A Pleasant Story

Chapter Twenty-Four

Dustin's Folly



The Spitzig and Broke families came home from the memorial. Dustin put his Mom's flowers near his bed so he could look at them often. Carla and Kaylie got the kids to sleep and fell exhausted into their own bed.






In the night, Carla awoke to a strange compulsion. She had to hold Tom!






Then she felt she needed to help Tom with his birthday. She lifted him and tossed him into the air, where he turned into a handsome toddler.

"Happy Birthday little man!" she said to him.







Carla turned to the changing table to dress Tom in some regular clothes, and noticed that Kaylie was gone from the bed.







She moved quietly into the kitchen, stepping lightly past Dustin's bed so as not to wake him.








She found Kaylie in the kitchen fiddling with the cow. An assortment of mechanical tools was on the table next to her.






"Hey," Carla said softly, "Look what I've got."

Kaylie set the cow down and admired Tom as a toddler.






Carla continued, "What were you doing with that?" and gestured toward the cow.

Kaylie shook her head and put her finger to her lips. She gestured for Carla to put Tom down and then said in a very deliberate voice, “I. Am. Having. Trouble. Sleeping. Would. You. Like. To. Go. Outside. And. Look. At. The. Stars?”






Carla said, “Sure?” and found a quiet logic toy that wouldn't wake Dustin and set it down for Tom to play with, then followed Kaylie to the front walk.






"What's going on?" Carla asked.

Kaylie leaned in close to Carla's ear and began whispering an explanation. "I took the cow apart and found what I think might be a microphone and a transmitter. It looks like it could be a bug. If it is, it can transmit any sound to the source receiver. Somebody might be listening to houses all over Pleasantview."










Carla turned to her in surprise. "Are you kidding? Do you think it can hear us out here?"

Kaylie shrugged. "I'm not sure. And listen, at first I was going to destroy it, but then I thought we might be able to use it to figure out who is using it. We might be able to trace the signal to the source, but I have no idea how we’d even start to do something like that."

Carla agreed, "That's a good idea. I can alert the rest of the police to be on the lookout."

Kaylie said hesitantly, "You might want to be careful who you tell. Even Carl might not be safe." Kaylie told her what she had observed of Carl's odd behavior and that she'd taken a cow from the jail.







Carla asked, "Do you think the cow could be some kind of mind-control device? It would explain why Carl has been acting strange. I've noticed it too--it's almost like he's playing the role of a cop in a movie. A BAD movie."

Kaylie shook her head. "I don’t know. I don’t know enough about it. But maybe he was drugged or something. Do you think we can get him to give a blood sample?"

"Maybe," Carla replied. "But in the meantime, we need to figure out what this thing is exactly. I actually have a friend I went to the police academy with. He knew everything about electronics. He lives in Desiderate Valley, so I’ll call him tomorrow. And we need to watch what we say around that thing."

Kaylie nodded.






With that they went back into the house, to find Dustin playing with Tom.

"He's really smart!" Dustin said. "He figured out how to match the shapes right away!"

"Maybe he'll be an oceanographer, like his big brother," Kaylie said as she smiled at him. "Your first day is tomorrow, right?"

Dustin confirmed this. He felt kind of bad about being happy about something so soon after his Mom's death, but he really was looking forward to learning about the sea and maybe working with animals. His first day was just going to be chumming fish, but he hoped he'd be able to work hard and get a promotion soon.







The next morning, Carla went out into the yard to phone her friend where the cow couldn’t hear.

When he answered she said, “John? This is Carla Copper, from the Academy.”



John Mole replied, “Carla! It’s great to hear from you! It’s been so long! How are you?”






“I’m great, but things are a bit complicated. You know I got married, right?”


John replied, “Yeah, I got the invitation. I really wanted to come but then the neighborhood got invaded by paintings of grilled cheese popping up everywhere and they hired me to investigate. Turns out it was just this one obsessed artist, but it was hectic for a while. How’s Kaylie?”

Carla explained, “She’s good too, and we adopted a son, but our neighbor was murdered and we ended up adopting her three sons as well.”






“Wow,” John said, “That’s a full house!”


“We’re moving tomorrow to a bigger one, and I hope you’ll come visit sometimes,” Carla said, “But I actually called about something for you to check out.”


Carla explained to John about the cows, the strange fake gardener, Brandi’s murder and the missing necklace, and everything else that had been going on.

John listened attentively, then said, “So, you think the cow might be some sort of electronic device?”






Carla affirmed this, and John replied, “Okay, here’s what I want you to do. Go inside and say to Kaylie, next to the cow, that you are excited about moving and mention the address where you are going. Then say something about packing everything up. Then wrap up the cow and overnight it to me so I can figure out what it is.”

Carla thanked him for his help and told him she’d get right on it.





“Hey, it was great to hear from you, Carla, even under these circumstances. I hope we’ll be able to see each other soon and I’ll look forward to meeting all your family. I’ll call you as soon as I know what’s up with the cow.”








Carla went inside to make breakfast for the boys and Kaylie came up to watch. Carla gave her a wink, then finished assembling the cereal.





“So, Kaylie, I am really excited about moving tomorrow,” she said. “It will really be great to move to 170 Sim Lane, right across from the Goth home. And we should pack everything up now. I want to wrap anything breakable carefully.”




Kaylie raised her eyebrow at Carla’s dramatic manner, but nodded and replied, “Oh yes, I will help you pack.”

Carla said, “I am going to start in the kitchen,” and gestured toward the cow, and Kaylie nodded. “Will you give the boys their breakfast?”










Beau was pleased that evening to receive an invitation to Tina Traveler's birthday party. Nathan Gavigan let him in and he met the rest of the Gavigan family, who shared the house with the Travelers. They had a son named Isaiah.






Isaiah invited Beau to HIS birthday party the following day. "It will be fun to have some already teenage friends at my party," Isaiah said.





He was especially pleased to find his Auntie Dina there, who was also a friend of the Traveler family. She asked about his brothers and Carla and Kaylie, and he told her they’d be moving across the street from Mortimer’s.






Mary Gavigan told Beau how happy she was to meet him and that she hoped he’d come by anytime.







Tina hollered to gather everyone around the cake, “Hey! It’s time! Circle up!”






The guests blew their noisemakers and cheered.






Tina twirled into her teenaged self and announced, "I'm all about popularity and I love sports, and someday I'm going to be a Hall of Famer!"

Beau responded delightedly, "I'm all about popularity too! But I want to be a rock star!"







Sanjay Ramaswami, who also lived there, pulled Beau aside and said, "I'm working toward being a rock star, too! If you need any advice, let me know!"

Beau thanked him, and Sanjay recommended he get a job in the music career as soon as possible. "It's never too early to start," he advised Beau.





Everyone sat down to have cake and Beau sat next to Tina. Beau was having a really good time at the party. Although he really missed his Mom, it was kind of a relief to not focus on missing her for a little while.








Beau spoke a bit more with the rest of the guests and then he noticed Tina. He NOTICED her.

"Wow," he whispered to himself. "She sure makes me see lightning bolts!"







When it was time to go, Beau gave Tina a hug of congratulations and she said, “I hope to see you again soon.” He smiled and said, “Yeah, tomorrow, for Isaiah’s party!”








The next day, the Spitzig and Broke families stood together in front of their new house and admired how welcoming it seemed. Even Dustin had to admit that it looked like a happy place to live.






Dustin helped set up their furniture and insisted on having Tom's crib with him in his room. He held him and said, “This is our Mom. I’m sorry you didn’t get to know her, but I will tell you all about her.”





Anthony said shyly to Beau, “So now that you are big I guess you don’t want to have a space room anymore.”

Beau laughed, “Are you kidding buddy? You are never too old for a SPACE room!” and they ran inside to set up their things.




After the older boys went off to school, Carla and Kaylie settled Tom for a nap and wandered around to look at the rest of the house and make plans. In the bedroom, Carla noticed that Kaylie had already hung up some portraits and laughed as she hugged her.

“This is going to be okay, isn’t it?” Carla said.

Kaylie nodded and said, “even if we don’t have a lot of extra money for good furniture and stuff. The boys really seem to like it, and we’re both due for promotions soon, so it should be just fine.”





Carla went to look at the bathroom saying, “And it’s awesome to have three bathrooms even if we can’t afford fixtures for . . .” She stopped suddenly, then continued haltingly, “for this bathroom yet. We can afford them pretty soon, I guess.”





Carla gestured frantically for Kaylie to come into the bathroom and pointed toward the cow. The new cow. The cow that hadn’t been there when they’d first toured the house.

Kaylie chattered about getting unpacked and they giggled nervously, trying to keep talking while saying nothing that might tip off the cow.






They went onto the back porch and Carla said, “I think this is why John wanted us to say the address we were moving to out loud—to see if they’d stash a cow here!”


Their conversation was interrupted by the doorbell and Kaylie welcomed their first guest, Tom's father.






She showed him around and then invited him to sit down.

"We don’t have much furniture yet and we want you to know that we didn't use any of the simoleons you gave to Brandi to purchase the house, Jace," Carla told him. "We know that was meant for Tom."

Jace said, "I don't mind. You want to use it to make a nice place for all the boys, that's okay. It makes me so mad somebody would kill their Mom. That was mean. You use the simoleons however you want. You could buy hats if you want. I like hats."






Kaylie thanked him, then said, "Tom has had a birthday. Would you like to see him?"

Jace said "Sure!" and Carla went to get him up from his nap.

Kaylie pointed to show Jace where Tom was toddling over. Dustin had spent time teaching him to walk the day before.





"Aww, he's cute!" Jace exclaimed, and kneeled down to make faces at him.




Kaylie said, "He's probably hungry--you can give him his bottle if you want."


"Oh boy!" Jace said. Tom seemed eager to accept the bottle Jace held out to him.





Jace then pulled a big play table from his inventory. "I brought this for him. And it's cool because he can use it when he's a child, too."






Kaylie said, "It was so nice of you to bring that! And it is such a relief that you don’t mind about the Simoleons. I'm glad we'll be able to use them for Beau and Dustin, too."

Carla agreed. "And we could get some nice furniture for the living room--sturdy stuff the boys can jump on."

Jace agreed and gave Tom a goodbye hug and left.






After school, instead of going home right away, Dustin headed for the strange house on the edge of town. He hadn't told anyone that he still had a delivery he needed to take to the Abbadons. The police hadn't found the package when he'd been arrested. He wanted to drop it off and never have to deal with them again, and was afraid to just keep it, and he was afraid to admit it to the police. It was a long walk to the edge of town where the house was, and the sun was setting as he approached the creepy place.






Just as Don had experienced, Dustin received no answer to his knock on the door, so he walked around toward the back of the house to see if there was another door. When he'd been here before, Samael Abbadon had answered right away and then paid him for the package. He didn't know why there was no answer this time.




He went to make his way to the back of the house to try another door and was stopped in his tracks by a lightning bolt setting some of the shrubbery on fire!





When the fire went out he approached the back of the house and noticed a cow on the porch, just like the one his Mom had had.

"Why would these rich people have a cheap cow like this?" he wondered.




When no one answered the back door either, Dustin walked into the back yard to look at the strange statue in the center of the pond.





"That's really funky," he thought. "Weird taste these people have."






As Dustin continued around the house, he was met with a surprise.





He backed up to try and move away from them but they followed, and seemed unhappy he was there.





Dustin finally broke away from the dogs and ran as fast as he could from the house, taking the package with him.





They gave up the chase as he crossed the property boundary.






As he was running, his cell phone rang and he answered. A woman said, "We want the package." Dustin tried to explain what had happened, but she cut him off. "No excuses," she said. "Meet me behind the mall at 9 tonight."






Dustin went behind the mall at the appointed time, and was surprised when he was suddenly face to face with a very pale woman with icy eyes and dark lips. He hadn't heard her walking up.






"My package?" she said to him in a thin, dull voice.

"Oh yeah," he said. "Here it is." As he handed her the package, his hand touched hers and a shiver went up his spine. Her skin was very cold.








"I'm glad you brought this willingly," she said. "We don't like having to come find our things."

Dustin just nodded. He was very glad he wasn't going to work for them anymore! She was so creepy!






"If we'd had to come find you, there might have been another accident," she went on.

Dustin looked at her in shock. Was she saying what he thought she was saying? Did the Abbadons kill his Mom?

He was about to say something, but she was gone, as silently as she'd come.






When Dustin got home, he looked at the paintings of his Mom.

"I'm so sorry, Mom. But I'm going to find out who did this to you and make them pay! And I know just where to start!"





The next morning, Dustin told Kaylie and Carla he was going to walk to school, but instead he bought some exploring clothes and headed for the beach with the old pirate ship where he'd picked up his first package to deliver. He thought he might find some clues about what was going on with the Abbadons.





He noticed figures moving around on the beach, so he lurked behind the trees and watched. People in diving suits would go in and out of the water, bringing things with them, but then burying them or putting them in their inventories. He couldn't see where they were getting the things, and decided to try and climb up on the ship and observe from there.




He waited until the figures were all in the water, then ran up the ship's stairway and began to look around. He noticed a cabin on the deck and explored it, but an angry ghost chased him out.





He thought the crow's nest might be a good place to observe the activity, so he started to climb.






Once at the top, he looked over the edge to watch the people. They seemed to have finished with their loot and were simply standing and talking.






When he peered out toward the sea, he got a shock. From his high vantage point, he could look deep into the water and see a submarine submerged just offshore. That must be how they were transporting the loot!







"I want to know where that submarine is going!" he said to himself.

Dustin then made the most reckless decision of his life. He climbed off the crow's nest and eased out onto the gangplank, above the submarine. He'd seen Kentucky Smith do this in a movie. He held his breath and jumped.







Carla and Kaylie were out of their minds with worry. Dustin hadn't come home from school and when they checked, they discovered he hadn't gone to school at all.

Suddenly, the phone rang.

Carla snatched it up and said anxiously, "Hello? Dustin?"

His voice sounded tinny and far away as he said "I'm okay, don't worry. I'm on an island. I'm going to find out who killed my . . . "

The line suddenly went dead.