Every time ee looked at the stuffed dog, he wondered anew where he came from. He knew that if he appeared in Sunset he must have disappeared from somewhere else. But where? Although he did not always think about this but he did a lot. When he would get so quiet with that pensive look on his face Wid knew he was wondering again. She wished she could help but no one seemed to be able to do so. Despite the mystery, ee seemed to thrive and adjust quite well.

Buddy soon opened the first automobile agency in Sunset and settled into a comfortable routine. Inky, on the other hand, chafed at the idea of spending his whole life stuck in a small town working at a small-town newspaper. He often talked to ee about his unhappiness there. Inky did not want to hurt his father's dream but knew that he would have to face the fact soon. ee encouraged him to tell his father that he, ee, would be happy to fill Inky's spot . Finally Inky worked up the courage to tell his father. Much to Inky's surprise his father seemed to be already resigned to this fact. Mr. Burton readily accepted ee as a replacement for Inky. All these years he had acted pretty much as a father to ee anyway.

All through high school ee worked at the newspaper, dated Crissy and spent any left over time with Wid. He had as normal a life as his circumstances would permit. His interest was piqued every time he heard of any mystery concerning the disappearance of any person. None of which ever shed any light on his situation. But working at the newspaper kept him in the know about all those situations.

When the mystery was finally pretty much solved, it seemed to fall into place rather quickly.

One day Mr. Burton called ee into the editorial office and told him about a conference for small town newspaper editors. He told ee that he just did not feel he could go to Tallahassee at this time and asked ee to fill in for him. Mr. Burton told ee he thought Wid would enjoy going on a vacation and that the newspaper would pick up the expenses.

Also present at the meeting was the editor of the Tallahassee Times, Gary Boyles. He told ee he would be happy to meet him and Wid at the train when they arrived. Also he said he knew a lady there who had a mystery ee might be interested in talking with.

True to his word, the next day after their arrival, Gary took Wid and ee to see his friend Bonnie Davis. All the way over in the car Gary kept stealing overt glances at Wid as though he could not believe what he was seeing. Upon arrival at Bonnie's house, Gary attempted to introduce Wid and ee to Bonnie. Bonnie and Wid just stared at each other, each wondering if their eyesight was failing them. It was almost like looking into the mirror for the two of them. Bonnie, Wid, Gary and ee were all speechless.

After much discussion, tears and hugs, the story emerged. It seems that Bonnie's Uncle Thaddeus Wilson had many years ago moved to northern Virginia. Betty Wilson's (AKA Wid) father was Thaddeus Wilson. So Bonnie and Betty were first cousins. No wonder they looked so much alike.

Much later Gary reminded Bonnie of the reason for their visit. It seems that Bonnie's sister, Marion had been married to a Florida State Senator, Earle Preacles. His method of putting to rest the tensions of his work was amateur photography. He, his wife and young son, Earle, jr., would board a train for parts unknown and get off whenever he saw an interesting scene that looked promising as a target for his camera. One time they simply did not return. No one could ever find them. It was like they had just evaporated from the earth, all three of them.

This cleared up some things for ee. It would make sense with the paper he had carried so long. It would even explain to Wid why ee had said she looked like her but was not her, when they first met. It would explain who he was, but not how he got to Sunset all alone. But there was still some unanswered questions. What really happened to his parents?

After returning from the trip to Florida life settled once more into a routine. The town of Sunset began to grow. ee was busier than ever at the newspaper. A textile factory was building a plant at the edge of town. Their parking lot was to extend all the way up to the sunset cliff.

The phone rang at the newspaper office and ee was sent to check out some skeletons there. They had found the skeletons of two people. They were in such a position as to have fallen off the ledge above.

Officially it was found that one was male and the other female, probably in their late twenties and had been there for several years. At the scene they also found a broken, professional camera. They traced the serial number of the camera and found it had been registered to a person, Earle Preacles.

Now the whole thing could be pieced together. ee could still hear his mother saying "Wait here, Daddy's falling......wait here till I come back." Now it all fit together.

EPILOGUE

ee and Crissy had of course married and raised two daughters. ee spent his whole working life at the newspaper. The saddest thing had been when Crissy had died so young and left ee alone in his old age. He lived with his oldest daughter and her husband after arthritis put him in a wheel chair. There were no children in the house. However the younger daughter lived just down the street and had six children.

Despite his early start in life, ee lived a full, enjoyable life. He was happy just sitting and dreaming of the early days.

THE END