Enjoy!
Roy, Officer Delinko and Beatrice were returning to Coconut Cove after a shouting match, Officer Delinko getting pushed into the ditch and a huge dent on his police cruiser's door just for suggesting that Mullet Fingers was dead. It was well after midnight now. Roy was half-hoping he would find Mullet Fingers fiddling with the TV remote again when he walked in the door. They came to a stop outside Roy's house.
"It'll be alright, Beatrice. Mullet's tough, he's fine." Roy said trying to comfort her.
She merely nodded. Officer Delinko walked Roy to the door and then bade him farewell. Suddenly, Roy noticed lights on inside. With a surge of joy, he burst into the house in into the den. But it was not Mullet Fingers. Sitting in the den, with the basket of owls on the table, was Mr and Mrs Eberhardt.
Mullet Fingers was exhausted. Trav had permitted him to spend the night at his place, but said he had to be gone by morning because he had business to attend to elsewhere. He lay in the cozy bed, looking at the ceiling. He wondered if Beatrice was worried about him now. Of course she was, she probably wasn't sleeping. But something had bothered him. There were no windows on this house. What if it was his imagination? What if he really was dead? A man appears out of nowhere and saves him from the ditch. He then brews a magic potion that heals bones instantly? Unlikely. Mullet Fingers must be dead, there was no other way of explaining it. He couldn't sleep at all. He jumped up and crept over to the door of Trav's shack. Perhaps Heaven was outside. His hand was on the knob, he was about to open the door when a larger hand wrapped around his and pushed the door shut.
"You aren't dead and you aren't dreaming." Said Trav.
"But how come you can do all this weird stuff then?" Mullet Fingers demanded.
"I can't tell you. You'd best quit asking questions or I'm going to make a potion that'll wipe your memory. Come, sit down." Said Trav, offering him a seat.
"Can't sleep either?" He asked Mullet Fingers.
Mullet Fingers shook his head. "In the morning I'll take you home." Said Trav.
"I don't have, or need a home." Said Mullet Fingers glumly.
"Ah. I traveler like myself?" Trav asked, raising his eyebrows.
"Nah, I'm just not wanted." Said Mullet Fingers "Not like I care though." He added quickly.
"Hm. So tell me, what was a homeless, shoeless young boy like yourself doing unconscious in a ditch?" Trav asked.
"Well..I used to have some little friends I took care of..." Mullet Fingers began retelling the story of how he, Roy and Beatrice all saved the burrowing owls at the Mother Paula's construction site and how now the Mother Paula's people were trying to torture him to get revenge.
"Hm, it doesn't seem to make sense that this pancake company would go after the boy who caused them so much trouble after recovering from such bad publicity." Said Trav.
Suddenly, a grandfather clock chimed. "Ah, it seems your time here is up." Said Trav looking at the clock.
"My...time here?" Mullet Fingers asked.
"Indeed. It's time for you to go. Twas a pleasure meeting you, Mullet Fingers. Good-bye." Said Trav.
Suddenly there was a great FLASH! And then everything went black.
James Howan, Ted Milcbuter and the fat witch lady all sat in silence as the Mother Paula's building was being stripped down and searched for the Leep boy. Milcbuter was so furious that it was beyond words. Howan was pale and sweaty. The witch-lady was expressionless.
"If they find...if something...if there's...if they find that boy, James, you're going to wish you were never born, you hear me?" Said Milcbuter dangerously.
"Y-yes sir." Howan stammered.
Suddenly, a security guard burst through the door. "Mr Howan, the boy's been found. His body was in a ditch." He said.
"Good god! Is he...dead?" Milcbuter asked worriedly.
"It looked that way, sir, but he's been taken to the hospital anyway. They wouldn't have taken him there if there wasn't any hope." Said the guard.
"So help me, James, if that boy dies..." Milcbuter shouted.
"I-I understand Mr Milcbuter. You, guard, tell the hospital that Mother Paula's will fund anything that needs to be done to him." Said Howan.
"Yes Mr Howan." Said the guard before rushing out.
Suddenly, a cell phone began ringing. It was Howan's. He looked at the front of it and said "Excuse me." Before leaving the room.
"My god, if those damn owls caused so much trouble imagine how the public'll react if they find out Mother Paula's has caused fatal injuries on the boy that saved them." Said Milcbuter, burying his face in his hands.
"Or killed him." The fat lady said.
Milcbuter gagged. If that boy died, Mother Paula's would undoubtably go bankrupt. He could go to jail.
James Howan was on his cell phone in an empty room. He was speaking to the second highest ranked person in the country; the Vice-President of the United States.
"Mr Howan?" Came Vice President Donald Viseige.
"Mr Vice-President, it's an honor to speak to you again." Howan said.
"Don't waste my time with formalities. Have you silenced the boy yet?" Viseige asked impatiently.
"Well, actually sir there's been a bit of an interference." Said Howan.
"Of what sort?" The Vice-President asked.
"I'm afraid that the boy's sister alerted police and the police have invaded the building. And, worse yet, prior to this incident, the boy escaped yet again." Howan explained.
"Do you know where he's gone?" Viseige demanded.
"Yes sir, he's in critical condition at the hospital. Last we heard, he was dead but we're have reason to believe otherwise." Said Howan.
"Dead? Have you taken necessary precautions to make sure that his parents will not find any way to connect his death to me?" Viseige asked worriedly.
"Yes sir, but with all do respect, there isn't anyone who would bother sir, he's an unwanted child." Said Howan.
"Very well. If the boy dies, then I expect this is the last time you and I should ever have to speak. Make sure there are no interferences and you will be rewarded." Said Vice President Viseige before hanging up.