At the farm.

Back to the farm.

As Linc pulled out of the driveway, Angel sat there on the seat and
looked up at him. Linc looked over at her and said, "if you pee on
my seat, I will boot your bottom, ya hear?' Angel looked up at him
and raised a paw. Linc touched her paw and laughed. She came over
close to him and laid down by his thigh and went to sleep.
Driving down the road, he remembered when he had a dog. She was a
golden retriever puppy his Dad got for him on his third birthday. He
called her Missy. She went every where with him. When he was about
sis years old, he and Uncle Vernon were out camping. They had just
finished eating breakfast when a bear came into camp. Uncle Vernon
told him to run for the truck, and they ran for it. The bear started
to come after them instead of raiding the camp. Just as they reached
the truck, Missy tried to distract the bear and had it going around in
circles while they got in the truck. The bear swatted Missy and sent
her flying. Uncle Vernon grabbed his gun out of the back window and
got out of the truck just as the bears grabbed Missy and bit her. He
shot the bear, but Missy was already dead. She died saving their
lives. That really ruined camping for Linc for a while. He choked a
sob even as he remembered at this late time since she was gone. He
could never get another dog after that.
Angel squirmed and let out a whimper. Linc petted her and thought to
himself, well Linc old boy, you let yourself in for this, but he just
figured it would make Jenny un-happy if he refused to take Angel.
Any way, she will be good to give Gramps company.
As he pulled into the farm yard, he could see Lucas had his jacket on,
sitting on the porch getting some fresh air. He picked up Angel, got
out of the truck and put her on the ground. It didn't take her long
to find the right spot to pee. She went over to the steps but couldn't
begin to get up them. Linc picked her up and set her on the porch and
she promptly went over to Lucas. As he walked back to the truck to
get his bag, he heard Lucas say, "well, well, what have we got
here, as he picked up Angel. If you ain't a cutie."
Linc got his bag and went back to the house. When he got up on the
porch, he found Angel snuggling up to Lucas who was laughing at her.
Linc said,
" I have to go into town and get some packing materials and puppy
chow, so I'm thinking I will tell Trudy we are going up to the cabin
for a couple of days to close things up for the winter and will get
what we need in town, so she don't need to fix things for us to take.
What I really need to do is go to the retreat first. If you want to
come that is"? " You're durn tootin I want to go, Don't we Angel",
Lucas said as he held Angel up and wiggled her.
Just about then, the door opened and John looked out to tell Lucas,
that supper was ready. He leaned back and called to Trudy to put on
another plate because Linc had just got back. They went inside and
Lucas put Angel down and they went to the sink to wash their hands..
Trudy suspected that Linc would be back and had made a big pot of beef
stew. They all wanted to know about Angel, and Linc told the whole
bit. He put some veggies and a bit of bread in a dish and gave it to
Angel, remembering that his Father had told him not to give a small
puppy meat because it would give them the runs, and he didn't need
that right now for sure.
Trudy got up and got a bowl and put water in it for Angel, who sat and
waited for it. Trudy said as she put the bowl down, " If you pee on
my clean floors, I'll spank, ya hear". Angel raised a paw and Trudy
touched it laughing," it's a deal". She and all the others laughed as
she sat back down and Angle drank.
Linc told Trudy and John about going up to the cabin in the morning,
for a couple of days to close things up. They would get what they
needed in town.

After breakfast the next morning, Linc and Lucas took what they needed
for a couple of days and went to town where Linc got, packing
materials, dog food, a couple of totes and replenished the items he
had on his grocery list, which was substantial since Axel and Fannie
had been up at the retreat with him.

Back at the cabin, linc wanted to collect another peanut butter jar
full of the rusty material to send his teacher. He told Lucas to keep
Angel inside the cabin so she wouldn't fall in the trench or the
creek. He got an empty jar and an old broken wooden spoon and went
out, leaving Lucas to clean up the cabin and put all the dirty bedding
in a bag to take back to the farm.
He filled the jar and stuck the old wooden spoon in the dirt beside
the hole. He left the jar there beside the trench and went into the
mine to see how the seep was doing. He used a small flash instead of
lighting the lamp. He saw the seep had still stopped seeping and
turned to leave the mine. And saw a blue glow. Oh darn he said to
himself, now what?
He stepped into the portal and found himself in a very narrow area
which looked like it was between two walls. The walls were unfinished
so he assumed he was in a passage way inside the walls.
How strange he thought as he made his way between them. He came to a
corner an went down the passage way farther. He wondered where in the
heck he was. He came to what looked like the end of the passage and
saw two holes in the wall, that was letting light through. He went up
to the holes and looked through them. He could see he was looking
into a room filled with vintage furniture. Where is this place he
thought as he looked around. He started to turn around and as he had
to step back to do it, he stepped into a big spider web, face high.
He flailed his arms and bumped into the wall. Holy cow! He said to
himself as the wall opened into the room. He stepped out and looked
back , he saw that he had come out from behind a bookcase. Next to it
was a large portrait of Abe Lincoln. Linc looked closer at it and saw
the two holes he had looked through were the eyes on the painting.
Now what the devil was all this about, and where am I.
All of a sudden he heard a bunch of people , and then, there they were
standing out side of a red fuzzy rope across a large doorway. There
was a guide who was talking, and then looked and saw Linc. She
yelled, what are you doing in there. Guard's, guard's, and started to
climb over the rope. Linc hurriedly stepped back into the opening
behind the bookcase and pulled it shut behind him. He hurried as fast
as he could to get back to the portal before they caught him. As he
stepped through the portal back into the mine, he had a hard time
trying to figure out where he went and why that portal was open to
him. It was a good thing they didn't catch him before he reached the
portal. Who knows what would have happened then. Crazy, is all he
could figure. No need telling Gramps about it though.
Linc took the lock from the shelf just inside the adit and put in on
the adit door. He picked up the jar with the rusty ooze and put it in
one of the totes with the stuff he wanted to take to the retreat.
Filled the other with foodstuffs to take also.
Inside the cabin, he found Lucas had most of the other stuff to take
with them ready. They took it all outside to where the totes were and
went to the retreat.

To be continued.