The Craft

By Joe Bob Newman

The Craft is the story of Larry, who finds a shimmering piece of metal buried on his land. He digs it up and finds that it is an Alien Craft. He learns to fly it and takes trips to the Moon, Mars and Venus. The Air Force takes The Craft away from him but has to hire Larry to fly it. He has many adventures in the craft, including finding a creature on Mars.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Joe Bob Newman
• Release date: Oct 24, 2012
• ISBN: 9781301608966

Joe Bob Newman

I have been writing mystery and fiction books since 1982. I have never considered having any published until now. My career has been in writing technical documents for the defense industry. By profession I am a mechanical engineer, P.E. I have six grand children.. During the summer months, I spend a lot of time in the mountains of New Mexico. Watching wildlife and observing the ecology. i also enjoy riding my 4-wheeler. I built a cabin by myself, just above a stream filled with trout, perhaps i should say am building, I have been working on it for twenty years and it is still not finished, but it is livable, it has electricity, running water and a septic system. With that, I am happy to live there in the summer months and for a week or two in the winter, but I have found that I am not much of a "snow" person.I do hope you read and enjoy my books as much as I enjoyed writing them! Thanks for visiting my page.Joe Bob Newman

Book preview

The Craft

By Joe Bob Newman

Copyright 2012 Joe Bob Newman

Smashwords Edition

Book Cover by Laura Shinn

Smashwords Edition, License Notes

This ebook is licensed for your personal enjoyment only. This ebook may not be re-sold or given away to other people. If you would like to share this book with another person, please purchase an additional copy for each recipient. If you’re reading this book and did not purchase it, or it was not purchased for your use only, then please return toSmashwords.com and purchase your own copy. Thank you for respecting the hard work of this author.

TABLE OF CONTENTS

PROLOGUE

CHAPTER 1 THE PURCHASE

CHAPTER 2 LOSTAND FOUND

CHAPTER 3 TO THE BARN

CHAPTER 4 FIRST FLIGHT

CHAPTER 5 THE CHASE

CHAPTER 6 THE RED LIGHT

CHAPTER 7 THE HUNT

CHAPTER 8 FINAL FLIGHT

CHAPTER 9 THE AIR FORCE WINS

CHAPTER 10 THE CALL FOR MIKE

CHAPTER 11 THE SHIMMERING

CHAPTER 12 THE AIR BASE

CHAPTER 13 ALIEN MOTHER SHIP

CHAPTER 14 STRANDED ON THE MOON

CHAPTER 15 DEATH ON MARS

CHAPTER 16 THE CRAFT RETURNS

CHAPTER 17 THE TRIP TO VENUS

CHAPTER 18 DEATH IN THE MINE

CHAPTER 19 PREGNANT BY ALIEN

CHAPTER 20 THE MINE PRODUCES

CHAPTER 21 ALIEN REQUESTS

ABOUT THE AUTHOR

PROLOGUE

Raphael and Donitello were enjoying their visit to the beautiful blue green planet. This was their fifth day of scouting the continents. There had not been a reason for stealth. The intelligence of the planets inhabitants was low. The inhabitants of this planet would not remember nor record their visit. Their scouting mission had been a success. Command would be pleased with the mission. Raphael was content and satisfied with Donitello; they had not had a single problem.

Donitello was now cutting up. Donitello wanted to go visit the mountains again. All the wonderful blue water. They had never seen so much water. There were so many strange new animals. They had enjoyed getting out and trying to greet the inhabitants. The inhabitants had run from them. Even with their new head sets, they could not understand a language of the inhabitants. Most of inhabitants were not wearing any clothes at all. Some were wearing animal skins.

Raphael and Donitello were both wearing their state-issued jump suits. They had their triangle emblems on their sleeves. Their names were on the right side of the upper chest. They were in full military uniform. Their ranks were clearly displayed above the left side of their chests. They both were feeling superior and important. Their mission had been a success!

Raphael was the Officer and thus was the Commander of the mission. He was ultimately responsible for the mission and their safety. He went by the book. He stayed above minimum altitudes and did his best to not impact the inhabitants of the blue green planet. There were rules to follow, and Raphael was determined to not create a problem with the inhabitants. Donitello loved to skirt the edge of danger. Raphael was looking to climb the ladder of success. Donitello only seemed to enjoy excitement. Raphael called this playing. Raphael knew that he was going to go far in this man's military. While Raphael was an officer, Donitello was the equivalent of an enlisted person. Donitello was much younger than Raphael, and did not appear to have matured in a proper fashion.

Raphael was tall by his planet's standards. He had a long face and a thin chin. He realized that his head was larger than the inhabitants, though his body was smaller than theirs. He was amazed at the size of the limbs on the inhabitants. His were long and slender. The muscular limbs of their bodies were impressive, by any standard. They were physically very strong. Physically he felt inferior to them. However, mentally he was far superior to the inhabitants.

The inhabitants' skin was rough and was of different colors. His skin was smooth and had a silvery tint to it. His fingers were long and thin. The inhabitants' fingers were short and fat. He wondered if they might be related in some way. The bodies of both the inhabitants and Raphael's civilization were generally of the same frame and limb configuration.

Not all civilizations had the same body configuration. On the last planet they had visited, the inhabitants had four legs, and a fifth small limb, with a claw on it. They had a mouth like a large sucker fish. Raphael and Donitello had not been able to establish a dialog with either planet’s inhabitants.

The inhabitants of the planet below him had round faces and small eyes. They had fur on their heads, and some of them even had fur on their faces. They even had some light fur on their bodies and limbs. Raphael had used his weapon, in the stun mode to stun several of the inhabitants, and during his inspection of them, he had noticed that their eyes had color to them. Their eyes were not completely black as his were. They had a mouth full of teeth, and seemed to have strong jaw muscles. The inhabitants seemed to be well muscled and showed signs of having previous illnesses. Their molecular pulse had been similar to his. He had wondered about that. Could these inhabitants have been formed by waste from a previous expedition? They had been watching this planet closely for a millena, or a million of the planet cycles around the sun.

The male inhabitants of the planet were obvious, their genitals stuck out. The females were also obvious. They had two large protrusions or glands that stuck out of their chests. He had seen them before and suspected that they had something to do with child rearing.

He could not tell what the inhabitants had been eating. He wanted to do an analysis of their stomach systems, but Command would not allow that on a live specimen.

He suspected that they were eating other animals, how disgusting, he thought. He would have been considered a vegetarian. Most of his food came in tubes. He never gave much thought to where his food came from. It was grown in a laboratory.

The inhabitants had short, sharp teeth. They overlapped. He did not have teeth, just a ridge of tough scaliness inside his mouth. Raphael had never chewed anything before. Sometimes he had gummed the jelly mixture that was in the tube. But, he had not got any satisfaction from it.

Raphael yawned, he was ready to go back to the mother ship. The mother ship was parked above the atmosphere, where it was safe.

Donitello said, Hey Raph, let me fly for awhile. They had plenty of time, Raphael, thought, why not!

Raphael replied, Okay Doni, but just don't hit anything. He knew Doni was a show off. He would not have picked Doni for his second on this mission, but Command had ordered it. Doni was considered a female, that is, she was allowed to reproduce. However, Doni was not yet of child bearing age. Raphael always did what Command ordered, Doni always acted up on missions. She was considered quite attractive by his planet's standards. Raph had even given thought to mating with Doni. He knew that Doni would be willing, but would hold it over his head afterwards.

Doni took over control of the scout Craft; she zoomed back over to the mountains, and zipped between the peaks. She was having fun, and seeing how close that she could come to the peaks and still not hit them.

Doni brushed a peak and dirt and rocks flew up over the top of the scout Craft, and she laughed. Doni had always been a cut up! She seemed to think that rules were there to be broken. She loved being on the edge of danger.

Raphael was aggravated, and said, Stop it, Doni, you're acting out and you're going to get us killed!

Doni laughed, and tried it again. This time, she really misjudged the peak. The nose buried into the soft dirt, flipping the Craft upside down, and it careened down, into the valley. The Craft began to shimmer, even as it impacted into the valley rocks far below. Both creatures were knocked unconscious. The vibration seemed to make the Craft penetrate the ground even further.

Raphael was the first to regain consciousness. He checked on Doni and saw that she had drainage from her nose and mouth. He had to get Doni out of the Craft before it destroyed itself. The shimmering seemed excessive to Raph. The Craft seemed to have developed a mind of its own.

Raphael dragged Doni out into the bright sunlight. He wanted to shield his eyes, but could not while dragging Doni. The vibration was intense. Between the bright sunlight and vibration, Raphael was disorientated.

Once outside the Craft, he could see just how far the Craft nose had been buried. The Craft was wrinkled. He had never seen a Craft so wrinkled. It would never dig itself out. They were stuck. The door and the ramp closed. The scout Craft was protecting itself. It sensed danger.

Raph looked up to a commotion. The planet's inhabitants were attacking them. Neither Raph nor Doni had brought any weapons to protect themselves. The inhabitants were carrying sticks and rocks. Raph reached up to the rectangle that was the control panel. He almost got to it in time.

The last thing Raph felt was a spear entering his chest. He began to drain rapidly. He saw Doni be hit on the head with a strange object. Doni began to drain from the wound. Raph stared at the green ooze coming out of Doni's head.

Raph's world turned from green to grey, and then to black, and then there was nothingness. Raphael never did get to initialize his emergency trans-sender. There would be no help coming. When the Craft closed itself off, all contact with the Mother ship was lost.

The inhabitants began to stone the large shiny object. The object began to vibrate even more intensely. The inhabitants fell to the ground, grabbing their ears. All the inhabitants of the planet within one hundred yards of the Craft died quickly. Their internal organs were turning to jelly and disintegrated.

For thousands of years the scout Craft was imbedded in dirt and solid rock. The ground filled up around it and, it waited. The Craft defended itself many times. The artificial intelligence, which it had been programmed with, went into self preservation mode.

After centuries of sensing nothing, something strange happened; the Craft felt and recognized the touch of an intelligent creature. It attempted to make a connection.

The Craft glowed in recognition. These creatures were new, but similar to those that had built the Craft. The Craft made the decision that the creatures were friendly and that it would protect them and not harm them.

CHAPTER 1 - THE PURCHASE

I was looking through the news paper and saw the advertisement. Bargain - Two thousand acres of land near Cimarron, New Mexico, one thousand US dollars per acre - Contact Real Estate Agent. I showed the ad to my wife, Loretta.

She was not interested, but to appease me, she said, Okay, Larry Lee, I will go with you and look at it, but we are not buying it. She seemed to think that if she went with me, I would not be as inclined to purchase the land. She was correct in her thinking, I might be less inclined, but I would be more determined.

She continually did what I wanted her to do since my near fatal aneurism attack the previous year. She felt that she did not have to like it, just had to do it. She really did enjoy babying me.

I had not seen land so cheap, anywhere. The lowest price that I had seen had been five thousand per acre. That was for scrub land, not beautiful forest land. I had an idea where the land was and what it must look like. The area around Valley Vidal was primarily pristine forest with few houses or ranches. Generally the ranch houses in the area were beautiful places, mostly log cabins. The owners were fiercely protective of the forest and the animals. This had once been a giant hunting preserve. But now, very little hunting was allowed and it was strictly managed by the state.

In my mind, Loretta was the world's best wife. We had been married for more than thirty-five years and were now retired. We were supposed to be living the good years of our lives. The golden years, had not been being so golden. Two years earlier I had bought a large cabin cruiser and had it berthed in Galveston, Texas. I had been ill most of the past year with the brain aneurysm. During the repair surgery the aneurysm had ruptured, and I had nearly bled to death. The doctors at UT Southwest, in Dallas Texas had done a marvelous job of putting me back together, but the recovery had taken many months. I had been in a coma for over sixty days. I woke up to a new world.

I was a retired mechanical engineer and Loretta had retired from one of the Fortune Five Hundred companies. Actually, we were doing quite well in retirement. I had bought the cabin cruiser early in the previous year and had paid it off with my retirement money. Probably not the smartest thing I had ever done, but it had worked out okay. I had never been known for making the wisest of decisions. The best decision that I had ever made had been in marrying Loretta. We had a wonderful life together.

My cabin cruiser had set berthed in its slip for nearly a year now. I had been to visit it once. My good friends, the LeBosseys, had taken my entire family out in the cruiser. We had a fun time, and I had enjoyed the trip immensely. I had poured myself and over half of my retirement savings into that boat.

Loretta and I lived in Arlington Texas. We had lived there most of our lives. All our kids and grandkids lived within an hour of us. Sometimes that was a mite too close. I actually liked having my grandkids so close; it was usually their parents that got on my nerves. We had three children, and all three were married and had children of their own. I love my grand children fiercely.

We had taken our time in preparing for the trip to New Mexico. She constantly babied me. I fought it, but I loved it too. It was my job to make the list of items to take. Sometimes, I felt that she did not give me any slack at all. I had made the list, and was now ready to check everything off as we loaded it into the car. Loretta was helping me load the car.

We had prepared for the twelve-hour drive to New Mexico carefully. She had put all my medications into a large black canvas bag, so that I would not lose them. We had several suitcases loaded up. The trunk of our car was full. We were ready to go!

We left Arlington and drove to Amarillo, Texas, gassed up, and spent the night. The next morning we drove on to New Mexico and found the real estate agent in Cimarron, New Mexico. The agent, happily, drove us out to the location. It was huge, and beautiful! I was beginning to wonder why it was so cheap.

The current owner had only held it for five years before he decided to sell it. It was a tremendous bargain. The agent said, The land has been through six owners in the last fifty years. There is talk that the place is haunted. I was surprised that the agent told us all that information. I was thinking that I would have been quiet about the haunted part. Maybe that was supposed to pique our interest and curiosity. It had certainly gotten mine.

The property was just north of Cimarron, off the Valley Vidal road. It was near the Turner Ranch. It had buffaloes, bears, and elk running wild. There was more wild life than I had ever seen before. My first impression was that this was the most beautiful land that I had ever seen. I had to have it. I continued to wonder why the owner was selling it so cheap. I estimated that the owner was selling it for twenty cents on the dollar. I wanted to make an offer before anyone else did.

There were beautiful meadows, huge mountain peaks, and a large section of flat land. Clouds drifted between the mountains, providing shade and coolness from the hot sun. The place had charm. In the distance, the mountain peaks were touched with snow caps. I could not imagine selling it so cheaply.

Loretta and I were thoroughly impressed with the land. We drove over to our cabin on the other side of Angel Fire and I planned my attack on Loretta. I had to attack her in such a way that she did not realize that she had been attacked.

I want it! I said to her. Okay, it wasn't that much of an attack, but I was serious.

No way, she said, We don't have two million dollars! She was adamant.

If I can show you how we can pay for it, will you go along with me on it? I replied. I was giving it my all.

You can't. We don't have two million dollars, not even close to it. She argued.

Loretta, I was getting mad at her, you know that I love you, and would never try to fool you, but I have to have this place and I am willing to do whatever it takes to get it.

Okay, she said, Show me how! She had not given in, she was just humoring me.

I laid out my plan in front of her, spelled it all out, even most of my backup plans. She was game. I was not going to dicker over the price. It was already a steal. I think the part, which sold her, was when I told her, We can keep it for five years and sell it for ten thousand an acre, and pay off the loan. We would have a cool nineteen million dollars left over. Just think what you can buy with that much money!

She bought it. I was impressed with myself. I knew how to work Loretta! However, she still did not think the owner would accept my payout plan. I was not sure myself.

The next morning we met with the real estate agent and I laid out my plan in front of him. I planned to use my cabin cruiser for a half million dollar down payment. Then pay the owner an additional half million in cash that we had in a bank safety deposit box. I would agree to pay him one hundred thousand dollars per year for ten years, which would be the balance. I figured that I could sell elk tags and pay for half the payout or more each year. I could sell some buffalo and cattle that were grazing to make up the difference. As a last resort, I could borrow money from my mother. I laughed at the real estate agent and said, The worse that he can do is say no.

The agent laughed, but agreed with me. He thought the owner might seriously consider the offer. I was not haggling over the price. It was too cheap already. I was just negotiating on how it was to be paid out. I crossed my fingers the whole time that I was talking to the agent.

Loretta and I went back to our cabin and eagerly awaited the agent's phone call. There was not much to do at the cabin, but watch the phone. We took turns guarding it.

The phone rang; we both jumped up and nearly fought each other to see who was going to answer it. Loretta got to it, first. She said, Hello?

The agent got right to the point, The owner is agreeable to your terms, but he wants to meet you.

The following day, we met the owner, Mr. Linus Taylor, at his ranch house on the property. I did not know there was a ranch house that was included. The agent explained that the owner had included the ranch house at the last minute and that he now wanted interest on the balance.

Again, I wondered why he added the house into the property. It was beautiful, a large log cabin, magnificent. It had four bedrooms, formal living and dining rooms, a den, and an office. It had a large game room, and a huge sun room. The sun room had a large Jacuzzi in it. It would hold eight people. It was nice. I figured the Jacuzzi would get a lot of use. I could already see me entertaining hunters during the late fall season. I knew my oldest son Ryan wanted a trophy elk, and here it was, on my property. I would let him go first and shoot the trophy that he wanted. I was happy.

Loretta fell in love with the large, modern kitchen. She went around touching all the appliances. She particularly liked the large walk in freezer and the huge pantry. She said, as she looked at the kitchen, This is my idea of a ‘fun’ place. I let her enjoy herself.

The freezer would hold an elk or two deer. It even had hangers to hold the animals up. I was elated. I did not tell that to Loretta.

The inside of the cabin was of polished logs. The furniture that the owner was leaving was rustic, old west style. It was in good shape. There was an elk head over the fire place. The grounds were manicured, and it came with a live in caretaker, which I did not know about at this time. I was to find out that his wife was an excellent cook. This place is paradise, I mused.

The house was secluded in a beautiful canyon by a long drive. I wanted the property even more. The ponderosa pine trees were huge. There were fir trees dotting the landscape. There were even aspens growing at the higher elevations. Large blue spruce trees adorned the place. There were wild flowers growing everywhere. You could see orchards and gardens growing in the back of the meadow. Someone had spent a lot of time and money fixing this place up. It was story book pretty!

Large and small ponds were sprinkled all over. A year round creek flowed through one corner of the property. I could not wait to go fishing in the creek and some of the ponds. A large rose and flower garden caught Loretta's eye. It butted up to the National Forest on the back and one side. One side was Valley Vidal road, and the last side butted up to one of our neighbor's property.

We met Mr. Taylor. We both shook hands with him. Mr. Taylor was a tall, thin, and slightly stooped over man. He smiled, but had a look of sadness about him. His grey hair had a certain wind-blown look about it. He had piercing brown eyes.

Mr. Taylor said, Please call me Linus. He seemed taken aback by Loretta. He was an older man; I figured that he was at least eighty years old. He seemed to only want to talk to Loretta, so I let him. I knew what it was like to meet a younger, beautiful woman. Loretta put the charm on. Linus could not keep his eyes off Loretta.

I listened closely. Loretta was a tough negotiator. She had met her match though. She kept looking at me. I just smiled at her. She was doing fine. From the way she was acting and talking, I was not sure who wanted the land the most, myself or Loretta.

I loved Loretta more than anything in the world. She was such a beautiful woman. Linus could clearly see her internal beauty. He was hooked just like I was.

Loretta came over to me, and said, He is tough on the pay out, he wants interest. He also wants to have dinner with me tonight, without you!

The old codger! Go for it, I said. But, no interest! I knew the interest was more than I could handle. I admired the old man. He had true grit.

Loretta got home to the cabin, about ten p.m. She looked like she had been in a dog fight. Not literally, she was worn out. She said, Okay, no interest! But he has to see the cabin cruiser. She never told me exactly how she talked him out of the interest.

I helped her shower and then put her to bed. I kissed her good night and said, Good job honey, sweet dreams! I treated her like a queen for the night. After she went to bed, I sat up and studied my good fortune. I was on the verge of getting the most beautiful place that I had ever seen, for a song!

Now, I had to figure out how to pay for it. Suddenly, I was not that sure of my plan. I went over it again in my mind. It seemed sound, but I was worried. It was a lot of money. What if he did not like my cruiser, my plan could unravel so easily. A hundred thousand a year pay back was a heck of a lot of money. I was not so sure anymore. How in the world could I pay that much money back each year? It seemed insurmountable. Had I bit off more than I could chew? I was second guessing myself, and had to stop. I went to bed.

Loretta and I drove back home to Arlington, and made plans to go to Galveston. It was a hectic week. There were all kinds of documents that we had to fax back and forth. I wanted to be certain that the ranch house met the current codes. I knew that a lot of these places, out in the wilderness, were grand fathered in.

We had to go to the bank and get the half million dollars out of the safe deposit box. We put it in a brief case. The brief case was really full. I had taken my concealed weapon, a .380 semi automatic pocket gun with me. The little gun made me feel secure, while carrying so much money around.

Linus called us often and once asked us, would we pick him up in Houston and then take him to see the boat.

Loretta really purred to Linus, We would love to pick you up, see you then. Linus gave her his flight number, the time and the date of his arrival. She copied it all down.

A week later we were on our way to Galveston. As planned, we stopped off in Houston at the international air port and picked up Linus, I had Loretta go inside and get Linus. Then, we then drove on to my cabin cruiser. Linus was as excited to get the boat as I was to get his land. He was happy as a little boy in a candy store. I was not sure which excited him more, the boat, or Loretta's attention that she was showering on him. I let the boat sell itself.

I knew that I was getting a good deal. The boat had appraised two years ago at about three hundred fifty thousand dollars. I was not sure that it was worth a half million dollars. I was glad that Linus did not ask for a new appraisal. He seemed to trust Loretta, completely.

Linus wanted to hire Loretta as his assistant, but she meekly told him that she was already retired. Then he asked her, How about just being my friend. He was really infatuated with her. I did not hear her answer. I just smiled.

I took Linus out in my cabin cruiser. Showed him how everything worked and let him drive it, just like Jim the contractor had done with me when the boat had been rebuilt. Linus loved the boat. He shook my hand and said, Be careful of that place, it cost me more than I care to talk about. A cold chill went down my spine. I shook it off. He finally told us that all the owners of that piece of property had sold it cheap to get rid of it. He had lost his wife and only daughter while owning the land. He was convinced that there was something peculiar about the property. Fortunately Loretta did not seem concerned about the old man's stories. I figured there was probably some truth to them, but most likely they were just talk. When he told his stories, he seemed to have a grave sadness about him.

My heart went out to him. However, I do not believe in ghosts, so I was not worried.

Loretta comforted Linus; I thought he was going to cry. He went on and told us a number of spooky things that he had personally seen, and some that he was only aware of, but could not swear to. He also said that the Indians had even been afraid of the place and would not venture onto it. According to him, every owner had been eager to get rid of the property.

I wondered why he would tell all these stories to the buyers of his property. It made no sense. However, his warnings had a ring of truth to them. Linus seemed like a very honest man. I really liked him, and hoped this sale was as good to him, as it was being to me. I was excited.

Linus had a flight out of Houston early the next morning. So we offered to let Linus sleep on the boat with us. We would take him to the airport ourselves. Linus was agreeable to that, and I wanted him to tell us some more stories about the ranch. I was enjoying his stories.

We made it back in from the sea trial just fine. I was pulling into the slip, when I saw a familiar face. Fran yelled at us, I thought that was you guys.

I had not seen nor heard from Fran in more than six months. Once we were docked, I jumped off the boat and ran and picked her up and swung her around, like a little girl. She smiled a brilliant smile at me. I said, It is so good to see you, how is Bill?

Fran LeBossey said, Bill is doing fine. The cancer treatments are really helping. He is in remission. Bill was Fran's husband. He was a lot older than she was, and he had prostate cancer. He had retired from a GM dealership, and then found out he had cancer. Sometimes, life sucks.

That is good to hear, why don't you guys go to dinner with us? I asked.

She turned and looked at Loretta, and some kind of signal went on between them, that I was not privy too. Fran turned back to me, and smiled and said, Let me check with Bill, but I think so. She ran off down the dock toward their boat. They had a cabin cruiser docked, just down from ours.

Linus and I both watched her run. It was entertaining. She could really wiggle. Loretta, just looked at us, put her hands on her hips and said, Men! She was shaking her head, No.

We got Linus' bag out of our car and took it down to the boat. Linus and I shook hands and the gentleman's deal was completed. I went and got the briefcase with the five hundred thousand dollars in cash, and I handed it to Linus. He opened it, and his face lit up. Money has a way of talking in this world.

I had got this cash on two trips, very early last year, to the Florida Keys. Half of it was drug money, and half of it was money that Fran had paid me to go burn drugs that her husband had been after.

Loretta and I had gone up and down the Florida Keys with Bill and Fran in our two cabin cruisers. We had many adventures together and were very good friends. We had found drug money on one of the islands in the Keys. On the very next island that we visited, we found a sizable stash of different types of drugs. Bill wanted to go back and reclaim the drugs. Fran paid me to go and destroy them. Bill never knew our history behind this transaction. He went in search of the drugs, but found them burned and the area was a crime scene. It is a long saga, and one that needs telling, but, as they say, that is another story.

Loretta showed Linus where his state room was, we gave him the Captains room, since he was now the owner of the boat. Loretta went all over the boat and showed him how everything worked. Linus really ate it up. He seemed like a very nice, but sad, old man. Every time that he interacted with Loretta, he would perk right up.

Right at seven o'clock, the LeBosseys showed up and we introduced them to Linus and I told them that I was selling my boat to Linus. I shook Bill's hand and hugged Fran again. It was so good to see them. The five of us walked casually to the restaurant.

At the restaurant, Fran got me aside, and said, You can't sell your boat! If you and Loretta are in financial trouble, why didn't you call me? My dad will help you out!

I told her, No, but thanks for the offer. Fran came from a wealthy family and I had seen her get a quarter of a million dollars from her dad in a matter of hours.

Fran put her hands on her hips, signaling that she was really put out with me. I recognized the signal, and did my best to ignore it. It was like trying to ignore a rock star. She replied to me, Well, I never . . . .

Dinner was festive. Bill even smiled some. I asked Linus to tell us some more stories about the land that we were buying. I was really enjoying hearing about the land that I had purchased.

At first he steered clear of his wife and daughter's death. He was very knowledgeable and seemed to almost be a historian. He went through each of the previous owners and told about the tragedies that they had encountered while owning the land. Each of the stories involved an unexplained death in some manner. Before the night was over, Linus had freaked each one of us out.

Then Linus told how his wife and only daughter had gotten sick and died at the ranch, before anyone even knew that they were sick. They had died within a matter of hours of each other. He said the autopsy of each was identical. Their bodies had just shut down and they died, there was no specific cause of death. They had been out horseback riding and appeared to have Gotten into something. The autopsy had stated that several of their organs were like soft jelly. The Sheriff and the Coroner were completely baffled by what had happened. Linus' voice betrayed a certain amount of anger as he told the story.

Fran seemed excited, and wanted to go see the place. However, I was leery of inviting Bill and Fran to the place without asking Loretta first. Loretta was always getting on to me for inviting Fran to our place without checking with her first. Seeing Fran so excited meant that I was probably going to have a visitor tonight. Fran and I had spent many an evening together after our spouses had gone to bed. We primarily just talked to each other, and occasionally teased one another.

We finished dinner and went to the bar. I bought a drink for everyone. It seemed to make a festive occasion even better. We all walked back to Linus' boat, and I noticed that Fran was touching me with her finger tips. I did my best to ignore her. I knew that she was trying to get my attention, but I did not want to talk about my boat any more. Actually it was no longer my boat.

After Bill and Fran left, Loretta put Linus to bed and the two of us sat on deck and talked for a bit. I asked her what she thought of inviting the LeBosseys to our ranch. She did not answer me. She was starting to nod off! I punched her in the arm softly, and told her, Go to bed sweetheart, have sweet dreams!

She smiled and looked around, and then said, Don't get into any trouble, Larry Lee. With that, she got up and went to bed. I knew exactly what she meant. I had no plans at all of getting into any trouble. I did not even know if Fran