Steve`s Country
For a smile as wide as a country sunrise
The Investigators, Inc. The Square House. Chapter 5.
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.”
And now our story continues with Muffin…
Her screech had come from down the hall and Mr. Cat was at one of the doors scratching away trying to get in! I unlock the door and he was in there fast, with me right behind him. Just after getting in I felt the pain on my spine as someone hit me hard, and I immediately fell to the floor groaning. “Thwock!” Mr. Cat had tried to hit the person, but he was in a bad position as he had been looking for Muffin. He ran to the hall, but the person was at the end of the hallway already. That didn’t stop Mr. Cat and he pulled hard and…”Thwock!” There was groaning by the person, Mr. Cat had gotten him on the upper back, but because of the distance the ball hurt him, but didn’t stop him. Caren was lying on the floor having been hit by the running person.
Mr. Cat ran after the person to try and get a closer shot, but the person was already out the door and driving away. Mr. Cat sat at the door staring as the car disappeared from view. Meow.=My Muffin, he said quietly, with tears in his eyes. I finally got to the door, with Caren and…Meow=he take Muffin, my Muffin. I pick him up and hug him, then close the door. “Did you get the license number?”, I ask him. Meow!=Oh, me bad kitty, forget to look! “That’s okay Mr. Cat, don’t worry about that,” I said, “did you get a good look at the person?” Meow=Not too much, but he big man, have kinda long hair, and he fast. He get out door, in car and drive away, very fast man. “Not necessarily Mr. Cat,” I said to him, “there might have been someone in the car waiting for him, so that’s how he could do it so fast.” Meow!=Those 2 men at hotel! “I thought of that too,” I said, “but neither one of them is big.”
We all went back to the kitchen. “Hmm, looks like you will have a black eye for a few days,” I said to Caren. “Thanks, just what I need,” she answered. I don’t know which is worse right now, sitting or standing, my lower back is in such pain. “It’s because of an old wound,” I told Caren. Meow.=Yep, old girlfriend shoot him. Caren’s eyes got real big. “Are you serious Mr. Cat?”, she asked holding back laughter. “Um, yes, it is true,” I said, “now, do you know any big guys in town, even if you haven’t talked to them?” “Yes, there is a guy at the hotel,” she said, “but he barely leaves his room, kind of a strange type of guy. He’s very good with computers though, he fixed a problem we were having at the hotel so our manager gave him a free 2 week stay.”
“Hmm, now we are getting somewhere,” I said, “Mr. Cat, would you be able to recognize that car if you saw it again?” Meow.=Maybe, not sure, I not very good with different cars. “By the way Mr. Cat,” I began to say, “why were you and Muffin apart like that, you two are supposed to stay together.” Meow.=I know, Muffin say, let’s race to next room, but she close to door, I not, so she get to bedroom first and door close tight. I about to call you when Muffin shriek. He better not hurt my Muffin! Meow.=Me think of something else, why he hit you on spine, human people normally hit to side part, more painful. I thought for a moment. Mr. Cat was right, hitting on the spine isn’t normal, unless he just missed, but that’s highly unlikely. Did he know about my problem?
“Very interesting observation Mr. Cat,” I said while rubbing his head, “that would mean that big guy knows me and something about me.” “That’s a scary thought,” said Caren. “Perhaps,” I said, “but that can also be a good thing, might make it easier to track him down too.” We decide to drive back to the hotel while it’s still dark and look at some cars. Fortunately the parking lot at the hotel doesn’t have much lighting and it didn’t take long to pick out the car he saw, and it belonged to that guy staying at the hotel! Now it’s time for a talk with him and find out what he did with Muffin. “Ready Mr. Cat?”, I ask him. Meow.=me ready, he not get away with this, let’s go!
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.
Wednesday’s Wanderings #2.
Good morning everyone! It is such a beautiful morning, I think perhaps it’s our nicest morning this year. The temp is a nice 43F (6C), the sun is shining beautifully on the trees, there is a couple of robins singing, 1 is close by, the other seems quite far away. There is a mallard duck sitting on the roof, when I went out to feed the gulls then he flew away. Sir George and Sir Henry were here for their breakfast and they each took some back for their mates who would now be sitting on eggs. Both Baxter and Betty (the blue jays) come around now which means they have young in the nest now. Yesterday Baxter was on the ground with the little sparrows looking for the peanuts that come in the wild bird seed mix that the smaller birds get.
He didn’t bother the small birds and the small birds paid no attention to him. They can get along very well together. It is very quiet out here this morning, most of the small birds have gone now, spreading out into the forest to begin getting their territories and build their nests. There is only a couple of evening grosbeaks here this morning and I haven’t seen any purple finches. The goldfinches should be coming back soon. Only one squirrel has come so far this morning, one of the females that I haven’t named yet. She has gotten quite tame in a short space of time.
I was out yesterday buying some plants for my deck garden. I’m trying a new flower this year, can’t remember the name, something weird anyway, they look like small colored daisies. I hope they do well, just never know when trying out something new. I see there are a few evening grosbeaks out there now, but the grackles just came and scared them away. Sigh. Guess I might have to intervene this time. That purple headed grackle was there so I went carefully out and…he was gone. But I waited for a while anyway, none of the grackles came back.
There was 3 squirrels, each had their own spot, then a 4th showed up which was just too much. So two of them ended up in a huge fight in the peanut box! One finally lost and came flying out of that box and he took out his loss on one of the other squirrels who ran off and the last squirrel didn’t even hang around to try and fight, she just left very quickly. So he came back to fight with the first squirrel in the peanut box again. This time first squirrel came out and chased the other squirrel through the trees. No squirrels came back until Jasper’s twin showed up just as I was coming back inside.
Jasper and Freddie were not involved this morning, but the one in the peanut box was Chase. One of the other squirrels was Leap. I have only seen one junco this morning. It looks like things will be much quieter around here now, but more birds, different kinds, will soon be here to take their place. It never is as busy during the summer as during this first stage of the migration. I’m going to need to spend more time at the river to get more pics. And today that begins. It’s supposed to be in the low 70s today! Great weather for a walk. Have a wonderful day and God bless!
Steve and Muffin.
©2021 Steve McLeod.
