Finding the Fiddle Family's Feline
or
The Case of Forgotten Freddy
A Jubilee Kincaid
Owner and President: All Things KID Detective Agency
Mystery
By:
Bj Gold
Copyright 2012 Bj Gold
Thanks to Aubrey Watt for her eBook cover
For Eric, who enjoys my playful work
Table of Contents:
Chapter One: First Facts in Finding Freddy
Chapter Two: Flying For Freddy
Chapter Three: Friends For Freddy
Chapter Four: Fools and Fiends
Chapter Five: A Full-Fledged Fan For Freddy
Chapter Six: Fighting Flesh-Eaters for Freddy
Chapter Seven: Fast Food Fortification
Chapter Eight: Freddy Favors Fishy Folk
Chapter Nine: Ferrying Freddy
Chapter Ten: Freddy's Fortune
Prologue
It all started when I opened my email and found this message from my cousin Francesca in Nome, Alaska:
Hey JAK—Thot of U when I rd this in R newspaper:
Lost cat. can you help? Fiddle family from Friday Harbor fed feline frosty flakes at rest stop. Family forgot Freddy the cat was dining ( fishing for flakes and flicking whiskers at flies) and went back to their home in Friday Harbor. Family is asking anyone to help them find their forever friend Freddy. Can you help find Freddy? Family will furnish funds for future return of their forgotten Freddy. Please don't let Freddy be finished in Fairbanks.
Thot U mite want 2 help find Freddy. Freddy's family lives in the San Juan Islands in WA State. Freddy last seen in cargo hold of a plane. Left Fairbanks 4 Juneau, AK. Good Luck! I know U will find Freddy. Make it fast. Winter coming early this year.
Luv, Frannie
Chapter ONE
First Facts on Finding Freddy
I found the Fiddle Family's phone number on the Internet and immediately called them. We didn't want Freddy to freeze and become a frozen furry pop tart.
“We're so glad you called us. Some friends just told us about your Kids General Detective Agency. Our children are really freaked out. They want their favorite friend Freddy found and returned,” said Mr. Fiddle.
“I'll need a full description of Freddy,” I said.
“Freddy is white and light grey with white freckles on his face,” said Mr. Fiddle.
This was a fine fact. While it is not good to be a white cat in the part of the country that is covered with snow, it is good to know that Freddy had freckles.
“Freddy has a long ringed white and grey tail,,” said Mr. Fiddle.
This was even better. Freddy not only had a white freckled face, but he also had a ringed tail. Then I thought of snow leopards and was glad Freddy wasn't lost in Siberia.
“Anything else that is special about Freddy?” I asked.
“Well, he kind of likes his afternoon naps,” said Mr. Fiddle.
“Where does he usually nap?” I asked.
“On the window sill where the sun becomes a furnace,” said Mr. Fiddle.
Now all I needed to find was a large window that would furnish Freddy with a fireball of heat somewhere in Juneau That shouldn't be too difficult.
“Any other clues about Freddy?” I asked.
“He likes any kind of fish, especially smelly fish,” said Mr. Fiddle.
“So I will find Freddy on a warm windowsill next to a smelly fish place,” I said.
“Yes, that's it,” said Mr. Fiddle. “I just know you are the right Detective to find our Freddy.
We hung up the phone with my promise that I would call him as soon as I had found Freddy, somewhere near a smelly fish joint in Juneau, Alaska.
. . . . . .
I've learned that the best place to start looking for a lost pet is at the local humane society. So I emailed the Gastineau Humane Society in Juneau. I described Freddie, hoping that they would have already found him. They answered me right away. They didn't have any white or grey cats with ringed tails, but they would be glad to adopt out fourteen cats that had some kind of white spots on them. I guess they didn't understand that I was only looking for Forgotten Freddy, not anything that had white fur and meowed.
“Jubilee, have you finally gotten ready for bed?” yelled my Mom from the bottom of our stairs.
“Almost,” I answered.
“Almost means you are on the computer, doesn't it?” said Mom.
“I'm looking for Forgotten Freddy before he becomes a frigid feline falling victim to a foxy four-legged hunter of the North.”
“Oh that's fine dear. But, don't be too long, you have school tomorrow.”
Mom never really listens to me, because she's always thinking about something more important, like how to find ways to keep people from throwing up when they fly. Mom's a flight nurse. She knows all about throwing up. Besides, she totally “tunes out” anything I have to say about writing to kids.
“Okay Mom. As soon as I finish up these last emails,” I said.
That would about do it for my Mom telling me to go to bed. It's good to not have to keep promising something that you know you can't do. I mean, potentially frostbitten felines fogged in on frigid foreign lands certainly are more important than flossing one's teeth or going to sleep on time.
. . . . . .
For the next two hours I did my research. Where would Freddy find a warm window with smelly fish? Juneau has lots of fishing. They have places where they take the fish from the boat to the cannery. I Googled Juneau cannery and came up with Jerry's Meats and Seafoods. I put it on the satellite map. Would Freddy's little black nose lead him that far from the Juneau airport to Jerry's Meat and Seafoods? It was worth an email.
Here's a copy of the email I sent at 11:40 pm:
Dear Jerry's Meat and Seafood Person:
I'm looking for Forgotten Freddy, the lost Feline. Last time anyone saw him, he was flying into Juneau. His owner says he likes smelly fish and naps in warm windows. He is white and grey with white freckles and a ringed tail. Have you seen Freddy? He has kids who love him and want him home. Thanks for your help.
Sincerely,
Jubilee A. Kincaid
Owner and President All Things KID Detective Agency
Here's the email I got back at 11:55pm:
Dear Ms. Kincaid,
We get lots of cats who like our fish smells. Cats are not good for our business, even if they do take naps. Lucky for Freddy, we don't have a lot of windows. It's not good to get a fish business too warm, you know. We take all the cats that we catch to the Gastineau Humane Society. Please email them. Otherwise, hope your Freddy stays away because if we can't catch them, we shoot rock salt at them. I repeat, cats are NOT good for our business!
Good luck in finding Freddy. The Management.
Besides being the state capitol of Alaska, perched on the side of a glacier, Juneau was a prime sea coast city. That meant fish. And fishermen don't like cats. I had to be fast in finding Forgotten Freddy before the fishermen found him.
I needed to find just the right place. One that was quiet (for nap taking), windows (to catch the sun), and fish (to smell it up). Where would that be? I Googled Juneau and Fish and came up with some dock areas. Water. Fish. Docks. Fishermen. Sounded like it might be the place to find “smelly fish” for a Forgotten Feline named Freddy.
Just before I finally quit for the night, I sent out my last three more emails. Hopefully somebody h
ad seen a scared and maybe stinky, fishy, Forgotten Feline named Freddy. So the Port of Juneau, Aurora Harbor and Auke Bay Harbor all got emails. If I didn't get any emails back by morning, I would have to fly to the Frigid North to find Forgotten Freddy.
Chapter TWO
Flying For Freddy
My alarm went off at six fifteen. No new emails. I knew what I had to do.
“Mom, I'm going to stay overnight with Casey,” I said. Casey was my best friend. Although she was a fourth grader, she fulfilled all the fine qualities of friendship. I was packing my lunch and putting everything into my backpack. Mom didn't notice that I had also packed a map of Alaska, three left over Halloween candy bars (they weren't exactly a year old, yet), and a pair of clean underpants (Mom would approve of clean underpants).
“Jubilee, have you asked Casey's Mom if it is okay with her that you spend the night?” asked Mom.
“Oh, she asked me to stay for the whole weekend,” I said. (Well, she did ask me to stay for a whole weekend several weeks ago.)
“She did? How nice of her,” said Mom. She was smiling.
“So if everything is going okay, I thought I might stay overnight on Saturday, ” I said. I figured it might take me a little longer to find Freddie, after all there were a lot of fish in Alaska.
“That's fine, dear. Just call and keep me informed,” said Mom.
“Sure,” I mumbled.
Mom nodded and picked up the morning newspapers and stacked them on top of the whole week's supply of morning newspapers. Tomorrow, she would take the stack to the recycle center.
I breathed a sigh of relief. It's hard on me to out and out lie to my mom. This way I wasn't exactly lying. But at least she wouldn't worry about me. And, the BIG thing. She wouldn't tell me I couldn't get a plane ticket and take a quick plane trip to Juneau, Alaska. Mom's don't understand how important some things are to us kids.
Using my Mom's frequent flyer miles, I got a free round trip to Juneau. (Since Mom is a flight nurse, she often flies with patients when they go home. She gets lots of free air miles. With our initials being the same, it makes it really easy to book a flight over the Internet. No one knows it's a kid instead of an adult that's typing on the keyboard.)
I had enough of my business money left if I needed to eat and stay overnight. (I was hoping that by finding Forgotten Freddy that Mr. Fiddle would give me a some kind of reward. Forgotten Freddy must be worth at least fifty dollars. Maybe more. There wasn't much money left in the empty Dennis the Menace VHS tape container that sat on my desk.)
My entire check list for flying to Juneau was finished before I left for school. I would go to my first class and then take the bus to the airport. I should arrive in Juneau at about three in the afternoon. Hopefully that would give me enough time to find Freddy. Or at least find out what direction Forgotten Freddy, hopefully not Forgotten Frozen Freddy, was headed.
. . . . .
As usual, I got another pair of wings from the stewardess.
“First time to fly?” asked the older flight attendant, as she pinned on my wings on my collar.
“I get to fly a lot,” I answered.
She patted my new wings and asked, “Do you have to fly to visit your divorced parents?”
“No ma'am,” I answered politely.
The fine lines around her eyes squinted at me and then as if she didn't know what to say, she said, “Well, have a good flight.”
“Yes, ma'am.” It just wouldn't do to tell her my father had died when I was first born, that I was fine, and that Mom and I felt okay with there being just the two of us.
No adult is going to believe a skinny girl with whimpy brown hair, red-framed glasses and a gold front tooth. (I love my gold tooth. I got it when Bucky Johnson, our shortstop ran right into me when we were fielding a fly ball. My tooth got buried in his head. He got stitches and I got a new, gold tooth.)
It's one of the fairly good reasons to do most of my work by email. Ms. Jubilee Kincaid gives me a greater ability to deal with adults than that girl with glasses and a freaky front tooth.
*****
Luck is a big part of detecting. You have to keep aware of your potential for bumping into information. My middle seat in the plane let me listen to the men on either side of me talk about their upcoming fishing trip. They were going to Elfin Cove outside of Juneau. Lots of fish. A lodge with windows. They didn't even notice me listening to them. They really talked over my head. Fine with me. I kind of ducked and they didn't even notice that the girl sitting between them was fascinated by finding out everything about fish and fishermen.
“Are you going to Elfin Cove?” I asked the man on my left.
“Sure are,” he said.
I grinned and nodded my head.
“Are you going there, too?” he asked. His left black eyebrow arched up.
“Yep.” I had always wanted to be able to arch just one eyebrow at a time. I decided that I had to work on it as soon as I had found Freddy.
“Do you live there?” he asked. Now both eyebrows arched.
“I used to, but I'm just visiting, now.” It was hard not to keep from wiggling my eyebrows.
“You're kind of young to be traveling by yourself, aren't you?” he asked.
“Oh, no. Us Alaska kids do a lot of traveling by ourselves.” I had my hidden fingers crossed. It's never good to tell lies. I know that. Whenever you tell a lie, you'll probably have to keep on telling lies. And where does that get anyone? Time-out, after school detention, thrown into jail. But I did have Freddie's frozen little paws in mind. Maybe a little lie wouldn't so be so bad. My fingers were hurting from squeezing them together so much.
“Well, that does make sense,” he said.
The other man, who had a bulging belly, had been listening and talked over my head to his friend.
“I bet we're on the same plane to get to Elfin Cove. This girl will know the way to get there,” he said.
“Sure, why didn't I think of that?” asked Eyebrows.
“Hey Kid, would it be alright if we just tag along with you, since you know the way?” asked Big Belly.
I smiled, but it wasn't a great smile. I shrugged my shoulders and said, “Okay.” (See what I mean about one little lie leading to the next one?)
They were supposed to show me the way to get to Elfin Cove. Now I had to know more than these guys. Somehow I had to find out how to get to the connecting plane to this place called Elfin Cove and act like I knew what I was doing. Jeez, detecting can suddenly be very difficult. It's not always easy being a fact-finding, future-planning detective.
For the next thirty minutes the men asked me all sorts of questions about Elfin Cove. And I made up as many answers as I could without sounding like a total idiot. (Good thing Mom couldn't hear me. She would say I was fabricating, again. That's a fancy word for lying.)
“So did you go to school in Elfin Cove or did you have to go to another town?” asked the man on my left.
“Oh, all us kids have to go to school. Some are even home schooled,” I said.
“What kinds of fish did you catch?” asked Big Belly
“Mm, I guess you would say everything that Alaska is known for.” My fingers felt forever fixed in a crossed position.
“Hey, pretty smart kid,” said Eyebrows.
“Yeah. Sounds like a smart business woman,” said Big Belly, who looked down and grinned at me.
I smiled. I had to get out of there before they asked me a question I couldn't answer—I could already feel my nose start to grow, just like Pinocchio.
Then I had a fine idea. A futuristic detective's thinking idea.
“Could you please excuse me, I need to use the restroom,” I said.
The man stood up and let me slide around him.
I went to the back of the plane and locked myself in the tiny restroom. I waited until I heard a flight attendant come back behind the restroom, working with the food cart
.
I quickly opened the door, but didn't let it close, so that it hid me from the passengers.
“Could you tell me where I have to go in the airport to find the plane that flies to Elfin Cove?” I asked.
“Of course,” she said. She smiled, took a napkin off of the tray, a pen out of her pocket and drew me a picture.
“You just go up to this desk and tell them that you have to be on the float plane flight to Elfin Cove,” she said.
“My mom wasn't sure if I could get a flight today, so I need to buy a ticket to get to Elfin Cove,” I said. (My fingers were crossed in my pants pocket.)
“Oh, that's no problem. I can do that for you. Do you have your ticket for this flight?” she asked.
I dug my flight ticket out of my back pocket and handed it to her. She pulled a keyboard out of the wall, just below a small monitor. Within a few moments she smiled and said, “There, all done. All you have to do Jubilee is to show up and show them your identification and you can get on the plane to Elfin Cove.”
“Thanks, you've been a big help,” I said.
“Sure, sweetie. That's what I'm here for,” she smiled..
When I returned to my seat and the Big Belly stood up to let me back in; he had a look of concern on his face.
“You okay, little girl?” he asked.
“Sure,” I said.
“It took you a long time in the ah . . . bathroom,” he said.
“Oh, the flight attendant and I got to talking.”
He smiled and said,“We're going to have to stay close to you—something tells me you know a lot of folks.”
I shrugged, and figured that I needed a way to fetch a feline before these guys found out I was faking it.
Chapter THREE
Friends For Freddy
It was a whiz getting through the airport an onto the small plane for Elfin Cove. I had analyzed that a feline named Freddy who was Forgotten and maybe Frostbitten would find a fish place named Elfin Cove. It just all made so much logical sense to me. There weren't any other fish places near Juneau with an “f” in their name. Freddy would feel more comfortable hearing an “f” sound—just like his name. I mean, can't you just hear the “f” in Elfin Cove?