“Oh! Okay, what is kool?”

“Walking’s kool.” She said, so we walked to Phillip’s house. Once there, we went inside.

“Did you have a refreshing walk?” Belle asked us.

“Yes Belle, quite.” I responded.

“Did he take you to see the fair?” Phillip asked Kristin.

“Yes, indeed. It was so much fun.”

“Good. Kristin, I’d like you to meet Joey. Joey, come here for a minute.” A little kid came out, I think he was about ten. “Joey, meet Kristin. She and her parents have popped in for a little while.”

“A girl! Yuk!” Joey said.

“Shh, shh.” Belle said. “Now go wash up for tea.”

“Yes, ma’am.” Joey said, depressingly while he left.

“Joey is at that stage, Kristin. Don’t worry, you’ll have a good time here, you’ll see.” Belle commented. Tracy came down the stairs, and assumed a position next to me. I put my arm around her, and she looked at me.

“Well, hello stranger.” Tracy said to me.

“Howdy, pardner.” I replied. “Ready for tea, m’lady?”

“Why yes, quite.” Tracy quickly changed accents. Tea progressed and it went into the night. Tracy and Kristin went to bed early, and I stayed up to talk to Phillip and Belle about my case.

“Here’s the low down. Tracy is not just my … a …wife… but my client. Her friends got kidnapped by someone who tried to brainwash people to steal money from the U.S. government.”

“Well, let them. It’ll just make England better.” Belle said.

“That’s not the point. We need to get her friends back. I’m counting on your help.”

“Well, you’ve got it. I’ll check you into an apartment tomorrow. Meanwhile, I’ll keep my ears open.”

“If you ask me, she isn’t worth it. These uppity up people always think their better than the rest of us. No offense Adam, but I don’t like her.” Belle commented.

“Belle, that’s not nice.” Phillip said. At that moment, Tracy stumbled into the room.

“Dear! What’s up.” Her eyes were red. She was turned around and headed up for her room. I proceeded to chase.

“Now see what you did, Belle. You didn’t even give her a chance!” I heard Phillip say as I went up the stairs.

“Tracy, Tracy! Let me in!!” I said, knocking on the door. I managed to open the door, and went over to the bed where Tracy was bent over, crying. “Come on Tracy, she didn’t mean it.”

“Oh, yes she did! I’m no good.”

“Come on, you’ll never get anywhere with that attitude. I seem to remember someone telling me this same thing, a few weeks ago.”

“Yes, but that was different.”

“Yes, I’m on a case right now.”

“And you brought your wife and daughter?!”

“Well, it helps for the cover.”

“I should say! They could be kidnapped or killed!!”

“Don’t worry now, Belle. I’m sure Adam has a perfectly safe plan, otherwise he wouldn’t have done it this way, don’t you?” Phillip asked.

“Sure. . .right.” I said, uncertainly. I just thought of something, What if something did happen?! Awe, I’ll just trust the Lord, he’ll watch over us, he always does.

My ‘wife’ and ‘child’ came down the stairs and into the kitchen. Belle and Tracy didn’t get along to well. Belle thought Tracy was too pretty, and dressed too fancy. Kristin mumbled through her meal, doing nothing much but pushing it all around the plate. Phillip and I discussed sports and changes made to Bracknell since I had left it. “Adam, can we see the London Zoo while we’re here?” Tracy asked.

“Awe, you best not go there, miss. There are wild animals there. You might get your clothes dirty!” Belle said.

“Belle!” Phillip said. “Of course we can. We’ll go tomorrow, if that’s all right with you?”

“Sure, I think Kristin will like that, eh Kristin?” I looked at her.

“Fine.” She said, continuing to push her food around.

“Kristin, come with me.” I said. I stood up and took her hand. “Tracy, stay here. I don’t want you out of Phillip and Belle’s sight. I want to show Kristin something.” I said. We went outside and I said to her, “Kristin, let’s go for a walk.”

“Where to?”

“Down town.”

“Down town?! Why don’t we drive?”

“Because, gas costs so much more in England, and the cities were built so that everything is just a few steps away.”

“Oh.”

“Shall we continue?” I asked.

“Sure, why not.” She said. I put my arm out, and she took it. We went down town, through the many underpasses and tunnels that are filled with drawings and filthy spray painting messages. We arrived down town at two. There we observed the many amazing things that made England different than home. We went into a department store and picked up a few souvenirs, when we went to the counter the man rung up our purchases.

“That’ll be five quid.” He said.

“Quid?!!” Kristin responded. “What’s a quid?!”

“It’s a pound. It’s like us calling dollars, bucks.”

“Oh.”

“Here you go, five quid.” I said, handing him the money. We walked out of the store and went to the town fair, where we observed the many people running to and fro throughout the fair getting goods. At four, we headed home.

“Home, so early?” Kristin asked.

“Yes, it’s time for tea, and our host will be disappointed if we’re not on time. Let’s race.”

“Naw, racing’s not kool.”

We bounced from Chicago to New York, where we took off for England. We arrived at Heathrow airport, where we exited the plane at 6:00 a.m., local time. “Flight 204 from New York, now exiting.” I heard the intercom say. I peered through the crowd, looking for an old friend. I saw someone flapping his hand around, and went to him.

“Oi, mate. I never expected to see you again. How are you?”

“Hey, Phillip. Just fine. I’d like you to meet my wife, Tracy, and my daughter, Kristin.”

“Whoa, she looks a mite old to be your daughter.”

“Oh, not my real one, I just adopted her a week ago.” I stated.

“Oh, and what a fine wife you have here. Welcome, one and all. I hope you don’t mind staying at my house a night or two. The apartment we have reserved won’t be open for two days.”

“Oh. No trouble at all.” I said, looking at Tracy. She gave me a look like, ‘hey, we’re not really married,’ but she soon shrugged it off. “Come on, Kristin, let’s go see Bracknell.”

“Oh. . .dad. . .,” she stumbled, “Couldn’t we see the bed first, I think I have jet lag!” She said, and she looked it. We went to the car, and got inside. We got on the M4 coming out of London, and went directly to his house in Bracknell on Shepherds Lane. Getting out of the car, Kristin didn’t move. She was out. I picked her up and took her inside.

“Shh. She’s asleep.” I whispered. He showed me inside and to a bed. I took off Kristin’s shoes, placed her in the bed, and put on the covers.

We exited the room; I looked in, before closing the door. “Those two rooms are for you and your daughter. My brother is in the other one,” he said, pointing to the room at the end of the hall. “Belle is in town getting something for lunch.”

“Dear, I think I’ll catch a little sleep too. I’ll see you for lunch.” Tracy said, going in to sleep.

“Women. Can’t take a little jet lag.” I said.

“Awe, they’re just tired. Come on, I’ll show you the house.” He said. He did so until lunch.

At noon, the door was opened by someone who I didn’t see. The reason I didn’t see her is because she was carrying two bags of groceries. I offered to take one, and Phillip took the other. “Whoa, it sure is breezy out there today!” Belle said.

“Belle, I would like you to meet my old friend, Adam.” Phillip introduced us.

“Is he all?! I thought there was going to be two with him.”

“Oh, they’re upstairs, sleeping. You know, they should be getting up to eat about now. I’ll go wake them.” I said. I walked upstairs, opened the door, and entered the room. I went over and woke Tracy up, who in turn, got up and dressed. I then went in and woke up Kristin. She was glad for the rest. I left the girls to get ready, and I went down to lunch. “They’ll be down in a minute.”

“Oh. Phillip said that you are a . . . detective?” Belle said.