Bailey and the Santa Fe Secret

by Linda McQuinn Carlblom

  “Anyone else have anything to report?” Elizabeth asked.

  “No, I’m still researching the public records on the Tse family,” Alex said. “Haven’t turned anything up yet that’s of interest.”

  “Sydney, any news on the Native American code talkers?” McKenzie asked.

  “Only that the Navajo Indians were the ones who did the code talking in World War Two,” Sydney said. “I don’t find any connection that would tie them or their code to the Pueblo Indians.”

  “All right,” Bailey said. “Let’s keep working on this. Thanks for calling, Kate. Your tip about those photos may crack this case.”

  Kate laughed. “Just doing my job. Or at least Biscuit was!”

  “We’re working at the shop right now, but we’ll check our e-mail as soon as we have time,” Elizabeth said. “We’ll let you know if the picture resembles anything we’ve seen so far.”

  “Okay,” Kate said. “Keep us posted.”

  Bailey and Elizabeth said good-bye.

  “Good thing I brought my laptop along,” Bailey said. “I thought we might get bored, so I brought it in case we wanted to play games while my mom worked.”

  Bailey typed in her username and password, and Kate’s e-mail popped up with photo attachments. Elizabeth scooted her chair closer.

  “There it is,” Bailey said.

  “Boy, that’s amazing!” Elizabeth leaned in to get a better look. “Those muddy paw prints really do look like trees.”

  Bailey laughed. “Who knew Biscuit was such an artist!”

  “This looks a lot more like the area we hiked yesterday with the ‘trees’ added,” Elizabeth said.

  Bailey squinted her eyes and pointed at the mountain to the right in the picture. “I wonder if this could be the mountain beside the Puye Cliff dwellings.”

  “I’m not sure.” Elizabeth shook her head. “It looks more purple than that mountain. I thought it was brown or black.”

  “Maybe you’re right.” Bailey had another idea. “Or maybe it was just the lighting when Kate took the shot.”

  “I’m not sure the shape of the mountain is right.” Elizabeth’s eyebrows narrowed in thought. “Wasn’t the top flatter than this?”

  Bailey nodded. “I think you’re right. Maybe the painting on the pot isn’t where we went hiking after all.” She clicked the picture off and closed the laptop.

  Halona wandered into the pottery studio. “What are you girls up to?”

  “We were checking our e-mail,” Bailey said.

  “Ready to see how the pots you made yesterday look now that they’ve dried?”

  “Yeah!” Bailey pushed the computer to the end of the table, out of the way, while Halona got the pots from out back and brought them to the table.

  “Now we get to paint them?” Bailey stood up and down on her tippy-toes.

  “We glaze them,” Halona said. “Have you thought about what colors you want to use?”

  “I want mine to be like the sunset on your family pot, so I’ll choose pink, orange, and yellow.”

  “I just want blue and green on mine,” Elizabeth said. “Those are the colors in my room.”

  “Blue and green it is,” Halona said as she got out big bottles of glaze and poured a little of each color into cups. She pulled paintbrushes from a drawer and laid them on the table by each girl. “What color do you want the inside of your dishes to be?”

  “Pink, please,” Bailey said.

  “I think I’ll make mine blue.”

  Halona poured some pink paint into Bailey’s dish. “Pick up your bowl and swirl it around to make the glaze coat the bottom.”

  Bailey did as she was told.

  “Now tip your dish on its side to get the glaze on the sides.” Halona watched as Bailey let the pink glaze cover the sides of her dish.

  Halona then poured blue glaze into Elizabeth’s bowl, and Elizabeth covered the inside in blue.

  Bailey dipped her brush into the pink glaze and started working on her sunset. “I wish these colors were brighter.” She couldn’t disguise her disappointment as she looked at her painting.

  “They will be after we fire them in the kiln,” Halona replied.

  Elizabeth cocked her head. “Guess that’s a good thing to remember when we disappoint ourselves with the way we sometimes act. Just like the colors we paint on these dishes, we don’t always shine like we should. But we’re a work in progress. God isn’t finished with us yet.”

  “You are wiser than your years, Beth,” Halona said. “We always have room to grow and improve, don’t we?”

  “So the next step is firing them?” Bailey asked.

  Halona nodded. “Yes. I’ll turn on the kiln.”

  “When Mom and I bake cookies we set the oven at 375 degrees,” Bailey said. “What temperature do you set the kiln to cook the pots?”

  Halona laughed. “Much hotter than your kitchen oven. The first firing, the bisque, is usually at 900 to 1,000 degrees.”

  Bailey’s eyes widened. “That’s hot!”

  “Yes it is,” Halona agreed. “That’s why you must never play around the kiln.”

  “How long do you bake it?” Elizabeth asked.

  “Usually about eighteen hours.” Halona set the oven.

  Bailey’s jaw dropped. “Eighteen hours! Seems like they’d be burnt to a crisp by then.”

  “If they were cookies they would be!” Halona teased.

  “Do you use special potholders to take them out?” Beth asked.

  Halona shook her head. “No. We let them cool in the kiln for two to three days before we remove them.”

  Bailey could hardly believe her ears. “So our pots won’t be finished until we have to leave?”

  “I’m afraid not,” Halona said. “Making pottery is a slow process. There are many steps, and each one takes time.”

  “Wow. Now I understand why each piece is so special,” Elizabeth said. “Especially that beautiful one handed down from generation to generation.”

  Halona smiled. “We take great pride in our work. For a pot to last hundreds of years as that one has only proves the excellent craftsmanship of my people.”

  “That’s for sure!” Bailey said.

  A ding at the door followed by baby cries told them they had customers.

  “I’d better get back out to the front of the store,” Halona said. “But I thought we should get those pots started so they’ll be ready for you to take home with you on Thursday.”

  “Thanks for helping us,” Elizabeth said. “I’m learning a lot.”

  “Me, too!” Bailey said. “Like never try to bake a pot and a batch of cookies in the same oven!”

  Halona laughed, her dark eyes twinkling, and hugged Bailey. “It’s so good to have you here. You make me laugh in a tough year when laughter is hard to find.” She gave Bailey one more squeeze and went to the front of the store.

  “I was thinking,” Bailey said to Beth. “Maybe we should compare the pictures Kate sent us with the actual pot. We might spot something we missed before.”

  “I guess it couldn’t hurt,” Elizabeth said. “Let’s log back on.”

  Bailey opened the laptop and pulled up Kate’s e-mail. Soon the pictures appeared on the screen.

  “Let’s take it to the shelf where the pot is.” Elizabeth picked up the computer.

  “Okay. I’ll turn out the light.” Bailey flipped the switch by the door.

  The two slipped into the hallway where the shelf containing the pot stood. Beth held the computer beside the pot. “What do you think?” she asked.

  “I think the lighting is terrible in this hallway,” Bailey said. “And the light from the computer is making the colors on the actual pot look weird.”

  “Go turn the light back on in the studio and leave the door open to see if that helps,” Elizabeth suggested.

  Bailey flipped on the light, pushing the door open as far as possible. “Is that any better?”

  “A little,” Beth answered. “I wish the s
helf was on the other wall. The light shines more on that side.” Elizabeth was distracted by the noisy cries of the baby in the store and the sound of its mother trying to comfort him. “Sounds like it’s someone’s naptime,” she told Bailey.

  Bailey nodded absently. “I think we should hold the pot in the light,” Bailey said. “It’ll only be for a minute.”

  “Bailey!” Elizabeth warned. “Don’t you dare even think about picking up that pot.”

  “Come on, Beth.” Bailey faced her friend, hands on her hips. “Don’t be such a worrywart.”

  “I am not a worrywart,” Beth said. “I just know right from wrong, and we were told not to touch it.”

  Bailey reached out and touched the pot with one finger. “See? Nothing happened. You’re blowing this thing way out of proportion.”

  Elizabeth’s face was getting red. “Here. You hold the computer. It’ll keep your hands busy.”

  “You’re doing a fine job with it.” Bailey wouldn’t take the laptop from Beth but moved toward the shelf. “I’m just going to take the pot in the light for a second.” She put her hand out to grab the pot.

  “Bailey! No!” Elizabeth whisper-yelled while moving in Bailey’s direction to stop her. Instead, she bumped the computer. Bailey’s hand slipped and knocked into the pot, sending it crashing to the floor.

  The girls looked at each other, eyes wide with fear.

  “Now look what you made me do!” Bailey frantically picked up pieces of pottery from the floor, thankful it had broken into five neat parts rather than shattering into a million pieces.

  “Me!” Fury filled Elizabeth’s eyes. “This wouldn’t have happened if you had just done what you were supposed to!”

  “We can glue it back together and no one will ever know,” Bailey said desperately.

  The bell on the door rang again. More customers.

  “Bailey? Elizabeth? Could you come give me a hand?” Halona called.

  “S–sure, Halona,” Bailey replied. “W–we’ll be right there.” She looked around wildly, wondering what to do with the broken pottery pieces she held. “Come on!” Bailey hurried back into the studio and stuffed the fragments into a lower cabinet against the wall.

  Elizabeth set the laptop on the table and closed it. Taking a deep breath, she followed Bailey to the front of the store.

  “Here, will you wrap these like you did earlier?” Halona handed a shallow bowl to Bailey and a narrow vase to Elizabeth. “Are you girls okay? You look a little pale.”

  Bailey giggled nervously and tried to smile. “Sure. We’re fine, aren’t we, Beth?”

  Elizabeth lowered her head, but nodded. She took the vase from Halona and carefully started wrapping a paper square around it.

  Aiyana bounded through the door, a plastic bag swinging from each hand. “I got the supplies you asked for, Mama.”

  “Thank you, sweetheart,” Halona replied. “You can put them in the studio. The clay goes in the lower cabinet.”

  Bailey followed Aiyana with her eyes, and then wiped her sweaty hands on her jeans before picking up the bowl to wrap it. Her hands shook as she set the bowl in the center of her paper square. She could hear Aiyana singing in the studio. Bailey pulled one corner of the paper up and stuffed it into the center of the bowl, then another.

  She stopped, hands in midair, when Aiyana screamed.

  The Treacherous Summit

  Aiyana’s scream from the studio froze all activity in Earth Works. Halona rushed to the back and was met in the hallway by Bailey’s mom, who’d raced out of the office. Together, they hurried into the pottery studio where Aiyana stood dazed, holding the broken pottery pieces in her hands. The cabinet door stood open, and the newly bought clay sat on the floor in front of it.

  “Aiyana, what is it?” Halona went to her daughter.

  Bailey and Elizabeth quietly appeared in the doorway and stood with Bailey’s mother.

  “The pot! Our key to riches…it’s broken!” Tears poured down the little girl’s face.

  “Wha– There must be some mistake.” Halona took the pottery shards from Aiyana’s hands. She turned the pieces and looked at the painted pictures. “It can’t be!”

  The bell on the front door rang as it opened.

  Paco’s friend, Willy, burst into the store looking for Halona. “Come quick! It’s Elan! He’s in trouble on Puye Cliffs! He’s losing his footing, and I think he’s going to fall. You’ve gotta come!”

  Halona left the pottery pieces on the countertop and hurried out the front door, not bothering to turn the open sign to closed as she locked the door. She hoisted Willy’s bike into the back of her Suburban while he and the others buckled up for the trip to the cliffs.

  “He’s climbing the side of the cliff like they used to do in the ancient rite of passage,” Willy explained when they were on their way. “I think he’s trying to prove his manhood by scaling the cliff. Sort of his own personal rite of passage. But he’s slipping a lot, and I don’t care if he gets mad at me. Someone needs to make him get down.”

  “He has nothing to prove,” Halona said, defiance and fear gripping her voice. “He’s more man than most boys his age.”

  Willy said nothing.

  “Is anyone else there?” Bailey asked.

  “Paco was there when I left.”

  Bailey closed her eyes and shook her head. That could only mean trouble.

  Halona sped out of Santa Fe and into the desolate area that took them to Puye Cliffs. She swung her car into a parking space on the tourist side of the cliffs, and they ran to the place Elan had showed Bailey and Elizabeth, where the ancient rites of passage used to be held.

  Willy looked up and pointed. “Whoa. He’s a lot higher now than when I left.” Willy walked away to where Paco stood by his bike.

  “Elan!” Halona cried when she saw where her son was. “You must come down!”

  “I can’t!” The tremble in Elan’s voice gave away his fear.

  Halona snatched out her cell phone and dialed. “Chief Maska. We need your help. Elan is scaling the Puye Cliffs. You’ve got to talk to him. Yes…Thank you.”

  “Is he coming?” Bailey’s mom asked.

  “Yes. He’ll be here in just a few minutes. He lives nearby.”

  “Aiyana, did you know he was planning to do this?” Halona asked.

  “No,” Aiyana replied. “He talked about proving to those boys that he was a man, but I didn’t think he’d do something this crazy.”

  “What boys?” her mother demanded.

  Aiyana shrunk back. “He didn’t want me to tell,” she said.

  “You must tell.”

  “Paco and his friends have been bothering Elan almost every day since school let out. They tell him he’s not a man.”

  Halona’s mouth gaped, and tears filled her eyes. She nodded at Aiyana and hugged her. “It’s okay. You did the right thing to tell me.”

  Bailey spoke up. “He told Beth and me about the ancient rite of passage and acted like climbing the cliffs wouldn’t be hard to do. We told him we were glad the tribe dropped that tradition so he wouldn’t have to do it.”

  “We even told him we thought he easily qualified as a man since he helps you so much and already has a job,” Elizabeth added. “But I guess we didn’t convince him.”

  “No one should have to tell him,” Halona said. “He should know inside himself.”

  “Elan, come down!” Tears pooled in Aiyana’s eyes. “We need you to help take care of us!”

  “Hang on, Elan! Help is coming!” Bailey called. Even as she spoke, Elan took another step higher.

  “He’s not giving up,” Elizabeth said. “He’s determined to do this.”

  More boys from town had apparently heard about the daredevil rock climbing attempt and gathered at the foot of the cliff to watch. A slight breeze moved the dry, hot air.

  “Boy, word sure travels fast,” Bailey said to Elizabeth. “Dorko and his pals must have called all their friends.”

  Elizabet
h didn’t seem to hear. She was busy looking at the area around them. “Bales, look at this place.”

  “Yeah, so what? It’s the same place we saw yesterday when we came with Elan.”

  “But think about the pictures Kate sent us,” Beth said. “It looks just like this!”

  Bailey viewed the landscape with fresh eyes, imagining it without all the trees and bushes. “You’re right! This could be the site shown in the sunset painting on the ancient pot!”

  The girls’ conversation was interrupted when a white pickup truck pulled up. A man in a uniform jumped out. Gazing up at the cliff, he gave Halona a quick hug. “I see he’s gone quite a ways up already.”

  “Yes, he has. Thank you for coming, Chief Maska.” Halona wrung her hands as she watched Elan go still higher. “I don’t know what to do.”

  “He’s proving his manhood,” Chief Maska said. “We can only wait and pray.”

  “Don’t you think we should try to talk him out of it?” Bailey asked.

  “Has anyone tried that yet?” the chief asked.

  “Yeah, we tried, but he wouldn’t listen!” Aiyana wailed.

  “Then that is your answer.” Chief Maska’s eyes stayed on Elan. “We’ll let him finish. He’s climbed too high to come down safely now.”

  “But he could fall! Or even die!” Halona’s voice rose.

  The chief placed his strong hands on Halona’s shoulders to calm her and looked into her eyes. “The Great Spirit will show him the way.”

  Elizabeth spoke up. “I don’t know about the Great Spirit, but I know my God was strong enough to protect Daniel in the lion’s den, and He opened up the Red Sea like a book to protect the Israelites from the Egyptians who were chasing them. I know He can hold Elan against that cliff and keep him from falling, too.”

  Bailey’s mom put her arm around Elizabeth and squeezed her shoulder.

  Bailey cupped her hands around her mouth and shouted, “You can do this, Elan! God will help you!”

  “You can do everything through Him who gives you strength!” Elizabeth added. “The Bible says so in Philippians 4:13.” She winked at Bailey.

  “Yeah, Elan! Be strong and courageous,” Bailey said. “For the Lord your God is with you wherever you go. Even up the side of a cliff!”