The girls’ laughter was cut short. They jumped in alarm as another dinosaur nearby, a Dilophosaurus, raised its head and bellowed. As the animatron swung its head around, Alex gasped.
“It spit at me!” she cried. “I’ve been assaulted by dinosaur spit! That must have sent out a gallon of water, and all on me! My shirt is soaked!”
Kate clutched her sides, laughing. “Well, at least they used water instead of adding more components to make the expectorant more realistic!”
“What?” Alexis asked.
“At least they didn’t make it slimy and mucusy like real spit might have been!”
“Oh, I’m sorry I asked,” Alex said. “Wait a minute while I throw up at that thought—and it wouldn’t be water either!”
The rest of the animatron trail passed uneventfully. More bellows and eye blinks and movements, but thankfully, no more assaults by spitting dinosaurs.
As Alex’s shirt started to dry in the hot sun, the girls started giggling again about the spitting dinosaur.
“Sounds like a rock band,” Alex said. “The Spitting Dinosaurs.”
“Yeah, or maybe a little kids’ T-ball team!” Kate added.
The girls laughed all the way back to the visitors’ center. The entrance from the walking trails looked like an old log cabin with a green roof. That led into another larger building with the same log design. The larger building housed more exhibits and displays about nature and animals.
Alexis noticed that more cars were now in the parking lot, and her smile stretched even wider. It would be horrible if the dinosaurs turned out to be a waste of Miss Maria’s money.
When they walked into the visitors’ center, a lanky teenager greeted them from behind the desk.
“Hey, Alex, who’s your friend?” he called out.
“Hi, Jerry. This is Kate.” Jerry was tall and a little thin, as if the summer between eighth and ninth grade had stretched him out. His dark hair had light streaks from spending plenty of time in the sun. Between that, his flip-flops, and his tan, he looked as if he’d stepped right out of a surfing movie.
“Hi, Kate,” said Jerry. “It’s good to meet you!”
“You too,” said Kate, looking at her shoes shyly.
Bam! The door to the visitors’ center flew open and Miss Maria stormed in.
“That newsman from Channel 13 just got here,” she said. “Try to ignore him.” She stopped to hug Alexis with her wiry, suntanned arms and shook hands with Kate.
“But Miss Maria,” said Jerry, “don’t you want to be on the news? It might get more people to come to the park.”
“Yes, it might, but that young reporter isn’t very pleasant.” Miss Maria tucked a piece of short salt-and-pepper hair behind her ear. “More than toy dinosaurs, huh?”
Miss Maria grumbled to herself until a visitor stuck his head through the open door and called to her.
“Hey, Maria! Good job with the Triceratops and Raptor footprints. They’re so realistic! And I’m glad you put a Raptor by the fountain. He looks good there. I’ll be back with my family, and I’ll encourage my students to come!”
Miss Maria thanked the man, who introduced himself as a biology professor from one of the local colleges. “But I’ve always longed to be a paleontologist!” he confessed.
As the professor waved goodbye, Alexis noticed that Miss Maria didn’t look too happy.
“He liked the dinosaurs!” Alexis said. “What’s wrong, Miss Maria? Didn’t you hear? He’s bringing his whole family! And he’s sending his students over!”
Miss Maria looked out the window and tapped a finger on the sill.
“Yes, I heard him,” said Miss Maria. “The question is, did you? He said he liked the footprints—what footprints is he talking about? Alexis, did you and your friend notice any footprints this morning?”
Alexis shook her head. “But we weren’t looking that closely,” she said.
“And there shouldn’t be a Raptor near the fountain at all,” said Maria. “I put them all in the dogwood grove.”
“Someone must have moved him,” said Alexis.
“But why would they do that?” asked Kate.
“Why would anyone dig up my pansies, or carve their initials in a hundred-year-old redwood tree?” said Maria. “Sometimes they do it because they have no respect for God’s creation. Sometimes they do it to cause trouble. And sometimes they do it to show off to their friends. Who knows why else they do it! But moving around some of those dinosaurs isn’t easy, and they’re liable to mess up the wires—to even get electrocuted. Let’s go take a look.”
Miss Maria had placed the six Raptors together in a little herd. Sure enough, when they rounded the corner to the dogwood grove, the smallest one was missing. Little footprints led away through the trees. They had three toes, like a bird had made them, with two of the toes being longer than the third. The group followed the tracks along the trail until they reached the fountain. Then they saw him.
The diminutive dinosaur was posed on the edge of the fountain. Fortunately, he was one of the models that wasn’t animated or electric. He was about two feet tall and bright green. His long tail kept him balanced on his back legs as he leaned toward the water. He looked as if he’d simply left the herd to get a drink.
“Weird!” said Jerry.
“Yeah,” Alexis agreed.
She walked carefully around the fountain. She and Alexis had been laughing too hard earlier to notice the footprints if they’d been there. And this Raptor hadn’t stood out when they’d seen it earlier—they didn’t know Miss Maria hadn’t put it by the water. Her mind kicked into overdrive just like it always did when she found something strange or out of place.
How did he get there? she wondered. If someone moved him, why are there only dinosaur footprints in the mud? Shouldn’t there be human prints too? Alexis pulled her notebook out of her backpack and instinctively began writing things down.
“Interesting and irritating,” said Miss Maria. She scooped up the Raptor and walked back toward the path holding him beneath her elbow. “You all go back to the visitors’ center to greet people as they arrive,” she said. “I’m going to go check around.”
When they reached the center, Jerry’s younger sister, Megan Smith, ran out to greet them. She was going into the seventh grade, like Alexis, and looked just like her brother, only with longer hair.
“Hi, guys!” Megan said. She pointed toward the parking lot. “Did you see the news crew?”
“Yeah,” said Alexis.
“Maria wants us to stay away from them,” said Jerry. Was Alexis imagining it, or was Jerry irritated?
“Oops…,” said Megan. “I gave the guy with the funny hair a tour. He said he was interested in seeing all of the dinosaurs.”
“That’s okay, Meg,” said Alexis. “A tour couldn’t have done any harm. Maybe he liked the park enough to do a big story for the evening news.”
Kate pushed her glasses up on the bridge of her nose and pointed toward the parking lot.
“I wonder why he’s coming back,” she said.
Sure enough, the reporter was striding across the parking lot. The wind tossed his bright blue tie around and lifted his hair up at an odd angle. Alexis wondered if he was wearing a wig. She would have thought he was too young for that, but then again, she also knew teachers and men at church who were way younger than her dad and hardly had any hair.
“Hi, kids!” he said. “I’m Thad. Thad Swotter—investigative reporter for Channel 13.”
Not quite as impressive as he is on TV, thought Alexis.
“Some place you guys have here,” Swotter said, looking around. His tone reminded Alexis of how her father greeted her great-aunt Gertrude. They visited her in Phoenix sometimes for Thanksgiving. He always said he was glad to be there, but Alexis didn’t think he meant it.
“Miss Maria has worked very hard to share California’s indigenous plants with our community,” said Alexis. Thad Swotter smiled, and Alexis thought his perfect
teeth might be a little big for his mouth.
“Indigenous, huh?” said Swotter. “That’s quite a big word for such a little girl. You know, I was sure I saw some specimens that were definitely not native to California.”
“Well, yes,” said Megan. “On the tour, I showed you the olive and the fig tree. Miss Maria works very hard to keep those alive through the winter. She likes to give people glimpses of other parts of the country and even the world too.”
“Yes, I remember,” said Swotter. “And the thorns were creepy. I’m glad we don’t really have those in the foothills of the Sierra Nevada Mountains!”
“Thorns?” asked Kate.
“Yes,” said Alexis. “Miss Maria’s favorite plant is the Christ’s-thorn in her greenhouse. It’s planted next to a replica of the crown of thorns Jesus wore.”
“Cool!”
“Cool it may be,” said the reporter. “But I don’t see how those thorns have anything to do with us. They’re out of place.”
“That’s not true,” said Megan. “God created all of it, so everything belongs.”
“God created?” Swotter lifted his eyebrows in amusement. “You kids are almost as bad as the bat that runs this place!”
Alexis reared up, ready to defend Miss Maria, but she took a deep breath instead. She knew it would be disrespectful to argue with Mr. Swotter. She even resisted the urge to roll her eyes—which was not easy when she was annoyed.
“This is exactly why nobody comes here!” Swotter laughed. “No one wants to come to a park to get preached at!”
“No one’s preaching, sir,” said Jerry respectfully. “People don’t have to believe in God or Jesus to appreciate the plants. If it really bothers them, they can stick to the other parts of the park.”
“They could,” said Swotter, “but it’d be easier for them not to come at all. Look, kids, California has enough theme parks. If I want to hear a fairy tale, I’ll go to Disneyland.” He snickered again and walked off to examine a clump of poppies.
“He’s rude,” said Kate. “Good thing he doesn’t act that rude on TV.”
“He practically does,” said Alexis. She looked around the empty park entrance. Where was Miss Maria? She had been gone for a long time.
“Those footprints were weird, weren’t they?” Jerry laughed. “It’s like the dinosaurs just woke up and decided to explore the park!”
Thad Swotter stood up and scribbled furiously in his notebook. He headed toward his van, almost stomping on the poppies as he went. Alexis heard him yell something at his cameraman, who had fallen asleep on the steering wheel.
“What’s up with him?” asked Megan.
“Maybe he’s late,” said Alexis. The group turned back toward the visitors’ center. “I think we should check on Miss Maria.” Before anyone could agree with her, a scream ripped through the trees.
Then all was silent.
“It came from over there.” Jerry pointed toward the trail that led to the Triceratops.
“Oh no! Miss Maria!” Alexis tore off through the trees and the others followed.
When they came around the last corner, Alexis almost screamed herself. Miss Maria was lying on her back in the mud, next to the mother Triceratops. She wasn’t moving.
Her large eyes stared unblinking into the cloudless sky.
The Footprints
Hospitals had never bothered Alexis. Her grandma was a nurse, so she had grown up visiting them. But this—this was different. Alexis had never visited someone who was actually hurt. She hated to admit it, but she was more than a little scared.
For the first time, Alexis noticed the smells of a hospital. Grandma’s strong perfume had apparently masked all the hospital odors the other times she’d been in them. Alexis noticed that the hospital smelled like a mixture of cafeteria food and cleaning supplies.
Kate reached over and looped her arm through Alexis’s.
“Don’t worry,” she said. “It could have been a lot worse.”
Alexis tried to smile, but it didn’t quite work.
Miss Maria was in a room on the fourth floor. The door was slightly open, and Alexis and Kate stopped just outside. A deep male voice drifted out into the hall. Apparently a doctor was talking to her.
“Your back’s not broken, Miss Santos, but you pulled some muscles pretty bad. If you’re not careful, you could end up in a brace for months. I’d like to keep you here for observation. If everything goes well, you can go home in a couple of days.”
“Thank you, Doctor,” said Miss Maria. The strength in her voice calmed Alexis a little bit. Alex’s racing heart slowed. The doctor swept out into the hallway, nearly knocking into the girls. Alexis heard the click, click of high heels behind her and turned to see her mom.
“That parking garage is a nightmare! Be glad I dropped you girls off at the doors!” She stepped forward and knocked lightly on the door. “Miss Maria?”
“Oh! Visitors!” chimed the older woman.
The girls filed into the room and sat down in the mauve chairs next to Miss Maria’s white bed. She looked cheerful. Her mood was contagious, and Alexis smiled.
“How are you feeling?” she asked.
“Oh, just fine,” said Miss Maria. “It doesn’t hurt too badly right now.”
They talked for a while, mostly about Miss Maria’s injury and the attractive male nurse who kept coming in to check on her. Apparently Miss Maria had climbed up onto the Triceratops to get a better look at the footprints that were also leading from it to the distance. When it moved unexpectedly, she fell off.
“Serves me right for thinking I needed a bird’s-eye view!” she said.
After twenty minutes, Mrs. Howell’s phone rang. She dug it out of her purse and stepped outside to take the call. Her irritated voice drifted through the closing door. “No, Amanda, they don’t owe anything. I told you that case was pro bono…. Yes…the hearing is next Friday….”
After the door was shut, Miss Maria smiled conspiratorially. She crooked her finger and beckoned Alexis and Kate to come closer.
“Just grab a seat on the bed here,” she said, patting the blanket on either side of her skinny legs. “I have a favor to ask.”
Alexis sat down. She knew Miss Maria would need help now that her back was hurt. She probably wanted someone to feed her cat while she was in the hospital.
“It’s about the park,” Miss Maria said. “The doctor says I can’t work for a while. I was wondering if you might be able to help me out a little.” Alexis was puzzled. Why was Miss Maria whispering? It wasn’t really a secret that the park would need a few extra hands, was it?
“Of course we’ll help at the park, Miss Maria,” said Alexis.
“Yeah,” said Kate. “We can do whatever you need. It will be fun to see more of the dinosaurs.”
“Well, that’s just it. I hope you’ll see a lot more of the dinosaurs,” said Miss Maria. Her mouth stretched into a secret smile, and she leaned toward them, wincing as her back was strained.
“My friend Gretchen told me that you found her kitten, Poncho, when no one else could. And your mother has mentioned the mysteries that you girls have already worked on. I would love the Camp Club Girls to investigate.”
The word investigate made Alexis’s heart race. She was really interested in the footprints and the little Raptor, but she also didn’t want to make something out of nothing. Just the other day her father had accused her of seeing a mystery in everything. He had been joking, but she knew there was truth in what he said.
For instance, every time she went to the grocery store with her mother she couldn’t help but ask herself crazy questions. Why could you pull an apple from the bottom of a pyramid without the others rolling to the floor? Why did Fred, the baker, constantly move the cakes around in his display case?
“I want you to find out what is happening,” Maria said. Alexis turned her attention back to the hospital bed. “Find out where those footprints are coming from, and how the dinosaur got from one place to
the other. I don’t like the idea of someone fiddling around in my park. If those dinosaurs are ruined, I’ll have to pay for them. And if a visitor gets hurt, I could never forgive myself. Could I bother you girls with this?”
“Bother us? Miss Maria, it wouldn’t bother us at all!” said Alexis.
“Really!” said Kate. “This is what we do best.”
“Good,” said Miss Maria. She sighed and slumped back in her bed. “It feels good to leave this in the hands of detectives I can trust. The police would just laugh at me.”
Alexis dug out her notebook.
“Miss Maria, do you feel well enough to answer a few questions?” she asked. Alexis wanted to start the investigation right away. It felt like so long since she had helped someone. Miss Maria nodded, and Alexis launched her first question.
“When was the last time you visited the Triceratops and the Raptor? Before this afternoon, I mean.”
“Last night as I closed the park,” said Miss Maria. “I always walk a complete loop after I close the gates.”
“And did everything seem normal?” asked Kate.
“Yes. Everything was just as I left it. I don’t think anyone could have been hanging around and changed things after I left. I’m pretty sure no stragglers were there at the time. Not many people had been there in the first place. I paid extra close attention, since the dinosaur exhibit was opening today. I wanted everything to be perfect.”
Alexis scribbled onto her paper.
“And do you recall seeing the footprints then?” she asked.
“No, I do not. But it was getting dark, so I could have overlooked them. I know the park like the back of my hand, so I never take a flashlight. It only attracts the bugs, and I must be sweet, because they bite me like crazy.”
Mrs. Howell stuck her head back into the room. Her cell phone was still attached to her ear.
“Hey girls, I think we should let Miss Maria get some rest,” she said.
The girls each grabbed a sun-wrinkled hand and squeezed.
“Get better,” said Alexis. “And don’t worry about a thing. The Camp Club Girls have this covered.”
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