Allie's Bayou Rescue

by Missy Robertson

  “That’s okay. It means a lot that you tried.”

  Hunter shivered. “I’m freezing,” he said.

  “You haven’t had your jacket. Here.” I took off the jacket and handed it to him. Then I stood up and picked up the slingshot.

  “We should get back to the house.”

  Hunter shook his head. “But I don’t have anything to cook.”

  I smiled and handed him the slingshot.

  “Maybe those squirrels will return before we get there.”

  CHAPTER 20

  Blend

  The squirrels didn’t return.

  Defeated and cold, we cleaned up as best we could and stepped from the mudroom into the family room.

  “Finally!” Kendall sat at the kitchen counter, drinking something hot. “What did y’all catch?”

  “Possible pneumonia,” I said. “The animals all went home in the crazy weather, so we decided to do the same. We’ll try later.”

  “So what you’re saying is that Hunter is zero for two? Looks like we get to keep the Diva.” She smirked and took another sip of her drink. “It’s okay, Brother, I still love ya.” She winked at Hunter.

  “The night’s not over yet,” Hunter said. “I’ll catch that fifth frog, and I’ll find something we can cook, you’ll see.”

  “I like the stubbornness,” Lola said.

  “He sounds like a Carroway,” Ruby added.

  “Oh, really?” Kendall put her drink down, went out to the family room, and grabbed her phone. “But can the boy sing?”

  She scrolled through her screen, then held the phone up toward us.

  “Hunter, it’s time for challenge number three in our Carroway Cousin Initiation. You need to prove that you can carry a tune by singing with our quartet. There’s a lot of music that happens in the Diva Duck Blind, so if you’re going to be up there with us, you have to learn how to blend.”

  A song started to play, but the sound was immediately drowned out by another thunder clap and a new cloudburst pounding down on the roof.

  Then the lights went off.

  “Blackout!” Ruby yelled.

  Thankfully, the candles we lit earlier were still burning, so as soon as our eyes adjusted, we could see a few things.

  “Where are Mamaw and Papaw?” Lola sat on the sofa and pulled her blanket tighter around her shoulders. “Do you think they’re all right? Should we call Mamaw again?”

  “Maybe,” I said. “But I gotta dry off first.”

  “Me too,” Hunter said. “And I think I need some hot tea or something before I try this ‘blending’ thing you’re talking about. I might even have to protest this challenge given that I am a pre-adolescent male in the middle of a voice change.”

  “You could try yodeling,” Ruby said.

  “Oh, please,” Kendall said. “Don’t be givin’ him any crazy ideas.”

  “Yodeling is singing,” I said.

  “But it has to sound good,” Kendall said. “I refuse to pass him on this challenge unless we sound good.”

  “Okay, just give me a minute to get into some performance clothes for my singing debut.” Hunter bowed, then walked over to me and whispered in my ear. “Don’t worry. You warned me about this, so I came up with a plan.”

  And then he disappeared into the bedroom.

  Ruby picked out some wood pieces from the steel box next to the fireplace and threw a few logs in. Then she found a stick lighter and flicked it on as she turned the gas key on the wall.

  “This will give us more light, plus warm us all up. Allie, you should change and then get over here. You don’t look so good.”

  It must be serious if she can tell I don’t look right even in the dark.

  “Yeah,” Kendall added. “And we have to show you the new ‘Andy evidence’ that we found while you were outside gettin’ drenched.”

  “It’s disturbing, Allie.” Lola pulled a purple crocheted blanket from the sofa and brought it over to me. “You’re gonna want to change your challenge when you see it.”

  I took the blanket and wrapped up in it. It felt so good, but I did wonder if my eyes and lips matched the deep lavender shade. I looked around at my cousins. Three level-headed, intelligent girls most of the time. Why did this Andy thing freak them out so badly?

  “It’s a camp story, girls. That’s all. I’m sure there’s a good explanation for whatever you found.”

  “I’m ready!” Hunter burst out of the bedroom, and walked toward Kendall with a full-on swagger. He wore oversized light-gray sweatpants, that were bunched up at the bottom inside some black high-top tennis shoes, a white T-shirt, and a huge red hoodie. With the hood on his head.

  “What do you think you’re doin’?” Kendall tried to keep a straight face, but it was hard, even for her.

  The rest of us girls giggled.

  “We gonna start this thang or what? And don’t worry. I ain’t yodelin’,” Then he crossed his arms up high in front of himself, like a rapper posing for his CD cover.

  “Oh, boy. This is gonna be good.” Lola popped up off the sofa. “What are we singing?”

  “Can I pick the song?” Hunter’s eyes gleamed, even in the firelight.

  “Yes,” Kendall said. “But it has to be spiritual.”

  “Not a problem,” Hunter said. “I pick that old hymn called ‘Nothin’ but the Blood of Jesus.’”

  “Seriously?” Kendall began to scroll on her phone. “I’m surprised you even know that song.”

  “Oh, I know it, all right. Plus, I want to rock it. With no background music.” He walked over to Kendall, took her phone from her hand, and placed in on the coffee table.

  “Excuse me? Rock it?” She put her hand on one hip and flipped her hair with the other. “Exactly how do you intend to ‘rock it?’”

  “Don’t you worry, sister. I got this. Now just give me a count to get started. And don’t make it too slow and boring. When you girls catch on, you can join in.”

  I could hardly believe what I was hearing. Either Hunter really knew what he was doing, or he had gone crazy-mad from too much mud on the brain.

  Kendall just stared at him for a moment. Then she shook her head.

  “Okay, it’s your challenge to lose. Come on, girls. Let’s line up in front of the fire. Pretend we’ve got an audience.”

  We did what she asked, and I closed my eyes just for a second to pray for Hunter.

  I like to root for underdogs.

  As I prayed, I heard Kendall count . . . “One, two, three, four!”

  And I could not believe what I heard next.

  CHAPTER 21

  You Call that Singin’?

  It was drums.

  No. It wasn’t drums. There were no drums anywhere in the room.

  We all stared at Hunter.

  He held his hands up in the air.

  “How come you aren’t singing? I’m giving you percussion!”

  Then the drums started up again.

  Hunter was beatboxing.

  All our mouths hung wide open.

  “What’s wrong, girls? Did you forget the words? Let me help. What can wash away my sin?”

  Then he made some drumbeat noises with his hands and cheeks. We just kept staring.

  “Oh, come on! Nothing but the blood of Jesus? Singers, keep up.”

  He continued, beating and boxing, tapping his foot, and staring at us, until Kendall finally shrugged and began singing.

  “What can make me whole again?”

  Ruby, Lola, and I echoed. “Nothing but the blood of Jesus.”

  The rest was Carroway history, although no one was recording it. We rocked the whole first verse and chorus, like we had practiced it for weeks. Lola and Ruby even started a little dance action. I didn’t even try to join them, since I have no dancing talent, whatsoever. My coordination stops at flips and cartwheels.

  The fire crackled hot behind us. By the time we finished our song, I was sweating and had thrown the purple blanket off. I didn’t know whether to
laugh or cry. The whole situation was hilarious—a perfect mix of Carroway weirdness.

  The best thing was I could finally breathe a little.

  “Congratulations, Hunter! I think you got this one!” Ruby plopped down on the sofa and bounced up and down.

  “Where did you learn to beatbox?” Lola crumbled to the ground, laughing and grabbing her stomach.

  Hunter smiled and then shuffled his feet in a little breakdance move. “My first foster family was into hip-hop.”

  “Oh, man, that’s the best!” Lola rolled around on the floor and laughed some more. “Do it again.”

  Hunter rattled off a snare and a kick.

  “Can you show me how to do that?” Ruby stared at Hunter’s mouth, and she raised her hands to her lips and blew out something that sounded like a broken duck call.

  “Stop.” Kendall held her hand out. “Just stop right now.” She looked at Hunter. “You call that singin’?”

  Hunter dropped his hands to his sides, and I think I saw his shoulders droop, even inside that baggy hoodie.

  “It’s music. And I blended, right?”

  “Kendall,” I said. “I think we sounded better than ever. You gotta give him this one.”

  “Yeah, Kendall. The group is better now with Hunter.” Ruby twisted that red braid around and around.

  I watched Kendall’s eyes search our faces.

  “I’ll think about it,” she said. “It was my challenge, after all, and I did say that you had to sing. Beatboxing, while clever and fun, is not singin’.”

  Hunter shrugged. “Okay, whatever you say. I guess I’ll change back into my regularly-scheduled “loser” clothes, then. I’ll be right back.”

  He formed an “L” on his forehead with his hand and slumped back into the bedroom.

  Lola jumped up from the floor and got in Kendall’s face.

  “That was mean, Kendall! He did great and you know it. Did you see how he walked out of here? Is that how you plan to treat him once he’s officially your brother? Maybe he would be better off with a different family.”

  “Lola!” Ruby came off the couch and pulled her sister away from Kendall.

  “Okay—that’s enough, people.” I walked over to the cousins, who had gotten carried away—yet again. I sat each one down on a different piece of furniture and stood in the middle of them.

  “Come on! We’re not going to fight over a stupid initiation.” I stared at each one. “Take a deep breath and count to ten. I would if I could do it without wheezing.”

  That got them to grin a little.

  “Well, I guess he did kind of blow me away with his hidden talent,” Kendall said.

  “And I guess it’s true, he didn’t actually sing, and that was the challenge.” Lola looked down at the floor. “Kendall, I’m sorry I said what I said.”

  “It’s okay.” Kendall fiddled with her choker. “I really want Hunter to do well, I just don’t want to lose the Diva.”

  “That’s totally understandable,” Ruby said.

  “Yeah. Changes are hard,” Lola agreed.

  We needed some help here.

  “Where’s Mamaw’s Bible? I think we need to remember why we started all this in the first place.” I walked around the family room and kitchen area, searching for the faded leather Bible with the broken binding. Mamaw keeps a rubber band around it so the pages don’t spill out when she carries it to church.

  “Ah, here it is.” It was sitting over on the kitchen counter, right next to the recipe box. Mamaw is known to read Scripture verses while she waits for yeast to rise when she makes bread.

  I carefully moved the Bible to the center island and took off the rubber band. Kendall, Lola, and Ruby circled around as I turned to the book of Romans.

  “Mamaw sure writes a lot in her Bible,” Lola said.

  It’s true. You can barely see any white space for all the notes written in the margins. She’s got dates, and underlines, and even pictures drawn in some places. Mamaw says she’ll never get a new Bible because of all the valuable memories in this one.

  I located Romans 12:9–10 and began to read:

  “Don’t just pretend to love others. Really love them. Hate what is wrong. Hold tightly to what is good. Love each other with genuine affection, and take delight in honoring each other.”

  I stared at the words, and for some reason, my thoughts didn’t go to Hunter this time. They went to my parents.

  Could this be why my parents were considering moving? Could they love me that much? Could they take delight in living in cactusville because it would honor me? Could I sacrifice like that for someone I loved?

  Ruby gasped. “Allie! Look!”

  Ruby’s shaking index finger pointed just inside the margin by verse nine.

  “Holy Gator Busters!” Kendall stepped back and grabbed her forehead. “There’s your proof! We can’t send him into that shed now.”

  I stared down at the single word that Mamaw had penned in her Bible, right next to Romans, chapter twelve.

  It said . . . Andy.

  CHAPTER 22

  Long, Lost Uncle?

  I was speechless. Why was the name Andy scribbled in Mamaw’s Bible? There had to be a better explanation than having a son who got eaten by an alligator.

  Right?

  Kendall ran to the end table by the recliner in the family room. She grabbed what looked like an old photo album and brought it over to the kitchen island.

  “We found this while you were out huntin’.” She opened the stiff cover to reveal the first page that held decorative letters that spelled out “Carroway Family Reunion.” The sticky pages behind the letters had yellowed a bit, and the pictures on the next few pages were mostly black and white mixed in with a few faded-out color ones.

  “See anyone you recognize?” Kendall set both elbows on the island and rested her chin in her hands. “Here, I’ll help you out. There’s Papaw Ray.” She pointed to a much younger looking version of Papaw. He kind of looked like my dad.

  “And there’s Mamaw.” Lola pointed to the stylish and smiling dark-haired woman standing next to our tall, rugged, camo-wearing Papaw.

  “We think that’s Aunt Janelle, but who knows for sure, it’s so fuzzy.” Kendall swept her finger over a lady’s face in the back row of adults who were outnumbered by a bunch of kids in the front. “And the kids must be our dads, and some cousins, nieces, and nephews or something.”

  “There sure are lots of boys,” I said. “Funny how we have mostly girl kids in the family now.”

  “Yeah,” Kendall said. “Count ’em.”

  There were eleven.

  “I have no idea who they all are, do you?” I looked real close, and I picked out the most familiar looking face. “Is that my dad? He looks like Papaw Ray a little bit.”

  Lola nodded. “We think so. And if that’s true, then the other four boys standing around him must be brothers. See how all the kids in the picture are all bunched in separate groups?”

  “But that would make five,” I said. “That’s one too many.”

  “Exactly,” Kendall said. “And that proves it. One of these boys is our long-lost Uncle Andy.”

  “I think this one is him.” Ruby pointed to a kid who looked to be about ten. “He’s got reddish hair. That’s where I must have gotten it.”

  “This had to be just a couple of years before he got eaten.” Kendall hung her head. “It’s so sad that we never got to meet him.”

  I think I heard Lola sniff. “Lola, are you crying? Really?”

  Lola reached out, grabbed a tissue out of a box on the island and pulled it to her nose.

  “This kid could be anybody. And I don’t think that’s red hair, Ruby. I think it’s an ink smudge, or spaghetti sauce.” I rubbed my finger over the picture.

  “Don’t smear his face!” Kendall pulled the book toward her. “That could be the only image we have left of him!”

  “People, get a grip. I need to see more evidence than just a faded face on an old p
icture and a name written in a Bible.”

  “We should look him up on the Internet. Maybe there’s a newspaper article about what happened.” For being the youngest, Ruby sure lends common sense to the group sometimes.

  “I’ve never thought of that,” Kendall said.

  “Me either.” I crossed my arms. “Because the whole thing’s baloney.”

  Lola, Kendall, and Ruby all shot out to the family room after their phones.

  “Mine’s dead,” Kendall said.

  “Mine’s not getting coverage.” Lola shook her phone.

  “Same here,” Ruby said. “No bars at all.”

  I decided to check mine. Same thing.

  “I’m sure it has to do with the storm. Maybe the cell tower’s down. No biggie.”

  “I don’t like this at all.” Lola went for her blanket again. “We’re out here all by ourselves with no grownups. And the water’s rising.”

  Just then, the door to the bedroom flew open and a clean, less hip-hoppy twelve-year-old Carroway boy emerged.

  “Still no grown-ups? That’s a good thing, right? Now we can finish this initiation off in epic fashion. What’s challenge number four?”

  CHAPTER 23

  To Shed or Not to Shed

  Epic would be if we could put an end to the Andy horror story forever. And all Hunter needed to do was to survive being in that dumb shed for an hour.

  He could do it. I was sure of it.

  Well, mostly sure. I would have been more sure if I hadn’t seen that reunion picture and the name in the Bible.

  “I’m ready.” Hunter held his hands up in the air. “That shower made me feel like a new man. I’m ready to win this challenge and find a way to pass the other ones too. The Diva is going down, cousins.”

  Kendall stared me down across the room. “Allie, can we talk in the other room?”

  She didn’t give me a chance to say yes or no, she just pulled me by the elbow back into Mamaw and Papaw’s bedroom.

  “You have to change the challenge. We can’t send him in that shed. Not with all the new information we just found. I don’t want to be responsible for losing Hunter before we get a chance to adopt him.”