Writings By Me

Daniel has a roommate! Maybe I should start from the beginning, though.

For a while, I had been trying to think of a way to repay Detective Daniel for his kindness in saving Clara and myself. This is when I decided to become his case-writer. For the following months, I followed him around, writing about his cases. I still need to put finishing touches on those so I can publish them, but I wanted to finish up a story on the girl from the circus.

On a lazy Sunday, Clara and I were hanging out in the detective’s office. It’s actually the main room to his apartment, which is almost a single room. His sleeps on his sofa, and his kitchen has only a counter separating it from the rest of the room. Only the bathroom is separated by walls and a door. Everything else is one room, with the wide, tall dresser, the round dining table, a two-seater sofa and its long coffee table, and the wide desk with its chair all spaced about. It feels like it should be more cluttered than it is, but somehow the detective has positioned things well enough that I’ve not once bumped into something while walking around something else.

Back to the lazy Sunday, right? A couple came to the Detective Daniel’s door. They didn’t seem one bit concerned that they were standing outside an apartment door when the detective invited them in. He motioned for me and Clara to evacuate from sofa, and we headed into the kitchen to pour some tea and get together a tray of cookies to offer the guests.

The man stood in front of the sofa as his wife sat down. He took off his hat. It’s one of those hats that businessmen might wear, with the circle around it. If it were big and yellow it could be a cowboy hat, but this small and brown, matching his brown suit. “My name is Robert Clampett,” the man said, facing the detective, but looking over at me and Clara for a moment, before looking back at Daniel. The detective had seated himself at the desk, and faced back at the two. “And this is my lovely wife, Elizabeth. Y’all might have heard of our stage names, Bob and Isabel Avery. Of the Avery Traveling Circus?” The detective gave no reaction to hearing these names. “Well, our family has a traveling circus, and one of our star performers is our little Sweetie Pie. Her stage name is Melissa ‘Tex’ Avery, but her real name is Melanie. Melanie Clampett. We’re her parents.” The detective continued to intently watch the two.

“Miss Sheridan, either of you,” the detective said, his words jarring me from my position in the kitchen, leaning on my elbows and listening in. “Is it not your obligation to bring these two something while they are here? You agreed to this if I would let you ‘hang out’ here.”

“Coming, coming,” Clara said, taking the tray of cookies to the coffee table in front of the sofa. She held two empty tea cups in the fingers on one hand. “Jen, get the teapot,” she said, looking back at me. She turned to the two as she set the plate and cups on the table. “Please, help yourself. Mr. Clampett, I’ll take your hat and coat for you if you’d like. I’m afraid we don’t have a coat rack yet, but I can place them on the dinning room chair.”

“Why, thank y’, girl,” Mr. Clampett said, handing her his hat, and taking off his coat to hand her next. She walked by me with the items as I took the teapot over. “Tea, anyone?”

“Yes, please,” Mrs. Clampett said.

“None for me, but perhaps some juice if’n y’ have some,” Mr. Clampett told me. “Any kinda’ juice.”

I just noticed at this time, as I stood near them, but both of our visitors spoke with a mix of Southern accent and Texan accent. Neither fully spoke with one or the other, but rather a combination of the two.

“Will orange juice be fine, then?” I asked as I poured tea into one of the tea cups.

“Fine, fine. That’s a good girl.”

I took the empty tea cup into the kitchen. As I took out a small orange juice glass and reached into the refrigerator for the orange juice, the conversation in the main room continued.

“About your daughter…” the detective said, getting the conversation going again.

“We can’t find her!” Mrs. Clampett cried out.

“Now, now, Honey Bun,” Mr. Clampett said in a reassuring voice. “There’s no evidence of any kind of wrong doing.” As I peaked around the side of the counter, I could see Mr. Clampett holding his wife at his side, and looking now back at Daniel. “Friz–he’s the strongman in ou’ circus–he said he thought he sa’ Tex–oh, he calls her by her stage nickname, Tex–he says he thinks he sa’ her heading away from the circus tents, but there was a good distance betw’n them, so he wasn’t sure if’n it was her or not.”

“Ahem,” Clara said in my ear. “I’ll take these.” She lifted the empty cup from one of my hands and the orange juice carton from the other. She took them to the couple, and poured the man a glass of juice.

“Thank you, kindly,” Mr. Clampett said to my sister, still holding his wife at his side. He looked again at Daniel. “There’s no sign o’ foul play or kidnappin’. Friz is not a suspect, either. He’s been with the circus since I was young. We grew up together. Oh, and he’s my cousin, but it’s mostly that we’re like brothers. What I meant to say is–”

“–we have a reverse of the common spoken situation,” Detective Daniel interrupted. “Rather than running off to join the circus, what we have here sounds to be a child running away from the circus. I will need to investigate her room and locations around the circus two determine where she may have gone.”

“What about us?” I asked, standing up from looking around the counter. “Do we get to help you search for clues?”

“You are most likely to get in the way,” the detective told me, much to my chagrin. “However, I am certain you’ll do whatever you can to follow along, as is a recurring theme with you. Likewise, wherever you go, Miss Clara is certain to follow. Mr. and Mrs. Clampett, I will take your case, but on the one condition that you must allow these two to tag along with me.”

“That’s quite all right,” Mrs. Clampett said. “Maybe the more eyes a-lookin’, the sooner ou’ Sweetie’ll be found.”

The Clampetts owned a car which seats five. I thought it would be exciting to sit beside the good detective, but Mrs. Clampett insisted Detective Daniel take the passenger seat, and she sat in the back, between Clara and myself.

~♠~♣~♥~♦~

Off we went to the circus, and what happened next is a tremendous tragedy. Somehow, and I’m not sure how this happened, but somehow Clara and I ended up enjoying the sights of the circus while the detective conducted his investigations! Between Mr. Clampett offering us tickets, Mrs. Clampett telling us which shows and events to be sure to go to, and the detective reminding us “to have nothing but fun,” I’m left feeling conflicted. On one hand, Jen and I had a lot of fun, and Jen even won a plush pink and white mushroom. On the other hand, I completely missed out on the investigation!

When next we saw the detective, he proclaimed that Melanie Clampett “did in fact run away, and she’s more likely than not at Glen Arbor Park. Mr. and Mrs. Clampett have agreed to keep out of sight while we search for the child.”

“You mean–” I started.

“Yes,” the detective responded. “So long as you and Miss Clara are offering your services to assist, you may search for Miss Clampett at the park upon our arrival.”

~♠~♣~♥~♦~

The park didn’t go any better for Clara and myself. We searched high and low, and Clara oft mentioned how the detective finally made a mistake. Running out of places to look, we returned to the car, only to find Detective Daniel with a young girl by his side. She held on to the side of his coat as the detective talked with the Clampetts. Clara and I hurried over to join them.

“Ah, there ya’ are,” Mr. Clampett said, waving for Clara and myself to join them.

Detective Daniel explained to the two of us that Melanie Clampett was tired of constantly moving, and the Clampetts decided to stay in town for a while, and let the circus travel without them.

During the next few months, Melanie joined in hanging out at Detective Daniel’s apartment office. She says she wants to be a detective herself some day, so she’ll learn from a real detective. However, things stopped going her way when her parents said they’re needed at the circus, and they can no longer stay in town. Melanie threatened to run away again, but Daniel convinced her otherwise, telling her, “A detective does not run away from her problems.”

The Clampetts were glad to see Melanie decide to go with them and not cause trouble, but they also felt it wasn’t right to take her along when she would be unhappy. “Tell y’ what,” Mr. Clampett said, “The circus comes through town once a year, right? How’ns about we let our Sweetie Pie spend a year here in town, and in a year, she can decide whether she wants t’ come back to the circus life. Will y’ provide h’ with room and board?” he asked Detective Daniel. “I c’n pay whatever y’r price.”

“Normally I would object to an offer to allow another to stay on my premises, but business has been slow lately, so I could use the extra source of income. That, and she’s really helped pull the Irregulars into shape. They’ve always been reliable, but they’re much more eager to help out than they ever have been before. Very well. We share work out a price, and we shall keep in touch during your travels. I must know where you are at any given time so I can send Young Miss Clampett on her way back if she’s out of line at any time.”

There’s now a roll-up mat in Detective Daniel’s apartment, and a smaller dresser beside the taller. Not only has the detective finally bought a second chair for his dining table, but he now has four!

When I first met Detective Daniel, his only goal in life was to help those in need. That hasn’t changed, but his focus is no longer as narrow. Slowly but surely, he’s opening up to the people around him. He seems frustrated a lot when Clara and I are following him on a case, or when Melanie causes trouble, but he’s slowly giving in and accepting it as all a part of his life now.

I only wish I actually took part in the details of the case, so I could write something of substance down! Detective Daniel complains that the documentation I write for his cases is too colorful, and that I sometimes skip out on the details and deductions any aspiring detective should be learning when reading these, but how can I include any of that when he keeps me away from it all? At least when Melanie’s helping out, she manages to get into the middle of things, and can fill me in on the details later.

❤Jennifer Sheridan❤