It was New Year's Eve, and the Orphanage had outdone themselves with the preparations. All the children had participated in the setup of the tables and chairs. The soft drinks were in the coolers, which were filled with ice.
MrB, the Orphanage director, had planned for an activity for every hour right up to the final 10 second countdown.
At 9:00pm, however, the lights unexpectedly went out.
"Oh, no!", cried MrB. "It's that Y2K problem, just a few years early!"
MrB immediately called the police, who responded within minutes. The police station was only 3 blocks down the street.
The policemen exited their cruiser. Both Jeff and his partner got out and walked towards the orphanage. They noticed that all the rest of the lights in the neighborhood were on. Strange.
Then, they spotted a dark figure running away from them towards the railroad tracks. "Halt!", yelled Jeff ....
Fortunately, the children had tremendous faith in Nurse Norma, so they were all crowded around her in the dark. She sang to them quietly, even though she herself was terrified.
Norma had reason to be worried. She had received several mysterious telephone calls recently, inquiring into the status of one particular orphan. It was Muffy.
Outside, gunshots were heard. |
