Enjoy the last of the brainstorming.
...they hugged.
He inhaled deeply, savouring her light citrous scent.
He watched her put her hosiery clad feet into her calf high boots, and they stole occasional glances.
On the way to the bus stop, they held hands, and chatted about lighter topics. They ended up at the at the supermarket.
After they entered, he said, “Tell you what: why don't you pick out a couple of flowers for options, and then I'll pick out a card. I could meet you in the floral shop.”
“Okay.”
At the checkout, she placed the things that she held on the conveyer belt, and looked at the things that he placed on there.
With one hand still behind his back, he pointed to the door, and said, “Wait outside.”
She smiled, and shook her head.
“Do it!”
She pouted, and went.
He said extra loud, “Sheesh!” and tsk tsked her.
Outside, he placed an arm around her, and she said, “Well?”
He rolled his eyes, and said, “Okay, okay.” He put his hand in the bag, and said, “You probably know what day this is. I know that I do. So, I wanted to give you something. It's not much, but...” He pulled a plush white bear out of the bag. It was about the size of a baseball.
“Aw, cute! Thanks so much.” They kissed.
“You're welcome. Thanks for loving me, this far...our first month.”
# # #
The parade square was filled with murmurs. We felt some tension. We wondered what we were called here for.
Captain Van Tilling called us together. He said, “Okay. Listen up. We have intelligence on terrorist activity. It's not overseas. It's not the Americans. It's not in our backyard. It's right here in our front yard: the GVRD.
“Intel reports that a business mogul, by the alias, Mr. Koo, is manufacturing weapons. We need to verify our sources, and there aren't any more specifics, but we need you to keep your eyes and ears open on the street.
“We don't know what he looks like, but we suspect that it is the same Mr. Koo, who owns a string of laundromats, because Intel suspects that he keeps everything looking legit, by smuggling weapons in the laundry trucks, every time he needs to make a delivery.
“We need to be careful, here. We don't want a public relations nightmare to blow up in our face. We need to do it all by the book.
“This is the new world, people. There terrorists aren't making towering rockets with nuclear warheads, they only need to make something as long as your arm. They only need to launch small rockets from a few hundred meters away. Are there any questions?”
We kept silent.
“Remember, people, only calculated moves. No fly boy stuff. Do you hear me?” He cupped his ear. “I said, 'Do you hear me?'”
In unison, we all said, “Yes, sir!”
“And I don't want him to get away, either. I want to bag and tag this fiend.”
We said, “Yes, sir!”
“And another thing: let's keep this stealthy. I don't want him getting any clues that we are on to him. Okay?”
“Yes, sir!”
# # #
Jane said, “I can't wait for you to meet my dad.”
“Why is that?”
“He is such a quirky guy; kind of like you.”
She led me into the living room. “He'll be down in a moment. Do you want something?”
I rubbed the back of his neck. “Uh, no. I'm good.”
“Maybe just have some water?”
“Uh, sure. Thanks.”
I scanned the room for family photos. The uncluttered room seemed so idyllic. The furniture seemed new. I got the impression that the family just redecorated and refurnished.
I saw a small picture frame on the mantle, but the lights reflected off of it. I got up to get a better look.
“So!” The man's voice behind me startled me. “I am Mr.—Koo!”
I turned around, too see a man with a thick accent from the orient. I evaded his eyes for a moment, and then said, “I...am Tom.”
“So! You want to date my daughter. Hm? Hm? Please. Please. Sit down.”
“Do you have any experience?”
“What? Do you mean--”
“Experience in relationships, of course.”
“She is my first.”
“Your first what? Your first victim?”
“No, no. What I—“
“Oh, come come now, Mr. Tom. Let's not play games, shall we? What exactly are your intentions?” He puffed his chest, and gestured grandly, “As you can see, I am a man of wealth!” He leaned forward, and took on a more grave tone. “Were you intending to obtain my wealth, marrying her, and then waiting for her to inherit, Mr. Tom?” He cupped his ear. “Were you?”
“Well, no.”
“So you were just trying to--”
“Here's your water.” She leaned forward, and said, “Isn't he hilarious?”
I rubbed my forehead. “I was just getting freaked out. I didn't know...” I said. I turned to him, and said, “...that you were joking.”
“Oh, but when did I say that I was joking, Mr. Tom?” He wagged his finger at me, and said, “Don't put words in my mouth.”
I said, “And I didn't know that your last name is Koo...” She had natural blond hair, and other Scandinavian features.
Jane said, “I was adopted.” She shrugged. “Sorry.”
“It is a very proud Korean name, Mr. Tom.”
“I'm sure that it is. What kind of work do you do?”
“What kind of work, do you think that I do?”
“I don't know. Do you...run a business?”
“Interesting thought, Mr. Tom. What gave you that idea?”
“I don't know. I looked at Jane for help.”
She stared at me with curiosity.
I gestured to a painting that filled an entire upper wall. “Well, only a good business man could afford that.”
“Very observant, Mr. Tom. I'm impressed. Yes, I do run a business. I own a laundry service.”
I nodded slowly. I looked at Jane. “That sounds...interesting.”
In almost a whisper, he said, “You can't even begin to imagine.”
“Daddy, maybe you could take him to work, on Take Your Kids To Work Day. You could show him what goes on behind the scenes.”
“I-I-I don't know.” He stroked his chin, and sized me up. “He's not family, and can't be trusted.”
Mrs. Koo came out, and said, “Supper time! Hello. I am Mrs. Koo.” She leaned forward, almost bowing, and held a hand out. “Thank you so much for visiting us.”
“Hi. My name is Tom.”
“Tom, I'm so glad to know you.” She placed a hand on her chest, and said in a serious tone, “I'm so sorry for not coming out earlier.” She pointed to her elbow. “I was up to my elbow in work. Would you please forgive?”
“Oh, no, no. It's okay. I'm glad to just have this opportunity...to meet the parents.”
Mr. Koo said, “Oh, are you Mr. Tom?” He stroked his chin.
Jane laughed. “I love his humour.”
Mrs. Koo said, “Come, come. Sit down.”
We gathered around the table. There wasn't a dish that I recognized, except for maybe beef.
“So, Mr. Tom, what kind of work do you do?” said Mr. Koo, just before he fed himself a bit of noodles with his metal chopsticks.
Paladins aren't known for stealth, because we choose openness, no matter what the situation, instead of using deceit to trick the enemy into divulging information. “I am a paladin.” I was hoping to avoid the topic of work.
He put his chopsticks down, leaned back, and dabbed his mouth with his napkin. After he put it down, he folded his arms, and stared intently at his bowl. “Paladins. Hm. At least it's a job.” He shook his head, as smile emerged on his face. “So, tell me, Mr. Tom. What do paladins think about non-whites, coming to Canada to work hard and make a fortune? Hm?”
“We're excited to have people of any colour come to Canada. It doesn't matter if we are all one colour, or the other, or a mix of colours.” I was getting a little nervous, because Jane and her mom weren't laughing anymore.
“Yes, you would think.” Without looking up, he resumed his eating.
# # #
After the main course, which was delicious, we had a slice of cheese cake, which was the only western dish. After that, we sat in the living room, and talked politics. As bad as it is to do that, it was a welcome relief. It sure beat the earlier questioning. I don't think that it was good enough to be a cross examination.
Mr Koo said, “How about those Conservatives and Harper?”
I said, “Yep.”
“I just love the way that he takes every opportunity, and just crushes it.”
“Yeah.”
“Wouldn't you say?”
“Yeah, you could say that.”
“Who do you think is the best leader for the Canadian people?”
Jane said, “Okay, that's enough. I've shown you around the house, but I didn't get to show you around the outside.”
Mrs. Koo came into the room, “Hey, why you go? I just got here.”
“We got to go outside, Mom. We haven't had a chance to look around outside.”
“No, too dark outside. Come look tomorrow. Stay here now.”
“Yeah, that's true, but still, let's go, Tom.”
I felt guilty, but I smiled sheepishly, shrugged, and got up. I grabbed my shoes, from the front, and followed her through the house.
When we turned around the corner, she held her hand out, and I held it.
She led me through a maze of hallways and rooms. “Have you been in a limo before?”
“Nope.”
We went to the garage, and put our shoes on in there. She said, “First, I want to show you our limo.” We climbed in. Just for kicks, she turned on the seat warmers, and the TV.
I never earned this privilege or this limo, but I have to admit that I felt pretty special. It still had that new car smell. The seats at the back had room to recline, and even had foot rests. I was impressed.
She switched everything off, and opened the door.
“Let's go outside.”
We walked through the backyard. She showed me the shrubs, and a few flowers. There was a full moon, so it was not impossible to see. We wandered around the front of the house, still holding hands, to the sidewalk. The fresh cool air was beautiful.
Jane said, “Tell me. Is love worth waiting for?”
I grinned, as I wondered what kind of a question that was. I have heard people talk about the topic, but not ask that question as if it were an interview question. “Sure. Why not?”
“How long do you think that you could wait to have love?”
“Pretty long, I guess.”
“How long?”
I figured that I had better over estimate, and then multiply by two, to be on the safe side, and then multiply by two again, just to be in the safe zone. “A year?”
“Really?” She sounded so disappointed.
“I don't know. What's the right answer?” I said with a grin.
“There is no right answer. I was just hoping to go to SFU, and graduate, and then say bye to my parents. If they knew that I was dating a white guy, then they wouldn't pay for my schooling. After four years, we'd be free. I wouldn't need them anymore.”
“Well, why not just date, and then tell them that you're not dating?”
“I don't want to lie.”
“Good.”
“I don't know if I can wait that long. A girl could find another guy in that time, and then I would have waited for nothing.”
“We wouldn't just stay single. It would be like a dating engagement. We'd be engaged to become boyfriend and girlfriend. We could still hang out...” The smile came back to her face. “...and have a quick kiss now and then. This way, we would be together, and be truthful to my parents, and ensure that university is paid for, and have a relationship waiting for us afterwards.”
I had to admit that that sounded pretty close to perfection, and paladins were sticklers for perfection. “There is still the one issue about your parents. I don't want to go around behind their backs and dishonour them. They are your parents, and they are paying for your university. Even if we put the morals aside, it would still seem mean spirited. You would probably break your mom's heart.”
“Well, we could visit her. She's been good to me.”
“What about dishonouring them?”
“Well, we wouldn't be dishonouring them. It'd be...them dishonouring themselves. My dad shouldn't be allowed to prevent relationships based on skin colour. Are you really saying that you would rather us not date?”
“No, I just wish that there were a better way. Maybe you shouldn't go to university until you can pay for it some other way.”
“I don't know. It's possible, but that would be really hard.”
# # #
The drill hall siren blared. We were under attack.
I dashed up the stairs, and cut across the parade square. I approached a private, kneeling behind a post, near the door. “Status report!”
“Corporal, there were gun shots at our door.”
“Hold your fire as long as possible. We don't want to endanger any civilians driving by.”
“Yes, Corporal!”
I ran upstairs, and looked out the window.
A dark coloured limo idled just outside the main gates. A back window was rolled down a little, and weapon was pointed at our door. The limo looked like it was Mr. Koo's, but I could not remember the exact model, shape or colour. The people must have got tired of waiting, because the window rolled down more, and a bright blue light soared out at our door, and exploded. The a dark object returned to the limo. The limo drove off, as the window rolled up.
That seemed strange. Perhaps they were just firing warning shots at us.
I went back downstairs to see if anything else was happening. People were getting ready for battle.
I said, “He's gone. There was a limo outside, and it drove off. Somebody inside fired a big blast at us, before they drove off.”
Captain Van Tilling said, “What happened?”
“I don't know exactly. I got here, and checked with the private,” I said, gesturing, and said, “and he only reported gun fire. I ran upstairs for a better view. I saw a limo outside, with flash suppressor sticking out the back window. Just before it took off, a bright blue light shot out of there, and exploded, when it hit the door. A dark sphere returned to the limo, and it drove off. It was...”, I said, as I looked up in the corner of my eye, and said, “...dark black. I think that it might belong to Mr. Koo, the laundromat owner.”
“And how do you know that?”
“I'm dating his daughter. She showed me his limo a few evenings ago.”
“You are dating his daughter?”
“Yes, sir. I want to add, that I didn't know that they were related. She is Caucasian, and was adopted by them. I only found out, when I was invited to supper to meet the parents.”
He nodded with understanding. “Does he know that you are a paladin?”
“Yes, and not very happy about it.”
# # #
“All right. Let's check him out.”
We drove off to the head office of Mr. Koo's laundromat. We barged in. He was in.
“We saw a limo matching your limo in front of our drill hall. Do you have an explanation?”
“No. When did you see it?”
“Yesterday.”
“Hm. Interesting. My limo was in the repair shop yesterday. What am I being accused of?”
“You are being accused of attacking the drill hall.” Captain Van Tilling turned to me.
I didn't know what to say. It's not as if I claimed that it was definitely Mr. Koo.
Mr. Koo looked at me, and said, “Hm. Are you really that excited to have any skin colours come to Canada? Hm, Mr. Tom? Hm?”
# # #
With a final surge of adrenaline coursing through my veins, I smashed his lower jaw, then used that same fist to deal a backhand to his temple. He collapsed like a sack of bones.
I unlocked the cage, and we ran out of there. It was a gruelling downhill marathon.
At times, we slowed to a walk.
He still found the energy to say, “That guy is deluded.”
I did not say anything, because I found it hard to disagree.
“They have no concept of ethics. They actually value plants more than people. That's stupid. Plants are no more important than machines. Those crazies have no sense of priorities.”
I turned, and then pointed to him, and said, “They might have a screws loose, but they have a much better sense of priorities than you. Shut your mouth and have a little respect.”
“Okay. Okay. Sheesh.”
We got to the parking lot. The truck was gone.
I spotted a bus. “Come on.” We ran to the bus. I didn't have any change, so I pointed to my badge, and gestured to the two of us.
The driver knew what that meant: we would compensate the company afterwards.
The camper had slipped past me, when I interacted with the driver, and he was already half way to the back. He sat right in the middle of the back-most seat.
I stomped up to him, and grabbed his collar and yanked him towards the floor.
His head flew out of control, and smacked against a teenaged girl's knee.
She gasped, “Ah uh!”
I gently said to her, “Sorry.” I scolded him in a hushed tone, “Stay on the floor! We don't want them to see us.”
“Okay. Okay.”
# # #
Mr. Koo said, “How do you like my sword, Mr. Paladin? I got it from a green paladin. When I threw my Glastony orb at him, he ducked, and he only got burned when it exploded behind him. My, my; did he squeal like a pig.”
His wistfully looked away through the corner of his eyes. His eyes snapped back at me. “Wouldn't you agree, Mr. Tom?” His eyes were wide open, and he seemed to genuinely wait for an answer.
I was stunned. In all my years of being in the order, I had never been mentally stunned in the midst of combat. In the few days of knowing Mr. Koo, I never seen him once to care about what others thought.
He said, “I grabbed his sword, and was going to run him through, but he begged to be killed, so I let him live.” He looked down to the sword, and continued to stroke it, and shook his head, as if he were the one to suffer the loss. “What a coward.”
“He wasn't a coward.”
# # #
Mr. Woo wound up. Jane leaped from behind me, and kicked my knee forward, causing me to fold like a falling house of cards. He flung the Glastony orb, and it exploded behind Jane. The fire engulfed her, not even giving her a chance to cry out. The flames disappeared, and all I saw was a shivering charred body.
He said, “Jane!” That was what I was going to say.
I knew from my first aid training that we shouldn't touch victims in such a bad state. Seeing her shiver in pain made my head and torso tense. It was like a migraine was coming on, and as if my body was feeling a chill. If I had only saved that last laying-on-of-hands, I would be able to ensure her survival.
# # #
Mr. Koo lay on the ground. He looked like a shredded pile of flesh and bones. He looked like a bloody mess, with joints bent the wrong way. He breathed heavily, and his eyes were shut tight. “So...ugh...only...two questions...remains.” He took a moment. “Do I...want to die...ugh...or fight...to survive?” He panted heavily. “How to...manipulate you...to give me...what I want?”
I narrowed my eyes, and looked away, and snorted. I shook my head. I looked back at him, and said, “From the beginning until now, we have never been allowed to let people control us.”
He creased his brow. I suspected that the message got through loud and clear.
I held up the sword handle above my head, with the tip pointing down. The sword glowed, and the holy light filled the space around us. The wind started blowing, and I squinted my eyes. “By the power of God invested in me, I judge you as evil and cast you down into the ninth level of hell!” I pierced him, and the power of the sword and its light, charged through to Mr. Koo.
He moaned, and it grew into a scream. His eyes, nostrils, and mouth darkened, and black light burst through.
The sword crackled with lightening. Powerful light flooded the forest floor like glow-in-the-dark paint. His body fell through. He continued screaming in a deep demonic voice. “No!” His limbs struggled to bring him back to the surface, but the light and wind washed him down.
# # #
“Wait a minute.”
David stopped.
“Isn't that truck...Mr. Koo...is that the same guy, who owns the laundromat business?”
The vehicle looked like those large delivery trucks, that charities use to collect clothing. I recalled that the laundry trucks tended to be smaller. This truck looked like it had seen better days, and I suspected that it was used for heavy duty work.
“That's him. He's huge.”
I tried to figure out if there was at least a possible connection, but figured that I might be over thinking it.
He said, “Haven't you heard that saying about Mr. Koo?”
I shook my head.
“It goes, 'Just like all roads leading to Rome, all contracts and money go to Mr. Koo.' He owns a lot.”
My mouth hung open slightly. We continued on.
“David, what does he do here? Your uniforms?”
“Actually, yeah, that too. That wasn't a laundry truck, though.”
“So, what was it for?”
“They are contractors, who help with park maintenance.”
It seems that I was overreacting.
“At least, that's what they do these days.”
“What did they do before?”
“Park surveying and mapping—until we caught them.”
“Caught them doing what?”
“They were mining; in a park; without a permit; undercover.” He laughed. “Crazy, eh?”
“I'll say,” I said.
“What were they mining?”
“I don't know. Dirt. What difference does it make?”
“I don't know. I just stopped questioning the questions. I know that I need to focus on the facts.”
“The fact is that they did something wrong, and we shut them down. The forest is safe now.”
“So, how come I never heard anything of this? I check the news. Was it long time ago?”
“No. Just last month. We try to keep these things under wraps, because we don't want coroporations to come in here and drill...and mine. The bottom line is that when they see one company mining and drilling undercover, then they'll all try it. The only way to keep the place safe is to keep it under wraps.”
I shook my head vigorously, and blinked rapidly. I felt like I had stepped into a movie, where fantasy corporations and strange friends battled it out.
# # #
Captain Van Tilling said, “Say that again? Start from the beginning.” He leaned back, and looked out the window, with his chin on his left hand.
I looked at my notepad, and read, “Mr. Koo got a contract for park surveying and mapping; mined unknown substance instead; park staff caught them; halted operations; created different contract; now does park maintenance.”
He mumbled, “Contract...caught...mining...contract....” He nodded as he ruminated over the information. “I want to send some people there to figure out what and where he was mining. What do you think that we should do?”
I nodded, and said, “The same thing. How do we do it, without scaring them, when they see our uniforms?”
“I don't know. Let's think about that, until we get up there. If we can't come up with any ways, then let's not lose sleep over it.”
“I just thought of something. I could ask my friend about how we would know when we see the mine entrance. I would explain that if we knew, then they wouldn't have to waste time sending up one of their guys, whenever we spotted anything. You could send out the unit for a full twenty four hours to sweep the mountain. The night shift that goes under the cover of night could check out the mine, and maybe bring back samples.”
Captain Van Tilling snapped his finger, and pointed at me, and said, “Bingo!”
# # #
A quarter moon lit up the crystal clear sky. The little bit that filtered through the trees did not help much. We had lamps strapped to our heads.
We found a big pile of debris against the slope, just as David had indicated. I brought out my radio, and said, “P2395 to DH0. Over.”
After a brief pause, “DH0 to P2395, go ahead. Over.”
“We found what is probably the mine shaft entrance. A pile of branches, and other natural debris leans against the slope. It measures approximately twenty feet high, thirty feet at the base, and is triangular. It will take us some time to dig through. Over.”
“Understood. Keep me apprised. Over.”
“P2395 out.”
“Sub sergeant! We might have found a bit of a short cut,” a private said. He stood at the left side of the pile, at the rocky slope. “There is an overhang, that has made it hard for them to dump debris on here. Maybe we could bypass all of the debris at the front, and just start digging through here.” He stood back to show me, that we could get past the lip of the cave, without lifting a branch.
I said, “Good thinking. I'll check the other side. Stand by.”
On the other side, a private was shining a light into the debris, but no luck.
I said, “Come on. Private Smithers has found a better way in.”
We formed a chain, where the person at the entrance could just pass the debris onto the next person, who passed it onto the next person, until the debris was thrown out. While they did that, I kept sentry duty in case lost hikers or unanticipated park staff came by.
Twenty minutes later, they had snaked their way into the cave entrance, with only one paladin at the mouth of the cave. Instead of doing sentry duty, I took whatever he got and threw it away.
I honestly expected the debris to go only about five feet in at the base, but my guys must have been about twenty five to fifty feet in, with no signs of stopping.
I decided to give them another thirty minutes, since carrying on could have taken us all night.
I thought that I saw a light in the distance. I quickly turned mine off, and then cupped my ears. I was not sure if I heard just a night animal in the distance, or if it was actually a person. A light flashed. I dashed to the private at the entrance to the cave. I said in a hushed tone, “Someone might be coming. Settle down and pass it on. Stand by.” I sneaked closer to the light, but kept myself behind the trees, taking only small peeks.
The sounds seemed pretty jovial and undisciplined, so I figured that it might be hikers, and not the park staff, since hikers usually tried to make as much noise as possible to scare off animals as early as possible.
As they got closer, I pulled out my night goggles. I recognized body armour, rifles, boots, and badges. They must have been the other paladins from our unit that were sent out for the night shift. I stood up to scold them for being casual and undisciplined. If the staff had been on patrol, then we would have been caught by now.
One of the paladins stopped, and turned. I heard David's voice say, “Hold on. I heard something.” He shined a light to me.
I ducked.
Everybody remained still. I held my breath, and tried to avoid all movement; not even blinking.
David methodically scanned the area. His beam stopped on me. There was enough debris to cover most of me, but some of the light shone through, which means that he might have seen me.
I had to think fast. I could not decide on talking my way out of this, or fighting, or waiting. We were supposed to be here to assist, so I ruled out fighting.
The light slowly moved away.
I breathed a sigh of relief.
The light jerked back to where I was. It slowly went a few meters to one side, and then the other. The stayed on for a few moments more. He turned off the light.
Saliva gathering at the back of my throat. I wanted to swallow, and I am certain that he was too far away to hear, but I thought that about my breathing, and yet he shone the light back onto me.
They continued their chatter, and departed.
About a minute later, I started breathing again. I made a vow at that moment: if I ever taught a basic training course, and if a trooper asked me when we would need to use an obscure skill, then I planned to say to him, “You never know.” We just never knew what we would face. We started this as assistants to search and possible rescue, and now we were miners, ninjas, and scientific investigators.
I went back to the mouth of the cave, and said, “Okay. Continue. I'll keep you updated.” I took the debris from his hand, and chucked it aside.
Ten minutes later, the good paladins emerged from the cave, with a few dozen soil samples in plastic bags.
They labelled which samples came from the floor of the mine shaft entrance, and which came from which walls, and in what order they were all taken. We planned to take them a lab for analysis. I had watched enough TV to have a hunch that we messed something up, but we weren't scientists, and this would have to do.
We made our way through the night until we got back to the trucks, which were parked in side streets, that we hoped that the staff never took. I finally got the feeling of safety once we reached the main roads in the city below.
# # #
David said, “Tom, were you guys up at the mine, the other night?”
“What other night?”
“Tuesday night or Wednesday morning.”
“Why do you ask?”
“We found that somebody had disturbed the entrance to the mine. That mine is off limits.”
“We could split up into groups to see if we can track the people who did go in.”
“Answer the question.”
“We did.”
“You betrayed my trust! I told you to not go in, and you deliberately did. What's that you said earlier? What's that about hating rebels and being stubborn?”
“I wasn't rebelling.”
“Why can't you just leave things well alone?”
“It's because Mr. Koo is a dangerous man. Why don't you realize it? We could put the debris back into the mine. What's the big deal?”
“Yeah, well, you didn't. We went on our regular patrol, and guess what we saw? Debris scattered all over the place! You didn't even try to hide it from hikers.”
“We never meant for that to happen. We just wanted to get out of there as soon as possible.”
“You brag about walking a higher ground, and then you create a mess on somebody's property.”
“It's public property, and you guys are hindering a possible federal investigation. This guy could be a killer. Our investigation could save lives. What do you think that you're doing?”
“Save lives?! Well, what about the mountain? The trees?! The shrubs?! You're always thinking about you guys, and not them. So much for sacrifice. On behalf of the Seymour Forrest, you and your order are not welcome here anymore!”
I stood up to leave. “You are a wicked people. You are obstructing justice, and the order will not tolerate it.” I turned to the door.
“Hey! I didn't say that you could leave.” Even though he did sound like a man, he always seemed to have a babyish hint to his voice. With loudest, lowest, and most authoritative voice, that I ever heard out of him, he said, “Stop right there!” He freaked me out enough, that I flinched.
I turned around to look, and he had his rifle pointed at me.
In a slower way, he said, “Don't you dare take another step. Don't you dare lift that rifle, either. Lift up your hands slowly. High! Higher!”
The end. Thank you for reading!
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