Steve`s Country
For a smile as wide as a country sunrise
The Investigators, Inc. The Mysterious Hidden Cabin. Chapter 13. Accident.
We were riding in the back of a small delivery truck of some kind, there was one guard with us, I could not see anything up front in the cab of the truck. Oddly enough, we were not tied up at all, which turned out to be a good thing. Kat called the cats over, but silently so our guard would not hear. I am not quite sure how she does that, but right now I am not going to question her.
Then she whispered to Aasta and I to hold onto her because the truck is going to have an accident. Suddenly the truck began weaving back and forth on the road, knocking our guard against the wall and he was out completely. Finally the truck rolled over and down a steep part of a hill. Fortunately the truck only rolled once, completely, then slid until hitting a large rock and coming to a stop.
The big door on the back of the truck was smashed open and we decided to leave right away. Kat took the guard’s gun, then we took the guns from the other men as well, plus their money. It was dark, but we headed away from the road and into the forest and began climbing up the side of a mountain.
We tried to move quickly since we knew they would come looking for that truck sooner or later and we wanted to be far away from there when they did return. We kept climbing upward and I was starting to have a hard time with that steady climbing. ”How are you doing Steve?” asked Kat. ”Fine, Kat,” I replied, “no need to worry about me.” Aasta heard a noise and turned to look.
“Kat, stop!” she exclaimed, “Steve fell.” ”I tripped over a tree root,” I said. ”There is no tree root, or anything else sticking out of the ground,” said Aasta. ”We will stop here for a brief rest,” said Kat, “but we cannot stay long, we are not far enough away from that accident scene. They will check on it.” ”Yeah, I know,” I said, “how come we did not fly around the back of that truck like the guard did?”
“Because you were holding onto me,” said Kat smiling. ”I realize that, but it does not answer my question,” I said, and how did you know we were going to have an accident?” ”Well, we were driving fast,” she said, “and on that winding, twisting road, I figured we might have an accident.” ”Right at that precise moment?” I asked, “You are not telling me everything Kat.”
“Yeah, I would like to know about that too,” she said, “um, not that it’s really any of my business.” “Okay, we need to go now,” said Kat, “Aasta and I will hold onto you for a while.” So, I put my arms around them and off we went. Meanwhile, back at the cabin. ”How could they get at them to kidnap them?” asked Dawn, “by my count there were 17 of them, plus 3 cats, how did Lauren get past everyone?”
“Mr. B figured that since Steve and Aasta were safely locked in his bedroom, with the 3 cats,” Rock began, “then he called everyone else into the library and he sealed it off to keep everyone safe. Then they could hit back at Lauren on their terms instead of her terms. But apparently the electronic lock on Steve’s door didn’t work.”
“Then it should have triggered an alarm to let Steve know it was not working,” said Miles, “that would have given him lots of time to get into the safe room.” ”Yep, that is true,” said Rock, “but something happened, we just do not know what. Perhaps Lauren’s gang moved too quickly. But that alarm did not work either.”
“Something wrong with all that,” said Miles, “I put that alarm in place myself, and I know it was working, I check it every other day.” ”Uh, maybe you guys could talk a bit more quietly,” said Chantelle, “Sky just might be able to hear you and that kind of news would not be helpful for her right now.” ”Oh, yeah, guess you are right,” said Rock, “I do have a loud voice.”
Then they heard a shot from downstairs in the cabin. ”Clarence is still down there!” said John as he ran for the secret door, followed quickly by the others. While they were down with Clarence, the girls were standing looking at the fireplace with that door. ”Please do not move, or make a sound,” said a man’s voice…
To Be Continued.
©2024 Steve McLeod.
Saturday Stories. #2 Part 2.
Hello everyone! It is a bit on the chilly side this morning with a temperature of -13F (-25C) and with the wind it feels like -31F (-35C). This is our coldest day of the winter so far, though it will be even colder tonight and tomorrow. Good weather for staying indoors and drinking coffee, tea, hot chocolate and maybe do some reading, or whatever.
I need to do some dusting again today. Fun stuff. Anyway, last week I began a story of Krissy and I going on a hike and we climbed up a rather steep cliff which was quite high. It was fun getting up to the top, though we had not quite arrived at the top when I stopped the story, you can read the first part “here“. This story took place quite a few years ago.
Part of the river path, it is steeper than it shows in the photo.
Well, we shall now continue our little summer adventure. I wanted to try a short day hike and climb this cliff, but Krissy, a friend of mine at the time, did not like the idea of me doing that alone, so she came along. We did not have cell phones at that time, so if I got hurt, there was no way to call for help. She got permission from her parents to come with me since she was supposed to be working that day.
Anyway, we had just finished jumping across a 6 foot long gap in our path going up the cliff and I had nearly fallen. So we stopped to rest before continuing. This part of the ledge path was quite wide which was nice. ”That is beautiful,” she said, looking out over the landscape. From up here we could see for miles.
“Very true,” I said. ”You’re looking the wrong way,” she said to me. Then she turned my head. ”Over that way,” she said smiling. ”I was looking that way already,” I said. That is when she started tickling me. I am very, very ticklish. She was too, so it was not long and we were laughing loudly and rolling around.
Another part of the river path, it also gets quite steep just to the right of that big tree.
Good thing that ledge was nice and wide right there. ”I give up!” she exclaimed. ”Ha, I win then!” I replied. ”This time,” she said, “but I will get you next time.” We continued upward and our ledge became quite narrow as we approached the top, only about a foot wide (30cm). I went first along there and Krissy held onto me.
I just hoped that narrow ledge was strong enough. There were a lot of cracks in that rock, so a chunk could break off at any time. Not a nice thought. Then Krissy slipped, but fortunately she was holding onto my belt and I quickly grabbed her arm and she was able to get back onto the ledge. However, she did cut her leg on a sharp piece of the rock, but I could not do anything about it right then.
She was not bleeding badly, it was only a minor cut, but it would need to be cleaned up. I always used carry a first aid kit with me. It was not long and we were soon at the top of this cliff, so we stopped there for lunch and I was able to get that cut cleaned up for her. ”This is why I said to wear jeans,” I told her, “they help to prevent such things.”
This little bumble bee likes to bee nice to me. Hehe.
“It is too hot for jeans,” she protested, “shorts are better.” “Perhaps, but jeans are safer,” I reminded her. ”It isn’t a bad cut anyway,” she said. She would not let me put a large bandage on her leg either. I even offered to pull it off when I got her back home. She just put her finger on my nose and said “NO”. It was a nice place for our lunch though, looking out across that landscape.
We could see several lakes from up there and mile upon mile of forest. It really was a beautiful sight. Krissy had packed us a great lunch, so we ate and then relaxed for a while before heading back down. I was able to locate a much easier way down, at least until we were near the bottom, then it became more difficult, which is why I never saw this way looking up.
We had to jump down about 5 feet at one point, which was not bad. Krissy had no trouble landing on me, laughing loud and long as she described the look on my face when she jumped. She did not give me any warning, that is why. Oh well, it was a great day and she made a delicious steak dinner for us when we got back home. Well, that is all for our story today, next Saturday I will have something different for you to enjoy. Have a great weekend everyone and God bless!
Steve and Muffin. ©2024 Steve McLeod.
Steve`s Country 