by retrohippie7
Ness woke, one morning, to the smell of bacon. He slipped out of bed and made his way downstairs. He entered the kitchen to see his wife, Paula, fixing breakfast. They greeted each other, and Ness headed for the door.
"Where do you think you're going?" demanded Paula. "You haven't had any breakfast yet."
"I don't have time to eat. I'll be late at the factory."
Ness ran out the door before Paula could complain any more and headed for the newly built steel plant on the east side of Onett. As he was walking briskly through the woods, he heard a voice coming from a dense group of bushes.
"Pssst. Hey you. Over here."
As Ness went over to investigate, a little man in a jet black suit jumped from behind the bushes. Ness stepped back and took a defensive stance.
"It's OK," said the little man, "I won't hurt you."
"Yeah right, thought Ness, like you could actually hurt me.
The little fellow was bald and he carried a small brown briefcase. He walked up to Ness.
"Allow me to introduce myself," smiled the little man. "My name is Mr. Philips. You must be Ness."
"Yeah that's me," Ness said, suspiciously. "What do you want?"
"Well, I have something I'd like to show you."
Mr. Philips unbuckled his briefcase, reached in, and pulled out a long metal tube.
"This, my friend, is a very interesting device. To operate it, you must..."
Then, with amazing speed, Mr. Philips swung his arm in a sideways arc and connected with the side of Ness' head. Ness fell over, unconscious. Mr. Philips dragged Ness' body into the bushes...
* * *
"No I'm sorry, Paula. I haven't seen my son anywhere. He's probably working late at the factory."
"OK," sighed Paula. "Well, if you see him, give me a call. Thanks. Bye."
Paula dropped the phone reciever on its base, and sat back in her chair. She was woried about her husband. Jeff, hadn't seen him, Poo hadn't seen him, his mother hadn't seen him, and he never said anything about working late.
"He should have been home five hours ago," Paula said to herself. "Where
could he be?"
TO BE CONTINUED...