The Mysterious Voices

If you missed yesterday’s post. Here is the link to Part 1. The Crazy Adventure

The guys stood frozen, still in shocked silence. They were inside a  museum with no apparent way out and now it seemed that one of the wax figures had spoken to them.

“Perhaps we are just hearing things, suffering from jet lag, becoming delusional!” said Jinx.

“Well there is nothing  new about being delusional, for you Jinx! You have been there many times!” replied Alabaster, while laughing. “Just pointing out a fact.”

“Good one!” said Snowball as he gave Alabaster a high five.

“Glad to see you can all keep your humor, at a time like this.” said Jinx.

“We need all the laughter we can get right now, so thanks for providing it Jinx!” and Alabaster patted him on the back. “Now what is our plan to get out of here, before another wax figure starts to talk, and we all start to go crazy!”

“Crazy is the name of the game and you all are in it pretty deep!”  echoed a deep low voice.

Snowball stumbled backwards, tripping over the carpet and falling. Jangle’s eyes got big as his mouth opened wide. Alabaster yelled and Jinx disappeared through the floor!

“Wha… wha…just…happened?” said Jangle, whose eyes were still wide in disbelief!

“Well it looked like the floor just opened up and swallowed Jinx! But….how?” said Alabaster.

Snowball was still trying to catch his breath after falling backwards and then he had an idea.

“Alabaster, why don’t you go stand where Jinx was standing and we will see if it happens again?”

“Now you are the delusional one!” replied Alabaster.

“Actually I think you all are delusional!”

“There’s that voice again! Where is it coming from??”  Jangle asked, as they all looked around at the wax figures who were standing still.

“I have no clue, all I know is that I am really ready for this museum adventure to end, but we have to find Jinx!”  said Snowball. ” I am afraid this may be like the Neverending Story. and we will be stuck here until we wave a white flag of surrender!”

“Do you have a white flag Alabaster?”

“Umm…No, didn’t exactly think I would need one.”

Jangle was looking at a map that he had found of the museum and saw that there was a basement. “I don’t think any of us explored the basement, that is probably where Jinx is and may be how we can find our way out!”

“Well what are we waiting for, lets go!” shouted Snowball as he took off.

Alabaster and Jangle watched him run. “He doesn’t know where he is going, does he?” “Nope!” said Jangle, “I am the one with the map. He has no map and no smartz.”  They started laughing as they watched Snowball stop and turn around.

He walked back to them without saying a word and they headed the other direction, with Jangle and Alabaster still chuckling. They all found the way down to the basement which was very dark and damp. Once their eyes adjusted to the darkness they could see a little better.

Their ears perked up as they heard some muffled yelling and banging. Following the direction of the sound it led them to a big box.

“Let me out!” The muffled voice sounded like Jinx.

“Is that you Jinx?” asked Snowball.

“No, its Mitch!”

“Oh, I don’t know any Mitch, do you know Mitch?” Snowball questioned Alabaster.

“Nope!”

“We don’t know any Mitch, guess we can’t let you out!” said Snowball with a smirk.

They opened the box and let a sputtering Jinx out. They were all anxious to know what exactly had happened to him. How had he got into the box?

“All I know is that I stepped on a certain tile on the floor and the next thing I know I was falling and landed in this box that then shut on me. I felt like I was incarcerated with no way out! Glad you all got here and now lets get out of here!”

“But how!” said Jangle.

“There has to be a way out of here, that we just haven’t found yet.”

“AAAH!!”Alabaster was jumping up and down!

They all watched in shock as they saw a snake come sliding out of Alabaster’s pant leg and scurry away!

They all ran the opposite direction of the snake and smacked right into a rusty door. With some hard pushes it creaked open and they all squeezed out of the door, as fast as they could, breathing in the fresh air.

“I don’t know about all of you, but I am ready to get back to the hotel, and no more museums for the rest of our time here!” said Jinx.

Everyone was in agreement as they headed back to the hotel after their crazy day!

Meanwhile, back in the museum, voices could be heard.

“That was a fun group, I think we scared them pretty good, eh!”

“We sure did!” and laughter echoed throughout the museum.

 

 

 

 

The Crazy Adventure

There was excitement in the air. It was vacation time. Work had stopped at the North Pole and now it was time to kick back and relax! Jinx, Jangle, Snowball and Alabaster had their bags packed and they were ready for adventure.

Snowball almost made them all late, for he had overslept, but they made it to the airport in the nick of time. As they were running to the gate, Alabaster tripped while running and  dropped his carry on bag. It opened up spilling the contents everywhere. A red faced Alabaster picked up everything as fast as he could and they at last made it to the gate.

They drew straws on who got the window seats. Poor Jinx and Jangle got the short straws. so they just put their headphones on to listen to music as they closed their eyes.

Snowball got out his writing tablet, he was busy writing his life story, as he looked out the window from time to time. Alabaster stared out the window and snapped pictures of the beautiful sky.

Several hours later the plane landed in warm, tropical temperatures. Such a nice break from the North Pole. This is why every summer they visited Hawaii!

Jinx and Jangle had been to Hawaii before, but this was the first time for Snowball and Alabaster. All of them were eager to explore, but first they were very hungry. After going to their hotel to change clothes and drop of their luggage, they headed for a nice restaurant and filled their stomachs.

Walking out of the restaurant, they were discussing where to go first.

Alabaster was dragging behind a little bit.

“Feeling a little too full?” questioned Jinx to Alabaster.

“I wouldn’t doubt it if he did.” said Snowball. ‘He sure did eat a lot of rice! He said he had a craving for it and he wasn’t kidding!”

They all laughed as Alabaster made a face at them.

“So are we all in agreement? We are going to visit the Aquarium?”  asked Jangle.

“Yes!” They all replied.

it was just a few blocks from the restaurant and the weather was lovely, so they all enjoyed the walk, and didn’t mind going a little slower for Alabaster.

The building was huge and they had a great time exploring the Aquarium. They saw manatees and jellyfish, sharks, and sea turtles. The sea turtles were Alabaster’s favorite.

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Jinx really liked the Mola-Mola fish. The others thought it was a little strange looking though.

photo credit -pinterest

Snowball’s favorite fish was the Clown fish of course, though, all of them liked that one as well and there was one for each of them!

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“Oh look there is Candy Cane’s favorite fish!”  The Angelfish!

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After a couple of hours of being there they decided they would return to their hotel and call it a early night, for they were feeling pretty tired.

They were walking back to the hotel when Snowball said, ” Look! There is a Wax  Museum, why don’t we go in for just a little bit.”

They agreed and walked in. They thought it strange that when they walked in no one was at the desk to greet them and in fact they didn’t see anyone! Well perhaps it was soon time to close. They decided they would just look around a little and then leave. They were impressed, the wax figures really did look real! They half expected them to start talking.

Jinx was walking and started to trip over a piece of carpet on the floor. He put his hand out against a wax figure to catch himself, and the figure began to wobble!

“We better get out of here, before Jinx touches something and it breaks!”

They all made their way back to the front entrance, still finding it a little strange that no one else was in the building.

Snowball pushed on the door and ….

“Umm guys its not opening!”

“What do you mean its not opening!” said Jangle, “Let me try.” He jiggled the handle and sure enough the door didn’t open.

“Being the modest person that I am, let me just point out the fact that it was not my idea to come in here!” said Alabaster and all eyes looked at Snowball.

“Hey! All you guys agreed with me.” said Snowball.

“Well lets be logical about this now, I am sure that there is probably another exit out of this building. We just have to find it.” Jinx said.

They all went different directions looking for another exit, and they all returned to the entrance with the same conclusion. There was no other way out of the building.

“So Mr. Logical, now what do we do?” asked Snowball.

“Well if you ask me, it looks like you all got yourselves in quite a predicament!”

They all looked at each other in shock. Had they just heard what they thought they heard?

“Oooh that wax figure didn’t just say what I think it said, did it?” said Jangle.

The rest nodded their heads in silence, wondering what may happen next!

***Part 2 will be coming***

 

 

Return to the Castle

If you missed Part 1 of Olivia’s story here is the link. Castle of Dreams

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Olivia was sitting in her room trying to read. The book was intriguing, but not intriguing enough to stop her mind from returning to the castle. It had been a week since she had ran away from the castle. She tried to distract herself with other things and forget about the abandoned castle that she had come across on her walk. The one she had visited, dreaming about her Prince. What had caused the crash of the wine bottles that day she was there? What caused the shadow that she had seen, as she ran out of the castle in fear? She was one to not let go of questions easily, so she knew what she had to do. Putting down her book, she went to take a walk.

Inside she was shaking as she knocked on the door of the castle. She waited and started to turn the knob as the door suddenly opened, causing her to jump! In front of her stood a young man who she guessed to be in his 20’s, like her. He had sandy brown curly hair, and a smile that made her speechless.

“HI! May I help you?” the man asked, as Olivia  stood there with her mouth open.

Quickly she shut her mouth, but still no words came out.

“Are you Okay Miss?” The man was still smiling, but beginning to look a little concerned.

“I….I….just didn’t expect anyone to be here?” Olivia said.

The man looked at her, a little perplexed, “Then why did you knock?”

“I mean, I didn’t expect you to be here!”

Oh what was she saying, Olivia’s cheeks were starting to blush, she was always having problems with her words getting her into awkward situations!

“I am sor…sorry…I really should go.” She turned to leave, but the man reached out and touched her on her shoulder.

“No need to run off, I was just getting ready to eat, you are welcome to join me. My name is Brantley, what is yours?”

Olivia thought for a moment, dare she really go in? It wasn’t like her to just say Yes to lunch with strangers but Oh that smile! She did know karate, and wasn’t afraid to use it, so she gathered her courage and replied. ” My name is Olivia, and thank you, I would like that.” and she walked in the door.

She followed him down the long hallway to the table that she had seen before. There was one bottle of Chardonnay sitting in the middle of the table.

“I didn’t fix anything fancy, didn’t expect company. Especially not someone so pretty.”

Olivia felt her cheeks grow warm and she smiled.

“Not too many people show up here, its usually animals that I see. They are fun to watch, but don’t exactly make great conversationalists!”

They sat down at the table to eat some Strawberry-Avocado salad with ham and cheese sandwiches.

Olivia was talking when something brushed up against her bare legs, making her gasp!

Brantley laughed. “I see that Midnight came to say Hi! I hope you aren’t allergic to cats.”

Olivia looked down and saw the a coal black cat with emerald green eyes looking up at her.

“He can be quite the troublemaker sometimes! The other week he broke my wine bottles sitting on the table.  He is lucky that he can also be so sweet when he purrs and just wants to lie on my lap. He keeps me company. This big castle does get lonely at times. Being out in the middle of nowhere enables me to be able to leave the door unlocked when I go out a lot, but loneliness can be a drawback.”

They talked well into the afternoon as they moved outside to a beautiful garden. Sat on the patio and shared some Chardonnay.

Olivia smiled to herself as they talked, and a warm feeling began growing in her heart.  She laughed to herself remembering how he had tripped as they walked out to the patio. He said he felt like he had 2 left feet a lot. When he poured their drinks he accidentally spilled some on Olivia’s hand, while she was holding the glass. The poor guy apologized shaking his head.

“Being graceful is not a strong point of mine!” he claimed.

Who said that a Prince couldn’t be a little clumsy, thought Olivia. She was enjoying his company, feeling very relaxed and thinking that sometimes fairy tales do come true!

 

 

Castle of Dreams

Another day, and still her Prince hadn’t arrived. Not that she really expected him too, but it was fun to dream. Dream that she was Rapunzel and that one day her Prince would appear, climbing up the trellis to her. He would take one look into her sea green eyes, be drawn into its depths and like all fairy tales, they would live happily ever after!

She had found this old castle along her stroll one day in the countryside. The flowers struck her eye and her curiosity drew her to knock on the door. There was no answer as she waited. She then tried the door and it was unlocked, dare she go inside? Her curiosity got the best of her and she bravely opened the door and stepped inside. Her footsteps echoed as she walked down the long halls gazing all around. Olivia saw a table with bottles of wine on it. Was someone living here or had they been left here as the residents of the castle had to quickly flee the castle due to …. her imagination was going!

Olivia was intrigued, she kept finding her way back to the castle. Today was the 7th day that she had come to this magical place. Always being sure to knock, but more and more convinced that the castle really was abandoned. She found a piano and enjoyed letting her fingers dance among the keys. It had been a long time since she had played, but it was all coming back to her. Her favorite songs that she had memorized by ear.

She gazed out the window, the aroma of the sweet flowers filling her senses. CRASH! Her heart jumped into her throat as she turned around and started running. What had caused that noise? Then she saw the spilled wine and the shattered bottles, and gasped at the shadow that she saw slink around the corner and out of sight. It didn’t take her long to make it out of the castle and she kept running. Running and not being able to stop the questions circling around in her mind. Did someone know she was there? What had caused the crash and what made the shadow on the wall? Would she be brave enough to come back and find out the answers?

**pictures from Pinterest**

 

The Animals Save the Day

Tamara was in the grocery store, and she once again had the strange feeling that she was being followed. She glanced behind her but saw no one. What was going on with her, more and more she felt herself feeling nervous when she was out. Was that mysterious lady really following her and if so, why?

She quickly gathered up what was on her list, checked out and headed out of the store. All she wanted was to get home and relax in her pool. It had been a long day at work, and then she made a few stops on the way home. The grocery store was her last one. She needed to get her Banana fudge ice cream and Coffee ice cream home before they melted.

Who was that standing by her car? It was her! The mysterious lady must have been following her, she was standing by her car! Tamara picked up her pace, she was determined to get to the bottom of what this lady wanted with her.

“Excuse me Ma’am, why are you standing by my car?”  Tamara asked as she walked up to her car.

“HI! I am Tanya” , and she put out her hand.  ” I am new to the area and now my car has a flat tire.  Sorry, to bother you, but I have seen you in the neighborhood and you looked like a nice person so I was hoping you could help me.”

Tamara’s heart was pulled. She did have a kind heart and was always quick to offer a helping hand. She didn’t know a lot about cars but she did know how to change a flat tire. Her Dad had taught her well.

“Sure, I can help you, where is your car?”

Tanya smiled, as she led the way to the next row of cars. Her car was parked away from the other cars in the far corner. They got to her car and Tanya popped the trunk.”I think everything you need to change it is in here.”

Tamara looked in and suddenly she felt something hard hit her in the head. She screamed as everything went black.

Tanya slammed the trunk shut. Well that was easy enough, she thought. Patrick’s girlfriend is pretty gullible. Now to pay Patrick a surprise visit, she had some unfinished business with him to take care of!

They were almost to his house when…. Tonya slammed on her brakes! What was that blasted cow doing straight ahead of her in the middle of the road and…!

She pounded the steering wheel. Patrick and Luke were standing on either side of Betsy!

There was no room for her to turn around, plus Luke and Patrick were walking to her car now. Tanya smacked her head on the steering wheel as she heard Patrick’s voice.

“Well, well, well, I see we meet again! Didn’t expect to meet up so soon again, guess you just couldn’t resist wanting to see my handsome face again?” Tanya made a face! “I don’t understand, how did you know?”

Luke said, “We will explain, but first I think you have a trunk to open!”

Tanya pulled the lever to pop the trunk and Patrick pulled out Tamara who had a throbbing headache, and was shook up, but found comfort in Patrick’s strong arms.

It didn’t take long to arrest Tanya and send her off to prison once more. This time there would be tighter security, Luke would see to it! He took Tanya,  while Patrick took Tamara back to his place to help her recover from her frightening experience.

Tamara laid on the couch with her head in Patrick’s lap, as he gently rubbed it.

“Explain to me again how everything unfolded.”

“Luke had called me about Anna escaping from prison. It seems that Betsy had come back to his farm one day and told him everything. She had thought she wanted to escape the farm but then started feeling guilty for Luke had always been really good to her. Apparently Luke has some very special animals, for they all helped put this plan into motion.

Luke brought Betsy and a goose along with him about a week ago now. We had the goose trail Tanya, and she would report back to Betsy who told Luke. The goose was in the parking lot at the grocery store, she saw everything that happened and we flew into action when we heard the news.

Tamara sighed, “I have never been so grateful for animals before as I am right now!”

Patrick leaned down and gave her a kiss.

“I can’t imagine what I would have done if something would have happened to you. Betsy the cow and the awesome Goose are our heroes! I heard that Luke has a Gnu on his farm now too. Oh and an extra cow named Bessie. Anna loves them all!

They all have brought Luke comfort, as he was sorry to lose his pig and Charlie the Chicken. He still has never found out what happened to them, they disappeared the same day as Betsy did and they never came back!

Yes, Luke has his extra special animals and I have Myrtle the turtle, who just eats earthworms and….”

Patrick stood up quickly, letting Tamara’s head drop on the couch.

“Myrtle, Where is Myrtle? How did her lid get knocked off?”

 

 

A Time to Dance

Patrick had his place all cleaned up and looking pretty nice he thought. Myrtle had her head in her shell when he was vacuuming but she was poking it out now as she stared  out of the glass.  It was 5:30, Tamara was due to come at 6, perhaps he would take Myrtle out of her for a little and let her roam around.

He took off the lid and gently lifted her out. When he put her on the floor he felt like she smiled at him. Just then his doorbell rang. Was Tamara early? He opened the door to find a child selling Girl Scout Cookies. Patrick did have a sweet tooth, so he ordered some Thin Mints and some of their Coconut cookies. He closed the door and walked back to the couch to watch Myrtle explore some more, but where was she? He got down on the floor and looked under the sofa, but didn’t see her there. The little girl at the door had been chatty but he didn’t think they had talked that long. Myrtle was a turtle, how could she disappear so fast!

He kept crawling around but couldn’t see any sign of her, where did she go? He was feeling really confused when the doorbell rang again. Looking at the time he realized that now it would be Tamara. What a way to start off a date night, searching for his missing turtle.  He got up with a sigh and went to open the door.

Tamara was standing there smiling and looking nice in her bright yellow top and sunflower leggings.

“Hi there handsome”, she said, but then her smile changed as she saw the worried look on his face.

“What is wrong?”

“I can’t find Myrtle! I took her out of her cage and then the doorbell rang and …OH NO! What if she slipped out the door?

“She isn’t that speedy of a turtle, she probably just found a nice place to curl up and hide in. She can fit into some pretty small places. Myrtle, Myrtle, Where are you?”

Patrick started laughing. “She is a turtle, she isn’t going to answer you back. The last I knew turtles couldn’t talk.”

Tamara made a face at Patrick and continued calling as she looked.

“Found her!” Tamara shouted.

She had slipped underneath Patrick’s baseball glove that he had lying in the corner of the floor.

Patrick breathed a sigh of relief as he picked Myrtle up and  put her back into her terrarium.

“I thought you were a detective, and you couldn’t even find a missing turtle?” Tamara joked.

“Well it was kind of fun watching you crawl around on the floor.”

Tamara looked at Patrick’s twinkling eyes and she didn’t say a word.

Patrick walked over to the stereo and turned on some music. Tamara was sitting at the table and he came up behind her kissing her gently on her neck. He breathed in the soft fragrance of her sweet perfume and for a moment forgot about the food that he had prepared for them.

He had made his specialty,  Manicotti, with Tiramisu for dessert. He brought it over to the table and then poured them each some wine before he sat down.

“This smells delicious! I am impressed!” said Tamara.

“Hopefully you are still impressed, after you taste it. My Mom was a great cook and I was able to learn a little from her. I am also really good at ordering pizza, for when some of my dishes don’t turn out!”

They were enjoying a nice dinner until Tamara brought up how at times she had a strange feeling that someone was following her whenever she came to see Patrick. The only person she ever noticed around her though was some  lady with a broad rimmed hat on her head, and dark sunglasses.

Patrick started to say that he hadn’t noticed anyone before, but then he remembered the other day when he was backing his car out of the garage.

“I am sure its probably nothing, wouldn’t know why some lady would be ….” he paused.

Tamara looked at him, “Yes?”  Would be… what?”

Patrick took a gulp of wine, ” I don’t think you need to worry, but I will see if I notice her tomorrow when I go to work.”

Through the rest of dinner, Patrick had a nagging thought in his head, that he tried to dismiss. Would Anna really come looking for him??

He shook his head, watching Tamara clean off the table. When she went to take his plate, he took her hand. “The dishes can wait.”  he said.

He stood up and led her into the center of the room. “May I have this dance?”

Tamara smiled, laying her head against his chest as they swayed to the music, and all thoughts of Anna left Patrick’s mind.

 

 

The Unexpected Twist!

Patrick was drinking his latte as he sat out on his back deck in the early morning hours.

He was thinking about last night and how magical it had been. Life was starting to look very bright for him. After catching Anna, who had been living under the false identity of Tanya,  and putting her in jail, he had received a promotion at work. Then a few weeks after that he bumped into Tamara. Quite literally bumped into her! He was at a pet store, for he had decided he needed a pet. It had to be something though that didn’t require lots of time and attention due to his chaotic work schedule.

He was trying to decide between fish or a turtle or he did really like the guinea pig in the corner of the store. Finally he decided that the turtle would be the least amount of work and he thought its painted shell looked pretty cool, so he bought the turtle and left.  When he got to his car he placed the aquarium on the floor and then noticed the time. He had spent more time in the pet store than he had thought, he had to hurry to get home and get ready for work. Put his car into reverse and “BAM!” he hit another car! He got out of the car feeling mad at himself and embarrassed. The lady whose car he hit was very nice and understanding as they exchanged insurance information. The damage wasn’t that bad thankfully.

Patrick had been mad at himself for the rest of that day, but it turned out in the days to follow that hitting Tamara’s car led to something very good. Patrick had called her the next day  to apologize again and they ended up talking on the phone for quite awhile. They had several more phone conversations after that and then they started meeting on his lunch break. It was the best time of Patrick’s day.  He felt at such ease around her, conversation flowed easily and he felt himself falling more and more with each date that they had.

He was beginning to wake up in the morning with her face in his mind. Thinking of her smile stirred his heart. Her hair was strawberry blonde and she had it cut in a cute pixie style. He loved to see the way her green eyes would light up when she laughed. The feel of the warmth of her hand in his, when they would walk along the water. He laughed at the memory of the squeal she made as he put his arm around her waist, teasing her about taking a little dip in the cool water.

Last night he had taken her to a little more fancier restaurant than usual, for their dates. There was candlelight at the table and in the corner of the room 2 musicians were playing, a cellist and a violinist. The music was very nice, but Patrick was more intent on feeling himself getting lost in her eyes,as he noticed the faint blush that came across her cheeks, when she felt his eyes on her.

Well, enough daydreaming, he had to get himself ready for work. The bluebird was singing his song from the top of the Maple Tree and Patrick felt like singing as well, while thinking about seeing Tamara tonight.  He finished his latte and checked on his pet turtle, Myrtle. She seemed to be content with her new home, as she happily ate some earthworms that he had put into the aquarium for her.

He was glad that the sun was shining. He decided to ride his bike to work today. In the summertime he enjoyed doing that as much as he could. It was only a couple miles to work and it was good exercise.

Whistling a happy tune he got his bike out of the garage and headed out of his driveway. He had taken no notice of the lady standing on the sidewalk. She was dressed in a simple turquoise sun dress with a wide brimmed hat and dark sunglasses, and was very intent on watching Patrick.

Patrick was going through paperwork on his desk when his cell phone rang.

“Hi Luke! What’s up?” Patrick said with a smile on his face.

His smile quickly faded when he heard Luke’s words. “Anna escaped from prison!”

Patrick smacked his head! The day had started with such pleasant thoughts, but now there were two questions in the forefront of his mind.  Where did Anna flee to  and what name was she using now?

 

Unexpected Surprises!

I found some more pictures on my camera and thought I would have a little more fun adding to my other story that I did a few days ago. After all, we have to find out who stole the valuable painting, right? Here is a link to the first part, A Day with the Birds

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Frank and George were driving to the first suspect’s house to talk to him. They still hadn’t found any obvious clues yet and the only thing they were certain of was that they really weren’t certain of anything! They sure hoped that this suspect would spill some beans for them.

Whoa! Frank stopped the car, and they both looked with surprise at what was crossing the road in front of them.

“Can’t say that I ever had to wait on a tortoise to cross the road before.” said Frank.

“It reminds me of watching you run!” replied George with a grin.

“No comment!” said Frank, followed by George’s laughter.

At last the tortoise got across the road and they were on their way once again.

They pulled up to a stone house with a wrap around porch. As they walked up to the porch they were greeted by Jay.

Jay came out of the swinging screen door, and it banged shut behind him.  He held 2 lemonades in his hand for them. “Hi! Help yourself to a nice cool drink.” he handed them the glasses as he took a seat on the porch swing. They sat down on the cherry wood rocking chairs that were close to the porch swing.

Jay started talking and they were hardly able to get a word in! Each time they would start to ask a question he would interrupt them totally changing the subject. Frank and George glanced at each other, they knew what he was doing, and they decided just to listen. Sometimes when you just let suspects ramble on, they accidentally let something slip.

So far though they couldn’t make anything out of what he was saying. He just seemed to be confusing them more! Between throwing in puns and using really big words, they didn’t know what to think. He kept smiling away as he talked. He finally paused and took a breath.

George was just getting ready to say something when Jay stood up and said. ” How rude of me, I gave you guys a drink but didn’t offer you anything to eat. How would you like some fresh toasted bagels, would only take a minute. I have some strawberry cream cheese to put on them, or perhaps you would prefer some crepes?”

Frank and George stood up, “Thanks for the offer, but we probably should really get going. It was really nice talking to you.” They shook Jay’s hand and Jay said, ” Feel free to come back anytime. Perhaps next time we could talk about the aerodynamics of a flying saucer?  Have you guys ever seen flying saucer’s?”

“I don’t believe we have, but umm… yes that sounds like it could be quite the conversation. Thanks again for your time!” Frank and George turned around walking rather quickly to their car, before Jay could say anything else.

Once back in the car and driving down the road to the 2nd suspect’s house, George said, “Certainly, he knows something! If only we could figure out what!”

“He knows how to make your head spin!” said Frank.

The day was almost over and Frank and George were holding their heads in their hands. They had talked to the 2nd suspect, Napoleon, and he made their head spin as well! He was talking about numbers and at first they thought that perhaps it was a secret code that he was giving them. George had started to write the numbers down, but then realized that they meant nothing. He was just trying to explain the logistics behind Triple Bookkeeping and they were lost from the very beginning.

He did let them ask questions though, but his answers didn’t help much. With the answers he gave he appeared innocent, but perhaps he was just too smart for them.

They saw a lake by the side of the road as they were driving. It had a bench and they decided they would pull over and rest for awhile. Perhaps they could think more clearly while looking at the water.

After sitting for awhile, Frank suddenly nudged George, “Look!” and he pointed at something that was very close to their bench!  George gasped! Perhaps this hadn’t been the best lake to sit by!

They sat their frozen for a moment, and then decided that they would just make a run for it to the car. it was getting late and they were hungry. They were really hoping that the alligator wasn’t feeling hungry and they wanted to get out of there before he got hungry!

“Surely he won’t come after us if move really quickly, right,”said George.

“I say lets give it a try and I certainly hope you are right!”

They ran to the car without incident and were more than happy to pull into a nice restaurant. Tomorrow they would think more about the missing painting, right now food was on their minds!

“This looks like a rather upscale restaurant? Are you sure we can afford this?” Frank asked.

“Yes! Remember our boss gave us some extra cash that she said we could use for a nice meal. A nice bonus. I think we earned a good meal today!” replied George.

“Sounds good to me!” Frank said with a smile!

They walked in and soon realized that it was very fancy. They were under dressed! All the men had suits and ties on and there was a little art gallery to look at while waiting for your table. They were about to turn around and go back to the hotel, but decided to take a look in the gallery first.

They couldn’t believe their eyes! The answer had fallen in their laps! The missing painting was right in front of them, hanging on the wall!

Now they had to just find out who the owners of the restaurant got the painting from. The space guy or the numbers guy or someone else? For now though, they were just smiling from ear to ear as they looked at the valuable painting of the legendary Cow-Betsy!

 

 

 

 

 

 

A Day with the Birds

(my photos)

Frank and George were surrounded by birds. Their boss had sent them to Florida for a case to work on. They had made sure to get down there a couple days ahead of time so that they could get a little sight seeing in. Then they would be meeting with  another detective to talk about the case.

“Oh look there are some flamingos!” said Frank.

“You don’t say, is that a fact?” replied George. “I see you know your birds, eh?”

“Ask me any facts about birds and yes sir, I will give you an answer. Can’t promise you that the answer will be correct but I will give you one!” he said to George, with a laugh. George rolled his eyes and they walked on.

“So what kind of bird is that?” asked George.

Frank was quiet as he squinted his eyes at it and scrunched up his face. What he does when he thinks really hard. “Umm… I will get back to you on that”,  he said.

” I bet you are familiar with the Cuckoo bird, in fact you both may have something in common.” laughed George.

“Hmm…and perhaps you know the Dodo bird very well!” Frank said with a smile.

They took turns at feeding the birds with the food that was there for them. They were glad they came to these gardens, it was a relaxing break for them.

Taking a break on a bench, they sat down to eat some lunch when someone else came by to say “Hi!”  It startled George so much, that he dropped his sandwich, and it was gobbled up in no time!

Frank turned to George and said, ” I have a tip for you, next time you may want to pack 2 sandwiches!” George mumbled a reply.

Frank patted him on the back, “Its OK, I will pay the check for supper tonight.”  George smiled, “Sounds like a 5 course meal coming up!” Frank groaned, as George was laughing this time.

After eating lunch, they continued their tour of the gardens. They talked about what they knew about the case so far, that their boss had sent them to investigate. The details were sketchy and they were not sure if the details were fact or fiction. Figuring out the truth would be a challenge.

There were 2 possible suspects involved in the case of the very valuable painting that was missing. One claimed to be a photographer, who was addicted to coffee and had a pet bunny. How could anyone suspect someone that had a sweet, cute bunny? Frank and George had seen the pictures of it. Though it was also believed that he had a gnu, who would have a gnu for a pet, and where did he get it from?

The second possible suspect claimed to be a math professor. That alone made him suspicious. How could anyone enjoy dealing with numbers! Plus it was believed that he just made the purchase of a large beach house. Did he sell the valuable painting that was stolen and spend that money on his new beach house?

Frank and George kept talking about the tips that kept being called into the police station, but so far, all of them were leading to dead ends.

They were quiet for a moment, until George’s stomach growled, breaking the silence.

“I think we should call it a day and go for supper. We can delve into this mystery tomorrow. Sound good?” asked Frank.

“YES!” said George. “Oh look! I know what that is. I am a bird expert too!” George said with a smirk.

“Very funny!” said Frank, as they made their way out of the gardens.

 

 

 

 

 

 

Farewell Anna!

Yesterday’s post, The Clue that Answered All! apparently didn’t  answer all, so here we are again! If you have been following Anna’s story from the very beginning, I am sure that it comes as no surprise to you that yesterday’s post wasn’t really the end. I hope you now enjoy hearing the climax of the Anna/Tanya mystery.

********************

They were getting close to shore. Tanya had her back turned, and was oblivious to what awaited her. Tanya rubbed her hand down Patrick’s muscular arm as she looked him in the eye, asking if he wanted to come into her cottage when they arrived.

Almost reaching the shore, Tanya turned around and her face went ashen at the sight of Luke in his cop uniform.  She turned towards Patrick. “You know who I really am, you set me up!” she spat out in an icy tone.

“I guess, you aren’t going to invite me into your cottage after all?” Patrick said. “By the way, thanks for the back massage, it felt great …. Anna!”

Tanya’s face got beet red as she slapped Patrick on the cheek and jumped into the water. Patrick was stunned for a moment, then he watched her in the water. He wasn’t exactly sure where she was planning on swimming too, so he wasn’t in a hurry to jump in and grab her. He was a strong swimmer, it wouldn’t take long to overtake her. He steered the boat into shore and docked it, then jumped into the water. Within 10 minutes he had caught up to her and grabbed her around the waist. She flailed some, but she knew it was no use, so she slapped his cheek again. He was going to be more than happy to turn her over to Luke! Let him deal with this crazy girl!

“Hey cous!” said Patrick as he got out of the water carrying a struggling Anna. “Care to help me out?”

In no time, Luke had the cuffs on Anna and was reading her rights.

“Good Luck with her”, said Patrick, “She is a feisty one!”

“You are coming with me, I can’t take her by myself, you know the rules. You are the FBI guy. ” Luke replied.

“You didn’t bring any other officers along?” ”

“No, I figured we could handle it.”

Patrick smiled, ” Well it has been a while since I saw your wonderful family,  so sure I will come along with you and little Miss. Sourpuss.”

Anna gave a frosty glare.

Luke shook his head, ” You better watch it, you want her to leave more marks on your cheek?”

“Ha! She is in cuffs now, can’t touch me! She sure did enjoy touching me earlier in the day though.” he said, with a smirk.

Anna’s face was getting redder by the minute. Luke gave him a look, and Patrick stopped. He knew he had said enough, and that he probably shouldn’t have said those things, but it had felt good.

It was dark by the time they got to Luke’s house. Anna would have to stay there for the night, they would transfer her to the jail tomorrow. Luke didn’t want her in the house, so he had made up a little bed for her in the barn. He would padlock the door shut.

When he walked in to the barn with her Betsy let out a loud MOO,  which made Anna jump, as she remembered the nightmares she had back at the cottage about Betsy. It felt like Betsy’s eyes were looking right through her.  Made a chill run through her. She wasn’t watching where she walked, stepped right on Portia’s tail. Portia let out a loud squeal as Anna turned to see a pot bellied pig staring back at her.

Charlie the Chicken was being quiet for once in his little corner, observing everything closely. Anna had been delivered right to them! Tonight would be fun! They would get justice for their dear friend, the “Chicken Man!”

Luke asked Anna if she was hungry, but she refused.  She didn’t want any hot milk either to help her sleep, which Luke had offered. He knew she was a criminal, but  he still had a genuine, kind heart.

“Well try to get some sleep. We will leave after a hot breakfast tomorrow.  Goodnight.”

There was no reply.

Luke patted Betsy, Portia and Charlie goodnight.  He couldn’t pinpoint it, but there was something in their eyes that he thought looked strange.

Back in the house, Annie was loving being with Patrick again, and showing off her new baby brother. Patrick held him in his arms, such a precious bundle of joy.  He hoped that someday he would get to hold a baby of his own. Little Lance smiled up at him and his heart melted.

Early the next morning Luke went out to take Anna some breakfast. He opened the barn and Anna came rushing out knocking him down,and the food went flying!

“Take me to the jail NOW!” she cried!

“Get me away from here and far, far away from these animals!” She bolted from Luke and jumped into his squad car. Patrick had run out of the house due to the screaming and watched in wide eyed amazement at Anna being in hysterics.

Luke looked in the barn and Betsy stared back at him with Charlie sitting on her back. They had become great friends after all. Portia was contently chewing on a corn cob. Luke wasn’t sure but he could have sworn that it looked like they all were smirking!

He shut the door and started walking away. Was that singing he heard? It was the strangest singing he had ever heard, but it was coming from the barn. He opened the door and all was quiet, closed it and walked away, sure enough it started again. It sounded like Betsy, but since when did cows sing!

He got in the squad car, Patrick was already in the other seat. They were ready to get Anna to jail and get back home again. They were all going to have a picnic by the creek , under the Weeping Willow tree. Luke smiled, Anna had been caught and all was well once again. The windows in the squad car were open and as he pulled away, there was loud squalling from the barn.

“What is that sound?” asked Anna.

“Just Betsy singing you a farewell song,” Luke said, and down the road they went, to the sound of Patrick’s laughter.