’s) men, but they all left after handing the car over to us. We went and checked in at a hotel since it was already getting late. Once there Lena told me the man I was supposed to kill was Daniel. I had no reaction to this at all. Then they mentioned Baldwin’s name, but again, no reaction from me. And I didn’t recognize anything. “Maybe it’s because that probe is no longer in my brain,” I suggested. “That’s possible,” said Lena. Meow,=Maybe you start to get better now. Meow,meow.=Too bad though, was looking forward to biting leg again. Meow.=Yep, me too, but we have more opportunity I sure. “Thanks so much you two,” I said with a laugh. At that moment my head felt heavy and empty.

I stood up holding my head and groaning while the others watched not knowing what to do. Suddenly I turned with my gun pointed at Lena. “Ha! It’s you I want to kill Lena, not Baldwin,” I said growling the words. “Thwock!” And down I went. Mr. Cat had hit me with one of his rubber balls. Meow!=Oh, I hope I not hit him too hard, I try not to, only want to stop him. Lena ran over and took my gun and looked at me. “He’ll be okay, though he will probably have a headache,” she said, “but why would he want to kill me? I don’t have any enemies that would want to kill me. I woke up and they told me what had happened. I don’t remember a thing about it. What have I become? A crazy man without a past. I’m still nowhere…and frustrated.
To Be Continued.
Pictures of Mr. Cat are kindly supplied by his human, Nina.
Previous chapters of this story and previous stories can be found on my home page under “The Investigators, Inc.” and “20/20 Investigations, Inc.”
©2021 Steve McLeod.