A Vase of Flowers

By David J. Wighton

The Cosmos Minister of Justice knows that the warlock that controls Planet Pacifica has made it lawful to murder citizens who speak out against him. Even if they could charge him with a crime, Bug Splatter's magic powers make him too dangerous to physically approach. They can't capture him, interrogate him, testify against him, judge him, imprison him, or even execute him. Even Winnie is stymied.

• Language: English
• Publisher: David J. Wighton
• Release date: May 26, 2022
• ISBN: 9781005085971

David J. Wighton

David Wighton is a retired educator who enjoys writing youth novels when he's not on a basketball court coaching middle-school girls. The books in his Wilizy series peek at how people lived after the word's governments collapsed in the chaos that followed the catastrophic rise in ocean levels and the disappearance of the world's last deposits of oil. Luckily today, in the 2080s, the citizens of Alberta are safe because their It's Only Fair society uses brain-bands to zap people whenever they break a rule. That way, all children grow up knowing the difference between right and wrong. Unfortunately, they're also taught that women's ankles need to be covered so that men can't see them and turn into perverts. Plus, no-one in Alberta can have babies any more because the government manufactures them in a way that ensures that no child has an unfair advantage over any other child. All of this makes sense to Alberta's dictator, but not to Will and Izzy – two teenagers who are decidedly different from everyone else.Wighton's novels have strong teenage characters driving the plot and facing challenges that, in many respects, are no different from what teenagers face today. His novels are intended to entertain and readers will find adventure, romance, suspense, humour, a strong focus on family, plus a touch of whimsy. Wighton also writes to provoke a little thought about life in today's societies and what the future might bring. Teachers may find the series useful in the classroom and the novels are priced with that intent in mind.

Book preview

Chapter 1

Marion Cunningham found an empty seat in the room reserved for Cosmos Observers, sat down, and did a quick count of the number of recruits for the third intake of wiffle/waffles from her former home planet. There were ten, plus Fonzie who was standing waiting for everybody to settle into their chairs. [Resolute had selected Fonzie to be the head of the observers, which should not be a surprise to any of my readers. Everybody loved Fonzie.]

Fonzie and Mary-Beth had volunteered for the first intake that consisted of twenty recruits. Howard Cunningham had volunteered for the second intake of ten. Marion had wanted to volunteer too, but Howard wasn't comfortable with her working outside the house. He said that she should be a stay-at-home mom, watch over the kids, make meals, clean the house, etc. That didn't go over too well, but Marion wasn't one to make a fuss.

The house that she had to clean was a three-bedroom apartment on the third floor of a tower that had been constructed on Planet Cosmos specifically for the observer teams. They were two blocks away from schools and three blocks away from the portal that gave access to the Cosmos government center. Joanie was six and very happy to be learning what a school was. Ritchie was twelve and unhappy. Given the nature of the schools that he had attended on their home planet, namely none, he was in the process of learning that his school didn't take attendance and wasn't much inclined to start doing anything like that. Ritchie was hanging out with other misfits in the school, who were easily identified by the black leather jackets that they wore and the greasy slicked-back hair that they combed a lot. Ritchie Cunningham, dropout in training. Go figure.

With nothing to do during the day, Marion listened with interest as Howard described his first couple of weeks as an observer. She was especially interested in the spaceship that he would travel in and see the Cosmos. She had two 'go-to' options that might convince good old Howard that she would be a very effective observer.

The first option was to move Howard's pillow and blanket to the couch. She was reluctant to do this. The nuclear option, so to speak, had to be employed only in serious cases. It wouldn't work if Howard became used to the couch. That left the second option. She would ask Howard to solve her problem for her. This usually worked because Howard wasn't the sharpest knife in the drawer. That designation was reserved for Marion who hid her candle underneath the basket, or to be consistent in metaphors, kept her knife sheathed, but well honed.

You may be wondering why asking the dullest knife in the drawer for help would work. Marion's solution was one that worked well for women who wanted men to think that they ruled the roost, but in truth, they were only living in it under permission from the hen. This required a passive-aggressive approach. Guess who had that in spades, or metaphorically, in a full carton of eggs.

Each night, Marion would raise the dilemma she was facing with Howard: I don't have anything to do. That was followed by the entreaty: What should I do, Sir Rooster?

The rooster didn't know, but made an effort to come up with a solution.

The next day, Marion explained how she had tried to do as Howard had suggested, but that didn't work. What should I do, Sir Rooster?

The more times that Marion tried to do as Howard had suggested without success, the less roosterish he appeared. Soon, he would begin to fear that his hen might figure out that he didn't know anything and was grasping at straws, which are good for making nests, something that no rooster would be seen doing. In desperation, and in danger of having his rooster comb removed surgically by a sharp and honed knife, Howard did what he should have done a long time ago. He asked his wife for input. What would you like to do, Marion?

# # # # # # # #

Off we go to Earth where it's the last week of August. Maddy had popped into the school to pick up her Grade 12 class schedule and was meeting with Coach Aideen.

Will you play soccer again, Aideen asked.

Sure.

Will you coach?

I can, but did you want to?

I'll coach next year. I know more about soccer now. I'll just do what you did. How was your summer?

I helped coach some young baseball players in week long clinics. It gave me spending money and I got to practice after hours. Maureen brought a lot of good players together for her oldest age group. Instead of practicing, we went on a tour and played exhibition games. We had a great team a couple of years ago, and all of them will be playing for the Wildcats next year.

Will you be pitching?

And catching. I get more at bats that way.

I'm going to be assistant coach for the U of A Wildcats this year, Coach Aideen reported. We should have a good freshman team. Some of last year's team have been working out on the machines already.

Patina?

Who's Patina?

Tina. She changed her name.

She hasn't been out at all. Kimberly had volunteered to help her but she never showed. She wasn't impressed.

Huh. She told me that she'd be working out all summer.

Well, she didn't.

# # # # # # # #

Fonzie was wrapping up. Minister Resolute's effort to convince all planets to have extradition treaties is almost complete. We have two planets to go now. You'll take a tour around this area of the Cosmos and then you'll observe on the last planet.

Is this our meeting room now, Fonzie?

It used to be a private dining room for the Cosmos executive, but it's ours now. This will give you free access to the cafeteria, but no further into the building. You can come to this room any time you want. Think of it as a sort of clubhouse.

[Sewage Breath had been adamant that no observer could enter the main building because they hadn't been through a security check. Being a wiffle/waffle was not a good enough cause to relax security. Giving them the dining room as a clubhouse had been the compromise.]

Will we wear the blue caps next week?

No, not during the tour. You aren't officially observers yet. But once you are, a carton of blue caps is in the closet and you can pick up one there.

# # # # # # # #

Maddy. What a nice surprise!

Mrs. Sigurdson, I was looking for Patina. Is she at home? [Maddy already knew the answer to that question.]

She's working.

At this hour?

She has to restock the grocery store's shelves after it's closed. She should be home around midnight.

I'll catch her at the store.

It's all locked up.

I'll tap on the windows.

...

Maddy's devil body found Patina in the back of the store, shelving canned goods. Her angel body sent Patina a mind message that somebody was tapping on the window of the store and then she left the store to start tapping on the window in her Maddy body.

...

I have to work, Patina yelled through the door.

Open the door and we can talk.

It's on an alarm.

There's gotta be one door that you can open.

I can't let anybody in the store. They'll fire me if I do. I need this job.

Why are you stocking shelves? I thought you wanted to try to go to university.

I can't.

Why not?

Because I'm a retard.

No, you aren't.

Yes, I am and I have proof.

Back to the Table of Contents

Chapter 2

This will be our final meeting before the operation begins, Winnie informed the rest of the advance team. That advance team consisted of Mirage, Reese, Shields and Winnie. They were the angels who had spent the last week poking into every nook and cranny of the third Wonder of the Cosmos, namely Planet Six Moons. Cranny-wise, they had focused on Moon #6, the gambling moon. You'll remember the gambling moon. Reese certainly did and was very happy to be making a return visit. Winnie's advance team had been searching for criminals, and Reese was finding a lot of them with his face color skills. Mirage was also finding criminals, but in her own unique way. Most of the time, she found the same men as Reese. When they didn't agree, they'd look at the suspects together and make a decision. Who would be caught and who wouldn't?

Shields was with them because she had brought them to this part of the Cosmos in Heaven.7, a scout ship that had speed but no weaponry. Winnie was there because her role, apart from the planning, was to drone all of the criminals Reese/Mirage uncovered. Shields' job was to monitor the drones so that they could capture the criminals easily when it was time to do so.

By now, you'll have figured out that this excursion to Moon #6 was part of Resolute's determination to motivate every planet in the Cosmos to respect extradition requests. Planet Six Moons posed some challenges that required some alterations to what they had done with the earlier recalcitrant planets. In this case, they would surround the planet with an armada of space ships that would prevent anybody from leaving or arriving. This would damage Six Moons' economy and put pressure on the political masters. In addition, undercover agents would enter Moon #6 and uncover criminal elements that would justify the armada. As noted above, they were the advance team.

Shields' Heaven.7 was the only Cosmos space ship currently in the area. Preventing spaceships from leaving or arriving was an impossible task because Planet Six Moons was a tourist haven. Hundreds of ships arrived and left daily. However, that very popularity would provide the incentive for Planet Six Moons' government to respect extradition requests. At least that was the theory.

Winnie's overall plan was very basic: First, go undercover and identify the criminals who were able to live openly on Moon #6 because of the absence of extradition agreements. Second, enter Moon #6 officially and capture them. Third, inform the moon's political masters that the presence of these criminals could mean that the Planet Six Moons would lose its Cosmos gambling and liquor licenses if Moon #6 didn't agree to extradite the criminals that were now in custody. As you can see, there was nothing sneaky about this plan.

There was, however, one little glitch that had to be de-glitched. Reese and Mirage had identified more criminals than what other planets had asked for. That meant that some bad colored employees would go free if they weren't identified as criminals in some fashion other than via their face colors. Bad face colors were not evidence of criminal activity.

# # # # # # # #

Patina, I know you're in the house, Maddy called through the closed front door. I'm not leaving until you talk with me. Maddy knew that Patina was awake and moving around because she had already used another body to wander around inside.

Patina cracked the door open and leaned on it. I don't want to talk with you.

Too bad, Maddy responded and shoved the door open enough for her to enter. Where's your mom?

Sculpting at her house.

Where should we talk?

Kitchen. I'm having breakfast.

I brought some doughnuts to share.

# # # # # # # #

What are our final numbers? Winnie asked.

We have thirty-seven extradition requests, Mirage replied.

I'm watching fifty-two criminals, Shields added. That includes the president of Moon #6 that Reese found. He might be why they wouldn't honor extradition requests.

I knew that there had to be a high level muckety mutt, Reese added. How will we jail the fifteen that aren't wanted by other planets?

That will be up to Justice, Winnie replied. She's on her way now with Gilead and his soldiers.

Will we be needed after they arrive? Shields asked.

Yes. Some of them will try to hide inside the building, Winnie predicted. Gilead's soldiers will have to come into the building and chase them down. We'll need you to tell them where they're hiding.

What will you do if some of them hide in the basement with the money? Mirage asked. Those vaults look impenetrable.

I'm still working on that part of the plan, Winnie confessed.

# # # # # # # #

So the university didn't accept you as a student. You knew that they probably wouldn't.

Yeah, Patina said eloquently.

You have a whole year to improve your grades.

"I'd need more than that. Maddy, I didn't graduate from high school. I received a school-leaving certificate, which means that I attended school for twelve years. It doesn't say that I learned anything, which I didn't."

But, you know how to learn now and you want to learn now. Why can't you go back to school and try again?

One reason is I'd have to repeat grades 9, 10, 11, and 12.

Who said so?

Snoot face.

Who's he?

"Vice Principal