by Ron Roy
“What’s that for?” Dink asked.
“Critter protection,” Josh said.
They walked slowly around the pond. In the muddy places, they spotted more animal tracks. Josh carried his rake like a spear.
They split up, each peering through the underbrush for signs of the old trails Alice had told them about. Josh poked his rake into dark places. Dink kept an eye on the algae-covered pond, hoping some swamp creature wasn’t watching them.
“Guys, I think I found something!” Ruth Rose called. She was twenty yards away with her back to the pond and the barn.
Dink and Josh ran over. Ruth Rose pointed at a small white circle on the trunk of an oak tree.
“That’s paint,” Josh said. “And it’s faded, so it’s old.”
“Maybe Auntie A.’s husband put it there,” Ruth Rose said.
“Let’s look for more,” Dink said. The kids stepped past the tree. Josh poked his rake into bushes.
“There!” Dink said, pointing just ahead of them. A few yards from the first marked tree was another faded white circle. “I think we’ve found the trail!”
The kids walked deeper into the woods. Thick bushes brushed against their arms and faces. Mosquitoes buzzed around them, but didn’t land. Behind them, the pond and barn were no longer visible. Tree branches blocked out the sun.
Every few yards, they found another white circle on a tree trunk. The marks drew the kids farther into a jungle-like place.
“I feel like tigers are watching us,” Josh whispered.
“Tigers don’t live in Florida,” Ruth Rose said.
“Yeah, it’s probably just a mountain lion,” Dink said. “I hope you don’t have any cookies in your pocket. They can smell food a mile away!”
Josh laughed. “Nice try, Sly.”
They found a few more white tree markings before they walked out of the woods into sunshine. In front of them was another pond surrounded by low bushes. This pond was twice as large as the one near the barn. It was also covered with green algae and smelled just as bad.
Ruth Rose walked a little closer to the pond. The ground was soft and muddy. “Guys, people prints,” she said. “Just like the ones we saw at the other pond.”
Dink noticed some other marks next to the footprints. “These are tire marks!” he said.
“But how could a car get back here? There’s no road,” Josh said.
“We could barely make it through that old trail,” Ruth Rose said. “A car never would!”
Dink studied the tracks for a moment. “There are only two tires,” he said. “And they’re narrow, like a motorcycle’s.”
“Or a motor scooter, like Hanna’s,” Ruth Rose added.
“Still, how did it get here?” Dink wondered. He snapped a picture of the marks with his cell phone. “Let’s keep looking.”
Dink continued walking around the pond, looking for more tire marks. He stopped when he noticed a break in the trees. Small bushes were crushed. Grass was flattened. The spot was ten feet from the edge of the pond. “Guys, over here!” he yelled.
Josh and Ruth Rose ran over.
Dink knelt and snapped another picture. He ran his fingers over the grooves in the dirt. “The same tires made these marks,” he said. “Somebody drove something here. But why?”
“To find whatever Hanna and Kenny read about in the diary,” Ruth Rose said. “But this is all jungle and yucky pond water.”
Josh plucked a purple blossom from a vine. “One of these flowers was stuck in Hanna’s spokes,” he said, handing it to Ruth Rose. “Remember you brought it in the house?”
“Good eye, Josh!” Ruth Rose said. “So Hanna was here, or at least her scooter was!”
They followed the tire marks to the edge of the pond. “That green stuff smells like rotten eggs,” Josh said.
“In the magazine Auntie A. lent me, I read that some scientists are trying to turn algae into a new kind of fuel,” Dink said.
Josh dipped his rake into the algae. “This slimy stuff?” he asked. Suddenly he jumped back, dragging Dink and Ruth Rose by their arms. “Don’t move,” he whispered. “There’s an alligator in the pond, and he’s watching us!”
“Where?” Ruth Rose whispered back.
“Straight ahead,” Josh said. “About three feet away from the bank. His shiny eyes are peeking out of the algae!”
Dink looked, shading his eyes with his hand. “Dude, that’s floating junk,” he said. He used Josh’s rake to drag it close enough to grab. What he picked out of the pond was a plastic tube, about six inches long and as big around as his wrist. The tube contained an inch of gooey green algae. It had a red cap and a label with algae covering the words.
“It’s just a tube,” Dink said. He wiped the label on his shirt. Two lines were printed on it:
3/19/20/T.P.
KENNEDY SPACE CENTER
“Kennedy Space Center?” Ruth Rose said. “What would this be doing here?”
“Good question,” Dink said. “The Space Center is like twenty miles away.”
The kids explored more of the pond and the woods around its edges. They picked up tin cans, bottles, plastic bags, and an old sneaker. They stuffed it all into one of the bags.
“I think mosquitoes love me,” Josh said. He slapped at his neck.
“Me too,” Ruth Rose said. She had a red bite on her wrist.
Dink glanced around the pond and the jungle surrounding it. They all had muddy feet and mosquito bites. “Let’s go back,” he said.
They followed the old trail back to the barn and bunkhouse. “Wait a sec,” Dink said. He crossed the yard, glancing toward the picnic table. He didn’t see Hanna and Kenny, but her scooter was parked by the back door of the house.
Dink found his pictures of the tire marks and held his phone close to the rear scooter tire. He nodded: the grooves were the same. He ran back to the bunkhouse. “You were right,” he told Ruth Rose. “Hanna’s scooter made those tire marks we saw!”
“But we still don’t know what she and Kenny found there,” Ruth Rose said. She left the bag of litter on the ground, and they went inside.
“Check for snakes, you guys,” Josh said. They searched the floor, the bathroom, and the blankets on their beds. No critters.
Dink washed his hands and pulled his laptop from his backpack. He sat on Josh’s bunk and booted up the computer.
“What are you doing?” Josh asked.
“Looking to see if there’s another way to get to that pond,” Dink said.
He found a map of their area. A few seconds later, they were looking at Auntie A.’s house on Palm Lane. Dink widened the map to show a bigger picture. “Check this out!” he said.
The map showed a narrow trail that ran from Palm Lane into the woods. Mostly hidden by trees, the trail wound through jungle toward the back of Auntie A.’s property. “It’s another one!” Ruth Rose said.
“A motor scooter could get through there,” Josh said.
“Yeah, I know,” Dink said. “And I bet if we followed it, we’d end up back at the pond.”
They suddenly heard a car on Auntie A.’s driveway. Ruth Rose looked outside. “It’s Walker!” she said.
The kids ran out in time to see Walker stepping out of the car with a leather satchel. The car backed out of the driveway and turned left on Palm Lane. Wallis and Auntie A. came out of the house.
“Why didn’t you call us to come and get you?” Wallis asked.
Walker hugged his sister and aunt. “There was an Uber driver waiting at the airport, so I just jumped in,” he said.
The kids welcomed Walker, and they all went inside Auntie A.’s kitchen. Walker handed a small wrapped package to his aunt. “Happy birthday, Auntie,” he said.
“Thank you, darling!” she said. “I’ll open it l
ater with my cake.”
Wallis laughed. “Hey! How do you know there’s a cake?” she asked.
Alice just smiled. “Who would like something cold to drink?”
They carried glasses of lemonade outside to the picnic table. Walker told everyone about his time with his friends from the Space Center. This reminded Dink about the tube, and he ran to get it.
“We found it on the other side of the jungle,” Josh said as Dink handed the tube to Walker.
“Goodness, what were you doing in there?” Auntie A. asked.
“We were exploring,” Ruth Rose said. “Josh saw this floating in the pond. He thought it was an alligator!”
“Do you know what those numbers and letters mean?” Dink asked Walker.
Walker turned the tube in his fingers. “The numbers might be a date from last month,” he said.
“Um, we also found tire tracks by the pond,” Dink said. He showed everyone the pictures on his phone. “They match the tires on Hanna’s scooter.”
“What would Hanna be doing way back in that jungle mess?” Auntie A. said.
Walker pointed to Dink’s phone. “Mind if I borrow this?” he asked. “My phone’s inside.”
Dink handed over his phone, and Walker snapped a picture of the tube. “I’ll text this to a buddy who works at the Space Center and ask him to show it around.” He tapped some buttons and sent the picture on its way.
Alice told her nephew about the mountain lion on the property. “I don’t know what I’d have done if the critter hadn’t run away,” she said. “Good thing Bear was in the house with me!”
Dink’s phone rang a few minutes later. He took the call and listened. Then he said, “No, this is Dink Duncan. Walker Wallace sent you the picture on my phone. He’s right here.”
Dink handed the phone to Walker, who stepped away from the table. They watched him pace with the phone to his ear. After a few minutes, he came back.
“That was Tom Pardue, one of the scientists in the lab,” he said. “His initials are on the tube. He and another scientist came here in March to take samples. They didn’t realize they’d lost one of their collection tubes.”
“Samples of what?” Alice asked.
Walker grinned. “Pond algae,” he said. “Tom’s really into the stuff. He says a lot of scientists around the world are studying algae because it can be turned into fuel. Algae grows best in hot climates, and your ponds are covered with the stuff.”
“But how did Mr. Pardue know about my ponds?” Auntie A. asked. “And I certainly didn’t give them permission.”
“It’s Dr. Pardue, and he said he got a call from a woman claiming to be the owner of this property,” Walker said.
“But that’s absurd!” Alice said. “I never called him!”
“Not you,” Walker said. “Someone pretending to be you. She invited Dr. Pardue to come and look at the algae. So they came out and took samples.”
“Did they have a motorcycle?” Ruth Rose asked.
“That he didn’t mention,” Walker said. “But he did say some scientists are researching algae sites in Florida. There’s talk of building a facility to study the algae forms that are best suited to make biofuel. Pardue asked the supposed ‘owner’ if she was interested in selling this property.”
“My property is not for sale!” Alice said. She told Walker about the postcards and phone calls urging her to sell.
“Good thing you didn’t sell,” Walker said. “It’s possible that your land is worth a great deal of money to NASA and other industries researching the production of biofuel.”
“What’s biofuel?” Josh asked.
“A new kind of fuel made from algae or plants,” Walker said. “Most of the fuel we use now comes from fossils, and it’s very expensive to get out of the ground. It’s also dirty and pollutes the air. Plus, someday there will be no more fossils because we humans will have used them up. So scientists around the planet are spending trillions of dollars to find other ways to make fuel. One of the reasons they’re studying algae is because it replaces itself so quickly. And your algae is exactly the kind they’re looking for, or so Dr. Pardue thinks.”
“Do I understand this right?” Wallis asked. “Some woman pretending to own this land called the Space Center and invited scientists to come here?”
“That’s what it looks like to me,” Walker said. “I guess she got a positive report, because she started pestering Auntie to sell.”
He smiled at his aunt. “Hold on to your land, Auntie. Once we get this figured out, you can sell to NASA if they want to buy it.”
Dink glanced across the table at Josh and Ruth Rose.
They looked back at him, and Dink decided it was time to talk. “I think I know who’s trying to cheat you, Auntie A.,” he said.
Three pairs of adult eyes turned to him.
“Who?” Alice asked.
“Kenny and Hanna,” Dink said.
“What!” Wallis cried.
“Explain, please,” Auntie A. said.
“Well, you’ve been getting those postcards,” Dink started. He pulled the latest one from his pocket and laid it on the table. “And calls from someone else wanting to buy your house. You didn’t answer them, so I think they’re trying a new plan. They’re hoping to scare you into leaving.”
Dink told them that he thought the snake didn’t just wander into the bunkhouse.
“Someone put it there,” Ruth Rose said. “They came in while we were asleep and left the snake on the floor.”
“I think Kenny or Hanna did it,” Dink said. “They know you’re afraid of snakes.”
Auntie A. smiled. “A lot of people know that,” she said. “Why do you think it’s Kenny and Hanna?”
“They use a really smelly mosquito repellent, and I smelled it last night in the bunkhouse,” Dink said. “I think Hanna wrote the postcards and put them in your mailbox. There was a note from H. on your fridge. I checked the postcard you got yesterday, and the handwriting is the same. I think it’s Hanna’s. At first, I thought the note might be from Howie because of the H., but—”
“No, only Hanna leaves notes on my fridge,” Auntie A. said. “Go on, please.”
“Hanna probably called Dr. Pardue,” Dink continued. “Kenny is studying botany, so I’ll bet he knows that algae can be turned into biofuel. I think Hanna asked Dr. Pardue to come and take samples. He must have told her and Kenny this land could be valuable, so they’re trying to get it away from you. Then they’ll sell it and make a lot of money!”
“I’ll bet they brought Dr. Pardue to the pond on Hanna’s motor scooter!” Ruth Rose said.
Alice closed her eyes for a moment. “What about the mountain lion in my driveway?” she asked. “Was that part of the plan to scare me into selling?”
“I don’t think there ever was a mountain lion in the driveway,” Dink said. “Howie was here, and he didn’t see it.”
“But I saw the picture on Kenny’s phone,” Alice said.
“Easy to fake,” Josh said. “Wallis, do you have the video of us up in the space simulator?”
Wallis pulled out her phone, found the video, and pushed the start button. They all looked at the space simulator sailing in the heavens.
“See how it looks like we’re traveling through a real sky?” Josh asked. “But the sky isn’t real. It’s just stars painted on the ceiling and walls. That’s sort of how Kenny made it look like there was a mountain lion near your house.”
Everyone stared at Josh, waiting.
Josh blushed pink. “I think Kenny took a picture of your driveway,” he said. “Then he downloaded a picture of a mountain lion from the internet. He put the two pictures together to make it look like the mountain lion was lying in your driveway, but it wasn’t.”
“That’s right,” Dink said.
“Your car and Howie’s van were both in the driveway yesterday morning. Howie said he washed them before lunch. If Kenny had taken that picture yesterday, the cars would have been in the picture, too. But they weren’t, and that means Kenny took the picture some other time.”
“Hanna would know how to fake the picture,” Ruth Rose said. “She’s studying to become a movie producer.”
No one spoke for a minute. “So Kenny did that to scare me,” Auntie A. said.
“And I wouldn’t be surprised if Hanna lied about seeing a rattlesnake under the picnic table,” Ruth Rose said. “For the same reason.”
Everyone looked at Auntie A. “All this so they could get me to sell them my property?” she said.
“Which they would sell to the U.S. government for a lot more money,” Walker said. “It does look like Kenny and Hanna are trying to scam you, Auntie.”
“But they’re both just students,” Alice said. “They have no money to buy this property.”
“But maybe M.K. does,” Dink said. He tapped the postcard on the table.
“I’m sorry,” Auntie A. said. “Who is M.K.?”
“You were supposed to call M.K. if you wanted to sell,” Dink said. “Hanna wrote the postcards and put down the initials and phone number.”
“Could M.K. be Hanna or Kenny?” Wallis asked. She opened her phone. “There’s one way to find out.” She tapped in the number, put the phone on speaker, and handed it to her aunt. “Let’s see who answers.”
Everyone heard a man’s voice say “Christmas Savings Bank, Mark Keans’s office. How may I help you?”
Auntie A.’s eyes grew wide. “Mr. Keans,” she said after a few seconds, “this is Alice Wallace speaking. I think you are interested in my property on Palm Lane.”
“Why, yes, Ms. Wallace,” the man said. “I have a bank customer who loves your property. They are ready to pay all cash, and my bank is prepared to make the loan. Can we sit down together to discuss the details?”
“Say no!” Wallis whispered.