The Whole, Entire, Complete Truth

by Caroline Rennie Pattison

  So, feeling like Mindi and I were doing nothing and going nowhere, while bears were waiting to be sold and slaughtered right in front of our eyes, I decided to invite myself over to the farmhouse that day after school. I needed to talk to Mindi, away from Cori and Stacey. Talking on the bus never worked since Mindi was always too busy flirting with Roy for us to have a decent conversation. We had to figure out what to do about those bears. I couldn’t just sit around and do nothing!

  I wasn’t planning to go anywhere near the barn again.

  Honestly.

  A DOORWAY

  DATE: WEDNESDAY, SEPTEMBER 26

  LOCATION: THE FARMHOUSE

  I tried to leave the house without Roy, but Mom caught me and, heeding Dad’s new rule, made him go with me. He wasn’t too happy about it either, especially when he found out where I was going.

  “How fair is this?” he ranted as we biked towards Mindi’s house. “You mess up, and now I’m the one who’s stuck babysitting.”

  “Do you think I like this?” I retorted. “When we get to Mindi’s, why don’t you do me a favour and take an extra-long ride down the road. I only need to talk to her for a few minutes. Then we’ll go straight home, I promise.”

  He grunted at me. “Now she’s giving me orders,” he said to the sky. We pedalled in silence for a while.

  “Okay, I’ll give you fifteen minutes, tops,” he finally agreed. “I’ll wait for you at the mailbox.”

  Roy pouted the rest of the way there, allowing me time to think about Mr. Braemarie and his bears. For the millionth time, I wished I’d had a chance to read Dad’s file with his name on it. Darn meddling Roy! What exactly did the police have on Mr. Braemarie? I was dying to know.

  Soon, I was swinging into Mindi’s driveway. Roy, keeping to his word, kept pedalling, giving me the time I needed with Mindi.

  “Fifteen minutes and I’m back at the mailbox!” he shouted over his shoulder.

  I took the porch steps two at a time and knocked on the door. No answer. I knocked again. No answer. I looked back at the driveway. No car. Apparently, nobody was home. But I watched Mindi get off the bus, and she said she’d wait for me on the porch! I was confused. Dejected, I started to turn back to my bike, but my feet unexpectedly developed a will of their own. They moved of their own accord past my bike and towards the old barn.

  I called out Mindi’s name as if looking for her, just in case someone was around after all. However, I heard nothing but my own shallow breathing. I picked up the pace and kept calling. Nothing. The place was deserted. At the barn, I continued to call Mindi’s name. Still no answer. The place was totally deserted.

  What luck! What an opportunity!

  I came to the spot where Mindi had hauled me out to freedom. She had done a pretty good job covering up the hole we had made. In fact, I almost walked right by it. I hunkered down and gently pulled the broken boards loose again. They came away easily. I stared in amazement.To think that I actually fit through such a small space. No wonder I got all scratched up! I idly touched the scrapes on my arms as I leaned in and examined the area around the removed board. Some of the surrounding boards seemed a bit rotten too. I tugged at them, but they were more sturdy than they looked.

  I knew that I needed to get back in that barn more than anything in the world, even if those bears were a bit freaky. Some things were too important not to do, and I had to see if the bears were being tapped for bile like at the bear farms in China I read about. If I could only make the hole a bit bigger, then I could get in and back out without getting all scraped up again. Suddenly, I knew what I had to do. I ran across the field to the stable. There I found, right in its proper place, the pitchfork that was used to clean out the horses’ stalls.

  Back at the barn, I wedged the prongs of the pitchfork into the vertical gap between the remaining barn boards, creating a lever. Carefully, I pushed on the pitchfork’s handle, using the curve of the fork as a fulcrum. All those boring science classes about simple machines were coming in handy after all. I pushed harder — tentatively. The board didn’t move. I tried again, with real force, and this time I heard the wood splintering. I pushed again, throwing my body into it, grunting with the effort. Suddenly, the board gave with a mighty crack and I fell against the barn wall with the pitchfork handle still clutched tightly in my hands. The board now hung loosely, still stubbornly attached to the wall. I looked at it and smiled. It was worth the bump on the head and the scraped knuckles.

  I tugged and tugged at the loose board. I finally gave a mighty heave and the board cracked, causing me to lose my balance and fall backwards into the dirt, the board still gripped tightly in my hands. I quickly scrambled to my knees and stuck my head inside the bigger hole I had just created. I was staring at the bars of a cage about an arm’s length away. Through them, I could see the shining brown eyes and glistening snout of a bear leaning down toward me, his hot breath warming my face.

  “Whoa, big bear,” I said, taken aback. “Sorry to disturb you.”

  Hurriedly, I pulled my head out and carefully replaced the boards. I cleaned up the splinters of wood that were lying about on the ground and stood back to admire my work. Unless you knew what you were looking for, you could once again barely tell that the barn had been tampered with.

  The sound of a car wiped the smile off my face. The engine noise abruptly stopped and door slams echoed ominously in my head. My heart leaped into my throat. Running as fast as my legs could go, I dashed back towards the stable to return the pitchfork. No sooner had I hung up the tool than Mindi walked into the barn, calling my name.

  “Sarah! Are you here?”

  I jumped at her voice. “Yeah, I’m here. I was looking for you and figured this is where you’d be.” I wasn’t quite ready to tell her about the renovations I had made to the barn.

  “Sorry I wasn’t here when you got here,” continued Mindi, “but Colin and Mom were all excited about some beaver dam they discovered this morning while they were hiking, and they just had to show it to me. We were taking forever looking at this stupid dam, until I told them you were coming over. Well, you should have seen Colin move then. He practically shoved us both into the car and he sped all the way home. I guess he didn’t like the idea of you here waiting for me all by yourself.”

  “I guess not.” I nodded. Of course he wouldn’t want anyone here by themselves, I thought. They might make some discoveries. He had things to hide.

  “We saw your brother on the drive home,” said Mindi, changing the topic.

  “Oh yeah?”

  “He was biking this way. You should ask him to come over with you sometime,” she suggested with a shy smile.

  “That might happen sooner than you think,” I mumbled.

  “What’s that?”

  “Never mind. Look, I only have a few minutes and I need to talk to you about the bears and the research I’ve been doing.”

  Her face darkened, the smile gone. She didn’t look too keen to listen, but I talked anyway. This wasn’t going to go away. I described what I learned about bears and poaching. I was in the middle of explaining how bear farms worked when Mr. Braemarie appeared out of nowhere.

  “So you were in here, were you?” His big voice boomed, filling the stable.

  I stopped talking in mid-sentence and swung around, startled. “Yes, sir. I thought Mindi would be waiting for me in here when she wasn’t up at the house,” I explained, trying to keep the tremor out of my voice. It always did that when I lied. Very annoying.

  “Humph,” he grunted, staring at me until I was forced to look away. “There’s a young man waiting in our driveway looking for you.”

  “That would be Roy, my brother,” I hurriedly explained, wiping my sweaty palms on my jeans. “Uh, he was curious about your horses. I told him not to come and be a pest, but you know brothers.” It sounded like such a lame explanation but it seemed to work.

  “Everybody loves horses,” said Mr. Braemarie, nodding. “Mindi, why don’t you go get him
?”

  Mindi’s face lit up like a Christmas tree as she rushed away to get Roy. No sooner had she left the barn than Mr. Braemarie stepped closer to me. The smile had dissolved off his face.

  “You know, Sarah,” he said. He tilted his head and fixed his penetrating gaze on me. “I have a problem with people coming onto my property when I’m not here.” He held up his hand to stop my apology. “I know Mindi asked you to meet her, but next time you come here and we’re not here, if there is a next time, wait at the house or go home.”

  I nodded, speechless.

  He continued to stare at me. He leaned closer and lowered his voice to a growl.

  “You came straight to the stable to look for Mindi, did you?”

  I nodded again and croaked, “Y-y-yes.”

  “You’re sure about that?” He raised his eyebrows and shrugged. “You didn’t happen to look anywhere else for Mindi while you were here — alone?”

  I gulped. “No. I was only here ... after I knocked at the house. This is where I thought Mindi would be. I was just starting to wonder if I’d made a mistake about what time I was supposed to meet her when she showed up.” I tried a weak smile but I couldn’t quite pull it off.

  Mr. Braemarie’s eyes narrowed and he pointed at me. “Just as long as you weren’t snooping around. People can get hurt by snooping around other people’s property, you know.”

  I stepped back, shaking my head vigorously. “No, sir. I wouldn’t snoop around,” I assured him.

  “Good. I sure wouldn’t want to see you get hurt.” He glared at me again as if he really would want to see it. Then, just as abruptly as he arrived, he turned and strode out of the stable.

  I sagged against the wall. I couldn’t believe it. Mr. Braemarie had just threatened me. I had just been threatened!

  I was still sagging when Mindi returned with Roy. They didn’t even look my way. There I was, absolutely limp with fear, so that I couldn’t even move, and they didn’t bother to notice. Mindi was far too busy giving Roy the grand tour, introducing him to each of the horses, just like she did with me not too long ago. I might as well have been a fly on Candy’s back for the attention I got. It was annoying. And sickening. Not only was Mindi giggling and flirting like crazy with Roy, but he seemed to be enjoying every minute of it. This could only happen to me. There I was, crushed and terrified after receiving a death threat from a crazed, violent poacher, and there they were acting like they were on a date!

  I finally gave up waiting for them to ask me what was wrong and pushed myself off the wall. On the bright side, Roy wasn’t dragging me home. My fifteen minutes were over ages ago, yet he didn’t seem to care. I began to saddle up Ginger, hoping like crazy that I was doing it right so that Roy would be put in his place. Me — knowledgeable horse person. Him — unwelcome intruder. Mindi offered to let him ride Candy, but with a sideways glance at me, he declined. Chicken. Thunder was too difficult for a beginner to ride, so after Mindi batted her eyes a few more times, Roy agreed to wait around while I had a quick lesson on Ginger.

  Mindi and I were quiet at first, as we rode the horses single file into the fenced field. I closed my eyes and drank in the fresh country air. Me! A city girl! I had to admit, I was really beginning to appreciate the beauty of the outdoors in the country. The horses, the freshness of the air, the smell of the trees, and my new friend Mindi all made me feel so content that I could almost forget about my close encounter with Mr. Braemarie. Riding a horse on a beautiful fall afternoon was definitely not something I’d ever get to do in Mississauga.

  Mindi had her horse trot around the perimeter of the fence while Roy leaned with one foot on the lower fence rail and looked on. She beckoned for me to follow, which I was thrilled to be able to do. After a few rounds of this, we slowed to a walk. Mindi brought her horse alongside mine.

  Her face was grim. “So, do you think that’s what Colin is doing — bear poaching? Running a bear farm?” she asked quietly, picking up our previous conversation as if no time had elapsed.

  “I’m not totally sure yet.” I looked over at Roy. He was now perched on the fence blowing on a blade of grass to make it whistle; he couldn’t hear us.

  “I didn’t go straight to the stable to wait for you today,” I confided.

  Mindi frowned. “No?”

  I explained. I told her all about our new and improved barn doorway. I also told her how I needed to get back into the barn to look more closely at the bears, to see if they were being tapped for bile.

  “What would we look for?” she asked with wide eyes.

  I shrugged. “Anything unusual, I guess. Machinery, tubes. I don’t really know. Oh, and I don’t think Mr. Braemarie likes me being here,” I continued. I told her how he threatened me while she was getting Roy.

  I looked at Mindi’s downcast face and suddenly remembered that this was her mom’s boyfriend we were talking about. Also, the owner of these wonderful horses that Mindi loved so much. And I call Roy insensitive.

  “I’m sorry,” I stammered. “I know this is hard for you to hear.”

  “I just can’t believe it.” Mindi shook her head. “I mean, my mom really likes this guy.” Her big eyes searched mine. “I like him, too. This is going to ruin everything.” She blinked back tears. “I can’t believe this is happening. I thought Colin was such a nice guy, but then he slammed a door in my face, you saw him with a gun in the barn, then we found out he lied about the farm machinery, and now you tell me that he threatened you. I don’t know what to think anymore! I don’t know what to do! Maybe I should just stay at home and forget about all this!”

  I felt terrible that I’d upset Mindi so much. I put my hand on her shoulder. “We can’t forget about it, we need to find out if I’m wrong,” I said. “In fact, I probably am wrong. Why don’t we do some investigating to clear Mr. Braemarie’s name — you and me. Okay? Partners?”

  Mindi gave me a pathetic smile. “Right. Partners. We need to figure out what’s going on here. Maybe I just need to go in the barn for myself and see what’s in there, and now you’ve got a little doorway all ready for us.”

  “That’s the spirit, partner,” I said, grinning. And as I looked at her stricken face, I really hoped that I was wrong about Mr. Braemarie. But in my heart, I was already sure that I was right.

  On the way home, Roy demanded to know what I’d said to Mindi in the field to make her so upset. He wouldn’t let up until I finally gave in and told him about the bears in the barn and the research I’d done, making me think that Mr. Braemarie was operating a bear farm. I left out how Mr. Braemarie had threatened me — no need to give him more of a reason to hit the panic button, he was close enough to it as it was.

  It took a lot of arguing, pleading, and bribing to stop Roy from going straight to you, Dad, right then and there with the whole story. But the thought of possibly falsely accusing Mr. Braemarie, a close friend of Mindi and her mom, finally kept him quiet. Instead, he decided he’d just keep escorting me to the farmhouse whenever I insisted on going. This was supposed to keep me out of trouble. Personally, I think he just wanted to spend more time with Mindi.

  That night at home, I decided that the research I’d done so far didn’t give me enough local information. I needed to know if poaching was a problem here in Muskoka. I had to talk to Mr. Stedman. As a local Conservation Officer, he’d know about local poaching concerns. Roy seemed to agree, for whatever that’s worth.

  I phoned Cori’s house. It was the hardest phone number I’ve ever had to punch in. It was bad enough having to look at her pinched, sour face scowling at me every time I asked her if she remembered to bring me one of her dad’s books, but to actually phone her ... ugh! But I had to do it. I needed to speak to her father.

  She picked up on the first ring. She probably had call display and thought Roy was phoning to ask her out. She’s that conceited.

  “Hello.”

  “Hi, Cori, it’s Sarah.” “

  Oh.” She wasn’t successful at keeping the
disappointment out of her voice. I took a fortifying breath.

  “I was wondering if it would be possible to speak to your dad for a minute. You know, about my project,” I said, going right to the point. There was no need to make small talk, I figured. Neither one of us wanted me to.

  “He’s not here,” she said sharply. “I told you, he’s very busy.” “But it’s eight o’clock at night,” I argued. “I thought he’d be home by now.”

  “Well, he isn’t,” she said.

  “Do you mind asking him to call me when he gets home?” I asked, trying my best to keep my voice polite when all I wanted to do was yell at her.

  A heavy sigh.

  “Look, Sarah,” she said, her voice low, “why don’t we just be straight with each other here? I’m not about to bother my dad about your stupid little project. He’s busy. Do your own research.”

  Then she hung up, but not before I heard her dad yelling in the background, asking who was calling.

  I sat there, stunned, and stared at the phone in my hand until it began the loud beeping noise to let me know it was off the hook. I had no idea she’d be that rude. How could Mindi be friends with this nasty person? I sighed. It was just an obstacle I’d have to work around. I got right to work. Half an hour later, I was still at it. I sat cross-legged on my bed, the Muskoka and Surrounding Areas telephone book splayed open on my lap. My face was hot, my temper fiery. Roy popped his head into my room — without knocking, as usual.

  “Did you call yet?” he whispered.

  “Yeah, I called,” I sputtered. “Wait till you hear this.” He stepped into my room and closed the door behind him. I told him about my close encounter with Cori. He shook his head in disbelief.