Chapter 5:  Sing Your Heart Out

The BWG’s slept in late the next morning and then trudged, bleary-eyed, into the Starlight dining room at 11:30 for a late brunch. Uncle Andrew just chuckled under his breath and shook his head at the activities of youth. Later, they went to the National Cattle Congress Fairgrounds to see Uncle Andrew show his sheep. They spent a great afternoon tromping around the grounds and seeing the different exhibits and the various judging. Uncle Andrew placed first for grain-fed sheep for the nation and the group had much to celebrate later on in the day.

Just after 5:00, the gang returned back to their hotel, collapsing for a much-needed nap. Uncle Andrew had stayed back at the Fairgrounds to orchestrate the return of his stock to his home with his farmhands. At 6:30, the girls woke up and started to get ready for their night out. Their rooms were connected by a door in between and the four women walked back and forth between the rooms as they got prepared for the evening to come.

Trixie pulled a dress out of her closet and held it in front of her body. She heard a low wolf-whistle behind her and turned to see Honey standing not to far off.

“Wow, Trixie, that’s a dress!” she exclaimed.

“Yeah, I know it’s a dress…”Trixie drawled.

Honey came up beside her and took the hanger gently out of her hands. “No, Trixie, I mean, this is some dress! When did you buy it?” She eyed her best friend curiously from the corner of her eye.

Trixie’s face flushed slightly and she squirmed a little under her friend’s curious inquisition. “Oh, about a month ago,” she answered evasively, “It was on sale at Dillards and I figured I could splurge on one nice dress for this trip.”

Right then, both Hallie and Di walked through the connecting door and stopped in their tracks.

“That’s a great dress, Honey,” stated Hallie. Honey looked over at them and handed the dress back to Trixie.

“It’s not my dress,” said Honey,” it’s Trixie’s.” Di and Hallie exchanged a wide-eyed glance.

“Wow, Trixie, Jim’s not going to know what hit him,” drawled Hallie with a chuckle. Trixie flushed darkly at that but said nothing.

“That’s what I’ve been thinking,” added Honey. “Come on, Trixie, let’s get Cinderella all dressed up for the evening.”

The girls primped and preened and thirty minutes later, they were all beautiful creations ready for an evening of fun and festivity. Hallie wore an ankle length silky navy blue skirt with matching spaghetti-strapped chemise top. Di chose a flirty black skirt that fell above her knees with a sexy top in deep purple. Honey decided to wear the dark green dress that she brought along, a number that hugged in all the right places, dipped low in the back, and hinted at the secrets of her cleavage below. But, everyone agreed that Trixie was definitely the belle of the ball.

Trixie’s black dress had a deep V in the front, had no back, fell to mid-thigh, and was barely held on her body by tiny spaghetti straps. The material itself was a muted-satin that lightly shimmered when she moved. It was impossible to wear a bra with such a dress but Trixie’s youthful and bountiful cleavage had no trouble pulling that feat off. Trixie’s shoulder length tresses were now piled on top of her head with a few tendrils caressing her face on each side. She had decided to really make up her face and wore smoky-blue eyeliner with light silver eye shadow that simply made her blue eyes pop beautifully in her pretty face. Her lips simply looked like they needed to be kissed as she wore a luscious peach lipstick. The entire ensemble was completed with flirty black pumps that made her legs appear to be a mile long.

The girls all stood around Trixie and looked happily upon their masterpiece. Trixie was still standing before the large mirror, not sure if she could go through with such a look for the entire evening. She admitted to herself that she really did look beautiful and the knowledge really disarmed her. She was scared of what the night was to bring but she was determined to come into the ring swinging, so desperate was she in hoping that Jim would make a move.

After their time together at the Hancock House, she was so utterly frustrated from her years of loving him that she felt like she was going to burst from the anxiety. Looking at the beautiful lady reflected in the mirror, Trixie prayed that this night might make them speak about their feelings and get everything out in the open. She was so tired of being his maybe-special girl that she was ready to go for broke. Either they step forward in their relationship during this trip or she was going to give up on him for good.

A knock sounded on their hallway door. Honey gave Trixie a wink and sashayed over to the door with a secret smile on her lips. If Brian had executed their plan, she knew exactly who was going to be on the other side of that door.

“Hey, Honey, you guys ready?” asked Jim as he started to walk into the room. “I don’t know why, but Brian insisted that I come and retrieve you ladies and…”

Jim’s voice trailed off as his eyes wandered across the room and spied Trixie just as she turned to look at him. He couldn’t believe his eyes for the vision that stood before him. There was the woman that he loved with all of his heart, the woman of his dreams, and she was the most beautiful woman he had ever laid his eyes upon.

Honey looked with satisfied amusement between her best friend and her big brother as they just stared at each other across the room. All she could think was YES! Di and Hallie had been leaning inside the connecting door jam since they had also heard the knock.

“Honey, come get those earrings of mine that you’re going to wear,” started Hallie from the other door.

Honey’s eyes swiveled over to the ladies and asked with a confused tone, “What earrings?” Then she saw the pointed look that Di was giving her and picked up on the diversionary tactic. “Oh! Those earrings!”

Immediately, Honey left the room to join the quietly giggling pair of Di and Hallie in the other room. They decided to wait as long as they could in the other room before returning.

Jim gazed at Trixie for a moment longer before his feet moved him to her side on their own behalf. He shook his head in wonderment as she was even more beautiful close up.

Finally, Trixie couldn’t take it any more. “Well?” she demanded impatiently. When Jim still didn’t say anything, she self-consciously turned away from him and fiddled with her pic on the dresser top. “I know, I look silly,” she began.

She continued to fiddle with her toiletries on top of the dresser without looking up. She didn’t want to see Jim’s expression in the mirror. Suddenly, she felt Jim’s hands cup her shoulders from behind, softly caressing her shoulders with his thumbs. After standing like that for a moment, Jim moved Trixie’s frame around to face him, tilting her chin up to look directly into his eyes.

“Trixie,” he started huskily, “you do not look silly! You look so the opposite of silly that you literally took my breath away!”

The expression in Trixie’s eyes changed from one of fear to one of happy-surprise. “You mean that, Jim?”

Jim’s lips formed an honest smile. “Completely.”

Trixie smiled back at him, flirtatiously. “You don’t look too bad yourself!”

Jim stepped back and mocked a model’s pose. “You think?”

Trixie’s lips quirked. “Yeah, you’ll do.”

“Hey!” Jim knew she was teasing him but he couldn’t help reacting to that. He lunged toward her, his hands moving to tickle her mercilessly. Trixie giggled and protested that he stop. As soon as she could, she was tickling him in his most sensitive spot under his arms. They were intertwined like a crazy pretzel, each trying to get the upper hand.

Jim’s hand accidentally made contact inside Trixie’s dress. When his fingers brushed against her pouting nipple, he froze in his spot and looked down at Trixie anxiously. He didn’t want to dishonor her, but he also wanted to see her reaction. When Jim’s finger brushed against her bare breast, an electric shock shot through Trixie’s body and she froze as well. Slowly, she looked up at him and licked her lips nervously.

With a mind of it’s own, Jim’s thumb brushed across Trixie’s tip again. His eyes were fixed on her moist lips and his heart was pounding the can-can within his chest. They groaned simultaneously and Jim’s head started to descend toward her beckoning lips.

“We better get going,” started Hallie as she entered the room again, followed directly by Honey and Di. They all froze at the scene they interrupted and literally collided into each other.

“Oh my!” Hallie stated inadequately.

Trixie and Jim shot apart as fast as they could, though Jim’s hand caught within her dress top momentarily and they had to extract him without disrobing her. Jim moved to a good five feet away from the women and stared, red-faced at the floor. Trixie in turn glared at her cousin for interrupting at the worst time. She avoided the glances of Honey, whose mouth was agape, and Di, whose eyes were huge saucers. Hallie’s eyes danced with merriment though she didn’t say anything else.

Always the model of tact and decorum, Honey cleared her throat and started to move to grab her purse from her bed. “Yes, we should get going, I’m sure everyone is getting impatient and we don’t want to be late,” she babbled without looking at anyone. She avoided looking at either Trixie or Jim. She was glad that they almost kissed, but it was also very strange and awkward to see the two most important persons in her life, interacting like that.

Jim took that opportunity to take his leave. “I’ll go tell the men that you are coming!” he stated and fairly ran from the room.

The room stayed silent for a long moment after he left. Finally, Hallie broke the silence. “Trixie…” she started, question and intrigue in her voice.

Trixie held up her hand for silence, indicating that she wasn’t going to talk about it. Grabbing her small handbag, she said, “Let’s go.” She then escaped from the room, as well, slowly followed by the other three ladies.

Twenty minutes later, the BWG’s SUV pulled up in front of a huge structure that was surrounded by the Cedar River on three sides.

“The Broom Factory?” quipped Mart from the middle seat to his sister who was driving. “I thought we were going out to eat not to some broom factory!”

Trixie laughed outright at that. “It is a restaurant, silly,” she explained with a chuckle, “It used to be a broom factory.”

A collective “Oh!” was heard throughout the confines of the vehicle as Trixie found a spot near the entrance to park and turned off the car. They all slowly climbed out and Uncle Andrew led the way to the restaurant’s door. Before they could reach the door handle, the door swung open and a delighted Coral stood holding the door open for them.

“So great to see you guys!” she exclaimed as she gave each of the girls a quick hug and smiled brightly at the gentlemen. “I’ve had them pick a very special table for the group and they just got it all ready for us. Dash had to work late at the theater, as usual, but he’ll meet up with us tonight at Mainly Lou’s, probably about 11:00 or so.”

Trixie looped her arm with Coral’s as Coral led them to the restaurant’s maitre di who was waiting on them. They then followed the smartly-dressed gentleman to a huge table set in a nook of the factory-restaurant, two huge windows encased their table with amazing views of the Cedar River and the falls. They could also see the old water-wheel not far off that used to create much of the energy that ran the broom factory when it was in full order.

“The theater, what theater are you speaking of?” asked Brian kindly of their hostess.

Coral dimpled and stated proudly, “Oh, my brother is the technical director of the Waterloo Playhouse and Blackhawk Children’s Theater. You know, he makes all the sets and scenery for all the shows, has for over 6 years.”

“That must be really neat!” exclaimed Dan and the others murmured their agreement.

“Yeah, it really is,” agreed Coral. “I’m just glad that he finally found something that he really enjoyed. For a while after his divorce, he was floundering around a lot in his life and didn’t have much hope for doing something he enjoyed. When I was studying in Mexico, I suggested to him via e-mail that he look into working for theaters full time as he had done it part time for the Cedar Falls Playhouse across the street for a few years and really enjoyed it. Luckily, he looked around and found that job at the Playhouse. He has quite a following, too. He must have 40 high school and college kids who help him build the sets and all that just because they like being around him. Many of those kids were the performers you saw at the Ren Faire.”

“Really?” asked Di. “There were many younger performers.”

“Yes,” added Coral. “My brother became involved in the Ren Faire scene and then the kids eventually followed.”

“You speak very highly of your brother,” stated Jim.

“Yeah, I do,” said Coral with a chagrined-smile. “We’ve been through a lot together. He moved out when I was five to go to college and I had to grow up in a lot of neglect and abuse. When the courts wanted to remove me from my parents’ home, my brother stepped up and said that I could live with him. Otherwise I would have gone into the foster system and who knows what would have happened to me then!”

“I totally know what you mean,” stated Dan with a soft smile, “I was a teen orphan and my uncle took me in. I was in with a really bad crowd and I hate to think of where my life would have been now if Uncle Reagan didn’t take me on and into his life!”

Hallie squeezed his hand in comfort and understanding. “I’m sure you would have still turned out differently than being in the gangs and all that, Dan. Your true character would have surfaced eventually and you would have changed your life on your own!” Dan smiled broadly at her beside him and squeezed her hand back, grateful for her faith in him.

“I’m not much different,” interjected Jim. “I was a runaway, trying to make it on my own, when Trixie and Honey found me and eventually the Wheeler’s adopted me. They all gave me a new chance at life, to have a life and to have dreams.”

“That’s so wonderful!” exclaimed Coral with a quick squeeze of Jim’s hand across the table. “Our kind are a tough bunch, but I think we have a lot to give the world, as we have lived through so much and have the compassion to help others.”

“Jim is going to have his own wilderness school to help children like you three,” Trixie added proudly.

“That’s awesome!” stated Coral. “I have my own dreams of running my own non-profit organization for disadvantaged youth someday. But for now, I’m just working with the disadvantage youth and helping them to have more fulfilling lives.”

“Really, where do you work now?” asked Di from around the table.

“I’m the Youth Activity Coordinator for the Boys and Girls Club of Waterloo. I coordinate and run all the activities for children ages five to twelve.”

Honey’s heart warmed at the idea of working at such a place, as she loved children so dearly. “That must be a really rewarding experience!” she stated passionately. “Over the years, we have raised money to help different groups like UNICEF, but we have never done anything to help the Boys and Girls Club of America.”

“Well, if you all would like to, we are always looking for volunteers to come in and hang out with the kids at the Club,” suggested Coral. “I realize that it is your Spring Break and all that, but if you would like to come in for an hour or so some night that you are here, I bet you would have lots of fun!”

“Really? We could actually come hang out with the kids just for a day?” Honey was really excited.

“Sure!” Coral concluded. “We often have college students come in for one or two days for college classes. The kids are used to it and love it when the college students take an interest in them. And I know they would be excited to meet friends of mine from New York!”

Trixie looked around at the excited faces at the table and spoke over the passionate small talk at the table. “I motion that we spend part of one of the days left here to volunteer at the Boys and Girls Club of Waterloo!’

The table became quiet at this and Coral looked on with amusement and confusion.

“And as Co-President of the BWG’s, I second the motion,” added Jim by her side.

“All in favor of spending a day at the Boys and Girls Club say ‘Ay’,” directed Trixie.

A unanimous “Ay” filled the corner of the restaurant and Coral laughed with glee.

“Motion is passed,” stated Trixie, then turned to Coral. “What day would be best for you?”

Coral looked at her dubiously. “Any day would be fine, but could you please explain what just happened here?”

Jim noticed the waiter hovering near them again. “I’d be glad to explain that to you, but first we should give our order,” Jim started, nodding his head in the direction of the hovering young waiter nearby. “That poor waiter has been coming over every minute or so to see if we were ready and we haven’t even looked at the menus yet!”

“Oh, dear, you’re right!” exclaimed Honey and the group immediately stopped conversation to peer into their large menus of gourmet cuisine.

Once their orders were given, the Bobwhites started to fill Coral in on their semi-secret club and how they all first met and came together over the years. Coral was fascinated by all of the stories of adventure and mystery that they discussed in such a familiar, fun way with each other, tripping over each other’s sentences, and laughing frequently.

“Wow, you all are certainly a tight bunch!” exclaimed Coral. “And what adventures you’ve had! Trixie, you and Honey should be detectives with all the mysteries you have solved!”

Jim stepped in, “They’re going to be. We all have our dreams and it has been their dream since about the time they met to open their own detective agency someday.”

Coral looked on them with concern. “But aren’t you afraid? There are a lot of awful people out there and you are going to be going head-to-head with them.”

“Unfortunately, I’m afraid that their family and friends are the ones that are afraid,” interjected Uncle Andrew, “but these two usually feel their fear after the fact.” He smiled lovingly at his niece and her best friend.

Brian wrapped his arm around Honey tighter and said, “It really is hard for us, the ones that love them, but we have to support them in their dreams and in what they are passionate about.” His eyes caught Jim’s across the table and they shared a look of understanding and compassion.

“But they will receive all the training that they need in order to remain safe in their work,” added Jim quietly. “We’ll still worry about them, though.” Coral assumed that Jim was speaking of his sister’s well-being, but everyone knew that he was really thinking of Trixie.

The Bobwhites gasped as the lights in the restaurant dimmed suddenly, in the falling dusk of the Iowa evening, and the small lights from overhead crystal chandeliers and candles on the tables flickered in a totally romantic manner. The effect was so beautiful and quick that the group just sat in silence for a moment taking it all in.

“Oh, Mart, look at that!” exclaimed Di softly, indicating the sun setting over the waterfalls. The sky was full of the colors of a typical Iowa sunset with bright pinks, purples, oranges, yellows, and blues, the sun a huge red fireball dipping slowly into the water.

“That is so beautiful!” stated Trixie breathlessly.

“Yup, you never get tired of it,” stated Coral. “I’ve traveled all over the world but Iowa still has the prettiest sunsets I’ve ever seen. Actually, it has been rated for years to have one of the top 10 prettiest sunsets in the world.”

Jim put his arm around Trixie without thinking and snuggled her into his side as they gazed out the large window together. “I can certainly see why!” he said and the rest of the gang agreed with him quietly, lost in the myriad of colors across the sky.

They quietly watched as the sun disappeared beneath the waters of the Cedar River and the colors of the Iowa sky changed again to a darker kaleidoscope of color. The waiter showed up then and the group turned their attention to their soups or salads while the talked small talk about Iowa and the Waterloo-Cedar Falls community.

A little after 9:00, the group finished their meal and exited the restaurant. The sky was dark now, full of twinkling diamonds, and the sidewalks around the Cedar River and the Broom Factory were lit by thick street lights with large white, romantic balls on top. Coral mentioned that it was too early to go over to Mainly Lou’s as the hosts of kareoke never even showed up until at least ten o’clock. There was a nice café across the street from the Broom Factory and they decided to meet up there by ten o’clock. Coral also indicated the romantic parks around the water of the Cedar River and the falls and stated that she figured some of the group would like to walk around in the moonlight. She was not oblivious to the couples in the group, though she wasn’t sure if they were all paired off or not. Hallie and Dan acted like they cared for each other but weren’t together and it was obvious Jim and Trixie were just a duo of frustrated unrequited love!

In the end, Coral went to the café with Uncle Andrew and they spoke more about living in Iowa and their different connections in the state while the four pairs separated in different directions to walk around the moon-and lamp-lit waters of the park.

Trixie and Jim walked side by side, making small talk about Coral, Iowa, and their trip so far. They were both very conscious of the other, their hearts beating heavily in their chests, and they avoided touching each other. Eventually, they came to a black iron park bench along the shore and Jim suggested that they sit for a while. Trixie agreed and allowed him to take her hand and direct her over to the park bench. He dusted off the bench seat with his hand before gently tugging her down on the seat beside him. Trixie smiled softly at his courtesy but otherwise gazed out at the water, the night full with unspoken thoughts and feelings.

They sat in nervous silence for a few minutes and then Trixie shivered lightly in the cooling night air coming off of the water.

“Here,” stated Jim and took off his light jacket and placed it around her shoulders, wrapping it’s folds more around her upper body.

Trixie turned and gave him a sweet smile. “Thanks,” she said softly, not sure what else to say.

Finally, Jim couldn’t take it any more. “Trixie, was there ever anyone else besides Michael?” he asked quietly, but firmly.

Trixie turned and looked at him with wide eyes. “In college, you mean?” she asked in almost a whisper.

“Yeah, in college or otherwise.”

Trixie’s eyes avoided him at all cost and she wasn’t sure how to answer him.

“No…Michael’s the only guy I’ve ever dated for real.” There, she answered his question literally and didn’t have to mention whether there was anyone in her heart over the years. She turned and looked at him directly. “Did you ever date anyone else besides Alisha?”

Jim was uncomfortable at the question but knew that she deserved an honest answer. “I have dated other women casually in college,” he stated.

Trixie’s eyes clouded with sadness and disappointment. “Oh…” was all she could say.

Jim gently turned her chin up to look at him. “But, there hasn’t been anyone serious for me in college.”

“Oh.” Trixie realized that she was starting to sound like a record, but she just couldn’t think of anything else to say. She licked her lips nervously and pulled away from his grasp slightly. “Why not? There must be plenty of beautiful, intelligent women at your university and in your classes. Why weren’t you interested in any of them?”

Jim wanted her to really understand him. “For one, I’m so busy. You should understand that with your own double major, but with my double duty of Business and Education majors, it doesn’t leave much time to do my laundry or buy groceries, let alone date someone!”

“Yeah, I understand that,” Trixie said quietly, looking at Jim from the corner of her eyes. “But you said that ‘for one’ you were so busy and couldn’t date. What is your ‘for two’ or ‘for three’?”

Jim’s hands moved from his lap and moved to envelope both of hers. “I’m very picky in whom I give my affections to, Trixie,” he stated huskily, his eyes searching hers in the moonlight. “Only very special ladies get my attention, and I’ve found only one in my whole life who could steal my heart.”

Trixie’s eyes were wide with fear and love as she gazed up at him. “Really? Who stole your heart?”

Before Jim could answer a high pitched shriek filled the night. Trixie jumped up off the bench, the jacket falling from around her shoulders.

“That sounded like Di!” she said anxiously. “We better check it out.”

Jim grabbed his jacket and slipped it back on. “It sounded like it came from over there.” He pointed to the west and they hurried off down the lamp-lit path in search of their friend.

A minute later, they came upon Di and Mart clowning around by the water’s edge.

“Mart, stop it!” Di said, laughing uproariously as Mart faked trying to push her into the dark water, but his strong arms kept her safe from harm.

Di noticed Trixie and Jim coming up to them with stern looks on their faces. “Oh, hey, guys! Mart’s been teasing me about the water creatures in the Cedar River and he’s been trying to push me in.” Di laughed up at her fiancee and she totally missed the shared look of annoyance that passed between Trixie and Jim.

“Thanks, Mart, we thought Di was really in danger and came running,” stated Trixie, clearly annoyed with her brother.

“Yeah, you owe me one, buddy!” declared Jim darkly as he glared at Mart.

Mart’s laughing eyes changed to seriousness as he realized what had happened and that both his sister and friend were really annoyed with him. “I’m sorry, guys, we were just playing around,” he apologized, genuinely sorry.

“You are your playing around,” muttered Trixie under her breath as she thought of the moment that her brother had interrupted with his games.

Jim felt totally the same way but they couldn’t return to that moment again. He looked at his wristwatch in the lamplight. “Well, bygones, guys,” he tried to get everyone to move on, “it’s almost ten, we need to hustle our way back to the café if we want to meet everyone in time.”

The foursome rushed off around the trails of the park and arrived at the café at the strike of ten o’clock. Everyone else was inside laughing and having a great time.

“Sorry, we’re late,” stated Mart, “I was playing around and we lost track of time.”

Trixie smiled at her brother for taking responsibility for what happened and he returned her smile lightly, knowing that he was back in her good graces.

Quickly, the group left the café and walked down the block to the restaurant-bar that they would be hanging out in for the next few hours. Once inside the darkened interior, they looked about the bar-side of the establishment and found it inviting and not intimidating. There were only a few other people in the place thus far, besides the young bartender and the establishment’s female owner, Lou, behind the bar wiping out glasses. The group gazed at the booths along the entire right wall, the small stage at the end of the building leading to the back hallway where the restrooms were, and the long bar that took up most of the left side of the bar. The guys were excited about the pool table that was in the middle of the large open floor in front of the stage.

Coral bellowed hello to Lou and Ryan, the bartender, and then indicated that the group should probably sit in the large circular tables right inside the bar before the booths as that was the only chance that they would have of all being together. Everyone moved over to the table and pulled up extra chairs as needed. Hallie volunteered to be the designated driver and those who wanted to have a drink went up to the bar to place their orders.

From the back door at the far end of the bar, entered two men, one long and lean with glasses and about 28-years-old, the other tall and huskier at about 35 years of age. Both men were handsome in their own right and had naturally friendly personalities. They were the perfect hosts for a night of fun Kareoke. They placed the heavy equipment they were carrying up on the small stage and proceeded to set up for the evening.

Spotting Coral and the gang that she was with, the older one bellowed across the bar.

“Hey Coral, who all did you bring with you tonight?” he called in question.

Coral ushered everyone across the bar to the stage so that she could make introductions.

“Hey, Sean,” she started, “these are my friends from New York. This is Trixie, her cousin Hallie and her two brothers, Mart and Brian. This is their Uncle Andrew. Also, this is Honey Wheeler and her adopted brother, Jim, and that is Dan Mangan and Diana Lynch.”

She indicated each person with her hand as she said their name. The whole group said a communal “hello, nice to meet ya”.

“Hey, Chris, come here,” Coral ushered the other man standing nearby. “Everyone, this is Sean and that is Chris. They are brothers-in-law that actually like doing business together.”

Everyone said hello to Chris and he followed suit.

Coral looked sternly at Sean and Chris and said in a teasing manner, “Now you guys be nice to these people-their kareoke virgins.” The group laughed nervously at the term, not knowing that the phrase was always used for newbees to the activity.

Sean and Chris’s eyes twinkled with mirth as they saw some of their flushed faces. “We’ll take it easy on them,” stated Sean, “for now.”

The group laughed and returned to their tables to find that Ryan had already brought their drinks and left them on the table. He was nice enough to bring ice water for the others that had not ordered anything alcoholic.

After companionable small talk, the group decided to challenge each other on doubles for pool until things got moving along. Chris smiled warmly at the group and started playing some popular up-beat tunes for the group. The others hung around the pool table while Brian and Honey took on Hallie and Dan for the first round of pool. Uncle Andrew decided to go sit at the bar and get to know lady owner Lou better.

Hallie and Dan won the first game and the group commented on how the place was really filling up as they passed their pool sticks off to Mart and Di. The noise level in the place had definitely increased during their game and now the place had persons from the age of eighteen to sixty-five sitting in the booths or at the bar, all in a festive mood. Trixie took the poolstick Honey offered her as her partner, Jim, broke the pool balls to start their game.

Coral had been working the room, talking to different people that she saw weekly, and hamming it up with both Chris and Sean. She soon came over to the Bobwhites with two books of songs, small slips of paper, and pencils.

“Al right everybody, pick your songs and get them in quick,” she directed the group. “There will be tons of people turning in the songs that they want to sing shortly, and we only do kareoke for about two-and-a-half hours.”

Honey took a book from her wearily. “I’m not sure I can do this,” she stated quietly.

Coral put her arm around Honey and gave her a quick side hug. “Of course, you can! If you can carry a tune…then you are much better than many people who sing here weekly. And I’ll even start us off, OK?”

Honey gave her a brave smile and agreed. The group started flipping through the pages and giggling about different songs that they saw that they could sing. Dan suggested that they do a group number first and they all settled on doing B52’s Love Shack. Coral chuckled and said that was a popular one for groups to do. Once Dan had filled out the song slip for the group and she had finished filling out her own, Coral took the papers up to Chris so that he could find the songs for them.

The overhead music stopped and Sean got on the mike. “Good Evening everyone! Welcome to another Wednesday night of kareoke at Mainly Lou’s. We’ll get to the singing in just a moment. Remember to bring your slips to us as soon as you are ready and also, don’t forget to tip your friendly bartenders; they deserve it!”

The beginning notes of Walking on the Sun by Smashmouth started up and Sean led the night of singing with his own fun and wacky rendition. Coral returned to the group and indicated the TV screens above the bar and by the stage.

“With each song, there will be goofy little videos shown and on the bottom of the screen are the words of the song being sung,” she explained to the group. “When you go up on stage, you will have a screen in front of you, too, with all the words, but no video. The letters of the word that you are supposed to sing at any given time will light up in pink, so you don’t get lost in the song. There really isn’t much to be nervous about. Just go up there and have fun!”

“CORAL!” bellowed Sean into the mike and the crowd in the bar went wild at seeing the song she was going to sing.

Coral turned an impish smile to the group. “Guess, I’m up!” She walked up to the stage and the Bobwhites were surprised as many people started to crowd around the front of the stage for her performance.

BUM, BUM, B-BUM, BUM-BUM! (symbol crash) BUM, BUM, B-BUM, BUM-BUM started the bawdy music of her song and Coral just grinned at the audience in a very flirtatious manner. Then she started singing in a low, sultry voice:

The moment you walked in the joint,

I could tell you were a man of distinction

A Real Big Spender…

Goodlookin’, so refined

Say, wouldn’t you like to know

What’s going on in my mind?

So, let me get right to the point.

I don’t POP my top for every

Guy I see…

Hey, Big Spender,

SPEND…a little time with me.

Coral laughed heartily at the group’s woof-whistles and cat-calls.

Wouldn’t you like to have

Fun, fun, Fun?

How’s about a few

Laughs…Laughs?

I can show you a

Good TIME!

“How’s about I show you a good time?” she huskily said into the microphone. With an evil grin, she noticed Uncle Andrew was in the front of the group of people around the stage and she sashayed over to him, taking a hold of his tie and pulling him up on stage with her. With much embarrassment and a big grin, Uncle Andrew allowed Coral to play up to him for the rest of the song.

The Bobwhites couldn’t contain their applause and shouts of glee as Coral crooned to Uncle Andrew and rubbed up against him.

The moment you walked in the joint,

I could tell you were a man of distinction

A Real Big Spender…

Goodlookin’, so refined

Say, wouldn’t you like to know

What’s going on in my mind?

So, let me get right to the point.

I don’t POP my top for every

Guy I see…

Hey, Big Spender,

Hey, Big Spender

Hey, Big Spender

SPEND…a little time with me.

Coral moved so that she was singing right up against the side of Uncle Andrew’s face.

Fun, Laughs, Good Time

Fun, Laughs, Good Time

She looked him right in his laughing face and sexily asked him, “How’s about it, palsy?” And on the last BUM of the song, she said, “Yeah” and gave Andrew a big kiss on the cheek.

The audience went mad with applause, wolf-whistles and shouts of glee. Coral and Uncle Andrew shared a big bear hug, laughing the whole time and then moved off the stage. The people around the stage moved back to their tables and Coral and Uncle Andrew made it back to the group around the pool table. They all shared a hearty laugh and the guys pummeled Uncle Andrew on the back with manly pats of approval as they teased him about Coral singing to him.

“Man, Coral, you’re an awesome singer!” stated Di in admiration. “You could win American Idol if you wanted.”

Coral laughed selflessly at that and thanked everyone for the comments she was making. “Thanks, guys, I’m glad you liked it.” She stated warmly, “Actually I went to college on a vocal scholarship even though it’s not my major and about a year ago, a record producer heard me singing here and wanted me to sign with him.”

“Why didn’t you?” asked Honey, confused, voicing the question everyone was thinking.

Coral lips twisted in a funny smile before she said, “Well, I love to sing. It’s my passion, but I didn’t want something that I loved so much and felt so passionately about, to become something that I had to do. Harry Chapin has a song that talks about this amazing singer in a small town that gets his big chance and when he performs in front of the professionals, his dreams are dashed due to poor comments made by the critics. He goes home after that and never sang in public again. I guess I never wanted to be that man. And believe it or not, I’m actually afraid of singing in front of people. I get up in front of everyone on Wednesday nights to do what I enjoy, but also to conquer my own fears.”

“Well, you sing wonderfully and we’re glad that you brought us here!” stated Honey and gave Coral a big hug.

Dan stepped up to Coral and indicated Hallie. “You know you and Hallie have a lot in common,” he started, “she is going to school now in New York on a vocal scholarship, though her major is Sociology.”

Coral smiled at Hallie. “Well, you must be a wonderful singer-I can’t wait to hear you sing!” exclaimed Coral. Hallie blushed at the comment but stated that she had already put a slip in to sing a solo later.

THE BWGs? Called Sean in the mike. The Bobwhites heads swerved over to the stage where Sean held a slip of paper in his hand, with a look of confusion on his face. “Who are the BWGs?” he asked Chris to the side.

Coral laughed and shouted over to Sean, “Sean, it’s my friends from New York! It’s their club name.” Sean was still confused a little by what kind of club these young adults might be a part of but he shrugged his shoulders and grinned.

“Ladies and gentlemen, I fear that we have been invaded by a gang from New York. No, I don’t think they are Irish, but they do seem to be a really cool bunch,” he quipped into the mike. “Let’s give a warm Iowa welcome to some of Coral’s friends, the BWG’s—you’re up!”

The bar filled with loud applause again, tables rattled as fists pounded on their tops and feet stomped a welcome. The Bobwhites were a little overwhelmed but then slowly moved up to crowd together on the small stage. The guys stood on one side with their mike being held by Dan and the girls stood on the other, Hallie holding the ladies’ mike. The music started up and soon they were just having another great Bobwhite time. The ladies had a grand time singing their part: Love Shack…that’s where it’s at. Love Shack…that’s where it’s at! And everyone laughed each time Uncle Andrew stepped in from the floor and deeply said into the mike “Love Shack Baby!”

After they were done, everyone in the place loudly applauded and the Bobwhites really felt like they were at home and comfortable doing kareoke. Since the pool table was now crowded around with many people, they decided to forego finishing their little pool tournament and they headed back to their table, laughing and grinning all the way. They received many comments from people they passed on their performance and also to welcome them to Iowa.

As they sat down, Mart exclaimed, “Boy, Iowans sure are friendly!” Uncle Andrew and Coral just exchanged a small smile.

“That’s just how we are around here,” stated Coral, matter-of-factly.

The group sat for a while, just talking and laughing, enjoying the other singers that went up, and chortling over the silly videos that accompanied many of the songs. Then, Mart and Di went up to sing their duet and the Bobwhites surrounded the stage to support them. They did a fabulous rendition of “Summer Nights” from Grease and the place went crazy when they finished. Mart heartily kissed his fiancee before everyone and they came off the stage, amongst great applause.

When Hallie saw the words "Out Here On My Own" come up on the screen for the next song to be sung, her heart started pounding and she couldn’t look at Dan or the other Bobwhites.

Hallie Belden called Sean through the mike. Amid her friends’ surprise and happiness that she was going to sing, Hallie slowly moved up to the stage and took the mike. Taking a deep breath she listened to the beginning soft notes of the song and started to sing the song that she knew by heart.

Sometimes I wonder

Where I’ve been

Who I am

Do I fit in?

Makebelievin’ is hard, I know

Out here on my own.

We’re always provin’

Who we are

Always wishin’

On that rising star

To guide me far

And shine me home

Out here on my own.

When I’m done and feeling blue

I close my eyes so I can be with you

Oh, baby, be strong for me

Baby belong to me

Help me through

Help me need you.

Sometimes I wonder

Where I’ve been

Who I am

Do I fit in?

Makebelievin’ is hard alone

Out here on My own.

And when the morning sun appears

Making light of all my fears

I dry the tears

I never show

Out here on

Hallie’s voice trembled as she sang these words directly from her heart. For the first time, she looked at the audience but sought the eyes of one particular man in its midst. Gazing deep into Dan’s serious eyes, she sang with tears in her eyes.

But when I’m down and feelings blue

I close my eyes and think of you

Baby, be strong for me

Baby belong to me

Help me through

Help me need you!

Sometimes I wonder

Where I’ve been

Who I am

Do I fit in?

Well, I may not make it

But I can’t be thrown

Out here…on my own.

Out here on my own.

As the last notes of the song sadly played, Hallie placed the mike back in its post. With tears slowly falling down her cheeks, she got off the stage and walked out the back of the bar into the alley. She felt a fool for crying and breaking down in front of everyone. Being so close to Dan during this trip, falling more in love with him with every moment that they were together, she couldn’t handle it anymore. She had loved him for so long. They were now in the same state with each other but they were still just special friends. She was tired of that and had prayed that this trip would change things between them.

Inside the bar, amid the great applause for Hallie, her friends and family looked bewildered at each other. Before anyone could say any different, Dan held up his hand and said, “I’ll go” and turned on his heal, quickly heading down the hallway to the outside.

His heart was beating uproariously. He had been mesmerized by her singing voice. The words had made his heart hurt. And when she looked at him and beseeched him to be her baby and support her, to belong to her, he could have shouted with joy. He had loved her for so long but had never made a move as she was always so far away from him. A long distance relationship was no way to start a serious coupling. She had moved to New York for college, but there had never been any time or the opportunity for him to talk to her and explain how he felt, to ask her to share his dreams. He had been praying for months that this trip might change things between them.

They had grown closer with each day and through their experience at the Hancock House but he didn’t want to seem uncouth approaching her when they were both sharing a room in a romantic bed and breakfast. He had been biding his time for the right time. Taking a deep breath for courage, he pushed the bar on the back door and exited to join Hallie in the alley.

Hallie was leaning a few feet away, crying softly to herself. She looked up sharply when Dan came out the door. Groaning, she turned her body away from him and leaned her forehead against the cool brick of the building.

“Don’t look at me, Dan!” she ordered miserably.

Dan came over to her side. “You know I can’t do that,” he said gently and he moved her shoulders with his hands to turn her back towards him. She tucked her head down into her chest so he couldn’t see her tear-streaked face. Dan ignored her wishes and with a gentle hand beneath her chin, he lifted her face up to look at him. Dan’s breath caught when he saw her beautiful face in the lamplight of the parking lot behind Mainly Lou’s.

“Baby, why are you crying?” he asked her softly, his hands moving up to cup her face and his thumbs gently brushing away the tears on her cheeks.

“I know I’m silly!” Hallie admonished herself, trying to control the tears. “I’m always the strong one. With all men in my family, I was never allowed to be a real girly-girl. That included ever appearing weak or out of control.” She took in a deep shaking breath. “I’m just so tired of being alone and strong!”

“Honey, I know what you mean,” Dan murmured as he softly kissed the tears that trickled from her eyes. “I might not be a girl, but I’ve always had to be strong and together. My whole life has been that way.” He moved back to look deeply into her eyes. “I’m tired of being alone and strong, too.”

“You are?” she asked breathlessly, her heart demanding that he kiss her for real.

He smiled gently at her question. “Yes, I am. So I have a suggestion for you. Instead of us being alone, why don’t we be together?”

Hallie’s lips quirked with a brightening smile. “You want that?” Hope was flying high in her soul.

“Most definitely.”

Hallie’s smile could light up the night sky. “Then, I’ll agree on one condition.”

Dan’s heart was singing it’s own tune. “What condition is that?”

Hallie looked up at him with all the love in her heart shining from her eyes. “That you kiss me right now. I’ve been waiting long enough for…”

Dan’s lips came down upon hers and they moved together in utter joy. He kissed her gently at first, but then their kisses built up to a more passionate exploration. Finally, they breathlessly pulled apart. Dan wrapped her in a tight hug and just held her for a long moment, not believing that this was actually happening.

“Hallie, I’ve wanted to do that since I first met you!” he declared softly by her ear.

Hallie was placing small kisses about his face. “So have I, Dan.” She placed her lips against his and they proceeded to kiss deeply for some time. When they broke apart, Hallie looked up at Dan and asked, “Dan, can I tell you something.”

Dan kissed her on the tip of her nose. “Of course, you can. Anything.”

She looked deep into his eyes and said simply, “I love you.”

Dan’s breath rushed out of his chest violently. “You do? I’ve loved you for years, Hallie, there just was never a time or chance to tell you.”

Hallie wrapped her arms around his neck and hugged him tightly. “I’ve loved you at least that long,” she breathed.

They spent a few more minutes in the alley, becoming better acquainted and sharing the thoughts and feelings for each other that they had hidden for so long. Finally, with one last lingering kiss, they walked hand and hand back into the bar and went to meet their friends.

All heads turned to the new couple as they neared the table. No one mentioned what happened, but it was obvious that Dan and Hallie were now together. Their linked fingers were only one indication. Their beaming smiles were the biggest sign of their changed relationship.

Trixie Belden bellowed Chris from the stage.

Trixie looked up quickly at the TV over the bar and read Turn Me On. Taking a deep breath of courage, she stood up. She avoided Jim’s curiuos gaze, and after a wink from Honey, her feet propelled her to the stage.

Ok, Trixie, she instructed herself, if Hallie can do it, so can you. Time to go for gold, girl!

With a weak smile, she took the mike from Chris and prepared to sing her favorite Norah Jones’ song. Softly, her low husky voice filled the room with an entreaty:

Like a flower waiting to bloom

Like a light bulb in a dark room

I'm just sitting here waiting for you

To come on home and turn me on

Like the desert waiting for the rain

Like a school kid waiting for the spring

I’m just sitting here waiting for you

To come on home and turn me on

Trixie looked across the room to Jim’s stunned eyes. She sang just for him.

My poor heart, it's been so dark

Since you've been gone

After all you're the one who turns me off

You're the only one who can turn me back on!

My hi-fi is waiting for a new tune

My glass is waiting for some fresh ice cubes

I'm just sitting here waiting for you

To come on home and turn me on

Turn me on!

The last note hung in the air for a moment before the place boomed with applause. Jim had moved up to the stage during the last verse of the song. His feet had taken him to her side on their own volition. Trixie handed the mike back to Chris and slowly stepped down into the waiting arms of Jim. He held her tightly for a second.

Pulling back he said, “Trixie, that was amazing! Simply beautiful.”

Trixie nervously licked her lips. “Thank you” was all she could say as she was so caught up in the emotions of the song and the feelings of being held in his arms.

Mart Belden bellowed Chris into the mike.

Suddenly all the group was around Trixie and congratulating her on her song as Mart walked up onto the stage, leading Diana by the hand to sit on a stool beside where he stood.

Mart turned to the audience and announced, “Ladies and gentlemen, I would like to introduce you to my beautiful and amazing fiancee, Diana Lynch.” Everyone in the bar clapped and hooted. “If you all will indulge me, I have a special song I would like to sing to her. If she recalls, I sang this song to her before we originally got together.”

The notes of Unchained Melody started up and couples started to fill the small dance area.

“Dance with me,” insisted Jim as he took Trixie by the hand and moved them to a small, secluded area away from the other dancers. He pulled Trixie tight into his arms as Mart started singing:

Whoa, my love, my darling

I've hungered for your touch

A long, lonely time

Both Trixie and Jim felt like the words were being sung right from their hearts.

And time goes by so slowly

And time can do so much

Are you still mine?

Jim’s hand cupped Trixie’s head and held it close to his thumping heart. He wondered if, as he had told her the last time they were in Iowa, if she was still his special girl.

I need your love

I need your love

God, speed your love to me

Lonely rivers flow to the sea to the sea

To the open arms of the sea

Lonely river sigh, wait for me, wait for me

I'll be coming home

Wait for me

Whoa, my love, my darling

I've hungered, hungered for your touch

A long, lonely time

And time goes by so slowly and time can do so much

Trixie and Jim moved apart slightly and looked deeply into each other’s eyes, their hearts in their eyes.

Are you still mine, I need your love I need your love

God speed your love to me.

Jim and Trixie kept dancing together as if the music was still playing and the audience wasn’t applauding loudly. They couldn’t take their eyes off of each other and neither wanted to break the moment of being in each other’s arms, in tune with each other.

Someone cleared their throat nearby and they both looked over sharply. Brian stood there with his arm around Honey. “Coral’s brother has arrived,” he stated, “and the music stopped a long time ago.” He winked at them and he and Honey turned and walked off toward their table.

Trixie and Jim looked at each other sheepishly and slowly broke apart. Taking her hand, he led her back to the group’s table where everyone else was already sitting.

“I can’t believe that, it’s just crazy!” Coral said emphatically to her brother who was sipping from his dark ale.

“What’s going on?” Trixie asked as she sat down in the chair Jim pulled out for her.

Coral turned to look at Trixie with a strange expression on her face. “Seems you may have stumbled on another mystery in Iowa, Trixie.”

Trixie looked around at everyone at the table for answers. “What do you mean?”

“Seems like there was a robbery last night at the Grout Museum,” stated Coral.

“The Grout Museum,” asked Trixie, “isn’t that the large museum beside the Starlight Hotel?”

“Yeah, it is,” stated Dash quietly.

“But what did they steal from the Museum?” asked Trixie.

“An airplane,” said Dash flatly.

“An airplane?” asked Jim, incredulously.

Dash grinned a little at that. “Well, not a large airplane, a small one about 30-feet long. A single pilot plane that was used to give little kids rides in the children’s part of the Grout.”

The table was quiet for a moment, everyone thinking about such an occurrence. Finally, Trixie asked, “But how could someone steal a 30-foot airplane without being noticed?”

“I have no idea, but it’s been done,” stated Dash.

A new song started from the speakers. Coral jumped up suddenly and tugged on her big brother’s arm. “It’s our song!” she cried and pulled him off to the dance floor.

Brian stood up, too, and held his arm out for Honey “I believe this is my song, too,” he spoke quietly with a smile. “Dance with me, pretty lady?” Honey smiled warmly and got up to dance with her man. Dan and Hallie soon followed thereafter.

“Oh, my goodness, look at them dance!” said Uncle Andrew from Trixie’s elbow. The threesome watched in amazement and admiration as Coral and Dash spun around the dance floor, swing-dancing to Sean’s rendition of Brown-Eyed Girl.

The Bobwhites stayed another half-hour at Mainly Lou’s until almost 1:30 in the morning. They had a great time, enjoyed Dash and Coral’s duet of Put a Little Love in Your Heart. And they finished the night by the combined group singing The Lion Sleeps Tonight. With much laughter and many hugs and handshakes, they bid the brother and sister goodnight. Dash had invited the group to check out the Playhouse and for the group to see some of the behind the scenes of a theater and they knew that they would be seeing Coral at the Boys and Girls Club soon.

Exhausted for another night in a row, the group passed out on their beds almost as soon as their heads hit the pillow. That is, everyone except for Trixie, who was lying in her bed, deep in thought.

How could somebody steal an airplane? she thought over and over again. And what motive could they have to do it?

As quietly and quickly as possible, Jim kicked the storage closet door closed after taking a large gulp to calm the vomit churning in his stomach, as well as to calm his raging nerves that they could be discovered and in danger at any moment. His arms were still holding a leaden Trixie haphazardly and his eyes quickly scanned the area to see if anyone else was watching or was coming into the room.

Seeing that they were still quite alone, Jim tried to gently shake Trixie to bring her back to consciousness.

“Trixie, sweetie, come back to me. We need to get out of here…”

Trixie’s eyelids began to flutter and soon Jim was looking down into beautiful blue orbs clouded with confusion.

“Wha… Jim, what’s going on? What happened?” she started meekly.

Jim moved her up into his arms and gave her a quick, tight hug before pulling back from her.

“You passed out, Trix,” he stated gently.

Suddenly horror flashed before Trixie’s eyes and she clasped a hand over her mouth quickly to stop a yelp of fear at the memory of what she had seen.

“Oh my God, Jim, that man’s dead!” her voice shook as she recalled the grotesque sight. “We were sharing that small closet with a dead man, oh my gosh!” She shivered at the thought and by the realization that she had been poked by what probably killed the man.

Jim wrapped her more tightly in his arms and rubbed her arms briskly to comfort her. “I know, Trixie. We need to get out of here, pronto!”

“But what about that guy?” she looked up at him inquisitively.

“I think we should call the police anonymously from the hotel. We don’t know if his killer’s still around here or not. It could even be one of the museum’s staff.”

Trixie pulled back from him and her chin set with determination and strength anew. “You’re right, we need to get out of here. But we need to do so without drawing attention to ourselves.”

“Righto, luv,” Jim took Trixie’s hand in his and they proceeded to walk calmly out of the room, remarking to each other loudly of how neat the place had been and that they must bring her little brother to see the Grout soon, just in case someone was listening.

Once they were outside, they crossed the street to the Grout park and only made it halfway through before Trixie collapsed on a park bench, heaving a great sigh of relief for being out of that situation. Jim sat down beside her and put a comforting arm around her shoulders, pulling her into the strength and warmth of his side. They sat like that in silence, understanding each other’s feelings and thoughts without speaking.

Trixie suddenly recalled her passing out and ducked her head in embarrassment. Jim noticed her action and tipped her chin up to look at him with his free hand.

“Trixie, what’s going on?” he asked with loving concern.

“I’m so embarrassed, Jim!” she said in mortification.

“Embarrassed, why?” Jim stated in typical male fashion when completely confused.

Trixie chastised herself, “Some future detective I’ll be!” She stood up and restlessly paced in front of Jim, totally disgusted with her actions. “I mean, first time I see a dead body, I pass out! My God! If I did that today, what’s it going to be like when I’m a real detective and have to deal with dead bodies as part of my job? Will they have to call in the doctors to check ME out each time while the coroner takes away the body? Man, I must be a total FLAKE to faint at…”

Jim stood up and stopped Trixie, literally, in her physical and oracle tracks. “Stop it, Trixie,” he stated firmly, taking a hold of her arms gently to get her attention. “You are NOT a flake. You are human, however, and because of that, you passed out at the surprise of something horrible and gruesome.”

“Yeah, yeah,” Trixie muttered sarcastically at this.

“Yeah,” he said back harshly. He gently took her chin in his hand to make her look directly in his eyes. “Trix, if I wasn’t completely shocked and worried about you fainting, you may have had to pick ME up off the floor at that sight.”

“Really?” her voice was mousy and she bit her lip in nervousness at looking up into those gorgeous green eyes and being so close to the lips she yearned to kiss. Embarrassment was quickly being replaced by butterflies in her stomach.

“Really.” Jim’s voice was extra husky as he sensed the vibe between them change and the sexual attraction was now zinging between them. Nervous himself, he pulled back from her, allowing a good two feet between them. He cleared his throat quickly before continuing. “I nearly lost my stomach at what I saw as it was, even with your limp body in my arms.”

Trixie laughed lightly at this. “Yeah, sorry about that,” she said sheepishly.

“Oh, no problem, my pleasure,” Jim responded without thinking.

Trixie inhaled her breath sharply at this. “Really?” she wanted to know.

Jim nervously rubbed the back of his neck with his hand while avoiding her gaze. “Yeah….um, we really need to get back to the hotel to make that call…”

Trixie’s heart fell slightly at his avoiding the topic. “Yeah, you’re right. Also, I want to get as far away from that closet and body as possible.”

“Amen to that!”

The two started walking toward the hotel again in somewhat uncomfortable silence. As they neared the entrance, Trixie put a hand on his arm to stop Jim in his tracks.

“Um, Jim,” she started tentatively, “could we keep my fainting between us?” She bit her lip in nervousness at his answer.

Jim looked down at her intensely. “Of course, Trixie! I wouldn’t share that with anyone. That’s your story to tell, if you ever want to tell anyone. Until then, it’s out little secret.”

Trixie breathed out a large sigh of relief and smiled brightly up at him. “Thanks, Jim. I really owe you for today.” Shyly, she reached up and kissed him on the cheek.

Jim looked down at her as she pulled back, fighting to not kiss her in kind, but to kiss her lips and not her cheek.

After a moment, he cleared his throat again. “Like I said, Trix: my pleasure,” was all he said before opening the door to the hotel for her to walk through.

~ * ~

Jim and Trixie decided to go to the hotel’s restaurant and make the call on Jim’s cell phone. Once they were seated in a back booth away from any other customers lunching therein, they quietly contemplated each other nervously across the table, Jim’s cell phone sitting on the table between them.

Finally, Trixie spoke up. “Jim, you mentioned earlier that we should call anonymously, do you really think that’s the best idea? I mean, how can we help the police if we don’t provide a way for them to interview us later?” Trixie knew how important it was for a successful investigation to be able to interview eyewitnesses, tainted as their perception might be of the event.

“Well, when you think about it, Trixie, what do we really know?” Jim challenged her. “We know that there’s a dead man’s body in a closet. We don’t know who it is, why he’s there, and who committed the crime. Therefore, the best thing we can do for this case is to let the police know that there IS a body in a closet, before the killer can move him.”

Trixie nodded her head slowly at his reasoning. “Yeah, I…I guess you’re right,” she admitted. “And to be honest, I don’t want those janitor guys to have anyway of possibly tracking us down, they really creeped me out!”

“Agreed. Why don’t you make the call as I’m sure you can provide better information about the crime scene than I.”

Trixie glowed at his off-handed comment. “Thanks!” She proceeded to dial 9-1-1 and was soon providing the deepest details of the crime as she was able. When asked for her personal information as the caller of the crime, she paused before saying, “we accidentally found the body when we were at the Museum today and we are afraid to provide contact information for our own safety as the killer may have seen us.” With that, she closed the cell phone, disconnecting the line.

Heaving a huge sigh, she softly put the cell phone down on the table. Jim reached out and took her hands in his own across the table, comforting her with his strength and support.

“You did good, Trix,” he said quietly. Deep in thought, she merely nodded her acknowledgment of what he said.

They sat there like that for a long time without speaking. Soon, they heard the loud combination of nearing police sirens and then the eventual cut-off of the multiple piercing tones as the police cars stopped at the Children’s Imaginarium and the police personnel rushed inside. Still they sat in silence, almost as if they believed super-hearing abilities would allow for them to know what was happening inside the Grout Museum.

“Trixie, Jim, what are you guys doing here?” Honey asked as she and Di neared their table, both wearing wrap-around skirts over their swimsuits and carrying their swim gear.

“Yeah, you two, what’s going on?” Diana asked, somewhat amused while being confused. To outsiders, the site of the two young adults holding hands may look romantic, but to close friends, it was obvious that these two individuals were upset about something. “We were on our way back up to the room to shower when we spied you back here.”

Trixie self-consciously pulled her hands away from Jim’s and hid them under the table. She looked to Jim for support and the right words to say.

“Uh, it’s a long story…really,” Jim started out slowly.

Honey, always the sensitive one, plucked down beside Trixie. “Why, what’s going on?”

“That’s what WE would like to know,” said a male voice that was quickly approaching. The foursome swiveled their necks to see Mart, the owner of the voice, followed directly behind by Dan, Hallie and Brian.

Before Trixie or Jim could start to explain, the waitress neared the table. “Oh my, you all are going to need a bigger table!” she exclaimed sweetly and indicated for the group to follow her to the other side of the dining room where they could sit at a table for 8. Each of the Bobwhites followed the waitress silently, rather dubiously.

Once they were all sitting down, again with Trixie and Jim across from one another, the questions started.

“So what’s going on, Trixie?” Honey asked.

“Why do you guys look like you’ve seen a ghost?” inquired Hallie.

“Why didn’t you come back to the Playhouse, Jim?” demanded Brian, after viewing the obvious connection of something upsetting having happened between Jim and Trixie.

Jim put up his hand, silently asking for silence. “Give us a moment and we’ll explain,” he said in a tone that begged anyone to push either him or Trixie to speak of the matter before they were ready.

To lighten the mood, Dan teased, “Yeah, it sure did take you a long time to get your cell phone, Jim.”

Everyone laughed lightly at this as it was obvious that a petite blonde held him up in some way.

“Yeah, well…” Jim started sheepishly.

“…he found it!” Trixie finished for him, flushing slightly under the interested looks of her brothers and friends.

“Well, I realized that Trixie couldn’t resist a chance to check out the Grout Museum for clues, so I decided to help her out.” Jim started up with the explanation to get the conversation away from the OTHER topic that the group was hinting at.

“Yeah, he pretty much snuck up and surprised me at the Museum,” Trixie continued.

“I’ll bet,” muttered Hallie quietly, recalling all the years that Jim used to “help“ Trixie on cases in a very different way.

“He was actually quiet a big help as he distracted this spooky janitor so that I could look for clues about the missing plane,” Trixie defended his actions. Realization dawned on her and she turned to Brian. “Say, what are YOU guys doing back here so early? Don’t tell me you came looking for Jim.”

“Uh, no, that’s not really why we came back,” Brian stated to explain.

“Then what’s going on?”

Mart interrupted her, never one to give up an opportunity to tease his female sibling, “Well, we went to visit Coral at the Boys and Girls Club when Dash had to go to a meeting. But our visit with her was cut short.”

“Why’s that?” Trixie asked curiously.

Mart grinned slightly at this. “Well…it just so happens that some of the officers of the Waterloo police department were meeting with Coral about an educational program they are going to present to the children of the Club next week when they suddenly got an emergency call they had to rush off to.”

“Yeah,” Dan interrupted here, “and when we overheard that they were rushing off to the Grout Museum…”

“We put two and two together and realized that you must have checked out the Grout in some way that involved getting the police called,” Mart concluded as if they had practiced this conversation beforehand.

Trixie flushed hotly at their correct deduction. “Yeah, well, what can I say?” she laughed off sheepishly.

Honey couldn’t wait any longer. “So what happened, you guys? You went to the Grout and the police were called? We heard the commotion nearby and that’s why we decided to give up sunbathing, but we had no clue the sirens were directed at the Grout!”

Finally, Jim and Trixie filled in the gang on what happened, minus two facts. As if by silent agreement, they declined to mention the fact that Jim had held Trixie in his arms after she was poked in the closet, and they certainly left out the information of Trixie’s fainting after seeing the body. They finished the story of their ordeal with an explanation of why they chose to call in the crime anonymously.

“Man, I don’t blame you,” Diana exclaimed and shivered, being rewarded by the solid arm across her shoulders of her fiancee, “I wouldn’t want anybody involved in a gruesome crime to have an idea of who I was or how to find me!”

“I think we all feel that way, Di,” supplied Hallie.

The group continued to discuss the events of the Museum and the separate groups’ mornings for a while before Trixie pushed herself up to a standing position.

“I’m sorry, guys, but I really DO need a shower and nap now after this morning,” she declared.

“Of course, Trixie,” Honey cooed sympathetically. “You go up and clean up and get some rest. We’ll get some lunch and we’ll make sure to be as quiet as possible when we come up to the room later to change.

“Thanks, everybody; I’ll see you later!” With a grateful smile, Trixie picked up her handbag, and with one long, intense shared look with Jim, she turned away from the table and headed out of the restaurant and off to the elevators.

~ * ~

Once back in her room, Trixie sighed heavily and fell back against her bed. For a long moment, she simply lay there looking up at the ceiling. Finally, she pushed herself up into a sitting position on the side of the bed, and reached into her handbag. From the small confines, she pulled a crumpled piece of yellow paper and slowly opened it up.

This was her first chance to see what was written on this piece of paper and she held her breath to find out if the contents were a real clue to the murder or if it was rubbish and a simple piece of garbage.

When the paper was completely opened, she quickly scanned the document to find that this note was only part of a larger letter to another party.

This is what the partial letter said:

No! That can’t be all! Trixie’s brain screamed as she searched for more clues as to what this letter was talking about on the back of the paper. Finally, she gave up and re-read the partial letter a few times.

With a frustrated sigh, Trixie folded up the note tightly and placed it inside the coin pocket of her handbag for safe and secret keeping. After closing her handbag, she grabbed her satin robe and headed into the bathroom in an attempt to wash off all remnants of the memory of the dead man in the storage closet of the Grout.

Finding the Truth Within 

“Oh, no, Jim,” Trixie exclaimed, “where do you think they are taking us?” She held onto his hand a little tighter in fear.

Jim squeezed her hand reassuringly. “I don’t know, Trix, but it likely isn’t good,” he responded solemnly.

They both sat there in quiet silence thinking of their likely fates before Jim continued, “Say, we don’t know where we are going, but we best make sure we can defend ourselves in some manner when we get there.”

Trixie sighed out deeply. “Yeah, good thinking, Jim, “she stated. “I don’t know if you have anything with you, but I’ve got that little flashlight on my keychain that I can use to look around.”

“Actually, I pocketed my small maglite flashlight in the left side pocket of my cargo pants before going on the walk, in case it was too dark to walk over to the park, “Jim admitted. “But when I got outside, my eyes adjusted pretty quickly so that I never used it.”

“Awesome, Jim!” Trix quipped as she hoisted herself to her feet. “Sometimes I am so very happy you were such a great Eagle Scout.” She found the keychain in her right pocket and soon the immediate surrounding area within the semi box was illuminated. Trixie started to scan the light around near them for something to arm themselves with.

“Yeah, well…” Jim replied sheepishly as he, also, pushed himself to his feet.

Trixie grabbed for his hand again and squeezed it with affection. “I’m being serious, Jim. I like that you are such a nice guy and are often prepared to help out whenever something happens to someone.” In the small lamplight, he could see the honest sincerity of the words in her eyes. “Where would I be if you weren’t around to rush me out of dead air in long forgotten underground tunnels or when I almost succumb to the depths with ghost fish?” She laughed lightly at the truth of her being saved by him in some of their most memorable adventures.

She released his hand to move her hand up to lightly caress his cheek. “Jim, if this is how my life ends because of one of my mysteries, I wouldn’t want it to end with anyone but you,” she almost whispered these words.

Jim took her hand in his again and moved it to place a kiss on the center of her palm. “Thank you, Trixie,” his voice was gruff with emotion, “I’m glad that I am here with you, too. But your life is not going to end, not if I have anything to say about it!” Trixie’s heart bloomed with his dogged determination and the sweet affection she heard for her underlying his words.

He dropped her hand as he moved away a bit. “Come on, Shamus, let’s find something to take down the bad guys!” he quipped with some humor in his voice as he reached in the side pocket of his cargo pants and turned the bright little flashlight on. “Why don’t I scan for anything that might be lying around up front and you go look in the back. I know you are dying to get a look at that airplane anyway.”

Trixie chuckled at this. “You know me too well, Jim!” she agreed and moved to the back of the box toward the airplane, scanning her light from side to side to display anything else that might be present in the back. When she didn’t see anything else, she called out to Jim, “Say, you see anything up there? All I see is the small plane. I’m going to check it out now but there’s nothing else back here.”

Jim’s reply came from at least 10 feet away, “It’s completely empty except for a small stack of boxes over in the left corner by the door. I’m trying to open them up to see what is inside—maybe we’ll get lucky and they’ll be full of baseball bats and tazer guns.”

Trixie chuckled at the idea. “Yeah, that would be a little too lucky, Jim. And maybe I’ll find a secret compartment in the airplane that is full of cans of pepper spray that I can disarm Tweedle Dee and Tweedle Dum with!”

Jim’s laugh could be heard from far off.

The confines of the semi box fell silent again as they both concentrated on their individual areas and the task of locating something useful.

Trixie scanned the body of the airplane to see if there was any indication of an opening for storing flight gear or whatnot but was finding nothing. Then, she moved on to the middle part of the plane where the pilot’s seat, wheel and all controls were, scanning again for anything that might be useful. As she placed her left hand on the seat, she used the leverage to push her upper body down under the dashboard with all the controls, and thought to herself: Yeah wouldn’t it be nice if there were some sort of glove compartment down here, like in cars, and there would be a gun inside it? Well, I would never use the gun on them but it would likely give them pause and we could disarm them in some way…

Finding no such compartment, Trixie tried to heft her body weight back up with her left hand on the seat but almost hurt herself when the seat suddenly veered in the opposite direction! Awkwardly righting herself, Trixie moved in closer to the seat to inspect why it had moved all of a sudden. What she found was that the seat cushion swiveled to the side and there was, indeed, a compartment for storage inside. Trixie moved to kneel on the floor of the plane to inspect this compartment further with her light. Her heart sank when the compartment appeared to be empty. Just to make sure, though, she moved the flashlight to her left hand and moved her right hand inside the compartment to feel around the walls and floor.

At first, it appeared to be as it seemed and that the compartment was empty. Trixie felt around to feel different bolts that appeared to hold the corners of the compartment’s box together but then she began to question why there were bolts on the left side of the box but not bolts also on the right side of the box. Leaning in closely to investigate the bolts on the left side, Trixie realized that though they looked like regular bolts, they actually were something different. Three of the four “bolts” were exactly the same but the last one was slightly different. Trixie manually tried to turn this odd bolt but it wouldn’t move.

There has to be a reason why this one is different, she thought to herself and she pushed on the bolt to figure out what it was. Suddenly, she heard a light click and the whole left side of compartment swung upon on an old spring.

Jim heard the creak of the old spring in the silence of the large space and called out to her, “You finding anything, Trix?”

Maneuvering her body to be able to peer more deeply into the new compartment she replied honestly, “I’m not sure, Jim…”.

At first, it appeared like this extra space was also empty, but then Trixie found a small leather pouch sitting on a piece of paper with her hands in the back right corner. As she pulled both out, her mind began to spin with information from the museum and things that had happened in the last couple of days. Slowly, she was putting the pieces of the mystery together.

Trix then opened up the little leather pouch and shines the light inside. WOW she thought to herself and quickly re-cinched the leather pouch closed before moving to open the paper. It is as she was quickly scanning the note that Trixie felt a definite change in the foundation beneath her feet.

 “Trix, I think they are stopping,” Jim called out from his end of the truck box. “You find anything useful? All I have is the boxes with papers and odds and ends inside. Guess I’ll just try to throw one of them at the guys to distract them or throw them off balance,” he mused.

Trixie’s mind was only half-hearing what Jim was saying, her mind still reeling from the findings. “Uh, I didn’t find any baseball bats back here, Jim. I’ll see if I can grab anything off the plane to use,” she replied as she first pocketed the note in her right pant’s pocket and then, on a whim, moved her top aside and stuffed the small leather pouch in the middle of her cleavage, held securely by her bra. They say if you’ve got it, use it! she laughed to herself at the action and her thought. As she could feel the speed of the vehicle slowing more and more, she moved quickly to put the cushion back in place.

However, when she tried to swivel the cushion back to its spot, the rusty hinge gave way and Trixie was left with the cushion being held mid-air in her hand. After a surprised pause, she mused to herself Well, I guess this will do just as good as anything else…

With that, she rushed up to the front to join Jim. He was standing by the sliding door of the semi with a large box in his arms. Seeing her rush up to him with the seat cushion at her side in her left hand, he looked at her curiously.

“It was the best I could come up with,” she explained somewhat sheepishly. Trixie moved to take position on the right side of the door so that they had both sides covered for a possible ambush.

Jim grinned. “Well, it’s not like I did much better.” He shifted the large box in his arms a little.

Suddenly, the semi stopped abruptly which threw both Trixie and Jim up against the door, both of their sides slamming into the door with a painful thud.

They both fought to catch their breath for a moment in the sudden stillness and silence. “Ugh,” Trixie gasped harshly, “We really gonna do this, Jim?”

“We have to, Trixie,” he replied with his regular calm and determination, “We don’t go down without a fight.” They could hear the front doors of the semi cab open and voices approaching. “Turn off your flashlight, we have a better chance of surprising them if it’s dark when they open the door,” he instructed in a rushed tone.

Trixie quickly turned off her light and pocketed it beside the paper already sitting there. The voices were getting close…

“Jim, if we don’t get out of this…” she started, her voice trembling some with fear and adrenaline-laced anticipation in the deep, renewed darkness.

“I know, Trixie,” he started to reply when the voices appeared on the other side of the large metal door.

Shhh  he warned her...