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For a smile as wide as a country sunrise
It was quite early in the morning and I was still asleep, but Jennifer was awake and she shook me to wake me up. “Steve, I sense danger!” she said, “And it’s very close!” I was up fast when she said that. Muffin was sleeping at the foot of the bed and Storm was sniffing her. Meowr!= Me not think Muffin is here now! I tried to wake Muffin, but there was no response.
I picked her up and disappeared, reappearing at the clinic. Cindy was the only one up that early but she pressed the emergency button for Bridgette and she showed up quickly. She sleeps at the clinic, as does Cindy, Lily, Samantha and Dr. Jorgenson. But Bridgette is our vet which is why Cindy called for her. She took Muffin into the examination room and then looked at me very worried.
“We need Kat right away or we’ll lose Muffin,” she said. I was gone immediately, showing up in Kat’s hotel room. They were just getting into bed. “Amber, Jennifer is putting you in charge of the Wildcats until Kat gets back,” I said. Then I took Kat’s hand and we were back at the clinic. “What is going on?” she asked, somewhat confused.
“Muffin will die without you,” I said. She ran into the examination room to check on Muffin. Soon after bringing Kat back home the girls began bringing cat after cat to the clinic. We have 12 cats at home, the others are with the girls and guys in Canada. There were 10 cats brought to the clinic, but oddly enough, Storm and Rascal were fine.
I asked Bridgette about that and she thought that perhaps because they are wild cats then maybe this virus, or whatever is affecting the other cats, may not affect them. But, she said that was just a guess, however, she wanted them to stay away from the sick cats anyway, just in case. Kat was worried, she can’t possibly work on all the cats at the same time, that means some of them might die.
But what affected them so quickly? If there was poison in the cat’s food then it would have affected Storm and Rascal too. Whatever it was, it hit the cats at about the same time. After a while Bridgette said that perhaps the cats ate something outside yesterday during their exercise period. Insects! Maybe that’s it. I called Storm and Rascal over and asked if the cats ate anything different outside yesterday.
Meowrrrr.= Yep, lots of bugs around yesterday. Meowr= Yep, we have contest to eat most bugs. My team win. “Show me where you found these bugs,” I said. Jennifer, Sky and Angel came along as well but no one else was allowed outside right now. We each had a glass collection jar, in case we found any of these insects. Fortunately there were still quite a few of these weird, but colorful, insects crawling around.
We each captured one and brought them inside to Bridgette. But before we went into the room Misty met us in the waiting area. She was concerned about the cats so she came to see if she could help. “Oooo, pretty insects,” she said, “but you shouldn’t play around with these things, they are poisonous.” Then she proceeded to leave.
“Misty, come back here,” I said to her. She came sliding back, nearly hitting me. Jennifer and I looked at her feet. “You’re only wearing socks,” I said, “where are your shoes?” “If I just wear socks,” she said, “then I can slide around like the cats do.” She smiled. “Right.” said Jennifer, “Anyway, how did you know about these insects?”
“Oh, I have been studying about insects with Carolyn and Melissa,” she said, “they know so much about insects from all over the world. They study mostly the poisonous varieties because those ones are used to make various poisonous concoctions used to kill people in various ways, from slow to fast.” She smiled again. I turned to Jennifer.
“I request permission to stay with Misty for 24 hours,” I said, “to find out how she does all this without sleeping.” “Permission granted,” said Jennifer, “but you may need a whole week.” Then Cristy contacted Jennifer with a message she just received. She played it for us.
“Good morning Investigators. How are your precious kitties this morning? (then the voice laughed) Worse things will happen to you unless you stay away from us. Call your girls back, all 9 of them. Leave Lily alone, she is one of us, stay away from her or you will begin to die, one by one. You have been warned!”
“They sent such a nice message,” I said. “Don’t be sarcastic,” said Jennifer, “this is serious. What now?” “Well, I’m sure you will want to issue a Code Red Attack notice since we are obviously being watched,” I said, “but I’m sure you won’t be scared off by these people and will keep the guards around Lily.” “They are not people,” said Jennifer, “they are cowards!
Cristy, Code Red Attack, now!” It was soon blaring on our systems around the chateau and clinic, plus the teams in Canada got the notice as well. Mandar was just sitting down for his breakfast when it sounded on his phone. He likes to be informed of these things too, since he is concerned about his daughter Jackie. He was on the phone to me right away to find out what was happening, so I filled him in.
“Don’t give in to them Steve,” he said, “I will send Teams A1 and A2 right away to help at the chateau. If you need anything else, let me know.” “Thanks Mandar,” I said, “um, enjoy your breakfast.” Aari called next and I filled him in too. Jennifer communicated with Kristina, Carine and Kitty, so they too would know and could tell the others. “Was that a real voice or fake voice Cristy?” asked Jennifer.
“Aha, she’s learning,” I thought to myself. “It was real,” she replied, “but distorted to sound like a male voice. But I’m sure it is a female voice. I will be able to tell you for sure shortly.” “That sister of mine can do so much it’s amazing!” said Misty, “She’s a walking library too!” Jennifer and I just looked at each other. “By the way,” said Jennifer, “I heard what you said about me learning.”
As Misty walked into the kitchen Cassie called to her and said the mail is here but one letter from the government needed a signature. “Okay, I’ll sign,” said Misty. Any of our team leaders can sign for such mail. Cassie opened the door and when she did there was a shot and Misty fell to the floor. The letter carrier then turned and ran back to her van with Cassie calling for her to stop.
She didn’t though, so Cassie shot her and she fell to the ground. Several girls came running to the door, including Angel who went outside to check around. The letter carrier was dead. Oddly enough, she was our regular letter carrier too. Sky arrived with Misty, taking her into the operating room…
To Be Continued.
©2025 Steve McLeod.
We have had a nice long rest since our last case with Lombardi. It has been nearly 3 days since we returned from Italy. Okay, maybe I’m being a bit sarcastic, but around here, 3 days is a lot sometimes. Kat fixed the problem we had with Misty not getting through to me. She also did to Misty what she did to me before I became a ghost, so now she can communicate silently with us ghosts and she can disappear.
Sky, Misty and myself had to explain to Kat and Jennifer why we disobeyed orders, and, well, that wasn’t easy. “Sky, you were told to stay with Steve 24 hours/day,” said Kat, “you spent more time away from him than with him.” “Well, true, but he told me to go search the other yacht,” she explained, “plus do other things and all he has to do is call and I’m by his side, so…”
“So, you felt it was okay to disobey our orders,” said Jennifer, “and disobey Samantha’s orders, which is even worse. And, as for you Steve, putting Misty in danger by leaving her alone with those men on the yacht, and at the restaurant, well, that is enough to get you tossed off the team.” “Wait, no, you can’t do that,” said Misty, pleading with Jennifer, “please, toss me off the team instead.
I wanted Steve to do these things, to help me learn to work by myself, if it was necessary, and make decisions on my own, so I wouldn’t rely on Steve, or others, now that I’m a team leader. A leader needs to think and make decisions a lot by themselves at times and I needed to learn that.” So, it kept going like that, back and forth. It was really quite amazing how much Kat and Jennifer knew about us and what we did.
“Actually,” said Misty finally, “I think we were a great team, the three of us, even when they sat and watched me fight those four guys, it was still teamwork because they were ready to jump in and help me if they saw me in trouble. I enjoyed the fight, it was good exercise. The only thing missing was popcorn for the spectators.” She smiled at that point.
It was easy to tell that Kat and Jennifer had trouble keeping themselves from laughing at that last part also. “So, if you toss Steve off the team, then I want to be tossed too,” added Misty with tears. Sky noticed the tears and put her arm around Misty. “I agree with Misty,” she said, “then you need to toss me too. We did work together very well, as a great team.”
Kat and Jennifer sighed and went off to talk things over. After they left we got a phone call. “Call for Lily, Steve,” she said, looking at me. “Were you not listening?” I asked her, “You have to talk with Kat or Jennifer.” “But they are not here, you are,” she said, frowning at me. “What would you like Cristy?” asked Kat. “Oh, call for Lily from her sister,” she said, “it’s about her dad, it didn’t sound good.”
“Let it through for her, and don’t listen,” said Kat, “she might want privacy for this one.” “Right, shall do,” said Cristy. Lily is our newest nurse and good friend of Sienna. Her dad has been sick for nearly 2 years so the family has been expecting his death anytime. Lily is very close to her parents, so, even though she has been expecting this news, it will still be hard on her.
Lily is an excellent nurse, wonderful nature, always has a smile, compassionate and she gets along with everyone. She is from Canada, Toronto to be exact and most of her family still lives there. She has 5 brothers and 3 sisters, all married. The sisters keep in touch with Lily, but she never hears from her brothers.
We found out after the phone call that her dad had died, so she asked permission to attend the funeral, and stay for a while to help her mother. She was given permission and she tried to get a plane ticket, something that wasn’t so easy. The family wants the funeral right away and that’s making it hard for Lily, the only family member that lives so far away. Jennifer and I were sitting in the library talking.
“I wonder if we could use one of our jets to get Lily there on time?” asked Jennifer. “I knew you would solve the problem,” I said smiling, “and I know you would want to send 2 girls with her as her best friends too, you know, to kind of look after her.” “Do I know who I’m going to send?” she asked. “I know you would want one to be a ghost, like Kristina,” I said, “and Dawn would also be good since her and Lily get along so well.”
“I see,” said Jennifer, “do I have any other plans?” “Well, I’m sure you would want to send a group of 4 other girls,” I said, “who would basically keep their distance unless needed. They could stay at a hotel and attend the funeral. I know you would want to pick some girls that have not had much time on cases lately, like Carine, Katresa, Sigrid, Acadia and Sabina.
And I know you would ask Sienna for a couple of limousines to use, different colors of course, with good drivers, like Melanie and Sherry. I would say you have things under control quite well. You will want to check with Kat though, but I’m sure she will agree with your decisions.” “Well, I’m glad I got that out of the way quickly,” she said.
She then called Kat to the library and told her what she had planned. Kat listened, at times looking at me and frowning. “That sounds like…” she started to say. “A good idea,” I finished for her, “I knew you girls would handle things perfectly.”
“That is NOT what I was going to say and you know it,” she said, then she sighed, “it does sound good though, so we’ll do it. (then she looked at me) But if I find out you have been tampering with Leader 1 decision making, you will get another 30 days of inactive duty!” “Ha, ha, get caught again Steve?” asked Misty as she just arrived with a plate full of donuts.
Kat frowned at her so she turned around and headed back to the kitchen. “Come back here Misty,” said Kat, so she turned around and came back. “That was a quick trip to the kitchen,” I said. “What are you doing with a plate full of donuts?” asked Kat. “Eating my breakfast,” answered Misty, munching on a donut. Kat took the plate of donuts.
“You can’t have a dozen donuts for breakfast,” said Kat, “you’re allowed two.” Meanwhile, since the plate was within reach, Jennifer and I began taking donuts and tossing them to other girls, except for 6 we kept for ourselves which we quickly ate while Kat was talking to Misty. Anyway, the girls were quickly packed and on a jet headed for Canada.
“I sense trouble ahead,” I told Kat and Jennifer. Soon Kat and her Wildcats, plus Aari and his Black Wolves, were on another jet, also headed for Canada. That night, as we were getting ready for bed, I got that feeling again. “I sense trouble again,” I told Jennifer, “but it’s closer this time, so it must be us, not anyone in Canada.”
“Hmm, that’s not good,” she said, “what should we do about that?” “Oh, I’m sure you will think of something,” I sad, “like declaring a silent Code Orange.” “Cristy,” she said, “silent Code Orange please.” “Yep, I knew that’s what you would do,” I said. She giggled. The night passed quickly and quietly, but morning was much different…
To Be Continued.
©2025 Steve McLeod.
Steve`s Country 