For a smile as wide as a country sunrise
As we were half way across the ocean, another familiar face appeared on the jet with us. It was Kat! “Why are you here?” I asked, “You should be back helping the others.” “They do not need me right now,” said Kat smiling, “Jennifer is here for you because you need her gentleness. Sky needs me, if we can make it in time.”
“Remember your promise though,” I reminded her, “Sky would not want you to die saving her life.” “I will keep my promise, my dear husband,” she said smiling, “but we will need to work fast once we get back. Perhaps we can enlist Mandy’s help to truly terrorize Wickers.” “That would be too dangerous,” I said. “Not with Jennifer and I helping out,” said Kat, “we can keep her perfectly safe. All she needs to do is trust us and follow orders.”
“Hmm, it might work,” I said, “but it is still dangerous, and it will be extra hard on Mandy, adding more trauma to her which she doesn’t really need right now. But, we can ask her, without pushing her in any way.” We got home to the airport where a helicopter was waiting to take us to the clinic. We landed and rushed into the clinic quickly only to be met by Dr. Kerstina.
We were too late, by only a few minutes. Sky had died. Jennifer and I sat around waiting while Kat tried hard to revive Sky, but it seems as though we are too late for that. Finally Kat came out. “I think she will be fine,” said Kat. I then went in to see Sky. Her eyes were open and she tried to smile. Dr. Kerstina would not let me stay long, so back to the chateau we went and met with the others.
I was hesitant to ask Mandy to help us, but she came to me and asked if there was any way she could help to stop Wickers. Mandy is a strong girl. We were soon flying back to the US and we all slept the whole way. Our pilot woke us up with a loud trumpet playing! “Just wanted to make sure you were awake,” he said chuckling. Hmm, we left when it was dark and we arrive back when it is dark.
That might be best though, easier to keep from being seen. We parked the van in front of the house where we are staying and went inside. Meanwhile, “Call for you boss,” said Ray. “A van just drove up and two people went inside,” said Vick, “otherwise nothing to report. The two people were new though, both women.” “Okay, keep watching,” said Wickers. “Man out here to see you boss,” said Ray.
Wickers decided to check on the man and turned on his screen, but he did not recognize the man at all, he did see that there were two men though. But, he came out and sat down with the men. “I’m Wickers, what do you want?” he asked. “My name is Matt Knight,” said Matt, “leader of the Knight Riders.” Both Matt and the other man wore dark glasses and black clothes. “I heard there was a man named M that you wanted taken care of,” continued Matt, “willing to pay something for him?”
“Too late, I already have a man on the job,” said Wickers. “Yeah, a Mr. M,” said Matt, “and he has gone to France hoping to kidnap some kids from that PI. He will never do it. And while he is gone, this M is going to pose a big problem for you since you turned him down. He even wanted me and my boys to help him. I turned him down too. But I can deliver him to you.”
“How do you know so much about what is going on?” asked Wickers. “Well, a certain man that works for Mr. M, also works for me,” said Matt. “Dangerous,” said the other man, “but the pay is good.” “Yeah, you were here with Mr. M,” said Wickers, “one of his extra men.” “That was me,” said Logan. “Yep, Logan is one of the best there is,” said Matt, “interested or not?”
“Okay, $500,000 alive, or $200,000 dead,” said Wickers, “and if you can get him in the next 12 hours I will add an extra $100,000 to the deal.” “Better break open the bank Mr. Wickers,” said Matt, “I have him and he is dead and at the back door.” Wickers took the men to the back where a large van was sitting and Logan opened the back doors.
A very large man jumped out and pulled the dead M out of the van and onto the ground. After checking to make sure M was dead he told his two men to put him into the dumpster. They dragged him over but were unable to lift the big man. “Brick, help those guys,” said Matt. Brick went over, picked up M’s body and tossed it in the dumpster. “That is a strong man,” said Wickers. “He is nice to have around,” said Matt. Ray then arrived with the agreed upon $300,000…
To Be Continued.
©2024 Steve McLeod.
Good morning and Happy Tuesday to everyone! Time for a cup of coffee and a few minutes to relax, always a nice idea around mid morning. Well, okay, we are a bit past mid morning, but it is still a good idea. When I got up this morning it was snowing heavily, looked like a real snowstorm out there and everything was turning white very quickly.
But now it is a beautiful, sunny morning, that snow has melted and it looks like spring once again. Amazing how fast the weather can change sometimes. Yesterday afternoon it was warm with thunderstorms. But, that is the way that spring works. The birds were really singing out there this morning as well, once the sun was shining again.

Two male flickers vying for the attention of a female.
It was the same yesterday morning. So many birds have now returned from the south that there is quite a chorus of songs each morning now. And each day some new species, arriving back from the south, joins the choir. Although it is a bit chilly in the mornings yet, I can still open my window for a bit, or take my coffee out on the balcony for a while in order to listen to this beautiful choir.
Turkey vultures were returning in steadily increasing numbers yesterday. That was their first big day in returning from the south. Not exactly a beautiful bird when seen up close, but they do look nice soaring against a bright blue sky. Speaking of blue sky, there are quite a few brilliantly white Ring-billed gulls floating around against the blue sky right now.

And once again with one having his tail fanned out.
I always enjoy watching them though I have never been able to get a decent picture of them soaring against the sky like that. But perhaps one of these days. I have been trying for a long time to get some good pictures of our flickers. The are a species of woodpecker and one of two species that migrate south for the winter. I finally got some fairly good pics of them, two males in particular as they were doing what I call their spring “dance”.
Basically it is two male flickers that are trying to get the attention of a female, which in this case was higher up in the tree hidden by the branches so I was not able to get a picture of her. The males kind of bounce around with tails fanned out and chattering at each other.

They do not actually fight, just kind of “dance” around a lot and chatter.
They do not really fight, basically it seems like they just try to impress the female waiting for her to pick one of them. Usually she seems to be unimpressed and flies away with the males flying after her and the process repeats the next time she lands.
Eventually she does pick one and the loser flies off in search of another female. Muffin is enjoying her nap in the sun on the window sill. Nothing quite like sunshine for a good nap. Well, it is getting close to lunch so guess I shall say good bye for now. Thank you for stopping by, have a wonderful day and God bless!
Steve and Muffin.
©2024 Steve McLeod.