by Annie Bryant
Chelsea closed her journal and sighed. It was easy to write about changing your life. But doing it was much, much harder.
CHAPTER 4
Mixed Nuts
Avery—There Are No Ghosts!
Avery yawned as she gathered her tangled black hair into a ponytail and secured it with her lucky hair tie—the one with purple soccer balls all over it. As always, her hair seemed to be going in all directions, but Avery couldn’t care less. When she sat down at the kitchen counter for breakfast, she wondered if a little brother like Maeve’s would be as much a pain in the you-know-what as a big brother. Specifically, Scott.
“Lake Rescue, hey, that’s a great place to go.” Scott looked into three boxes of cereal before he found one to suit him, or that wasn’t almost empty. Mrs. Madden wasn’t the type of mother who got up and made bacon, eggs, and waffles every morning. That was actually a good thing because Avery and Scott liked cereal anyway.
“You know, Ave, there’s really a ghost at the camp. I don’t think anyone knows who it is, but one theory is that it’s a seventh-grade camper left behind who starved to death before he could find his way home.”
“You don’t scare me, Scott. I don’t believe that for a minute,” Avery retorted as she took a bite of granola. “I’m sure there are phones at the camp, and almost everyone has a cell these days. Why didn’t he just call someone to come and get him, duh?”
“Duh, not in 1957, Ave. That camp is really old. Half the buildings are falling down. I’ll bet a bunch of them are haunted. But this ghost I’m talking about is the one everyone is afraid of.”
“How come?” Avery glanced over and carefully studied all the strange boxes and vegetables piled near the sink. Was her mother experimenting again tonight for dinner? Typically, if her mother wanted to entertain, she hired a caterer to bring the food.
Avery hoped she wasn’t still on her “let’s introduce Avery to every authentic Asian dish known to mankind” kick. Since she had been adopted as a baby, Avery figured her “ethnic palate” was Gerber’s baby food, strained peas, applesauce, chocolate pudding, stuff like that. Although, Avery did like bulkogi—it was her favorite Korean beef dish of all time. And, she had to admit that experimenting with new foods kept things interesting. One time her mother even brought them to an Ethiopian restaurant. Avery remembered how much fun she and Katani and Scott had had, scooping up all the tasty food with this really chewy bread. It had been so cool to eat with their hands instead of forks.
“Are you listening, Ave?” Scott kept on. “This ghost is real, believe me. One night I woke up to someone screaming and then a moaning sound. And then some creepy voice was crying, ‘Bring it back, bring it back.’”
“Yeah, I remember that story. ‘Bring back my head.’ I heard it that time Mom sent me to that awesome Girl Scout camp. Everyone who has ever been to camp knows the story. And, I don’t believe in ghosts, Scott.”
“I don’t know, Ave. I think you should think…”
Avery watched Scott drink the leftover milk from his cereal bowl, put on his coat, and scoot out the kitchen door. “Later, Ave,” he called over his shoulder.
“Get pepperoni pizza tonight,” she yelled after him.
There couldn’t really be a ghost at this camp, could there? Avery sat sipping her tea, shivering despite the warm liquid. She tried to think only about hiking, climbing, and canoeing…not spooky apparitions wandering the paths at night. A lot of people believed that if you died when you were unhappy, your spirit might hang around for awhile. Avery had heard some kids complain because they had to go to Lake Rescue. She wondered if it was because they had heard about the ghosts.
Avery gathered her books and made sure she had her homework. As she walked past the hall closet to the front door, she heard a thump and then a rustling. The hairs on the back of her neck stood up and her heart began to pound. Suddenly, the door burst open. Avery screamed at the top of her lungs and jumped back. She threw her bag at a tall, hooded figure.
“Oww! Avery. That thing hurts.” Scott pushed back the hood of his sweatshirt and rubbed his head.
“That’s not funny, Scott. You could have given me a heart attack,” Avery shouted at her brother.
“It was a joke. I feel sorry for the ghost if he runs into you.”
“What’s going on here?” Avery’s mom asked as she walked down the stairs, a pile of clothing in her arms.
“Nothing, Mom,” Scott and Avery replied in their best angelic voices.
Maeve—City Girl Blues
“For the ten hundredth time, Mom, I don’t want to go to that camp. Can’t you please, please write me an excuse? I don’t mind staying in study hall or wherever they want to put the people who aren’t going. I mean really, can you see me climbing a mountain or paddling a canoe?”
Maeve looked at the wrinkled shirt she was going to have to wear. It was clean, but no one had taken it out of the dryer in time. She longed for the good old days when her mother kept all her clothes perfectly ironed and folded.
“Maeve, it will be good for you to go camping. All your friends are going. You don’t want to be left behind.”
“Yes I do. I’ll do some extra tutoring sessions. I’ll catch up on every class where I’m behind. I’ll even jog in the park every day. I’ll write an extra paper on—on, well, on children adjusting to divorce.”
“Maeve, that was uncalled for and you know it.” Ms. Kaplan looked like a stylish Wall Street businesswoman. No wrinkled clothes for her. Maeve figured if her dad saw Mom today, he’d beg to come back home.
“Sorry, Mom. But you know how much I hate snakes and spiders and anything that slithers or flies around buzzing. You or Sam will have to feed Buttercup and Westley. And their cage is dirty. I could clean it if I stayed home.”
“Buttercup and Westley?” Her mother looked puzzled.
“The guinea pigs, Mom. See, if you can’t even remember their names…”
“Maeve, I’m sure Sam can feed those guinea pigs, whose names you change every week, and you can clean the cage before you go. There’s plenty of time.”
“I wish I could go,” Sam said. “I could dress in my camouflage clothes and your friends could smuggle me onto the bus. Once we got to camp, they couldn’t send me home.” Sam was building a house out of shredded wheat biscuits.
“Sam, like no one is going to notice.”
“You think your clueless friends would figure things out?”
“My friends are not clueless. Katani and Charlotte are on the honor roll, for your information.”
“Maybe they can teach you how to make the honor roll.”
“Samuel Kaplan-Taylor. You apologize to your sister…right now.”
Sam knew he had crossed the line. Maeve’s struggles with schoolwork were off-limits in their sibling rivalry.
“I’m really, really, really, sorry, double sorry, Maeve.”
Maeve threw a piece of toast at him.
“Sam, you’re staying with your father when Maeve goes to camp,” Maeve’s mother said. “I’m going to have some time all to myself.” She looked kind of dreamy-eyed.
Maeve suddenly felt uneasy. Her mother had been acting kind of strange lately. What if she wanted time to herself so she could go on dates with other men? That would be completely awful. And how would it make her dad feel? This separation stuff was for the birds.
“Maybe Sam could stay with one of his friends and you and Dad could go on a date?” Maeve almost forgot begging to get out of camp. “You’d have all weekend to talk about things. How your life was BK, you know, before kids.”
“Maeve, how I spend my weekend is not your concern. Maybe I’ll spend the whole weekend in bed reading and eating chocolates.”
Maeve almost wished for the days when her mother planned a rigid schedule for her, found her tutors for every subject, complained if she had any fun at all.
“You’re going to Lake Rescue, Maeve, and that’s my final answer. Don’t beg me to let you stay home again.”
Ms. Kaplan walked out the door, leaving Maeve to get Sam off to school and lock up.
Maeve stared at her cold oatmeal and sighed. Maybe she would have to eat spider oatmeal at Lake Rescue.
Of course, there was always the dance. What if it was the social event of the year? I guess I could deal with a few spiders, as long as they weren’t too big, she reasoned.
Isabel—Bugs and Snakes and Everything Nice!
“Isabel, no self-respecting Martinez is afraid of bugs!” Elena Maria, Isabel’s ninth-grade sister, loved camping. Because they had recently moved to Brookline, Elena had missed going on the outdoor program. She and her father had camped a lot around the Great Lakes and it was her favorite thing to do. She was a little envious that Isabel was going to New Hampshire, a place she had never been.
“You know very well that even the word ‘spider’ freaks me out. Do you remember those tarantulas in Mexico with their big hairy legs? Too bad you missed out on Lake Rescue, Elena. Deseas venir?”
Elena Maria laughed. “Okay. I am a little jealous. You caught me. But, you can relax. There are no tarantulas in the White Mountains. I’m pretty sure of that…why don’t you just tell Mama you don’t want to go?”
“I don’t want to worry her, now that she’s finally feeling better. Besides, I do sort of want to go. I like being outside. I just wish we could sleep in a hotel instead of cabins. And, you know, I worry about Mama too.”
Since they had moved to Brookline the sisters had become very protective of their mother. They were both hoping that the famous Boston hospitals and doctors could help her MS—and they had. But living apart from Papa, even with Mama’s sister, was getting expensive.
“Mama, you’re looking muy bonita today.” Isabel ran to kiss her mother and help her sit at the table.
“I’m so glad I got to the table before you left, Isabel. Tell me more about this trip your class is taking.”
“It’s camping and hiking and stuff like that. ‘Outdoor education’ they call it. But you know, Mama, getting some of the things I’m going to need, like hiking boots, is going to be expensive. I don’t really mind missing it.”
“Oh, I wouldn’t think of letting you miss the trip. Aren’t all your friends going? You’ll have so much fun. Your father was able to send a little extra money this month. We’ll manage. I want you to write down everything you see, all the new plants and animals.”
“And such interesting bugs and snakes, spiders especially,” Elena Maria said innocently. “I’m late. See you tonight.” Elena hurried out the door. Sisters, Isabel sighed. They could be so sneaky.
“Hija, you will write about how the trees smell and describe the wild flowers. And the birds. You know how I love your birds. You’ll see some new ones, I’m sure. Draw pictures of all the birds and wild flowers. Take your colored pencils. If you do that, you can share so many details, and I’ll feel as if I’ve been on the trip with you.”
There was so much longing in Mama’s voice that Isabel felt ashamed. Here she was complaining about having to go on a trip just because of a few spiders, and her mother was only wishing that she could go along. Suddenly, the idea of going to Lake Rescue held promise. Maybe she could do a whole book for her mother. It would be fun. Talking with her mom had inspired her. She could see the title now: A Little Bird Told Me.
“Oh, I will, Mama. I will. I’ll draw a picture on every page of my journal and when you see them and I tell you what I saw and did, you’ll feel as if you really did go there, too.”
“Buena, mi hija. Someday, you will be a famous artist, I just know it.”
Isabel tipped up her glass of orange juice, drained it, kissed her mother good-bye, and ran out of the house. If she didn’t hurry, she would be late for school. She hated racing by Mrs. Fields’ office as the principal stood outside the door, tapping her watch at the kids who were late.
Katani—Older Sisters Are Useless!
Katani was sitting at the breakfast table with both hands waving in the air. She had just painted her fingernails gold and hoped they’d dry so she could eat and get to school on time. She had laid out her clothes last night, painted her nails, then this morning had changed her mind completely. No way could she have pink nails with the orange top she’d decided to change to.
“Paint mine,” her sister Kelley begged. “Gold fingernails are magic.” Kelley was fourteen, two years older than Katani, but she was mildly autistic, so often acted like a much younger child.
“No time, Kelley. Tonight, I promise. Tonight we’ll paint your nails and put little stickers on them.”
“I want SpongeBob stickers on my nails.”
“You got it, girlfriend.” Katani blew her sister an air kiss.
Her two older sisters—Candice, who was home from college for a few days, and Patrice, who was still in high school—hurried into the kitchen. Both carried an armload of clothes, shoes, backpacks, flashlights—camping gear from their seventh-grade treks into the wilderness.
Katani would have none of it. “Never mind, guys. I’m not going on this trip.”
“What do you mean you’re not going?” Patrice said. “You have to go. Only if you were in the hospital or broke your leg or something, could you get out of it. You’re probably going to hate every minute of it—no place to do your nails—but it’s a tradition. Here are the shoes I think might fit Isabel. They belonged to Candice and were too small, so I had to get new ones. I think you can wear mine. What a waste. We only wore them once, or at least I did.”
“Me too. I would never have worn them to school, and I needed dressy clothes for work.” Candice looked in the fridge. “Don’t tell me we’re out of applesauce again.”
“Who wants eggs with mushrooms and cheese?” asked Patrice, who was standing at the stove. “Don’t forget it’s your turn to finish loading the dishwasher, Katani. You’re not getting out of it just because your nails aren’t dry.”
Patrice was younger than Candice, but she liked to boss the entire family around. Only when their grandmother was in the room did she keep her mouth shut. Katani couldn’t help thinking how Patrice could be sometimes.
Mrs. Summers rushed into the kitchen wearing her tailored black suit with a white silk blouse. “No eggs for me today, all I have time for is a yogurt and coffee. Patrice, hand me a raspberry and toss some granola in it. I spent half the night getting ready for this trial today. You each have exactly a minute apiece to present any problems you have that you can’t solve yourselves.” Mrs. Summers blew kisses at her daughters. She was a super lawyer who believed in instilling independence in children at an early age. “Nothing? Good. I’m leaving. Call me at work if you need me. And,” she added with a wide grin, “call the FBI if you can’t find me.”
Kelley jumped to envelop her mother in a hug. “I am going to call the FBI, the FBI, oh me, oh my,” she sang.
Candice, Patrice, and Katani all laughed. Kelley could be so funny sometimes. Their mother put her finger to her mouth, not wanting to overexcite Kelley before she left.
“Mom, wait, I do have one problem. I just don’t have time to go on this outdoor education thing the school is having. I have two papers to write and I want to join the math club. Will you write me an excuse to stay at school?” asked Katani, hoping her nonchalant tone would distract her mother from the question.
“Oh, the Lake Rescue trip? Is it that time already? Of course you’re going. Candice and Patrice loved the experience. It’s one of your grandmother’s favorite school trips. You loved it, didn’t you, girls?”
“We sure did.” Candice smiled ever so sweetly at Katani. “No way can you miss it.”
“All your friends are going,” Patrice reminded Katani. “It’s the experience of a lifetime, or maybe junior high time. It’s a school ritual. Grandma Ruby would never let you miss it, either.”
“See, Katani? Have a great day, girls. You can’t reach me until afternoon. If you can’t reach me or your dad, call Grandma Ruby.” Mrs. Summers took a last sip of coffee, grab
bed her briefcase and keys, and left nibbling on a piece of toast. She poked her head back in. “Remember, Friday night, Katani. I’m taking your friends shopping, right? Maybe we can shop for the trip. Now, wish me luck.”
“Luck, Mom.” Katani heard her mother race out and start her car. “Thanks for all your help.” Katani glared at Patrice and Candice.
“You’re welcome.” Both girls, smiling sweetly, rinsed their plates and forks, leaving the dishwasher open. “Bye, Kelley. Be good today.”
Kelley stared at Katani when they were the only two left at the table. “You can take Mr. Bear, Katani. That way you won’t be lonely for me at night.”
“That’s so sweet, Kel.” Katani reached over and hugged her sister. Kelley never parted with Mr. Bear. The stuffed bear kept her grounded. What do I have to to complain about…really, thought Katani. Kelley was the one who had things to complain about and she never did.
Katani finished loading the dishes, then placed the hiking boots in a grocery bag to take for Isabel to try on. She hurried Kelley out of the house to walk her to school. Maybe she could run through the woods at Lake Rescue. That might be fun.
CHAPTER 5
Boots and Bugs
TGIF.” Charlotte felt as if this week had been two weeks long. Getting The Sentinel page finished took more time than usual, but Charlotte thought this might be their best issue ever. Plus, she had helped with the layout of the seventh-grade page. She had contributed way more than just as a feature writer, and she had enjoyed it.
What if she learned enough from Jennifer that she could try out for editor next year? Did she want to be editor? Being an editor and being a writer were two very different things, but as editor she’d learn a lot about writing. Maybe it would even help her get into college someday, Charlotte dreamed. Suddenly, she stopped herself. Wow, she almost laughed out loud. I’m turning into Betsy Fitzgerald. Betsy’s whole motivation in life was building her college résumé even though she was only twelve. I’ve got to chill out here. Charlotte shrugged her shoulders.