Steve`s Country
For a smile as wide as a country sunrise
Down Country Paths. #6
Good morning everyone! It is a sunny and very smoky morning here again. It is only mid morning and already my eyes are bothering me from all this smoke. Oh well, these things happen. Moving. Hmm, let me see, there are 26 days before I move. No, I have not started to pack yet. I should. Usually once I know that I will be moving, I start packing.
Usually I have at least 2 months notice before moving. Not this time. So, I should be packing. I have a lot of stuff to pack. Right now I am trying to figure out where to put the boxes once they are packed. This apartment is tiny. So right now I am just planning things so I know the order in which to pack. My posting might be a bit erratic over the next few weeks, but please stick around, it will get back to normal.
This female Ruby-throated Hummingbird was sitting deep in a shrub out back here, I did not think the pic would turn out since it was quite dark back in there.
Or perhaps a new normal. Now, what to share this morning from my journals. Let me see. How about this one? It was a sunny and rather smoky day back then as well. I went driving down one of our back roads which was gravel, but remarkably smooth. Except in a few places. Sigh.
I was driving slowly anyway looking for…whatever. Something interesting. Something out of the ordinary. Suddenly I stopped and backed up a bit. From this spot I was higher than the surrounding landscape and it looked like the roof of a house down among some trees. I found a spot where I could park the car off the road. Okay, I made a spot, same thing though.
Too bad I did not have a nice path to walk on.
There was no sign of a road into that house, if that is what it was. There was a field beyond the roof that I saw. So I began walking in to see what I could find. Soon I was standing next to an abandoned house. It had obviously been abandoned for a long time, it was really falling apart. But the roof was still in place, mostly. Sort of. I looked in one of the broken windows.
Not much inside. There was a large kitchen, a living room and a bedroom which still had a very old iron bed frame in it. Nothing else. The living room was empty except for a very beat up arm chair sitting in one corner. There was a table and a couple of broken chairs in the kitchen. There was also a large, and very active, wasp hive attached to the kitchen cupboards.
Bumble bees were living under the house.
That was also right next to the door. The other door opened into the living room, but there was no floor at that location, just a big hole which was likely the cellar. The house sat on large wood beams and on one was carved “Builded 1920”. I did brave it and go inside the kitchen, the floor was leaning toward that big hole in the ground.
There was a calendar nailed onto the wall which was from 1955, likely the year people left this house. There are a lot of similar places around the area that were abandoned in the 1950s. My one foot broke through the floor at one point which scared up a bunch of bees. So I removed myself speedily and went back outside. There was a lot of scrap metal and smaller farm items scattered around the house.
There were rather large spiders in that house too.
I picked up one bar that I thought might be a handy item and carried it around with me while checking around the yard. Good thing too. I found the well. By falling into it. The old wood cover was too rotten to hold me. But that bar fit nicely across the mouth of the well which kept me from falling in.
There was water in that well, but it was deeper. I did not want to find out just how deep the water was however. But I was able to lift myself out quite easily using that bar. Always a good thing to have when exploring abandoned places like this. Sometimes wells are not even covered, but with the long grass around these places, it is easy to fall in.
And you do not want to do that. Especially if you are alone. Like I was. After that I decided to leave and I never went back. There were other places I visited that were more interesting and we will look at those another time. I hope you all have a wonderful weekend and God bless!
Steve and Muffin.
©2023 Steve McLeod.
The Investigators, Inc. Case of the Missing Granddaughter. Chapter 13. Trouble Arrives.
The police and ambulances were finally gone, and the helicopter fire was also out now, but still quite a mess to clean up. Annelie had found what she was looking for too, evidence that the judge was on Butcher’s payroll, amounts paid for allowing several criminals go free and matching deposits made by the judge at his bank the day after getting paid.
She did not tell the police that part, however, it was better to let the police figure that out for themselves, which they did. And the judge was soon in jail, being held without bail. The judge did a lot of protesting his innocence the whole time however. But it did not do him any good. He was caught. And he will be spending much time in prison for what he did.
Meanwhile, off in Germany, Rock and team were tracking down Ransom. According to Lucky he lived in a small city in the east of the country and had about 20 men with him at all times. Lucky even gave them the exact address of where to find Ransom. It was a nightclub with the offices of his organization in the basement.
He had better security than Scorpion, so they would need to be a bit more careful. But, the element of surprise was still the best way to go. Apparently he was always present when the club was open, so that was good. Hopefully Ransom would not know what any of them looked like, but due to his size, Rock would go in last, just in case.
Kate, Rusty, Angel and Storm would also go in last with Rock. That is when the fun will begin. The others went in 2 or 3 or 4 at a time, mostly as couples so as not to attract attention. Everyone was dressed nicely with a special lining in their clothes to prevent their weapons from showing up, but it only blocked the weapons, nothing else, otherwise it would look suspicious.
Finally everyone was inside and it was time for the last of the team. The girls and the cats came first. “Sorry ladies, no animals allowed,” said the one man. “These are special cats,” said Kate, “not just animals. They are for medical reasons to help keep us calm.” Ransom was close by and the other man waved him over. “These ladies want to bring these cats inside,” he said, “they say it is for medical reasons.”
“They help us stay calm,” said Kate, “and they are very well behaved. We can keep them under the table or on our laps so they will not bother anyone.” “Okay,” he said, “but if anyone complains, they will have to go.” The girls smiled and thanked him nicely and in they went and sat at a table, looking around the room to pick out any other guards that might be around. Then the man with Ransom noticed something.
“Hey Ransom, that gal has an orange cat,” he said, “Butcher said the ghost woman had an orange cat, and that she had long blond hair.” “Pick up those two women with the cats and bring them to my office,” Ransom said on his phone to his waiters. They all looked around and spotted the girls. “Looks like we have attracted attention,” said Angel, “okay cats, off you go, you know what to do.”
Storm and Rusty disappeared under the tables. Kat informed the others of the problem. Two waiters came to their table. “The boss would like to invite you to his office,” said one, “and that is an invite you cannot refuse.” He then showed his gun from under his towel. That is when Kat stood up yelling.
“What is this anyway?” she exclaimed, “we have not done anything wrong and you come to us with guns!” She then took the towel away to reveal his gun. “Yeah,” said Angel, “what is this place anyway? I thought it was supposed to be a nice place!” Then Aari stood up too.
“What kind of club is this anyway?” he asked loudly, “I came here to enjoy a nice dinner with my girlfriend and your waiters carry guns! This place was highly recommended, so why the guns used on two women who were not doing anything?” Then a couple more stood up saying similar things. That got the whole crowd in there worked up, standing and yelling at Ransom.
He calmed everyone down saying his waiters had made a mistake, they thought these two women were escaped convicts, but they are not. He apologized many times and came over apologizing to the girls as well and offering them free dinner. They smiled and sat down again.
“I would appreciate if you would come to my office after dinner though,” he said smiling, “perhaps I can offer you a good job, better pay than anywhere else.” “I doubt you could match our pay,” said Kate, “but thanks for the offer Ransom.” He stared at her when she said his name, since that is not the name he is known by around there.
Just then there was a loud crashing as Rock came smashing through the doors and tossed the two doormen aside. Kate looked at him and immediately knew there was trouble…
To Be Continued.
©2023 Steve McLeod.
Steve`s Country 