Pictureland

By Alan Cook

Matthew and Mason are intrigued by the painting on their wall, and with the help of Amy, a girl in the picture, they enter the land behind the painting. What they find there is a dystopian world far different from the idyllic picture, where residents have chips in their heads and thought control is practiced. There is no Constitution and the laws are those imposed by the self-appointed rulers. The three must attempt to stop the tyrants before they are thrown into the Bloody Tower where dissidents are imprisoned, or, in the case of the boys, executed.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Alan Cook
• Release date: Feb 9, 2015
• ISBN: 9781310751806

Alan Cook

After spending more than a quarter of a century as a pioneer in the computer industry, Alan Cook is well into his second career as a writer.EAST OF THE WALL--Charlie and Liz No. 2Charlie Ebersole and Liz Reid are recruited by the CIA to go into East Germany in June 1963, to attempt to obtain intelligence about a secret project of the Germans during World War II, about which information has been lost. The Berlin Wall and the Stasi (East German secret police) make this a perilous mission, but the two suspect that they are the most appropriate people for the job.TRUST ME IF YOU DARE--Charlie and Liz No. 1Charlie Ebersole is good at his job as a securities analyst for International Industries in Los Angeles in the year 1962, but he is also somewhat bored at being tied to a desk most of the time. He jumps at the chance to join the fraud section of II, and is immediately put on a case that will take him and another employee, Elizabeth Reid, to Buffalo, Fort Lauderdale, and possibly to Fidel Castro’s Cuba, although the Bay of Pigs fiasco is a recent memory, and relations between Cuba and the United States are not good. Charlie and Liz find out that uncovering a Ponzi scheme isn’t all just fun and games, but it can be dangerous too, especially when somebody is intent on them not discovering the truth. Before they are through they may wish they were back at their nice safe desks in Los Angeles.YOUR MOVE--CAROL GOLDEN NO. 7Carol looks for a serial killer who likes to play games. As she attempts to figure out the game and its significance for the killer she realizes that events occurring when she was a college student but are lost to her because of her amnesia may be significant in tracking down the killer. Does the killer want something from her? If so, what? This is becoming too personal for comfort.FOOL ME TWICE--CAROL GOLDEN NO. 6Carol Golden is asked to help Peter Griffenham recover a chunk of money he's lost in a scam, but he doesn't want to go to the police, and by the time she gets involved the prime suspect, a dazzling redhead named Amy, has disappeared along with the money. Or has she? Perhaps that was only the first chapter, to be followed by a much larger scam. Can Carol help prevent chapter two?GOOD TO THE LAST DEATH--CAROL GOLDEN NO. 5When Carol Golden's husband, Rigo, disappears, she not only has to look for him, but elude the FBI at the same time, because there is evidence that she was involved in his disappearance. She doggedly follows a faint trail, keeping her location a secret from everybody except her friend, Jennifer, a spy-in-training, who takes time off from her top-secret job to help Carol.HIT THAT BLOT--CAROL GOLDEN NO. 4The fourth Carol Golden novel takes Carol into the exciting and dangerous world of tournament backgammon. She listens to a caller who calls himself Danny on the crisis hotline Carol volunteers for say he is afraid he'll be murdered. A backgammon player, herself, Carol, disobeys the hotline rules and sets out to find and help Danny. She needs all her experience with spies and detective work to survive this adventure.DANGEROUS WIND--CAROL GOLDEN NO. 3In the third Carol Golden novel, Carol is abducted by a shady government group and required to help find an old boyfriend of hers she doesn't remember (because of her amnesia) who is trying to bring about the "downfall of the western world." She will travel to all seven continents before she can figure out what's going on.RELATIVELY DEAD--CAROL GOLDEN NO. 2Having recovered her identity (lost in FORGET TO REMEMBER) if not her memory, Carol Golden seeks out some of her cousins in the second Carol Golden novel, only to find out they appear to be targeted for murder. While trying to figure out what's going on, Carol encounters the Grandparent Scam and a Ponzi Scheme, and finds out that she may be one of the targets of the murderer.FORGET TO REMEMBER--CAROL GOLDEN NO. 1Carol Golden isn't her real name. She doesn't remember her real name or anything that happened before she was found, naked and unconscious, in a Dumpster on the beautiful Palos Verdes Peninsula in Southern California. After some initial medical assistance, government at all levels declares her a non-person. She can't work because she doesn't have a Social Security number, which she can't get because she doesn't have a birth certificate. She can't even legally drive a car or fly on an airplane. This is the first Carol Golden novel.Alan's Lillian Morgan mysteries, CATCH A FALLING KNIFE and THIRTEEN DIAMONDS, explore the secrets of retirement communities. They feature Lillian, a retired mathematics professor from North Carolina, who is smart, opinionated, and skeptical of authority. She loves to solve puzzles, even when they involve murder.RUN INTO TROUBLESilver Quill Award from American Authors Association and named Best Pacific West Book by Reader Views. Drake and Melody are teamed up to run a race along the California Coast for a prize of a million dollars—in 1969 when a million is worth something. Neither knows the other is in the race before it starts. They once did undercover work together in England, but this information is supposed to be top secret. The nine other pairs of runners entered in the race are world-classmarathoners, including a winner of the Boston Marathon. If this competition isn’t enough, somebody tries to knock Drake out of the race before it begins. But Drake and Melody also receive threats calculated to keep them from dropping out. What’s going on? The stakes increase when startling events produce fatalities and impact the race, leading them to ask whether the Cold War with the USSR is about to heat up.HONEYMOON FOR THREE--GARY BLANCHARD NO. 2Silver Quill Award from American Authors Association and named Best Mountain West Book by Reader Views. Suspense takes a thrill ride. It is 1964, 10 years after Gary Blanchard’s high school adventures in The Hayloft. He and his love, Penny, are going on the trip of their lives, and, oh yes, they’re getting married along the way. What they don’t know is that they’re being stalked by Alfred, a high school classmate of Penny who has a bellybutton fetish. The suspense crackles amid some of the most scenic spots in the western United States, including Lake Tahoe, Reno, Crater Lake, Seattle, and in Glacier, Yellowstone, and Grand Teton National Parks, as well as the redwood trees and rocky cliffs of the northern California coast.THE HAYLOFT--GARY BLANCHARD NO. 1This 1950s mystery, takes us back to bobby sox, slow dancing, bomb shelters—and murder. Within two weeks after starting his senior year of high school in the 1950s, Gary Blanchard finds himself kicked out of one school and attending another—the school where his cousin, Ralph, mysteriously died six months before. Ralph’s death was labeled an accident, but when Gary talks to people about it, he gets suspicious. Did Ralph fall from the auditorium balcony, or was he pushed? Had he found a diamond necklace, talked about by cousins newly arrived from England, that was supposedly stolen from Dutch royalty by a common ancestor and lost for generations? What about the principal with an abnormal liking for boys? And are Ralph’s ex-girlfriends telling everything they know?HOTLINE TO MURDER, his California mystery, takes place at a listening hotline in beautiful Bonita Beach, California. Tony Schmidt and Shahla Lawton don't know what they're getting into when they sign up as volunteer listeners. But when Shahla's best friend is murdered, it's too late for them to back out. They suspect that one of the hotline's inappropriate callers may be the murderer, and they know more about them than the police do.ACES AND KNAVES is a California mystery for gamblers and baseball card collectors. Karl Patterson deals in baseball cards and may be a compulsive gambler, so he's surprised when his father, Richard, CEO of a software company, engages him to check up on the activities of his second in command. It doesn't hurt that Richard assigns his executive assistant, Arrow, an exotic and ambitious young woman, to help Karl, but none of them expects to get involved in murder.PICTURELANDThe second Matthew and Mason adventure finds the boys going into a picture in their family room with the help of Amy, a girl in the picture. The dystopian world they find there with everyone's movements tracked, leads the three to attempt to bring personal freedom to the inhabitants at great risk to themselves.DANCING WITH BULLSIn Alan's first children's book, Matthew and Mason are on vacation on the Greek island of Crete when they are whisked back in time 4,000 to the Minoan civilization at Knossos Palace. Captured, they escape death by becoming bull dancers on a team with other slaves. Beautifully illustrated by Janelle Carbajal.FREEDOM'S LIGHT contains quotations from 38 of history's champions of freedom, from Aristotle to Zlata Filipovic, from George Washington to Martin Luther King, Jr. Included are Jefferson, Adams, Franklin, Anne Frank and many more.Alan splits his time between writing and walking, another passion. His inspirational book,WALKING THE WORLD: MEMORIES AND ADVENTURES, has information and adventure in equal parts. It has been named one of the Top 10 Walking Memoirs and Tales of Long Walks by the walking website, Walking.About.Com.Alan lives with his wife, Bonny, on a hill in Southern California.

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PICTURELAND

A Matthew and Mason Adventure

by

Alan Cook

SMASHWORDS EDITION

PUBLISHED BY:

Alan Cook on Smashwords

Pictureland

Copyright © 2014 by Alan L. Cook

Cover by Janelle Carbajal

All rights reserved. Without limiting the rights under copyright reserved above, no part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in or introduced into a retrieval system, or transmitted, in any form, or by any means (electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording, or otherwise) without the prior written permission of both the copyright owner and the above publisher of this book.

This is a work of fiction. Names, characters, places, brands, media, and incidents are either the product of the author's imagination or are used fictitiously. The author acknowledges the trademarked status and trademark owners of various products referenced in this work of fiction, which have been used without permission. The publication/use of these trademarks is not authorized, associated with, or sponsored by the trademark owners.

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This ebook is licensed for your personal enjoyment only. This ebook may not be re-sold or given away to other people. If you would like to share this book with another person, please purchase an additional copy for each person you share it with. If you're reading this book and did not purchase it, or it was not purchased for your use only, then you should return to Smashwords.com and purchase your own copy. Thank you for respecting the author's work.

BOOKS BY ALAN COOK

Carol Golden Novels:

Your Move

Fool Me Twice

Good to the Last Death

Hit that Blot

Dangerous Wind

Relatively Dead

Forget to Remember

Matthew and Mason Adventures:

Pictureland

Dancing with Bulls

California Mysteries:

Run into Trouble

Hotline to Murder

Aces and Knaves

Gary Blanchard Mysteries:

Honeymoon for Three

The Hayloft: a 1950s mystery

Lillian Morgan Mysteries:

Catch a Falling Knife

Thirteen Diamonds

Other Fiction:

Walking to Denver

Nonfiction:

Walking the World: Memories and Adventures

History:

Freedom’s Light: Quotations from History’s Champions of Freedom

Poetry:

The Saga of Bill the Hermit

ACKNOWLEDGMENTS

Thanks to Bonny for all-around assistance, to Matthew and Mason for being the models, and to Janelle who painted the picture on the cover.

DEDICATION

To our forefathers and mothers who fought for our freedom.

TABLE OF CONTENTS

CHAPTER 1 THE PICTURE

CHAPTER 2 AMY

CHAPTER 3 GRANDFATHER

CHAPTER 4 THE TUNNEL

CHAPTER 5 GETAWAY

CHAPTER 6 HORSEBACK

CHAPTER 7 SWIMMING

CHAPTER 8 PLANNING SESSION

CHAPTER 9 THE PRISON

CHAPTER 10 BEEFEATERS

CHAPTER 11 BREAK-IN

CHAPTER 12 BLOODY TOWER

CHAPTER 13 NEW SHOES

CHAPTER 14 ESCAPE

CHAPTER 15 THE WALL

CHAPTER 16 WHEELS

CHAPTER 17 THE BUILDING

CHAPTER 18 COMPUTERS

CHAPTER 19 OUT OF THE PICTURE

CHAPTER 20 THE MUSEUM

CHAPTER 21 BACKTRACK

CHAPTER 22 GRANDFATHER—AND AMY

CHAPTER 23 HOME

THE FIRST TEN AMENDMENTS TO THE CONSTITUTION (THE BILL OF RIGHTS)

ABOUT THE AUTHOR

CHAPTER 1 THE PICTURE

Mason, stop staring at that picture. You’re always staring at it. Sometimes I think you’d rather be in the picture than here.

Mason ignored Matthew, which is what he did when he didn’t feel like talking.

The large picture in question held center stage on the family room wall. It was a street scene in the early evening at an undetermined location and an undetermined date. Some of the people in the picture carried umbrellas, and water in the street reflected their images. Yellow light shone from the windows of buildings; faces peered out from some of the windows. Street lights also shone yellow from the tops of poles. A single traffic light was attached to one of these poles. Green-leafed trees grew up from the sidewalks. An incongruous buggy pulled by a single horse plodded along.

Mason finally pulled himself away from the picture. "It is an idyllic setting."

Idyllic. Good word. Matthew nodded. Is that your word for today?

Mason was known for continuously adding words to his vocabulary. He turned back to the picture. Then he knelt on the sofa below it and put his nose right up to it. Matthew started to walk away. He had homework to do. He needed to maintain his status as an A student. Mason called after him.

Come and look at this.

What?

Matthew didn’t have time for games. He’d looked at the picture many times. What more was there to see? Mason urgently motioned for him to come closer. In order to get Mason off his case, Matthew knelt beside him on the sofa. He was about to ask what this was all about when Mason spoke.

Look at the girl…not that girl, the one on the other side of the street walking with that guy.

Yeah, so? Have you fallen in love with her?

The expression on her face has changed.

I think that junk food you eat addles your brain. Besides, you can’t really see her expression.

Mason produced a magnifying glass from his pocket, a tool of the budding scientist he was. He peered at the girl through it.

She was looking at the boy, kind of smiling. Now she’s looking at us with a strange expression, like a plea for help. She’s in some sort of trouble.

Matthew took the magnifying glass and studied the face of the girl.

You do have a rich imagination; I will grant you that. I know what you’re leading up to. You want to go into the world of the picture. You’re using the girl as an excuse.

Mason produced a sly smile. Well, it’s Saturday evening. Mom and Dad are out. It might be fun.

Fun. I don’t like your idea of fun. The last time we did something like this we almost got ourselves killed.

The boys had been whisked back 4,000 years to the Minoan civilization while on a visit to Crete the previous summer, and to survive they’d been forced to join a team of bull dancers.

As usual, Matthew felt responsible for his younger brother. He went into lecture mode.

Look, we’re getting too old to play games like this. I’m in high school; you’re in junior high. Life is a serious business.

Not too serious, I hope. Don’t take all the fun out of it. Mason regarded his brother. You’re a good puzzle solver. I’ll bet you could figure out a way to get us into the picture.

Mason knew how to tempt him. Matthew couldn’t resist a challenge. They’d found out that reality was more than what they learned in school. He looked at the picture with new eyes. How would one get into a world like that? If Mason was correct about the girl changing her expression and looking at them imploringly, perhaps she could help them.

Matthew took the magnifying glass again. She did appear to be looking at them. Matthew concentrated on her and tried to mentally connect with her. He asked her for assistance to get into the picture. He closed his eyes. Something was happening. He reached for Mason.

Take my hand.

CHAPTER 2 AMY

Matthew felt a sudden chill. He opened his eyes. He and Mason were standing on the street in the picture. The light on the pole above them cast its yellow glow on the wet pavement. A gentle rain wet their faces and gave the air an odor of freshness. Matthew’s next feelings were the thrill of being in a different world and trepidation from not knowing what would happen next.

Mason looked around at the pedestrians who were now moving, with a grin on his face. He could hear the clop of the horse’s hooves as it pulled the buggy slowly along the street. It was swaybacked and about ready for the glue factory. He held out his hand and felt the raindrops tickle his fingers.

We forgot our jackets.

Matthew had more important things on his mind.

All right, we got here, but this is going to be a short visit. We’ll talk to the girl and find out what she wants. But we’re not going to get involved. Where did she go?

Mason pointed across the street. The girl and her boyfriend had walked past them and were heading away from them. He recognized her because she was wearing a red skirt. He felt suddenly shy. He turned toward Matthew

You talk to her first, okay?

Matthew nodded. As a member of the school drama club, he was an accomplished actor. There was no reason to be hesitant; this was just another role for him. They crossed the street and rapidly caught up to the pair. Matthew wasn’t sure what to say to the girl, so he pictured what his line might be if he were in a play. As he and Mason came up beside them, Matthew spoke.

Excuse me.

The girl and boy stopped and looked at them. She had lovely hair cascading down her back—brown with red highlights. She didn’t look surprised at seeing them, and her eyes, which might be green, held a spark of recognition. Or was that Matthew’s imagination? The boy, who was shorter than Matthew, was wearing a scowl on his face. Matthew tried to think fast.

Can you tell us…? He was at a loss for words until he remembered there was a dome sticking up above the buildings in the picture. Can you tell us how to get to the church?

The boy pointed back the way they’d just come, obviously wanting to get rid of them, but before he could say anything the girl cut in.

The church? Yes, the church. I’m going there myself. I’ll take you there. Fred, I know you’ve got things to do, so I’ll let you go on.

Fred looked suspicious. Amy, you can’t just walk away with a couple of…strangers.

Amy shook her head. "They’re not strangers. This is…Mason and this is Matthew. No, it’s the reverse.