A Big Surprise for Easter, Part 3

The next day, the boys all got together at the tree Fort.  Robert had the name and the phone number of the person who rented the warehouse from his father. Butch said, “Let’s give them a prank phone call and see what they say.” Ronald was elected because he was the youngest in the group, and whoever answered the phone would think it was the wrong number dialed by a youngster.  Robert’s house was one of the few phones in the neighborhood, and it was an old candlestick phone that didn’t have a party line attached to it. So in the office of Mrs. Strawn, the boys made their call. Ronald put the receiving peace to his left ear and was ready to speak into the mouthpiece in front of him, when someone answered the phone.  A cranky voice came on the phone and said. “Yeah, what do ya want?”  Ronald froze for a minute, then came up with an idea.  “Is Leo there?”  The cranky voice came back again, “There ain’t no Leo here,” and hung up.  The boys waited for about 15 minutes to pass.  Then each of the boys took turns calling the same number and asking if Leo was there.  Finally, after waiting another half hour, Ronald called the same number again.  This time the grouchy man just said “yeah” when he answered.  “Hello, this is Leo – any calls for me?” Ronald said as he hung up the phone almost immediately.  But the grouchy man was still able to hear the boys begin to roar in the background, laughing hysterically!  After the joke had run its course, the boys decided they needed to work out a plan.  “Robert, do you think we could get a key to the warehouse building?” asked Lester.  “Why do you ask?” asked Robert.  “Well,” said Lester, “if we could get a key and hide inside the building, after it gets dark we would look around and maybe find something of interest.”  “I’m sure my father has a spare warehouse key hanging on his key rack, but I’m not sure there’s a good room inside the building for all of us to hide in.” said Robert.  “How about if we all hide in the attic?” asked Butch.  Lester thought for a moment and concluded, “We would need a stepladder, a rope, and some flashlights.”  “Why do we need all that?” asked Ronald.  “The stepladder would get us to the attic opening somewhere in the ceiling. We would use the rope to pull the last person once they put the ladder back in place. Of course, the flashlights would help us through the dark attic and around the inside of the building,” Lester explained.  “My dad always keeps a ladder in the storage room to change light bulbs in the ceiling,” Robert offered.  “Okay, let’s go home and see if we can get a couple of flashlights apiece and maybe a few snacks to munch on while we’re waiting. Robert, if you can’t find the key to the warehouse, let me know as soon as you can.” said Lester.

So off the boys went, back to their houses to pick up their supplies.  They had all agreed to meet back at Norwood Elementary School before dark. Everything had gone as planned, when Ronald was the last to show up at the school.  Robert had the key; all the boys checked their flashlights to make sure the batteries were still good.  Robert brought his frog headlight that he wore around his head like a baseball hat.  He explained to the group his frog headlight would allow his hands to be free, and the beam of the light is more direct, shining a lot farther than most flashlights.  They all agreed it was a good idea.  When all the cars had left the parking area, the boys decided it was time to enter the building.  It was still light enough for the boys to find their way around inside the building without using any flashlights.  Robert knew his way inside the building and found the stepladder without any trouble.  He then showed the boys where to place the ladder directly underneath the attic opening.  Robert climbed up the ladder, pushed up the attic panel, and placed it to one side in the attic.  He turned on his frog light and looked around in the attic.  There were electric wires running through the floor of the rafters, but there were a couple big sheets of plywood for storage in the attic.  He climbed down the ladder and warned the guys to avoid the electric wires and not step between the rafters, or they might fall through the ceiling or just punch a hole in it.  When each of the boys said they understood what Robert was telling them, one-by-one they went up the ladder and waited on the plywood platform.  Robert was the last to come up after putting the ladder back in place.  Butch had tied the rope over a cross tie in the attic and it was long enough to reach the floor.  Robert then tied a big knot in the rope so he could sit on it while the other boys pulled him up into the attic.  Robert replaced the attic door and the boys sat in the dark, waiting for their eyes to adjust.  After about a half-hour wait, the boys could hear people talking inside the building. When they moved the attic door just a little to hear better, they could see a dim green light on the far wall of the building.  An image appeared on the wall like a huge drive-in movie screen.  A woman was shown on the screen, giving details like a weather station, showing a large detailed map of Florida.  Using a pointer stick, she pointed to the map of Florida and a detail location was shown almost life-size. “My message to my comrades is, “The dwarf drone will be arriving at your station within the next ten minutes of your Earth time. Please make the necessary preparations for the craft to arrive.”  An overhead garage door opened at the back of the building.  A beeping sound was audible on the screen showing the location of the incoming drone.  When the beeping stopped, a saucer-shape craft flew through the open door and landed on the floor in the middle of the building.  A coded message was being broadcast from the outside perimeter of the craft.  A series of colored lights blinked on and off in sync with a musical tone.  “Hand me the code interpreter,” said one of the men standing over the clone.  The code interpreter began to synchronize in sequence with the clone.  The blinking colors were converted into text that could be read on the handheld code interpreter.  The message was interpreted out loud for the rest of the workers to hear.  “We are sending you some seeds from the mother ship to distribute throughout your area.  The seeds are from a sable palm; they will later become sentinels to communicate with the mother ship via coded messages.  In the near future, your handheld code interpreter will enable two-way communication with these trees wherever they grow.  We plan to have the whole state covered with sable palms in the near future. Enclosed is a printed map of the information specialists Elvus has been looking for.  Her undercover work in the disguise as the little old Lady has been very successful.  Now all over the state, people report sightings of all kinds of unusual objects in the sky.  There are two other objects we are sending that you should be aware of.”

A small door opened in the top of the craft.  A small cage appeared, holding two small birds that were almost identical in color.  One was a male, the other a female.  They both were gray and black with a touch of white. “These birds are clones from one of our species called myna bird that can talk better than a South American parrot.  However, these birds have been genetically programmed to mimic the sounds of almost any bird that they hear.  “In the bottom of their cage, you will find a small box. Inside the box is a special wristwatch. When you place it on your wrist, it will program itself. Once it is programmed, it will decode the sounds of the bird into a language you can understand.  These birds will interpret the conversations of all the other birds that they mimic, so you will have a primitive form of satellite decoding information from all over the state. Do you copy?”  “Yes, oh Great One!” was the response.  “We will be in touch. Oh, one more thing! Please program the monitor to enlarge the Easter basket packages so we may beam them aboard at a future date. Whatever you do, do not lose the data on the monitor, or it will go into a default stage and send all the Easter baskets by way of teleportation back to their original owners!”  A small hum was heard as the drone reversed its direction, flew out the overhead door, and vanished in the night sky.

(Part Three of the novella by George F. Kohn, author of Holiday Favorites series available on Amazon.com)

For the rest of the story, order your copy of A Big Surprise for Easter, published for Kindle e-readers and paperback.  Amazon search: Holiday Favorites by George F. Kohn.