The Case of the Red Rubber Ball
75
Fall is an important time of year on a ranch, mostly because it means that winter is coming soon! And, on Hank’s ranch, that means that the cake house is about to be filled with bags of feed to get the cattle through the long, frozen days ahead. Unfortunately, this particular feed-delivery is accompanied by a town mutt named Roy who gets Hank into big trouble with some local yellow jacket wasps. Once the cake house is full, Slim puts Hank in charge of guarding their winter supply from marauding raccoons – a responsibility that could only be handled by the elite forces of the Security Division. However, when Hank suddenly finds himself pitted against the notorious Eddie the Rac, he realizes that this mission will require every ounce of cunning he possesses. Will Hank be able to keep the cake house safe, or will Eddie’s sneaky tricks win the day?
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Eddy is Back
Remember Eddy the Rac? He was a little shrimp of an orphan coon that Slim and I rescued from a pack of stray dogs. Slim kept him around as a pet, until he became such a home-wrecker and pain in the neck, we turned him loose and sent him back to the wild. Now and then he showed up around headquarters, and we could always be sure of one thing: any time Eddy showed up, trouble wasn’t far behind.
And here he was, back again. “Eddy, what do you think you’re doing? You’re in a Secured Area.”
“It’s a barn.”
“It’s a barn that happens to be under tight security.”
“Playing ball.”
“I see that you’re playing ball and that’s nice. Coons need to stay busy with something.”
He threw the ball up in the air and caught it. “Right. Moonlight Madness. Can’t sit still, got to boogey.”
I paced around him and gave him a steady gaze. He didn’t seem as concerned about this deal as he should have been. After throwing the ball in the air several times, now he was rolling it around in his hands. I had to admit, he had an amazing pair of hands.
“Eddy, I’ve got nothing personal against you. It just happens that we’re on opposite sides of the law. Coons are not allowed anywhere close to this barn. For security reasons, I can’t tell you why, so you’ll just have to take my word for it.”
“Fresh cow feed?”
I flinched. “That is supposed to be classified information.”
“Smell.”
I lifted my nose and drew in air samples. Hmm. They carried the strong, nutty smell of…well, ten tons of fresh cottonseed cake. “Okay, smart guy, you’ve got a good smeller. It makes me twice as suspicious about why you happen to be in front of this feed barn.”
“Playing wall ball. Want to see?”
“No. I’ve already seen it.”
“Great wall.”
“It’s a great wall, but there are plenty of other walls you could be using: the machine shed, the chicken house, the tool shed. I’d advise you to run along and…”
“Want to see a trick?”
“No. The point I’m making…what trick?”
He held up the ball in the fingers of his right hand. “Magic. Make the ball disappear, poof.”
