Steve`s Country
For a smile as wide as a country sunrise
The Investigators, Inc. The Square House. Chapter 2.
After asking how much I charge for PI services, she then added, “you’re a great ventriloquist.” Meow,meow?=What is a venting locust? I laughed a bit, “that’s ventriloquist Muffin, that’s someone that can make their voice sound like it comes from somewhere else.” Meow,meow=Venting locust very strange name, human people have strange language at times. Meow.=Yep, me agree, never hear of venting locust before. “Um, that’s ventril…never mind,” I said and turned to Caren, “I’m not making them talk, they really do talk, and you can understand them which is amazing, not many people can.” She stared at me, then she stared at the cats and they smiled at her. “It, it…looks like their smiling,” she said, “and they really talk…but, but…that’s not possible.” I think she was about ready to faint.
“Don’t worry,” I said, “and don’t be scared by it, and I would suggest you don’t tell people or they might think you have flipped under pressure. Now, tell me, what is the problem?” “I need help, I have talked to the police but they won’t help, because…well…there is really nothing they can do, because there is nothing,” she said slowly. “Okay, just tell me from the beginning, and I will let you know if there is something we can do,” I said to her. She took a deep breath, “I think someone is stalking me, but I don’t know who or why or anything really. I bought a house recently, an odd kind of house, I got it cheap because it needed some work.
Because I live alone the first thing I did was put new locks on the doors and windows, but…someone keeps getting in. They don’t steal anything, nothing looks like it has been touched. But the person leaves notes, pictures of the inside of my house, even personal things. I’m scared to go back there, I’ve been staying here the last 2 nights.” “Hmm, it does sound like someone is stalking you alright,” I said, “so maybe you should just stay here for awhile and maybe this person will give up and leave.” “But it’s my house,” she said almost crying, “I bought it to live in, it’s in such a beautiful, peaceful spot, and the house will look great once it’s fixed up.” She put her head down.
Meow,meow?=Why you say it odd house? Caren stared at Muffin. Muffin started purring, so did Mr. Cat. “That sounds so nice,” said Caren, “the house is odd because it’s square.” Meow?=Thought all houses square, why that is odd? “Well, most houses are not square, Mr. Cat,” I said, “they are more rectangular.” “Right,” said Caren, “and this house is perfectly square, even the doors and windows are all square, every room is square, inside doors are square, light fixtures are square, everything. That’s what caught my attention at first, I thought it was so interesting, I was so happy to get my own place, but now…I don’t even want to go there, it’s just creepy.”
“Well, we are here on vacation for 3 weeks,” I said, “why not stay here until then and we will go with you out there after our vacation and check on things for you, we won’t even charge for that.” The cats ears went straight up! Meow,meow=Hey, human Caren need help now, not in 3 weeks, I say we help, have vacation afterward. Meow.=Yep, I agree with Muffin, this more important than vacation, we help now. I looked at them both, then smiled. “Well then, it’s unanimous, we help now instead,” I said to Caren, “I wanted to let them have first choice in this and they did the right thing.” Caren produced the biggest smile and kissed all of us.
We just relaxed for the day and when Caren got off work at 4pm we drove out to her house. It was a beautiful, quiet and secluded spot, I can see why she likes it here. Just what a stalker would like too, but there is only one road in here and that would make it easy to spot a vehicle. She was right, the house is square and it does look a bit odd with square doors and windows. She had changed locks again just before she decided to stay at the hotel. We go inside and on a table in the entry is a note, saying “HAHAHA! You thought new locks would stop me?” And there were 3 new pics of the kitchen, living room and her bedroom. Then, suddenly, there was a loud, eerie laughing. The cats ears went straight up and Caren hugged me so tight I thought she would crack one of my ribs.
To Be Continued.
Pictures of Mr. Cat are kindly supplied by his human, Nina.
Previous chapters of this story and other stories can be found on my home page under “The Investigators, Inc.” and “20/20 Investigations, Inc.”
©2021 Steve McLeod.
Wednesday’s Wanderings #1.
Good morning everyone on this frosty day in May! Hard to believe watching people walking around wearing winter jackets, gloves, winter hats, on May 4th. Yes, that was yesterday, I also saw someone dressed like that this morning too. I had my winter jacket on as well while standing out there trying to get pics this morning. Then something scared all the birds so I came back in. My hands were cold anyway, no, I wasn’t wearing gloves, I can’t wear gloves and take pictures, too awkward. Bert was around Monday evening. He came at 6pm so I got to see how my new idea worked. It was sensational, fantastic, a great idea! It only had one teeny tiny flaw. It failed.
It took that bear less than a minute to figure out how to get that feeder, and break it. That’s feeder number 5 now. Sigh. You might notice something from the pics today which came from Monday evening. Something scared him and he climbed into the birch tree. He is losing a lot of fur, that brownish color is his skin. He has mange. It’s a terrible disease caused by mites that will eventually kill the animal. Our fox population was nearly wiped out by mange a number of years ago, but they are coming back now. I have heard that the coyotes have it too. It weakens the animal so they look for easy sources of food, one of the things listed is bird feeders. Thanks. It also brings them out during the day more. Not a good thought.
Where bears can be a problem, never wear dark clothes. Great, my two jackets for this time of year are black and dark blue. Wrong colors. Don’t bend down or get on your knees out in the forest. How am I supposed to get pics of wildflowers or butterflies if I don’t do that? How about if I stay inside, lock my door and hide under the bed? No, wait, the last time I went under the bed I got stuck. Muffin came to rescue me but she wasn’t much help. She lay there and swished dust into my face with her tail. That made me sneeze. That made me yell, due to the position I was in. Muffin disappeared.
For those who don’t know, my sneezes are huge and very painful. And since I was stuck under the bed it was even more painful. Why is it painful? Long story. I should probably explain sometime. Most of you don’t know about my health problems. Which is why I was stuck under the bed. It took me another 30 minutes to get out of there. Sigh. I lost a bird yesterday. There was a screech and all birds disappeared. Even the crows. Only Sir George remained. Only a couple things scare him. Ravens and eagles. Anyway, I figured a hawk came through so I went to look.
Sure enough, it was a Cooper’s hawk. We don’t get many of them. They usually just pass through during migration times. They are a woodland bird hawk, deadly on birds. We have their smaller cousin, the sharp-shinned hawk, and the larger cousin, the goshawk. They are all deadly on birds, that’s what they eat. I don’t like having them around my feeders. This one appeared to have a female evening grosbeak. I tried going out to get a pic but he flew right away. And then a little later…wait, this is getting a bit longer than usual, I should stop. I will try to remember this one for tomorrow. Hopefully. Chapter 2 of my latest mystery story, The Square House, comes out today. I hope you all have a wonderful spring day and God bless!
Steve and Muffin.
©2021 Steve McLeod.
