FPR 03: Case # 20160127A

Chapter 09 - Spiderhole

Kerry was reluctant to open the door when the knock sounded. Although he knew that his daughters would be arriving soon, he was still hesitant since he had been listening to similar knocks and not responding to them since he and Teresa had entered the room.

"How did everything go?" Kerry asked as he ushered his daughters inside, and did a quick visual survey of them with his night vision camera.

"We'll have to wait to see what we got in the evidence review, but I think we did good." Toni said happily.

"Toni let me do the meme-em-effs." Zoe interjected.

Teresa turned on her flashlight, then moved in to give Zoe a firm hug.

"EMF readings." Toni corrected with a smile, then added, "Zoe did a good share of the investigation herself. And I can't wait to see if she caught something in her still photos."

"Are you two ready to go downstairs and get warm?" Teresa asked gently as she switched her hug from Zoe to Toni.

"Yeah. I think so." Toni responded as she enjoyed the hug.

"I think we are, too. I'd like to leave the audio recorders up here for a while longer to see if they pick up anything when we're not here listening." Kerry said as he took his turn hugging Zoe.

"Did you get something?" Toni asked hopefully.

"We heard quite a bit, we'll just have to wait and see how much of it was documented." Kerry explained, then accepted Toni into his arms to give her a long and heartfelt hug.

"I don't know if we got anything, but I'm pretty sure that we did everything right." Toni quietly explained to him.

"Are we all ready to go?" Teresa asked cautiously.

"Yeah." Toni confirmed as soon as she was released from her father's arms.

* * * * *

"From the sound of it, Toni and Zoe are done. As soon as we get this camera placed, let's go to the conference room." Lorra said decisively.

"Do you think that we should do an EVP session in the room before we leave?" Malika asked cautiously.

"I'd rather wait to see what happens with the stationary camera. I want to get more of an idea of just how powerful or angry this thing is before we go in there and start talking to it." Lorra said frankly.

"This is the room. How do you want to do this?" Malika asked nervously.

"I'll set it up while you keep recording. All I want to do is drop and go." Lorra said seriously.

"Yeah. Sounds good."

* * * * *

A minute or two after hearing Toni and Kerry talking on the walkie-talkies, Max quietly said, "I think it's gone."

"Do you know what that was?" Charity asked cautiously.

"Momo, I think."

"What can you tell me about it?" Charity asked quietly.

"Nothing, really. If Aunt Felicia were here, she probably could have gone deeper and figured out more, but all I could do was sense a presence."

"How did you get the name 'Momo'?" Charity asked curiously.

"I wanted to know its name and I heard that in my head. I didn't get anything else with it." Max quietly explained.

"Can you tell me anything else at all about it?" Charity asked hopefully.

After a long silent moment, Max cautiously said, "Usually when I tell you something, it's when I have a fairly strong feeling about it. But this isn't like that. This time I'm only getting a glimmer of a sense about it. I don't think it's residual after all."

"It's active?"

"Maybe."

"Do you think that we should stay here to see if anything else is going to happen?" Charity asked cautiously.

"No. I think that we've seen all that we're going to see in here for tonight." Max said thoughtfully.

"Well, it sounds like Kerry and Toni are about to pack it in, so we might as well go."

"Yeah." Max said absently and seemed to be lost in thought.

* * * * *

Although Alana had been startled by the sound of Toni and Kerry on the walkie-talkie, it turned out to be a good thing.

She evaluated what she had done so far in the investigation as well as what she was currently doing.

The room was dark and silent.

There hadn't been a single 'blip' on the K2 meter.

Beyond that, as unscientific as it was, Alana had to admit that she didn't sense anything spooky or other-worldly, either.

"Everyone, this is Alana. I'm going to make one last sweep of my area, then I'm heading down to Tech. Anyone who's at a good stopping point is free to join me there. Everyone else, call and let us know if you need any additional help." Alana said into the walkie-talkie before clipping it on her belt.

There were a few acknowledgements on the radio as Alana took her K2 meter and night vision DVR and began to slowly walk around the hotel room, doing one final, thorough pass.

* * * * *

When Hunter and Van had heard Kerry and Toni's exchange on the walkie-talkies, they renewed their efforts to try and make contact with whatever had been inhabiting room forty-four twenty-one.

By the time that Alana had called an end to their investigation, both Van and Hunter were feeling discouraged.

"Do you think they'll be mad at us?" Van asked cautiously.

"I don't know. I'm sure that stuff like this just happens, sometimes." Hunter said as he started walking around the room, once again, with his K2 meter.

Van automatically went to the wireless stationary camera to verify that it was still transmitting.

"When you've gone with your moms to do investigations, did you ever hear about anything like this happening?" Van asked cautiously.

"Well, no." Hunter reluctantly admitted.

"Kerry's never said anything about it happening before, either." Van said quietly.

"Do you and Kerry talk a lot?" Hunter asked curiously.

After a moment to consider, Van finally said, "Yeah. Once or twice a week, I guess."

"That must be nice. My dad... he's nice to me and everything. But we just don't have anything to talk about." Hunter quietly admitted.

"You have a dad?" Van asked with surprise.

"Yeah. He's a friend of my moms' and they asked him to make a 'donation' so that they could have me. I've always known who he is and he's always been nice to me and stuff but... I don't know... I guess I don't feel like I have anything in common with him." Hunter struggled to explain.

"Yeah. That's kinda how it is with my dad." Van admitted.

"That's weird. I thought it just happened to me because my moms are lesbians. I never thought that someone who lived with their dad could feel the same way." Hunter said with surprise.

"It's just like you said, we don't have much in common. Dad grew up in Pakistan in a completely different world than I did. Whenever I try and talk to him, it's like we're talking about completely different things." Van said quietly.

"That's kinda what it's like talking to my dad. I just never thought about it that way before." Hunter said consideringly.

"When I talk to Kerry, he gets it. I know that when I tell him something that he really understands what I mean." Van said with a slight smile at the thought.

"Are we done here?" Hunter asked as he panned around the room one last time with his DVR.

"Yeah. I think so."

* * * * *

After hearing Alana's announcement on the walkie-talkie, Jack quietly said, "I'm not getting anything on the K2. Are you sensing anything?"

"No. Nothing at all." Kyla said slowly.

"Since we're the only ones stationed on this floor, how would you feel about us doing a quick walk through, then going downstairs?" Jack asked curiously.

"I like that idea very much." Kyla said honestly.

"When we get downstairs, I'm going to ask Alana if she'll put another team on this investigation." Jack quietly added.

"You don't have to do that. I know how much you enjoy investigating things like this." Kyla said quickly.

"I learned an important lesson on the Osmani investigation. We can't always handle everything by ourselves and sometimes allowing someone else to investigate will allow them to approach the situation from a new perspective." Jack said reasonably.

"Yeah." Kyla whispered.

"If we weren't part of a bigger team, there's no way that I'd back away from this investigation. This is a quantifiable paranormal phenomenon. But since we have other team members that we can depend on, I think that it's best to allow another team to do their research and see what they might be able to uncover." Jack explained.

"Do you really believe that, or are you looking for a way to justify your decision?" Kyla asked carefully.

After a moment to consider, Jack reluctantly admitted, "A little of both."

"Works for me." Kyla said easily, then asked, "Are we ready?"

"Yes. Everything's set."

* * * * *

"Did you get anything?" Derek asked when Mike and Norville walked back into the prep area of the kitchen.

"No. It's like a maze back there, but we didn't get any readings." Mike said seriously.

"Did you hear Alana on the walkie-talkie?"

"Yeah. Do we need to do anything else before we go back?" Mike asked curiously.

"No. We have cameras set up in both our assigned locations. When people start showing up in Tech, they're going to need our help to download all the different files." Derek said decisively.

"What about the other room... you know, 257?" Mike asked anxiously.

"We'll review the evidence we were able to collect, then we'll decide what type of an investigation we'll need to do tomorrow." Derek said seriously.

"Are you okay, Norville?" Mike asked cautiously.

"Am I going to be able to help you with... whatever you're going to be doing next?" Norville asked slowly.

"We're going to be watching and listening to different recordings. If you want to help us, all you'll have to do is pay attention for anything out of the ordinary." Derek explained.

"I can do that!" Norville said happily.

"Then come on."

* * * * *

As Kerry, Teresa, Toni and Zoe approached the elevator, which was conveniently located between the D and F wings, they were surprised to encounter Lorra and Malika approaching from the opposite direction.

"How did your investigation go?" Toni asked excitedly as she broke away from her family and hurried to join her peers.

"We'll have to wait and see what the evidence says, but I think we debunked our 'hot spot'." Lorra said frankly.

"Really?! Wow! I mean, finding a ghost is exciting and stuff, but actually getting to 'debunk' a haunting... that makes you like a real paranormal investigator." Toni said admiringly.

"We can talk about this downstairs." Kerry said as he walked up to the elevator and pressed the call button.

"How did your investigation go?" Malika asked Toni hopefully.

"Well, we didn't see or hear anything, but Zoe got some high EMF readings, so we did an EVP session. We'll just have to wait and see if anything showed up in our pictures or answered any of our questions." Toni said honestly.

Before anyone could respond, the doors to the elevator opened.

Once they were all aboard, Lorra whispered, "How did Zoe do?"

"She was great. I'd be happy to have her on my team any day." Toni said confidently.

Kerry noticed Zoe's arm tighten around him and put an arm around her shoulders to hug her in return.

* * * * *

As Charity and Max stepped off the elevator, the elevator next to theirs also opened.

"How is everyone doing?" Charity asked with a smile at the happy family.

"Actually, I think we're all doing fairly well. How about you?" Kerry asked as he motioned for the group to start moving, so that they could talk along the way.

"I'm not entirely sure if we've found a haunting or not." Charity reluctantly admitted.

"That sounds like something that's right up your alley." Kerry said enthusiastically.

"How so?" Charity asked cautiously.

"The only answer you're ever happy with is the one that you've had to struggle with and fight for. Easy answers are for snake oil salesmen and video preachers." Kerry said frankly.

Max laughed with delight at Kerry's summary.

Charity looked up at Max beside her and said with fierce intensity, "Tonight we're going to talk to Momo."

* * * * *

Although Marsha was her teammate, Alana felt no desire to confer with or wait for her to complete her part of the investigation. Alana was enough of a professional that she completed her own survey without cutting any corners, but once the last of her negative readings had been recorded, she quickly gathered her things and hurried to the nearest elevator.

Alana wasn't afraid of whatever she had encountered in the A hallway. What propelled her forward was a combination of the hotel room, which represented what her life had become, contrasted against the conference room, filled with all the best parts of what her life had once been.

As Alana rode the elevator down, she felt the tension within her easing. She would soon be among her people, those who stood with her 'come feast or famine'.

When the elevator doors opened, Alana didn't hesitate. She immediately started walking toward the hallway where the grand double doors were located that connected to the heated part of the hotel.

"Alana!" A young voice called enthusiastically.

Alana turned and found that Toni and her family were approaching from the other hallway.

The children were excited to see her and the adults were expectantly waiting for her to tell them what to do next. In that moment it became clear to her that to be with people she respected, trusted and enjoyed spending time with was worth more to her than all the scientific journals ever written. And the most ironic part of it all was that there wasn't ever any need for her to trade one for the other.

"Do we need to do anything else before we start in on our evidence review?" Kerry asked seriously.

"Why don't you take a few minutes to warm up and get comfortable before we start into that? Whenever you're ready, just go to the tech conference room and we'll dig in." Alana suggested.

"Sounds good. We'll see you there in a little bit." Kerry confirmed.

"Charity, remind me when we get back to Tech. There's something I want to talk to you about." Alana said seriously.

"We can talk now if it's important." Charity quickly offered.

"No. Get comfortable and once we've gotten everyone on-task, I'd like to sit down with you and Derek and have a long discussion." Alana said somberly.

"I'll look forward to it." Charity said slowly.

Alana didn't seem to notice as the group walked through the double doors back into the part of the hotel that had heat and light.

* * * * *

"Hey guys! How's it going?" Derek asked pleasantly.

"I thought everyone else would be down here already." Hunter said honestly.

"Yeah. I thought that too. Maybe they got to talking along the way. That sometimes happens." Derek said frankly, then broke into a smile as he continued, "I can just picture the whole group of them standing around chitchatting and freezing their butts off and none of them ever thinking about going where it's warmer."

"Is there anything that we can do to help you?" Mike cautiously asked.

"I kinda wanted to talk to Kerry about something." Van awkwardly stated.

"C'mon. I've been doing this forever. Give me a try." Derek prodded.

Van and Hunter shared a long anxious look before Hunter finally said, "When our 'hot spot' started doing something, I did my protection spell..."

"We both did it. It wasn't just Hunter." Van firmly interjected.

"Yeah... well. It looks like when we tried to stop the thing, whatever it was, from being mean and nasty toward us we must have kind of..." Hunter seemed to run out of words.

"We popped it like a zit." Van said gravely.

"You what?" Derek asked with interest.

"It was hitting us with, like, fear and hate and stuff, so we kinda pushed back..." Hunter started.

"...all we were trying to do is project positive energy so that it couldn't drag us down in fear or depression or anything like that." Van finished.

"Hold on. Are you telling me that you were psychically attacked and that you were able to defeat your attacker?" Derek asked cautiously.

"Yeah. I guess." Hunter somewhat confirmed.

"Do you think Alana and Kerry will be mad at us for messing up our hot spot?" Van asked anxiously.

"It attacked you and you defended yourselves, there's nothing in the world wrong with that." Derek said firmly.

Both Hunter and Van seemed to wilt with relief at the declaration.

"Do you really care that much about what my dad thinks?" Mike asked into the silence that followed.

"Yeah. If it wasn't for Kerry, I wouldn't be able to do this." Van said simply.

"Why is that?" Mike asked curiously, seeming to be desperate to know.

"He's shown me how to deal with things. When I was scared, he told me what to do and helped me to get through it. He didn't do stuff for me, he did it with me and showed me how to handle lots of different things as we went along." Van quietly explained.

"I wonder why he never did that for me." Mike said mostly to himself.

"Maybe you never needed him like that." Derek suggested.

At Mike's inquisitive look, Derek continued, "Maybe you didn't get yourself into situations where you needed anyone else's help to get through it."

"Or maybe you didn't ask for help when you did need it." Van quietly suggested.

Mike glanced at Van uncertainly for a moment before responding, "Okay. But can I still hold a grudge because he didn't read my mind and help me when I said that I could do it myself?"

"I suppose that you could. But between you and me, that's a pretty shitty thing to do. He doesn't deserve that. He's a good guy who tries really hard to do the right thing and help everyone around him." Derek said seriously.

"But if you really don't want him, I'll trade you. With my dad you'd never have to worry about him jumping in and helping you deal with anything. He'd leave you completely on your own and never get into your business." Van said frankly.

"Thanks, but no. I'm not ready to trade in dads yet, I've barely used this one at all." Mike said with slightly pained humor, then thought to ask, "Do you need help with anything now?"

"No. Right now I'm great." Van said happily, then explained, "Since I met Kerry he's been helping me understand how things work. I think I'm really in a good place."

"Mike, you don't have to do anything. But if you find yourself in a situation where you could use a little advice, you might consider talking to your dad about it." Derek quietly suggested.

"Yeah. And if that doesn't work you could trade dads with Van. Then you'll never have to worry about him trying to intrude on your life." Hunter said eagerly.

"Qaiser's not a bad guy. But Hunter's right, whatever your dad's done to piss you off is probably something you're going to miss the hell out of if you decide to let him go." Derek said urgently.

"You hate your dad?" Norville asked uncertainly.

"No. I don't hate him. I guess I pushed him away when he tried to help me and then blamed him for not being there." Mike gently explained.

"I don't understand." Norville said honestly.

"That's because it doesn't make sense." Mike assured him, then explained, "Sometimes people make bad decisions or react to things childishly or badly. I guess that's what I did with my dad."

"Are you sorry?" Norville asked curiously.

"Yeah. Now that I realize what I've been doing, I am." Mike said quietly.

"If he's your dad and you tell him that you're sorry, he'll forgive you for whatever it is that you did. That's what dads do." Norville said with conviction.

"How's it going, guys?" Max asked as he entered the conference room.

"We're fine. Where is everyone? When I heard Alana make the call I thought that everyone would be on their way here." Derek said frankly.

"We met up on the way here and Alana suggested that we go to our rooms to change. Everyone else should be here soon. It looked like Charity might be a few minutes so I went ahead so we could get our files downloading." Max said simply.

"Did you guys record any good evidence?" Derek asked with interest.

"I'm not sure. Most of what we experienced was vague feelings. There's a slight chance that we might have caught an EVP, I don't hold out much hope beyond that." Max said frankly.

"Well, everything's set up for you. Let me know if you need any help." Derek said pleasantly.

"I could do this in my sleep." Max chuckled.

"Mike got kissed by a ghost." Norville suddenly announced.

"Really?" Max asked with surprise.

"While I'm normally the last one to make supernatural claims before we've reviewed the evidence, I honestly can't think of any other explanation for what happened." Derek said frankly.

"I can't wait to hear all about it in the evidence review." Max said happily as ge connected his DVR to a laptop.

"I just hope that we got something on video. For as exciting as it was, it means nothing if we can't get the evidence to prove that it happened." Derek said anxiously.

Max suddenly stopped what he was doing with the laptop, then turned to look curiously at Van and Hunter.

"What?" Hunter asked self-consciously.

Max looked the teenager in the eyes and firmly said, "No one's going to be mad at you."

"What do you know about that?" Hunter asked defensively.

"Nothing. I just got the feeling that you two were worried about something. Whatever it is, no one is going to be upset. They'll understand." Max assured him.

"Derek said that too. But it seems that since we were brought all the way here to investigate these things, the last thing we need to be doing is destroying them." Hunter said honestly.

"First of all, destroying a spiritual entity is a lot harder to do than you think. In fact, we're not completely sure if it's even possible. Second, nothing is more important to us than your safety. Third, we're in a place that's packed to the rafters with ghosts. If you caused one to retreat from our plane of existence, there are probably four or five more to take its place." Derek said firmly.

After a long silent moment, Van hesitantly asked, "What do you mean that it may not be possible to destroy them?"

"What appears to us to be destruction is usually transformation. We can't be sure about every case, but what little we've been able to analyze suggests that when a ghost is in the process of being 'annihilated' it is actually becoming something else. While everyone seems to have their own theory about it, no one can prove what or where that 'something else' is." Derek carefully explained.

"How is everyone doing this morning?" Alana asked as she strode into the room.

"Everything seems to be going fine so far." Derek said cautiously as he looked around.

"I think we broke our ghost." Van anxiously blurted.

"I'm not sure how one would go about breaking a ghost, but I'm interested to find out." Alana chuckled warmly.

"Sorry if I'm late. Zoe sat down for two seconds and was fast asleep. Teresa is going to stay with her and will probably get some sleep herself." Kerry said as he hurried into the conference room.

"What about the older girls? Are they still planning on helping us?" Derek asked cautiously.

"Yes. They just need a few minutes to themselves to compare notes and chatter aimlessly." Kerry said frankly, then added, "Trust me, we'll all be better off if they take the time to get it out of their systems before we start."

"I think you're probably right about that." Alana chuckled.

"While we're waiting on that, it would be a good time for Alana to assess Van and Hunter's situation. That way the guys won't have that hanging over them while they're trying to concentrate on their evidence review." Derek said professionally.

The boys' matching anxious expressions telegraphed their concern about how Alana would react.

"Good idea." Alana told Derek, then turned to the boys and asked, "Would you tell me what happened?"

"Well, you told us that our ghost was mostly just an angry feeling that lived in that one room. When Van and I first went in there to set up, neither one of us felt anything unusual. We ended up going and checking out the rest of our area, but when we got back and tried to go in the room, the angry ghost was there. We couldn't even walk in there. We felt like we were being attacked."

"Okay. Before you go on, it sounds like you might have encountered a low level wraith. They're spirits of people who were so full of anger and hatred during life that the hate continued to live on after death."

"Are they dangerous?" Van asked cautiously.

"The higher level ones are supposed to be. According to legend, wraith spirits can be called up to enact vengeance or, if the necromancer is skilled enough, function as an army." Alana said distantly.

"Theoretically." Derek interjected.

Alana blinked with surprise, then quickly confirmed, "I'm just relaying the legends. So far, we haven't conclusively proven the existence of ghosts."

"Do you think what we had was a wraith?" Hunter asked quietly.

"I don't know, but that's the first thing that comes to mind from the way you describe it." Alana explained, then quickly asked, "Go on. What happened next?"

Van looked to Hunter to see if he were going to continue the story.

When it was apparent that he wasn't, Van reluctantly responded, "When I walked in, I ran into the scary angry feeling face first. As soon as I felt it, I backed out. Hunter walked in and felt the same thing, so we decided to do a high power blessing to protect us from the hate and anger coming at us."

"What kind of blessing?" Alana asked curiously.

"I did a Celtic blessing that my moms use all the time." Hunter answered quickly.

"And I did that thing that we did at my house where I surrounded myself with light." Van quietly added.

"How did that work out?" Kerry asked with concern.

"We're not really sure about what happened next." Hunter said anxiously, then explained, "We did our blessing and protection things, trying to get ready to face whatever it was. But when we walked back into the room, we felt it push us, so we automatically pushed back and then... it was just gone."

"It popped like a soap bubble." Van added.

"We weren't trying to destroy it or anything, we just wanted to be able to face it on even ground." Hunter hurried to explain.

"I think I see the problem." Alana said slowly, apparently still putting the pieces into place.

Both boys looked at her hopefully, desperately wanting to be absolved.

"Once you got past the hate and anger, there wasn't anything else there. It's like blowing away a cloud of smoke to find that whatever had made it is already gone. Right?"

"Yes. That's exactly what it was like." Hunter quickly confirmed.

"This is still consistent with what is considered to be a wraith, although an admittedly weak one. In the most basic terms, it could be looked at as a residual haunting, what was left over when the rest of the soul passed on." Alana said thoughtfully.

"So we didn't mess up your plans?" Hunter asked to confirm.

"No. All you did was reveal how unstable that particular energy field was. Even though it started out by presenting itself in a hostile manner, at the slightest pushback, it folded in upon itself." Alana further explained.

"Wait. If it 'folded' or 'retreated' then that means that it wasn't destroyed?" Van asked slowly.

"No. Probably not." Alana confirmed.

"Then, maybe we could go back to the room and kind of set up an ambush for it. I mean, if it's in hiding, maybe we could be there and watch it as it comes back." Van said with anticipation.

"Could we do that?" Hunter asked Alana hopefully.

"It's your investigation. Take whatever steps you deem necessary." Alana said seriously.

"Do you want to do it, Van?" Hunter asked cautiously.

"That's what we're here for, isn't it? I mean, if we aren't willing to follow up and do the work, why did we even bother to show up here at all?" Van asked reasonably.

"Good. Then I'll consider it handled. I'll be here if you need any advice or anything. Otherwise, let me know how things turned out when you're done." Alana said with a smile.

Van and Hunter silently nodded with matching surprised expressions. Neither was quite sure just what they had agreed to or even how it happened.

* * * * *

"Did we miss anything?" Lorra asked as she led the contingent of girls into the conference room.

"Not at all. We were just waiting on you to get started." Alana assured them.

"Where's everyone else?" Toni asked as she looked around.

"I'm sure that Jack and Kayla are still working on their investigation. They'll be along as soon as they've reached a good stopping point." Alana assured her.

"Is Zoe not going to help us?" Toni asked more quietly, directing the question mostly toward her father.

"She fell asleep when we got back to the room. Teresa is going to stay with her. I think that between us we can cover their part of the evidence review." Kerry assured her.

"I expected her to be here. I didn't get her equipment." Toni said thoughtfully.

"Don't worry. I think I brought everything, but if I missed something we can just go back to the room and get it." Kerry said as he moved to his daughter's side and hugged her around the shoulders.

"I was kind of looking forward to doing the 'whole' investigation with Zoe." Toni said honestly.

"Things don't always end up working out the way that you planned, but that doesn't mean that we won't have a good time with just the two of us." Kerry said happily.

"The three of us." Toni corrected as she looked at her older brother hopefully.

"Of course. If he would like to." Kerry easily accepted.

"Sorry I took so long! That shower felt so good that I lost track of time." Charity said as she hurried into the room.

"Your timing couldn't be better. We were just about to begin." Alana said pleasantly, then said more loudly, to be heard by the entire group, "Everyone, go ahead and get started on the evidence review. If you need any help with anything, be sure to speak up and someone will be right there to help you."

That seemed to be all that was needed to set everyone into motion.

"Derek, Charity, hold on. I'm going to have a special job for you."

To Be Continued…

Editor's Notes:

Nice Chapter.

Probably I will need to go back and refresh myself on what happened here, last time.

Once again, it seems we are confronted with those three words. I guess we should be thankful that the words aren't the smaller, more annoying pair, "The End."

It has been quite some time since we have visited with these folks. I've missed them. MM's muse has been a bit busy lately dealing with another series of events, involving other people. I suspect that since we have reached a reasonable stopping place in the other series, we might pick up some pieces that have been resting here, lately.

Darryl AKA The Radio Rancher