The Good, The Bad, And The Utterly Panicked...

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Just Old Al
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The Good, The Bad, And The Utterly Panicked...

Post by Just Old Al »

AN: Sarge and I have been collaborating on this one - poor man doesn't have time to scratch never mind write...so, I'm scribbling and we're plotting..

"Road trips are boooooringggg...why couldn't we have just poited to the flower show instead?" Jin sat in the passenger's seat of the car,cradling her belly and stroking it absent-mindedly.

Alan sighed - he'd heard a variant of this every hour on the hour today. Patiently, he explained "Because we needed to get around out in Milwaukee, and poiting all over the place would have been odd at best. You know better than that." He sighed again, knowing reason was not going to help deal with the discomfort and mental distress of his much-pregnant bride.

All in all it had been a great weekend. They'd driven out leaving early Saturday morning, and spent most of the day at the flower show at the Mitchell Park Conservatory. They'd gone back in the evening for the light show, then again the next day early for the farmer's market after staying in town. Now, they were on their way back - a long drive, but well worth the trip.

The weather was lowering - today was going to end in snow or rain, and probably ice as well. Seeing a FOOD-FUEL sign for the next exit in the distance and knowing Jin's bladder, he made the suggestion "Why don't we stop and have a bite - this way you can get out, stretch your legs and your bladder, and we're a little over half-way back home. May, up for a bite?"

Mayahuel was dozing in the back seat. With Alan's call she roused, processed the question and said "Sure - that would be great." Privately, she agreed with her daughter - this wandering around the countryside at 70 miles an hour was too slow and really annoying. She also decided that from now on she was just going to avoid travel and stay home in her greenhouse. Going places was all well and good, but it wasn't like she needed to go to flower shows to get new ideas for the greenhouse.

A few miles later, Alan pulled the car into the restaurant parking lot, and three cramped people got out, gratefully stretched their legs and hobbled toward the lights of the restaurant in the gathering darkness. Walking toward the restaurant, Alan felt the slight touch of a snowflake on his face. A few others followed, and a light snow began to fall. Hoping it wouldn't last, Alan escorted the ladies into the restaurant.

Jin immediately headed for the ladies' room, and May and Alan were escorted to a table in the bright, cozy confines of the dining room. Coffees were produced, and perusal of menus began. A friendly waitress wandered over, and orders taken, bustled off toward the kitchen.

The restaurant was surprisingly deserted - only a few cars in the parking lot, and those few occupied by few people. Still and all, it was late in the day and folk were liklely off the road on a weekend night. Also, given the weather, most had likely decided to stay home.

While they were waiting for their food the trio talked, much about the flower show they'd been to, and much about little Nameless Adeobie, Jin's baby. The time was coming up when they were going to be parents, and May was going to be a grandmother whether she liked it or not. Alan had decided much against a protesting Jin's wishes that this was going to be their last outing of any distance till Nameless was born.

"Alan, you know there's another show the weekend after next we could go to. It's only two hours away - not that far at all."

Alan scowled - May wasn't helping things. "May, you know Jin and I talked about this. It's getting too close to the time, and frankly with the weather the way it's been this winter it's not a great idea."

Jin was amused. "Mother, you know you're just stirring things up. Alan's right - we need to be careful till nameless gets here. Anyway, with the timing in a month or two you'll have all the flowers you want even outside your greenhouse. It's already late Winter, and Spring's just around the corner even up here."

May scowled. "That's all well and good, but after the baby's born you'll be tied to the house for quite a while. No reason a good, healthy, strong girl like you can't travel where you want to. Why, when I was pregnant with you..."

At this point pancakes, eggs, and waffles appeared, and thankfully stanched the flow of May's story. Jin loved her mother, but her stories were invariably louder than they should be and invariably ribald. Thankfully, the quiet comfort of the restaurant was saved when Mayahuel took more interest in her meal than her story.

As they ate, they chatted, but then the darkness outside the window and the accumulating snow started to take its toll on the conversation. Thinking to salvage the mood, Alan started to tell a story Al had told him at the wedding.

"OK, so a salamander, a golem and a human walk into a tailor shop....." The story wound on and on, turing into a punny, atrocious shaggy dog story. All three laughed heartily, even thought they'd heard it all before. Suddenly, Jin stopped laughing, a catch in her breathing. Grimacing a bit, she reached under the table to come back with her hand wet.

"Alan....I think my water broke."

Alan looked at the glasses on the table - and there weren't any problems. "No, it's right here and just fine", he said, picking up her glass.

Jin simply looked disgusted.

May immediately bellowed "Clean-up! CHECK PLEASE!"
Last edited by Just Old Al on Thu Dec 17, 2015 9:29 pm, edited 2 times in total.
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Re: The Good, The Bad, And The Utterly Panicked...

Post by jwhouk »

(Rest areas in Wisconsin do NOT have Denny's, by the way...)

"Oh, PLEASE tell me they didn't name their kid after where he was born... DELTON???
"Character is what you are in the dark." - D.L. Moody
"You should never run from the voices in your head. That's how you give them power." - Jin
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Re: The Good, The Bad, And The Utterly Panicked...

Post by Sgt. Howard »

Four tables over, Mina Alvarez happened to choose that moment to use the restroom. Like Jin, she was rather big- but THAT was because she was RATHER BIG. In her red down jacket, which resembled Jin's red down jacket, the two looked remarkably similar... at a glance.
Alan had gone full 'headless chicken' level of panic- grabbing Jin, he gave her the bum's rush to the door... constantly saying, "It's going to be OK- are YOU OK? We'll get the just fine- You SURE You're OK? I got it under control- yes, it's under control- you wait here, I'll get the car..."
As he ran to the car, Mayahuel turned to Jin- "I've never seen him in panic mode before- is he always this entertaining?"
Jin rolled her eyes- "I'd better go back and PAY for this meal, or we'll get in trouble," and did so.
Skidding and sliding, Alan brought the car up to the front door and hopped out- "WHERE'S JIN?!?" he yelped.
"She went to pay the bill, oh commanding one- she'll be right..."
"THERE SHE IS!!!" Alan bellowed as Mina came out of the restroom. The unfortunate woman was grabbed by Alan and unceremoniously stuffed into the back seat before she had a chance to protest- once there, she figured that she was being kidnapped and started to scream.
"OH MY GOD SHE'S ALREADY IN LABOR!!!" Yelled Alan- May jumped into the other back seat to assist her daughter (having NOT gotten a good look at her).
Jin came waddling to the door just as fast as she could- only to see the car with a screaming woman careen over the slick parking lot onto the main road.
Mayahuel was about to sooth her daughter, when she noticed THIS was NOT her daughter!
"ALAN! GO BACK!!"
"ARE YOU OUT OF YOUR MIND?!?"
"ALAN!!! YOU GOT THE WRONG JIN!!!"
Alan spun his head in the direction of his two passengers- his flabbergasted Mother-in-law and a terrified woman who spoke little English. The gears engaged with a loud 'clunk'- "WHO THE HELL ARE YOU?!?"
"Por favor... no hurt me..." she whimpered.
"ALAN!!! THE ROAD, YOU NUMBSKULL!!!"
Alan returned to driver's position just in time to avoid a blaring oncoming semi truck. Finding a decent width of road to do so, he pulled a U turn and arrived to find an infuriated Jin and a confused and frightened Mexican who wanted to know who had just abducted his wife
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Re: The Good, The Bad, And The Utterly Panicked...

Post by GlytchMeister »

Oh boy, it's like a scene out of Guardians of the West... Only in this case, the new father is scrambling and dumb instead of simply dumb...
He's mister GlytchMeister, he's mister code
He's mister exploiter, he's mister ones and zeros
They call me GlytchMeister, whatever I touch
Starts to glitch in my clutch!
I'm too much!
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Re: The Good, The Bad, And The Utterly Panicked...

Post by lake_wrangler »

:shock: :lol:

Utterly panicked is right!
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Re: The Good, The Bad, And The Utterly Panicked...

Post by jwhouk »

Facebook was full of the usual inanities as she scrolled through her feed. It'd been her nightly routine: she'd scroll through the photos and videos of friends and family that had put the latest escapades of their kids and pets online.

One of them caught her eye - her husband's cousin, who lived in the Wisconsin Dells, had seen something strange: a couple had come in, with what looked like the girl's mother. There was some sort of commotion, and it appeared that the woman was in labor.

The groom panicked, grabbed another woman - who was clad in a similarly colored coat - and ran off into the night.

"He did come back a few minutes later," she read out loud.

Her husband, in the other room, sighed in frustration.

"Sarah, you know I really don't like it when you to read me everything on your Facebook page..."
"Character is what you are in the dark." - D.L. Moody
"You should never run from the voices in your head. That's how you give them power." - Jin
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Re: The Good, The Bad, And The Utterly Panicked...

Post by FreeFlier »

GlytchMeister wrote:Oh boy, it's like a scene out of Guardians of the West... Only in this case, the new father is scrambling and dumb instead of simply dumb...
Wood!
:lol: :lol: :lol: :lol: :lol:
Wolf-who-watches wrote:"So it's going to be one of those, is it?" )()()()()()()()()()()( )()()()()()()()()()()( )()()()()()()()()()()( )()()()()()()()()()()( )()()()()()()()()()()( )()()()()()()()()()()(
:? :? :?

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Re: The Good, The Bad, And The Utterly Panicked...

Post by GlytchMeister »

AAAA

You've read that too! :D

It's so hard to find people who've read those books...
He's mister GlytchMeister, he's mister code
He's mister exploiter, he's mister ones and zeros
They call me GlytchMeister, whatever I touch
Starts to glitch in my clutch!
I'm too much!
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Re: The Good, The Bad, And The Utterly Panicked...

Post by Just Old Al »

With Jin and may stuffed into the back of the car, Alan again careened out of the parking lot. Driving faster than conditions would normally have allowed he returned to the highway, headed for the Twin Cities. One thought entered his tiny, overstrained mind - he had to get Jin to the hospital where her doctor was. To that end he was driving far too fast for the conditions.

In the back of the car, Mayahuel and Jin, rocked by the slightly erratic progress of the car, talked.

"Muffin Crumb, we're going to need to start timing things. This way we can tell how far along you are. Have you been having any pains?"

Yes. I had what I thought were cramps - thought it was lunch giving me heartburn. Don't think that now - they've been getting consistent and painful." She stopped talking, biting her lip. "There went another one. Can you note the time?"

"Yes." May dug around in her bag, found a pen and the program for the flower show, and jotted down the time on the margin.

"She's having labor pains? How far apart? Do you remember the breathing routines?" Alan turned halfway in the seat, much to the detriment of his at-present-already-poor driving.

"Alan, I love you but TURN AROUND AND PAY ATTENTION TO YOUR DAMN DRIVING!" Jin's temper was not being improved by the pains, nor was her ability to concentrate. Sensing the tension in the car and the panic in the front seat, May kept her silenece, noting times when Jin had pains and holding her hand.

As time went on,and the pains became more difficult tempers frayed. Alan, single-minded on his mission paid little attention, but May caught the brunt of Jin's rapidly fraying compsure.

"This SUCKS! Here I am stuck in this damn car with an idiot behind the wheel who's trying to KILL us, and my own mother stting there staring at me. We're hours from home, and this HURTS!"

May spoke calmly, hoping to defuse the panic of the father and the irritation of the mother. "Now, Jin, we'll be fine. I've been a midwife many times - we have this under control."

"Mother, how many tens of thousands of years has it been since you delivered a baby?" May should have been warned by the calm tone of that question, but preoccupied with thoughts of the birth it didn't occur to her to note it. Perhps she should have - the look on Jin's face should have warned her as well.

"It's like flying a vimana - you never forget it."

"DO I LOOK LIKE A VIMANA? DOES THIS" pointing to her bulging midection "LOOK LIKE A VIMANA? AAAAHHHHH!" The scream was part pain and part irritation - but this did not bode well.

May started to get irritated - this type of shouting did no one any good. "Now LISTEN, daughter - settle down and we'll get you though this. You know I'm right - you know I know what I'm doing. Now settle down!"

"Settle DOWN? SETTLE DOWN! I'll Give YOU a settling down....aaaahhhhhh......"

Noting the time and doing the math from the few before May was concerned - the intervals were shortening, and not slowly. In her experience first births were normally leisurely affairs, and this one was shaping up to be anything but.
"The Empire was founded on cups of tea, mate, and if you think I am going to war without one you are sadly mistaken."
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Re: The Good, The Bad, And The Utterly Panicked...

Post by Sgt. Howard »

If anything, this was going to be remarkably abrupt delivery- the kind that risked both Mother and Child. 'Poiting' was out of the question- if a contraction ensued at the very moment, the primal instincts of the Mother will be to separate the child... where the child winds up could be anyone's guess. Attempting to 'poit' the child from the womb during contraction could take part of the endometrium, maybe even part of the uterine wall... or leave behind part of the baby! May got into receiving position (thank all mercy that both she and her Daughter were small!), parted Jin's legs and observed- the miserable flickering dome light gave no assistance, so Jin fired up her cellphone and used that light.
Jin was 85% effaced and about 6 cm dilated! Damn! THAT shouldn't be... May did a quick calculation- if Jin was early or late, it would be by a matter of days.
Then it dawned on her- Jin had been 'human' for less that two years- granted, there was no... 'research'... in this matter. The idea that Jin could be 'given' a lifespan was beyond all known sciences in ancient Lanthis... May had been a pioneer in the field. Her experiment with Jin was beyond anyone's knowledge of any age.

All she could do was try to keep up with what was going on and hope for the best.

At that moment Jin let go with a shriek that could frighten a stone statue. Alan, in spite of his seatbelt, hit the roof of the car with his head hard enough to forget what he was doing. Cursing, holding his head, he didn't notice the path of the car until the guardrail parted with it's passing and all four wheels found air. There was a brief moment of weightlessness, then the car planted itself firmly in a snowdrift some three feet below the level of the road.
"Uh! HUH! Huh! Huh! huh... Alan, did you hit something? Huh! Huh! YAAAAAAAHHHHH!"

Somewhere in the Wapsi Universe, the entity known as Murphy was laughing himself sick...
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Re: The Good, The Bad, And The Utterly Panicked...

Post by jwhouk »

Mid-wis-con-sin wea-therrrrr!!!

"The National Weather Service has issued a Winter Storm Warning for West Central Wisconsin - heavy snow will hit the area tonight and into tomorrow morning. Possibly six to eight inches, with winds around 10 to 15 miles per hour, with gusts up to 20. Roads are likely to be snow covered and slippery... We're getting reports of an accident on I-94 has closed traffic northbound..."
"Character is what you are in the dark." - D.L. Moody
"You should never run from the voices in your head. That's how you give them power." - Jin
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Re: The Good, The Bad, And The Utterly Panicked...

Post by jwhouk »

About two miles ahead of where their car landed in a snowbank, an electronic message sign came to life.

AMBER ALERT

CHILD ABDUCTION

NEWBORN, POSSIBLY HEADING TOWARD MPLS.

WHITE TOYOTA COROLLA, 4-DOOR, MINNESOTA PLATE
"Character is what you are in the dark." - D.L. Moody
"You should never run from the voices in your head. That's how you give them power." - Jin
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Re: The Good, The Bad, And The Utterly Panicked...

Post by Just Old Al »

"Jin, May - you OK?"

"DO I LOOK OK YOU MORON!"

"Alan, we're OK. Where are we?"

"Off the road. I lost control of the car and we ended up in a ditch."

"You need to see about getting us out. I can't leave Jin - and she's well on the way to delivering. Can you start the car to get it warm in here? It doesn;t seem to be running."

"I'll see what I can do. Need to clear the tailpipe first - otherwise we get CO in the cabin and we're done for."

With that, Alan got out of the car, sinking in the deep snow on the side of the highway. he closed the door quickly, but at that the interior of the car chilled quite a bit.
"The Empire was founded on cups of tea, mate, and if you think I am going to war without one you are sadly mistaken."
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Re: The Good, The Bad, And The Utterly Panicked...

Post by jwhouk »

The nativity scene at Martin Luther Church (Wisconsin Evangelical Synod) in Onalaska was going to come down the following morning, but Mike Wiersma, the "facilities technician" for the church and high school, wanted to get the main pieces down and in the church before the big snowstorm was scheduled to hit the area.

When he got out to the Creche in the parking lot, however, he discovered that someone had walked off with the baby Jesus child.

---

Susan Bilderman trudged out of the Woodman's in Onalaska, her shopping done for the evening. She was in a bit of a rush, as she had also heard about the weather approaching the area.

When she got out to her car, she saw that someone in a white Corolla had backed into the rear bumper of her yellow Mustang GT. The white car had ran off, apparently not realizing (nor caring) that they had damaged her "baby".

She couldn't make out the whole plate in the dark, but she saw the first three letters of the plate: "MBR".
"Character is what you are in the dark." - D.L. Moody
"You should never run from the voices in your head. That's how you give them power." - Jin
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Re: The Good, The Bad, And The Utterly Panicked...

Post by jwhouk »

The brief power outage at the LaCrosse County Sheriff's dispatch center made for a nightmare. One of the plows trying to clear the parking lot of the office pushed the blade a little too high when trying to pile up snow - and it knocked out the transformer that supplied power to the station.

The backup generator was on in short order, but it interrupted two calls that were received. Because the computers had gone off line, he had to write down the information - and his handwriting had never been that good.

The pad of paper said, "BABY MISSING ONALASKA" and, on the following line, "WHITE COROLLA RUN MINNESOTA PLATE (MBR)"

Except that the dispatcher, in his hurry to try and get his computer running before his shift ended, had written the first parentheses in the latter to look like a lowercase "a"...


The relief dispatcher, who only saw the notes, immediately panicked - and called the state AMBER Alert hotline...
"Character is what you are in the dark." - D.L. Moody
"You should never run from the voices in your head. That's how you give them power." - Jin
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Re: The Good, The Bad, And The Utterly Panicked...

Post by Sgt. Howard »

Alan managed to get out and find the shovel in the trunk- in short order, there was enough clearing to allow the exhaust pipe to do it's job without fear of Carbon Monoxide poisoning. Getting back in to start the car, he happened to glance in the back seat. Jin was nearly feral by this time- most of her noises were pre-articulate and cause the hair on Alan's neck to raise. Laying back, legs spread as much as the back seat allowed, her contractions were pretty much continuous . May's composure was eroding by the minute, between the cramped space and the rushed delivery. As he watched, Jin gave a totally animalistic shriek as a head appeared... then he passed out cold, leaving the door open.
"One more, Muffin Crumb- one more push.... alright! A little baby Girl! She's adorable! And Cold- here, wait... yes, here's the emergency blanket... whoops! OK, placenta has arrived... no bleeding... right... ALAN, YOU USELESS SPERM SACK! GIVE ME ONE OF YOUR SHOELACES!"
Rousing at the call of his name, Alan looked into the back seat and saw more than he ever wanted to see- blood, placenta, bluish slimy cord, baby girl... BABY GIRL?!?
"Uh, what do you...?"
"SHOE LACE! NOW!"
Immediately, Alan had his left boot undone and provided May with the required item. May threw a clove hitch around the cord three inches away from the navel and cut it from the placenta, which she threw out into the cold.
"Jin, dear- are you up to poiting?" she asked her daughter.
"I ... wouldn't trust my navigation- can you get us all home?"
"Yes... at least to my place. Alan, close that door and get back here with us- I need the four of us to be touching for this to work,"
"But... what about the car?"
"WHAT ABOUT THE CAR? LOOK HERE, 'DADDY'- YOU'VE GOT OTHER PRIORITIES RIGHT NOW!!! Get in the back seat, twit!"
Not twenty feet from where this was all taking place, a large, male black bear was thoroughly disturbed by all the ruckus and screaming... he was ready to return to hibernation... then he smelled blood. Blood means food. Food is something to wake up for. The odd 'poit' sound occurred just as he was fully awake- bumbling out of his dead tree hollow, he found the placenta in short order, then started munching the upholstery of the back seat of the car, as it was stained with all manner of fluids. Having finished his snack, he went back to the hollow log and fell back asleep...
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Re: The Good, The Bad, And The Utterly Panicked...

Post by Dave »

You're having an entirely unseemly amount of fun setting up this comedy-of-errors, aren't you, Sarge?

It's like watching five years of sitcom improbabilities being carefully distilled down to their essence... :lol:
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Re: The Good, The Bad, And The Utterly Panicked...

Post by Sgt. Howard »

Dave wrote:You're having an entirely unseemly amount of fun setting up this comedy-of-errors, aren't you, Sarge?

It's like watching five years of sitcom improbabilities being carefully distilled down to their essence... :lol:


I actually spend quite a bit of time weeding out possibilities- there is much I cast aside for another situation
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Re: The Good, The Bad, And The Utterly Panicked...

Post by Just Old Al »

There was nothing like the first cup of coffee on a cold, snowy morning – and this was a particularly good one. With his online subscription to the Midwest Regional Paranormal Press up on his screen in his office cubby at the manor he was happily going to enjoy his coffee and peruse the headlines, and then it was back to work at Building 2. The shop was coming along nicely now that the facility renovations were done, and fitting the machine tools was going along nicely.

However, all that could wait – the headlines beckoned. He would have preferred a proper newspaper, but the delivery charges were ludicrous from the Library’s distribution system. The online edition would have to do.

Major news from the paranormal point of view was fascinating – and it helped him keep his intelligence systems up to par. After getting caught in that regrettable vendetta he’d sworn he was never going to be caught out again, and diligent perusal of the news was a part of it. However, even the most ill wind blew some good, he thought as he contemplated his bride and her wonderful family.

Oh, well, back to the news.

“Cult crime?? – Abandoned car found on Winsconsin highway – Mystery deepens!”

He’d heard a bit of this on the morning news on the radio, so it caught his eye. The story went into some detail on how the abandoned car was found, power on and keys in the ignition, abandoned in a ditch after going off the road on I-94.

The mystery deepened because of the circumstances – the key was on in the ignition – the car engine having stopped when it ran out of fuel. A shovel leaning against the back showed someone had been occupying the car and had cleared the tailpipe.

However, there were no footprints leading away from the car other than the ones to the back for whoever cleared the tailpipe. The open door, bloodstained upholstery and damage from unknown sources was what led to the mystery, though.

The photos of the car were impressive –a white Corolla in a snowbank, door open, snow drifted into the interior. Bloody stains in the interior stained the snow a bit pinkish, and the torn-up seats showed red in the torn stuffing.

Speculation in the paper focused around the lack of footprints – where did the occupants go, and how?

Reading this and sipping at the cup on his desk, a vague something nagged at Al’s mind. He never remembered a name, but he never forgot a car…

Jin. Jin and Alan’s Toyota. He even remembered when he’d last seen it – at the Korean restaurant at the beginning of the vendetta.

Alarm raised in his mind, he picked up the old-fashioned house phone and dialed the kitchen – that’s usually where Daisy was at that time of the morning working with Rosalita.

“Rosalita, hi – let me talk to Daisy, please."

"Daisy, it’s Al. I need to go to the Library and talk to Phix – I think something terrible’s happened….”
Last edited by Just Old Al on Sun Dec 20, 2015 4:52 pm, edited 1 time in total.
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Re: The Good, The Bad, And The Utterly Panicked...

Post by Just Old Al »

“WHAT!”

“Phix, if you don’t believe me look at the front page of the Midwest regional “Paranormal Press” – I’m sure there’s a copy of it here somewhere being that this is a bloody LIBRARY!”

Phix and Al headed immediately to the periodicals section reading desk – several copies of the Press were there, and one was the proper regional paper.

Flipping it open, they read the addenda to the front page story. No sign of the occupants had been found, though traces were likely obliterated by the snow that had drifted into the car during the storm the night before.

The interior of the car as shown in the photographs and been torn and damaged – claw marks were evident in the damage though no particular being had been named. The Wisconsin State Police were investigating, though nothing had been found as of yet. The rest was speculation that there was some connection to the Amber Alert that had been issued some time the evening before.

A further piece asked questions about the possibility of this being some sort of a cult crime – unwary travelers run off the road and carried off to some end. Nothing substantive there – just noise carried over from the headline.

“Phix, I had no idea where to go with this – I didn’t want to call the Wisconsin State Police on this just in case there was some legitimate reason the car was off the road and abandoned. This just isn’t good to me – we need to do something.”

“Have you tried calling them?” Phix asked.

“Don’t have the numbers, and neither did Daisy. I asked.”

“OK, we can do this.” Phix walked back to her office, picked up a phone labeled “No Prefix Needed For In-Library Calls. Dial 9 For an Outside Line.” After consulting her computer Phix dialed 9, then a Minneapolis number on speakerphone. The phone rang several times, then dropped to an answering machine with Alan’s voice saying ”We’re not here right now. Leave a message. ‘Bye!” A similar call to May’s home gave essentially the same results, with a slightly slurred Mayahuel asking them to leave a note.

“Nothing. Damnit..”

“All right then – now what?”

As answer, Phix dialed the phone again. ”Director Oduya, please…..yes, I’ll hold.”

“Brandi, this is Phix. Have you seen the Press this morning? Al just showed up here – that’s Jin and Alan’s Toyota on the front page. Have you heard from them or May?”

“Yeah, me neither. Yes, I’m sure he’s right – ever known Al to be wrong on anything with cars or machinery? I swear he’s a damn tinker….”

“Yes, I think it’s time to call out the cavalry. We need to find them – I’m not sure if any of this is leftovers from the vendetta – but I’m not taking a chance. You work your end and call Bud – I’ll get on Monica. Al’s going to go back and work his contacts.”

Nodding, Al headed out the door of Phix’s office – he needed to be back at the back lab – thankfully the communications gear had been installed even if the isolation tanks weren’t up yet. From there, Al could do anything anyone else could with the taps into MIB’s network.

Phix got on the phone and started calling. Within a few minutes from three separate points the paranormal network was humming with one call - Find Out What Happened.
Last edited by Just Old Al on Tue Dec 22, 2015 5:21 pm, edited 1 time in total.
"The Empire was founded on cups of tea, mate, and if you think I am going to war without one you are sadly mistaken."
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