HARDWARE -  The Trouble With Phillip

Quicksand left us with so many questions.  Who gave Dakotaroo to Mickey as a gift? Did T.J.'s dad really have a role to play in the pony's disappearance? Why was the hermit, Bert Massey, found dead by the police. Will Adrienne's super brain ever get to rest?

When Laura Petty suddenly closes her farm and moves away, things get weird around Beaverbrook Hall. 

Phillip Brooks is haunted by his memories of Bert Massey and drawn into a bizarre plot to steal his treasure. T.J. and Adrienne are given a difficult horse to train for Dennison Skyhouse, and soon everyone is galloping through Dead Dog Valley after dark.  There is something important T.J. needs to know to unlock the secret of  Mickey and Dakotaroo. Only the goat holds the key.

    Phillip’s sugarshack was very creepy in the dark. T.J. cautiously pushed open the old wooden plank door.  She shone the flashlight briefly around the room and suddenly something inside crashed down to the floor.  T.J. screamed, quickly shut the door again and pushed her back up against it.

    Mickey put his gloved hand on the door beside her ear and gave it a push.  “T.J.” he mocked, “who would be out here in the cold in this crappy old shack?” 

    "Aliens? Phillip talks a lot about aliens.” She replied meekly, turning the flashlight again to survey the room. The reflection of two bright green eyes glowed back at her.  T.J. gasped.   

    “Relax, It’s just a big ol' raccoon, see.” He held her by the shoulders and made her face the raccoon. “Besides, aliens never want to be this cold,” he smiled mischievously, “Aliens prefer the desert.”

    “Shoo!”  she tried to frighten the fat thief out the front door.  It ambled fearlessly past her and out without a complaint.

    Mickey quietly explored the shack while T.J. set about gathering up anything she felt they may need for the night. A pillow, a blanket, an unopened bag of tortilla chips, eight cans of pop, some chocolate left over from Easter, a book of matches, and a magazine about video games to use to start the fire.  T.J. hoped Phillip would not miss the magazine much. He only had about a hundred video game magazines to choose from.

    “What is this?”  asked Mickey confused. On a long shelf, along one wall of the shack, over thirty glass jars of light amber liquid had been meticulously set in a line.  Each jar had been carefully labeled with Phillips name and a date.

    “Oh, Phillip collects his pee.”  

    “Really? That’s sick! Now I’ve got the creeps. Why would he do that? Why would he put the date on it?” Mickey squinted to look at the jars more closely.

     "It’s not pee,”  admitted T.J. laughing.  “It’s maple syrup.  Phillip spent all spring making it here.  That’s really what a sugar shack is for, you boil down the tree sap here in the bush.  Phillip’s a weird kid but not really ‘saving his pee in jars’ kind of weird.”

     “Good thing.”