A Pleasant Story
Chapter Nine
Kaylynn Does Some Digging



Daniel heard a hesitant knock at his door and went to open it.




What he saw made him stop in his tracks--it was Kaylynn. Pregnant Kaylynn. He gulped. Instead of asking her in, he walked out on the porch. His mind was racing as Kaylynn smiled at him hopefully.

"Hi, Mr. Pleasant, I mean," she smiled shyly, "Daniel. I'm sorry to bother you, but I got evicted from my house and," she gestured at her belly, "I really need a place to go."





He grinned at her nervously. "Oh," he said, "that's too bad. But I really don't have any extra room. This place is really just one room and I'd have nowhere to put you. So sorry! Good luck!" He moved to gesture her off his porch.




Kaylynn choked back tears. "Please, can I stay for a little while? Until I make some plans? I'm really tired and I can't afford a hotel.

"Could I at least come in and talk to you?"

Daniel sighed and stepped back to let her enter.

So," he said, "I guess you are going to tell me this baby is mine?"

He gestured around the small trailer.

"As you can see, there really isn't room for an extra person, much less a baby!"




Kaylynn looked at him in disbelief. She couldn't believe he didn't seem even the smallest bit interested that she was carrying his child.

"Daniel," she said, "It IS your baby, but I'm not here because I want a father for MY child. I'm here because I have nowhere to go and I'm exhausted. Could I please just stay here one night?"

Daniel hesitated, but eventually said, "Okay. Go ahead and use the bed. I'm going out on some business anyway, so I can find somewhere else to sleep tonight."

Kaylynn thanked him briefly and climbed into his bed. Her eyes were dropping closed so fast she barely had time to notice the many posters that decorated the sleeping area; she dropped off almost as soon as her head hit the pillow.





Kaylynn was awakened near dawn by a soft scraping noise outside the trailer. She stood wearily and peered out the window to see Daniel in the back digging a hole.





"What is he doing?" she wondered. She watched quietly as Daniel continued digging, and then seemed to be putting things into the hole. He then walked out of her field of vision. She moved quietly to the other window of the trailer and looked out, to observe Daniel heading toward the sidewalk, carrying a suitcase.





She decided to follow him to find out what he was up to. He walked through the dark streets of Pleasantview toward the ocean on the far side of town. The sun rose as he headed through a grove of trees toward the beach where the old wrecked pirate ship was. Kaylynn followed silently behind him.





As she moved through the trees, she could see a group of people on the beach near the ship. Daniel headed right towards them. Kaylynn moved carefully through the trees to stay out of sight, but to try and get a better look at what has happening. In front of the ship, she saw something that looked like a car, but it couldn't be, in the water? It must be a submarine!



From her vista behind the trees, Kaylynn saw people who looked like they were wearing diving suits. She saw Daniel talking angrily with a man wearing. . . was it a pirate suit? She was too far away to hear their argument, but occasional words floated up to her.

She heard "cheated" and "short" and "deliveries."

Their voices then lowered and she could hear no more

As she observed them, she saw a diver come out of the water and climb the stairs up onto the pirate ship. She watched the diver as he, or she, walked over to a door on the deck and disappeared for a bit, then reappeared and returned to the group.




She then saw the man in the pirate suit hand something to Daniel.




Daniel accepted it, then turned and began walking away in the other direction. Kaylynn wanted to watch the pirate and the divers some more, but she also wanted to follow Daniel and find out more about what he was doing.






She chose the latter, but couldn't move out into the open while the divers were still there.
Suddenly she realized that the pirate–with a Viking helmet?--was coming right toward her! If she stayed still, he'd be sure to see her, so she quickly--as quickly as she could with her pregnant belly--moved behind some of the trees.





She waited, holding her breath, then peeked out to see that the Viking Pirate was moving away from her in the direction Daniel had gone. She breathed a sigh of relief as he passed by without having seen her.




She then checked the beach to see if the others were still there. The divers were all gone--into the water, she assumed. Or into the submarine!





She moved closer to get a better look and was just in time to see the submarine moving off through the waves. She ignored that it appeared to have wheels and a license plate–in the water like that it HAD to be a submarine!




She wanted to try and catch up to Daniel, so as much as she would have liked to continue investigating the mysterious ship, she turned and ran toward where he had gone.





Out of breath, she caught up to him as he went into the mall.






She entered carefully and looked around for him, and saw him talking to a man in the grocery store.




She moved closer, hoping to hear what they were saying. The man he was speaking to looked awfully familiar to her--suddenly she realized it was her former landlord, Samael Abbadon! Or someone who looked exactly like him. But he was wearing a suit this time.

She listened to what he was saying and caught him in mid-sentence.

"have received less than half. We've, I mean, I've, paid you a lot of simoleons. So what happened to the rest?"

Daniel lowered his voice to reply, so Kaylynn had trouble making out what he was saying.

"lost on the way. . . robbed. . . repay. . . I assure you."

Samael fixed Daniel with a steely glare.

"You'd better."




Daniel suddenly moved and headed toward Kaylynn, so she turned quickly and ran out of the mall as fast as she could and back to Daniel's trailer.





She wanted to dig around some more and try to find out what Daniel was up to, but she was so exhausted by her morning's exercise she could do nothing but fall into a worried sleep. She'd try hacking into Daniel's computer when she was rested.

She didn't get her chance because she was awakened by Daniel returning to the trailer. She decided to try and throw him off the track by talking about the baby.

"Daniel, I know that obviously you aren't interested in helping with the child, but I have lots of things to do to get ready, like buying a crib and toys and things. Do you think you could help me out with a loan so I could find a place to live and . . . just until I get back on my feet?"




Daniel turned on her angrily. "Do you see where I'm living? Because of YOU my wife kicked me out and I had to leave my house. Does it look to you like I have any simoleons to spare?"




Kaylynn reflected to herself that he seemed to have had enough simoleons to purchase the tackiest bed in all of Pleasantview, but she kept that thought to herself. She was about to reply to him when he changed his tack.



"But even if I did have money, you really need to find another place to go. I think I'm. . . I feel a sickness in my eye coming on. That wouldn't be good for you to be around in your condition. I'm going out now, and you can stay one more night, but you have to get out of here by tomorrow. Lock the door behind you when you leave."




Kaylynn didn't even try to respond; she just watched him sadly as he left the trailer. She couldn't believe she'd ever thought he even liked her.

When Daniel was gone, Kaylynn quickly began a search of the trailer. She wasn't able to break into his computer; he had passwords on it and she had no technical skills to allow her to hack them. She continued with a search of the physical premises.

When she opened the closet, her jaw dropped.




"What IS this?” She wondered. "Is this why he was digging?"

She decided to go see what she could find and went behind the trailer where she'd observed Daniel digging his hole.




Kaylynn's shovel almost immediately made a CLUNK sound as she dug, and she began removing items from the hole, more amazed at each discovery. She carried them into the house and put them next to the items she'd pulled from the closet.

"And he said he didn't have any simoleons," she said to herself.

Kaylynn thought about all she'd discovered and wasn't sure what to do. Clearly there was something dodgy going on, but she wasn't sure what, and she didn't know where to go to get help.

She decided she'd gather all the items and get out of there, and think about what to do later. She picked up her little suitcase containing her few items of clothing and headed for the door. Luckily, she could carry all of Daniel's loot in her inventory, though it made her feel even more heavy and ponderous than her pregnancy did.



Kaylynn wandered through the dark streets of Pleasantview for the second time in as many days, and wondered about who she should tell about what she'd found. Her wanderings brought her into a familiar part of town--the area where she'd worked as a maid most of the time. The rich part of town.



She paused and looked up at a familiar house. Yes, that made sense. Mary-Sue would want to know what she'd discovered about her husband. She hoped that Mary-Sue wouldn't just slam the door in her face when she saw her.




Kaylynn settled herself to wait until the sun was up so she wouldn't wake the household too early. She stroked her stomach and cooed to her unborn baby, who rewarded her with a hearty kick.





Maybe Mary-Sue would take pity on her in her condition?

She could only hope.