subtitle: Minokee Mysteries, Book Two. This is the sequel to Finding Miranda, which is book one in the Minokee Mysteries series.
Shep and Miranda canoe downriver from Minokee, to view a new sinkhole that has opened up on Tom Rigby's farm. A profes...
AUTHOR NOTE: In case you missed the 1977 Star Wars movie, the picture above the chapter title is of Jabba the Hutt. You need to know this to understand Carlo's joke in this chapter.
For fans of the porch ladies in Finding Miranda, this is a big moment in Minokee history: the day the morning coffee ritual returns. Grab your cuppa joe and meet me on the front porch, girls!
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Sunday morning
Carlo entered Shep's bedroom and threw the covers off the sleeping man's bed. "Get up, Jabba! The Hutt family is go for a morning run."
Shep yawned and rolled over. "Lucky me, I don't belong to the Hutt family."
"Lucky you, you just been adopted. On your feet. Stretching starts in three and a half minutes. Shorts on the dresser, shoes and socks under the chair."
"Where's my shirt?"
"No shirt. The ladies been waiting for months for you to show up at morning coffee time, so you give them a bonus today: no shirt. And I don't care if we have a freak blizzard! You deserve a little frostbite for lazy-ing around so long for no good reason."
"I have a good reason, Simon Legree. I need Dav— I need a running buddy who can see."
"That is me. Carlo is new running buddy. I been practicing for the past few weeks, while you been sleeping 'til the cows come home. Plus, you still got you cane. You navigate just fine."
Seeing no increase in activity from the bed, Carlo said, "Get dressed. I take it easy on you; we walk most of the way today."
Shep rolled over again. "I'll pay you to go back to bed instead."
"No good. I do not take money for making you run — or walk, but walk fast. I do it for the joy of making you suffer."
"Even if I suffer more than you," Carlo continued, "is worth it. Meet you in the kitchen. Only two and a half minutes left now.'
Running together was not much different from canoeing together. Shep followed Carlo's lead, stayed slightly behind, and listened to Carlo's footfalls. Carlo gave verbal notice if he changed course or pace unexpectedly, and they kept their speed low on the first day, since Shep was out of shape.
At first, Shep's excuse for not running every morning was the burns on his lower legs, from the car bombing. That was six months in the past, and his burns were virtually healed.
Scar tissue on Shep's lower legs pulled at first, with an uncomfortable, unaccustomed tautness, but there was almost no pain. As Shep ran, his somnolent muscles and resistant skin began to stretch and relax, benefiting from the exercise.
Shep's mood benefited, too, as the running released long-imprisoned endorphins into his grateful system. He had not realized that this feeling of wellbeing was yet another thing he had been missing. He had cheated his body, mind, and spirit by neglecting his dawn trot through the lush smells, sounds, and breezes of Minokee's forested lanes.
