HubNugget in Black - A Trolley Park Mystery

It is time again to recognize the Peer-Chosen Best Hubs of the Week by our Newer Writers (or, the HubNuggets Program).

While the volunteer HubNuggets Team members have narrowed down the picks to a Semi-Final 18 HubNugget Wannabes, it is only YOU, the reader, that has the power to make 3 wannabes in each of 3 topic categories below into actual HUBNUGGETS (HN) with your VOTES. So, please vote for your One Favorite in each of the 3 topic categories farther below and the Top Three in each will be declared Hubnuggets, experience more Hub traffic, and appear in the HubPages Weekly Email Newsletter to over 80,000... THIS JUST IN - over 120,000 PEOPLE. And Thanks!

The whole program is explained here at HubPages Special Programs.

Our rotating weekly topic categories are always presented in the middle of an HN Team Adventure, so let's look in on the happenings at the end of January 2011...

It was a dark day at the Palace in Toronto. The Empress of North America, Zsuzsy Bee, searched across her open rolltop desk for the lists, but

They were incognito.

At least they were nowhere to be found. All 18 HubNuggets Wannabes titles on three magical lists of life-and-death proportions - literarily speaking -- Gone!

The Bee wanted to deliver them personally to HubPages HQ in light of the unexplained rise in crime hereabouts. You see, someone was stealing lists in North Amerca - but who? Laundry lists, grocery lists, bills of lading, To Do lists, short lists, long lists, red lists, blue lists, scraps of paper doodles, lists of Snickerdoodles. It was unnerving! The Empress mulled:

Who knows what reader is touched by a HubNugget Wannabe Hub and thereby makes a change or receives an idea that transforms his or her life for the better? Not just for writing, New Hubbers can be our new lifelong friends, too, you know.

At a Press Conference at North American Headquarters:

Correspondent Ripplemaker of W-HUBN TV --Good morning, Viewers! We are on location with the Empress of North America to bring you breaking news. The lists of all of the HubNuggets Wannabes' Hub titles have disappeared! Who do you think took them, Your Beeness?

Empress of North America Zsuzsy Bee -- I do not know, but I highly suspect that Ga Ga girl, since she is running against me for Empress in 2012.

Much of her wardrobe needs sewing up, I can tell you! I believe that she has the lists concealed in the slits and rips in her stage togs - or in the heels of those 18-inch pumps she stumbles around on.

Ben Zoltak, The Empress's New Valet - How about those shoulder pads, Empress? Seems plenty of room in there.

ZB- A possibility. We need some sleight of hand to find out. Say, Ben Zoltak, you like magic, don't you? Do you have a cape?

BZ - Yes, that's right. Magic's grand, especially in the artistic sense. I also have a cape left over from a high school magician's club.

ZB - Then get ye nigh to our Sci-Pi -- at my Trolley Park and help her gather the troops to retrieve those lists of HubNuggets Wannabes!

BZ- Right away and with relish, Your Beeness.

ZB - If that's the way you prefer them - off you go.

ZB sent a text to Sci-Pi to advise of the soon appearance of Ben "The Cape" Zoltak.

"Gud!" Sci-Pi texted back. "Sum 1 wid skils."

The rest of The Empress's Royal Caped Guards were practicing as Ben Zoltak appeared. They were perfecting their Caped Disappearances.

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Sci-Pi demonstrated to begin the exercise:

Enelle Lamb had been practicing quite a lot at home and had perfected her disappearance and reappearance very well.

[Edgar Alan Poe, born January 19, 1809 once said about her: "I wish I could write as mysterious as a cat."]

She was able to shift back and forth in a microsecond:

Our artist RedElf took a sabbatical from solving mysteries and battling cold weather in our last few episodes. She took a Vocation Vacation in cyberspace. Actually, that was a cover ruse. She was investigating cybercrimes in connection with the disappearing lists.

"Good luck, Ben Zoltak!" She called from her place on the screen.

KoffeeKlatch Gals had been practicing various routines in her Florida Room and the Everglades Mall, so she had come up with a very slick exit visual.

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And for good measure and emergencies, she came up with an undercover ID, which she used in this formal portrait that is hanging in the Empress's private gallery:

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Although new to the Guards, Ladyjane1 was already quite accomplished and offered an air of sophistication in her disappearance:

It was Ben Zoltak's turn to demonstrate his own caped exit into the clouds. With a snappy flourish of his hand and a swirl of his cape, he presented an interesting visual...

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Sci-Pi - Not exactly the look we have in mind, Ben Zoltak!

BZ - I do have another one. How about this? >>>

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Sci Pi - Perhaps for Canada Day. Wait! What just dropped out of your cape?

BZ - Ummm...it looks like a  book with a list in it. OMG, it's a list of 6 HubNuggets Wannabes, but I certainly did not steal them. I would never take them. I'd paint portraits of them, but would never purloin them...

Sci-Pi - Strike One, Ben Zoltak! Let's let everyone see what you've got there:

The Guards continued the hunt for the missing lists to no avail, all investigations turning up empty. Suddenly, a packet fell from Ben Zoltak's cape.

KoffeeKlatch Gals, observantly from her signpost -- Ben, You forgot to mail in your utility payments. By the size of the envelope, I'd say you need to cut back.

BZ -- No, no -- They're not MINE! I'm environmentally nifty - er - thrifty!

Ladyjane1 Sophisti-cape -- Let's examine that packet. Hand it over, now. Wait a moment; this is a packet of maps, airline passes, and train tickets - and the list of the next 6 Wannabes!

Sci-Pi -- Strike Two, Ben Zoltak! One more strike and it's the Tower Prison for you. Let's turn those 6 Wannabes over to the waiting public:

Capelet & RedElf Firecat 2.0 had been communicating, extracting clues from cyberspace and the contrails of certain capes. A puzzle took form with a puzzling picture. Here's what happened:

Capelet - Ben Zoltak! I see that you have a label on your cape collar.

BZ - I never noticed that before. What does it say?

Capelet - Born this way.

BZ - HAHAHAHAHAHAHA

Ben "The Cape" Zoltak disappeared in a puff of fireworks, replaced by the figure of a caped GaGa, who in turn disappeared in a puff of confetti to reveal...

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The Empress of North America Zsusy Bee, holding the last list of 6 HubNuggets Wannabes and laughing.

The non-cat Guards looked stunned, but then began congratulating Capelet and RedElf Firecat 3.0 (she received a promotion).

Correspondent Ripplemaker - Good show! Was this a publicity stunt, your Beeness? What does "Born this way" mean?

ZB - Means born with a sense of humor, in this instance. I like practical jokes as much as the next empress. This was payback for the last trick played on me HAHAHAHAhzhzhzhz....PLus, it was good training for my Guards. And Ben Zoltak was back at the palace, preparing a nice souffle all along. Come along everyone, dinner's on me.

Capelet - You've given us a case of the creeping ZB-BZs, Empress!

ZB - heeheehee...Let the public enjoy the next Wannabes:

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