Oliver and Paula had arrived at Todd's home, a small inconspicuous house just outside the sprawling metropolis of St. Canard. Oliver stepped up to the door and knocked on it.
He continued to knock for several minutes, but there was no response.
"What now?" asked Paula.
"We should go inside," Oliver said, taking a key from his pocket. "He's a pretty sound sleeper, and when he's got his head inside his shell, he can't always hear."
"OK."
He unlocks the door and the two of them step inside. The house was a mess. There were dirty dishes, dirty clothing, and discarded food containers everywhere. A foul smell lingered in the air. "We should really help him clean this place up," Paula said.
"Todd?" Oliver called. He then moved toward the bedroom. The door was open and the turtle was nowhere to be found. "Where can he be?"
"I really hope nothing's happened to him," Paula said worriedly.
"Perhaps he went to work," said Oliver.
"You could be right."
The two swans made their way out of Todd's house and Oliver locked the door before they headed back to their car. As they made their way to the car, something caught Oliver's eye. He went over and picked it up. It was Todd's name tag from work. "This can't be good..."
"I wonder what's happened..." Paula said with tears filling her eyes.
"Don't worry," said Oliver. "We'll get to the bottom of this."
"What are we going to do?" asked Paula.
"We'll ask around the neighborhood," Oliver answered. "Someone around here must have seen him recently."
"OK." The two began walking to the next house to question its occupants about the possible whereabouts of their friend.
Drake Mallard was just about to settle down for an afternoon nap when his doorbell rang. "Who can that be?" he grumbled as he got up to answer the door. At the door were his two neighbors Herb and Binkie Muddlefoot. His daughter Gosalyn and her friend Honker soon entered the house.
"Hello, Drake," said Binkie. "How are you on this fine day?"
"Doing just fine," Drake responded. "I can't thank you enough for picking up Gosalyn at soccer practice."
"It's not a problem, pal," said Herb.
"Why don't you two, uhh, come on in," Drake said.
"OK." The couple entered and took a seat on his couch.
"Say, Drake," said Binkie. "Francine from across the street said she saw that delightful Todd fellow who works over at Blockbuster leaving your house this morning. Whatever was that charming turtle doing over here?"
"Oh, uhh," Drake said, quickly thinking up a lie. "He was, uhh, tutoring Gosalyn, in...math. Yeah. That turtle is a miracle worker."
"Oh," said Binkie. "Maybe he could help out our boy Tank. He's going to end up repeating the fourth grade for the third time if he doesn't get those grades up."
"Yeah," Herb said. "The schools say he's severely retarded, but we think he's just a late bloomer." He glanced to the clock on the wall. "We better get goin', hun... Nice seein' ya again, Drake."
"Come along, Honker," Binkie called.
"Bye, you guys," Drake said.
Honker emerged from Gosalyn's room and the three Muddlefoots all leave.
Todd was now in the back of the strange van terrified as he headed toward some unknown destination. He was not alone in the darkened interior of the vehicle. There was also a tall, muscular bald eagle in a dark gray suit sitting on a crate not far from him. "What do you want from me? Where are you taking me?" the small, shy, bookish turtle asked the stranger.
"You'll find out soon enough, little one," the bird responded. The van continued to race down the road and away from the city of St. Canard.