For a smile as wide as a country sunrise
Back at Dawn’s cabin the storm was still howling wildly outside, but the girls were fast asleep as Kristina kept the fires burning and kept watch. She was sitting on her mattress, shared with Sky and Storm, with her back against the wall and her gun in her hand. Suddenly Storm woke up and stared into the other room, growling. ”Come Storm,” she said, “we will take a look.”
She figured the noise was due to the storm outside, but she wanted to satisfy her curiosity anyway so she could relax again. Then there was a loud EEEEK! All of the girls woke up and grabbed their guns. They ran over to Storm. Meowr!=Ghost come and take my human, put arm around neck, she go limp, he drag her into wall! Ghost all white, glow too. ”There is no such thing as ghosts,” said Sky.
The girls found Kristina’s guns and flashlight, but even with all 3 cats looking, they could not find a hidden door. Meowr.=Ghost not need door, just walk through wall. ”Well, Kristina is no ghost,” said Sky, “so she cannot go through the wall.” Meowr.=Rusty disappear when human ghost Kat disappear, and he not ghost. ”Hmm, he has a point there Sky,” said Astrid.
“That does not help Astrid,” said Sky. ”Oops, sorry Sky,” she replied. ”Why do these old places have secret passages?” asked Dawn, rather frustrated. ”To hide something,” said Crystal, “you know, the lady at the hotel said this place was haunted by ghosts. How did she know that?” ”From local legends,” said Sky, “it seems everywhere you go there is some kind of local legend.”
“She never should have gone off by herself,” said Sapphire. ”True,” added Sky, “none of us will do that again, right everyone?” They all agreed, but right now they could do nothing so they reluctantly went back to bed. Astrid, Tiia and Crystal stayed awake to watch. Nothing more happened and in the morning they began searching again. The storm was still howling outside and their SUV’s were half covered with snow.
Sky tried calling home again, but still no service was available. ”Perhaps it is something inside the house that is preventing our phones from working,” suggested Crystal. They tried opening the door, but the snow was too deep and the windows all seemed to be stuck. Finally they found a window that would open and Charly crawled out and tried to call, but still nothing.
So she fought her way through the snow to get further away from the house. But her phone still would not work. As she turned to go back she noticed a shape in one of the windows on the top floor. She returned to the window and Sky gave her Tiia and said to carry her further from the house and see if she can send a message. Charly told Sky what she had seen upstairs but she still told Charly to take Tiia out further.
She walked back to where she was before and Tiia sent a message. This time it went through and they returned to the house. Poor Charly was tired out after wading through that waist deep snow, even deeper closer to the house. ”It worked,” she told Sky, which made everyone feel much better. However, they realized it would be a day or more before help came.
So they all set out to go upstairs, but Sky said 4 of them would stay behind and protect their gear, plus one cat, Ginger. Crystal, Sapphire, Charly and Chantelle stayed behind. The other five and two cats went upstairs. Meanwhile… EEEEEK! That was Muffin as she came sliding into the library where I was sitting comfortably. I did not need to stay in the clinic.
Although my back was very sore, there was no damage done, so I could return home again. Bridgette came home too so she could keep an eye on me. Meow,meow!=Big storm at house, cars not work, human Kristina disappeared with ghost last night, not come back. Human Sky say need help! I called Rock right away and told him.
“There is no way to get there Steve,” he said, “we cannot fly in this weather and all the roads up that way are closed.” ”Have you never heard of snowmobiles?” I asked, “See if you can get some, buy them if need be, but get them, and bring lots of gas along, get sleds for them too, but get up there!” ”Okay Steve,” he said, “will see what we can find.”
“Also, let me talk with Aari,” I said. ”I am here Steve,” he said. ”Your two sons were here yesterday trying to cause trouble,” I told him, “they had some photos of Aasta with them. They also brought 3 friends which we disposed of quickly. One of your boys kicked me rather hard so I am moving around rather slowly right now, but Aasta is safe. I told them she was my girlfriend.” ”Thanks Steve,” he said…
To Be Continued.
©2024 Steve McLeod.
Good morning everyone! I hope you are all well and enjoying your day so far. Muffin and I have had a great morning. She has been running around here so fast, playing with her green mouse this morning. She seems to have picked that one for her favorite toy these days. She does like to change things a bit now and then. But I could not believe how fast she was moving today.
She would run from the living room through the kitchen, the hall and into the bedroom, then back again. Sometimes carrying her mouse, other times just tossing the mouse and then running away, then coming back to sneak up on her mouse and pounce! I would then toss the mouse, she would jump for it, catch it and off she would go.

This is one of the outlets to our river.
She really wore herself out and now she is having her morning nap. It is a bit cooler this morning with a temp of 7F (-14C), but there is also wind which makes it feel colder. Still, not bad for January. But the forecast is calling for colder weather to arrive next week. We shall see if it happens or not.

Nice frosty bushes next to the river outlet.
As I sit here typing I am also enjoying my morning coffee while the sun shines in my face. Muffin has moved to her patch of sunshine. She always knows where to look for that sunshine depending on the time of day. Time to clean up my kitchen a bit and do some vacuuming today. That is something for this afternoon though.
My plants are enjoying the sunshine too, they are so nice and healthy this winter. It is cloudy most days this winter, but when the sun shines the leaves of the plants seem to take on such a bright green color, like they are jumping and dancing around for joy as the warm sun touches their leaves. Like the warm touch of the sun on my face and hands. I just got myself another cup of coffee, it tastes so good.

Walkway under the bridge by the river, looking towards the lake. That is frost on the grass, not snow, we still lack snow cover.
There are clouds all around right now, but over top of us there is a large patch of blue sky and bright sunshine. Muffin and I are soaking up that sun, enjoying every minute. For those reading my mystery story series, I said there would be a new update of characters posted Monday, I am a bit behind on that, but it will be out very soon. Honest.
Hmm, the clouds are moving closer though the sun is still trying to shine. I have talked with a couple people here who feed birds and they said there are not many birds at the feeders this year. The weather has been nice and with the lack of snow birds are able to find their own natural food easily this winter.

Some crazy people are actually driving on the lake already. That ice should not be considered safe yet. Just to the right of this pic is open water.
So, they do not go to feeders as much. But it would also be a good winter to get some different varieties of birds visiting the feeder. I do miss feeding the birds and other critters. I also miss the photo opportunities they used to give me. Oh well, things change all the time. I hope you all have a wonderful day and God bless!
Steve and Muffin.
©2024 Steve McLeod.