Chapter 5

Tuesday 7: 55 A. M. Elfhame Lakes Edge, Solarium

After the Tribal Chiefs had returned to their domains, Mike approached Elnore with a proposal for a minor problem. "Elnore, my I speak with you a bit?" Mike asked.

"Of course Michael, you know my door is never shut to you." Came the reply.

"This has somewhat to do with the new Talent we discovered today. Also it's the reason I didn't want your boys to come barging in," stated Mike, "You'll recall that I mentioned this girl's spirit had been methodically crushed," Mike could see the tension rising in Elnore's face at this, "I did not, tell you how."

"Continue Michael," was the response.

"She is now a ward of the human 'Foster Care' system and has been since her parents were killed in a traffic accident one and a half years back. But, the last 'home' she was placed in also was home to one of the nastiest child molesters I've ever run across," Mike filled in.

"Right now she'll be fine with Al and Sarah. But I was thinking, that your 'wrecking crew' has been lacking in field work for some time now and we wouldn't want the lad's skills to get rusty," Mike stated, with that-semi-evil-grin slowly spreading from his mouth to his eyes. He was very pleased to see the echoing grin begin on Elnore's face, as understanding set in.

"Yes, I'm almost certain they are all overdue for a little workout," Elnore agreed. "I'm assuming, you have an area in mind for the exercise?"

"Why, by a strange coincidence, I do now that you mention it," replied Mike with the grin in full-blown-mode.

"I believe that 1824 Jackson Ave. would be the perfect place to hold these field trials. I also believe that the majority of the effort should be expended on the male half, however, if the female exhibits the same patterns your lads might consider including her in the testing also. Oh, I should probably mention that the physical frailty of the test subjects is borderline, so, perhaps these might be good candidates for the psychological stimulus we've been discussing lately."

"I'm fairly certain we can work something out," Elnore voiced, with a grin that threatened to go from the tip of one pointed ear to the other accompanied by a look in the eyes that would have scared the life out of anyone sane. "In fact, I'm sure of it."

"Wonderful," Mike spat out, "I just know Lenny and Grannis Peterson have been dying to live in 'interesting' times. Very 'interesting' times."

Wednesday 1:45 P. M The News Stand at Wabash and Van Buren

A little bit over one week later the afternoon edition of The Sun Times carried the huge banner headline:

"Child Molestation Charges Spark Foster Care Inquiry Storm"

The article went on to say that though the special investigation teams expected a complete inquiry to take two years to finish, that certain irregularities in the Foster Care screening procedure were already coming to light. One of the case workers was quoted, on condition of anonymity as saying, "This is just a massive horror story from beginning to end. I doubt anyone, had the least idea it was this bad." This tidbit was followed by the typical, political C. Y. A. tripe and other fillers.

'Score one for the good guys, ' thought Mike, while reading through this.

"Which reminds me I'd better give a call to Al and Sarah, see how my best girl is doing," murmured Mike to himself as he dialed their number.

"Olson residence," came the lilting answer once the phone was picked up.

The voice at the other end was none other than Ella and when he asked how she was doing and called her 'lass'; all the torrents in the world couldn't have keep up with the verbal hemorrhage. He heard about her new bedroom, and clothes, and her OWN bathroom, and how terrific Sarah could cook...

Feeling like his ear would be permanently welded to the phone just by air friction, but rejoicing in the avalanche of words as a good indicator of recovery, Mike tried getting a word in edgewise. "That sounds terrific dear one. Is Sarah there at the moment? I've a little surprise for you, but want to clear it with her first."

"Sure, hang on just a sec," sang out Ella, "Oh, and Michael, thank you sooooo much."

A moment later Sarah was on the phone, "Hi Mike, what's up?"

"Well, hello yourself lovely lady. I was wondering if I couldn't borrow your precious new daughter for a bit this afternoon? It won't interfere with school now will it?" asked Mike.

"Oh no, that's fine. We won't get her transferred to the new school for a couple more days." Sarah replied with a laugh. "Getting her out of the house for a while would be a 'very good thing'. I love her dearly but I do need 'some space'."

Then her voice changed to a whisper, "Michael, what happened to that child?" Then, exercising the female prerogative and changing her mind, she said, "No, no on second thought, I don't want to know."

"Well, it's nothing that your special brand of love won't cure Sarah. I was planning on taking her over to the park and show her around. All kids can use fresh air and grass." Mike responded. "I'll have her back in three hours tops, scout's honor."

"OK you kidder, see you in a bit then." Sarah chuckled into the phone, hanging up.

Clicking the cell off Mike thought in passing, 'Thank the Lord Above for folks like Al and Sarah. They made up for a lot of the vileness that seemed to percolate through the human race.'