CHAPTER 13 (PART - B) end of chapter 13



Tintin stood by the stair well still thinking about not being allowed to go see his twin. The more he thought about it, the more upset he became. Tintin did not like feeling such negativity, especially towards the man he loved. He knew Haddock just didn't understand, but Tintin could not allow Haddock to stand in his way to finding out more about who he really was. The fact that Haddock had doubted him showed him that trying to reason with Haddock may not work.

“I need to calm down, I don’t want to lose it in front of everyone” Tintin thought.
Tintin came down stairs as everyone was sitting at the table already eating. His seat was the only empty one, and Alyssa and Nathan just smiled at him helplessly as everyone was already helping themselves to the huge pot of Alyssa’s beef stew. Nathan got up and used the ladle to fill Tintin’s bowl.

“Here you go, eat up mate!” Nathan motioned putting it at Tintin’s seat with a spoon.
Tintin began to wonder just exactly what Alyssa told Nathan or if it was even worth worrying about.
“I hear that all of you have to leave Thursday, that’s a shame” Bob frowned.
“Why is that?” Tintin asked curiously.
“I was going to invite all of you to come with us on a fishing trip” Bob explained hopefully.
“My daughter will be expecting me now, I just called her early this morning,” Chester sighed.
“Tintin and I have important matters to attend to back home,” Haddock said apologetic.

“What kind of business? There’s no business like the fishing business!” Bob laughed. “It would have been really nice to have had two experienced captains on my schooner. I’ll wager that the experience combined from the two of you would be the equivalent of five trained sailors!” Bob complemented.
“Nothing special really--it just comes second nature after a while…” Haddock accepted the complement graciously.
“Indeed, Mary Ann has told me about some of your trips out at sea…” Bob continued.
“Stop trying to flatter us into coming along with you,” Chester laughed.
“Oh come on Frederick! You know it’s true!” Mary Ann nagged.

Tintin continued to eat his stew and it was really tasty. The beef was well cooked and the vegetables were well chopped. The stew was still nice and warm. He didn’t pay too much attention to them going on back and forth about a fishing trip. Alyssa and Enzo kept looking at each other and then at Tintin able to read his unhappy demeanor. Haddock was too busy engaged with Chester, Bob, and Mary Ann. Tintin finished his stew helping himself to a second bowl.
“You like the stew?” Alyssa asked quietly.
“It’s absolutely wonderful!” Tintin nodded.
“She’s quite the cook!” Nathan agreed.
Enzo sat too far from them to make an audible comment that would cut through the other conversation, so he picked up his spoon once he and Alyssa made eye contact and nodded his head finishing his bowl.
“Have you seen Snowy?” Tintin asked a little concerned.
“No, I thought he was upstairs with you” Alyssa replied.
“Wait a minute… I do believe we saw him down the lane on our way home. I wasn’t sure if that was him or not,” Nathan remembered.

“Nuts! I’m going to have to go out and find him” Tintin sighed.
Nathan got up and walked to the front door, “Blimey! I didn’t know you had two dogs!” he exclaimed.
“I don’t…” Tintin followed him to the front door and peeked out. Snowy was there with a smaller light brown curly furred fox terrier.
“Come on Snowy…” Tintin motioned but Snowy as he opened the door but Snowy just sat there staring at him.
“Come on Snowy!” Tintin repeated, but Snowy sat there obstinately.
“What’s the matter with you Snowy, you got a new friend?” Tintin regarded him curiously and he barked.
“Ohh…he’s got him a girlfriend!” Nathan laughed.
“Snowy? A girlfriend?” Tintin thought for a moment.
“I don’t know but Snowy needs a bath!” Tintin replied seeing his white color dinged by dirt.

Alyssa came outside to see what was going on. “Oh look!” she smiled. The brown dog immediately walked to Alyssa licking her hands. “She’s cute, but she needs a bath” Alyssa nodded.
“First thing in the morning, bath time Snowy” Tintin told him. Snowy whined a little.
“Sorry Snowy, you’re going to have to sleep downstairs tonight until you get a bath. Have you been digging in the neighbor’s trash?” Tintin asked almost accusingly.
Snowy only looked innocently at him.
“This dog has no collar or tags, and she looks really hungry” Alyssa said petting her. “I’ll put her up for the night after she gets a bath” Alyssa said looking at how dirty she was. The little brown dog only sat there trying to look cute.
“She is cute, but would be much nicer looking with a bath” Nathan agreed. “Come on, let’s give them both a bath” Nathan put his hands up.
“Ok” Alyssa agreed as Snowy and his new friend looked at each other as Nathan and Alyssa led them upstairs to the bathroom for a bath.
“You don’t have to do that?” Tintin replied.
“Don’t worry about it!” Nathan waved as he and Alyssa disappeared with the dogs upstairs.

“Oi! What are you bringing in here?” Bob cried out seeing both dogs run upstairs ahead of Alyssa and Nathan.
“Another dog?” Mary Ann looked a bit confused as Alyssa and Nathan ignored him.
Tintin shut the door and returned back inside with an innocent look on his face.
“What mischief are you up to?” Haddock glanced at Tintin.
“None of my doing” Tintin threw his hands up. “I’m going to bed…” he said disappearing upstairs.
“He seems to have gained another pet” Chester nodded.
“Another dog just like Snowy, only a light brown” Enzo pointed out he said getting up to go join in the mayhem.

Tintin returned back to his room without his evening tea just glad to have a little solitude. He could hear Snowy and the other dog getting bathed as Enzo, Nathan, and Alyssa did so boisterously. He felt bad for not taking part in the fun, but his muscles felt sore and ached terribly. He couldn’t imagine how Enzo even had the strength to be as active as he was. He curled up in a fetal position on his side of the bed pulling his pillow closely to him and within a few minutes he was asleep.

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Tintin could feel his world changing around him as he fell into a deeper sleep, and before he knew it he returned back to the dark forest in his dream. Tintin was running as fast as his little feet could carry him, he could hear his brother screaming for him to run. He didn’t want to leave his brother behind, but there wasn’t much he could do to help. It was like he had no control of his body this time, he could only see the foggy surroundings of the forest.

“Get back here you little rat!” a man shouted.

He could hear a dog barking ferociously several yards behind him. Tintin’s small body allowed him to go and craw through places which the man pursuing him could not access so easily. It was almost as if he knew these woods. Faster and more nimble his feet carried him. The dog seemed to be further behind than the man. Tintin noticed a small clearing up ahead as there was a couple of large trees sitting almost in a semi-circle. He quickly climbed up one of the large trees finding a small hallow just big enough for him to get in and hide as the heavy foliage seemed to block most of the view from below.

It wasn’t much longer afterwards the man and the dog arrived in the small clearing.
“Find him!” he ordered the dog. Tintin could not see as he was crouched in the hollow.
“You stupid dog! Find him!” the man shouted with much frustration. After a couple of moments of searching the area frantically he heard the dog and the man scamper off.

He began to try to climb down the tree but his foot got caught between two strong twigs on one of the branches. He frantically reached for another branch to grab onto but missed. He began falling and falling and woke again with his heart racing.

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Haddock could be heard out in the hall conversing quietly. “…so we’re dealing with an evil cult? So what are they hoping to accomplish?” Haddock’s voice sounded a bit serious. Tintin couldn’t hear Chester as he seemed to be speaking a bit lower. “I hope we don’t run into them anytime soon…”
“You get some rest Haddock. We’ll be leave early in the morning,” Chester spoke up just a little.

Tintin turned over really not too happy with Haddock for seemingly dashing his hopes earlier and covered back up. Tintin closed his eyes and began trying to recall his dream to his conscious self so he could try to see if maybe Benton was having the same kind of dreams.

The door hinges squealed as Haddock opened the door.
“Blisterin’ barnacles! Stupid door!” he cursed under his breath shutting it.

Tintin appeared to be asleep and Haddock had a hard time telling since the lamp light was off. The only light coming through was the light in the hall that filtered underneath the door cracks. Haddock quietly felt his way to his side of the bed and took his boots off and began to change into his pajamas.

Tintin felt the bed shifting back and forth until Haddock finally crawled under the covers. Tintin really wanted to be left alone and hoped that Haddock would just go to sleep as he was facing the opposite way. Tintin was curious about what Haddock and Chester were discussing about the All-Seeing-Eye, but just didn’t have it in him to want to converse with the captain.

“Tintin…” he heard the captain whisper, but didn’t respond.
“Fenton…Fenton Hadley?” Haddock whispered, but Tintin still didn’t respond though using the name did make Tintin feel a bit warm and think about how it sounded.

Haddock knew Tintin well enough to know that Tintin was not happy with him, so Haddock moved behind Tintin easily and carefully slid his arm around him kissing him once gently on the neck. Tintin wasn’t in the mood for romance, at least not while he was upset. After a few seconds, Haddock withdrew his arm just before he whispered something in Tintin’s ear which Tintin’s heart always thawed when he heard it. “I love you Tintin…” A pang of guilt hit Tintin hard making it difficult for him to go back to sleep and distracting him from any other thoughts. Tintin wanted to roll over, put his arm around his captain, and whisper it back in his ear; but, principality kept him from doing so allowing himself to betray his emotions.

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