“I hate to run, but I have some work to do,” he said. “I’ll be at the park this weekend. Will you girls keep me updated?”
Alexis nodded. She was still a little shocked. The phone call came from Aspen Heights. Had someone broken into the visitors’ center to use the phone? That had to be it. Nothing else made sense.
Another thought struck her as they walked Mr. Swotter to the door.
“Mr. Swotter, why do you want to help us all of a sudden?”
“Well, really I wanted to help Mrs. Smith. This park means the world to her.” Alexis looked confused, so Thad Swotter continued. “We were friends when we were kids, Mrs. Smith and I. Then we grew up and I—well—I forgot what it meant to be a friend. I put everything I had into becoming the best, and I hurt a few people along the way.”
Thad Swotter apologized to Mr. Howell for intruding so late at night and then walked back to his car with his hands in his pockets.
“Bedtime, ladies,” said Mr. Howell. He laid his large hands on Alexis’s shoulders and squeezed. “A lot of new stuff to think about, huh?”
“Yeah,” said Alexis. She knew sleep would not come easy tonight. The girls went back upstairs and brushed their teeth. Five minutes later they were sitting cross-legged on the bed talking about who could have made the mysterious phone call.
“Someone must have broken into the center, Alex,” said Kate. “That’s the only thing that makes sense.”
“I know,” said Alexis. “Maria was in the hospital most of the week, so she couldn’t have been moving the dinosaurs.”
“She would never do that anyway, would she?”
“No,” said Alexis. “No one at the park would do anything to put it in danger. We all love it too much.” Alexis’s excitement was deflating by the second. What good would this new evidence be if they couldn’t find out who had made those calls?
“Hey, do you mind if I read Elizabeth’s email?” asked Kate.
“Go ahead,” said Alexis. “Just open my mailbox.”
Kate walked over to the computer. It had gone into sleep mode, so she wiggled a finger over the touchpad to clear the black screen.
“Oh no!” she said. “Jerry forgot to take the camera down!” Alexis looked over at her computer. Sure enough, the camera was still in the tree. She hoped that nothing happened to it before they could take it down in the morning.
“It’s still on,” said Kate. “See the Raptors?”
“It must have gotten bumped,” said Alexis. “It’s sideways now.”
“Yeah, it’s kind of—” but Kate never finished her sentence.
“Kind of what?” Kate didn’t answer, so Alexis sat up to get a better look at the video. “No way! Did you see who that was?”
Kate nodded, her mouth hanging open and her eyes glued to the screen.
The dinosaur movers were back, and they had forgotten all about the hidden camera.
Good Intentions
Alexis’s mind was racing. They had hardly slept because of their discovery. As soon as Mrs. Howell was up and about, the girls were begging her to take them to the park.
“I knew I had seen that lip gloss before!”
How could she not have seen this coming? First the shoes—she had never really looked at his shoes, but now she remembered that he always wore Converse when he worked. And the lip gloss? It had been a gift from Alexis! How could she have forgotten that?
“It was you!”
Alexis stood over Jerry with her arms crossed. He was knee-deep in a hole he had dug for a new sapling.
“What do you mean?” Jerry said. He blushed, and a crooked smile bloomed on his face. Does he think this is a game? Alexis wondered.
“I mean it was you moving the dinosaurs and placing the prints. You and Megan!”
Jerry laughed. “Prove it.”
“First of all, your shoes.” Alexis pointed at Jerry’s feet, which were indeed soled with Converse All-Stars. “You got sloppy and started leaving your footprints everywhere. I don’t know how I forgot that you wear those old things when you’re going to get muddy.”
“Lots of people wear these shoes, Alex,” said Jerry. She could tell he was enjoying this.
“Sure. But you’re wearing long sleeves again today, Jerry. Why?” Jerry squirmed a little. “Raise up your sleeve, if you don’t mind.”
Jerry pulled his shirt sleeve up to his elbow, revealing a nasty case of poison oak rash.
“You didn’t realize what plant you used to cover the camera the other night, did you? Kate and I found wilted poison oak at the scene. And speaking of that scene…”
Alexis stomped past him to the tool shed. Yesterday he had kept her out of it. He said it was a mess. Jerry climbed out of the hole he was digging and followed her.
“No, you can’t—” said Jerry, but he was too late. Alexis ripped the door open, flooding the small building with light.
“Ha!” she said. There, in the middle of the floor, was a pile of strange-looking tools. On closer inspection, the girls realized that they were long handles, like broomsticks, with wooden dinosaur feet screwed onto the bottoms. There were two pairs of them. Kate picked one up and noticed thin lines running up and down the foot.
“Those little lines we kept seeing in the tracks—it was the grain of the wood!” she said.
“Cool, huh?” asked Jerry.
Alexis was surprised. She had expected a confession, followed by an apology full of guilt. Instead, Jerry stepped past her into the shed with a huge smile on his face.
“I figured you would catch on sooner or later,” Jerry said. “Watch this!” He pulled out the largest pair of wooden feet—Alexis assumed they belonged to the Tyrannosaurus Rex—and stood on them, holding onto the wooden handles at the top. Then he began walking around on them like a pair of stilts.
“See?” he said. “Cool, huh? I thought all this up!” He grinned. Did he expect her to be proud of him? So Bailey had been right after all!
“This isn’t a game, Jerry!” Alexis said. “People could have been hurt!”
“Well, no one was,” he said. He jumped off the wooden feet and tossed them back into the shed. “Miss Maria needed people to show up. I was saving the park.”
“What’s wrong?” Megan asked as she walked up behind Alexis and Kate.
“Look, Kate,” said Alexis, pointing to Megan. “It’s our Lip Gloss Lady.” She turned to Megan to explain. “We found a water bottle with your lip gloss all over it in a bush near the Raptors.”
Megan looked confused.
“Alexis and Kate finally caught us,” Jerry explained. He still sounded as if the whole thing was hilarious. Megan, on the other hand, looked guilty. She stared at her feet and said, “Oh.”
Alexis and Kate were staring at Jerry, waiting for an explanation.
“Come on, Alexis!” he said. “You know this place needs help! Thad Swotter gave me the idea, although he doesn’t know it. He said in his newscast that this place needed a lot more than toy dinosaurs, and I agreed. You’ve seen how many people have been coming!”
“Yeah, but that doesn’t fix the problem, Jerry!” said Alexis. “When the dinosaurs have to go back, what are you going to do then? They won’t bring in any visitors once they’re gone, no matter how ‘alive’ they were while they were here!”
Jerry wasn’t smiling anymore. He strode into the shed and pulled a small object off a shelf. He handed it to Kate.
“My camera!” she squealed, delighted to have it back.
“Yeah,” said Jerry. “We took it from your camp the other night so you wouldn’t see that it was us.”
“That’s stealing, Jerry!” said Alexis.
“Not really! We were going to give it back!” Jerry stood looking moodily at Alexis until they were interrupted by a familiar figure limping with a crutch under one arm.
“Miss Maria!” they all yelled at once. The group rushed forward to hug her but stopped short so they wouldn’t hurt her.
“I trust my park is in
one piece?” Miss Maria asked playfully. Then she noticed the tension in the group. “Now what’s happened to make everyone so glum?”
“We found out who’s been moving the dinosaurs and leaving the prints,” said Alexis.
“Oh, that’s wonderful!” said Miss Maria. “I knew I could count on you girls!”
“It was Jerry,” Alexis said, and Miss Maria’s smile disappeared.
“And me,” said Megan. “I helped him.”
“Well, that is a surprise,” said Miss Maria. She looked severely disappointed.
“I don’t see what the big deal is!” cried Jerry. “It got more people into the park! I was careful! None of the dinosaurs—or people,” he looked pointedly at Alexis, “have been hurt!”
“You’re right, Jerry,” said Maria. “But that’s not the main point. You were being deceitful. You pretended to help us when in fact you were the problem. If you came up with this idea, you should have just asked me if you could carry it out.”
“I was afraid you would say no,” Jerry said.
“And you were probably right,” said Maria. “I don’t want to trick people into loving my park. I want them to enjoy it for the same reasons I do.”
“But they don’t,” said Jerry. “That’s the problem! We’re going to have to close the park!”
There were tears in his eyes now, and Alexis wondered if all of his joking had just been a cover-up for his real feelings. He was scared of losing the park—of losing his home. She reached out and grasped his hand, which was dirty and hot.
“God will take care of us,” said Maria. “You’ll see. He’s got a way of showing up just when we need Him.”
“That’s the thing,” said Jerry. “We’ve needed Him for a long time, and you’ve been praying nonstop. I’ve been praying nonstop!” Jerry pulled away from Alexis’s hand and gestured around them. “In case you haven’t noticed, He hasn’t shown up yet.”
Through the open window of the visitors’ center, they heard the phone ring.
TO: Camp Club Girls
SUBJECT: Another one solved!
To my Camp Club Sisters,
Thanks for your prayers! The park is going to be okay! Miss Maria got a phone call yesterday from a company who wants to help us. They can’t give her the money she needs outright, but they want to sponsor and promote a yearly 5K race through the park! They are going to provide prize bags for participants and help us with volunteers. Their spokesperson says that the race should raise enough money to help Miss Maria maintain the park and maybe even expand it! We’re planning to do the first race in October, when the aspens are golden for the fall! The park will be beautiful!
Some of the local teachers have called too. They want to come to the park for field trips, even though Mrs. Smith’s program isn’t in place. They say that at first they’ll avoid the greenhouse, which has the “Christian elements” the board of directors didn’t like. All except for Mr. Chase, the religion teacher at our local community college. He got all excited when he heard about the thorns. He said something about persecution and Roman torture…eew.
But the best part is that all of the teachers told Miss Maria that they want to pay her a small fee for guided tours!
Thanks bunches to all of you for putting your heads together on this one! The “criminals” (my friend Jerry and his sister, Megan) realize the mistake they made. I think Jerry also learned a little something about God’s faithfulness. Thanks, Elizabeth, for sending those Bible verses. I showed them to Jerry, and he agrees that God always provides, even if it’s not in the way or the timing we expect!
Love you all, and keep your eyes open! You never know who will need us next!
Alexis
Kate had flown home at the end of the week. Alexis was back at the park, kneeling in the dirt and planting flowers around a new sign at the head of the park trail. Next to her stood Jogger, who Miss Maria had decided to buy instead of returning him with the other dinosaurs. She said she could afford one of the smaller ones. Since they had all grown so close to the little Raptor, he was the obvious choice. His picture was all over the new brochures, and he was even going to be on some T-shirts they were going to sell in the visitors’ center. He had become the perfect mascot.
Alexis had even come up with a great idea for the kids who visited the park. She drew a map and put a cartoon drawing of Jogger in the corner. The top read “Where’s Jogger?” Each time kids came, they would get a map. The goal was to roam all over the park until they found Jogger and marked him on their map. When they had visited the park and found him four times, they would get a prize.
Alexis couldn’t help but think about the movie she and Kate had seen. The person they thought was so good ended up being the bad guy. It wasn’t too far from what had happened here. She thought Thad Swotter was making trouble because he seemed like the kind of person who would. At the same time, she hadn’t even thought of Jerry or Megan.
She had learned a lot about judging people before she really got to know them. Thad Swotter had ended up helping her, and she found out he could be a pretty nice guy.
At that moment, as Alexis pressed pink impatiens into the dirt, Thad Swotter walked up behind her.
“Is Mrs. Smith here?” he asked. “She’s giving me a tour of the greenhouse.”
“The greenhouse?” said Alexis. “But that’s where—”
“I know, I know,” he said, holding up a hand so he could explain.
“I’ve never really been interested in where things came from,” Swotter said. “You know, creation versus monkeys and all that. But I think the reporter in me is taking over. For some reason, I can’t stand not knowing. Besides, you guys weren’t going to change things around here, no matter what the school board told you. I figure that if you’re not willing to compromise, even with everything to lose, this God of yours must be pretty special.”
Alexis was awestruck. Was this reporter—the man who would do anything for a story—actually saying he was interested in God?
“Mrs. Smith’s in the visitors’ center,” she said. He thanked her and turned away.
“Oh, Mr. Swotter?” said Alexis. He stopped and looked back.
“Yes?”
“I’m sorry we blamed you for moving the dinosaurs and stuff,” Alexis said.
“That’s okay. You were just following your leads, and I shouldn’t have been sneaking around the park in the dark anyway. That wasn’t very honest of me.” He stuck out his hand. “Call us even?”
Alexis shook it. “Even,” she said. Swotter left and entered the visitors’ center.
God was amazing, Alexis knew. He had helped her solve her mystery, provided for the park, and drawn Thad Swotter to Him all at once!
Alexis finished planting her flowers and stood to admire the effect. The new wooden sign glinted in the sun. The message on it had been her idea, and it made her laugh each time she read it:
PLEASE NO WALKING, JOGGING, RUNNING, LEAPING, TRAIPSING, MEANDERING, WANDERING, JUMPING, DRIFTING, HOPPING, STROLLING, SAUNTERING, AMBLING, MARCHING, STRIDING, PACING, HIKING, TODDLING, SPRINTING, LOPING, SCUTTLING, SCAMPERING, DARTING, DASHING, SCURRYING, BOUNDING, OR SKIPPING BEYOND THE PATH! THANK YOU!
Jogger the Raptor wagged his tail and smiled right along with her.
Camp Club Girls:
Alexis and the Arizona Escapade
The Bridge in the Desert
The noon sun shone bright in a sapphire sky. But twelve-year-old Alexis Howell wasn’t paying attention. She stood on the bridge and watched the Arizona heat warping the hills of sand and sagebrush in the distance.
She had never been so afraid in all her life.
Alexis made herself look at the clouds to try to keep her mind off her fear. She liked their shapes, but mostly she was keeping her mind off the water. A crowd of tourists clamored past, and a tall man bumped her into the rail. Her eyes were ripped from the sky as she caught her balance…and looked down.
It seemed like forever to the water below. The
wind blew, lifting her brown ponytail. The bridge swayed. It rocked beneath her feet.
Maybe it will flip over and throw me off, Alexis thought in sudden panic.
Why had she promised to meet Elizabeth here of all places? Why?
Like most children, Alexis had grown up singing the song “London Bridge is falling down….” She’d certainly been surprised to learn that the London Bridge wasn’t in London at all. It was here in Arizona.
Another group of tourists nudged past. A large purse landed with a thud against Alexis’s back, and before she knew it, she had flipped forward. She screamed. She was falling…falling…falling….
“Alexis?”
The vision evaporated. Alexis turned toward the voice that had said her name.
“Elizabeth! I’m so glad you’re here!” She hugged her friend but then couldn’t seem to let go. She clung to her friend like a life preserver.
“I’m glad too,” said Elizabeth in her soft Texas twang, not seeming to notice the tightness of the hug. “This place is beautiful! The water is so calm and peaceful, and the bridge is magnificent! I did think it would be bigger, though.”
“Sure,” said Alexis, who thought the bridge was quite big enough. She released Elizabeth but then held her arm until they reached the sidewalk at the end of the bridge.
The sounds of vacation echoed off the lake. Laughing children, scolding parents, and the sputter of motorboats. Vendors called out, advertising their wares.
“Cotton candy!”
“Funnel cakes here!”
“Hot dogs! Fresh, cold lemonade!”
Alexis had stopped shaking. Now she was simply trying to keep up with Elizabeth. This was not always easy because her friend’s legs seemed twice as long as hers. Elizabeth kept pulling on the bottom edges of her shorts, like they were too short.
“How was the trip?” said Alexis.
“Long,” said Elizabeth. “We drove. We just got here, but I needed a break from my brother. Mom said I could meet you and hang out until dinner.”
“Great! I’ll take you to my hotel. You won’t believe it…. It looks like a castle! It has an amazing pool too. And Grandma got our room for free!”
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