A little gas on the branches and an old blanket from the boat and we had a good smoky fire. “Why are you moving so far away from the boat?”, asked Karin. “You’ll see in a minute,” I answered. Suddenly there was a huge fireball explosion! Meow!=Wow, that a really cool blast! Meow, meow!=Yep, that best one yet! Oh, oh, I think I put little holes in flimsy boat. “What?!”, exclaimed Karin, “we’re going to sink and drown now!” “Don’t worry”, I said, “I have some repair tape here somewhere.” “Somewhere?”, she asked nervously, “you better find it quick, we’re sinking!” “We can’t be sinking that quick,” I said. Meow.=Oops, I make bigger holes than Muffin, we lose air fast. He was right, and I’m frantically looking for that repair tape, I know I put that tape in my backpack but everything has gotten a bit mixed up in there. “Have you found it yet?”, asked Karin, more nervous than ever. “I can’t seem to find it anywhere”, I said.

Poor Karin, I thought her eyes were going to pop right out when I said that. But the plane started to turn and came over our way. It circled a couple of times while we waved frantically and finally it landed on the river and pulled up next to us. The door opened. “Looks like you folks are in trouble,” the man said with a smile, “hop in, we have enough room for you.” He stepped out and Karin went in first, then the cats and our backpacks, then I climbed on board. “We have to close this door while we take off,” said the man, whose name was Henry, “regulations you know.” The pilot introduced himself as Tom. Soon we were in the air and heading back to civilization once more. “Now I can really relax”, said Karin as she closed her eyes and laid down. I think she fell asleep right away.

I was starting to feel tired myself. Meow, meow.=Feel sleepy, air not good. Meow.=That right. “Some kind of sleeping gas,” I said. That’s why they wanted the door closed! I pulled out my gun and stood up, but I fell back down right away and was soon… I opened my eyes slowly. Well, this is not quite what I expected. Karin and I were lying on a very nice bed and we were in a very luxurious type room. Is this some kind of expensive hotel? I got up slowly, my head still pounding from that gas, and looked around the room. Definitely not a hotel. There were bars on the windows and the door was locked. I checked through our backpacks, we still had everything…except our guns. Muffin and Mr. Cat were awake now too.

I checked their backpacks, they had everything they needed so I got their slingshots ready but whispered to them not to use their slingshots unless necessary. Finally Karin woke up too. “Is this some kind of dream?”, she asked. She looked very scared. “I have no idea what this is or what is going on”, I told her, “guess we will just have to wait and see. I wonder if they have coffee in this hotel?”, I added. Karin looked at me, “how can you think about coffee right now?” “I think about coffee all the time,” I said, “haven’t had any today.” Muffin goes over to Mr. Cat and whispers to him. Meow, meow.=Too much stress for my human, he get that way when he stressed. Meow.=Oh, not good, we should help him. Meow, meow?=Which leg? Meow.=Left for me. Meow, meow.=Okay, let’s go. Chomp! Chomp!

I flopped onto the bed and buried my head in the pillow to muffle my scream. “I suppose there’s a good reason for that?,” I asked the cats. Meow, meow.=You sounded stressed, this help relieve stress. Karin actually started to laugh. Just then we heard someone unlocking the door. I stood up as the door opened. I couldn’t believe my eyes. “Well, well, if it isn’t my two favorite PI’s!”, said J. It was John! “This is quite a surprise”, I said, I thought with all that gold we would never see you again.” “So true,” said John, “but it’s not easy getting rid of all that old gold, so I’m doing it a little at a time with our corporation. Plus I make even more money at the same time.” “Yes, by killing all kinds of kids with those terrible drugs you sell to them,” I said. “Hey, I don’t force them to buy the drugs, they want to do it,” and he roared with laughter.

To Be Continued.

©2020 Steve McLeod.