Steve`s Country
For a smile as wide as a country sunrise
The Investigators, Inc. The Lost Team Case. Chapter 6. Helicopter Coming.
The Major, Snake and Tony went into the car together. Muffin was in there too and sat on the Major’s lap. “Okay now, Snake,” began Major, “where is Carnival?” “Who knows?” said Snake sarcastically, “find him yourself.” Tony punched Snake in the stomach. “I told you before, easy or hard, your choice,” said Major, “now, Carnival kidnapped a good friend of mine, we call him the Lieutenant, plus his wife and two other ladies. Where are they?”
“Sounds like a fun time for that guy with 3 dames,” said Snake. He was punched again, harder this time, causing him to groan. Major asked the same question. “Forget it old man,” said Snake. Major nodded to Tony who took out a rather large knife and started to push it into Snake’s stomach. “Wait, wait, do not kill me!” he said squirming. “Then answer my question,” said Major firmly, “this is your last chance.”
“Carnival took him to the mountains,” Snake began, “he found an old cabin up there one year and he uses it to, uh, “teach” people. But I do not know where it is and that is the truth!” He was sweating by this time. Tony took him out of the car and brought in Red. Snake was yelling he needed to go to the hospital or he would bleed to death. Rock told him to shut up and looked at his wound. “You will live,” said Rock, then he took off Snake’s shirt and told him to press it against the spot.
It appeared that Red was more stubborn than Snake and Tony dragged his body out of the car and brought in Bancroft. He cooperated quickly and told the Major the same thing as Snake. Then it was Charlie. He added a bit more about the location of the cabin and said they all knew. It would still be a lot of area to cover over rough terrain, to try and find us however. “What do you think Muffin?” asked the Major.
Meow,meow.=This one tell truth, I know. Others only tell what have to so they not get killed. Trust this one. “Good girl, I agree with you,” said Major, “you may go Charlie.” And he did so, very fast! Snake and Bancroft did not fare so well, however, and ended up swimming with the fish out on the lake. “Do you think it was a good idea to let Charlie go?” asked Rock. “I told him if he was smart, to leave Toronto right away,” said Major, “otherwise Carnival will likely chase him down for talking.
He likely will not take my advice though and will try to hide here. Now, we have to switch things quickly and head west to the mountains, that is where Carnival took them. It is likely going to take some time to find them.” “Well, I can fly anything, so can Benson, and I know Ralph can fly too,” said Rock, “so we can have 3 planes in the air looking for them.” “Yes, that is good,” said Major, “so we will get ourselves an early start tomorrow.”
Meanwhile, back to us. The girls had peeled the bark off some new branches, revealing that nice bright wood underneath. Then they cut them in smaller pieces and spelled out SOS on the dark gray shingles on the cabin roof. If any planes fly past, they just might see it and investigate. Problem is, in the nearly 5 weeks we have been here, not one plane has passed by here. This is obviously a very remote location, which is not good. But it keeps everyone busy, and somewhat encouraged, doing things like this.
I have lost track of time, and even the days since I went back to ‘nowhere’ do not register. Each day is just a day to me, nothing more. Perhaps that is a good thing for me. Having Sky here has been the biggest help for me though. She is calm, relaxed and always seems cheerful when she is around me. Her quiet, soft voice helps to calm me also, especially when those headaches hit me.
I do not know if she is really my wife or not, but they all say that she is. I know this much, I would be lost without her and I want to stay close to her all the time. Then, one day Kristina and Sigurbjorn came running in and said a helicopter was coming close to the cabin. They went out and tried to signal it with the mirror.
The helicopter turned and came directly over to us and hovered nearby. A door on the side opened and a couple of large wood boxes were pushed out, crashing to the ground. The girls then knew what that meant. Then a ladder came out and a man climbed down, carrying a large gun. Sigurbjorn came inside to get the gun we had, but I had gotten it already.
“Back outside,” I said to her, pointing the gun, “now.” She went back out and I stood in the doorway. The man came closer and I took aim and shot him. Down he went. Then I shot the other man in the door of the helicopter. He fell out, landing with a thud on the ground…
To Be Continued.
©2023 Steve McLeod.
Friday Fun With Coffee! #10 Laughs From the Past.
Good morning to everyone on this fine day! Also, Happy Friday! It is cloudy again, but the sun tries to peek through now and then, and it is fairly mild too, the temp this morning was 18F (-8C), which is not so bad for this time of the year. The birds are busy this morning, though not like the last couple of days. I have had the chickadees, both species, and nuthatches, coming regularly to my hands now, which is so nice. I will be out there with them again in a little while.
I feel very worn out this week which is really slowing me down a lot. That means not getting much done on my “To Do” list. Sigh. Hopefully next week will be better. Anyway, today being Friday means another item from my past. Each Friday, as you know, I pick a story from my past to share with you, either near past or further back in my past. This one goes back quite a few years.
Black-capped Chickadee looking up at an eagle flying overhead.
It was a warm, sunny day in July when dad and I went out looking for insulators again. We called it “insulatoring”, not a real word I know, but we made it one anyway. We headed out to a new area to search for insulators, but we were not finding much, hardly anything really. “Not a very good day,” I said, “we should turn back.” “Nonsense,” said dad, “we will find some soon.” An hour later and we still had not found anything except 6 insulators that we already had at home. Sigh.
Then we came to a small pond where they had cut down some poles and put in new ones. But they left all the crossarms, which unfortunately were mainly in the water. There was a larger, grassy clump close to one bunch, if we could just get there. Dad found part of an old pole and we stood it up and let it fall in the direction of that clump of grass. A perfect fall and we were set. “You go out,” said dad, “you are the lightest and I can sit on the pole to keep it from moving.”
This little chickadee is sitting down while trying to peck open a peanut.
“Why me?” I asked, “it was your idea and the pole is steady by itself.” “Fine,” he said, and off he went. He made it without any problems, which was amazing. I tried moving the pole, probably should not have done that. It did move and rolled against dad’s legs and he sat down on the other side of the pole. He started yelling and waving his arms. I walked out there. Dad was sitting in a hole of watery mud. “I’m stuck,” he said.
I started laughing. Loud and long. I tried pulling on his arm, but that did not help, just made dad scream. I tried lifting his legs, but that just made him sink deeper and his arms went into the mud as well. “Stop it!” he yelled. “You are going deeper,” I said, and began laughing more. It was hard to stand and laugh so much. I got a branch, dad suggested it, and put it under him. He yelled again. “Oops, sorry,” I said. Seems I stuck it into his side. He wanted it on top of him.
This little chickadee is upside down, with his head anyway.
I thought he wanted me to try prying him out. I laid it across the hole he was in and he used it to pull on. It did not work, just broke the branch. I got another branch, bigger this time and tried to pry him out. He kind of rolled over and I quickly stuck the branch under him. He yelled again. “You have mud on your face,” I said, and went back to laughing. However, with the branch under him, he was able to pull himself out finally, though it took a few tries.
He was covered in mud. “Wait until mom sees you!” I said while still laughing. We decided to head back home. I laughed all the way back. “How do you manage to laugh so much?” asked dad. “It is easy with you around,” I said. “Bonehead,” he answered. Oh my, we had so much fun on those outings together. I hope you enjoyed this bit of humor today. Once again, Happy Friday and God bless!
Steve and Muffin.
©2023 Steve McLeod.
Steve`s Country 