Corrinda's face turned white.  Pat's pruny one stayed as pink as a cherry blossom, while she went over to open the door.

On the other side stood a neighbor of Corrinda's.  Her name was Kelo Naymoktimo, and she was 99 years old.  Corrinda rushed over to take her coat and pull her inside.

" Why, hello! Hello Mrs. Naymoktimo!  How are you, how are you?"  The old woman puttered over to Corrinda's couch and flopped down on it, looking exauhsted.

"Today I get letter on porch." She whispered in halting English."But letter not for me.  When I open this, I know that.  Letter for you.  But letter....is bad." She looked down at her feet.

"What did it say?" Pat asked, sitting across from the old woman, who pursed her lips at the strangers words.

"Is Corrinda's letter, not for you."

"Oh!  Mrs. Naymoktimo, it's alright.  She's a friend of mine." Corrinda sat down next to the shivering woman and put her arm around her."Now, tell me, what did the letter say?  What did it say that has gotten you so frightened?"

"It say...it say..."  The woman fished it out of her purse and handed it to Corrinda.

It looked like the same language as the message in the eagle's claw!

" Corrinda mi  Kiff ju greada jiss hten ju er neng vourmd mi Suu mot lo kon jiss juorneiya klor ju vell somdiy mi   ju javed nen vourmd mi      Kolamo Meagel mi" Corrinda read aloud, haltingly.

" I translate on bottom.  But with trouble.  They who wrote not know language good.  Like me not know English good." The woman motioned towards the bottom.

" Corrinda-- If you read this then you are being warned.  Do not go on this journey or you will die.  You have been warned-- Gold Eagle" She read.  Then her face suddenly froze.

This was where she had heard the language before!

Mrs. Naymoktimo!

" Mrs. Naymoktimo!  Do you think you could translate some other things for me?"

"Yes, Corrinda.  Make me happy to do for you."

Corrinda handed the old woman the letters she had gotten from the golden eagle that had been left on her porch.

Gold Eagle!

The whole puzzle was coming together, but in an odd way.  Corrinda could now translate the letters, but she had no idea what any of them meant!  She turned to Kelo, who was scribbling words down on a coupon when the old woman suddenly keeled over.

"Mrs. Naymoktimo!" Corrinda screeched.  Pat dove down onto the floor and felt the woman's pulse.  It was faint.

"Call 911, Corrinda! Hurry!" Pat tried to lift the woman onto the couch while Corrinda ran into the kitchen for the phone.

"911!  Please! Help!  We need an ambulance right away!  It's an old woman! She's fainted and we can hardly feel her pulse! Please!" She cried into the phone.

"Calm down, ma'am.  Everything's going to be fine.  Now, your address please?"

Corrinda rattled it off and then hung up.  Back in the living room, Pat had managed to lie the woman down on the sofa and was digging through her purse.

"Pat?!  What are you doing?!" Corrinda yelled.  Pat didn't look up.

"I'm seeing if she has any doctor's whom the ambulance might want to call!  What did you think I was doing?  Stealing her American Express card?" The woman pulled out a few papers but couldn't find the name of a doctor, or even of a medical center.

The ambulance pulled up a few minutes later and carried Kelo away, while Corrinda and Pat watched anxiously.  They were ordered to stay at home and wait for a call.  While waiting, they looked at the paper Mrs. Naymoktimo had started to translate.  This is what the paper read:

North East???? North West???? i think.  i am no sure.  There you will find happiness.   The treasure is yours. 

Sorry Corrinda.  Have not translated in while, besides letter this morning.  sorry.  

The Golden Eagle has

There it was cut off.  Pat arranged a plate of cookies and they sat next to the phone for the next two hours, eating and waiting.  In silence.

It rang, causing them to jump.  Corrinda picked it up.  It was the hospital.

"Hello.  I am Doctor Carding, and one of our ambulance drivers said you'd requested we call you with the news on Mrs. Nay...Naymoktimo."

"Yes." Corrinda croacked.

"I'm very sorry to tell you this, but...Mrs. Naymoktimo was poisoned.  I'm sure it wasn't your fault, but we might need to question you about this.  And I suggest you throw out all food and drink in your house and buy more.  We do not want more then one to die today."

"Yes.  Thank you, doctor." Corrinda whispered.

"Hold on.  Mrs. Naymoktimo lived for a few minutes in the ambulance and she said a message.  We think it was for you.  She said: Tell Corrinda that I remember a message from long ago in my culture.  It might help you.  The last line is Under Zebra Rock."

"I do not understand, but thank you anyway" Corrinda listened to him apologize once more, and then she hung up.

"Is she alright?" Pat asked.  Corrinda told her the whole conversation, and then started to cry.

"Oh!  It's okay, hon.  Really, it wasn't your fault, I'm sure!  Now why don't you go to bed.  We have a big day tomorrow.  Oh--and try to pack a little, if you're up to it." Pat gave Corrinda's shoulders a squeeze and then left to go back to her cafe.

Corrinda trudged upstairs, threw some clothes in a suitcase and then went to bed.  She slept very deeply.

So deeply, in fact, that she didn't hear somebody creep into the house during the night.

(to be continued)(again)(again)...