Good afternoon. It is I Gigi the parti poodle here to present Chapter Twenty-Two the final chapter of my story Corn Maze. Next week I will be taking a break from writing, and my novelist and I will be doing a blog about how we write our blog stories. I will begin a new tale (no pun intended) and present the first chapter of my next story in a few weeks. In the meantime, I am going to go lay down on my pillow and occasionally get up to terrorize the Maltese.

I do not like being terrorized. My name is Tucker, and I am a Maltese. I am happy your story is done.

Thank you. Please go away.

I am excited about your next story.

Thank you. Now leave.

I ate the last sandwich cookie dog treat.

Thank you now…wait a minute. What?

It was very, very tasty.

You ate the last sandwich cookie dog treat! I was saving that to celebrate for finishing my story!

And I enjoyed it very much.

You rotten monster! How could you? How could you do that? Do you know how long it took me to write this thing? And you just eat my precious prize?!

I will go away now.

Augh! Okay, Gigi. Stay calm. Do not go into attack mode. Do not go into attack mode. And while I do some deep breathing exercises, please enjoy my last chapter of Corn Maze. And have a very Happy Halloween this coming Monday!

Corn Maze

by

Gigi the parti poodle

Chapter Twenty-Two

“She’s out of her mind,” Farley said to Mallory after Valerie left.

“I can’t believe she moved into my house!” Mallory said.

“It’s Harley’s house.”

“I’m living there. Harley’s my fiancé.”

“Honestly, I thought it would work.”

“You thought what would work?”

“I thought if I won the corn maze competition, Valerie would see what a loser Harley is and come to her senses.”

“Harley’s not a loser.”

“Of course, he is. He let you go on a date with me.”

“I chose to go on a date with you. Not to mention I’m a better match for you then Valerie.”

Farley scoffed. “No, you’re not.”

“Valerie doesn’t want you. She doesn’t want your ring. Why don’t you give it to me, and we could get engaged.”

Farley laughed. “You’re nuts.”

“Otherwise, you’re going to be alone with no one to torment. And what fun would that be?”

“Letting Valerie get away would be losing.”

“She already got away.”

“Harley didn’t come back after college. I did. I’m the one who picked up the pieces for Val. I’m the one who deserves her.”

“You deserve me. I’m the real prize.”

“I don’t think so.”

Mallory marched back up the stairs to the bedroom, grabbed the ring off the nightstand and headed back down to Farley. “Call the police department and drop the charges,” she said as she put the ring in his left palm. “And ask me to marry you.”

“I can’t marry you, Mallory.”

“Of course, you can. You just get down on one knee and say, “Mallory, will you marry me?”

“I hardly know you.”

“You know me quite well,” she said and winked. “Ask me.”

“You seem awfully willing to toss Harley to the curb.”

“I’m not tossing Harley to the curb. He tossed me to the curb when he agreed to this contest. I’m taking a practical approach to the situation. Now, ask me.”

“You’re free to go,” the police officer told Harley as he unlocked the jail cell and opened the door.

“Really?” Harley said standing up from the bunk.

“The charges against you were dropped.”

“Why?”

“Apparently the plaintiff had a change of heart.”

“That’s not possible.”

“Apparently he just got engaged.”

“He was already engaged.”

“You’ll have to take it up with the plaintiff.”

“Okay,” Harley said warily as he stepped out of the cell and followed the police officer down the hall to retrieve his items.

“Step up,” the police officer at the counter told Harley.

Harley stepped up to the counter.

“One leather wallet with three credit cards containing fifty dollars in cash consisting of two twenty-dollar bills, one five-dollar bill and five one-dollar bills, one brown leather belt, one dark green wool bomber jacket and one pair of navy-blue New Balance running shoes.

“Thank you,” Harley said collecting his belongings. He put on his shoes and tied the laces, slid his leather belt through the loops of his jeans, and slipped on his jacket. He headed for the door of the police station when he saw Valerie sitting in the lobby waiting for him. She leaped off her chair and ran into his arms.

“Farley dropped the charges,” she said.

“The officer said he just got engaged.”

“He’s already engaged to me…wait a minute.”

“What?”

Valerie sighed. “Let’s go out to the car and I’ll explain.”

Farley and Valerie left the police station and climbed into Valerie’s car. “I went back to Farley’s house this morning and…”

“Why did you go back to his house?”

“I wanted to give him back his ring.”

“Did you?”

“Yes. After I found him in bed with Mallory.”

Harley fell silent for a moment. He looked out the passenger side window. Then he nodded his head. “I suppose I should have seen that one coming.”

“I didn’t think their date would actually end up that way.”

“Well, it certainly sets us free.”

“Mallory didn’t seem to think so.”

“I see.”

“What do you want to do now?”

Harley looked out the passenger side window again. Finally, he said, “I think we drive to Farley’s and finish this once and for all.”

Valerie unlocked the door to Farley’s farmhouse and she and Harley stepped inside. “Farley?” she called.

Farley came to the top of the stairs. He’d changed out of his black terrycloth robe and was wearing jeans and a black and white plaid shirt. “If you’re looking for your fiancé, Harley,” he said. “She’s already gone back to your place.”

“You dropped the charges,” Harley said. “Why?”

“Well, for one, I’m taking Mallory off the market like you should have done, buddy. And two, Val here decided to break off our engagement because she’s stupid enough to crawl back to you. And three, neither of you have anywhere to run but next door. Val doesn’t have a dime to her name. I made sure of that.”

“Doesn’t matter,” Harley said. “She’s going to stay with me and I’m going to work the farm until she finishes up at the college.”

Farley laughed. “Well, good luck with that! You were never made of the same stuff as your parents, Harley. You don’t have hard work in you.”

“We’ll see.” Harley said. “I’m stronger now that I’ll have Valerie by my side for the rest of my life.”

“Yeah, good luck with that.”

“Good luck with Mallory, cheating scumbag.”

Farley laughed. “I’d be careful if I were you. Summer will be here before you know it and there will be a whole new crop of corn. By that time, you just might be itching to do a corn maze contest again.”

“Not a chance.”

“Oh, we’ll see, friend. We shall see.”

THE END

MY BOOKS

You can check out my books Chicane and the five installments of my Musicology book series Musicology: Volume One, Baby!, Musicology: Volume Two, Kid!, Musicology: Volume Three, Twist!, Musicology: Volume Four, Sweetie! and Musicology: The Epiquad on Amazon in Kindle and Paperback editions. You can also check out Musicology’s web site at www.musicologyrocks.com and vote for who you think will win Musicology!!!

STREAM OF THE WEEK: THE STRANGER-2022-Netflix

This week’s movie is a rather non-traditional pick for Halloween. But it is about a real child rapist murdering monster and the methodical sting that was set up to catch him. I will say the film is not for mainstream movie lovers. It is more of a slow burn independent film. Based on the non-fiction book The Sting: The Undercover Operation That Caught Daniel Morcombe’s Killer by Kate Kyriacou the story is set in Queensland, Australia where in 2003 13-year-old Daniel Morcombe disappeared from an unofficial bus stop. The boy was on his way to the mall to get a haircut and shop for Christmas gifts. Remember, Christmas occurs in the middle of summer in Australia.

The bus had broken down and when the replacement bus came by it did not stop because it was behind schedule and because the stop was unofficial. This, of course, allowed the killer to kidnap the boy easily and quickly. Daniel’s disappearance was one of the most extensively investigated crimes in the history of Queensland. A combined amount of $1,000,000 Australian dollars was offered for information leading to the arrest of the perpetrator. And it wasn’t until 2007 when a mysterious informant provided a tip that prompted police to set up a Mr. Big procedure to approach the suspect and provoke a confession.

The movie begins with the police suspecting a man named Peter Morley (Sean Harris) as the perpetrator but have no actual proof to prove his guilt. Peter is a weary thin middle-aged man with a long beard and scraggly hair who’s done a lot of manual labor over the years and has the luck of meeting Paul Emery (Steve Mouzakis) on a Greyhound bus. Paul has connections to criminal acquaintances. The two men strike up a friendship and Paul tells Peter he might be able to help get him work.