Steve`s Country
For a smile as wide as a country sunrise
Saturday Stories, Country Driving.
Hi everyone! I hope you are enjoying your long weekend, for those of you who get one. Monday is a holiday here and in our town this is the biggest holiday weekend of the summer. This tops Canada Day even, by quite a lot actually. It is still smoky today, that’s over a week now, though we have had several other times this summer when that forest fire smoke has descended on us.
Now, let’s follow my title. Some years ago on a beautiful August evening I decided to go for a drive. I enjoyed driving down some of our country roads, it was often a good way to see wildlife, plus occasionally finding some abandoned buildings or farms which can then lead to finding some interesting old items. Driving along this one road I came to a spot and stopped.
Not the same place, and later in the fall, but it did look much like this picture.
Hmm, I thought, looks like a house may have stood there at one time. As you know, I enjoy exploring. So I drove off the road and into the little clearing among the trees. It looked like a driveway may have been in that location anyway years ago.
But, I was careful not to go too far, I didn’t want to end up driving into an old well or some partially buried piece of metal or farm equipment which could damage my car.. I stopped the car and started to walk around. Sure enough, a house did stand there at some point in the past. An old floor, that definitely didn’t look safe to stand on, was still there. And what’s this? An opening into an old cellar.
Same thing with this picture, but so similar.
Wow! Just think what might be in that old cellar. Old canning jars, bottles, boxes, stoneware, a skeleton. What?! Who said skeleton? Anyway, I went back to my car to get a flashlight and gloves. I just had to check this out! Of course, it meant walking across the old unsafe looking floor. But it was only about 10 feet (3 meters).
That’s not so bad, and you can’t explore by sitting back and looking at things, you have to be brave (although my friends and family have a different word for it…Stupid). But, off I went anyway. The old boards creaked and sagged as I slowly and nervously walked over to the cellar opening. The cellar door was missing, and had been for a long time by the looks of things.
There was some very steep stairs leading down to the cellar. They certainly looked solid enough. I knelt down to push on them. Yep, solid enough I figured. I made it this far, may as well keep going the rest of the way. So off I went down the stairs, slowly and carefully. The stairs creaked and groaned with all kinds of noises as I gingerly made my way down. I put my foot on the third step.
An old abandoned field.
That was it. Down I went with a loud crash, landing on my back in a cloud of dust with the broken stairs under, and all around me. I lay there for a minute, then looked around for my flashlight. Why wasn’t it working, I did have it on. As my eyes became accustomed to the dim light of the cellar, I found my flashlight. It was under part of the stairs. And, it was broken. Great.
Slowly I could see things a bit better in that cellar. Not much there. Some old shelves at one end with a few, still full, canning jars. Some old wood boxes in one corner. An old broom that had seen better days was close by. Hmm, not much. And how am I going to get out of here?
This is where I lived previous to this place. This is a young bear, but even they can be dangerous.
I forgot to mention, it was already getting late by the time I found this place. The sun was setting. Which means it will be dark in about an hour. I didn’t really want to spend the night in that cellar. Then I heard someone walking on the floor above so I called out. No answer. I listened. Then I heard what sounded like panting.
That wasn’t a person walking around up there! Then this big black head looked in the cellar opening. A bear! Well, I guess that’s long enough for today, I will share part 2 tomorrow. Have a great weekend everyone and God bless!
Steve and Muffin. ©2025 Steve McLeod.
The Investigators, Inc. The Case of a Young Couple. Chapter 5. Prisoner.
Well, Aari and his team had just rescued Clarisse from this unknown gang, at least, they were unknown to us at the present time. I was with 4 of the girls watching Eloise’s place when Jennifer communicated with me that she had sensed danger with Eloise. I then called Sky and she came right away. We hadn’t seen anyone go into the building, which was odd, but there is a back door that is normally locked at all times, though people can go out that way.
However, there is no way to get back inside through that door, unless you meet someone going out. I went with Delphine, Dawn and Sky to check on Eloise, Sherry and Jackie stayed in the car. I still don’t see how anyone could have gotten inside without us knowing about it though, unless the danger is from someone else living in the building. I knocked on the door and Eloise said to come in, so we did.
There were 4 men inside, one with a knife at the throat of Eloise, the other three had guns aimed at us. Those guns were not a problem, but that knife certainly is a big problem. We were told to drop our guns, which Dawn and Delphine did. Sky and I told them we had no weapons. One man went to check Sky anyway, even though it was obvious she could hide no weapons.
“Touch me and you will die,” she said calmly, “I don’t like being touched by men.” One of the other men told him to forget the girl and check me. I had already communicated with Sky not to do anything even if the man hit me. He checked me and then reported that I had nothing. Then he quickly turned and punched me in the stomach. I bent over and moaned like I should.
“What are you doing here?” the man (who was obviously in charge of this group) said to me. “Eloise hired us to find her daughter Clarisse,” I said, “and her boyfriend Marcel. But you knew this of course. And we are here to report our findings for today, which is nothing, since we found nothing today. But I am quite certain you kidnapped the young couple.” He laughed.
“Marcel was one of us,” he said, “you would-be cops know nothing.” The other men laughed now too. “We are not cops,” I said, “we are private investigators, which shows you know nothing.” The girls and I laughed this time. That same guy then punched me again. “Ever heard of the Black Wolves?” asked the leader. “Yes, they are a large motorcycle gang in Canada. I heard some of them are here in France right now. Why they are here, though, I have no idea and I’m not really interested.”
“You will be interested,” he told me, “because they took Clarisse from us today and we want her back. And you will get her for us.” “This might sound like a stupid question,” I said, “but why all the attention for Clarisse? Just because she was engaged to Marcel? That doesn’t make sense.” “Marcel is dead and she knows things that only Marcel knew,” he said, “so we need her back.”
“Interesting story,” I said, “but it doesn’t fit the facts. You sent your men out to kill Clarisse this afternoon. Why do that if she is so important to you?” He had quite a surprised look on his face now. “I told you, we are private investigators,” I said, “it is our job to find out things.” That same man punched me a third time. “You are getting a bit annoying,” I said, “so I would suggest you be more careful.”
“Don’t forget Cormier here with his knife,” said the leader, “he knows how to use it like a surgeon.” “If he kills her, then you will all die,” I said, “that won’t help you with anything. So, maybe you should talk with your boss first before doing any killing.” He obviously didn’t like me saying that, but he didn’t say anything. Anyway, he still insisted they wanted Clarisse back again, which was quite curious and really made no sense. Unless killing her was this guy’s idea and his boss said no to that.
“I would think you could get Clarisse from the Black Wolves just as easily as we could,” I said. “We want you to do it,” he insisted, “let them kill your people instead.” “I kind of thought that might be the reason,” I said, “but if we go after Clarisse, it will be for us, not for you. Eloise hired us, you didn’t, so we work for her. And remember, kill her and you die, which doesn’t get you Clarisse.”
“Tell your girlfriends to sit down with Eloise,” said the leader, “and you come with us.” “No,” said Sky, “he goes nowhere without me.” “This time he does lady,” said the leader. I told the girls it would be okay, but if they decide to hold onto me, then they are to crush these people. Sherry and Jackie saw me come out and get in the car with these men and immediately got in touch with Jennifer.
She told them to do nothing, just let them go. “But Jennifer, they have Steve,” said Sherry, “we can’t let them get away from us.” “We will go after them another time,” said Jennifer, “but for now let them go. Right?” “Yes Jennifer,” said Sherry, sighing, ”’but it wouldn’t be hard to follow…” “No, Sherry,” said Jennifer more firmly, “if you follow them then it’s 2 months of inactive duty for both of you!” “Only two months,” said Jackie, “could be worse.” They smiled at each other.
“What do you say Fluffy?” asked Sherry. “Me Fluffy, me say go get ’em!” Off they went following the tracker on their car, that way they can stay back out of sight. Dawn and Delphine persuaded Eloise to let them stay with her that night while Sky went home to talk with the others. Sky pretended to go out to the car and she smiled when she noticed it was gone. She then disappeared and reappeared at home.
Sky told Jennifer and Kat that Dawn and Delphine would be staying with Eloise tonight and asked if she could take a couple more over there just in case. Jennifer thought that would be good, so Sky took Amerie and Suzette over as well, then returned. “Sky, why didn’t Sherry and Jackie stay there instead?” asked Jennifer.
“Um, well, if they were inside, then they couldn’t be outside,” said Sky, and she quickly went to the kitchen. “Oh, that’s a good thought, I think,” said Jennifer and she looked around, “where did she go so quickly?” Then Muffin came and jumped onto Jennifer’s lap and stared at her. All the other cats followed her into the library which got the attention of all the girls that were in there at the time.
Meow, meow?= Why my human ghost get kidnap without fight? What we are now, bunch of chicken bones? Not want to be part of chicken bones organs with nations. Then she jumped down and left. The other cats watched her go, then they all started meowing the same as Muffin and followed her back to their play room. “This is why I didn’t want to be Leader 1 anymore,” said Jennifer. “Yep,” agreed Kat.
Then they went to talk with the cats. Meanwhile, Sky had communicated with Carine not to bring Clarisse back home just yet, and why. So they took her to a hotel instead and explained to her about a change in plans for the safety of her mother. She understood that, but she didn’t understand why that gang wanted her, she knew nothing about Marcel’s involvement in that gang or any information that they might want.
It is possible she knows something without knowing that she does. Perhaps a hidden code in a plain sentence of some kind. Or maybe they think she knows about that book we found. Perhaps I will find out…
To Be Continued. ©2025 Steve McLeod.
