For a smile as wide as a country sunrise
It would be interesting to see the war between Francis and Christopher, but we will have to be satisfied with just hearing about it. Aari had told Francis that if Christopher did manage to get away, then he would go to his chalet in Switzerland. He would feel safe there because he never told Jennifer about the place. However, Bomber knew about it and he liked Jennifer, so periodically she would get information from him.
Jennifer and Kat know how to do things. Although at first I did not know what to think when Jennifer told me about getting information from Bomber. She just looked at me and repeated what she said before, “not Christopher, not anyone.” I had to apologize that time. ”You are forgiven,” she said, “now, to figure out whether it is your hearing that is bad, or your memory.”
“I think it is called stupidity,” I told her. She giggled. Having Kat and Jennifer back together again should be interesting, plus being good for the team. She had talked with Kat about one big problem, Christopher had figured out how to kill them. They went to work on something and soon had the answer to the problem and now Christopher’s weapon would be useless against them.
That is good to hear. In order for someone to find such a weapon, they would need to have one of the girls in hand to study them fully. That is also good to hear. Sky has made Jennifer one of my bodyguards too, plus Marlena who has also joined our team now. She was on loan from Mandar’s security team and asked to join. Mandar was sorry to lose her, but he let her go anyway.
I think he secretly likes to send his best security people our way. Mandar watches his security teams very closely, to make sure the wrong people do not get in. That is where Baldwin failed with his security teams, he left the whole thing in the hands of other people. I hope Aari and his team can find some evidence to prove that Bertha and her daughters killed Ralph.
That is not going to be easy. But, the next day Aari, Miles, and Tracy knocked on the door of Bertha’s house. One of the daughters answered and Miles just pushed his way in, followed by Aari and Tracy. ”What is going on here?” yelled Bertha, “Get out or I call the police.” Tracy then took the phone from Betty, Miles took the one from Brook, rather forcefully, and Aari just held out his hand to Bertha.
She looked at him angrily, but realized he was not someone to argue with, so she handed him her phone. ”Now, what do you want?” she asked. ”Perhaps I should ask the questions,” said Aari, “and you can answer. It will go much easier for you that way. I am Boris Knight, leader of the Black Knights. What I want is money to, shall we say, keep you enjoying life outside of prison walls.”
“I have no money and I do not know what you are talking about,” she said, “now leave.” ”You killed your husband,” said Aari, as he sat down beside her, “with help from your daughters.” ”Wait a minute mister,” said Brook, “that was strictly mother’s idea so leave me out of it.” ”Shut your mouth, you brat!” yelled Bertha.
She was about to say more, but right then Aari pulled out a nice knife and flipped it open and just held it in his hand, the blade pointing toward Bertha. The girl’s eyes got quite big when they saw that. Then they noticed that Miles and Tracy also had their knives out. ”Hey, you, you, um, are not going to kill us, are you?” Betty whined.
“That depends on your mother,” said Aari, “but I think we deserve part of the money you will be getting and part of what you have already. Just so we do not say something to the police, accidentally of course.” ”I told you already,” growled Bertha, “I have no money!” ”You will be getting $500,000 annually from the insurance,” began Aari, “plus you have over $3 million in the bank at present, plus this house which is worth over $1 million, plus your jewelry.”
Just then Clarence and Alfred came inside. ”Check the bedrooms,” said Aari. ”You cannot do that!” yelled Bertha and she began to get up, but Aari had his knife at her throat quickly, so she sat down again. Clarence and Alfred returned shortly. ”Not a bad haul,” said Alfred, as they went out the door.
“I will be back tomorrow,” said Aari, “I want to see $300,000 waiting for me, otherwise you will not like what will happen.” ”Wait!” exclaimed Brook, “Take me with you, don’t guys like you always want a pretty girl around? I can tell you a lot about momsy, Ralphie is not the first guy she killed.” ”Shut up you worthless rat!” yelled Bertha and she ran over and threw Brook to the floor. ”You will have your money!” she growled again to Aari…
To Be Continued.
©2024 Steve McLeod.
Good morning to everyone on this cloudy and foggy day. It has been foggy like this for a few days now. At the moment the temperature is 32F (0C), the snow is still melting, what little snow is left anyway. Most of our snow has melted away once again, leaving much of the town looking like spring has arrived. However, that is deceiving.
Winter has a long way to go yet and we could easily get a lot of snow and cold weather. In fact, that cold weather is supposed to start on the weekend. Oh well. This winter has been very nice so far, except for a few colder days, but I have enjoyed it. I think some of our crows have come back already.

Pine Siskin on my hand, 2 winters ago.
There are 4 of them around here now and there were none before. They got fooled by the nice weather. They might decide to head back south again. They have begun working on the water pipes in our building finally. Actually, they started a bit yesterday, just preparation for today. They told me yesterday to fill my tub with water so I would have plenty for the day.
So, how do I shower this morning if the tub is full of cold water? Someone obviously was not thinking. Sigh. I solved the problem by filling a large tote with water, keeping it in the tub. That means I could still shower. The water is only off during the day, from about 7:30am to 6pm. If everything is going well. It could be later in the evening if they are encountering problems.

Black-capped Chickadee on my hand, 2 winters ago.
So it is not so bad, just inconvenient. Providing they do not encounter problems. At least they do provide us with bottled water for drinking and cooking, so that is nice. The water in the pipes will be brownish in the evenings, but still safe to use we are told. Right. Safe for what? Watering my plants? I am certainly not going to drink brownish colored water.
Or cook with it. They said to run the water for a bit to get it clear again. What is “a bit”? I like something more exact than “a bit”. It could take up to 20 minutes to get the water mostly clear again. What is “mostly”? Sigh. Oh well, minor details.

American Goldfinch in winter plumage, 3 winters ago.
Then there is the police swarming the place. But I will save that for next time. Things are getting more interesting around here now. Well, time to go, thank you for joining me today for a cup of coffee. Have a great day and God bless!
Steve and Muffin.
©2024 Steve McLeod.