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Where We Left Off:
The Winchester-Nabu Detective Agency investigated the sudden death of a bunny rabbit named Arden.
127 Minutes:
Around the fourth week of July, the haze from wildfires began to dissipate returning our New Jersey sky closer to normal. The apocalyptic sunrises had been eerie, yet it wasn’t the worst they’d ever been which was June of 2023. Normal is subjective. Things were stressful in other areas of life.
Gus and Oliver weren’t allowed to go outside on adventures when the smoke was at its worst. After a few days, they were allowed to resume their outdoor inspections and investigations. We were continuing to bond with some of the wild animals (an upcoming case).
When possible, I’d pushed Ollie’s buggy through the wet morning grass which always feels too high to me. We’d make our way up to Big Rock and distribute the birdseed and peanuts for the critters. There were at least four chipmunks in that area of the junkyard, Garter Snake Ridge, and Bunny Hollow. Chippool and Hugh Jackmunk were still around, but they didn’t come out for visits as often with Gus lurking nearby. We believe Moira MunkTaggert is the mother of this year’s babies.
One of those youngsters caught our attention. I thought I was not seeing correctly when it looked like the little chipmunk’s tail was missing. I tried to shake those cobwebs out of my head and look again, but the little critters are quick to dodge into the bushes. Ollie and I resumed our observation there for the next few mornings. Gus even stayed with us when he wasn’t distracted by the Jersey devil-deer.
“You’re not seeing things.” Ollie was able to confirm my suspicion but not until after he received several treats. “That little chipmunk is missing most of its tail. One might say sin-tail.”
I looked down the marmalade detective. “Sans-tail, Ollie. My abysmal French is still better than my Spanish.”
He brushed me off and said his way sounded better. Gus had no opinion. I tried to get him more involved with discovering the chipmunk’s identity by requesting that he find an informant willing to take extra peanuts in exchange for this chipmunk’s name.
“I know just the lunatic. But you have to unhook me first.” Gus has a tendency to disappear when he’s not hooked to his leash. He might be someplace perfectly safe like in the yard next door; or, he might trespass onto dangerous turf where’s livestock behind electrified fencing.
“You better come when I call you!” I bent down and removed his leash tucking it into my satchel.
Oliver yelled to let me know that he needed to get home immediately. I got him home without incident and hiked back up to Big Rock where I did not find Gus waiting for me. Thus began my usual search for the adventurous feline. I went through the junkyard. I checked under the mobile command unit. I scanned the yard next door. I walked from one end of Bunny Hollow to the other while peering through the bushes to the danger zone. I tried not to fully panic as I went down the private road and started checking front yards. I kept calling him and crinkled the treat bag knowing that never made him come to me. The Cook has the best track record for getting Gus to come home from wherever he goes wandering.
I even walked up the neighbors’ driveway and walked through their yards with no luck. I spotted the wrong black cat there. Longhaired, not Gus. The Cook spotted me through the window and she met me in the driveway. She walked up the hill and found him immediately. He walked right to her from the Black Gate.
“I got the information you wanted,” he said as if there was nothing wrong with my anxiety-ridden state.
“Let’s go get breakfast and meet in the office.” Gus had his methods and I know them well. All that truly mattered was that he was safe and with me.
Identification:
Gus found a small red squirrel who is always in a race to do everything. He must expend a ton of energy during the day and sleep well. Joe “Red Merlot” was linked to the Chipmunk Mafia not the X-Munks. According to Gus, there was nothing covert about giving us the name of the no-tail chipmunk. She went by Rahne (pronounced rain). Merlot didn’t have any further information about possible aliases or connections that she had.
Name: Rahne Sintail
Family: daughter of Moira MunkTaggert
Special Skills: unknown
Traits: easily identifiable by the stub of a tail no longer than a centimeter
“What happened to her?” I asked Gus.
“You’re not gonna like it.”
“Of course not. She’s missing her tail. Unless it’s congenital, I’ll feel something about it.” I bit off a small piece of my McVities digestive biscuit and held it out in my palm for Gus. He loves them.
“When Lord Theodore was knocking over more trees with his machine, Rahne got caught with her tail pinned. She lost feeling in it and nibbled it off.” Gus looked disgusted by the thought, but it was warranted. Chewing off a limb, even a tail, sounded horrific.
“At least she’s doing well now.” I reviewed the photos and felt some of my tension ease knowing that the chipmunk could still live a healthy life as long as she kept away from the farmers’ machines.
Summary:
Ollie, Gus, and I discovered an abnormality about one of the young chipmunks born this year. Gus went in search of information and learned from a squirrel named Merlot that the chipmunk was not born with only a stub for a tail. She suffered an injury from the farmer as he felled more trees and shrubs. She got pinned and had no choice but the chew off her own tail to break free.
Rahne Sintail is the daughter of Moira MunkTaggert and resides in the Bunny Hollow region. We hope maybe she’ll consider staying closer to the junkyard and avoid any further interactions with Lord Theodore.
Case Status: Closed
