Steve`s Country
For a smile as wide as a country sunrise
Morning Coffee At Steve’s Country #12.
Good morning everyone! Coffee is ready so just help yourself, sit back and relax for awhile. More heavy clouds here this morning with a temp of 20F (-7C). Plus there are a few lazy type snowflakes gently floating their way to the ground. I was out there early this morning, it was barely getting light, and the chickadees were already here coming to the empty bird feeders. Hmm, I always make sure there is food out at night so it will be here first thing in the morning when the chickadees show up. I have been able to do that now that the raccoons have gone into hiding for the winter. But earlier this morning as Muffin and I were still enjoying some much needed sleep…a very loud crashing noise happened out on the deck.
We both jumped and went to the window. That much noise must mean a bear. It wasn’t. It was Bandit, the raccoon. Somehow he managed to knock down all the milk crates I had stacked up out there. That broke my deck storage container. Sigh. Prior to this he obviously emptied the bird feeders and he was still looking for more food. I tapped on the window so he looked up and saw Muffin and I looking at him. I had turned on the deck light too so it was easy to see him. He left when he saw us in the window, and went down on the lawn below the deck. Now, Junior (one of my deer friends) who is a four point buck was down there walking through the yard. Bandit came down next to him and Junior seemed curious about this little critter and kind of moved his head back and forth to look at this strange looking animal.
That’s when Bandit growled at him. Bad mistake. Junior didn’t seem to like that very much so he put his head down and chased Bandit out of the yard completely. Good for you Junior! Even Muffin seemed to enjoy watching this little outdoor show. It’s too bad these things happen at night, if it was during the day I could perhaps get some nice pics. I did try since the deck light was on, but it didn’t work at all. Oh well. That little raccoon ate about 2 lbs of sunflower seeds. He must have been hungry. He’s really not that big, probably not much bigger than Muffin, he just has a lot more fur. But perhaps he had a friend with him earlier, there usually is 2 of them. Something a little different for today anyway. I hope you all have a wonderful Saturday and God bless!
Steve and Muffin.
©2020 Steve McLeod.
20/20 Investigations, Inc. The Wilderness Staircase. Chapter 5.
We didn’t go far down on that little elevator, but it was a rather hard landing. Before us lay a tunnel which we began to follow for about 50 feet before coming to a cave-in. “This obviously happened a long time ago,” I told the cats, “and there is no way to dig through all those big rocks.” We checked around to see if there might be another hidden door, but we found nothing. So back we go to that elevator. “Climb on you two,” I said, “and we’ll take the elevator back up.” Meow?=This thing is elevator, how we go up? “This handle here will help us get back up,” I explained, “by turning it like this, up we go.” Once back up to where we began the elevator stopped and the door opened nicely for us. We go back into the bedroom and…the furniture in there had been moved around.
Meow,meow!=See that? Proof that ghosts live here, we go back home now. Meow.=I with Muffin this time, let’s go home. “No, we are not leaving yet,” I said, “we need to find out what’s going on, that’s what we were hired to do. We don’t want to quit! And stop…” Meow.=You say we can sigh now. “True, I did say that,” I admitted. Now, why would anyone move the furniture? Just to scare us? That doesn’t make sense. I turn and look at the wardrobe again and the angle of the tunnel. Meow,meow?=What you thinking? “Well, I have a little theory here,” I said. Meow,meow.=Oh, oh, we in trouble now. Meow.=Yep, his theory always get us in trouble. “Very funny, you two, but look at the direction of the tunnel,” I said, “where does it lead?” Meow,meow!=To the staircase! “That’s right,” I said, “so let’s go take a look around.”
Meow,meow?=How about we eat lunch first? Getting hungry again. I check the time. Hmm, it is time for lunch, it took us awhile to look around this hotel, and we’re not finished yet. I decide to check our room and see if anyone had been in there too. We did have our backpacks with us, but the rest of our stuff we left behind in the bedroom. I unlock the door and…we could not believe what we saw! It was another coffin! This one was laying down so I went over and opened the lid. I nearly fainted. Muffin and Mr. Cat looked inside. Meow!=EEEEEEEEEEE!!, they each screamed! Inside the coffin was Lena, laying there with a knife in her stomach and holding an envelope. She was still alive so I had to do something quickly or she wouldn’t be alive for long. I pulled the knife out slowly and carefully. It was an odd knife, long, but very thin. Perhaps it didn’t touch anything important inside.
I carefully stitch up the wound, disinfecting everything. At least the bleeding has stopped. Somehow I don’t think they wanted to kill her, they just wanted to give us a message. Could these people be part of the same gang that we stopped before? I open the envelope and read the note inside. “Welcome to the end of your career as a detective. I plan on killing each of you, one at a time. The cats will be first, then the girl, then you Steve. I’m not letting you get away with what you did to me. There is no way out of here. There is a guard all the way around this hilltop, you have no way to call for help. Your only hope is to catch me before I kill you. If you can do it, then you would be free. But this time you won’t catch me. It’s my turn. J.” “It’s John again,” I said to the cats and showed them the letter.
Their eyes got huge when they read it and their ears went straight up. Meow,meow?=He think he can kill us? We show him! Meow!=Yep, he not get away, we catch him again and stop him for good maybe! “Yes, Mr. Cat, we will stop him for sure and he will be back in prison once more,” I said, “I’m just amazed he escaped so quickly this time, he must have had help.” I just wish we could figure out how he gets in and out of here without leaving any tracks…that’s it! “Stay here with Lena while I go check something,” I said, “I have a theory to check out.” Off I go to the tallest point in this hotel. Meow.=Now have 2 theories, bigger trouble. Meow,meow.=Yep, this not good, might have to do more biting to stop his theories. Meow.=Good thinking. Now I go over here to watch door. Meow,meow.=Okay, I watch window, no one sneak up on us.
To Be Continued.
Picture of Mr. Cat is kindly supplied by his human, Nina.
Previous chapters of this story and other stories can be found on my home page under 20/20 Investigations, Inc.
©2020 Steve McLeod.
Steve`s Country 