What waits at the cabin?
Back from the retreat, Linc puts the tote with the packages, in the
truck, then goes in the cabin to help Lucas get it all cleaned up for
the winter. He put the chairs upside down on the table and the bucket
he put the dog food in, on the table too. He turned the wash basin
upside down over the soap dish as Lucas started to sweep the floor.
He took the dirty laundry out to the truck, shook the rugs and put
them in the truck as well. As he was going back to the cabin, he got
a phone call from Sherriff's office; They said a deputy was bringing
some one out to the cabin. Linc went out and opened the gate so they
could come in. He wondered just what this was all about.
Back in the cabin, he helped Lucas finish up with the cleaning.
A while later the deputy came in with another car with Nevada state
emblem on the side door. Linc picked up Angel as they came in. The
deputy came over to Linc and Lucas with two other men. One was an
oriental. The deputy said to Lucas, " sorry about this, Mr. Hanks, but
these gentlemen have a court order I am obliged to bring to you. He
handed it to Lucas. Lucas looked at it then handed it to Linc,
telling the deputy, " that's ok there Don, I no longer own the
property, Linc does."
Linc Put Angel down as he took the paper. She had to go and sniff at
the men. The oriental kicked her and she yelped. Linc fumed. At him.
" that was all uncalled for. You are here on her territory and she
has every right to check you out". "I don't care, just keep him away
from me because I hate dogs" said the man. Linc had picked Angel back
up, and now handed her to Lucas so he could read the paper. After
reading it he said to the man who seemed to be in charge, " This is
an order to give you access to safety check my mine. I don't have a
mine There is no longer a working mine on this property. The mining
claim was converted to a homestead over 50 years ago. So now there is
no longer a working mine." The deputy said, " the Sherriff already
explained this to them but they went and got the court order anyway"
By now Linc was truly ticked off. He glared at the men and said. " I
want to see your credentials. You turn up here with out any safety
equipment and demand to inspect a non existent mine, what am I
expected to do. Just calmly let you push me a round? Well it ain't
going to happen.". Then the head guy took out an ID card and handed
it to Linc who took it and said. This is not your safety inspector
ID, That's what I want to see." He handed it back to the man who told
him he don't carry that around with him.
They heard the oriental guy shout, " Hey boss look at this, It's
what I look for".. He was standing in the trench with some of the red
mud in his hands Linc yelled, " Oh my god. Put that stuff down
and get the hell out of there you damn fool. That stuff is loaded
with Arsenic, and you have it on your bare hands and your feet. Don't
track it all over, and contaminate my yard. just get back in your car
now."
The oriental rubbed his hands on his pants and climbed out of the
trench, screaming "water, water, I need water to wash it off." Linc
said, " we get our water from the creek, and if you go near the creek
to get arsenic in it, I will tromp you into the trench and cover it
up." The oriental ran for the car.
The head man said, " One phone call and I can have you shut down for
good. No more mining." "Go ahead. You can't close the tunnel any
more than the last earthquake did. It collapsed part of it so no one
could get in, anyway.
Deputy, get these phonies off my property". " With pleasure," he
said. And lead them off. Lucas roared with laughter as they pulled
out of the yard. " I bet that dude has wet pants about now. You
really laid it onto him about all the real bad arsenic in that stuff".
" Serves him right for kicking Angel. I hope he has night mares for a
long time. I am going to have John bring the front end loader up and
cover that trench up. You can bet that jackass will never forget that
rusty dirt now. They will be back, somehow, you can bet on it. " he
said as they went to get in the truck.
In town they went to the UPS and sent the packages off, then went to
the Tractor Supply store and got a collar. leash, more dog food and
food dishes for Angel. As they were pulling out of the store, the
Sherriff pulled up by them and said to Linc, " I want to talk to you.
Go on over to Annie's café. I'll buy lunch, Ok? " Linc gave him
thumbs up and drove on over there.
They had just ordered sandwiches when Buck, the manager from the
Mamouth mine came in. He spotted the Sherriff and came over, excused
himself to Linc and Lucas and sat down. He said to the Sherriff, " I
was just headed for your office when I spotted your cruiser here.
Some thing is going to have to be done with those con artists here in
town bugging the miners and disrupting operations at all the mines.
They are getting to be a damn nuisance around here." The Sherriff
said, " I think from what Linc and my deputy has told me about their
visit to his property, They will be leaving shortly, if they haven't
already gone. Linc tells me the oriental guy got into a trench he had
made to drain a seep of rusty water from the old tunnel, that had
stained the dirt very red. He had it all over his hands and feet.
Linc scared the crap out of him telling him it was highly contaminated
with arsenic. Any way, be a while before they come back, and I bet
they will. Linc here said they are looking for rusty stuff, and they
think they found it at his place. Going to have to watch out for
them". They all laughed, and Buck said, I hope that dude has Bad
dreams the rest of his life. I sure hope they have gone for good, but
like you, I doubt it. If you guys need any help there Linc, we will
back you up". Thanks said Linc. " I'd like to blow the tunnel shut,
but I'm afraid it would start the leak up again, now that it's
stopped. I'm going to have John bring the front end loader up and
cover the trench up, and pile some of the old tailings up against the
old adit". Hey Buck said, I can have one of the men run a bigger
machine over there tomorrow and really bury that old tunnel and
trench to where they will never find it in a million years". "Sounds
good to me, give me a call so I can be there to let him in".." Will
do, Buck said as he pushed back his chair and stood up. By the way
there Lucas, you are looking mighty good for an old codger who had a
stroke not too long ago." "Thanks, said Lucas. Linc here keeps me
active".
After Buck left, the Sherriff got up to leave and said, " Glad I
caught you guys and got some things cleared up. That main con guy
wanted you arrested for having a toxic pit in your yard, Said his
assistant had a hard time getting all the mud cleaned off him, and I
told him they were not there to play in the mud, and he got all out of
joint about it, but is nothing he can do about it. You can be sure
they won't let it rest. Let Buck's man do the job and make liar's
out of them.". " Plan to. And thanks for lunch", said Linc.
Back at the ranch, :inc unloaded all the stuff from the truck while
Lucas and Angel went to take a nap.
To be continued.
Saturday, October 24, 2020
Friday, October 9, 2020
At the retreat.
At the retreat.
When they got to the retreat, Linc unloaded the totes and put things
away. He fixed some lunch, and cleaned up after. Lucas and Angel
went for a nap on the terrace, and Linc took the packaging material
down to the cave to get the boxes ready to ship when they got back
from retreat.
Linc packed the rocks from Colorado in two different boxes. He
carefully wrapped the specimen with the crystals, and the jar with the
rusty sludge in bubble wrap and put them in separate boxes.
Since the rocks were radioactive, he decided to leave them in the
cave until they were ready to leave the island.
He went in the bedroom and took the packet of papers, the dueling
pistols and the ring. He decided to take them back up to the house
and put them in the office up there. He wanted to bring his folks and
the kids here to the island at Christmas time. You never know if Todd
might try and show the stuff to the other kids before he could show
them to his parents. Better to be safe than sorry. He just hoped
Uncle Vernon got the old ZCMI building. Fannie seemed to think he had
a real good chance.
Back up at the house, Linc put the stuff he brought from the cave in
the desk in the office. Then he sat down at the computer to make some
shipping labels for the boxes in the cave. All at once he heard Lucas
yelling," no Angel come back, come back. Linc, Linc, help, help. Stop
her." Linc jumped up and ran outside in time to see Lucas running
down the beach and into the water. He looked and saw Angel bobbing in
the water not far from shore. Lucas ran into the water after Angel
but fell when the water was up to his knees and was struggling to get
up as Linc raced past him to get to Angel. She slipped beneath the
surface and Linc dove under the water to find her. He reached out and
pulled her out of the water, and shook her and blew into her face.
She started to cough, gag and sputter. She whimpered and quivered as
he carried her up to the house. He hugged her and crooned to her a bit
before sitting her on the ground. Angel just lay there quivering
instead of standing and shaking the water off her. Linc felt so sorry
for her. He picked her up and took her with him to the shower by the
patio.
Lucas had already stripped off his wet clothes and was under the
shower, when he got there. Lucas got out of the shower and got some
towels out of a tote that Fannie had put out on the patio. He wrapped
one around him as Linc put Angel down and stripped off his own wet
clothes. Angel still just lay on the ground and shivered. Linc
picked her up as he stepped to the shower. He held her up and washed
the sand and sea water from her belly, then held her up to his chest
as he stepped under the shower. Angel put her head on his shoulder
and her paws around his neck. As the water poured down over them,
Angel licked Linc on his cheek. As Linc stood there holding her
quivering little puppy body close to him, he knew without a doubt , he
really had a dog now.
Linc wrapped Angel in a towel and took her to a lounge chair on the
terrace. He rubbed her and then told her to lay there in the sunshine
and get warm and dry, while he dried himself off. When she finally
quit shivering and just lay in the sun, he went in and got into some
dry clothes.
When he came back out he saw that Lucas had picked up the wet clothes,
wrung them out, and draped them over the chair backs to dry a bit
before taking them in to the laundry. He came up to Linc with such a
hang dog look on his face that Linc almost started to laugh, and then
Lucas almost cried as he told Linc how he was playing toss the ball
with Angel when the ball got away from her and rolled down the beach
to the water. He was so sorry, so sorry. He would never do that
again. Linc hugged him and said, " I bet Angel will never follow a
ball into the water ever again either, she was so scared".
Lucas said, " I bet she will hate me now". He went over to the lounge
and sat by Angel, and she promptly crawled over onto his lap. " well
that answers that, now don't it"? Linc said as he looked at Lucas,
who was grinning broadly. Lucas held her like you would a baby and
told her how sorry he was, and called her Angel Face. He set her on
his lap and she wagged her tail so hard, her butt wagged too. They
both laughed at her.
Lucas put her on the ground and got up, saying he wanted to go for a
walk. They walked down the side of the island opposite the cave.
Angel running ahead, then back to them. She had to stop and sniff at
some piece of driftwood now and then. At one piece she sniffed then
pawed it. A tiny crab scuttled out from under it and went to the
water. Angel was right behind it sniffing and pawing just until she
saw the water, then she ran back up and cowered by Linc's legs. "
See, I told you she wouldn't follow anything into the water again",
Linc said to Lucas., who reached down and petted Angel and told her
what a good girl she was.
When they came to the small cave where they found the children's
toys, the first time they walked this way, Angel went in and came out
with a teddy bear. She shook it over and over again, then went back
in the cave and brought out a purple dino. She put it on the ground
and sniffed at it. Back in the cave she went and started sniffing
and digging. Linc and Lucas stopped to see what she was up to. She
dug out a yellow rhino and a small enameled, metal box. She took the
rhino out and shook it, while Linc reached in and picked up the box.
He opened it and found it held 4 of the largest diamonds he had ever
seen in person. "Holy Cow! . Wonder where these came from, and why
are they here? " he exclaimed. Lucas said, " are they real'. Linc
replied , " looks to me like they are, but I can't be sure". Linc
wondered, how in the world did a child get a hold of them, and when
and where, did he do it. How old was he when he did it. Where did they
come from in the first place? Are they part of one of the time masters
plunder? This is something he never in the world would have
expected. Now what? Sure the island was his but, but… The box was
small, yet too big to fit in his pocket, so he would have to carry it.
Lucas knelt down and started digging in the small cave looking to see
if anything else was in there. He pulled all the loose sand out of the
place and came up with two tiny toy wooden trucks., and a wooden spin
top. That was all. Lucas tossed all the toys back in the cave, all
but the teddy bear. Angel was already taking it up the beach. Lucas
said, "well I guess you can have that, I don't think anyone here will
mind". They walked a ways farther up the beach to where it became
really rocky then turned back to the house.
Back at the house, Linc put the box on the patio table and went into
the house to get a magnifying glass. He wanted to get a closer look
at the box. When he came back out, he saw that Lucas had taken the
diamonds out of the box and laid them out on a napkin. He was looking
closely at the largest stone that was about the size of a quarter,
but more oval. He said, " looks like a poor cutting job, they must be
native cut. This one is pretty clear but has some tiny black specks
near the girdle. I think they are real. All four of them are a
different pale color. If real, they must be worth a Kings ransom, even
as badly cut as they are. Where in the world did they come from"?
Linc had picked up the box and was examining it closely. " The
enameled figures and scenes on the box looks almost Oriental to me.
Not really Chinese nor Japanese. Maybe Tibetan? Hard for me to tell
and I can't decipher any of the marking on the bottom of the box.
Going to have to leave this mystery up to Uncle Vernon to figure out.
This is more up his line".
They sat there for a while, talking. They tossed ideas of where the
box came from, who had it in the first place and why it was buried in
the small cave and why. Why was it still there if Roland put it
there. Did he forget it, or was he deliberately hiding it there
forever?
Linc put the stones back in the box and took it inside to put in the
desk in the office, and start fixing some dinner. He made a bowl of
gazpacho, peeled and sliced an avocado and started to make some
burger patties. He called out to Lucas who was playing toss the teddy
with Angel, to fire up the BBQ.
Lucas lit the BBQ then set the table on the patio. Angel was tired
from all the running around and had taken the teddy and went to lay in
the shade.
As they sat there eating, Angel sat by Linc and begged. He gave her a
bit of bun with avocado on it. She gobbled it right down. Then he
gave her a piece of cucumber and she did the same thing. He tossed her
a piece of onion and when she grabbed it, she chomped once, then spit
it out and shook her head. She looked up at Linc, who pointed to the
piece of onion. Angel picked it up and took it out in the sand and
buried it. Came back, took her teddy and went and laid in the shade.
Linc and Lucas both roared with laughter. Linc said, "I bet she will
never gobble another thing with out smelling it again".
After clean up, Linc took the labels down to the cave and put them on
the boxes.
They spent the next few days, just hanging out, playing pool, napping
and walking. Then Linc got the boxes and they went back to the cabin.
To be continued
When they got to the retreat, Linc unloaded the totes and put things
away. He fixed some lunch, and cleaned up after. Lucas and Angel
went for a nap on the terrace, and Linc took the packaging material
down to the cave to get the boxes ready to ship when they got back
from retreat.
Linc packed the rocks from Colorado in two different boxes. He
carefully wrapped the specimen with the crystals, and the jar with the
rusty sludge in bubble wrap and put them in separate boxes.
Since the rocks were radioactive, he decided to leave them in the
cave until they were ready to leave the island.
He went in the bedroom and took the packet of papers, the dueling
pistols and the ring. He decided to take them back up to the house
and put them in the office up there. He wanted to bring his folks and
the kids here to the island at Christmas time. You never know if Todd
might try and show the stuff to the other kids before he could show
them to his parents. Better to be safe than sorry. He just hoped
Uncle Vernon got the old ZCMI building. Fannie seemed to think he had
a real good chance.
Back up at the house, Linc put the stuff he brought from the cave in
the desk in the office. Then he sat down at the computer to make some
shipping labels for the boxes in the cave. All at once he heard Lucas
yelling," no Angel come back, come back. Linc, Linc, help, help. Stop
her." Linc jumped up and ran outside in time to see Lucas running
down the beach and into the water. He looked and saw Angel bobbing in
the water not far from shore. Lucas ran into the water after Angel
but fell when the water was up to his knees and was struggling to get
up as Linc raced past him to get to Angel. She slipped beneath the
surface and Linc dove under the water to find her. He reached out and
pulled her out of the water, and shook her and blew into her face.
She started to cough, gag and sputter. She whimpered and quivered as
he carried her up to the house. He hugged her and crooned to her a bit
before sitting her on the ground. Angel just lay there quivering
instead of standing and shaking the water off her. Linc felt so sorry
for her. He picked her up and took her with him to the shower by the
patio.
Lucas had already stripped off his wet clothes and was under the
shower, when he got there. Lucas got out of the shower and got some
towels out of a tote that Fannie had put out on the patio. He wrapped
one around him as Linc put Angel down and stripped off his own wet
clothes. Angel still just lay on the ground and shivered. Linc
picked her up as he stepped to the shower. He held her up and washed
the sand and sea water from her belly, then held her up to his chest
as he stepped under the shower. Angel put her head on his shoulder
and her paws around his neck. As the water poured down over them,
Angel licked Linc on his cheek. As Linc stood there holding her
quivering little puppy body close to him, he knew without a doubt , he
really had a dog now.
Linc wrapped Angel in a towel and took her to a lounge chair on the
terrace. He rubbed her and then told her to lay there in the sunshine
and get warm and dry, while he dried himself off. When she finally
quit shivering and just lay in the sun, he went in and got into some
dry clothes.
When he came back out he saw that Lucas had picked up the wet clothes,
wrung them out, and draped them over the chair backs to dry a bit
before taking them in to the laundry. He came up to Linc with such a
hang dog look on his face that Linc almost started to laugh, and then
Lucas almost cried as he told Linc how he was playing toss the ball
with Angel when the ball got away from her and rolled down the beach
to the water. He was so sorry, so sorry. He would never do that
again. Linc hugged him and said, " I bet Angel will never follow a
ball into the water ever again either, she was so scared".
Lucas said, " I bet she will hate me now". He went over to the lounge
and sat by Angel, and she promptly crawled over onto his lap. " well
that answers that, now don't it"? Linc said as he looked at Lucas,
who was grinning broadly. Lucas held her like you would a baby and
told her how sorry he was, and called her Angel Face. He set her on
his lap and she wagged her tail so hard, her butt wagged too. They
both laughed at her.
Lucas put her on the ground and got up, saying he wanted to go for a
walk. They walked down the side of the island opposite the cave.
Angel running ahead, then back to them. She had to stop and sniff at
some piece of driftwood now and then. At one piece she sniffed then
pawed it. A tiny crab scuttled out from under it and went to the
water. Angel was right behind it sniffing and pawing just until she
saw the water, then she ran back up and cowered by Linc's legs. "
See, I told you she wouldn't follow anything into the water again",
Linc said to Lucas., who reached down and petted Angel and told her
what a good girl she was.
When they came to the small cave where they found the children's
toys, the first time they walked this way, Angel went in and came out
with a teddy bear. She shook it over and over again, then went back
in the cave and brought out a purple dino. She put it on the ground
and sniffed at it. Back in the cave she went and started sniffing
and digging. Linc and Lucas stopped to see what she was up to. She
dug out a yellow rhino and a small enameled, metal box. She took the
rhino out and shook it, while Linc reached in and picked up the box.
He opened it and found it held 4 of the largest diamonds he had ever
seen in person. "Holy Cow! . Wonder where these came from, and why
are they here? " he exclaimed. Lucas said, " are they real'. Linc
replied , " looks to me like they are, but I can't be sure". Linc
wondered, how in the world did a child get a hold of them, and when
and where, did he do it. How old was he when he did it. Where did they
come from in the first place? Are they part of one of the time masters
plunder? This is something he never in the world would have
expected. Now what? Sure the island was his but, but… The box was
small, yet too big to fit in his pocket, so he would have to carry it.
Lucas knelt down and started digging in the small cave looking to see
if anything else was in there. He pulled all the loose sand out of the
place and came up with two tiny toy wooden trucks., and a wooden spin
top. That was all. Lucas tossed all the toys back in the cave, all
but the teddy bear. Angel was already taking it up the beach. Lucas
said, "well I guess you can have that, I don't think anyone here will
mind". They walked a ways farther up the beach to where it became
really rocky then turned back to the house.
Back at the house, Linc put the box on the patio table and went into
the house to get a magnifying glass. He wanted to get a closer look
at the box. When he came back out, he saw that Lucas had taken the
diamonds out of the box and laid them out on a napkin. He was looking
closely at the largest stone that was about the size of a quarter,
but more oval. He said, " looks like a poor cutting job, they must be
native cut. This one is pretty clear but has some tiny black specks
near the girdle. I think they are real. All four of them are a
different pale color. If real, they must be worth a Kings ransom, even
as badly cut as they are. Where in the world did they come from"?
Linc had picked up the box and was examining it closely. " The
enameled figures and scenes on the box looks almost Oriental to me.
Not really Chinese nor Japanese. Maybe Tibetan? Hard for me to tell
and I can't decipher any of the marking on the bottom of the box.
Going to have to leave this mystery up to Uncle Vernon to figure out.
This is more up his line".
They sat there for a while, talking. They tossed ideas of where the
box came from, who had it in the first place and why it was buried in
the small cave and why. Why was it still there if Roland put it
there. Did he forget it, or was he deliberately hiding it there
forever?
Linc put the stones back in the box and took it inside to put in the
desk in the office, and start fixing some dinner. He made a bowl of
gazpacho, peeled and sliced an avocado and started to make some
burger patties. He called out to Lucas who was playing toss the teddy
with Angel, to fire up the BBQ.
Lucas lit the BBQ then set the table on the patio. Angel was tired
from all the running around and had taken the teddy and went to lay in
the shade.
As they sat there eating, Angel sat by Linc and begged. He gave her a
bit of bun with avocado on it. She gobbled it right down. Then he
gave her a piece of cucumber and she did the same thing. He tossed her
a piece of onion and when she grabbed it, she chomped once, then spit
it out and shook her head. She looked up at Linc, who pointed to the
piece of onion. Angel picked it up and took it out in the sand and
buried it. Came back, took her teddy and went and laid in the shade.
Linc and Lucas both roared with laughter. Linc said, "I bet she will
never gobble another thing with out smelling it again".
After clean up, Linc took the labels down to the cave and put them on
the boxes.
They spent the next few days, just hanging out, playing pool, napping
and walking. Then Linc got the boxes and they went back to the cabin.
To be continued
Tuesday, October 6, 2020
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.
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.
Wednesday, September 16, 2020
story
Back in Vegas.
They no sooner got back to Vegas when Fannie called Vernon and clued
him on to what she could about the ZCMI building in Provo. She faxed
him some paperwork to apply for the building to be donated for a
museum. Told him there was a very good chance it could be done.
Linc had talked to Axel about him going into the mine with the right
people and to be sure to check on the rock-fall history of the mine.
Axel Called some of the agents in his office and got things setup to
do that the first thing Monday morning. Then he called some FBI
friends and told them all about the problems Jane and Lewis were
having with the Chinese. They got things started right away.
Fannie had never made kiwi jam, but had eaten some at a company
luncheon and liked it, but kiwis were a bit pricey to try before but
now she had a bunch of them. She got on the computer to find a recipe.
She found one, and told Linc, next time she saw him she would have
some for him.
Before he left, Linc gave Fannie an envelope with four of the French
bank notes in it, and his banking info.
Linc got in his truck and started for home. He had put a John Denver
disc in the deck and was rolling along singing with John, when a big
dog went out in the road in front of him and just stood there barking
at him. Linc stopped, and pulled off the road. The dog just stood
there beside the truck and barked, then ran off into some bushes. It
looked back and barked at him again. Linc figured it wanted him to
follow, so he pulled off the road farther, got out and followed the
dog.
It led him through the rocks, bushes and trees. Linc could hear
someone yelling, "Grandpa, Help me," then crying. He came upon a
little girl, sitting on the ground, crying her eyes out. The dog went
over to her and stood close to her. Linc watched the dog, then went
over to the little girl and asked her what was wrong, "I think I
broke my leg, and I can't walk on it", she cried. Linc knelt down
beside her and said, "Lets have a look at it". He pulled up her pant
leg and couldn't see anything wrong with it. He asked her to wiggle
her foot, and she did, He asked her if she could wiggle her toes, and
she said she could, so Linc figured her leg was just fractured. He
told the girl he would fix it the best he could until he could get her
home. Told her to just sit still until he went back to his truck to
get something to fix her leg with. Back at the truck he got a roll of
duct tape and ran back to her. He found two good straight sticks and
pulled her pant leg back down and put the sticks on each side of her
leg and told her to hold them while he tore off a couple of strips of
tape. After securing the sticks, he then wrapped tape all around her
leg, foot and sticks until he had her leg completely immobilized.
"Are you a doctor," the girl asked. "No Linc said, my Mom is." "My
name is Linc, what's your name." Linc asked. " Oh! I'm Jenny, and
this is Bessie" she said as she patted the dog. " Well Jenny, I'm
going to have to carry you over to the truck to get you home, Ok!".
Linc said as he scooped her up and started off to the truck. He stood
her down by the truck as he opened the back door and Bessie jumped in,
then he put Jenny up in the front seat. He asked Jenny where she
lived, and she told him, "down the road a mile or so". It was really
only about a quarter mile when she told him where to turn off on a
road to the right. As he drove into the yard, he could see and old
man chopping wood.
The old man held onto the axe as he started toward the truck. Linc
got out and the old man yelled, " what the hell is going on here, why
is my Grand Daughter in your truck ? " Jenny yelled out of the
window, " I broke my leg Grandpa, and he helped me home. Don't be
mad at him." Linc went around the truck to get Jenny out. Linc told
the old man, "I'll get her out so you can take her to the doctor to
get her leg put in a cast." "Good Lord man , I can't take her to
town now, my old truck wouldn't start so Jake the mechanic towed it
into town this morning. Said it might be the alternator." "Well in
that case, climb in and I'll take you into town." Linc informed him.
He opened the back door, the dog jumped out and the old man climbed
in, and the drove out of the yard.
" Much obliged. My name is Ben Carter. Who are you if I may ask.,
"said the old man. " My name is Lincoln Hanks", answered Linc. "
Well, I'll be darned. My late wife Becky was a Hanks. Claimed one
of her old ancestors that came from England, was an inventor.
Claimed he invented a water powered loom to weave silk fabrics. Said
her ancient family had a silk mill."
Linc recalled reading about that family in family papers.
Hanks Silk Mill Before 1800, most of the silk made in America was
exported as thick cocoons spun by silkworms, in its raw state. Two
innovative brothers, Rodney and Horace Hanks of Mansfield,
Connecticut, built this tiny water-powered silk mill in 1810 and were
the first to began processing silk fiber from cocoons.
The cocoons were produced by silk worms, a caterpillar, fed from the
adjoining mulberry grove. One cocoon contains a single strand of silk
up to 1,000 yards long.
This mill is believed to be the first water-powered silk mill in the
United States. The silk thread produced at this mill was sold across
the country. Soon other American silk producers followed this trend.
The Hanks later moved into a larger mill, where they continued to make
thread until the 1920's. He told Ben and Jenny about this.
"How in the world do they get silk from a worm, that sound's silly"
said Jenny.
Linc explained to her and Ben about how this happens..
"Silkworms are the larva of a moth (Bombyx mori) native to Asia that
spins a cocoon of fine, strong, lustrous fiber that is the source of
commercial silk. The culture of silkworms is called sericulture. The
various species raised today are distinguished by the quality of the
silk they produce. Silkworms feed on the leaves of the mulberries
(genus Morus) and sometimes on the Osage orange (Maclura pomifera).
Silkworms are soft-bodied, slow moving and can grow to 3 inches in
length. They are also relatively fast growing, reaching about 3 inches
in length and ready to cocoon in as little as 25 - 28 days.
Silkworm and Cocoon Silkworms go through four stages of development,
as do most insects: egg, larva, pupa and adult. The adult (imago)
stage is the silkworm moth. The larva is the caterpillar (not really a
"worm" at all). The pupa is what the silkworm changes into after
spinning its cocoon before emerging as a moth.
Silkworm moths emerge from their cocoons after spending about two to
three weeks metamorphosing. As moths, they do not eat or fly. They
will usually mate, lay eggs and die within a week. Fertile eggs turn
from yellow to gray or purple in a week or so. If the eggs don't hatch
within 3 weeks, they usually will not hatch until the following year."
"Wow! I never knew that said Ben. Learn something new today.
Anyway, Becky was awful proud of her Hanks family, and now I can see
why," "I'm proud too, even though I hardly knew Grandma before she
died. I was too little." Claimed Jenny.
When they got into town, Ben directed Linc to the clinic where the
doctor had only good comments about how Linc had splinted Jenny's
leg. After x-ray's and a cast, two furry booties, a wrap-a-round
plastic boot and a pair of crutches, Linc was able to take them back
home.
At the farm, Bessie bounded out to greet them as they drove into the
yard. Linc carried Jenny over and sat her on the edge of the porch
next to big box. Bessie stayed right next to Jenny's side. Linc
reached over and patted Bessie and told Jenny what a great dog Bessie
was. Jenny asked Linc if he had a dog, and Linc confessed he didn't.
Jenny reached into the box and pulled out a chubby, wiggly puppy. It
was a cutie that had white markings on it's face. Jenny handed the
pup to Linc, and said, " This is Angel She has an angel on her face.
She is two months old, and even though she is the runt of the pack,
she is the smartest. She will make you a very special dog. I want
you to have her." Linc was astounded. " I don't know what to say,
except thank you."
He hugged Jenny, shook Ben's hand , and with the pup, he got into the
truck and left for home.
To be continued.
They no sooner got back to Vegas when Fannie called Vernon and clued
him on to what she could about the ZCMI building in Provo. She faxed
him some paperwork to apply for the building to be donated for a
museum. Told him there was a very good chance it could be done.
Linc had talked to Axel about him going into the mine with the right
people and to be sure to check on the rock-fall history of the mine.
Axel Called some of the agents in his office and got things setup to
do that the first thing Monday morning. Then he called some FBI
friends and told them all about the problems Jane and Lewis were
having with the Chinese. They got things started right away.
Fannie had never made kiwi jam, but had eaten some at a company
luncheon and liked it, but kiwis were a bit pricey to try before but
now she had a bunch of them. She got on the computer to find a recipe.
She found one, and told Linc, next time she saw him she would have
some for him.
Before he left, Linc gave Fannie an envelope with four of the French
bank notes in it, and his banking info.
Linc got in his truck and started for home. He had put a John Denver
disc in the deck and was rolling along singing with John, when a big
dog went out in the road in front of him and just stood there barking
at him. Linc stopped, and pulled off the road. The dog just stood
there beside the truck and barked, then ran off into some bushes. It
looked back and barked at him again. Linc figured it wanted him to
follow, so he pulled off the road farther, got out and followed the
dog.
It led him through the rocks, bushes and trees. Linc could hear
someone yelling, "Grandpa, Help me," then crying. He came upon a
little girl, sitting on the ground, crying her eyes out. The dog went
over to her and stood close to her. Linc watched the dog, then went
over to the little girl and asked her what was wrong, "I think I
broke my leg, and I can't walk on it", she cried. Linc knelt down
beside her and said, "Lets have a look at it". He pulled up her pant
leg and couldn't see anything wrong with it. He asked her to wiggle
her foot, and she did, He asked her if she could wiggle her toes, and
she said she could, so Linc figured her leg was just fractured. He
told the girl he would fix it the best he could until he could get her
home. Told her to just sit still until he went back to his truck to
get something to fix her leg with. Back at the truck he got a roll of
duct tape and ran back to her. He found two good straight sticks and
pulled her pant leg back down and put the sticks on each side of her
leg and told her to hold them while he tore off a couple of strips of
tape. After securing the sticks, he then wrapped tape all around her
leg, foot and sticks until he had her leg completely immobilized.
"Are you a doctor," the girl asked. "No Linc said, my Mom is." "My
name is Linc, what's your name." Linc asked. " Oh! I'm Jenny, and
this is Bessie" she said as she patted the dog. " Well Jenny, I'm
going to have to carry you over to the truck to get you home, Ok!".
Linc said as he scooped her up and started off to the truck. He stood
her down by the truck as he opened the back door and Bessie jumped in,
then he put Jenny up in the front seat. He asked Jenny where she
lived, and she told him, "down the road a mile or so". It was really
only about a quarter mile when she told him where to turn off on a
road to the right. As he drove into the yard, he could see and old
man chopping wood.
The old man held onto the axe as he started toward the truck. Linc
got out and the old man yelled, " what the hell is going on here, why
is my Grand Daughter in your truck ? " Jenny yelled out of the
window, " I broke my leg Grandpa, and he helped me home. Don't be
mad at him." Linc went around the truck to get Jenny out. Linc told
the old man, "I'll get her out so you can take her to the doctor to
get her leg put in a cast." "Good Lord man , I can't take her to
town now, my old truck wouldn't start so Jake the mechanic towed it
into town this morning. Said it might be the alternator." "Well in
that case, climb in and I'll take you into town." Linc informed him.
He opened the back door, the dog jumped out and the old man climbed
in, and the drove out of the yard.
" Much obliged. My name is Ben Carter. Who are you if I may ask.,
"said the old man. " My name is Lincoln Hanks", answered Linc. "
Well, I'll be darned. My late wife Becky was a Hanks. Claimed one
of her old ancestors that came from England, was an inventor.
Claimed he invented a water powered loom to weave silk fabrics. Said
her ancient family had a silk mill."
Linc recalled reading about that family in family papers.
Hanks Silk Mill Before 1800, most of the silk made in America was
exported as thick cocoons spun by silkworms, in its raw state. Two
innovative brothers, Rodney and Horace Hanks of Mansfield,
Connecticut, built this tiny water-powered silk mill in 1810 and were
the first to began processing silk fiber from cocoons.
The cocoons were produced by silk worms, a caterpillar, fed from the
adjoining mulberry grove. One cocoon contains a single strand of silk
up to 1,000 yards long.
This mill is believed to be the first water-powered silk mill in the
United States. The silk thread produced at this mill was sold across
the country. Soon other American silk producers followed this trend.
The Hanks later moved into a larger mill, where they continued to make
thread until the 1920's. He told Ben and Jenny about this.
"How in the world do they get silk from a worm, that sound's silly"
said Jenny.
Linc explained to her and Ben about how this happens..
"Silkworms are the larva of a moth (Bombyx mori) native to Asia that
spins a cocoon of fine, strong, lustrous fiber that is the source of
commercial silk. The culture of silkworms is called sericulture. The
various species raised today are distinguished by the quality of the
silk they produce. Silkworms feed on the leaves of the mulberries
(genus Morus) and sometimes on the Osage orange (Maclura pomifera).
Silkworms are soft-bodied, slow moving and can grow to 3 inches in
length. They are also relatively fast growing, reaching about 3 inches
in length and ready to cocoon in as little as 25 - 28 days.
Silkworm and Cocoon Silkworms go through four stages of development,
as do most insects: egg, larva, pupa and adult. The adult (imago)
stage is the silkworm moth. The larva is the caterpillar (not really a
"worm" at all). The pupa is what the silkworm changes into after
spinning its cocoon before emerging as a moth.
Silkworm moths emerge from their cocoons after spending about two to
three weeks metamorphosing. As moths, they do not eat or fly. They
will usually mate, lay eggs and die within a week. Fertile eggs turn
from yellow to gray or purple in a week or so. If the eggs don't hatch
within 3 weeks, they usually will not hatch until the following year."
"Wow! I never knew that said Ben. Learn something new today.
Anyway, Becky was awful proud of her Hanks family, and now I can see
why," "I'm proud too, even though I hardly knew Grandma before she
died. I was too little." Claimed Jenny.
When they got into town, Ben directed Linc to the clinic where the
doctor had only good comments about how Linc had splinted Jenny's
leg. After x-ray's and a cast, two furry booties, a wrap-a-round
plastic boot and a pair of crutches, Linc was able to take them back
home.
At the farm, Bessie bounded out to greet them as they drove into the
yard. Linc carried Jenny over and sat her on the edge of the porch
next to big box. Bessie stayed right next to Jenny's side. Linc
reached over and patted Bessie and told Jenny what a great dog Bessie
was. Jenny asked Linc if he had a dog, and Linc confessed he didn't.
Jenny reached into the box and pulled out a chubby, wiggly puppy. It
was a cutie that had white markings on it's face. Jenny handed the
pup to Linc, and said, " This is Angel She has an angel on her face.
She is two months old, and even though she is the runt of the pack,
she is the smartest. She will make you a very special dog. I want
you to have her." Linc was astounded. " I don't know what to say,
except thank you."
He hugged Jenny, shook Ben's hand , and with the pup, he got into the
truck and left for home.
To be continued.
Sunday, August 23, 2020
Next day at the cave;
Linc got out of bed early the next morning an put on a pot of coffee.
It had just finished perking when Axel came out to the kitchen while
Linc was pouring a cup. He poured a cup for him, and Axel said he was
going to let Fannie sleep as long as she wanted She hadn't been able
to do that in a while.
They took their coffee and went out to the veranda to sit in the sun.
They talked about the cave and what Vernon was trying to do for the
exhibits down there .
Fannie came out with a cup of coffee and said there was no more in the
pot. So she made another one for breakfast. She told them after she
had put some biscuits in the oven and was going to make some gravy as
soon as she drank her coffee. That got some smiles out of the guys.
After breakfast, they walked on down to the cave. Both Fannie and
Axel were surprised to see how light it was in there. Fannie said,
"I really like this place but I don't know if I could live here with
the grotto where the caskets were laid.' Axel said, " I don't see why
not, They aren't going anywhere". "I know", she said, " but it's
just a bit spooky to me." They looked all around the front part of
the cave then Linc lit a gas light and they went into the big bedroom.
Fannie ran her hands over the big bed and exclaimed, "Wow! Just look
at the fantastic old bedroom set. I love it." And Linc said how he
liked the old desk and wanted to take it up to the house. They looked
through the desk and Axel said the dueling pistols were a beautiful
set. Fannie who could read French talked about the papers and the
old money which she said was worth a fortune. She picked up the book
that was in the trunk and read some passages from it. " some
beautiful poems and fabulous illustrations.
Linc took the ring from the trinket box, put it on his hand then
opened the secret door and showed them the different rooms there.
In each room, they oohed and awed. Axel said he could hardly believe
what a tremendous amount of artifacts there was.
In some of the rooms, Fannie couldn't help herself. She held some of
the artifacts and commented on each of them. In the room with Egypt
artifacts, she held a gorgeous necklace up to her throat and looked
in the wall reflection, exclaiming how beautiful it was, but how very
heavy it was as well. Linc told her Uncle Vernon said it was probably
a necklace from a burial, not one worn. That made Fannie replace it
with a flourish.
In the French room, there were three painting signed Claude Hancks..
So he was a painter too. One was of a girl with curly red hair,
playing with a rag doll. It was so darn cute. The frame was very
ornate. Another was of three blue irises. Quite lovely. The last
one, also in a heavy ornate frame was a painting of the same little
red headed girl playing with a white kitten with blue eves and with a
ball of blue yarn. She was laughing. It was a very lovely scene.
"They really need to be put in a museum for all to see." Axel said.
They commented on some of the items that were distinctly from the
future, trying to figure out what they were and what they were for..
In the France room there was an object that looked similar to an old
fashioned wood cased radio, but did not have a cord for
electricity., and the inner working did not have vacuum tubes nor
grids like radios have today. Very strange.
They really got a shock when they got to the last room at the end of
the hall and saw the giant machine and the two smaller ones. Linc
told them them big machine was the one that made the cave. He Didn't
know what it did with the material it removed but it did generate
enough heat to re-crystallize the minerals in the stone, and made it
smooth and shine like glass.
They stood there in wonder looking at the machines. The writing on
them was not of a language any of them had ever seen before. Hard to
say how far in the future they came from and where they came from,
even if it was from Earth. Axel went in and looked them over. He said
he couldn't even begin to see how they worked.
Axel said, "Vernon must have been at the height of glory when he saw
all this stuff. I sure hope he finds a good place for all of it. I'd
love to see it when they get all the crates, barrels and boxes
unpacked. Be interesting if they can figure out what some of the stuff
really is. Will he just in Provo, or look in Salt Lake too?" " I
think he will look both places. I was talking to him just after I
landed in Vegas, and he said that one of his friends told him he heard
they were going to build a new ZCMI building in Provo and that the old
one may be up for sale. He has pull with the top church people, maybe
he can pull it off. I hope so because it would be perfect. It's two
stories high but it already has an elevator and bathrooms for
handicapped folks." Linc said. Fannie said, " your friend is wrong
about them building a new store. ZCMI was founded by Brigham Young,
when the big retailers were price gouging the people in Salt Lake. He
called it the" People's Store". Now that there are Walmart's,
Shop-co's and Targets, the church stores are no longer needed . My
firm have been handling some of the transactions since they are
liquidating most of their assets. I will call Vernon and send him
some paperwork. He may be able to get the store by a donation for a
museum."
"That would be great, " exclaimed Linc. I forgot that your firm deals
with estates, trusts and other kinds of money deals and accounts..
Hope it works out. Speaking of money deals, I might have to have you
see if anyone could buy maybe four of the five Frank notes. My bank
account is getting a bit low, and Christmas is coming." " No problem
" Fannie told him, "in fact I do know a couple of investors who
might go for them. If I do, I will have to bill you for the action
since the firm would be involved. " "Fine " Linc told her. "I'll
give you my banking info before I leave."
They looked around a bit more then went back up to the house.
While Fannie was busy fixing some lunch, Linc and Axel decided to go
for a swim. Fannie looked out the kitchen window at them. They were
cavorting like a couple of little kids. Dunking and splashing each
other. She couldn't help but laugh at them. They came back in and
were showering when she brought the lunch out to the patio. She had
not seen Axel in such good spirits in a long time. This mini vacation
has done wonders for him she thought.
After lunch the sat around drinking a beer and talking about the
things they saw in the cave. They talked some more about Jane and
Lewis too.
Linc asked Axel if they had any photos of the accident in the mine.
Axel told him they did and they have went over them time and again.
Linc asked if they had them blown up and had a mine inspector and a
geologist go over them with a good magnifying glass. Axel admitted
they hadn't done that, but sounded like a good idea. They might see
something out of the ordinary the lawyers missed. They should do the
same thing when he takes the team down in the mine. Need real good
pictures of the roof and walls of the side tunnel. Pictures of the
rocks that covered the body too, for comparison.
Later Fannie decided to watch a video and the guys played pool.
After supper and clean-up was over they all were looking at all the
videos that Roland had accumulated. They picked out a couple old
Benny Hill videos.. A good laugh was just the thing right now.
This was a great way to end the day. Linc said in the morning he
would take them to the other end of the island.
Fannie had coffee made, and she and Axel were sitting on the veranda
in the sunshine drinking it when Linc finally woke up.
After breakfast, Fannie put the makings of beef stew in the crock
pot, made a lunch and they put on their hiking boots and went off to
the other end of the island, the guys carried the cooler between
them..
This time Linc brought a good flashlight so he could see how far the
lava tube went in the back part.
Fannie was very excited when she saw all the fruit trees and the pool
looked so inviting she exclaimed. They all took off their boots and
dove into the pool.
It was a lot cooler than the ocean, but so invigorating. After
swimming around a bit, they lay out on the big rocks in the sunshine.
After lunch, Axel and Linc went to the lava tube cave and explored the
back of the tunnel. While they were gone, Fannie delighted in
picking some kiwi fruit from the vines climbing up into the trees on
the other side of the pool. She intended on making some jam with them
when she got back to Vegas.
She all but filled the cooler with fruits she found. She was going to
be busy for a bit making different kinds of jam.
The guys came back to the pool saying the tube didn't go very far
before it had filled up with lava.
The guys did some exploring around the other side of the pool and down
on the beach at the end of the stream. They brought back a couple of
coconuts with them.
They donned their boots and started off back to the house. Both Axel
and Fannie said it was hard to believe they had walked so far that
day, when they reached the house. Has to be something about this
island that made you feel this way, for sure. They said.
Fannie said she was a bit tired and glad she didn't have to cook
supper, and was glad she put the food in the crock pot.
They took off their boots, changed, and sat around talking till supper time.
Axel and Fannie were enjoying this leisure time since they would have
to leave in the morning for Vegas. Linc said the walk to the other end
of the island was almost too far away. Said he would like to get an
ATV with a trailer, and he could use it to get the desk up to the
house too. Axel told him he would help, just let him know when and he
would come over to the farm and help him. He was eager to come back
to the island anyway.
The next morning, Fannie stripped and remade the beds, put things in
the washer, while the guys cleaned up the kitchen and the rest of the
house. They went back to Vegas.
To be continued.
Linc got out of bed early the next morning an put on a pot of coffee.
It had just finished perking when Axel came out to the kitchen while
Linc was pouring a cup. He poured a cup for him, and Axel said he was
going to let Fannie sleep as long as she wanted She hadn't been able
to do that in a while.
They took their coffee and went out to the veranda to sit in the sun.
They talked about the cave and what Vernon was trying to do for the
exhibits down there .
Fannie came out with a cup of coffee and said there was no more in the
pot. So she made another one for breakfast. She told them after she
had put some biscuits in the oven and was going to make some gravy as
soon as she drank her coffee. That got some smiles out of the guys.
After breakfast, they walked on down to the cave. Both Fannie and
Axel were surprised to see how light it was in there. Fannie said,
"I really like this place but I don't know if I could live here with
the grotto where the caskets were laid.' Axel said, " I don't see why
not, They aren't going anywhere". "I know", she said, " but it's
just a bit spooky to me." They looked all around the front part of
the cave then Linc lit a gas light and they went into the big bedroom.
Fannie ran her hands over the big bed and exclaimed, "Wow! Just look
at the fantastic old bedroom set. I love it." And Linc said how he
liked the old desk and wanted to take it up to the house. They looked
through the desk and Axel said the dueling pistols were a beautiful
set. Fannie who could read French talked about the papers and the
old money which she said was worth a fortune. She picked up the book
that was in the trunk and read some passages from it. " some
beautiful poems and fabulous illustrations.
Linc took the ring from the trinket box, put it on his hand then
opened the secret door and showed them the different rooms there.
In each room, they oohed and awed. Axel said he could hardly believe
what a tremendous amount of artifacts there was.
In some of the rooms, Fannie couldn't help herself. She held some of
the artifacts and commented on each of them. In the room with Egypt
artifacts, she held a gorgeous necklace up to her throat and looked
in the wall reflection, exclaiming how beautiful it was, but how very
heavy it was as well. Linc told her Uncle Vernon said it was probably
a necklace from a burial, not one worn. That made Fannie replace it
with a flourish.
In the French room, there were three painting signed Claude Hancks..
So he was a painter too. One was of a girl with curly red hair,
playing with a rag doll. It was so darn cute. The frame was very
ornate. Another was of three blue irises. Quite lovely. The last
one, also in a heavy ornate frame was a painting of the same little
red headed girl playing with a white kitten with blue eves and with a
ball of blue yarn. She was laughing. It was a very lovely scene.
"They really need to be put in a museum for all to see." Axel said.
They commented on some of the items that were distinctly from the
future, trying to figure out what they were and what they were for..
In the France room there was an object that looked similar to an old
fashioned wood cased radio, but did not have a cord for
electricity., and the inner working did not have vacuum tubes nor
grids like radios have today. Very strange.
They really got a shock when they got to the last room at the end of
the hall and saw the giant machine and the two smaller ones. Linc
told them them big machine was the one that made the cave. He Didn't
know what it did with the material it removed but it did generate
enough heat to re-crystallize the minerals in the stone, and made it
smooth and shine like glass.
They stood there in wonder looking at the machines. The writing on
them was not of a language any of them had ever seen before. Hard to
say how far in the future they came from and where they came from,
even if it was from Earth. Axel went in and looked them over. He said
he couldn't even begin to see how they worked.
Axel said, "Vernon must have been at the height of glory when he saw
all this stuff. I sure hope he finds a good place for all of it. I'd
love to see it when they get all the crates, barrels and boxes
unpacked. Be interesting if they can figure out what some of the stuff
really is. Will he just in Provo, or look in Salt Lake too?" " I
think he will look both places. I was talking to him just after I
landed in Vegas, and he said that one of his friends told him he heard
they were going to build a new ZCMI building in Provo and that the old
one may be up for sale. He has pull with the top church people, maybe
he can pull it off. I hope so because it would be perfect. It's two
stories high but it already has an elevator and bathrooms for
handicapped folks." Linc said. Fannie said, " your friend is wrong
about them building a new store. ZCMI was founded by Brigham Young,
when the big retailers were price gouging the people in Salt Lake. He
called it the" People's Store". Now that there are Walmart's,
Shop-co's and Targets, the church stores are no longer needed . My
firm have been handling some of the transactions since they are
liquidating most of their assets. I will call Vernon and send him
some paperwork. He may be able to get the store by a donation for a
museum."
"That would be great, " exclaimed Linc. I forgot that your firm deals
with estates, trusts and other kinds of money deals and accounts..
Hope it works out. Speaking of money deals, I might have to have you
see if anyone could buy maybe four of the five Frank notes. My bank
account is getting a bit low, and Christmas is coming." " No problem
" Fannie told him, "in fact I do know a couple of investors who
might go for them. If I do, I will have to bill you for the action
since the firm would be involved. " "Fine " Linc told her. "I'll
give you my banking info before I leave."
They looked around a bit more then went back up to the house.
While Fannie was busy fixing some lunch, Linc and Axel decided to go
for a swim. Fannie looked out the kitchen window at them. They were
cavorting like a couple of little kids. Dunking and splashing each
other. She couldn't help but laugh at them. They came back in and
were showering when she brought the lunch out to the patio. She had
not seen Axel in such good spirits in a long time. This mini vacation
has done wonders for him she thought.
After lunch the sat around drinking a beer and talking about the
things they saw in the cave. They talked some more about Jane and
Lewis too.
Linc asked Axel if they had any photos of the accident in the mine.
Axel told him they did and they have went over them time and again.
Linc asked if they had them blown up and had a mine inspector and a
geologist go over them with a good magnifying glass. Axel admitted
they hadn't done that, but sounded like a good idea. They might see
something out of the ordinary the lawyers missed. They should do the
same thing when he takes the team down in the mine. Need real good
pictures of the roof and walls of the side tunnel. Pictures of the
rocks that covered the body too, for comparison.
Later Fannie decided to watch a video and the guys played pool.
After supper and clean-up was over they all were looking at all the
videos that Roland had accumulated. They picked out a couple old
Benny Hill videos.. A good laugh was just the thing right now.
This was a great way to end the day. Linc said in the morning he
would take them to the other end of the island.
Fannie had coffee made, and she and Axel were sitting on the veranda
in the sunshine drinking it when Linc finally woke up.
After breakfast, Fannie put the makings of beef stew in the crock
pot, made a lunch and they put on their hiking boots and went off to
the other end of the island, the guys carried the cooler between
them..
This time Linc brought a good flashlight so he could see how far the
lava tube went in the back part.
Fannie was very excited when she saw all the fruit trees and the pool
looked so inviting she exclaimed. They all took off their boots and
dove into the pool.
It was a lot cooler than the ocean, but so invigorating. After
swimming around a bit, they lay out on the big rocks in the sunshine.
After lunch, Axel and Linc went to the lava tube cave and explored the
back of the tunnel. While they were gone, Fannie delighted in
picking some kiwi fruit from the vines climbing up into the trees on
the other side of the pool. She intended on making some jam with them
when she got back to Vegas.
She all but filled the cooler with fruits she found. She was going to
be busy for a bit making different kinds of jam.
The guys came back to the pool saying the tube didn't go very far
before it had filled up with lava.
The guys did some exploring around the other side of the pool and down
on the beach at the end of the stream. They brought back a couple of
coconuts with them.
They donned their boots and started off back to the house. Both Axel
and Fannie said it was hard to believe they had walked so far that
day, when they reached the house. Has to be something about this
island that made you feel this way, for sure. They said.
Fannie said she was a bit tired and glad she didn't have to cook
supper, and was glad she put the food in the crock pot.
They took off their boots, changed, and sat around talking till supper time.
Axel and Fannie were enjoying this leisure time since they would have
to leave in the morning for Vegas. Linc said the walk to the other end
of the island was almost too far away. Said he would like to get an
ATV with a trailer, and he could use it to get the desk up to the
house too. Axel told him he would help, just let him know when and he
would come over to the farm and help him. He was eager to come back
to the island anyway.
The next morning, Fannie stripped and remade the beds, put things in
the washer, while the guys cleaned up the kitchen and the rest of the
house. They went back to Vegas.
To be continued.
Wednesday, August 5, 2020
Bask at the café
The next day at the café, Linc asked for a couple of small tables to
be put together as some other people would be joining him. The
waitress had just got them together when Jane, Jasper and Lewis came
in. Jane handed him a small box and told him to keep it safe. Linc
took it and said. " excuse me". He got up and went into the restroom,
into a stall, said retreat and when there put the box in the cave too.
Seconds later he went back to the table and told Jane the box was now
in a place where no one would find it. He would explain how some
time, not right now.
They talked about them being kidnapped and what had happened during
the time they were at the lab. Jane told Linc how she and Kenneth had
wondered just exactly what the Chinese were really after by kidnapping
them. They knew Kenneth had been talking to the old man, about his
experiment with the iron ring, and then the arch. They had to know he
had went thru the arch and to the moon and back. Were they interested
in time travel or maybe using the arch for something else? They knew
the old man used the arch for levitation as well as transporting.
After they were kidnapped, they knew from watching them so close that
they had levitated some things, and when their secret camera caught
the rock Lewis found teleported across the room, even though Herm
couldn't duplicate it. Jane told them Kenneth thought the Chinese
were thinking the process might be used as a weapon, that was why he
did the experiment that got him killed. That was why he tried to
destroy everything to do with the experiment, but he didn't know that
she had made the memory chips of the tests he made on her computer and
had hidden the chips from the Chinese. The Chinese had got her
computer after they had escaped, but when Kenneth was killed she put
her computer on destruct, that would have erased everything on it.
They talked about their escape, and what happened after Linc Left the
lab. Linc told them that he hated to leave them like that but he had
to go.
Linc told them about the farm, the cabin and the mine his Grandfather
had. He told them he was a geologist and about the mine that called
him with the strange clay formation that reacted with the sample he
took from the mine there in Colorado. They talked Jane's family and
Kenneth's family. Finally the waitress said she would like to clean
up since it was almost time for the dinner crowd to be coming in.
They all hugged and said they would keep in touch with each other.
Linc said maybe they could get a good security company to check their
places for bugs and all their stuff for tracking devices. Jasper and
Lewis both said they would. Do that and have all locks changed.
Linc went back to the motel and put his suitcase in the trunk of the
rental and went out to the airport. He never gave it a thought that
he might have been followed there. He pulled into the rental lot,
then went and got his bag out of the trunk. Just as he was closing the
trunk, he felt something brush his sleeve as he turned. A man was
trying to grab his arm. Linc pulled away from him just as another man
approached him with a knife in his hand, telling him to stand still.
Linc shoved at him with the bag, knocking him backward and making him
drop the knife. He then ran as fast as he could around a couple of
cars, dropped down, touched the broach and said retreat. Wow! He
landed face first on the beach. He stood up, brushed himself off and
laughed as hard as he could. Let those jerks spend time looking for
him. He picked up his bag, and went up to the house. Yes, yes, he
thought. Might as well fix some supper, get a good nights sleep and
go back to the airport in the next day. He had plenty of time, but
the thugs will have some explaining to do to their boss.. He didn't
think about the fact that when the folks came to the café, without
their own cars the thugs would look for a rental. And follow him. He
was in and out of the motel too fast for them to catch him there..
Well Linc old boy, he thought to himself. You live and learn. He
wondered if the motel would give anybody his address. He made a note
to himself to call the motel when he got back to Denver, and tell the
manager he will sue them if they reveal his address to anyone.
The next morning he took a shower, fixed some breakfast, then went
down to the cave figured he would get the memory chips and take a look
at them. After scanning through them he found them quite scientific,
and didn't get much from them. He figured he may as well make copies
of them, for the professor and Uncle Axel.
As long as he was going to give the thugs plenty of time to look for
him, he washed the clothes that were in his bag, changed the bedding
in the house, then went down and stripped the beds in the cave where
Todd and Uncle Vernon had slept. He didn't remake the beds, but just
put the bedspreads back on them. Got the bedding washed, dried and put
away.
He got to thinking about how he could avoid the thugs if they were
watching the airport still for him. He would leave his bag there at
the retreat, put a few thinks in the back-pack, change of clothes and
wear a hat. He might get by with it ok that way.
He went down to the cave to get the back-pack. He took the rocks out
of it to put in a box, and noticed that one chunk had a hole in it.
Looked funny like there was something in the hole. He took it out and
down to the other cave where the water was and cleaned it up a bit.
By darn, he said to himself, there are some small crystals in that
hole. Hard to see real plain. He was going to have to clean it up
better and get a magnifying glass to see them well.
He got the back-pack emptied then shook it out. While he was there in
the cave he decided take a look in the chiffen-robe and see what
clothing was in there, just for the heck of it. He found an old
beret. Hey cool, he thought. He whacked it up against his leg a
couple of times to see if it was dusty, but it was fine. He opened
the door of the unit farther, and put it on his head, looked in the
mirror on the back of the door. Hey!, that looks ok. The thugs knew
he didn't have a hat on when he got out of the car.
He took the pack, beret and the rock with a hole in it and went back
up to the house. He found a brush and cleaned out the hole with the
crystals in it. Got a magnifying glass in the office and got a better
look at the crystals. They were not quartz crystals he knew because
the shape of them was wrong, They were shaped more like zircon
crystals . Well he would just have to let the professor identify
them. He wrapped the rock in a couple of paper towels so it wouldn't
get dirty or damaged from the other rocks from the pack. He would
have to pack them up in a good sturdy box when he got back from
Denver.
Looking at his watch he could see he had only twenty minutes to catch
his flight. He quickly changed clothes, took his pack and said back.
At the airport, he walked right past a thug that was watching the
doors. He then went to the check in then to the boarding area to wait,
just as the flight he had to board had just landed.
Ten minutes later he boarded the plane to Vegas.
To be continued
The next day at the café, Linc asked for a couple of small tables to
be put together as some other people would be joining him. The
waitress had just got them together when Jane, Jasper and Lewis came
in. Jane handed him a small box and told him to keep it safe. Linc
took it and said. " excuse me". He got up and went into the restroom,
into a stall, said retreat and when there put the box in the cave too.
Seconds later he went back to the table and told Jane the box was now
in a place where no one would find it. He would explain how some
time, not right now.
They talked about them being kidnapped and what had happened during
the time they were at the lab. Jane told Linc how she and Kenneth had
wondered just exactly what the Chinese were really after by kidnapping
them. They knew Kenneth had been talking to the old man, about his
experiment with the iron ring, and then the arch. They had to know he
had went thru the arch and to the moon and back. Were they interested
in time travel or maybe using the arch for something else? They knew
the old man used the arch for levitation as well as transporting.
After they were kidnapped, they knew from watching them so close that
they had levitated some things, and when their secret camera caught
the rock Lewis found teleported across the room, even though Herm
couldn't duplicate it. Jane told them Kenneth thought the Chinese
were thinking the process might be used as a weapon, that was why he
did the experiment that got him killed. That was why he tried to
destroy everything to do with the experiment, but he didn't know that
she had made the memory chips of the tests he made on her computer and
had hidden the chips from the Chinese. The Chinese had got her
computer after they had escaped, but when Kenneth was killed she put
her computer on destruct, that would have erased everything on it.
They talked about their escape, and what happened after Linc Left the
lab. Linc told them that he hated to leave them like that but he had
to go.
Linc told them about the farm, the cabin and the mine his Grandfather
had. He told them he was a geologist and about the mine that called
him with the strange clay formation that reacted with the sample he
took from the mine there in Colorado. They talked Jane's family and
Kenneth's family. Finally the waitress said she would like to clean
up since it was almost time for the dinner crowd to be coming in.
They all hugged and said they would keep in touch with each other.
Linc said maybe they could get a good security company to check their
places for bugs and all their stuff for tracking devices. Jasper and
Lewis both said they would. Do that and have all locks changed.
Linc went back to the motel and put his suitcase in the trunk of the
rental and went out to the airport. He never gave it a thought that
he might have been followed there. He pulled into the rental lot,
then went and got his bag out of the trunk. Just as he was closing the
trunk, he felt something brush his sleeve as he turned. A man was
trying to grab his arm. Linc pulled away from him just as another man
approached him with a knife in his hand, telling him to stand still.
Linc shoved at him with the bag, knocking him backward and making him
drop the knife. He then ran as fast as he could around a couple of
cars, dropped down, touched the broach and said retreat. Wow! He
landed face first on the beach. He stood up, brushed himself off and
laughed as hard as he could. Let those jerks spend time looking for
him. He picked up his bag, and went up to the house. Yes, yes, he
thought. Might as well fix some supper, get a good nights sleep and
go back to the airport in the next day. He had plenty of time, but
the thugs will have some explaining to do to their boss.. He didn't
think about the fact that when the folks came to the café, without
their own cars the thugs would look for a rental. And follow him. He
was in and out of the motel too fast for them to catch him there..
Well Linc old boy, he thought to himself. You live and learn. He
wondered if the motel would give anybody his address. He made a note
to himself to call the motel when he got back to Denver, and tell the
manager he will sue them if they reveal his address to anyone.
The next morning he took a shower, fixed some breakfast, then went
down to the cave figured he would get the memory chips and take a look
at them. After scanning through them he found them quite scientific,
and didn't get much from them. He figured he may as well make copies
of them, for the professor and Uncle Axel.
As long as he was going to give the thugs plenty of time to look for
him, he washed the clothes that were in his bag, changed the bedding
in the house, then went down and stripped the beds in the cave where
Todd and Uncle Vernon had slept. He didn't remake the beds, but just
put the bedspreads back on them. Got the bedding washed, dried and put
away.
He got to thinking about how he could avoid the thugs if they were
watching the airport still for him. He would leave his bag there at
the retreat, put a few thinks in the back-pack, change of clothes and
wear a hat. He might get by with it ok that way.
He went down to the cave to get the back-pack. He took the rocks out
of it to put in a box, and noticed that one chunk had a hole in it.
Looked funny like there was something in the hole. He took it out and
down to the other cave where the water was and cleaned it up a bit.
By darn, he said to himself, there are some small crystals in that
hole. Hard to see real plain. He was going to have to clean it up
better and get a magnifying glass to see them well.
He got the back-pack emptied then shook it out. While he was there in
the cave he decided take a look in the chiffen-robe and see what
clothing was in there, just for the heck of it. He found an old
beret. Hey cool, he thought. He whacked it up against his leg a
couple of times to see if it was dusty, but it was fine. He opened
the door of the unit farther, and put it on his head, looked in the
mirror on the back of the door. Hey!, that looks ok. The thugs knew
he didn't have a hat on when he got out of the car.
He took the pack, beret and the rock with a hole in it and went back
up to the house. He found a brush and cleaned out the hole with the
crystals in it. Got a magnifying glass in the office and got a better
look at the crystals. They were not quartz crystals he knew because
the shape of them was wrong, They were shaped more like zircon
crystals . Well he would just have to let the professor identify
them. He wrapped the rock in a couple of paper towels so it wouldn't
get dirty or damaged from the other rocks from the pack. He would
have to pack them up in a good sturdy box when he got back from
Denver.
Looking at his watch he could see he had only twenty minutes to catch
his flight. He quickly changed clothes, took his pack and said back.
At the airport, he walked right past a thug that was watching the
doors. He then went to the check in then to the boarding area to wait,
just as the flight he had to board had just landed.
Ten minutes later he boarded the plane to Vegas.
To be continued
Wednesday, July 29, 2020
John and Trudy on vacation.
After a restful few days at the cabin, Uncle Vernon took the kids
back to Utah and school Linc told them before they left that he would
see them at Christmas time. Things were quiet around the farm now that
John and Trudy had left on vacation. Linc made plans to go to Denver
as soon as they got back. He had no problem with the animals here at
the farm. Lucas said he would take care of the chickens, to give him
something to do.
A couple of ladies from the neighboring farms came to visit with
their cookies and all. Linc brewed up a pot of tea, and since it was
cooler now, he served it with their cookies in the living room. Since
there were two ladies, he let them handle the pouring. Linc sipped
his tea, ate a couple of cookies and listened to the other three
reminisce. He made his excuses and escaped to the office, letting a
smiling Lucas handle the ladies.
Up at the office, he booked a flight to Denver, and made arrangements
for a car rental.
He got a call from the owner of the mine, who claimed he was very
pleased with they way things were going with the minerals getting
identified. He told Linc that the professor told him the samples had
a clay base, even though they looked metallic. Told him how his own
geologist had put a sample in a kiln and found it could be formed
while still soft from the heat. He said the resulting material was
extremely durable, and could be molded into any shape quickly. He
said they really needed more information on the material before going
any further with it. Good thing too he said, by-passing the area of
the deposit, they had opened up an area that showed a promise of
better gold deposits.
When Trudy and John got back, Linc Flew off to Denver and picked up
the rental car. Drove to Cardiff where he rented a room in a motel.
He didn't know for sure just how long it would take him to find the
place where the lab was. He walked around town looking for a library,
and found out it was about time for it to close. He picked up a map
at the drug store and went to a café for supper. He would come back
to the library in the morning. The map he got was not much use to him
since it covered too much of the area. He needed one that just
covered the immediate area.
The next morning after breakfast, he went to the library and after
looking through a lot of older maps, found the map he was looking for.
It was an old forest service map that showed all the lumber camps and
mines. Although he didn't find a mining claim near the lumber camp
he was sure was the one he thought was the camp. He got a copy of
the area he wanted, and left. He saw where the river was on the map
and drove to where the road followed the river upstream. He knew when
he came to the bridge where they crossed from the little town they
went to when they had escaped, that he was on the right track. The
map showed the old lumber camp to be about seven miles or so upstream
from that bridge.
After driving almost nine miles, he was beginning to wonder if he was
right, but then around a bend, there it was, an old gate to the where
the lumber camp was.
He was in luck here, as there was no lock on the gate and he was able
to go though it. As he drove through the small trees, he hoped there
was nothing in the road since this was just a car, not a truck. Going
a mile or so over a bumpy road he finally came to a clearing. There
were some old foundations around, so he figured this was where the
lab was. He locked the car and took off in the direction he thought
the mine was. With the shorter trees, he could see the hill where he
thought it might be and headed in that direction. Sure enough this
was the place. He recognized the adit, even though it had caved in.
He looked around the tailing dump and picked up enough rocks to fill
the pack. Then he touched the broach, said retreat. When he got
there, he put the pack in the cave. He wasn't about to try and take
the rocks back on a plane, then went back to the mine. He entered the
location into his GPS, went back to the car, and drove back to the
motel. He felt good about this, as he had about forty pounds of rocks
in that pack. Hopefully enough for the professor and his colleges.
Since it was late afternoon now, he decided to spend another night in
the same motel and head for Denver in the morning.
He called the farm and talked to Lucas and told him about the rocks,
and about going to Denver in the morning. He called the professor and
told him he had found the old mine and had picked up thirty to forty
pounds of ore, and would send them and the quart of rusty sludge when
he got back from Denver.
The professor said fine, and told him that he had called the mine and
talked to the owner who was pleased with the news of the samples.
Owner was going to send more samples to test out.
The next morning he started out for Denver. He had looked on the
city map, for the address of Lewis Hanks, before he left, and headed
to that area of town. He got a motel nearby, and waited until he
figured Lewis would be home from work. No sense in going to his
place if he wasn't at home.
A few hours later he decided to take a run over to the address. It
was an apartment building. He parked in front of it, just as a csr
pulled up and parked in a spot in the building parking spot. A young
man about his age, wearing a suit, got out and headed for the
entrance. Linc went up to him and asked if he was Lewis Hanks. The
young man tilted his head, and asked, " do I know you? You look
familiar." Linc held out his hand and said, " Lincoln Hanks.
Remember, you bumped into me in the woods about twenty years ago."
"But that's impossible." Lewis said, you look about my age." Limc
shook his head, and told Lewis it was a long story and he didn't have
time to explain it now. But it did happen. We need to talk about what
happened back then. Is your Mom living in Denver too? Lewis looked
all around, and said quietly, Yes we do need to talk, but not here.
I am sure I am being watched. I know my rooms have been searched
everywhere I move to, and so has mom's. My rooms may have bugs
planted in them but I can't find them. I think this because when I
sometimes call mom to go somewhere, we get followed. She is living
with Uncle Jasper, down the street about three blocks from here.."
Linc said, 'you may have a tracking chip planted on you. Why not leave
your watch, cell phone and wallet locked here in your car and we will
take a ride in mine and see what happens." Lewis put the items in his
car, locked it and went with Linc back to the rental. Linc asked if
there was a noisy café around close where they could go talk and
not be heard easily. He could take him back to the motel, but they
would not be able to see anyone around them there. In a public place
was the best answer.
Lewis directed him to a café that catered to a lot of the teenage
crowd. Any other adults would stick out like a sore thumb, Linc
thought. Good place.
Lewis told Linc how they had been harassed by the police, government
officials, and some of the Chinese guards that were at the lab. They
even interrupted the funeral they had for his Dad. It seemed no one
believed them about what happened at the lab. Didn't think they were
kidnapped by Chinese thugs. Too many strange people asking questions
about things they could not understand, and too many "question" about
the process they were working on. Too many questions about any
materials or records they might have. Lewis told him that his mother
did have some back-up memory chips that she had hidden in a tampon box
that the Chinese didn't find before the cleaned out and left. Uncle
Jasper took them and put them in his safe deposit box so they can't
get to them. His mom said their place had been searched a number of
times. It was at a point where they didn't trust anyone any more. Linc
told him, he didn't know of anyone who could help right off hand, but
there must be someone who could figure out just what all the Chinese
are interested in, and why they were so insistent about it to the
extent they have followed them for so long. He told Lewis his Uncle
Axel was a lawyer and worked with the FBI once in a while. He said he
would ask his Uncle if he knew someone he could really trust with
might turn out to be a national security problem. He said he wouldn't
go into a lot of detail yet about what happened. Since his Uncle knew
nothing about it.
Linc told him he went back out where the lab was to get samples of the
ore at the mine. He told him about the other ore samples and what
happened with and about them and the professor's experiments. He would
really like to talk to his Mom about the rocks and tell her all
about them too. He handed his cell phone to Lewis and asked him to
call his Mom and tell her that the cousin he ran into back in the
woods quite some years ago, was in town visiting him and why not come
down to the café and renew old times. Lewis did, and shortly his Mom
and Uncle came in. They had ordered burgers, fries and shakes while
they waited. Jane was so excited when she saw him. She recognized him
right away. She hugged him and then introduced Uncle Jasper., who
shook his hand and declared how glad he was that Linc had saved Jane
and Lewis from the Chinese thugs. Linc was able to tell her all about
the professor and the other rocks and the tests and so forth How the
professor and his colleges were working on more tests. Jane asked him
a lot of questions about the rocks, and Linc told her he didn't know
enough about the testing, because it was still in progress. Told her
when all the testing was done, maybe she could meet the professor and
talk about it. She told him about the memory chips, and maybe they
would help the professor. Linc said he didn't know, but it was
something to think about. Lewis said, don't look now, but a shadow
just walked in. he must have tracked Jane and Uncle Jasper. Linc told
them about the tracking chips to watch for. Told them he was in a
motel. They could maybe leave anything that might have a chip like
watches, phones, keys, wallets, purses and so forth at home and take a
taxi to the café the next day just after noon. Maybe they could talk
some more. Jane said that was a good idea, and Uncle Jasper could get
the memory chips for him to take back to the professor. They got up
and left right after the shadow had placed his order. Linc took
Lewis back to his apartment house then went to a small park close to
the motel to see if he was being followed. After he sat there a while,
watching the other cars he didn't see anyone who might be following so
he went back to the motel. Since he had already eaten at the café, he
watched some tv a while before he went to bed.
To be continued.
After a restful few days at the cabin, Uncle Vernon took the kids
back to Utah and school Linc told them before they left that he would
see them at Christmas time. Things were quiet around the farm now that
John and Trudy had left on vacation. Linc made plans to go to Denver
as soon as they got back. He had no problem with the animals here at
the farm. Lucas said he would take care of the chickens, to give him
something to do.
A couple of ladies from the neighboring farms came to visit with
their cookies and all. Linc brewed up a pot of tea, and since it was
cooler now, he served it with their cookies in the living room. Since
there were two ladies, he let them handle the pouring. Linc sipped
his tea, ate a couple of cookies and listened to the other three
reminisce. He made his excuses and escaped to the office, letting a
smiling Lucas handle the ladies.
Up at the office, he booked a flight to Denver, and made arrangements
for a car rental.
He got a call from the owner of the mine, who claimed he was very
pleased with they way things were going with the minerals getting
identified. He told Linc that the professor told him the samples had
a clay base, even though they looked metallic. Told him how his own
geologist had put a sample in a kiln and found it could be formed
while still soft from the heat. He said the resulting material was
extremely durable, and could be molded into any shape quickly. He
said they really needed more information on the material before going
any further with it. Good thing too he said, by-passing the area of
the deposit, they had opened up an area that showed a promise of
better gold deposits.
When Trudy and John got back, Linc Flew off to Denver and picked up
the rental car. Drove to Cardiff where he rented a room in a motel.
He didn't know for sure just how long it would take him to find the
place where the lab was. He walked around town looking for a library,
and found out it was about time for it to close. He picked up a map
at the drug store and went to a café for supper. He would come back
to the library in the morning. The map he got was not much use to him
since it covered too much of the area. He needed one that just
covered the immediate area.
The next morning after breakfast, he went to the library and after
looking through a lot of older maps, found the map he was looking for.
It was an old forest service map that showed all the lumber camps and
mines. Although he didn't find a mining claim near the lumber camp
he was sure was the one he thought was the camp. He got a copy of
the area he wanted, and left. He saw where the river was on the map
and drove to where the road followed the river upstream. He knew when
he came to the bridge where they crossed from the little town they
went to when they had escaped, that he was on the right track. The
map showed the old lumber camp to be about seven miles or so upstream
from that bridge.
After driving almost nine miles, he was beginning to wonder if he was
right, but then around a bend, there it was, an old gate to the where
the lumber camp was.
He was in luck here, as there was no lock on the gate and he was able
to go though it. As he drove through the small trees, he hoped there
was nothing in the road since this was just a car, not a truck. Going
a mile or so over a bumpy road he finally came to a clearing. There
were some old foundations around, so he figured this was where the
lab was. He locked the car and took off in the direction he thought
the mine was. With the shorter trees, he could see the hill where he
thought it might be and headed in that direction. Sure enough this
was the place. He recognized the adit, even though it had caved in.
He looked around the tailing dump and picked up enough rocks to fill
the pack. Then he touched the broach, said retreat. When he got
there, he put the pack in the cave. He wasn't about to try and take
the rocks back on a plane, then went back to the mine. He entered the
location into his GPS, went back to the car, and drove back to the
motel. He felt good about this, as he had about forty pounds of rocks
in that pack. Hopefully enough for the professor and his colleges.
Since it was late afternoon now, he decided to spend another night in
the same motel and head for Denver in the morning.
He called the farm and talked to Lucas and told him about the rocks,
and about going to Denver in the morning. He called the professor and
told him he had found the old mine and had picked up thirty to forty
pounds of ore, and would send them and the quart of rusty sludge when
he got back from Denver.
The professor said fine, and told him that he had called the mine and
talked to the owner who was pleased with the news of the samples.
Owner was going to send more samples to test out.
The next morning he started out for Denver. He had looked on the
city map, for the address of Lewis Hanks, before he left, and headed
to that area of town. He got a motel nearby, and waited until he
figured Lewis would be home from work. No sense in going to his
place if he wasn't at home.
A few hours later he decided to take a run over to the address. It
was an apartment building. He parked in front of it, just as a csr
pulled up and parked in a spot in the building parking spot. A young
man about his age, wearing a suit, got out and headed for the
entrance. Linc went up to him and asked if he was Lewis Hanks. The
young man tilted his head, and asked, " do I know you? You look
familiar." Linc held out his hand and said, " Lincoln Hanks.
Remember, you bumped into me in the woods about twenty years ago."
"But that's impossible." Lewis said, you look about my age." Limc
shook his head, and told Lewis it was a long story and he didn't have
time to explain it now. But it did happen. We need to talk about what
happened back then. Is your Mom living in Denver too? Lewis looked
all around, and said quietly, Yes we do need to talk, but not here.
I am sure I am being watched. I know my rooms have been searched
everywhere I move to, and so has mom's. My rooms may have bugs
planted in them but I can't find them. I think this because when I
sometimes call mom to go somewhere, we get followed. She is living
with Uncle Jasper, down the street about three blocks from here.."
Linc said, 'you may have a tracking chip planted on you. Why not leave
your watch, cell phone and wallet locked here in your car and we will
take a ride in mine and see what happens." Lewis put the items in his
car, locked it and went with Linc back to the rental. Linc asked if
there was a noisy café around close where they could go talk and
not be heard easily. He could take him back to the motel, but they
would not be able to see anyone around them there. In a public place
was the best answer.
Lewis directed him to a café that catered to a lot of the teenage
crowd. Any other adults would stick out like a sore thumb, Linc
thought. Good place.
Lewis told Linc how they had been harassed by the police, government
officials, and some of the Chinese guards that were at the lab. They
even interrupted the funeral they had for his Dad. It seemed no one
believed them about what happened at the lab. Didn't think they were
kidnapped by Chinese thugs. Too many strange people asking questions
about things they could not understand, and too many "question" about
the process they were working on. Too many questions about any
materials or records they might have. Lewis told him that his mother
did have some back-up memory chips that she had hidden in a tampon box
that the Chinese didn't find before the cleaned out and left. Uncle
Jasper took them and put them in his safe deposit box so they can't
get to them. His mom said their place had been searched a number of
times. It was at a point where they didn't trust anyone any more. Linc
told him, he didn't know of anyone who could help right off hand, but
there must be someone who could figure out just what all the Chinese
are interested in, and why they were so insistent about it to the
extent they have followed them for so long. He told Lewis his Uncle
Axel was a lawyer and worked with the FBI once in a while. He said he
would ask his Uncle if he knew someone he could really trust with
might turn out to be a national security problem. He said he wouldn't
go into a lot of detail yet about what happened. Since his Uncle knew
nothing about it.
Linc told him he went back out where the lab was to get samples of the
ore at the mine. He told him about the other ore samples and what
happened with and about them and the professor's experiments. He would
really like to talk to his Mom about the rocks and tell her all
about them too. He handed his cell phone to Lewis and asked him to
call his Mom and tell her that the cousin he ran into back in the
woods quite some years ago, was in town visiting him and why not come
down to the café and renew old times. Lewis did, and shortly his Mom
and Uncle came in. They had ordered burgers, fries and shakes while
they waited. Jane was so excited when she saw him. She recognized him
right away. She hugged him and then introduced Uncle Jasper., who
shook his hand and declared how glad he was that Linc had saved Jane
and Lewis from the Chinese thugs. Linc was able to tell her all about
the professor and the other rocks and the tests and so forth How the
professor and his colleges were working on more tests. Jane asked him
a lot of questions about the rocks, and Linc told her he didn't know
enough about the testing, because it was still in progress. Told her
when all the testing was done, maybe she could meet the professor and
talk about it. She told him about the memory chips, and maybe they
would help the professor. Linc said he didn't know, but it was
something to think about. Lewis said, don't look now, but a shadow
just walked in. he must have tracked Jane and Uncle Jasper. Linc told
them about the tracking chips to watch for. Told them he was in a
motel. They could maybe leave anything that might have a chip like
watches, phones, keys, wallets, purses and so forth at home and take a
taxi to the café the next day just after noon. Maybe they could talk
some more. Jane said that was a good idea, and Uncle Jasper could get
the memory chips for him to take back to the professor. They got up
and left right after the shadow had placed his order. Linc took
Lewis back to his apartment house then went to a small park close to
the motel to see if he was being followed. After he sat there a while,
watching the other cars he didn't see anyone who might be following so
he went back to the motel. Since he had already eaten at the café, he
watched some tv a while before he went to bed.
To be continued.
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