Mystery on the Bayou

                                                                                       Chapter 21

                                                                                         Surprise!                                                                                                 

     It was now ten o'clock at night, and everyone was in bed except for Jessie and her parrot Cocoa.  She was in a corner of the living room sitting in an old, comfortable rocking chair, reading a book with Cocoa setting on her shoulder, and eating peanuts out of a small container Jessie had loosely tied around her neck.

     It was a starry night with a big orange moon shinning it's rays through the front living room windows.  Jessie smiled contentedly up at Cocoa and said, "As pleasant as it is to sit here in this quiet place, I think it's bedtime old girl.  Cocoa gave out a squawk as if she understood every word Jessie was saying.  

     As Jessie was laying her book on the end table and taking the yarn holding the tiny cup of peanuts from Cocoa's neck,  Carl, Chuck and Bobby were on their way to Ron's house.  The three of them were walking the dirt road that ran on the other side of the bayou.  When that sandy road ended another one begin and that one would take them through the woods that boarded Ron's property.

     Jessie slowly walked down the hallway off of the living room and then down to the guest room that Grace had chosen for her.  The sleepiness that had come on her so strong when she was reading her book had left her and now for some reason she couldn't imagine, she was no longer sleepy.

     She thought maybe a glass of warm milk would help.  It often did.  So with Cocoa still perched on her shoulder, she made her way to the kitchen across from the living room.  She poured her milk into a mug, put it in the microwave and set the timer.  Suddenly, she thought she heard a noise outside the nearest kitchen window.

     Cocoa started to squawk, but Jessie pinched her beak shut and shook her head at the bird, and then Cocoa made not another sound.  Jessie hadn't turned a light on because the moon was giving enough light to see by.  Then she heard a noise by the front doors.  "Oh no," she uttered.  She then hurried upstairs to waken Deputy Cruise and Deputy Snow.

     She knocked hard enough where she figured they could hear her, without waking the others.  The deputies rooms were side by side, and they both came out into the hall at Jessie's knock.  "What's up Jess?  Deputy Cruise asked her.  "I heard a suspicious noise outside; actually two separate noises.  Cocoa heard them too and I had to squeeze her beak to keep her quiet."

     "Okay.  That's good enough for me," Clark cruise said, picking up his robe and gun from the night stand.  "Me too," Mike Snow agreed, grabbing his things from the dresser.  So, with the deputies leading the way and Jessie following them, because she said she was going to, and the deputies knew better than to argue with her, they came quietly down the staircase.

      They almost ran into Ron's mother coming out of the kitchen, dressed in her robe and slippers and carrying a cup of hot chocolate.  She put her empty hand to her mouth, so startled was she and after eyeing the deputies guns,  said, "What's going on?"  "I heard a couple of suspicious noises in the kitchen," Jessie told her.

     "Oh my!" she said in alarm.  "Why are you all down here?" came a high voice on the stairs behind them.  The four of them turned to see Esther and Olivia, clad in their robes and wiping their tired eyes.  "What are you girls doing down here?" Deputy Clark asked them.  "We heard noises outside our bedroom windows," Essie said.