Lola shifted her eyes to meet mine.
If Kendall only knew.
“C’mon girls, think!” Kendall dragged a stick through the dirt. “We need somethin’ hard.”
“Catching bullfrogs is hard,” Ruby said. “Fun, but hard.”
“And muddy.” Lola scraped some dirt out from under her thumbnail.
“Hunter hates mud,” I said. “Remember how he offered to help in the kitchen instead of playing in the mud pit at camp?”
Kendall grinned and wrote in the dirt: #1. Catch bullfrogs in the mud.
“It’s what all true Carroways do. Great idea, Ruby.”
“Okay,” I said. “We have bullfrogs in the mud, sing with the quartet, hunt for food and cook it. I say that sounds like a solid initiation.”
“No.” Kendall shook her head. “We need one more thing. Somethin’ epic.”
She put her fist to her chin. “How about somethin’ scary? Any true Carroway has to be able to conquer their fears.”
“Really?” Ruby asked. “I don’t remember ever being afraid of anything.”
“What? How about snakes, hurricanes, floods, that time you got lost at Disney World . . .”
Ruby turned white listening to Lola tick off her fright list.
Then the perfect thing came to me.
“And let’s not forget something every Carroway is afraid of . . .”
I leaned in and paused to let everyone focus in on my words. “Mamaw and Papaw’s haunted storage shed.”
They all gasped. Kendall shook her head.
“NO! He’ll have a heart attack in there as soon as he hears the first groan. Plus, I don’t want to lose my new brother before he’s even officially adopted.”
“Oh, come on, Kendall,” I said, “You don’t really believe that story, do you?”
“I do,” Ruby said.
“The story’s true, Allie.” Lola pulled her beanie down over her ears and pushed her jacket collar up a little higher to cover her neck.
“You really believe there was a fifth brother who disappeared in that shed?”
Everyone nodded.
“A demon-possessed alligator—bent on revenge—ate Uncle Andy.” Lola pulled her head into her jacket like a turtle hiding in its shell.
“While he was looking for Mamaw’s Thanksgiving tablecloths.” Ruby shuddered. “Which explains why Mamaw only uses placemats now.”
“You people are crazy. There never was an Uncle Andy.”
“Allie, I’ve seen pictures of him,” Kendall said. “He was only twelve-years-old when it happened. It creeps me out. Hunter’s twelve. What if the gator comes for him? You know, to get back at Great Uncle Rhett for runnin’ over its dad with the tractor?”
“It’s all a ridiculous Carroway fable,” I said. “Come on! Don’t you think it’s odd that we only hear that story during campfires when we’re eating s’mores and one of the uncles is shining a flashlight up his nose?”
“They can’t tell it in the light,” Lola said. “The dark hides their tears.”
“But we’ve all been in that shed tons of times looking for stuff for Mamaw. It’s creepy, and there are some weird noises that I can’t explain, but we always come out.”
“That’s because the gator only eats boys, remember? That’s why none of the uncles go in there for anything.”
“People, they just use that as an excuse because they don’t want to crawl around in there and hurt their backs! Do you think they’d send us—their precious daughters—if they thought we’d get eaten by some mad alligator?”
“Like I said before,” Lola popped her head out. “The gator only eats boys. Twelve-year-old Carroway boys.”
“And seasonal tablecloths.” Ruby hid her face in her hands.
“This. Is. Ridiculous.” I crossed my arms and looked around at my cowering cousins. That family fable had sunk deep into their little fear-filled hearts.
“Well, okay then. Since each of you has suggested a task for Hunter’s initiation, I think it’s only fair that I submit one too.”
I lifted my index finger into the air. “To pass the initiation, to be honored as a true Carroway, and in order for us to turn our lovely Diva Duck Blind into an acceptable dwelling for girls and a boy, our new cousin and brother Hunter must survive a whole hour in Mamaw and Papaw’s haunted storage shed. In. The. Dark.”
Lola pushed her beanie back to show her eyes and forehead.
“And what if he doesn’t survive?”
I shrugged. “Then I’ll finally agree with you that the story of our dear-departed Uncle Andy and the Gruesome Gator is true.”
I gave them my most evil Halloween laugh, but nobody seemed to appreciate it.
Lola whimpered. Kendall stared at me like I was some kind of criminal. Ruby wouldn’t take her eyes off the ground and just flicked her red braid back and forth.
“What’s going on, ladies?”
We all jumped about a mile.
“Did you see my shot? Boy, that was a surprise! Got it on my first try.” Hunter shook his head. His hands appeared to shake a little too. “This year has been full of surprises.”
“There’s more to come,” Kendall said.
“Oh, yeah? You know something I don’t?”
Lola stood up and brushed off her pants. “I say we tell him now.”
Ruby came back to life and stood too. “It’s only fair.”
Kendall drew her hand across her throat to signal us to stop the conversation.
“But we haven’t agreed to all—”
“Yes, we have,” I said. “It’s been decided. Hunter just has to agree.”
“Agree? To what?”
CHAPTER 8
All In
Hannah pounced on us before we got a chance to clue Hunter in on his initiation.
“Zeke decided one dead dove is enough for today. He wants to film the dinner scene. So you know what that means, ladies and gentleman?”
“We have to change clothes?” Hunter pushed his glasses up on his nose as he looked up at Hannah. He seemed relieved.
Hannah smiled and gave him a side hug. “You are quickly becoming my favorite, you know that? Yes, it’s time for a wardrobe adjustment.” She looked down at the big white sports watch on her wrist. “Call time is four o’clock, so y’all have two hours to make yourselves presentable for dinner.”
Lola sighed. “Good. I have to fix this flattened hair.” She popped the beanie off her head, and Hannah cringed and pointed to the pink streak.
“What is THAT?”
“Oops.” Lola tried to shove the beanie back on but Hannah grabbed it from her.
“Tell me that’s a feather. Or a ribbon. Tell me that you did not dye your hair.”
“It’s temporary! Plus, the next three scenes were supposed to be in a beanie. Can I help it if Zeke changes his mind?”
“Fine.” Hannah threw her hands in the air. “Then you can explain to the crew why they can only film the left side of your head.”
And she stomped off.
Then she turned around. “Four o’clock at Maggie and Jake’s! Allie-girl, you better go clean up the clutter on your dining room table!”
My mind flashed to our dining room, and the big round table that catches everything—homework, TV scripts, bills, empty cups . . . you name it, it’s on that table.
“I better go.” I took my foot and brushed it over all our writing scribbles in the dirt, destroying all the evidence.
Hunter put his arm out.
“You can’t go yet. You were about to tell me about my surprise.”
The girls and I all looked at each other.
“Okay, gather in.” I put my arms out to pull everyone in. When they were all close, I spoke low.
“We have time, but we can’t do it here. We’ll tell you all about your surprise up in the duck blind in exactly ten minutes.”
Hunter stepped back. “The Diva? I’m allowed up there?”
Kendall cleared her throat.
; “No, you are not. But for today, and today only, we will issue you a temporary password.”
“Do I get to pick it?”
“No,” I said. “You will find your temporary password written on a pink post-it note and shoved in the magenta mailbox at the base of the blind. When you retrieve the password, you must knock on the gate four times and wait for one of us to come down to meet you. Whisper the password into that person’s ear, and then eat the post-it note.”
Ruby chuckled a little at that.
“What?” Hunter’s voice cracked. “You want me to eat paper?”
Lola and Kendall giggled.
“Nah, I was just kidding. But you must flush it down the toilet at your earliest convenience. Got it? We don’t mess with passwords around here. If someone finds it and uses it, we’ll lose all control.”
“She’s not kiddin’,” Kendall said.
Now I was trying not to laugh.
Hunter stood up straight and saluted us.
“I will do my best to comply. See you in ten minutes at the duck blind.”
Then he zoomed down the hill, disappearing in seconds.
“Ten minutes?” Kendall said, and she gave me a funny look.
“Yeah. It’s just enough time for us to get there and figure out a password.”
“And I hope we’re not out of pink post-its,” Ruby said.
“Not a chance,” Lola said. “What shade do you want? Pale? Deep magenta? I stocked a new batch just last week.”
We arrived at the blind with six minutes to spare. On the way over, I chose the password. It was a simple one—Gator Buster. Oh, how I wanted our new cousin, Hunter Buster, to bust that silly gator story to bits!
I scribbled the password on the post-it and ran down the Diva stairs to stuff it in the mailbox. Inside, I was surprised to find an old post-it with the words “Diva Dad” on it. Though the Diva is off limits to boys, sometimes we let our dads in, mostly to do repairs. But the time I gave my dad this password he had come up to help me write an essay about flood control on the Ouachita River, which is near where we live. I would have to talk to him later about his careless handling of temporary passwords.
Eat it or flush it. Those are the only two options.
The girls peppered me with questions as soon as I got back up the steps of the blind.
“What exactly are you going to tell Hunter?” Lola fiddled with her hair, trying to hide the streak.
“When are we going to do the initiation?” Kendall paced back and forth.
“What are we going to tell our parents?” Ruby rocked away on her crooked chair.
“What if Hunter says no?” Lola jumped in again.
I held both hands out.
“People! Why are you so worried? This is a fun thing, remember? We’re not doing anything bad, and we’re not going to lie to anyone. We’re just going to do what all Carroways do! It’ll all work out. You’ll see. We’ll simply ask Mamaw if we can all come out to her house to spend the night.” I plopped down on the turquoise beanbag and leaned my head on one of the Scripture boards. I tried to picture what our duck blind would look like when we included Hunter’s decorating tastes in the new design.
“That’s a good plan.” Ruby smiled. “Mamaw always says yes.”
Just then, we heard four loud knocks. And for some reason— all of a sudden—I was a little dizzy. I sat up straight and tried to take a deep breath, but it felt like I had a brick laying on my chest. I had to settle for a few shallow breaths and tingly fingers.
“Ruby,” I squeaked out. “Can you go down and retrieve Hunter?”
“Sure.” She popped out of her rocker and vanished down the steps.
Part of me wanted to go down there and watch the beginning of this little adventure. But I had no air at the moment, so I stayed put.
Ruby and Hunter appeared in seconds. Ruby situated herself back on the rocker, and Hunter just stood there, staring wide-eyed as he took in the blind.
“What planet is this?” he said, and he began to walk around, picking up and inspecting some of our fragile collectables.
“Hey—be careful with that,” Kendall said, and she rushed over to save her souvenir glass giraffe that she had bought at the zoo. She took it from Hunter and gently placed it back on the white teacart that Mamaw Kat got for us at the flea market.
Hunter immediately picked up a red teacup and saucer, a gift I had given Ruby for her tenth birthday.
Ruby stopped rocking and watched in horror while Hunter lifted his pinkie finger and pretended to drink out of it. Then he gulped, burped, and placed the teacup back down on the cart.
“Lovely afternoon for tea,” he said. Then he spotted the glittered duck decoys hanging from the ceiling.
“How could you do that to those poor ducks?” He pointed up. “Why the ribbon and beads?” He stepped closer to inspect. “Are those duck calls?” He poked the turquoise, purple, and pink tubes hanging from the ribbon that we made to look like duck calls. Then he pointed to me.
“Does your dad know you did this to perfectly good duck decoys?”
I nodded. “Yes. He wasn’t happy about it.”
Hunter swept his hands around the room.
“Well, why would any boy ever want to visit a place like this? I can’t believe I’ve felt sad about being excluded for the last few weeks.”
I swallowed hard and tried to take another deep breath.
“We didn’t mean to leave you out, Hunter.” Ruby got up and offered him a cookie from earlier. “We just never thought about it. It’s always been the place where we girls hang out.”
“Yeah, we’re really sorry,” Lola said.
Hunter accepted the cookie, took a huge bite, and talked while he chewed.
“It’s okay. I know I’m an outsider. Clearly I don’t fit in here anyway.”
“Yes, you do!” Air filled my head, but somehow not much of it made it to my lungs.
“Huh?” Hunter downed the rest of his cookie, brushed the crumbs off his hands, and sat down cross-legged on the floor.
“Well, I mean—we’ve been discussing making some changes to the place.”
“I hope you’re going to add some camo. I mean, what’s a Carroway clubhouse without camo?”
“Puh-lease,” Lola said. “Isn’t it enough that we have to wear it for filming all the time?”
Kendall, who had been inspecting her precious giraffe for damage, finally piped up.
“Hold on a minute. We’ve only been discussing changes. It doesn’t mean we’re gonna make ’em.” She turned toward Hunter and crossed her arms in front of her. “It all depends on you, Brother.”
“Me?” Hunter pointed both thumbs at his chest. “What do I have to do with it?”
I stood and tried to sound formal.
“Hunter, we’re all very excited that you’re officially joining the Carroway family. But the whole legal thing is about to get very boring—you know, with trips to the courthouse, having to dress up, waiting around while people sign papers, the never-ending picture taking, relatives crying and hugging, the formal announcements . . .”
“Wow, I never thought about that as being boring, but you have a point.”
“So we thought we should add a little fun to the whole thing. Just for us cousins.”
“What do you have in mind?”
Kendall butted in.
“An initiation. You see, Hunter, there are things that make up a true Carroway, and we want you to be prepared. Because we care. So, we created a list of things that you will need to do to pass.”
“To pass? Wait. What if I don’t pass? Do you kick me out of the family?”
“No, silly,” I said. “But if you do pass, we have a surprise for you. As a tribute to you, our new brother and cousin, we will redesign the Diva Duck Blind. And we’ll all get to hang out here together.”
“Will I get a permanent password?”
“Yep,” Kendall said. “And you can choose what it is.”
Hunter close
d his eyes. He shook his head like he was trying to clear his mind of all things glitter. He sat there for a minute.
There was silence in the blind for at least thirty seconds. Then Hunter shot to his feet.
“I’m ALL IN, ladies! When do I start?”
I grabbed my chest. My immediate thought was, As soon as I can breathe.
CHAPTER 9
Clearing the Air
I exhaled hard, and a weird whistling sound came out of my throat. Or was it my chest?
“Allie! You look like a ghost!” Hunter lunged over to me and pushed down on my shoulders to force me to sit on the beanbag. He stared into my eyes. “What’s wrong?”
“I don’t think she can breathe!” Lola placed her hand on my forehead, and then she pulled my hair away from my face. “Ruby, did you put peanuts in those cookies?”
“NO! I never cook with nuts.” Ruby looked terrified.
“We need to take her home!” Hunter lifted me up on my feet and put his shoulder under one arm. “Kendall, grab her other side.”
Kendall did. Then we shoved our way down the staircase, turning sideways to avoid the tree trunk that curves a little into the staircase. They dragged me over to the picnic bench a few feet away from the blind and sat me down.
“Put your head between your knees,” Hunter said.
I did, staring down at my fingernails. They were greenish.
“Someone call Uncle Jake or Aunt Maggie,” Kendall fidgeted with her bag on her hip. “My phone’s dead.”
“No!” I threw my hand up to stop the nonsense. No need to get the parents involved when it could earn me a quick, one-way ticket to Arizona.
“But you can’t breathe.” Lola knelt down next to me and lifted my head up to look into her eyes. “Allie, I’m worried about you. You keep having asthma attacks. What’s going on?”
I took a couple of deep breaths, and to my surprise, they went in that time. I raised my head to look at my four cousins who had concern written all over their faces.
“I think I’m good now. I don’t know what happened. Maybe it was anxiety or something.” I stood up, stretched, and took another two deep breaths.
Allie's Bayou Rescue Page 4