Steve`s Country
For a smile as wide as a country sunrise
Saturday Stories. #4
Hello everyone! It is another cloudy day here, but mild once again with a temperature of 25F (-4C). It looks like we will have a very nice week coming up with mild temperatures. Years ago I used to enjoy snowshoeing, it was a great winter activity. So, there was a spot I wanted to check out and see if it would be worthwhile to go there in the spring and check around more thoroughly.
Besides, it would be a fun snowshoe hike. So I got everything ready and drove off to the area. But first I decided to stop in at my favorite restaurant for breakfast. Krissy asked me what I was up to on such a cold day. Actually, it was only -10F (-23C), so not really cold, kind of a nice winter day I thought. I told her what I was planning.
These pictures are not from our snowshoe hike but are all from the path to the river which I talk about a lot.
I knew she did not have snowshoes so she would not be able to come along this time. She just looked at me and said “no”. She said it would be too dangerous for me to go alone on a cold day and for such a long hike. She had no sense of adventure sometimes. She disappeared into the back and brought out my breakfast after a short time, plus for herself too.
Then she said something about coming with me. I said no, it is too dangerous. Then she mentioned pouring my coffee on my head. Not quite sure what she meant by that. ”You need to have snowshoes,” I said, “the snow will be too deep for walking.” She disappeared again and returned with snowshoes.
Apparently she had bought them a couple weeks prior to this and she had been practicing with them, even in very deep snow. Hard to argue now, so we drove to the spot where I could park my car off the road and away we went through the pines. It was quite easy going under the pines, there was not much for undergrowth to deal with and the snow was about 3 feet deep (close to a meter).
I went first to break trail which made it easier for Krissy, but she was doing very well, all her practicing has paid off. After about 45 minutes we stopped for a break. There was a large pine tree that had fallen, so we could sit on that to rest. ”How much farther is it?” she asked. ”Not quite sure,” I replied, “it depends on if we are going in the right direction, or not.” She looked at me. ”I’m sure we are going in the right direction though,” I said reassuringly.
“We better be or you are in big trouble,” she said. Not quite sure what she meant by that. We continued our snowshoe hike. I must admit, after another 25 minutes I was beginning to wonder if we were going in the right direction. We should be there by now. I probably should have brought my compass, but it didn’t seem like it would be very far. We kept going, and after another 15 minutes we stopped and I checked around with my binoculars.
Looking downhill from us I could see a house, or really, the remains of one. Down we went and sure enough there was an old log cabin. The roof was still on it, though it did have a lot of snow covering it. But, I figured it should be safe enough, so in we went. It was about 15 feet wide and 24 feet long and had just two rooms, the kitchen and bedroom.
There was an old wood burning cook stove, an old table with two chairs and a bench, plus a large cabinet. The furniture had certainly seen better days. There were a couple of bird nests on top of the cabinet, likely from Phoebes. The bedroom had two metal frame beds, a dresser and a wood trunk. The dresser and trunk looked to be homemade and not very well made, but it must have done the job for someone.
All the windows were broken though it still had a door which was open when we got there. Made us wonder what they were doing back in the middle of nowhere. At least we had a nice place to eat our lunch. I will continue this story next time. I hope you all have a wonderful weekend and God bless!
Steve and Muffin.
©2024 Steve McLeod.
The Investigators, Inc. The Mysterious Hidden Cabin. Chapter 24. Recovery.
( Author’s note, Chapter 23 stated that was the end of the story, but today’s chapter 24 is actually the end, sorry for the mistake, not sure how I did that). Now we pick up the story where Lauren had told her two killer dogs to kill the cats that had jumped onto Baldwin’s big desk…Before the dogs made it to the desk, Kat called to them. They stopped and she pointed to the closest dog and said “die”!
The dog immediately fell over, dead. Lauren told the other dog to attack Kat, but before he had a chance to move, Kat did the same with him and he fell over dead. ”She is a witch, or something!” said one of the men. Lauren was furious that she lost her dogs, so she pulled out her gun and tried to shoot, but nothing happened. ”You cannot kill someone that is already dead,” said Kat, “I am a ghost, and as a ghost I have strange powers. I would suggest you leave.”
Lauren looked over at the man on the other side of the room. ”That is why I wanted her,” he told Lauren, “she does have unique, shall we say, abilities, which can be of great help to me.” ”Grab that box and get out of here!” shouted Lauren to her men. ”Touch that box and you will die next,” said Kat calmly. The man just sneered at Kat and bent over to pick up the box.
Kat pointed at him and said, “die”! The man fell to the floor, dead. ”Let’s go Lauren,” said Michael, “I smell a trap.” So all of them ran out the door and right into our trap! Matt yelled at them to surrender, but Lauren’s men began shooting. Our team returned fire and this kept on for a while giving Lauren and Michael opportunity to escape.
They ran out to the road where another car was waiting to pick them up with two men inside. Lauren’s escape plan worked, she and her remaining men disappeared into the night, never to be found. Most of the men she left behind died in the fight, the remainder surrendered. The next day Rossana showed up with her team of experts and with the help of Alfred identified the gems and who the owners were for most of them.
The experts were amazed at Alfred’s knowledge, not only of the gems and their value, but his knowledge of who owned which gems and when they had been stolen and where they were stolen from. Rossana knew all about Alfred and just smiled. She did tell me later that I should give Alfred a new identity, for his own safety. I told her I would try to do so, but he had said no the first time I mentioned it.
Well, this case is over, except for those who need to recover from injuries. Cheryl was not surprised by the reaction of her family. She told Galyna and myself that her dad had sold her to Lauren when she was just 15. She is now 17, though she thought she was older, time had just kind of disappeared for her. She came to me the next day with Aasta and literally got on her knees and begged me to let her stay with us.
She also wants to join our team. ”Well, our rules state you must be 18 to join,” I told her. ”But I was only 17 when I joined,” Aasta reminded me, giving me that cute pouting look she has. I brought it to the team for a vote and Cheryl got a 100% yes vote, so she is a full team member now. She still must pass our tests, however, she is still a member.
Mandar asked me if his helper could join our team too, so we now have 2 new team members. My back was more seriously hurt than originally thought, so my recovery will be quite long. Meantime, Rock will take over and I will direct things from home. I can barely walk and can really do nothing on my own, needing help with everything for now.
Sky has picked out some of the girls who will be my permanent helpers during this time since she cannot do everything by herself. Ginger began a remarkable recovery after returning to the clinic and receiving a visit from Kat and Rusty. I am sure Kat had a hand in that, but she did not claim to do anything.
All of the others are in various stages of recovery. Sky is still not back to normal yet either and Dr. Kerstina is a bit worried about that, but Sky is back home now, however she cannot exert herself too much. This was a long case, I wonder what will come our way next?
The End. A new case will show up very soon.
©2024 Steve McLeod.
Steve`s Country 