LOST & FOUND

AUTHOR'S NOTES: For those of you who have read "Fidget's Story", have you ever wondered about our favorite animated bat's mystery mother? Well, now's your chance to find out the truth.

Fidget, Olivia Flaversham, & other GMD characters belong to Disney, but Fanny, Cecelia Green, the McBrides, & Old Lester are mine.

Enjoy the story!

Chapter 1: Missing Mother

London, 1899. It was a beautiful June day, & the Baker Street Kids were off from school. They were free to do whatever they wanted for the whole summer break—& today, they felt like playing a game of football. The children laughed merrily as they raced about the front yard, kicking their little brown ball all over the place. Well, all of them except for Fidget.

The little bat sat on the lush green grass, his wings wrapped around his knees & his face buried in his arms. Despite the fact that he was perspiring profusely in his cap, scarf, long pants, & sweater, Fidget was too sad to care, as he stared down at his peg-leg. Even his once-hideous face showed that he was not in the best of moods.

Suddenly, Fidget felt himself tumbling to the ground, as Olivia ran straight into him. When the two tweens got their bearings, Olivia took one look at Fidget, & realized that something was not right with him today.

"Fidget," Olivia asked as she put down her football, "what's wrong? You don't look too happy."

"Is dere any reason to be?" Fidget retorted sadly. "It's da anniversary..."

"Anniversary of what?" Olivia questioned. Fidget remorsefully replied, "Da anniversary of da day I was put in da orphanage. It's been so long, almost 14 years...& I still remember her face, my mother's face. I remember her crying as she dropped me off at da orphanage...I can still see da tears in her eyes today..."

"Fidget, that was a long time ago!" Eliza McBride said, coming up to the two & sitting down by them. "How can you possibly remember all that?"

"Believe it or not, Eliza, I have a good memory," Fidget snapped.

"But maybe you should forget about all that, Fidget," Gadget suggested gently. "After all, why would you wanna remember your mother abandoning you? Golly, that's gotta be depressing!"

"I'm not trying to remember my mother abandoning me!" Fidget shot back. "I'm trying to remember my mother! She's out dere somewhere, & I'm gonna try & find her!"

"But how can we?" Eliza complained dramatically. "Madame Ratburn & Anya are on vacation, thus the only two sources of information about your mother—if any—are gone for the whole week! And from what you've told us, I don't think you can wait that long!"

"Darn right!" Fidget grumbled, kicking a rock.

Just then, Olivia got an idea. "I know what we can do!"

A short time later, the Baker Street Kids, along with Fidget's girlfriend Cecelia Green, were making their way over to the Hall Of Public Records. As they carefully dodged past the cars & carriages that were parading down the street, Cecelia said with a smile, "It was nice of you to bring me over to come & help Fidget. After all, I always wondered why he never had a bat mother around."

"Well, with any luck," Gadget said as they went inside the building, "we should find out."

The Hall Of Public Records was a vast building, indeed. All across the area, there were great shelves of books, encyclopedias, & other tomes. Papers were also placed neatly in filing cabinets, except for the ones that littered the desk of the Manager, who was snoring loudly as he slept in his easy chair.

Carefully going over to him & ringing his little bell, Cecelia said as softly as she could, "Señor, a little assistance, por favor? We need some help finding a missing bat! Hello? Señor? Señor!" Immediately, the Manager woke up with a gasp & a snort, looking around quickly, before sighing in relief as he saw the children & teenagers gathered at his desk.

"Hello, little ones. What can I do for you?" the Manager asked cordially.

"We need help finding a missing bat," Cecelia replied. "We don't know her name, but my boyfriend Fidget told us earlier she was from American, & she had black hair & yellow eyes."

"Just a moment, kids, I'll take a moment to look her up," said the Manager. And he did just that. The Baker Street Kids & Cecelia watched & waited patiently, as the smart & squirrelly mouse looked through his computer. After about 3 hours of searching, nothing came up.

"Sorry I couldn't be of more help to you," the Manager said sadly as he led the children out.

"That's OK," Fidget replied with a weak smile. "You did your best..."—the door to the building was shut—"...but your best just wasn't good enough!"

"Wait a minute!" Gadget said excitedly. "You told us your mother made her way through the East End before dropping you off at St. Mary's Youth Hostel on Coronation Street! But she was from America, so she didn't know how to get there. She had to ask someone for directions. And I think I know who!"

"Yeah? So?"

"Well, if we ask Old Lester, maybe we can find out what happened to her!" Gadget explained, brightening.

"Great idea, Gadge!" Ratigan said happily, tousling her hair.

"OK, then," Olivia said, "let's go!"