A visit to Mulhouse

He split the little machine into two pieces along the seam, slipping the part with the controls back into his pocket. The other half, with its dozens of wires and clamps coiled inside like a poisonous snake ready to wreck havoc, didn't look as menacing as it should have, considering what Davy knew it could do to something like a car. More precisely, what it would do, indirectly, to the people inside the car.

Davy snickered, then reached underneath the tire well to place the Tomikin device as far and as deep as he could toward the engine. He pushed the small button in the middle and heard a hiss followed by a metallic clunk as the gadget reached out with tiny claws and adhered itself to the car. A spattering of tiny clicks rang out as the machine crawled its way to where it needed to go.

Smart little devices, these things. In a matter of moments, the beautiful but deadly trinket would find exactly what he needed.

Once in place, it only needed Davy's signal to come alive.

                                         ~

"Aunt Lisa must think I'm three years old," Tom thought.

It all started at bedtime. Lisa followed Tom into the bathroom and pulled a container of floss from a dusty cabinet. She yanked off a three-foot-long piece and handed it to Tom.

"Now, catch every nook and cranny," she said as Tom started threading the minty string between his two front teeth. "You can never tell what nasty little monsters are having a nice meal of your gums."

Tom finished as he threw the used floss into a small wastebasket, wishing Lisa would leave him alone. When she didn't move an inch, hovering behind him as he stared into the mirror, Tom reached over and grabbed his toothbrush and toothpaste. Warily glancing back at Lisa, he finally turned on the water and started brushing.

"Here, let me take a turn," Lisa said a few seconds later. To Tom's horror, she reached around his shoulders and grabbed the toothbrush from his hand and began vigorously scrubbing his teeth, pushing his head down lower with her other hand. Tom never would've known such a woman could have so much strength in her arms; mom never said so. "Gotta get those molars!" she yelled with enthusiasm. Tom almost yelp for his mom, another fact was becoming real. Why hadn't mom or anyone told him that Aunt Lisa was almost a psychopath?

Next came pajama time. Tom had bought a pair of flannel pants and a T-shirt to sleep in, but that was not good enough for Aunt Lisa. She went to the basement and dug through some boxes before returning with a musty old pair of long johns that were as red as her lipstick and looked like Santa's underwear. Tom begrudgingly put them on, heeding his dad's pleas that they do everything humanly possible to make mom's friend happy, so nothing jeopardized their trek the next day. He almost broke his promise when Lisa topped everything off by twisting a scratchy wool stocking cap on his head. Instead, he forced a grin and followed her to the bed she'd prepared for him. After tucking him in with no fewer than seven goodnight kisses and a bedtime song, which sounded like a half-dead vulture warning its brothers that the chickenhawk he'd just eaten was poisonous. Tom closed his eyes, hoping if Lisa thought he was asleep, he could avoid an encore. Satisfied, Aunt Lisa tiptoed out of the room—making sure before she closed the door that the night light she'd plugged in worked properly.

Tom rolled over, wondering what his mom would think if he'd later told her about the holiday at Aunt Lisa's place. When he finally quit laughing at the image of how his mom would sprawl on the floor making a terrible laugh, Tom fell asleep.

                                    ~

The next morning, after a wonderful meal of eggs, bacon, sausage, cheese, biscuits, and freshly squeezed lemon juice, and after a long lecture on how important it was not to talk to strangers, especially those holding guns or missing teeth, Tom and his dad were able to escape for a day of "exploring the wonders of Alsace."

Aunt Lisa seemed exhausted from her efforts and couldn't hide the fact that she was almost relieved to get some rest from taking care of her guests. She could do that before going to work.

After filling up the car with gas and junk food, Tom and his dad begin their three-hour journey, the Diary of Mysterious Clues sitting on the seat between them.

Next stop: Mulhouse, Alsace.

                                          ~

The noise of buyers and sellers stunk the air after driving down the straightest road Tom had ever seen—with nothing but shops and stalls on either side. They pulled into the small town of Mulhouse right around noon. The first thing they did was stop at a gas station to fill up their car for the drive back, so they wouldn't have to do it later. The hazy and noisy street was almost filled with French accents. A few kids drove through the crowd on their bicycles.

"Well, I figure we have about six hours until we need to head back," Tom's dad said as he started the car again. "Or, if we don't discover anything today, we can always call Aunt Lisa and tell her we got stuck somewhere for the night and that we'll come back tomorrow. She won't want us to take risks."

"Yeah," Tom said. "But she'll be spitting nails if I'm stranded at some nasty hotel without her there to brush my teeth for me."

His dad laughed. "You're a good sport, professor. Now you know why your mom and Lorena were just fine letting the two of us come up here alone." 

"But she's mom's friend, how?"

"Friendship," his father said, smirking.

Tom could say that was the worst answer ever. Dad put the car into gear and drove away from the gas station. "The lady in the gas station said the post office is down after the Catholic church—into a lonely road. That will be our first stop."