For a smile as wide as a country sunrise
Hi everyone! Happy Sunday and Happy December! Today is the first day of December which is the last month of the year. This year has gone by very fast, with a lot happening in the last 12 months. Okay, that includes last December also, but that’s because we just started this December.
Christmas is close, followed by another new year. Anyway, today I start something different, every Sunday I will post some winter photos from our area. All over around us they are getting lots of snow, yet we hardly have any. Normally we would have lots of snow this time of the year, but it might have something to do with our lake. It is still not frozen, not even a little.

Looking out my apartment window after our first snowfall of winter.
We have had colder temperatures lately though, so ice should begin to form on the lake soon. We have had temperatures down to about 3F (-16C), with highs of 14F (-10C), though it has been much colder with the wind chill factored in.

Even though there was only about 2 inches (5cm) of snow that day, it still looks nice on the trees.
This lake takes a while to get ice on it, and that helps to keep snow away from us some years. But we do have about 3 or 4 inches (7.5 to 10cm) of snow on the ground now. So, it does have a more wintry look out there now.

Another snowy tree while it was still snowing.
The late arrival of snow has made our winter about 3 weeks shorter too, and that part is nice, for people like me anyway. I hope you all have a great week and God bless!
Steve and Muffin.
©2024 Steve McLeod.
When Angel returned the second time, to stay with me, she brought Storm and Midnight with her too. So, now we have 3 cats here with us, though I’m not really sure why at the moment. Then, while looking at Sky and Angel an idea hit me. “Is Crystal here now as well?” I asked Angel. “Yes, she is, but I imagine she will be leaving with Kristina when her team goes to help with this job,” she said. “Can you communicate with Jennifer from here?” I asked.
She tried and had no problem doing so, which means the problem is with me, not with the system of communication we have. And Sky does not have this ability yet since it is something that Kat invented. Anyway, I asked Angel to tell Jennifer to keep Crystal here and check to see if there are identical clothes among all the girls that our three “triplets” could wear. “Tell Steve I’m ahead of him on this one,” said Jennifer, “I had Crystal bring matching outfits for the 3 of you, just in case.”
Sky giggled when she heard that. Then she went back upstairs to get the clothes for her and Angel. Jennifer chose Angel to come and stay with me since she too, is a ghost and can help to look after me. Whereas if one of the other girls came, then it would put more pressure on Sky to look after 2 of us. Plus, now we have 3 cats, equipped with their backpacks, so they too can help protect me when both Sky and Angel are away trying to scare Granger, if that is even possible.
“I would have brought Hannah’s two caracals,” said Angel, “but they are a bit big to sit on my shoulders. Those two cats are learning fast and are great at finding things. I think it helps that they have their real owner with them, that way there is no adjustment period.” “Yes, that likely does help,” I agreed, “hmm, maybe tell Jennifer to keep Hannah hidden or disguised well, just in case Granger knows her from her past life.”
Angel told that to Jennifer and she said that Hannah does know Granger, so Hannah is wearing a dark wig instead of her normal light brown hair. Kristina and her team have now gone, along with Mac and Aari. They will meet up with Matt and his Knight Riders to break these 3 friends of Granger’s out of prison, which happens to be in Hungary. Oh well, at least our teams won’t be bored with an easy job. Sigh. Granger did get word to them that we would be getting them out of there the day after tomorrow.
Since Kristina was short 3 girls, Chantelle ( a nurse from my team), Catalina and Kristy (both from the Wildcats), went along to help. They would be flying a helicopter in to pick up the men from the outside exercise area. Ladders would be lowered to them and the helicopter would take off once the men were on the ladders. And hopefully they won’t get shot down in the process. There will be three helicopters ready to use, but hopefully only one will be necessary.
Precise timing will be necessary in this rescue attempt because we will only get one chance, after that the prison will be on high alert. Meanwhile, back to us. We will now have 3 identical “ghosts” to have some fun with Granger. I also asked Angel and Sky to check the office when everyone is asleep to see if there is any mention of another way out of here. There must be, since I have seen Granger’s men walk past here carrying food which obviously came from the hotel kitchen.
And they did not use the restaurant door. So I figure there is another entrance/exit that comes out somewhere on the other side of that fenced off area. The cats are over there now looking all around to see if they can find something. Although finding another door doesn’t mean we will be able to open it. “Hey, that’s it,” I said, “it might be a way to open that restaurant door.” “I have already tried several times Steve,” said Sky, “I just can’t open that lock.”
“That’s because you are trying to open that lock,” I said with a smile. I was looking at her. She looked back at me. “How would you like a nice big slap?” she asked, “I can still slap just as hard as before.” My smile disappeared. “Well, I was thinking…” I began. “NO!” they both said together. “That wasn’t nice,” I said, “I didn’t even tell you my idea.” “You were thinking,” said Sky, “every time you think it means trouble.” Sigh. “Jennifer says that too,” I said, “and actually, you used to say that before as well.”
“There was a reason I said it before,” she replied, sighing. A little later Crystal went to the owner of the castle hotel, pretending to be the castle ghost and told him he had to leave. He quickly called down to Granger and told him about the ghost. Right then Sky appeared in Granger’s office. “There, she’s down here now so you don’t need to worry,” said Granger. “She’s still here, staring at me,” said Emerick, “and she’s making me very nervous.” “Show me a picture of her,” said Granger. A picture showed up on the computer.
“What do you know,” said Conrad, “she’s a twin.” “I am not, I am just me,” said Sky, “and I will say it again, this is my home and I want all of you out of here.” Suddenly Angel appeared next to Sky. “Another one,” said Conrad. “Is that other lady up there still?” asked Granger. “Yeah, she is still here, and she wants an answer,” said Emerick. “Okay lady, how did you do that?” asked Granger. “I don’t need to tell you anything,” said Angel. “Well, why is there now 3 of you ladies?” asked Granger.
“There is only one of me,” said Sky and Angel together, “when I’m upset, I make copies of myself. Now, if you don’t leave, then tomorrow I will start killing all of you, it is just too noisy around here now with so many people. It has been nice and quiet for the last 400 years and I like it quiet.” Then they both disappeared. “Is that lady still upstairs?” Granger asked again. “I must have fainted,” he said, “but she disappeared, or left, or something. She threatened to kill me if I didn’t leave by tomorrow.”
“Why is this happening now?” exclaimed Granger. “Maybe it’s like she said, all the people are too noisy, so it got her upset,” said Conrad. Granger looked over at him. “Don’t tell me you believe her,” he said. “Well, the fact she can suddenly appear and disappear and kill people with nothing, plus make copies of herself,” said Conrad, “kind of makes a person think that maybe she is a ghost. I mean, how else to explain it?” “Tricks,” said Granger, “it has to be with tricks, somehow, we just don’t know how.”
“But how does she kill people using, well, nothing?” asked Conrad. “How should I know!” yelled Granger. “Oh, I just got word, we lost all the drugs at the main distribution point,” said Conrad, “including the second shipment that was on the way. It was those Knight Riders again.” “How did they know about the drugs, and the timing of that next shipment?” asked Granger, “We have a leak somewhere, tell Brian to find that leak and plug it.”
“Shall do boss,” said Conrad, “and Jim found Armand in the tower, dead, he had been stabbed.” “How did anyone even know he was here?” asked Granger, “And how could anyone get close enough to him to stab him? There is a major leak in this organization and we need to stop it quick. Get me Dimitri…”
To Be Continued.
©2024 Steve McLeod.