The Shasta Caper, Chapter Twenty-Seven is now postedo n ImagineNation.

Chapter Twenty-Seven

The morning struck like a razor sharp icicle through the heart of the tent, causing everyone of them to awaken groaning. The ground was freezing, even with the campfire, which was blazing in the center of the tent, and even with their sleeping bags pulled tight about them. The window with the view of outside was covered with snow.

"Please tell me we're not buried under an avalanche of snow." Jimbo groaned, wanting to get out and stretch, but protecting his mouth and nose from the cold, cold air by having the bag draped over his face to his eyes.

"We're not." Samuel answered from the other side, but he didn't stir either. Also talking from beneath his sleeping bag cover.

Nina, however, was sitting up and stretching. "Think I'll go out for a snow bath."

"WHAT!" Jimbo and Samuel said at the same time.

She laughed. "Guys! It's only thirty below zero. Perfectly safe."

She got up, pulled, stretched again, then unzippered the tent. Immediately, she froze. "On second thought, maybe we are buried under an avalanche of snow."

Jimbo finally got up. He grabbed his rifle and poked at the snow. It made dents in it, but no light came through.

Samuel got up, shivering violently for a moment, then sighed. "Please God, no dead people in this snows."

He went to the snow and placed a hand on it. The interior of the tent went brighter than the sun for a moment as a bright illumination filled it from his glowing hands, then slowly the snow began to melt away, until the light of the morning sun, scant as it was, was able to come through. 

Jimbo joined him and with mittens on his hands, began pulling the snow right and left, until a large enough hole was made for all of them to exit.

They crawled outside, then marveled at where they had slept. It was covered under about ten feet of snow.

"I don't think we're getting our tent back."

"No problem." Nina said, then went back inside. In a few moments she had the tent collapsed, rolled up and began shoving it and its framework outside. She crawled out and grinned. The snow is frozen like an igloo. 

They grabbed the rest of their gear and Samuel looked to his left where Al and M were standing on a ledge, overlooking the valley below. Al looked back and smiled. "It's so beautiful." He mouthed.

Samuel nodded, then looked at the mountain behind them.

Al sighed, then he and M glided over the snow and along a narrow path of snow that towered in a narrow crevice against the mountain and the old path. Samuel began hiking along it, wary of disturbing the snow, for fear of tumbling it down on them, but it held and there were no accidents. There luck was holding so far.

They climbed silently for what seemed like hours, and it became steadily colder, even with the sun climbing in the sky. A light snow flurry began swirling about them as they climbed. Finally, Samuel couldn't take it any more. He closed his eyes and pressed his hand to the mountain side.

Inside his  vision a door opened up and he could see a narrow opening about fifty yards to their right and about a hundred yards straight up. He groaned. They didn't have any ropes for that, which meant climbing hand over hand and that was dangerous with everything so frozen and icy.

He looked at the others, who gave him appraising looks. "Our both is that direction." He pointed straight up.

Jimbo shook his head. "I knew I should have stayed home to play with my hounds."

Nanny jabbed him with an elbow in his side. He gave her a sharp look.

"A big hunk like you should have no trouble navigating a few hundred feet vertically."

"Shows what you know, Ranger." He growled, not liking her jibe.

She gave him a surprising hug. "Just kidding, Jimmy."

Jimbo's face lit up. No one had called him Jimmy since his last real love. He became all gooey and melty eyed when he looked at her. She smiled and didn't look away.

"Look, this love fest has to become a bit more grounded." Samuel said, interrutping their kumbaya moment.

Jimbo looked over at him. "We don't have any gear for this."

"Don't need it. Get out the rope you have stashed."

Jimbo obliged him, pulling out about a hundred yards of triple wrapped nylon steel reinforced rope. Samuel slung it over his shoulder, then nodded to Al, who began climbing, albeit in a floaty kind of way. Al would stop periodically to point out a place for Samuel to step, or grab onto. M would do the same. 

To both Nanny and Jimbo's surprise, Samuel made the climb in about thirty minutes. He reached a small ledge, checked the opening and then waved back at them. He dropped the rope, then went into the opening. Even though the light cut off about ten feet back, the whole interior was lit up like a Christmas tree with various mosses casting glows of green, blue and yellow. He finally found a spur of rock strong enough to secure the rope and tied it off again and again, making sure it was strong enough, then he looped it over his arm and went back to the edge, and signaled to Nanny. "You first!" He yelled.

A rumbling sound came from behind him when he did so. He looked up just as some snow began to loosen up. It moved several yards, then stopped.

He looked over at Al, who shrugged his shoulders.

"Samuel made a hurry it up motion and held onto the rope as Nanny began climbing it to the ledge. She made it in twenty, but breathing hard. Her face was red as a beet and her eyes wide. "That was harder than it looked."

"Always is." Samuel agreed, then gave her a portion of the rope. "Help me anchor, Jimbo."

She shouldered a portion and they leaned back after Samuel waved at Jimbo.

Jimbo began pulling himself up. He made it in ten, but as he reached the ledge, it broke away for about a foot of it and he began to tumble down. He let out a roar like an elephant in pain. The rumbling of before grew again, but this time more furious and loud.

"Haul! Haul!" Cursed Samuel as he and Nina struggled to help Jimbo get back up, even as an avalanche poured down the moutainside, gaining momentum and weight as it tumbled, growing louder and louder, larger and larger.

Jimbo saw the wave of death tumbling down and redoubled his efforts. He reached the new ledge and Samuel and Nina practically threw him into the cave opening as they themselves dove in after him.

Jimbo rolled over and looked as tons of snow fell past the cave opening. Samuel helped his friend to his feet.

"Indiana Jones has nothing on us, Sammie."

"I'll second that." Nanny grunted, then froze.

"What's that?"

They turned around and were silent. Nothing. Nothing, then the ground beneath their feet began to rise and fall, at first gently, then rougher and rougher, almost tumbling them to the ground.

"Run!" Samuel hollered.

He caused his right fist to light up like a flashlight and they ran down the pathway of the cave, dodging falling rocks and dirt and some stones shaped like spears. And soon they actually were spears, then blades shot from the walls on their left and right. 

Samuel saw them coming even before they left their hidden spaces, and steered them to safety, but one blade caught him slighly on his right thigh and he almost died then and there, if Nanny had not grabbed him and jerked him away in time.

They all froze in place. No more blades and falling spears.

"I think we're safe now." Jimbo uttered.

"Jimbo!" Samuel almost screeched. "Think Jinx!"

"Thinking!." Jimbo hollered as the walls began to rumble loudly and starting closing in on them.

The Adventures of Captain Marvel, Chapter Three is now psoted on ImagineNation.

The Shasta Caper, Chapter Twenty-Six is now posted on ImagineNation

Chapter Twenty-Six

They felt like little kids playing choo choo train as they watched their breathes cast curls of smoke ahead of them as they hiked up the trail that Samuel had found. No one had much of anything to say the first hour, their thoughts were on what had happened the night before. The Snow Beast, and the legend of it sparking their imaginations as well as fears.

Jimbo kept his right hand on his pistol the whole time they climbed, even if it made it somewhat difficult at times as they pushed around boulders, past shrubbery and sometimes through it as Samuel traced the path he had discovered, or rather that Al led them upon.

Al and M...or Marilyn...as her fans had all called her, almost danced the entire way, their feet never quite touching the ground. Even if they had, they were too ethereal to leave a real footprint, but both Samuel and Nanny found it amusing to watch them, as it took some of the tedium of the hike off their minds.

Even though the mountain was splendid to look at and beautiful beyond description with its myriad of evergreen trees clinging to its rocky and snowy sides. Tiny pearls of ice dotted and hung like strings of living jewels from the firs as they passed and tiny chipmunks, still not quite believing it was so cold, peeked out from occassional holes and chittered at them, warning them to button up and fur down or freeze.

They didn't have to be warned about that.

"How much further?" Jimbo asked, actually breathing hard.

Nanny looked back at him. "It's the altitude. You need to take deeper breaths."

"If I took them any deeper, I'd be breathing the snow off my feet." Jimbo quipped, but did so anyway.

They managed another hour, before they were totally bushed.

"Time out!" Samuel said, making a time out sign to Al and M, who nodded and drifted from view.

Samuel and Nanny went looking for wood, while Jimbo strung up a small tent they had brought along for shelter. It was getting colder and colder, and even though it was early still, they knew better than to push their luck with a storm edging its way into view again.

When Samuel and Nanny returned with their arms filled with wood, they found the tent all made up and Jimbo sitting in front of it, digging out a pit for a fire.

"You better do it inside the tent." Nanny warned.

Jimbo nodded and began digging it inside instead.

Samuel looked at Nanny. "You're expecting that strong of a storm?"

"Maybe stronger. This time of year we get the Wendigos."

"Monsters?"

"You could call them that. They sure sound like it when they come ripping past your ears, all shrieking and screaming." Nanny laughed.

She and Samuel dumped their wood inside, then made it a point to zipper the front entrance shut. Nanny looked to the roof where a small vent was and opened it all the way.

"Won't that let rain in?"

"It would if it was rain. Snow might block it a bit, but the wind will pretty much clear it out, so the smoke from the fire can exit. But just in case, because smoke starts low, then builds."

She began making a trough that ran across the center of the tent ground from the fire on either side, and under the tent edges.

"Won't the..."Jimbo started, but stopped on Nanny's look. "Okay. You're boss. But if I freeze my buns off tonight, you're personally going to have to warm them up again."

"Promise." Nanny said with a laugh.

They unwound their sleeping bags and laid them in a circle about the fire, then Jimbo pulled out three cans of black beans. "High in protein. And filling."

He shoved them into the fire they started, then looked at the others. "And easy to cook."

They warmed their hands over the fire. Outside the wind was whipping up, but nothing severe. They could see through the one plastic window the tent allowed, and huge snow clouds were dripping almost to the ground, casting their burden of wet water frozen into tiny fractal crystals of dazzling winter beauty.

Jimbo sighed. "It's so easy to forget how beautiful Mother Nature is when you live in a desert town like Vegas most of the time."

"Don't forget Mother Nature can also be a bitch." Nancy shot back.

Samuel smirked. "And ain't no bitch like a mad bitch."

Both Jimbo and Nanny looked at him.

Samuel sat up straight. "Now where'd that come from?"

He realized that one of his feet was slightly touching the ground outside his sleeping bag. "Oh. That!"

He looked at the others. "I think I must be picking up the impressions of whoever slept here last, or..."

"Whatever." Jimbo added.

"Yeah. Or whatever."

He and Jimbo both knew that stranger things than sleep happened on heaven and earth.

"Done!" Jimbo cried out happily and scratched the cans of black beans out with the help of a crooked piece of wood for the fire. He propped them in front of him, then pulled out a Swiss knife. He grinned. Sometimes, these little babies sure come in useful."

In several minutes he had the lids opened and pried back on the three cans, handed everyone a can and a spoon and dinner had begun.

They finished the cans, and put them in a plastic bag, then all laid down.

The moon was rising outside and casting a silvery, ghostly light through the single plastic window. The wind had stopped, but snow kept falling and sliding from the window. The soft patter of the snowflakes was pleasant to their ears and in moments they had drifted off to sleep.

Samuel woke up once to the sound of a gentle singing and Marilyn was seated across from him by the fire, and singing to Al, whose eyes were closed. He looked very happy.

He opened his eyes once to look at Samuel and smile. "Sweet Dreams, Sam."

Samuel's eyes fluttered shut the same time as he smiled and he drifted off into a cacophony of gentle images and Marilyn's singing. For one night at least the three would have a peaceful sleep. But what came that night might not come again for a long time. Such is the lot of adventurers.

Hammer of the Gods book cover version I designed.

A version of my Hammer of the Gods novel cover. I've changed it around quite a bit since, but this is the base for the final version, which I'll post in the future.

--John--

The Adventues of Captain Marvel, Episode Two: The Guillotine is now posted on ImagineNation.

Talking about losing your head. No pun intended. Maybe a little.

Captain Marvel gets in over his head with the villains and faces quite literally...losing his head.

--John--

The Shasta Caper, Chapter Twenty-Five is now posted on ImagineNation

Chapter Twenty-Five

"In the name of the Light you shall not enter!" Commanded Samuel, holding his hands up before him.

The hands became as bright as small moons, and a nimbus of pure blue and violet energies blazed around them, then shot at the door, enveloping it at the same time as something struck the door again. The door looked like something out of a cartoon as it broke inwards, but instead of shattering into thousands of parts, it pushed outwards like a balloon would stretch as if someone were pushing it from the inside.

In a matter of moments something out of a nightmare had its head forced into the cabin. Jimbo shoved Nanny behind him and aimed his pistol, waiting for a clear shot around Samuel.

Samuel was lost in what he was doing. He pushed forward and as he did, his hands grew brighter in the flames of the energies. The hideous face glaring at them, and the snarling lips opened to engulf him, but he stood his ground.

"You will leave. And you will leave now! We are not what you seek, devourer of souls!" He shouted.

The creature, Jimbo's worst nightmare, howled so loudly that the entire cabin shook, knocking loose anything that wasn't securely tied down, causing Jimbo to drop his pistol and clap hands over his ears the same time as Nanny screamed and he howled in pain at the force of the blow of the creature's terrible frustration.

Then as suddenly as it all began, the door flung backwards and became still.

The light vanished from about Samuel's hands. He turned slowly, his body casting off a faint nimbus of white light as Nanny and Jimbo both looked at him in awe. "We're safe now. I think I need to sleep now."

Samuel lay down on his sleeping bag and collapsed into sleep.

The next thing he remembered was the sound of crackling nearby, and a tasty scent in the air. Soy dogs. Jimbo and he both loved them, and had brought some freeze dried ones along for their meals.

He rolled over. Every muscle in his body felt tense and tight as a coiled spring, but it all loosened up, once he sat up and stretchd. He began doing a series of silent yoga postures, as Nanny watched from nearby, guiding the soy dogs on an antique griddle she had found, the plate burner beneath it casting flames up from the stove below.

Jimbo came opened the front door and came inside with an armful of wood tucked beneath his left arm and dropped them next to the stove. "Good morning, bright eyes." He greeted Samuel, then began shoving the wood into the snow.

He had left the door open and Samuel could see huge drifts of snow outside and Jimbo's footprints. But he could also see another set of footprints.

"Yeah. It was big all right." Jimbo said, catching his glance. "I tried tracking it..."

"That's dangerous." Samuel chided him.

Jimbo pulled out a grenade from both of his jacket pockets. "Maybe."

Samuel laughed. "You never fail to amaze me. Sometimes earthly weapons just won't stop these things."

"Well, if it can leave footprints and break wood, then it can also be broken." Jimbo said with finality, then shut the front door and the swirling thrusts of snow falling from above.

He shivered. "One thing is for sure though."

"What's that?"

"You'll have a popsicle ass if you don't dress warm when you go out there. It's gotta be at least thirty below zero outside."

"More like forty." Nanny said as she scooped a soy dog onto one plate, slathered it with mustard from a tiny can, then did the same thing to two other dogs. She left three more warming up on the griddle and served the men.

Jimbo nodded, accepting his, then got out three cans of Doctor Pepper. "It's always good to have a Doctor in the house."

Nanny giggled. "Your jokes are almost as bad as Sam's."

"Actually, they're much better." Samuel admitted. "I just never tell him so, gives him a fatter head."

"Fatter?" Jimbo asks, glaring at Samuel, then looks away. "Oh. Right. Gotcha!"

Jimbo sits on the right of Samuel and Nanny squeezes between them. "Hope you two don't mind sharing a little body heat."

"Not likely." Jimbo replied with a grin. "Always my pleasure."

Samuel laughed. "And does he mean always."

"Hey!" Jimbo cried out. "Foul play."

"Isn't that what the last girl said?"

Nanny laughed so hard she spit out her piece of soy dog into her lap.

Both men broke into laughter. They spent the next ten minutes in silence, savoring their simple meal and companionship, listening to the sound of snow melting and draining down the pipe above into the simple water cistern inside.

"I wonder who lived here last." Nanny finally said.

Samuel shook his head. "Don't wanta know. Don't wanta ask."

"For a spiritual man. A detective. You sure don't act like one sometimes."

"We've both seen too much." Jimbo answered for Samuel, who was in the middle of another bite of his second soy dog.

"How so?"

"Well, for one thing, we've known each other since high school and we've been non-stop pretty much since then with one case or another."

"For money? You must both be rich by now."

Samuel laughed. "That'll be the day."

He looked to his right and saw Al and M dancing in a small circle. Al looked over at him and winked, then Marilyn waved.

"If it was about the money, this partnership would've been dissolved a long time ago." Jimbo said.

"Why? Everyone needs money to live."

"True enough." Jimbo explained. "But not everyone we help can afford us, so we make ourselves affordable."

"In other words you give yourselves away."

Samuel smirked. "Not quite so literally."

"I mean you donate your time."

"And sometimes more." Jimbo acknowledged, revealing a huge scar on his right upper arm, by pulling his thick wool shirt up. "This little badge of honor came from Cambodia. We was helping a village get rid of Demons."

"Demons!"

"Well, they sure looked like them." Jimbo admitted.

Samuel nodded. "Horns, tails and glowing red eyes."

"How?"

Jimbo whipped out his pistol and cocked it.

"Oh!  So they weren't real demons after all."

Jimbo and Samuel exchanged glances. But neither said more.

Nanny went to the door and pulled it open again. "The snow's stopped."

And it had, but the drifts outside were some of them over six feet tall and the path they had followed to the cabin was gone and any other possible path as well.

Jimbo and Samuel came to the door and stood next to Nanny, eyeing the mess they would have to travel through. "Gonna be hard picking out anything throught that, Sammie."

Samuel shook his head. "I've got friends in high places. Let's pack up and go."

They spent the next ten minutes straightening up thee place, bagging their trash and storing it y the door, then making sure the stove fire was completely out by drenching it with fresh snow. It snizzled, crackled and popped for awhile, then the snow and extra heat began to face. In several more minutes they could see their breaths in the air.

Samuel looked at Al, who nodded, then stepped straight through Nanny, followed by M, who did the same. Nanny shrieked two times and shivered violently each time they passed through her.

"Do they have to do that!" She protested.

Samuel smiled. "They never do anything unless they have a good reason. God's got his finger on them and won't let go."

"I thought even angels had free will?"

"Whoever said they were angels?" Samuel asked, as Al turned back and stuck his fingers in his ears and gave them all the raspberry.

The Adventures of Captain Marvel, Chapter One: Curse of the Scorpion is now posted on ImagineNation

Posted is the first chapter of the kid named Billy Batson, who becomes a super hero: The Adventures of Captain Marvel~

Shazam!

Gotta love it.

--John--

The Adventures of Captain Marvel --- Serial Trailer is now posted on ImagineNation

I saw all of these episodes as a kid in the movie theaters. I only missed the last one. Wow, was I disappointed. They don't measure up to today's special effects laden pieces, but for their times, they were out of this world and very imaginative.

Enjoy!

--John--

The Baker Street Adventures Gazette Volume One, Number Three is now posted on ImagineNation

 I've been posting these to my author site, but I will begin posting them here now. I no longer have the first two editions available at this time. I'll look them up and see if I can piece them together again for everyone. When I do, I'll post them here in order.

I think you'll enjoy them as they continue with adventures of Sherlock and Watson, as well as their children and a host of other cool characters I've added into the universe I've created.

Meanwhile, click on the image below or the title below and you'll be able to read issue three.

--John--

The Bakers Street Adventures Gazette, Volume One, Edition Three

The Shasta Caper, Chapter Twenty-Four is now posted on ImagineNation

Chapter Twenty-Four

Jimbo and Nanny supported Samuel, who was trembling from the energies he had just merged with. He looked around him, still dazed, still seeing the vast monster rising from the pit, then realized where he was again.

"You all right, partner?" Jimbo asked, concerned as always.

"Yeah. I think so. Let's get out of this thing."

They helped him get down to the ground again and he was careful not to touch the train engine again. He didn't stop until he was well away from the train and able to sit on a log. He sat there a long time, saying nothing. They waiting for him to speak, exchanging nervous glances.

Finally, he took a hit from his canteen, then looked up at them, his eyes clear again of the disaster that had  happened here.

"Many men died here."

Nanny nodded. "The Indians have legends of a great Snowbeast that guards the mountain against those who are greedy and care not for the earth."

"Well, if what I saw was their Snowbeast, then people had a right to be scared of it." Samuel said, then took another hit of water from his canteen. Finally, he stood up.

"Okay, I think I know the way now." He said.

Nanny looked into his eyes. "How could you do that in that one second?"

"One second?"

Jimbo put a hand on Samuel's shoulder. "Sammie, you sure of what you saw?"

"Damn sure. One second. It seemed like hours."

Jimbo nodded, then looked at Nanny. 

She shrugged. "It's your show, I'm just along for the ride."

"What about your job?" He asked her.

"I'm doing it." She responded with a smirk. "Keeping dumb civvies from dropping off cliffs, getting buried under snow avalanches, and stopping them from burning down the woods."

"In other words a babystitter." Samuel said with a grin.

"Pretty much. I cleared it with the Head Ranger before I met with you two this morning. He's as curious as most of us about that secret entrance. He used to be part of a secret society that claimed to know the location, but he never rose high enough in it to find out."

"Well that settles it." Jimbo growled. "We're definitely onto something."

Samuel nodded, then eyed the terrain. "Temperature's going to drop like crazy pretty soon now."

Nanny agreed. "About forty degrees. And there's a new storm on the way too."

"Why didn't you tell us about it earlier?" Jimbo growled.

"What! And ruin  your fun?"

"Point taken." Jimbo agreed, then when Samuel started walking up a narrow path past the tracks, he followed with Nanny trailing him.

"Tell me again about my duplicate." Nanny asked.

"Your mother?" Samuel retorted.

"All right, my mother then, though I don't know who the hell that could be, since I was abandoned as a baby and brought up in an orphanage until I was sixteen and went to college to get my degrees."

"Sorry." Samuel said. "I didn't know."

"You didn't ask." She snapped back, a bit tartly.

Jimbo laughed. "She's got you there, Sammie."

Nanny smiled. "I have that affect on men. Get them there. Smack dab in the middle."

Samuel smiled back at her. "And I bet they loved every minute of it."

"Mostly." She replied. "Unless I shot them."

Samuel stopped and looked her in the eyes. "That's the second time now you've said that. Is this something we gotta be worried about?"

"Not unless you're a dishonorable, no down, furry assed sonvua bitch." She snapped at him.

They stared at each other a long time, then she burst into laughter. "Gotcha!"

She looked across at Jimbo, whose mouth was hanging open. "You two are so easy. My fellow Rangers would gobble you two up for breakfast. So now where? We need to find shelter in the next thirty minutes or so, or freeze to death."

Samuel took the point again and they worked further up the path. It got darker and darker, so they got out maglights to illuminate the path. "Should be close now." Samuel said.

They finally broke through a barrier of tall, dried shrubs and a crude home of sorts lay  half broken in their path. 

"A warm bed and bath awaits our company." Samuel said lightly.

Jimbo snorted. "You mean we're gonna freeze our asses off and stink like hell the next morning."

"Something like that." Samuel acknowledged, then cut ahead and carefully prodded open the door.

He peered inside with his light, then motioned the others to follow him inside.

The interior was stark, but solid. The crude nature of the exterior put a lie to the interior of the place. There was an old wood stove with stacks of cut wood beside it, an antique stove, and a barrel of water, which was fed by a pipe coming down from the roof, and another pipe dropping out of sight through the flooring.

"Nice cistern. Self fills and self empties." Jimbo said, admiring the cleverness and simplicity of it. "Always fresh, always there."

"Long as it rains or snows." Nanny said, shutting the door behind them, then reaching for a hard, rusted bar of wood and iron to shut it tight.

"Wonder why they had that?" Jimbo asked.

"Indians." Samuel replied. "They pissed off a lot of them when they built the railroad and burned down their homes to make their tracks."

Jimbo sighed, dropped his backpack to the floor beside a bunk with metal springs only on top of it. He unzipped his back pack and threw a blanket over the springs. "You can have this, Nanny."

She shook her head. "Too soft for me."

She opened her own pack, looked around the room, found an old broom still usuable, though frayed and swept the floor around the old stove and fireplace. Through she spread a large, rough Indian blanket with beautiful moons and stars woven into it. "My Grannie's."

"I thought you were an orphan." Samuel said.

"Hey! Even orphans have Grannies. Used to call my Head Mother that. She was a cute, lovable and round as a barrel of water type of lady who always made sure every one of us children had a proper story and snack before bed."

Jimbo smiled, then looked at the bunk. Samuel patted his shoulder. "Take it. I don't take well to springs."

"Thanks." Jimbo threw his insulated metallic blanket over the bunk, then set his backpack at its head for a pillow. Before he sat on it, he pulled out some packets of Hostess Twinkies.

"Anyone  hungry?"

Nanny opened her hands and he tossed her one, then Samuel, who immediately opened his to eat, though Nanny set hers down as she settled beside the old stove. She looked into the old stove. I think it's serviceable."

She got on her knees and began plying its interior with wood.

Samuel helped her find some paper from his own bag and Jimbo's, and she used a Bic lighter to light the paper. In a few minutes, after much coaxing, a cheery fire burned in its belly. She shut the door to stop the smoke from coming out. She eyed the roof and a pipe going up from the stove. "It looks tight."

They all waited breathlessly. No smoke came out.

Samuel threw his own sleeping bag down to the left of Nanny and she hers to the right of herself. 

They put their backpacks between them, then squatted with folded legs and ate their Twinkies.

"Hard to believe I'm eating a Twinkie for dinner." Nanny said. "Thanks, guys, for bringing the height of civilization into my life."

"Oh, it gets better." Jimbo said, finishing up his fifth Twinkie. "Wait until you have some fried grasshoppers and honey dipped worms."

Nanny stopped eating. "Suddenly, my hunger has ceased."

Jimbo and Samuel laughed, then said at the same time. "Gotcha!"

She grinned at them both. "You two really are something!"

The heat was beginning to warm up the old cabin as a wind began to howl outside. Whisks of cold air swept under the door until Samuel crammed the old Twinkie wrappers into it. A few blew back out, so he crammed several pieces of wood against them and the wind stopped blowing inside.

The warmth was making them all drowsy.

"Tomorrow?" Nanny yawned.

"Yeah." Samuel replied, already drifting off to sleep.

Only Jimbo remained awake. He had heard something outside. Something big. He didn't want to wake up his friends just yet, because there shouldn't be anything out there dangerous enough to get inside. Shouldn't be was the catch word. He had learned a long time ago, that should bes, could bes and want to bes were not all the same thing.

Then something big crashed into the front door. Something very, very big!

Updated bllog with new links, more pages

Figured out what I had done wrong and the whole blog is back now.

Enjoy.

John