Friday · October 30, 2026
Find My Bug
The last full day · Friday’s report
Angie had announced she was going to the beach early.
For once, the itinerary and the actual vacation agreed.
Her morning photo showed sand, sea, and clouds rising into a blue sky. “My morning.”
Jerry asked if she’d had breakfast.
“Just coffee.”
Blue settled into the sand. No flying umbrellas. No thunder. No emergency egg-chair evacuation. He could get used to this.
Yellow could not. “When does ‘just coffee’ become breakfast?”
By 10:28, Angie had done the beach, eaten breakfast, and moved to the pool. She still hadn’t seen Shanna.
“Have to soak it all in.”
There was nothing to improve about that plan. One more morning of warm water and nowhere she had to be.
Then she asked what shirt sizes the boys wore, in case they returned to the shops. Jerry supplied the details: large for Jack, medium for Andrew.
“Four extra-small,” Yellow whispered.
Rainbow looked at him.
“Souvenirs,” Yellow said. “We were here too.”
Satellite surveillance
Back in Pennsylvania, Jerry opened Find My.
Angie’s little portrait floated over the resort pool. At that map scale, her head was bigger than the bar.
He sent the screenshot to the group with his observation.
Mark confirmed the sighting: “You are correct. There’s a turtle bug right there.”
A pool photo followed.
“She doesn’t know how to swim,” Jerry replied.
Blue looked from the phone to his clipboard.
On Tuesday, finding Bug had required a photograph and a yellow circle. By Friday, Jerry had satellite surveillance.
“We need better equipment,” Blue said.
Yellow held up a gummy bear. “This one’s transparent.”
“That is not a camera.”
These bushes?
The reports started arriving from both Angie and Shanna: they had met people from Uniontown.
“They know bean,” Shanna added.
Jerry had another connection to contribute. Tanja, whom Michele had worked for grooming dogs, was staying at Breathless in Punta Cana.
“It’s next door,” Shanna said.
Jerry suggested that perhaps he and Fig were there too. Or perhaps they had… informants.
“I believe yinz r here hiding in the bushes.”
Jerry replied with enough “I believe that you believe” to require its own flowchart.
Shanna sent a picture of the actual bushes.
“These bushes?”
“I’d bet you’d get some bug bites in there,” Jerry said.
“That would be ur problem not mine!”
Behind those exact bushes, four pigs stopped breathing.
“She’s found us,” whispered Red.
“She’s looking for Jerry,” said Rainbow.
Yellow scratched a bite. “Well, somebody’s found us.”
Blue pulled a leaf over his dripping snout.
“Nobody sneeze.”
The case of the broken watch
Angie’s next report began with a pool picture and her familiar assessment of Shanna.
“She is dumb.”
Jerry agreed. Then the conversation became a technical support call.
“My watch broke. Has water in it. I thought it was waterproof.”
Jerry asked questions. Angie sent a close-up of the watch. The display was still on, but water appeared to be trapped beneath the decorative cover.
“It won’t give me my steps.”
Jerry suggested restarting it.
“I don’t know how to turn it off.”
Instructions followed.
“What button”
Jerry escalated to a labeled diagram. Pennsylvania Technical Support now offered illustrated documentation.
Meanwhile, Angie took off the case.
“It’s not broke. I took off the case.”
Another picture arrived: 8,272 steps.
“It’s fine now that I took off the case.”
Behind a lounge chair, Red lowered a tiny screwdriver.
“She fixed it.”
“What did she do?” asked Blue.
“Took off the case.”
Rainbow crossed out Operation Time Freeze.
“We’ve been defeated by jewelry.”
The conversation wandered from wrists to Jerry’s declaration that he was now “tougher than a $2 steak.”
Yellow considered this. “They’ve eaten enough steak this week. Somebody should be qualified to check.”
The emergency contact
At 5:32, Angie sent the view from her room.
“My last night.”
After all the pictures, rain reports, games, shopping, and family teasing, those three words slowed things down.
Tomorrow she would head home to Pittsburgh through Atlanta. Tonight there was still dinner.
Hibachi. Eight-thirty.
She had showered and was packing. Jerry asked for her flight information, and Angie sent a screenshot with one detail she wanted him to notice.
“You are my emergency contact. Lol”
Weather reporter. Remote detective. Watch support. Now the promotion was official.
Blue glanced at Rainbow. “Should we put him down for us too?”
“All four?” asked Red.
“He already knows we’re here,” said Rainbow. “That saves a lot of explaining.”
They did not actually send any paperwork. Blue couldn’t get the form to accept “hoof” as a phone number.
Ask me at 9:30
Before dinner, a photo arrived of Angie and Shanna sitting together on a cushioned sofa. Another showed people they had met enjoying their own last evening with their private butler, Jorge.
Mark had his own preferred resort connection: Felix, his favorite bartender.
Blue made a useful note: If Mark disappears, check with Felix.
Jerry asked Angie how dinner was.
“Ask me at 930.”
So he scheduled a message for 9:30.
Exactly what she asked for. Delivered with the precision of a son who had already supplied a weather forecast and a watch diagram.
Sushi pictures arrived. Then the chefs at the grill.
“Hibachi time.”
Red watched the cooking station with tremendous interest.
Rainbow moved him one seat farther away.
“I haven’t done anything,” Red protested.
“We’re trying something new,” said Rainbow.
Yellow tucked a napkin under his chin. Blue finally put the clipboard down.
For a moment, even the pigs could let somebody else handle dinner.
Back in Pennsylvania, one message waited patiently for 9:30.
“How was dinner?”
By the end of the night, Shanna had one more question for the pigs: “Does the 5th pig get to stay?????”
The committee took that as an application.
Blue closed Friday’s report. Rainbow brought out three envelopes.
“Tomorrow,” he said, “we give them something to read while they wait.”