By Elaine Carlson

"Her name is Saint Bernard."

"She is a beautiful cat."

"We named her before we knew what she was," he said. "We thought of that name because she was a rescue pet."

He went on to say that she had been abandoned at Cooks Point and they took her home after a camping trip. And then they already had a cat named Rainbow but she died.

I hope I don't have to be here all day listening to him talk about his pets. The only things I knew about him was that his name is David Olsen and that he told a friend of a person I used to work for that he needed a live in baby sitter.

"How long are you going to need me?"

"Maybe a month."

"Do you want me the whole time?" I said. "Or just during the week?"

"I'll check with Ruth," he said. "But don't worry. We will put you up in our guest room and you don't have to move out when you are not on the clock."

"Not on the clock." So David Olsen is a business man. From the look of the house I knew he had to be in management. Or maybe he is an owner. I was grateful I would have a separate bedroom.

"When I worked at another house while the parents were away on a trip," I said. "I used the lady's cookbook and I checked with the kids to see what they wanted to eat."

"That would work."

He told me what he would pay and when to show up ("Bring your suitcase"). When I left I realized that I didn't know how many children they had. Or their ages. Or anything else. Maybe he isn't as much of a business man as I thought.

I found out they have five children but I will only take care of the youngest two --- Tony who is in fifth grade and Cookie who is the second grade. Cookie's name was actually Ruth, just like her mother. And I never learned how she got to be called Cookie.

I ended up staying for fourteen weeks. They hired me because Ruth went to help her sister whose husband had a stroke. She returned after two weeks but asked me if I could stay on "because there are some things I want to do." For three months I was essentially a live in servant who tended to the children. Twice in a week they had a cleaning crew come in. So I imagined I was on the staff of a place like Buckingham Palace or Windsor Castle.

The job was really simple --- see that they get off to school in the morning and be around when they are out of school in the afternoon. The most important thing I did was make their breakfast and dinner.

I wouldn't work on the weekends. Just as David had said they didn't kick me out of that room because I "was not on the clock." Sometimes I just stayed in the room and read. And other times I would venture into town.

It was a pleasant job but I got to admit there was a point when there was some drama. I was in town in the third week when I heard someone calling me.

"Yeah is that you, Lizzi?"

"Are you Benny Jensen?" I asked. "And if so aren't you supposed to say, Hello, Good Looking?"

"And aren't you supposed to say, You are also good looking?"

We laughed. We used to work in the same building. I answered phones in a small real estate office and he worked in the cafeteria on the first floor. We always exchanged those two greetings.

"Lizzi," he said. "Lets just stop and get a coffee and talk a bit. I haven't seen you in ages."

I was surprised. All we had done is exchange those greetings. We never followed through with a conversation. Maybe it would be nice to have coffee with him.

"Does this place remind you about where you used to work."

"Oh I don't know," he said. "If that place was classier or not."

I looked at him. I wasn't sure what to say.

"I heard you are working at the Peterson House."

"I work for David and Ruth Olsen," I said. "I take care of two of their five children."

"So I have heard."

Why was he interested in where I work? I have a rather mundane job working for the richest family in town. What does he think I would know which be of any use to him?

"Look girl," he said. "There is some valuable stuff there."

"You're not planning ..."

"Yep," he said. "You got the idea."

"I thought you had turned your life around," I said. "Now you are doing well."

Why did I think I had to preach to him? And think that I had any chance of persuading him? But I at least had to try to talk to him.

"You are going to slip up somewhere," I said. "It's just not going to work out."

"I was surprised when I heard you got a job there," he said. "We have been keeping track of that place."

I knew he didn't want to tell me who he was working with. And that he was going to give me the barest of details. But I also knew the preliminary plans were already all set.

"We want to protect you and the kids," he said. "And us, too."

He actually involved me in his plan. The children and I had to be in the house. He would phone me just before he approached the house. And of course I wouldn't be doing anything with the kids because it would be in the evening.

"You are going to terrorize the kids."

"Oh they will be safe," he said. "They will be excited. This is something they will talk about for the rest of their lives."

I ended up telling him to drive up the back road. And he told me to stay off the phone and that he would call me just before they drove in. I just shook my head but said okay to him.

"Well see you, girl," he said and got up and left. I watched him go out before I rose from the seat. I stopped to buy a newspaper before I went out to the sidewalk.

Things went about the same at the house and the scheduled day came. And as he said he gave me a call.

"What's ya doing, girl," he said. "You all set to go to the movies tonight?"

I didn't reply and got off the phone.

Then all of the sudden there was a big siren sound. And the sound got bigger and bigger.

"Hey the alarm went off," it was Tony speaking. "Someone call the police."

I called 911 on my cell phone. Later I heard that all of us and several neighbors called 911. And so soon three cop cars came up.

Benny sweet talked to the police --- he told them he was coming up to see me. And that he was going to pick me up and we would all being going out to have drinks. The police told him to turn around and not go in. But what surprised me the most is who he had in the car with him. It was Edgar – I used to date him, and I never realized that he would descend to such low levels.

I came back after leaving that coffee shop and fiddled with the alarms. I increased the sound and also set the trigger on the back path closer to the street. It was a little difficult because I didn't want to be caught tampering with the security because there is so much that can go wrong. But I was glad I was successful.

Things worked out as I always love to say. Afterwards David had the security system revamped and moved his valuable papers and a few other things out of the house. And Ben had been right. The kids were very excited about everything that happened. I bet Tony and Cookie will be having something to talk about at family reunions up until they have great-grandchildren.