Chapter 4 - Scarecrow
Amanda loved watching how excited Jamie was about his birthday party. She wished that she could rent a huge barn and let him invite all the people he wanted but money was too tight for that. She knew in the end that Jamie would be happy with a few friends, one of her special cakes and the presents that she had managed to buy for him. It never hurt anyone to dream once in a while though. She certainly did enough of that only somehow some of her dreams seemed to be coming true. As she sent the boys to the back yard to enjoy their lunch, her mother had to ruin her nice thoughts by bringing up Dean. Lately she realized more and more that a long term relationship with him wasn't ever going to work but she still hadn't figured out how to break up with him without hurting him and she definitely hadn't figured out how to tell her Mother. He really was a good man so she didn't want to hurt him any more than she had to. Her Mother seemed to love him and spent time with him even when Amanda wasn't around. It was weird having her Mother so close to a boyfriend but she had done that at first with her ex-husband too when she first met him. Her thoughts were brought back from reminiscing about her ex when her Mother told her that Dean wanted to name a hurricane after her. Who does that? Wouldn't that be something you name after your ex wife or ex girlfriend? Well if she broke up with him, then he would have more of a reason to call the next hurricane Amanda. Her Mother was really excited about it though and it was only the ringing of the telephone that saved her from further stories about why she should marry Dean.
As usual Lee forgot to say hello when Amanda answered the phone and told her that he needed her. Billy had given her the week off so that she could prepare and have Jamie's birthday party so she hadn't planned to go into the agency. She reminded Lee of this as she explained that she was making Jamie's cake. Only Lee would come up with the idea of spicing it up with a 5th of rum though she was surprised that he didn't say scotch. Then Lee explained that he had a sick friend and he needed someone to come help him. Of Course the Bedside Bluebelle side of Amanda kicked in and she couldn't say no then and agreed to come over. Her Mother had overheard her side of the conversation and asked what the problem was. Having just mentioned rum, the first thought that came through Amanda's head was a St. Bernard dog carrying rum to a sick person so she told her Mother that she had to go help a St. Bernard that had a hangover. Amanda was putting the cake batter in the fridge and didn't see the exasperated look that her Mother gave her.
Amanda drove quickly to Lee's apartment wondering about this person that Lee was worried about. He didn't seem to have a lot of friends so she couldn't help but be curious about Melvin. Imagine her surprise when Melvin turned out to be a fish. He didn't just have Melvin though; he had a whole tank of fish. She had remembered them when she was there taking care of Alexi but he had never called any of them by name before. Poor Melvin did appear to be a little green around the gills and was swimming funny. The other fish which were mostly gold fish totally ignored him. Melvin's usually bright blue fins looked a little ragged for a Siamese fighting fish. Amanda realized right away that she had been suckered into taking care of Lee's fish while he went off gallivanting to Bermuda. He even called her his partner though she knew he would deny it later if she called herself his partner. In the end, she agreed to take care of his fish just like he knew she would. She really needed to learn how to say no. She couldn't help but wonder if there was an agency training course for that.
As Lee left the apartment and headed for the airport, Amanda decided to open the window to try to air out some of the smell. She couldn't help but take a deep breath of fresh air and look out at the street below. She definitely preferred her quaint little house in the suburbs to being in an apartment that didn't even have a yard. She realized that she was procrastinating though and decided to start tackling his apartment. She had just cleaned it a month ago so the man had destroyed it with little consideration in such a short period of time. As she was piling his dirty clothes up to be washed, she came across a set of "Lee" and "She" robes. The more she learned about this man, the more he amazed her. What kind of man made up a "she" robe for his guests? They were at least matching robes she thought as she rolled her eyes. She was still thinking about that when the phone rang. It was natural for her to answer a ringing phone but of course it wasn't her job to answer Lee's phone. Worse yet, why did she acknowledge that she was Scarecrow? Oh, whatever. His friend just hung up when he realized it wasn't him; talk about rude. She sat down on the couch to begin emptying his gym bag when she noticed the doorknob moving. A few seconds later two men burst in with guns pointing at her.
"Well little lady, it's nice to meet you. Now we are going to walk quietly downstairs all together and go on a nice little ride. We suggest you cooperate and don't call any attention to yourself if you want to live another day. Got it?" The man named Jamison said. Amanda nodded in understanding. When they reached their van, Jamison opened the side door and Amanda saw that there was a crate inside that said Antiques on the side. Jamison took the top off while his partner Delong kept a gun trained on Amanda. "Get in" Delong said to her.
"You want me to get into the crate?"
"Yes, now." he motioned with his gun. Amanda had no choice but to obey. Who were these men and why were they taking her? As she laid in the crate while they took her to some unknown place, Amanda King began to get angry. Now Amanda didn't get angry very often but this day was not working out the way she had planned. First Lee interrupted her making Jamie's cake and now these two men had kidnapped her and she had no idea why. Someone needed to hear a piece of her mind. In fact she was so mad that she forgot to be scared. Where were they taking her? She hoped they got there soon; she still had a cake to bake.
TBC
