The Copyright Scam

Toronto

"TICKETS TO the Spring Break Teen Concert are all sold out," Otto snapped as Ron entered the study room.

Ron had just fetched his bicycle up the stairs to the second floor of the house, now returning home from running some errands. He couldn't believe what he just heard. He was breathing heavy. He took a couple deep breath swiping his hand across his forehead, wiping away some perspiration. "Already! But, tickets just went on sale. Is this a joke or something?"

Otto flinched. "You see me laughing. Let me rephrase what I just said--tickets were sold out in an hour."

"An hour!"

Otto shook his head, bitterly. "We should have camped out overnight to get our tickets like everyone else."

Ron's palms landed on his head. His eyes froze on the ceiling of the second floor of the house the family was renting in Toronto. "But that's so unreal. The biggest thing to hit Toronto in a decade and the Cottonfield kids will be sitting at home, twiddling their thumbs, while everybody take in the action at the Sky Dome. I can't accept that. The adventurous Cottonfield kids who solves mysteries will be at home twiddling their thumbs."

Otto sulked, still in his pajamas, sitting in front on the computer having breakfast. "Well, maybe we'll find a mystery to solve on that night."

Ron shuddered as he wiped his face with a damp towel. "Who wants to be solving mysteries on the night of the Spring break teen concert. I want to be there enjoying the concert. Man, we've solved enough mysteries already."

The boys and girls had recently moved to Toronto due to their father's transfer to work on a new project. They like the big city and was quite excited to be there. Since their early days in Cottonfield, they had moved to different cities which adds more flavor to their adventures and mysteries.

Otto's eyes were glued to the computer screen. He had a bowl of cereals while scanning through the computer. "The phone lines were tied up all morning and I just couldn't get through to the ticket master."

Ron sat down on the sofa, cruched over as though he was in shock. "You're right, we should have camped out all night in our sleeping bags," Ron grumbled. "Well. what about getting tickets from an on-line auction house?" Ron asked. "Did you try the Internet while you were trying to get through on the phone?"

"You're forgetting something," Otto said. "We only have one phone line. How could I be on the Internet and the phone at the same time."

Ron shook his head. "We need a cable modem or two phone lines or something."

Otto agreed. "We need a cable modem. It's a lot faster than the phone line. Besides, you actually think we could afford to buy tickets from an Internet auction house?"

Ron shrugged. "And why not? I figure it would be cheaper. Books are way cheaper on the Internet. Therefore concert tickets should be way cheaper."

"It's an auction house--that's why," Otto said. "It's a means for scalpers to get rid of their tickets at the price they're asking."

"Let's try anyway," Ron said eagerly.

"Which one?"

"What about bids.com or ebay."

Otto logged on to the Internet. He clicked an icon on the desktop, which brought up a logon screen. He entered a password and clicked the O.K button and about twenty seconds later he was in the cyberworld.

While Otto searched bids.com and ebay.com auction houses, the girls entered the house, now returning home from doing some shopping.

"Hi guys," said Famie, fetching a bag. "It's nice out there." She looked at Otto. "You're becoming as bad as Ron and Brian--still in your pajamas and it's midday already."

Otto was in no mood to take on anybody right now. He wanted tickets to the upcoming Spring break teen concert, even though he was not a teenager as yet. He was now ten years old, but has become quite adventurous like the others. Famie and Ron were just over fourteen years old, followed by Rafena and Brian.

A broad smile grew on Rafena's face. "Guess what?" she said.

Nobody answered. The boys' minds were preoccupied with thoughts of not being able to attend the Spring break teen concert.

"And guess what? Rafena continued, cheerfully. "Guess who's in town? You guys will never guess."

Nobody guessed and nobody cared.

Rafena was taken up with her cheerfulness and had still not acknowleded the gruesome look on the boys' faces. "Slick Mick's in town tomorrow signing autographs. Famie and I are going. You guys wanna tag along?" she said smoothly.

The boys, still not receptive, continued to frown. The shock of not getting tickets to the Spring break teen concert hit them where it hurt the most.

A muffled reply came from Ron. "Nah, too busy for that kid's stuff."

"And what are you?" Famie replied. "An adult?"

"You guys didn't hear about the concert?" Otto asked, feeling down.

"What about it?" Famie asked, putting on a necklace she bought this morning while they were out shopping.

Otto explained. "Tickets to the Spring break teen concert were sold out in an hour for both the Friday evening and Saturday evening shows."

Ron shrugged his shoulders. "We're out of luck. We didn't get any tickets."

"You gotta be joking." Famie's said. Her voice changed from her normally pleasant tone to a not so pleasant one. "Between the three of you, you came up with nothing? I wanted to go to the concert. All my friends will be there."

"It wasn't my fault," Otto said. "Well, Ron went out and Brian disappeared on me."

"Where did Brian go?" Famie asked. "I don't see him and I find it hard to believe he's in his room doing some school work."

"He went down to the basement to check out Tony's electric guitar and Ron went down to Main Street."

Ron ran his fingers through his hair. He defended himself. "I had a few errands to run."

Famie turned on Ron. "You guys promised you'd get tickets. I really wanted to go to the concert." She paused and then continued, "tell me Ron, what kind of errands did you have to run."

Ron shrugged his shoulders. "You know, the usual kind of stuff."

"Oh really," Rafena challenged him. "It must have been a girl."

Famie grinned. "So I thought--that kind of an errand, eh?"

Their parrot Laura started to sing, "Ron has a girl friend! Ron has a girl friend!" Laura remembered that phrase from New Amsterdam when the girls and boys teased Ron about the snobbish girl that liked him.

Ron walked up to Laura. He snapped his finger gaving her the wicked evil eye. Laura started to whimper. She quickly retreated and became quiet.

"Hey! Be nice to Laura," Otto said. He quickly attended to Laura and stroked her neck. Laura felt better and started to whistle the melody to 'Ron has a girl friend, Ron has a girl friend,' which annoyed Ron even more.

"You leave Laura alone," Famie warned Ron.

Brian entered the room carrying the newspaper in his hand. He was in his shorts and sandals. He walked over to the chair next to the window and sat down ignoring anybody. He opened the papers and started to go through it. Everybody stood there looking at him with evil eyes.

Famie then continued, raising her voice, trying to get Brian's attention. "Why cry over spilled milk. There's still another concert coming up at the old stadium next week. Slick Mick, Nadia and Ace are playing. Why don't we go see that," she suggested. "In fact this concert is better because Slick Mick nor Nadia are not even playing at the Spring break teen concert."

"Nobody wants to see Shlick Mick, anyway," Brian blurted out. "We're going to the Spring break concert."

"I would like to see Slick Mick," Rafena declared. She then turned to Brian. "I guess you didn't hear."

"Hear what?"

"Tickets to the Spring break concert were sold out within an hour," Otto said raising his voice. "You were suppose to be here helping me."

"And where was Ron?" Brian asked nervously.

"I was running some errands," Ron said defending himself.

The room was filled with unwanted vibes as Brian learned their fate.

Famie took a deep breath and then exhaled. "Well, I guess going to the old stadium to see Nadia and Mick is an alternative, isn't it?" Famie said assertively, hoping to cheer up the others.

"It's not the same," Ron replied. "Just being there--just being at the Spring break concert is what it's all about. That's where the action will be--at the Sky Dome. Nobody wants to go to the old stadium. It's no fun there, besides I don't care about seeing Mick and Nadia play--they're only superstars here in Toronto."

Rafena then spoke in a questioning tone. "Are you sure Naida will be playing at the old stadium, too?"

Famie nodded. "Yes, Nadia, Mick and Ace."

Rafena shuddered. "Then, there's no way I'm going to that concert."

Puzzled, Famie asked, "And why not?"

"I'm not paying a penny to see Nadia."

"And why not? Mick will be there, too" said Famie.

Rafena eagerly explained. "I'm surprise Mick is playing at the same concert with Nadia. Nadia's a thief. She stole Slick Mick's song."

"Which song did she steal?" Famie inquired.

"She stole 'A Kiss Goodnight' and said it's hers.

"Oh, really, I wasn't aware of that," said Famie.

Brian sat quietly on the couch, his eyes glued on an advertisement about an upcoming talent contest, which caught his interest. "Too many scams in the music business. Just can't trust producers nowadays. They're so desperate they steal other people material, trying to say it's their's." He paused and then went on to say, "even if they could get their name attached to a hit song which they didn't contribute anything to they would go to any length to do that, even if it means stealing."

For a moment, the conversation faded as Ron and Otto searched the auction houses for tickets to the Spring break concert.

"Hey guys, forget about the Spring break concert," Brian said. He got up from the chair. "Forget about Shlick Mick and Nadia." He turned the paper with the advertisement facing the others and pointed to a section. "This talent contest sounds more interesting. And guess what? They're giving away grand prizes."

Otto still upset about not getting tickets responded by saying, "You need talent to enter a talent contest."

"We've got enough talent," said Brian.

Rafena grinned. "We do, but, what about you?"

"You playing that harmonica won't cut it," Ron added.

Brian ignored the rude comments. "By the way, Rafena who is this Nadia that you hate so much?"

Ron cut in, "You guys never heard of Nadia?"

Brian answered. "Come to think of it, I have, but-but who cares and--."

Ron interrupted Brian in mid sentence. "She sang in Cottonfield about three years ago, at my school. She travels during the summer and spring holidays."

"Oh really, were you there, watching," Brian asked, anxiously.

"Yeah, she was not too shabby looking," Ron replied.

"I'm asking about the music not about her body."

Ron smiled. "Oh yeah, the music was good, too."

The girls cringed giving Ron the evil eye.

Rafena had read almost every article on the Toronto superstar, Mick, and was aware of the feud going on between Mick and his ex-girlfriend, Nadia.

Rafena glanced at Famie. "Nadia claimed that Slick Mick stole her song, even though it's Mick's number one hit in Toronto. She dragged Mick in and out of court battling for the copyright of the song and it's not even hers. Mick wrote that song--he said he wrote it. Even his co-producer said he wrote it."

"You mean 'A kiss goodnight?'" Famie asked.

"Yeah, that's Micks number one hit."

"Maybe Mick did steal the song from Nadia," Brian said defending Nadia. "I read in a magazine, the other day, that there are some real nasty musicians and producers in the music business. They grab and hang on to what they could, even if it means stealing someone's material by claiming they wrote lyrics and music to the song. Gotta watch out for those desperate producers."

"No way, Mick is too talented, to do such a nasty thing," Rafena protested. Rafena took a deep breath and then went on to say, "The word is--Nadia's been stalking Mick because he dumped her and that's she's giving him a hard time. She just wants to get even."

Shortly after, the conversation about Mick and Nadia became staled and died off.

Early next morning Brian rushed out from the second floor and down the stairs of the red brick house on Weston Road. And as he opened the main door to go out into the yard, a voice from the basement called.

"Hey Brian! The red beaten up guitar is sitting in the garbage bin.

Brian's face turned pale recognizing Tony's voice. "What's it doing in the garbage bin?" Brian bellowed as he ran down to the basement.

Tony, the curly hair bachelor was busy cleaning up his basement suite. He looked at Brian realizing that he shouldn't have thrown out his old wooden guitar, since Brian wanted a guitar.

"Sorry, pal," the bachelor said. "It's a piece of junk."

"I'll take anything that has a couple strings on it. There's a talent concert coming up."

"I totally forgot how keen you were about playing the guitar," Tony said regretfully. "If you hurry up you might still find it sitting in the garbage bin."

Without hesitation, Brian dashed out of the basement, up the stairs, flung the door opened and sprinted towards the green garbage bin at the far side of the house. As he ran, the door slammed against the red brick wall making a big racket. Luckily for him nothing broke. He was more worried that somebody had already taken the guitar out of the garbage bin than worrying about the door getting smashed hard against the red brick wall. As he got closer to the green garbage bin, he saw the neck of the red guitar sticking out. He sighed with relief and quickly peered into the garbage bin, noticing the body of the red beaten up acoustic guitar. Young Brian pulled out the beaten up guitar and clung to it as though his life depended on it. "My first guitar," he wailed raising his arms up to the sky holding the guitar. It was now his precious possession. After a moment of triumphant, he brought the guitar down to his face and kissed it. "My first guitar," he said, a broad smile took over his face.

As Brian headed back to the house, he heard a lady's voice, which he's heard often enough.

"What was that racketeering all about," the landlord who lived on the main level of the big red brick house said in a strong Yugoslavian accent. "I told you before be careful with that door." She peered into the boy's face demanding an answer.

"Sorry, I was in a rush!" The boy said breathing heavy, semi ignoring the stout looking lady with short dark hair.

"What's that in your hand?"

"It's a guitar," the boy replied, gaily.

"That's garbage."

"No it's not."

She rebuked raising her nasal voice pointing her index finger in the boy's face. "Don't you make noise with that thing in your hand."

The lady was the owner of the big red brick house, which the Cottonfield kids now used as a playground. She lived on the main floor and was sandwiched by the noise coming from the top floor by the youngsters and the basement whenever Tony cranked his electric guitar, which sometimes, drove her insane.

"I have no sanity left, since you moved into my house," the lady complained. "What will you do with that piece of garbage?"

"Play and sing," the boy said.

"Well you stutter too much. You can't sing and your playing stinks."

Brian stood there dangling his precious possession. He ignored the landlord, walking away. He headed down to the basement to see Tony.

As he entered Tony's basement suite with the guitar, Ron and Otto were downstairs giving Tony a hand setting up his new stereo system.

"You need some strings," said Tony, smiling.

"That's okay, I'll play with three strings," the youngster innocently stated.

"Won't sound right," Tony said.

"That's right," Ron shook his head. "It will sound like a cotton pickin guitar."

Tony flicked a glance at his watch. "Ron and Otto are coming shopping with me. Otto wants to get a poster of his hot looking favorite Toronto superstar, Nadia," Tony teased.

Otto blushed.

"Why are you guys so intrigued with Nadia? Brian asked. "She's only in the small league."

Ron answered, "I guess you have no idea, ha."

"Looks aren't everything," Brian replied. "According to Rafena Nadia stole Slick Mick's song."

A whistling sound emerged from Otto's mouth. "If you see Nadia you'll quickly change your mind and forget about who stole whose song."

"That's right," Ron agreed. "She could steal all of Mick's song and I wouldn't give a hoot. She's got it where it counts the most?"

Tony chuckled. He teased the boys about fantasizing over the teenage singer.

"Brian, get ready," Tony said encouragingly. We'll pick up some new guitar strings. It's on me. I'll change em and tune up your guitar. Besides, I could use your muscular arms fetching some boxes," Tony said, poking Brian's soft boyish biceps with his index finger. "We gotta strengthen those biceps."

"That's a deal," Brian said excitedly. He darted up the stairs bumping into the landlord.

"You little rascal you--I will tell your parents on you when they get back," her voice quavered as her tongue rolled on the R sounding letters.

"Shut up, shut up," a voice wailed.

Furious, the landlord shouted, "You telling me to shut up, you rascal, you."

"That's my parrot, Laura," Brian shot back defending himself.

The landlord gave the boy a nasty look and ushered rude comments as he continued up the stairs.

"Good girl, Laura. You tell her where to go," Brian said to their parrot as he entered the flat on the second floor.

Brian went into the bedroom and hid the guitar under the bed, hoping nobody bonds with it before he get's a chance to. "There! Nobody will see it hidden under the bed," he mumbled.

He then took a quick shower, put on his blue cotton T-shirt and a beach shorts. Brian noticed the newspapers lying on the bed opened. "Slick Mick, Nadia, Ace at the old stadium," he mumbled staring at Nadia's picture. "Not bad, maybe I'll get a poster, too," he anticipated. Shortly after he headed down to the basement where Tony, Ron and Otto waited for him.

Once again Brian darted down the stairs to the basement, this time carrying Laura.

"Hey Brian, you better learn to play that guitar if you want to enter that talent contest you were talking about," Otto said.

"I wasn't really serious about the contest," said Brian. "It was just a thought."

Tony smiled. "Maybe you should enter, Brian," he said encouragingly. "You have a knack for music and it's a good starting point."

Brian was flattered, even if the bachelor was only joking.

Ron laughed. "The landlord said he's got a knack for making noise."

"Mom, tells him that everyday, too," Otto added.

Brian ignored the comments and shortly after, the bachelor, the boys and the bird headed off to the mall to get their shopping done.

A few hours later, Tony and the boys returned home from shopping. While Brian chatted with Tony about entering the talent contest, Ron and Otto headed up stairs to make some phone calls about some tickets. They had not given up hope on getting tickets to the upcoming Spring break teen concert.

Ten minutes later, Brian made his way up the stairs from the basement. He was in a good mood, until he heard someone strumming away on his guitar while Laura whistled a tune. He quickly rushed up the stairs and into the living room only to find his old beaten up red acoustic guitar in Ron's hand.

"Who gave you permission." Brian wailed, demanding an answer as Ron bond with the beaten up red acoustic guitar.

"Oh, just nobody!" Ron said freely as he continued to strum while Otto drummed on a bucket."

Ron and Otto totally ignored Brian. They were creating their own music on some buckets and the out of tuned beaten up red acoustic guitar while Laura belted out a tune. She was the lead singer.

"It's the new sound," Otto wailed, his voice echoed bouncing off the wall.

"Even a deaf mute would go nuts!" Brian shouted stomping on the floor. He was upset because Ron bonded with his guitar before he had a chance to.

"Hey keep stomping," Ron joked. "We could use your stomping as the bass drum."

Otto laughed. "Keep stomping, the landlord would even love you more than she already likes you. The more you make her angry, the more she likes you."

Ron chuckled. "The landlord might even give you a big hug and big wet one on the lips."

"Oh, that's so gross," Brian rebelled against Ron, Otto and Laura. "And I bet the landlord has already gone mad by now and has her ears plugged thinking I'm the one that's making all that racketeering up here."

"If you wanna take the blame, that's fine with me," Ron teased. "The landlord likes you, that's why she picks on you."

Brian stood there with his hands on his waist. "And where did you get my guitar?"

"I found it under the bed and though I'd do some strumming--that's all."

Angry, Brian's voice became loud, "Why were you looking under the bed anyway?"

"I was just looking that's all."

Furious, Brian cocked his eyes. "Just can't hide anything around here."

Brian pulled the guitar from Ron's hand and headed down to Tony's basement suite, so Tony could help him put on the new strings and tune the guitar. Ron and Otto followed Brian down the stairs to the basement as they bumped into the landlord.

"Oh, this is great," Brian thought. "It's got to be my lucky day today."

The dark hair lady peered deep down into Brian's eyes as though she was about to hypnotize him. "You gotta knack for making noise, don't you? You were up there beating on buckets, singing and banging on that beaten up guitar." The stout looking lady took a deep breath and forced it out, furiously. "You've got talent all right--a talent for making noise and driving people crazy."

"You're already crazy," Brian mumbled beneath his breath.

Ron and Otto tried hard to stop themselves from laughing, knowing that they were the ones, along with Laura, making all that racketeering.

The landlord noticed Laura on Ron's back. She smiled at Laura and stoked her neck. "Even the bird sings better than that noisy brother of yours."

Brian escaped the landlord's anger and finally made it to the basement.

While Tony changed the guitar strings on the beaten up wooden guitar, the girl's voices were heard as they entered the stairway of the red brick house. Famie and Rafena were now returning home from shopping with their parents. As they entered, the landlord complained in her strong Yugoslavian accent. "That Brian-bad boy. He picked up that old beaten up guitar from the garbage only to tease me by making more noise over my head. If he's not banging on the buckets and stomping on the floor, he's singing--even the bird sings a hundred times better."

After replacing the old strings with the new ones, Tony rubbed some polish on the guitar and tuned it. The old wooden guitar made Brian's day.

"Wow," Brian smiled. "Wow! Wow! Wow! What a beauty. It looks like a classic."

Later during the day, Otto was getting ready to practice his recorder when Famie reminded everybody about the upcoming concert at the old stadium. "So should we get tickets to concert at the old stadium since we'll be missing out on the Spring break teen concert. At least we'll get to see Slick Mick and Nadia."

The boys and girls were not really into concerts at their age. They were more into their school work, adventures and solving mysteries. Except for Brian, he still had a tough time with his school work. It's not that he couldn't do it, he just wasn't interested in school work. The boys and girls just wanted to be a part of the big upcoming event at the Sky Dome.

Ron shook his head. "I still can't believe it. I really wanted to go to the Spring break concert. There are ten fantastic bands playing, along with some old time rock and rollers--Chuck Berry and Little Richards and I bet if Buddy Holly, Ritchie Valens and the Big Bopper didn't die in that fatal 1959 plane crash, they'd be playing here, too."

"The what Bopper?" Otto asked not knowing much about rock and roll history. "Guess we're out of luck," Otto shook his head.

"What about that concert at the old stadium with Slick Mick, Nadia and Ace," Famie asked again. "Let's get tickets. Mom and dad said we could go. They will accompany us to the concert."

"Nadia's a thief?" Rafena said sarcastically. "I'm not paying a penny to see her play stolen music."

Otto started to play the recorder when Brian joined in by accompanying him by strumming the cords to the song, 'A Small World.' Brian only knew a few chords but was willing to learn.

After the first time though the song, Brian took control. "Hey, after the count of four start playing,"

Otto looked at him strangely and then mumbled, "Whatever."

The first time through the song would have given the landlord a headache that she would never recover from as Brian hammered out the chords on the beaten up red guitar while Otto played the melody on his recorder.

Brian counted, "One and two and three and four and."

The duo started to play the song again. Their playing was off, but gradually tightened up as they progressed through the song.

"Not bad," Ron clapped. "You and Otto could enter the talent contest you were talking about."

"Not with that recorder," Brian whined. "Everybody will laugh at us. We need real music. We need rock and roll music. We need a real band with singers and players."

"One, two, three, four." Brian gave a count as he and Otto went through the song once more. This time the girls joined in singing the words to the song.

Ron threw in a couple dance steps at the end and clapped. "Not bad at all."

"All I need now is a bass player, a keyboard player and a drummer," Brian declared.

The girls immediately answered saying they'll sing.

If you guys are singing," Ron said glancing at Famie and Rafena, "then you need to learn some dance steps."

The youngsters agreed that Ron would coordinate the dance moves, since he had a knack for dancing.

"I'll play drums and sing," Otto quickly said, not wanting to miss out on the fun.

Ron shrugged. "Well, you still need a bass player. I don't know anything about playing bass, but I'll play bass or fake it or do something."

"Wow! We've got a band!" Brian blurted out. "All we need now is a lot of practice," he said dreadfully wondering whether the others would be as dedicated to the talent contest as he was. "If we're going to do this, we don't have anytime to waste."

The girls and boys stayed up till after midnight, logged on to the computer checking out the Toronto auction house, bids.com, bidding on a bass guitar and a small drum kit. They picked up the equipment at a reasonable price, which they could have afforded. The next day, they somehow managed to convince their parents to talk to the landlord into letting them practice in the garage at the back of the house. The landlord was happy to assist the youths, hoping they will only make noise in the garage where only the crickets could here them.

The following day while the Cottonfield kids discussed their new band, the old conversation about Slick Mick and Nadia surfaced when Rafena said, "Why would anybody go see Nadia. She's such a big thief. She's been trying to steal Slick Mick song."

Otto unrolled his poster of Nadia and stuck it in front of Rafena's face. "This is why we wanna go see Nadia. Besides there are still some dispute in court about who really wrote 'A kiss goodnight.'"

Ron and Brian also let their posters unrolled in front of Rafena's face.

Rafena was stunned. "You too." She held her head looking at Ron and Brian, her palms placed oh her head. "What's this world turning into. "I could excuse Otto because, he's young and foolish, but what's your excuse," she demanded, peering at Ron and Brian.

"Watch it!" Otto said. "I'm not young and foolish. I can't help it if Nadia's got it."

"Ha! Got what?" Rafena laughed, sarcastically.

Ron and Brian smiled wishing they were a few years older. Nadia was seventeen whereas Ron was just over fourteen and Brian was twelve, but already acted like a teenager.

Famie giggled. She glanced at the boys and laughed, "The three of you have a crush on Nadia?"

The boys didn't have to say a word, it was written all over their faces.

Rafena grinned. "The only person worth seeing at the old Stadium concert is Slick Mick. He's the best," Rafena declared cheerfully with a small grin.

Famie standing next to Rafena shook her head in agreement.

In the end the boys and girls decided that attending the concert at the old stadium was better than not going to any concert at all. They purchased seven tickets for themselves and their parents who will accompany them to the concert.

As the days went by the youngsters brushed up on their music and their band started to take shape. Famie took a lead in managing the band trying to get some exposure. Even school friends started coming over to watch them practice in the garage. Even the landlord tuned in on an old Buddy Holly song during rehearsal. Brian had written a song about Cottonfield called My Home, which was one of the four songs they had chosen to play at the upcoming talent contest because there were extra points for originality. Brian, knowing a bit more about music became the band leader taking an active role during rehearsals.

The Cottonfield kids came together as a group to play and dream about music. Brian reminisced about the music of nature, back in Cottonfield where the cotton trees whistled when the wind blew and the darkness whispers under the black starry skies.

"I miss Cottonfield," Brian said remembering the horses and birds.

Famie shook her head. "There's no other place like Cottonfield in the whole universe."

Everybody agreed reminiscing about the old days.

Below is a sample from chapt 6

"Make sure you get the evidence on film," Famie said.

"Roger," Ron said grabbing the camera as he and Otto dashed off.

Ron and Otto were now on the second floor where the bedrooms were located. They scanned the rooms and closets.

"I found nothing," Otto said nervously.

"Neither did I."

They searched other rooms and found nothing suspicious.

The boys prowled around the house and then headed down to the basement. The door was locked.

Ron was about to push open the door when Otto whispered, "Wait a minute. What if there's somebody in there."

Ron stopped, taking one step back. He gently pushed on the door peering through the opening, studying the office.

Below is a sample from chapter 14

Nadia raised her eyes to see Mr. Thompson standing in front of her. She unwound her body from its curled up sitting down position, reaching up to give Mr. Thompson a hug. "Oh Mr. Thompson, I'm so glad to see you."

"You seem a bit down, Nadia. What's the matter, dear?" Mr. Thompson asked comforting Nadia

Below is a sample from chapter 16

Famie then added, "I'm sure Cariana is looking for a break so she could move forward in life."

"Her small children need toys to play with," Rafena added.

"And new clothes to wear," Famie said. "And school books to read."