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Chapter 7 continued...

XL didn't want to get involved, so he whispered back to Beeba, "No, let's stay out of it."

But Beeba wasn't satisfied with that answer. He turned to Florence. "Have you ever tried looking them up, to phone them?" he asked.

"Yes, long ago," she replied. "But they aren't in the phone book for our village nor the city nearby. I am afraid I have lost them forever."

"Well they could come back on their own, if they wanted to, couldn't they?" said XL. "Haven't you lived at this same house since they left?"

"Yes." said Florence.

"And you still have the same phone number?"

"Yes."

"So," said XL. "Don't worry about it. Someday maybe they will call you, but until then there is no point to try to find them. They wouldn't want to talk to you anyway. So close your book and forget about them."

Beeba was rather annoyed at this comment from his friend. "XL!" he whispered, "Don't be so insensitive!" Then he turned back to Florence. "Have you ever tried looking them up on Internet?" he asked.

"No," she answered. "I hardly ever use a computer. I don't know what to do."

"Well, someday you should take a lesson," said XL. "Come on Beeba, we don't have time for this. My favorite TV show is on in an hour, and I don't want to miss it."

Beeba ignored XL. "Mrs. Rose," he said, "would it be O.K. if I borrowed some photos, so I can try to find them?"

"I'm not sure," she answered. "These photos are pretty special to me."

"XL, how about we take pictures of the photos?" said Beeba. "You have your camera with you as usual, don't you?"

"Beeba, I told you already," said XL, "that we don't have time for this."

"You can take the photos with you, Beeba" said Florence. "I would give anything if I could find my son and daughter again. But please be careful with the photos and be sure to return them soon."

"I will scan them and get them back to you within a week," promised Beeba. He carefully removed several pictures from the album, including separate pictures of Fred and Susan, and one of them with their mother.

Then Beeba said good bye. Beeba, XL, Anna, and Max walked out to the van, and departed.

Max drove Anna to take care of her errand, and then they all headed back for the city. They were very quiet as they drove in the car. After a while, Max said to XL, "You know, XL, it wouldn't have taken very long for you to copy those photos using your camera. It would save the trouble of delivering the photos back."

XL didn't say anything. Returning the photos wouldn't be his problem anyway.

When they got back to the city, they dropped off Beeba at his house, and then returned home. XL entered the house, put away his coat and boots, and turned on the TV.

"You know you can watch that show anytime," said Anna as she followed him into the house. "All the old episodes are on Netflix."

XL started to watch but it turned out to be a rerun that he had seen twice already. After about 10 minutes he turned it off.

"Don't you have some homework to do?" Max asked his son. But XL didn't have any homework. He was pretty quick about getting it done at school on most days. He didn't like to have any unnecessary homework.

XL was feeling bored. He lay on the sofa for a while, reading a comic book.

He decided it would be more fun to play an online computer game. So he phoned a couple of friends, hoping they would join him on the same server, but they were out. "I guess I'll call Beeba," he thought to himself. "I know he is home."

He phoned, and Beeba answered. "Hi Beeba, would you like to play Super Explorers" he asked?

"I'm busy," said Beeba. "You should know all about being busy."

The phone disconnected, and XL could hear the dial tone again.

Anna had overheard the conversation. "You know, XL," she said, "when you can't take time for other people, then they don't want to take time for you either."

XL hated it when his older sister lectured him. That was a job for his parents, not his sister! He felt like he wanted to smack her. But he restrained himself.

XL knew that Beeba liked to solve mysteries, and he was probably on the net trying to find Fred and Susan right now. Maybe he already knew where they were.

XL pulled out his tablet and played a single-player game for a while. "I've got to get some more games," he thought. "I have played them all many times already."

It wasn't long before his mother called him, and demanded that he clean up his room. "It's such a mess!" she exclaimed. "Can't you see that you should have cleaned it up yesterday?"

Of course he knew that. His toys were on the floor, right where he wanted them. How can anybody play with toys when they are on the shelf? However, he knew that he might not find them easily if his mom put them in storage. So he put them away himself.

By then it was suppertime, so he sat with his family to eat. He didn't talk much at supper. XL was feeling a little bit sad that Beeba was annoyed at him.

His mom, Lana, could see that he was feeling a bit sad. "I heard that Beeba didn't want to talk to you when you phoned him," she said. "Why don't you try calling him again?"

XL thought at first that wouldn't be a good idea. But he knew Beeba wasn't the kind of kid to hold a grudge. And he was curious to see if Beeba had discovered anything. So after finishing his dessert and carrying the plates to the kitchen, he phoned Beeba again.

"Hey Beeba," he said, when he heard Beeba answer, "I'm sorry about this afternoon. Did you discover anything about Fred and Susan?"

"That's O.K." answered Beeba. "As a matter of fact, yes. I did a '411' phone directory search of the entire country for Susan Rose and Fred Rose. There were no hits for Susan Rose, but I found three hits in different cities for Fred Rose. I'm guessing that maybe Susan got married and that she uses her husband's surname now, so maybe that's why I couldn't find her."

I wanted to find out which of the three hits was correct, so I got my dad to help me do more hunting. He did a social media search using some of his accounts. He has accounts on Facebook and LinkedIn, and some other sites. Sure enough, we found Fred. His picture was posted, and it matches one of the album photos exactly."

"Also I scanned the photos as I promised, and put the originals in an envelope to return them. My dad will mail them back tomorrow."

"But where does he live?" asked XL.

"With his online photo it said Blarney Island," said Beeba. "That was also the location for one of the phone numbers. From the 411 listing for that phone number, I got the address."

XL was impressed. "Where is Blarney Island?" he asked.

"I'm not exactly sure. I think it might be two or three hundred kilometers from here. There is a resort village on the island. I am very curious to see it, but I have never been there."

XL turned from the phone and faced his dad, who was sitting on a sofa nearby. "Hey dad," said XL, "do you know how to find Blarney island?"

"Yes", said his dad, "You can get there and back in a day if you take Saucer 1."

XL turned back to the phone. "Beeba," he said, "maybe we can help Florence after all."

Copyright Arthur de Leyssac, 2017. All rights reserved.