Yet another entry in my piece of blog fiction...
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DARKENING
STURGEONS
Chapter Eleven
by John L. Harmon
Joe
Grossman, the tall lanky dispatcher with a shock of blond/nearly white hair,
bursts into the employee lounge, waking Sheriff Benjamin Straker from a
particularly intriguing dream. The two
men stare awkwardly at each other for a moment, adjusting their bearings.
“Well,
Joe?” Ben inquires, quickly sitting up and buttoning his shirt.
“Leslie,
uh, I mean Officer Johns reported in.
She spotted the white van at the Teeter-Totter and—”
“The
Teeter-Totter?”
Out of all
the places in all of Sturgeons, the Teeter-Totter Motel was the last place he
would’ve looked for the blond woman and Samuel Dwyer. It is a seedy little joint on the outskirts
of town and was once, according to legend, a house of ill-repute.
“And
there’s more,” Joe adds.
Having put
on his boots, Ben grabs the beige hat and picks up the yearbook. “Let’s talk as we walk, Joe.”
“Chief
Deputy Woodhouse reported for duty—”
“What time
is it?” Ben interrupts, checking his watch as they make their way through the
Sturgeons Police Headquarters. “It’s
nine o’clock, Joe! Why was I allowed to
sleep so long?”
“Everything happened in just the last ten minutes.”
Ben stops
at the enormous front counter and stares at the empty chair. He briefly wonders if he is simply feeling
confused after being startled from a hard sleep. “It’s nine in the morning and Miss Whiffle is
not at her post? She is the most punctual
person I know, aside from Officer Johns.”
Joe points
to a colorful item on the counter, “She dropped it off for you.”
“Another
day, another envelope,” Ben whispers to himself as he places the yearbook down
and picks up the pink rectangle. Tearing
it open, he slides out a folded pink note.
A dumbfounded silence fills the room as he is confronted with a second
letter of resignation. It seems that
Miss Whiffle has run off with ‘Ol Ned to elope, forever leaving Sturgeons.
The
Sheriff recalls the comforting nature Miss Miranda Whiffle displayed towards
the emotionally distraught Ned Dobson.
Perhaps they always had feelings for one another and it took the
mysterious disappearance of Bob Kinney to bring everything to the surface. The only thing Ben knows for certain is how
disturbed he feels about this new/old couple leaving Sturgeons, but there are
far more vital issues to deal with. He
stuffs the envelope and note into the yearbook.
“I’m sorry
for interrupting you, Joe. You were
saying something about Clyde.”
“Yes. Officer Woodhouse reported for duty and is
now trailing the white van.”
“I thought
you said Officer Johns located it at the Teeter-Totter.”
“Leslie
did,” Joe explains calmly, despite feeling irritated at his superior, “but she
lost track of the van when it left the motel.
Chief Deputy Woodhouse quickly picked up its trail.”
Ben gives
the tall lanky dispatcher a seriously quizzical look. “How could Leslie possibly lose track of that
van in Sturgeons?”
Joe Grossman
points a long finger from the end of one of his long arms towards the main door
of the Sturgeons Police Headquarters.
“It’s a madhouse out there, Sheriff,” he opinionates, his voice slightly
quivering.
Sheriff
Benjamin Straker curiously and cautiously walks to the solid door and reaches
for the handle. He glances back at Joe
as if to make sure this is real and he is not still sleeping on the old beat-up
brown couch. Certain of reality, as much
as he can be, Ben yanks open the door, encountering sights and sounds he has
only experienced at the cinema.
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JLH
Love the visuals in my mind! Keeps the story alive in my mind! So many corners to turn yet!!
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