Postlude to the LOST and LADDER STORY
(For those who have been following the LOST and LADDER stories -- there's more.)
When Pete came home from work the day I got lost, I told him all about it. He listened to me ramble on and on with kind a blank look on his face. A little later the phone rang. Pete answered it, got up and casually went into another room, but I could hear him talking to Priscilla on the phone.
From what I could gather from his side of the conversation, he had offered her $100 to permanently “lose” me in the woods that day and she hadn’t been able to fulfill her side of the agreement. He wasn’t going to pay her! She wanted her money!
I thought about it for a little while, and decided not to say anything, but just to keep my eye on Pete and Priscilla for any suspicious behavior.
Yesterday a plain brown envelope arrived in the mail. Pete took the envelope and headed out to the garage. He was out there for quite a while, and I could hear some drilling and banging, and when he came back in the house, he was white as a sheet.
I asked him what was the matter? What was in the envelope? And he said, “Oh, nothing. They just want to raise our insurance rates again.” I didn’t say anything back to that, but when he left the house later on an errand, I went to the garage and started looking around.
The first thing I saw was his “beloved ladder” with a chain wrapped around it and bolted to the wall. He had thrown an old towel over the chain, but it was so easy to spot. I thought, “Poor guy, he really loves that ladder and is afraid someone is going to steal it.” I kept looking around, and finally under the tool box I could see the corner of the brown envelope sticking out.
This is what I found. A ransom note! Three pages stapled together. I quickly photographed them and put them back where I’d found them.
Will this story continue?
Should I sleep with one eye open?
Should I ever go hiking with Priscilla again?
Should I just forget all this and help my poor husband protect his ladder?
Could there be more to this story?
That’s anyone’s guess.
When Pete came home from work the day I got lost, I told him all about it. He listened to me ramble on and on with kind a blank look on his face. A little later the phone rang. Pete answered it, got up and casually went into another room, but I could hear him talking to Priscilla on the phone.
From what I could gather from his side of the conversation, he had offered her $100 to permanently “lose” me in the woods that day and she hadn’t been able to fulfill her side of the agreement. He wasn’t going to pay her! She wanted her money!
I thought about it for a little while, and decided not to say anything, but just to keep my eye on Pete and Priscilla for any suspicious behavior.
Yesterday a plain brown envelope arrived in the mail. Pete took the envelope and headed out to the garage. He was out there for quite a while, and I could hear some drilling and banging, and when he came back in the house, he was white as a sheet.
I asked him what was the matter? What was in the envelope? And he said, “Oh, nothing. They just want to raise our insurance rates again.” I didn’t say anything back to that, but when he left the house later on an errand, I went to the garage and started looking around.
The first thing I saw was his “beloved ladder” with a chain wrapped around it and bolted to the wall. He had thrown an old towel over the chain, but it was so easy to spot. I thought, “Poor guy, he really loves that ladder and is afraid someone is going to steal it.” I kept looking around, and finally under the tool box I could see the corner of the brown envelope sticking out.
This is what I found. A ransom note! Three pages stapled together. I quickly photographed them and put them back where I’d found them.
Will this story continue?
Should I sleep with one eye open?
Should I ever go hiking with Priscilla again?
Should I just forget all this and help my poor husband protect his ladder?
Could there be more to this story?
That’s anyone’s guess.