Well, the beginning of our vacation is not going well, we seem to be in the middle of something, though I’m not sure what just yet. Summer poured more coffee for me and dropped a note onto my lap as she left. It simply read, “Please meet me at the beginning of Spider Mountain Trail at 4pm sharp.” “She has nice handwriting,” I said. “What does the note say, my dear husband,” said Jennifer.

“Outside would be better,” I said casually. That was enough for Jennifer, she finished her coffee quickly and was ready to leave. There is a nice cement walkway along the beachfront with benches painted in different colors and I chose a nice blue one to sit on. Jennifer and I sat down with Muffin and Storm.

Muffin wanted to run around on the beach, but Storm wanted to run on the grass, he hates sand, he remembers his time out in the desert and Margays are tropical cats, not desert cats. I let Jennifer read the note and then she put it away in her bag. Angel and Misty decided this would be a great time to go swimming since there were only a few people on the beach at this early hour.

It was now about 8:30. Muffin was moping on the bench until Storm whacked her on the face with his tail, not hard, just to get her attention. Then he ran off with Muffin chasing him. Jennifer and I walked down the sidewalk for a while and we soon came to the Spider Mountain Trail. “At least now we know where to meet her,” I said.

“Yes, that does help,” admitted Jennifer. We then turned and walked back, sitting down on the same bench where we could watch the girls swimming. “You can join them,” I said, “I am content to sit and watch for now.” So off she went. It was quite calm out there this morning so it made for a nice time of swimming.

“Look at those babes!” exclaimed a familiar voice. It was Greg and his friend Buddy and they were coming from the restaurant to the beach. I was sitting on the bench and Greg came sneaking up behind me and suddenly his arm was around my neck and he was trying to choke me. I put my hand on his arm and he yelled in pain.

I then removed his arm from around my neck and stood up to confront him. “My arm, I can’t move my arm!” he yelled. I then gave him an electrified punch which lifted him off the ground and he fell backward about 5 feet. “Try that again,” I said, “and you just might get hurt next time.” Buddy was helping Greg up by this time.

“The same advice goes for you Buddy,” I said, “I have no quarrel with either of you, so leave me alone.” I then sat down again and the two of them walked away. Jennifer then came running over and sat down next to me. “You’re wet,” I said. “Strange thing, it happens every time I go swimming,” she replied, “now, what did Greg want?”

“He seems to think I had something to do with his weird behavior this morning,” I told her, “so he tried choking me, something I didn’t like. I then told him that I didn’t like it. I think he might have gotten the message, but I doubt it, he is one of those people that won’t be satisfied until gets the last punch.” “Hmm, I guess that means Irene didn’t get through to him,” said Jennifer.

“Did I hear my name?” asked Irene as she sat with us. “Your employee, Greg, and his friend attacked my husband a few minutes ago,” said Jennifer. “Actually it was just Greg,” I added, “he is one of those types that must get in the last word, or punch, as the case may be. Anyway, he tried choking me. If he attacks me again I will be forced to teach him a lesson.”

Irene took out her phone at that point. “Bulldog, Greg didn’t listen to me,” she said, “tell him that isn’t a good thing.” She then hung up and put her phone away. “Greg and Buddy are new employees of mine,” she said looking out over the ocean, “and it’s so terribly hard to find anyone willing to work on these islands.”

“That spider looks so incredibly real,” said Jennifer. “It is real, but I had to kill the poor thing,” she said, “she is so beautiful, I just had to add her to my jewelry collection. After killing her I dipped her into a new type of plastic I invented which preserved her perfectly. I have earrings, rings, a bracelet and a choker. I just love spiders, don’t you?”

“I prefer not looking at them,” I said, “I’m not afraid of them, I just think they’re, um, ugly. My apologies to your jewelry.” Irene laughed. “That’s okay, not many people share my enthusiasm for spiders,” she said, “well, I must be off, the local artisans market opens soon, just down the walkway here.”

She pointed the way and Jennifer wanted to take a look, so the three girls went on ahead while I took the cats back to our room. In hindsight, it might have been good to take one of the girls with me. I opened the door and was immediately grabbed by a large man who threw me against the desk. He then proceeded to hit me 3 times in the stomach but I gave him and his friend an electrifying experience, knocking them out.

I called the manager who then called the police, there are two on this island and they actually have a jail. Meanwhile, Jennifer had sensed danger and the girls came running back quickly. “Hmm, this doesn’t look good Steve,” said Jennifer, “I don’t like it.” “Could just be thieves looking for valuables,” I said, “or maybe someone is just checking us out to make sure we really are tourists.”

“Yes, like our spider lady,” said Misty, “I don’t trust her.” Anyway, the police arrived and took the men away to jail, but I doubt they will stay there very long. The rest of the day was quiet though and we met Summer at precisely 4pm like she wanted. Actually, Harley was with her and this trail takes them back to Harley’s house that she inherited.

“It’s not a very long walk,” said Summer, “and we want to show you the house while it’s still daylight.” “Yeah, too scary after dark,” said Harley, “scary enough during the day.” We walked past the small building where they lived. “We rent a flat in that building,” said Harley, “it’s not much, but all we can afford.” “Why don’t you two move somewhere else, like Australia?” asked Jennifer.

The two girls just looked at each other. “Well, uh, it’s not so easy,” said Summer. That was the first time she had a serious look on her face. Something is going on and they are not telling us everything. “You know, if you two are in some kind of trouble, we would like to help you,” said Jennifer, “but you would have to be honest with us and tell us what’s going on.”

“Well, we could…” began Summer, but Harley interrupted. “No, we’re fine, really,” said Harley, “this is a great place to live.” She tried to sound enthusiastic, but it was easy to tell she was faking it. We arrived at the old house and went inside. I had a portable scrambler with me and turned it on.

It was a scary looking old house and once inside the first bedroom a ghost appeared at the end of the bed telling us in spooky tones to leave the house quickly. “Oh look, a real ghost!” exclaimed Jennifer, “This is so cool!” “She’s excited about the ghost,” said a man. “Yeah, first our bugs don’t work, now they get excited about the ghost,” said a second, “Miss Hanson is going to love this.”

To Be Continued.

©2025 Steve McLeod.