Sundee looked up from her potatoes. “Predators come in packs, not herds.”
Leila waggled her fingers in Sundee’s direction. “A pack of dinosaurs? That doesn’t sound right.”
“It sounds wimpy,” Bryce said as he tossed the salad. “It should be something scary.”
Paley loved those crazy words for animal groups—a gaggle of geese, a murder of crows, and so on. “How about a devastation of dinosaurs?” she suggested.
“Or a destruction?” said Bryce.
“A dreadful!” offered Leila.
The back door banged open, and Cameron came in with a bowl of cherry tomatoes. “A dreadful what?”
“A dreadful of dinosaurs,” Paley sang, pirouetting through the kitchen.
Cameron laughed out loud. “Don’t they come in packs?”
Everyone tried to answer him at once. The kitchen bubbled over with excited conversation and the rich smell of Ma Etty’s pot roast and garlic mashed potatoes. When Mr. Bridle came in, Paley danced over. “The museum people are coming to look at our dinosaur.” The words died on her tongue. Lurking behind Mr. Bridle was Jim Goodstein, and he did not look happy. The lines around Mr. Bridle’s eyes deepened. He gestured to Ma Etty. “We’ve got a bit of a situation here.”
The kids fell silent.
Mr. Goodstein appraised Paley. She knew he’d heard her, but she didn’t know what the look meant, only that it couldn’t be good. She edged behind Mr. Bridle.
“Your kids have been causing trouble. Again,” Mr. Goodstein announced. “Someone’s been digging things up.”
Ma Etty crinkled her brow. “I’m not sure I follow you.”
“Holes!” he yelled, and Paley flinched. “There are holes on my property!”
“Let’s talk on the porch, Jim,” said Ma Etty, drying her hands on a dish towel.
He glowered at her. “Don’t you try to shut me down, Henrietta. I know how you are about these children.” He shook his hands toward the kids as if shooing them away.
Ma Etty let out an exasperated sigh. “Kids, you go ahead and serve up. Mr. Bridle and I will be a minute.” She grasped Mr. Goodstein firmly on the elbow and turned him out of the kitchen.
He let himself be ushered out but craned his head around to offer a parting shot. “Stay off my land!”
Mr. Bridle pulled the door shut firmly behind them.
The kids shifted uneasily, listening to the rise and fall of voices on the porch.
“That jerk is as bad as his nasty old wife,” said Bryce.
Leila went back to filling water glasses. “I don’t know how the Bridles can stand having them for neighbors.”
The other kids went back to their duties, still complaining about the Goodsteins, but Paley stood in the middle of the kitchen, unable to move. The Goodsteins thought she was a bad kid, and no amount of explaining would change their minds. It made Paley feel all shrunken up, like an apple left to rot.
Chapter Sixteen
The Fourth of July was Quartz Creek’s biggest day of the year. People came from all over Colorado to watch the parade and go to the local rodeo. Paley was beyond excited.
The kids spent several days preparing for the festivities.
During morning riding lessons, Madison and Fletch had them practice riding in tight formation. Leila and Cameron were going to carry the Quartz Creek Ranch banner. Paley, Bryce, and Sundee would throw candy. They rode through the yard flinging cracked corn for the chickens so they could get a feel for it. On the day before the parade, Paul and Mr. Bridle drove ranch trucks beside and behind the kids so they could assess how the horses would react to blaring horns, exhaust fumes, and engine noise.
When the holiday finally arrived, Paley pulled out her new Western shirt—lime green with white piping and the most beautiful pearl snaps up the front—and her best jeans. She made sure her cowboy hat was dust-free.
“Do you want me to braid your hair?” she asked Leila, who had ditched her fancy English riding clothes for a Western getup as well. She’d even bought leather chaps with fringe all down the sides.
“Can I have a bunch of braids?”
“Sure, if you want to sit here all day,” Paley said, laughing. “How about if I do two French braids instead?”
Leila settled down in the desk chair to get her hair done. “I wish my big brother could come to the parade.”
“Why couldn’t he?” Paley asked.
Leila sighed. “Mom signed him up for all these SAT study classes.”
Paley thought about her own brother. The move had been a lot easier for him. Third grade was cake compared to sixth grade. Within a week, he seemed to have a million friends. Half the reason she buried herself in Dragonfyre was to escape the hordes of bratty boys that swarmed the house, shooting Nerf guns all over the place.
Madison came out of her room in a fringed Western shirt and jeans with sparkles down the legs. “Time to roll, cowgirls!” she trilled and shooed them all out of the bunkhouse.
They trailered the horses to the crowded staging grounds. Paley took in a whirlwind of color and noise. A vintage car club. A gaggle of old women dressed in purple. The high school ski team. A marching band. A bunch of preschoolers on tricycles. A flatbed truck entirely full of gymnasts in shiny red leotards. There was even a man riding a camel.
She went to work grooming Prince. “Looking good, Your Majesty,” she said, and Prince huffed into her shoulder.
“Here’s your parade saddle,” said Ma Etty, hefting an amazing concoction of tooled black leather with small silver plates embedded all around the edges. “This belonged to Mr. Bridle’s great-grandfather, the one who first homesteaded in Quartz Creek. It’s a beauty, isn’t it?”
Paley thought her heart might burst. It was a saddle fit for royalty. “It’s incredible.”
Ma Etty helped her tack up Prince and filled the saddlebags with hard candies. “Mount up so I can adjust the stirrups for you.”
On Prince’s back, the view was even better. Behind them the town fire trucks had joined the queue. Up in front came the Quartz Creek Cattle Queen and her court of Cattle Princesses. People lined the main street of town. Kids bounced around like popcorn popping. The sun was high, and it was a glorious day for a parade.
Leila and Cameron rode into position. Paley and Sundee flanked Bryce. Fletch and Madison rode behind them, and the Bridles brought up the rear in an antique, horse-drawn buggy.
Five minutes until start time!
People kept coming up to the Bridles, hugging them and complimenting Paley and the others. These were good people—horse people like the Bridles—who took care of their animals and worked the land. Paley couldn’t have felt farther from LA, but she realized she liked it. No wonder Fletch had left New York City to stay here for good. This was amazing.
Even the Blue Elf would agree.
The Master of Ceremonies rang a giant-sized cowbell, and slowly the parade began to move forward. Prince tossed his mane and high-stepped in royal style. Paley threw candy and waved until her arms were exhausted.
A few blocks from the end of the parade route, she was hot, sweaty, and nearly out of candy. Her cheeks hurt from grinning at all the little kid faces shining up at her, but she would have done it all over again in a heartbeat. As she threw her last handful of candy, Paley caught sight of Thomas Goodstein and his gang, lounging on a bench in front of the rock and mineral shop.
A sneer twitched on the edge of his thin lips when he saw Leila and Cameron carrying the ranch banner. He pushed off the bench and shoved his way through the little kids on the sidewalk. When he caught Paley watching, Thomas pushed his Indiana Jones hat back on his head and winked. Not in a nice way. He cupped his hands around his mouth and yelled, “Hey, everyone! Public service announcement. Delinquents ahead. Watch for poisoned candy. Protect your kids!”
His words cut through the joyous commotion of the parade like a sword to the heart. Paley turned to concrete on Prince’s gorgeous parade saddle. She wasn’t even sure her heart
was still beating. She couldn’t ride past Thomas Goodstein. She just couldn’t! Immediately, Prince balked and sidestepped. Sweat trickled down the side of Paley’s neck.
“Come on,” Bryce said through clenched teeth. “Let’s get this parade over with so I can beat his stupid face in.” But when Paley tried to urge Prince on, he refused to move. Bryce was beet-red and halfway out of his saddle. Behind them the whole parade was grinding to a stop. The Quartz Creek Cattle Queen and her court kept moving. So did Leila and Cameron with the banner. The gap between them and Paley grew every second.
Bryce and Sundee hesitated, unsure if they should stay with Paley or keep going.
“Get moving!” snapped Sundee. “You’re not doing it right.”
“Look the way you want to go,” said Bryce.
Paley had the reins too tight and nudged Prince with the wrong leg. Her body was rigid and unbalanced. Prince twitched beneath her. The fire trucks behind them were honking. The parade-watchers on either side of the road had started to notice the problem. Paley was a rock in a stream, holding back the flow. She was sure that any second now Prince would run pell-mell into the crowd.
Thomas and his friends fell over one another laughing and pointing.
“Stay in formation,” Madison called. “Let’s go.”
Bryce urged the big red horse forward. He and Sundee were leaving Paley behind. “Come on,” he called, twisting around in the saddle to look at her.
Panic rose in Paley. “I can’t get him to go!”
“He won’t go? Or you won’t go?” Bryce challenged. “Let’s show those Rock Hounds what’s what. You found a freaking dinosaur. They can suck on that.”
The dinosaur. That’s right!
She had found a dinosaur. Those jerks could drive around looking for their stupid rocks, but she was the one who had found a dinosaur. Remembering the way the tooth curved to a deadly point sent a thrill racing through Paley.
“Be in charge!” Bryce said.
Paley fixed her eyes straight ahead, found her seat, and squeezed with her legs. Immediately Prince began to trot. She caught up with Bryce and Sundee. Bryce grinned at her and raised a fist in the direction of the Rock Hounds. Paley raised a fist with him.
She was not going to let Thomas and his stupid rock club ruin the Fourth of July!
Chapter Seventeen
“Did you have fun?” Ma Etty asked them when the parade was over and they reconvened at the horse trailers.
Paley gave her the thumbs-up, even though she was still a little shaky from her run-in with Thomas Goodstein. Ma Etty held Prince’s bridle while Paley dismounted. “Glad you liked it. The Fourth of July is my favorite holiday. I love the parade, and I love seeing old Mr. Crockett with that goofy camel of his.” Several parking spaces over, the camel was chewing hay while its owner removed the animal’s weirdly padded saddle and blanket covered with tassels.
After the horses had been untacked and brushed down, Ma Etty gave the kids permission to wander through the parade grounds. “It will take us a while to load the horses,” she said. “Be back here in forty-five minutes, okay?”
Sundee and Cameron went to check out the rock and mineral shop. Bryce decided to stay and help with the horses. Paley and Leila beelined for Mr. Crockett.
“Do you think it will spit on us?” Leila said as they trotted over to the camel.
Paley made a face. “Do they really do that?”
“They do,” said the old man, greeting them with a wide grin that turned his face into an entire landscape of wrinkles. “And it does not smell very good. You must be Ma Etty’s new batch of kids.”
Paley squinted at him, but she could tell right away that, unlike the Goodsteins, he didn’t think there was anything wrong with being Ma Etty’s kids.
“Can we pet him?” she asked.
“It’s a her. And yes.”
Paley patted the animal’s thick, wooly coat. Leila stroked its nose. The camel blinked its long eyelashes at them and wiggled its flubbery lips.
“Um . . . Mr. Crockett?” Leila asked. “Why do you have a camel in Colorado?”
“Why not?” he chortled. “Everyone else has got horses, and jackalopes are too small to ride.”
The girls laughed. Quartz Creek was definitely wacky, but in a good way.
After they said good-bye to Mr. Crockett, Paley and Leila went to buy elephant ears. Once they each had a piping hot, cinnamon-and-sugar covered pastry, they wandered through the staging ground to watch the rest of the parade marchers packing up.
The gymnasts were doing handstands on the back of their flatbed truck. Beyond them, Paley caught a glimpse of the Rock Hounds. The boys huddled together in front of the Jeep, listening hard to Thomas. He was leaning in and talking too low for Paley to hear anything. Every few words, he glanced around as if checking for listening ears.
Paley held one finger to her lips and gestured for Leila to follow. Together, they sidled closer, edging behind one of the classic cars from the parade.
“I still can’t hear anything,” said Leila, frowning. The packing-up noises of the marching band and the stomping, snorting horses that were tied to nearby trailers made eavesdropping impossible.
“We’ve got to get closer.” Paley pointed to a long pink Cadillac parked close to where the boys were talking.
They took cover behind the tuba players lugging their huge instrument cases and snuck over to the car.
“It’s risky,” one of the boys said. “Is he paying enough to make it worth our while?”
“Is it enough?” Thomas looked incensed. “Did you not hear what I said, idiot? The collector will pay at least five grand. More if it’s complete.”
Paley and Leila exchanged a look.
“So you really think she found what she said she found?” asked another boy.
“I know she did. I’ve been there.”
The other boys looked dubious. “She took you?”
“Of course not,” said Thomas, “but I always thought that the outcrop by the lake looked promising. I saw all them ranch kids over there, and Gramps told me what he’d overheard at the Bridles’. I put two and two together. Sure enough, when I drove out there, I found it.”
Leila squeezed Paley’s arm. Paley felt like she might puke.
“All we have to do is dig the thing up,” Thomas continued.
“How long do we have?”
“A couple of weeks until the collector gets here.”
The first boy shook his head, looking worried. “I don’t know. Isn’t it on public land? That’s a whole different game than digging on your grandparents’ property.”
“Hardly anyone ever goes up there,” said Thomas, drumming his fingers against his leg. “All we need is a good excuse.”
Another boy grinned and rubbed his hands together. “No reason we can’t be doing a little bird-watching on public lands, now, is there? I’ve always wanted to see a green-footed poppycock.” He held up his hand, and Thomas Goodstein smacked it with his own, grinning. “Come on,” said Thomas. “Let’s head back to my grandparents’ house. They’re roasting a whole pig tonight.”
The Rock Hounds pounded one another on the back and roared out of the fairgrounds. Paley slumped to the ground behind the Cadillac.
Dumb, stupid boys.
Leila squatted beside her, patting Paley’s shoulder and chewing on her fingernail. Paley wanted to scream. If she were like Bryce, she could have plowed Thomas’s stupid face into the ground. But she wasn’t like Bryce.
“It’s mine,” Paley said, hitting her fist on the hard, dry ground. “Mine!”
“I know!” said Leila.
Paley threw her hands in the air. “What are we going to do?”
\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\
The girls raced back to the trailers and arrived hot and sweaty.
“Mr. Bridle! Ma Etty!” Paley panted, pulling on their arms. “It’s a disaster!”
“You’ve got to do something,” Leila said.
“I . . . we . . . I mean . . . Leila and I heard that Goodstein boy talking to his mean friends.”
Bryce leaned closer. “What did he say this time?”
“They found out about the dinosaur, and they want to steal it.”
The kids erupted in protests, and people nearby turned to look at them. Paley covered her mouth. The last thing they needed was for more people to know what they’d found. Ma Etty’s concern had morphed into a frown. Mr. Bridle didn’t look too pleased either.
“Were you spying on them?” he asked.
“No!” said Leila.
Paley dropped her hand from her mouth. “Kinda. They looked like trouble. So we listened in.” Ma Etty shook her head. Paley’s spluttered protest stalled out at a stern look from Mr. Bridle, but Leila jumped into the fray.
“You weren’t there! You didn’t hear them. We did. That awful Mr. Goodstein heard Paley talking about the fossil. Remember?” The circle of kids clustered around them nodded.
“And Thomas saw us at the lake,” Paley added.
“He’s no dummy,” said Leila.
“I don’t know about that,” Bryce muttered.
“Calm down,” said Ma Etty. “Even if Thomas knows about the fossil, what makes you think he plans to steal it?”
“He said a collector offered him $5,000 for it!”
Bryce let out a low whistle. The Bridles exchanged a look.
“Do you think—?” Ma Etty began.
Mr. Bridle pushed his cowboy hat back on his head. “Unlikely. I don’t see as how a couple of boys could make off with a fossil of that size. I’m pretty sure excavations like this take a long time.”
“They could be fast if they ignore the site integrity!” Sundee said.
Her earnestness made Mr. Bridle smile. “My guess is that Thomas and his friends are full of big talk and not much action.”
“The fossil is on public lands,” Ma Etty added. “There are very strict laws about that. As persnickety as the Goodsteins are about property lines, I don’t think they would condone any violations.”
One Brave Summer (Quartz Creek Ranch) Page 9