Previously:
Willie Shadbush for once got it right and managed to get the Moosehead City “townie” boys to set fire to a town historic landmark: the 1850’s era log cabin near the Moosehead River. They left behind some Indian artifacts…and the Sheriff wrongly concluded who was responsible…
And so it begins…
Chapter XII—Bad Guys on the Rise—Episode 7:
Sgt. Cloud smiled at the reflection in the squad’s mirror of a very disgruntled Bill Shadbush in the back as he headed for the marshal’s office and jail. If there was anything Shadbush hated mote than Indians, it would be women in a position of power. “Marshal Blackmon will be very pleased to see you Mr. Shadbush.”
Shadbush just glared back and wisely didn’t speak. They soon arrived at the jail where Marshal Blackmon greeted the sullen Shadbush with a very wide smile; a smile of anticipation. Sgt. Cloud removed the the one-click-too-tight handcuffs and gave Shadbush a light shove towards the cell door. “He’s all yours Marshal.”
“I didn’t do nuthin’ wrong…” Shadbush began but never finished as the marshal unceremoniously propelled him into the cell.
“I didn't do nuthin' wrong...”
“Keep still, we’ll have plenty of time to chat,” she said, “Thanks Doug, I’ll take very good care of him.”
“I’m sure you will, Susie, I’m headed back to the Rez—my shift is about over.”
Douglas Cloud would soon learn that things on the Rez were beginning to get…shall we say…interesting.
“All available units please respond code 3 to County Road 27, three miles east of 61,” Lt. Silverthorn’s voice crackled over Cloud’s radio, “We have the Sheriff followed by a whole lot of townspeople driving towards the Rez and this can’t be good. All units respond code 3!”
“Ell-Tee, this is Doug, what’s going on?”
“Peltier’s here now, Doug. I radioed the Sheriff and he told me to get out of his way—he’s coming to arrest some of our kids, with a posse!”
“We got the road blocked...”
“Oh good grief! I’m flyin’.”
“We got the road blocked, Sheriff’s not gonna like that—I’ll let him pass, but not the vigilantes. They’re pulling up now!”
Silverthorn led Tecumseh on to the road just as Officer Peltier pulled up beside. The Sheriff and his entourage were forced to stop.
To be Continued…
Comments Always Welcomed & Encouraged!
Previously:
“Lunch?” Larry was becoming just a little concerned with the direction this conversation was going.
“Relax,” Ringo replied, “We generally don’t eat near-sentient creatures, and birds simply have a too little meat to feathers ratio to bother with—you are quite safe.”
“Near sentient? I’ll have you know…”
“Stop with the bluster & bravado already! We can help each other, I think.”
“We can?”
Chapter XII—Bad Guys on the Rise—Episode 6:
“Yes, I believe so,” Ringo replied, “But you must submit to a little wolven mind ceremony—it is not painful—and after you will have the navigational skills you will need.”
“As long as it doesn’t involve being the main course…”
“We’ve covered that already. No offense, but you’d not make it to the snack-level of wolf food.”
“As long as it doesn't involve being the main course...”
And so FlutterMatters more or less willingly subjected himself to the ceremony; a ceremony so secret that Ringo would not allow me to observe, Gentle Reader, and I can’t report on what exactly was involved.
It was over in an eye-blink. Bill Shadbush threw a punch at Sergeant Cloud and Cloud deflected the punch and slapped handcuffs on him; before he could even squawk he found himself in the back of Cloud’s squad and on his way to the Marshal’s jail.
“...on his way to the Marshal's jail.”
Unfortunately, things had already been put in motion in spite of the best efforts of the good people of Danger Bay and the Eagle Point Reservation; the county sheriff who policed Moosehead City was not so well-prepared and serious trouble was about to descend quickly.
Willie Shadbush for once got it right and managed to get the Moosehead City “townie” boys to set fire to a town historic landmark: the 1850’s era log cabin near the Moosehead River. They left behind some Indian artifacts…and the Sheriff wrongly concluded who was responsible…
And so it begins…
To be Continued…
Comments Always Welcomed & Encouraged!
Previously (From last Friday):
Daisy woke with a start and bayed, “Alpha-Jack! Climb-climb-climb!”
From long experience Boomer knew not to question the hound and slammed the throttle to the stop and pulled back on the stick. The little L16 responded and went into a steep climb.
From out of nowhere a dark shape flashed by behind the struggling little airplane.
There simply wasn’t enough airspeed and she soon stalled..
Chapter XII-B—Big Mac’s Adventure—Episode 3:
Mac quickly dropped his camera and grabbed the controls, while Boomer (gratefully) surrendered control of the airplane. Mac put the plane into a dive to regain enough speed to remain in flight.
“The hell was that?”
“Dunno, Mac—but he’s circling around for another pass!”
The blue jet passed by precisely where the L16 would have been...
The blue jet passed by precisely where the L16 would have been save for Mac’s quick action. Oddly there were what appeared to be bird feathers in it’s wake—or so Daisy would have us believe—she was the only one who saw them.
All three scanned the sky in all directions; the jet was gone without a trace. They would not see it again, nor would anyone else. Ever.
“Very strange.”
“Yes,” Boomer replied, “It made no sound as it passed us.”
Mac was silent for a moment, “And no turbulence in its wake. An airplane always leave turbulence, and a fast-mover like that one would leave a lot of turbulence. Strange.”
“It wasn’t really there, I could see right through it,” Daisy arfed.
“It wasn't really there, I could see right through it,”
Mac and Boomer accepted Daisy’s assertion without argument; there would be no sense in that; as in such matters Daisy was seldom wrong.
They continued their flight down along the North Shore, Mac taking photos, Daisy sleeping and Boomer flying until Mac saw their first stop.
“There it is! I'll take the controls, time for a lakeside rest.”
“There it is! I’ll take the controls, time for a lakeside rest.”
“You have the controls, Mac,” Boomer replied, “A-HA! I just knew you’d be stopping here, good choice.”
“I’ve always loved this place, haven’t stopped here in years.”
“Just so I can get out and snoop…and…well…” Daisy now awake barked sleepily, “I really need to…”
To be Continued…Next Friday (or sooner)
Comments Always Welcomed & Encouraged!
Previously:
“We can’t trust Willie, Bill, I suggest you Bernhaven and Smith better try and stir things up at the Roadhouse,” Millie said. It really wasn’t a suggestion and it might just as well been said by Big A—of that Shadbush was certain.
“I’ll get the boys together an’ we’ll see what we can stir up.”
The conversation stopped as the sound of tires crunching on the gravel signaled a visitor’s arrival. Millie looked out the window and saw the Reservation police cruiser pull up outside…
“Oh crap! Its that damn Sergeant Cloud!”
Chapter XII—Bad Guys on the Rise—Episode 5:
Sergeant Douglas Cloud stepped down out of his squad, his cowboy boots crunching on the gravel as he walked to the door of Simpson’s—great early warning system—gravel, tires and cowboy boots. Through the door he heard nothing; all conversation had stopped. He noticed a small, white dog peeking around the corner of the building:
“Thanks for the tip, Buttons,” he said in a voice so low only Buttons could hear with her keen canine hearing. Her tail wagged in response. Cloud entered Simpson’s office.
Cloud entered Simpson's office.
“I’m sorry to interrupt your conversation, Mr. Simpson, but I need to have a word with Mr. Shadbush,” Cloud said as he closed the door, “Mr. Shadbush, would step outside with me please?”
“I ain’t goin’ nowhere with the likes o’you, rezcop; you ain’t got no authority here.”
“That wasn’t a request, Mr. Shadbush…”
We’ll leave Simpson’s office to your imagination for a bit…
“Lunch?” Larry was becoming just a little concerned with the direction this conversation was going.
"Lunch?"
“Relax,” Ringo replied, “We generally don’t eat near-sentient creatures, and birds simply have a too little meat to feathers ratio to bother with—you are quite safe.”
“Near sentient? I’ll have you know…”
“Stop with the bluster & bravado already! We can help each other, I think.”
“We can?”
To be Continued…
Comments Always Welcomed & Encouraged!
Previously:
As Larry FlutterMatters spiraled down out of control he passed into where the climate was controlled, and his wings began to de-ice—just on time for him to get enough flutter back to semi-crash land in the deep forest. Luckily, the only thing injured was his pride. Just as he remembered the handy GPS and was about to engage it to find his way back home—he realized he was NOT alone…
Chapter XII—Bad Guys on the Rise—Episode 5:
Larry had the distinct feeling that he was being watched, but he did not feel fear as he was too busy concocting a story to explain his rather unorthodox and just a bit clumsy landing. “Hello little bird,” a deep wolvish voice said, “Nice landing.”
Larry had the distinct feeling that he was being watched
“Ohhhh boy,” thought Larry, and then out loud he replied, “Why thank you sir, any landing you can walk away from is a good landing.”
“We are pleased that you appear to be unhurt.”
“I hope to remain so…You’ve had breakfast I trust?”
“We have, but it is nigh on to lunch time…”
That the “reoriented” Peter “Ace” Schwarzkopf was just across the bay at Silverthorn’s Cafe was unbeknownst by Millie, Big A and Bill Shadbush as they continued to plot trouble for the township. Trouble in the form of increasing tensions between the people of the Eagle Point Band of Ojibwa and the people of the Port of Danger Bay and Moosehead City.
“We can’t trust Willie, Bill, I suggest you Bernhaven and Smith better try and stir things up at the Roadhouse,” Millie said. It really wasn’t a suggestion and it might just as well been said by Big A—of that Shadbush was certain.
“I’ll get the boys together an’ we’ll see what we can stir up.”
“I'll get the boys together an' we'll see what we can stir up.”
The conversation stopped as the sound of tires crunching on the gravel signaled a visitor’s arrival. Millie looked out the window and saw the Reservation police cruiser pull up outside…
“Oh crap! Its that damn Sergeant Cloud!”
To be Continued…
Comments Always Welcomed & Encouraged!
Me & Lumpy
I spent much of Saturday repairing broken links on this blog; requiring me to revisit all the Season II Port of Danger Bay, Minnesota episodes written from July 2008 until March 2009; some sixty-four posts/episodes. It was menial-mental-ditch-digging at its worst (I have yet to do the same for Season III [sigh] as they are broken as well. I won’t tell why they are broken—it’s far too embarrassing). UPDATE: Completed repairing 67 post-links for Season III. YESSSS!
I discovered something along the way that I had not expected; the amazing number of Real World people who stopped by to comment; often interacting with one another with their comments. People who very-kindly allowed themselves to be made into caricatures and become part of the story as characters. People who no longer visit Danger Bay; viewing those old comments brought on an involuntary nostalgia for those days—sigh.
I am not comfortable using those characters in the current storyline; it just seems wrong to put words and actions to characters no longer around to comment, so although their respective businesses will remain on Silverthorn Avenue, they will be otherwise occupied and not seen.
The title above is rhetorical—I know the answer; folks move on to other things; I’ve done that myself. It is, however, my opportunity to thank them for their collective good humor in allowing themselves to be a part of this blog.
Thank you Maggie Dokic, Lysa Napolitano, Bill Lublin, Dale Chumbley, Bob Carney, Jeff Turner & Ines Hegedus-Garcia—You rock!
By SgtMajCarl
Previously [from Friday the 22nd]:
Boomer helped Daisy into her place behind the rear seat, while Mac removed the line to the mooring. The airplane began to drift away from the mooring. Mac engaged the starter and the engine sputtered to life and soon settled into a smooth idle. Mac maneuvered the airplane to the middle of the bay, facing into the wind, and then brought the engine to full throttle.
"Mac...then brought the engine to full throttle..."
After a relatively short run across the water, the little airplane was in the air and the adventure was on.
Chapter XII-B—Big Mac’s Adventure—Episode 2:
The Port of Danger Bay, Minnesota exists in its entirety only in cyberspace and that being so the Cyber Aviation Administration (CAA) has programmed all air travel into the computer preventing accidental mid-air collisions. The computer also performs all cyber-air traffic control functions (the late President Reagan would have loved this—no union to bust) including all land-based take-offs and landings.
By making a few keystrokes on the on-board computer, a pilot could program an entire flight—and then sleep through it—something Big Mac totally disdains, much preferring to actually fly the airplane.
They followed the coastline of the North Shore down towards Duluth, their ultimate destination. The day was calm & beautiful with a deep blue sky punctuated with white fluffy clouds and the big lake below sparkled. Big Mac thinking the day deserved recording fished his DSLR camera out of his flight bag.
A beautiful day to Fly
“You want to fly this beast Boomer?”
“I’m a little rusty with my mad flying skilz,” Boomer replied, “It’s been almost forty years…”
“Like riding a bike—you never forget.”
“You people-dogs REALLY want me to barf,” Daisy arfed, apprehension in her voice.
“You have no choice,” Mac rumbled as her turned to take a photo off to port.
“Yikes!” Daisy bayed.
With a very wide smile, Boomer took the controls. After making a couple of lazy s-turns and working the throttle a bit he got back his wings. Daisy did not get airsick and soon settled in to a beagle-nap.
Mac got some great shots of big lake-boats making their way outbound for Michigan and inbound to the Twin Ports of Duluth-Superior. Mac saw a freighter ship inbound and asked Boomer to circle the ship a couple of times as she was rich with rust and weathering—perfect for a little HDR photo-processing.
Daisy woke with a start and bayed, “Alpha-Jack! Cimb-climb-climb!”
From long experience Boomer knew not to question the hound and slammed the throttle to the stop and pulled back on the stick. The little L16 responded and went into a steep climb.
From out of nowhere a dark shape flashed by behind the struggling little airplane.
, “Alpha-Jack! Cimb-climb-climb!”
There simply wasn’t enough airspeed and she soon stalled..
To be Continued…next Friday…
Comments Always Welcomed & Encouraged!
Previously:
Big A, Millie and old Bill Shadbush were meeting in Simpson’s office—the topic was young Willie Shadbush and his abject failure to incite a fight between the townies and the kids from the Reservation.
“What happened?” Biggass raged, “He was supposed get the Rez-boys and the village boys to fight! How hard can that be?”
“Pretty hard for a Shadbush, I think,” Millie added, “It seems the Shadbush family is genetically blessed with dumb.”
“Now wait a minute, Millie,” Bill began…
Chapter XII—Bad Guys on the Rise—Episode 4:
“Just shut up and listen!” Simpson shouted his face a cherry red with anger, “The boy gets one more chance…”
“Just shut up and listen!” Simpson shouted
“…to get it right,” Millie interrupted, “Or we’ll make sure his and your life is more miserable than you can imagine. Got it?”
“Now just a damn minute!” Shadbush returned fire—fists clenched and shaking, “You’d better back down ‘fore I toss both yer sorry butts through them windas!” For a man in his later seventies, he was quite capable of doing just that. Simpson and Millie were both at heart cowards and very quickly backed down (I, for one, Gentle Reader, wish they hadn’t).
“Sorry Bill, but we really needed to get something started.”
“I know, the boy’s dumb as a stump, but he’s goin’ t’Moosehead City, them white boys there don’t much like Injuns—he can’t help but ta gettem riled.”
Peter Schwarzkopf ordered breakfast to go with the coffee he was already enjoying and looked up to see Trigg Guudlender strolling in, whistling. Guudlender was pretty good at it too—his rendition of “The Impossible Dream” from Man of La Mancha was quite good, hitting even the high notes. Peter clapped as the widely-smiling Isaac Barrington “Trigg” Guudlender sat down beside him. Kiwi joined the applause. She was always glad to see the amiable Trigg, his irrepressible good mood always brightened her day. “Good morning, Trigg, the usual.”
“Good morning, Trigg, the usual.”
“Yes ma’am, and in the usual manner.”
“Coming right up.”
“They call me Trigg,” Guudlender said turning to the young man next to him, “and who might you be young fellow?”
“Call me Pete,” Schwarzkopf smiled, “Peter Schwarzkopf, at your service.”
As Larry FlutterMatters spiraled down out of control he passed into where the climate was controlled, and his wings began to de-ice—just on time for him to get enough flutter back to semi-crash land in the deep forest. Luckily, the only thing injured was his pride. Just as he remembered the handy GPS and was about to engage it to find his way back home—he realized he was NOT alone…
Fluttermatters crash lands in the Deep Forest
To be Continued…on Monday…
Comments Always Welcomed & Encouraged!
Previously:
And so he did. Larry successfully flew to the South Pier and back without getting lost. He thought it would be a better test to fly over the forest and back. He did fly out over the forest—but back?
At first there were no problems, Larry was really enjoying this! He spoke to a passing seagull for a minute or two chatting about local avian-happenings and then—he totally forgot about the GPS—and was, yet again—lost!
Chapter XII—Bad Guys on the Rise—Episode 3:
Larry flew higher—and higher
In an effort to get his bearings, Larry flew higher—and higher—and still higher, well above the computer climate controlled space above the forest. Soon his goggles frosted and his wings iced up—he was no longer able to maintain flight and began a long spiral down towards the ground…we’ll get back to poor Larry later—maybe…
Meanwhile at Silverthorn’s Café, a familiar face arrived. Peter “Ace” Schwarzkopf had none of the swagger those who recognized him would have expected as he quietly walked up to the counter. Kiwidinok Silverthorn smiled as he approached: “Good morning, Ace, What may I get you?”
“Good morning, Ace, What may I get you?”
“Pete, please,” Schwarzkopf replied, “The guy once known as ‘Ace’ no longer exists. May I have a mug of coffee, please?”
“Sure Pete, coming right up,” she said. She couldn’t help but wonder at this apparent transformation—but she liked it—so far. Ace Schwarzkopf had been a rather shallow, boisterous braggart; when not under the thumb of his brother (now spending life in federal prison for the murder of Sig Hanssen) Hans.
“You’ve been away?”
“I was in Canada, getting my head straight. I never quite realized what a dumbass I’d been, until Hans tried to have me killed—my own brother! I had a lot of thinking to do.”
“Welcome home, Pete.” Kiwi said. No one ever accused Kiwidinok Silverthorn of being naïve, and she certainly wasn’t now. “Has this guy really changed? Time will tell,” she thought as she poured his coffee.
Big A, Millie and old Bill Shadbush were meeting in Simpson’s office—the topic was young Willie Shadbush and his abject failure to incite a fight between the townies and the kids from the Reservation.
“What happened?”
“What happened?” Biggass raged, “He was supposed get the Rez-boys and the village boys to fight! How hard can that be?”
“Pretty hard for a Shadbush, I think,” Millie added, “It seems the Shadbush family is genetically blessed with dumb.”
“Now wait a minute, Millie,” Bill began…
To be Continued…
Comments Always Welcomed & Encouraged!
[Author’s note: These stories will run concurrently with the regular Port of Danger Bay storyline and will be published only on Friday.]
Previously (from Monday):
The three of them climbed down to the lower dock where Mac had a motorized inflatable boat—another new toy—and then motored out to the airplane.
“You made a place for me!” Daisy bayed happily, “Does this mean I get to go on another adventure too?”
“It does, my little friend,” Carl said with a rumbling laugh, “You and I make a good team.”
“Hey!” Boomer said, “What about me?”
“Eye candy.”
“Eye candy?” Boomer replied, “You REALLY need to get new glasses!”
“No I don’t—I lied.”
Chapter XII-B—Big Mac’s Adventure—Episode 1:
About the same time as Larry Fluttermatters was busy getting lost, Big Mac was going through the pre-flight check of the airplane beginning with the interior, magnetos off, navigation lights on, and then back into the boat (it is a little difficult to walk around a float-plane in the water-you understand) for an exterior check of the control surfaces, ailerons, elevators, rudder, navigational lights, engine oil level, loose wires and air intakes.
At the Mooring
They secured the raft to the mooring and the three climbed out on to the starboard pontoon and paused a few minutes before climbing into the small airplane.
“So this little thing is our vehicle for adventure?” Boomer cracked as he looked over the old Aeronca, “Just about the smallest vehicle we’ve ever used for such a quest.”
“I think I might get sea-sick riding in the far-back of this thing,” Daisy added.
“It’s called ‘airsick’ Daisy,” Mac rumbled, “And if you do get sick, you’ll clean up after yourself.”
“I’m a dog-person, not a cat, Peopledog-Mac, that’s not a problem!”
“This thing does have back seat controls, right?”
“You know it does, Boomer. You told me you have tons of hours of flight in an L16.”
“Not exactly ‘tons,’ Mac, about thirty hours and maybe ten actually flying the plane, with adult supervision, you understand.”
“So what exactly is your problem?”
“You had to ask, Mac. The wingnut who will be occupying the front seat!”
“Get in the plane,” Mac growled, “or grab a strut, we’re leaving!”
Boomer helped Daisy into her place behind the rear seat, while Mac removed the line to the mooring. The airplane began to drift away from the mooring. Mac engaged the starter and the engine sputtered to life and soon settled into a smooth idle. Mac maneuvered the airplane to the middle of the bay, facing into the wind, and then brought the engine to full throttle.
"Mac...brought the engine to full throttle."
After a relatively short run across the water, the little airplane was in the air and the adventure was on.
To be Continued…next Friday!
