Alexis

by Erica Rodgers

  “That was Randall,” said Chad. “The hunter you girls saw in town the other day. He comes up here sometimes to look at Kellie’s new statues. But why didn’t he let us know he was here? He usually likes a friendly chat. And I don’t know why he left so fast.”

  Kellie gasped.

  “I do,” she said. “He heard us talking, and he might have peeked in and seen the hair we found in the cave.”

  “What do you mean?” said Alexis.

  “The missing hiker—she had blond hair.”

  Man-Eating Monster?

  “That hunter is sure going to cause a stir now,” said Kellie. “If he thinks Bigfoot is responsible for the missing hiker, he’s going to want to find him. He’ll use this as an excuse to go on the warpath against Bigfoot even more. And Randall isn’t known for his patience. I think he’ll shoot first and ask questions later,” she said.

  “Maybe he’ll miss,” Alexis offered hopefully.

  “I wish, but I doubt it,” Kellie said unhappily. “He’s the best shot for miles around.”

  She didn’t say anything else, but Alexis knew what she was thinking. If the hunter found Bigfoot, the animal would be in trouble. And what if that hair really did belong to the missing girl? Could Bigfoot really have taken her? If so, why? And would he have harmed her?

  Rrrrrmmmmbbbmmm.

  The group had turned to go back into the shop when a deep rumble made them look toward the mountain. The gray sky turned almost black, and the ground rocked beneath their feet.

  “Oh, no,” said Rick. His cell phone started ringing like crazy. “Get in the truck!” he yelled as he answered his phone. “Hello?”

  Alexis followed Chad and Kellie to the truck after she grabbed her video camera. She jumped in the backseat and pulled McKenzie in with her. Rick jumped in just before Kellie closed her door.

  “Oh no, I left my keys in your kitchen,” he said.

  “No time to go back now!” Kellie exclaimed as Chad roared out of the parking lot and drove as fast as he dared down the winding road toward town. No one said a word, but Kellie looked worried. When Rick finished his call, she turned toward him.

  “How bad?” she asked.

  “Not as bad as I thought it would be,” said Rick. “We’re still here, aren’t we?”

  He turned around to Alexis and McKenzie. “The mountain erupted, but it’s okay. It was only a small crack, and all it did was let out a small ash plume. See?”

  Rick pointed out the windshield. Chad had just turned on the windshield wipers, but it wasn’t raining. Tiny flakes of gray ash were sprinkling the truck.

  “Mom was right,” said McKenzie. “It’s just like gray snow!”

  “We’ll go into town anyway,” said Chad. “I’m sure they want us to evacuate, right, Rick?”

  “Yep,” said Rick. “My boss said everyone should be gone by tomorrow morning.”

  “Where will everyone go?” asked Alexis.

  “To family or friends,” said Kellie. “My dad lives in Olympia. That’s not too far away. Chad and I will stay with him a bit until it’s okay to come back. When we get to town, I’ll call and make reservations for you two to fly home. Then I’ll drive you all to the airport tomorrow.”

  “Alex, we shouldn’t have any problems getting you home since you live to the south,” Kellie added. “McKenzie, last time the mountain blew, the clouds of ash went to the east, so if we have strong plumes of ash and they go to the east, we may have a challenge getting you home right away.”

  “You can’t take us to the airport!” said Alexis. “Not right before all the action!”

  “She’s right!” said McKenzie. “We don’t want to leave yet!”

  “You may not have a choice,” said Chad. “I doubt that your parents will like you hanging around this close to a volcano that could really blow any moment.”

  Alexis frowned out the window. She knew they were right. Her mom worried all the time anyway. She would not want to let Alexis stay this close to St. Helens. Alexis would call her when they got to town. Maybe her mom would let her stay in Olympia with Kellie, just until she was supposed to come home. She really didn’t want to leave early.

  As they pulled into the town, Alexis noticed that everything was closed up tight. But fortunately, warm lights from the diner shined into the street.

  Chad pulled the truck into a parking space in front of the diner.

  “We left our lunch on the table back at Kellie’s,” he said. “Anybody up for a burger?”

  “I’m famished!” Kellie said.

  “I’m so hungry I could eat a bear,” Chad announced. “Or something of that magnitude. Just not anything as big as Bigfoot.”

  All five of them went in and got a table. Alexis shook the ash from her dark hair and looked around. Rosa was their server today. She dropped off their menus and spoke to Kellie.

  “Good timing, Kellie, honey,” she said. “I’m glad you came to town. There’s going to be a town meeting tomorrow. I guess they’re going to tell us to get out of here.”

  “Thanks, Rosa,” said Kellie. “We’ll just hang out here until things settle down.”

  “How worried did your boss sound, Rick?” said Chad.

  “Oh, he’s going nuts. He says if the mountain blows again like it did in 1980, there won’t be much of it left.”

  “That would be awful!” said McKenzie.

  “Yeah,” said Alexis. “They’d have to start calling it Crater St. Helens.”

  This made everyone smile. Even Kellie, who seemed really nervous, chuckled.

  “If that happens,” said Rick, “I’ll make sure you get the credit for coming up with the name! But I don’t think he really believes it’s going to blow like that. I don’t think anyone is predicting that this will be a major eruption. We’ll have a better idea in a couple of hours.”

  Rosa came back with their drinks. She gave Alexis her Dr Pepper and asked, “Are you all ready to order?” They nodded.

  “I’ll have the avocado burger, please,” Alexis said. She handed her menu to the waitress and looked around. “Why is the restaurant so empty? I thought there would be people everywhere, with the eruption and all.”

  “Well,” said Rosa, “most of the tourists are already gone.”

  “That was fast!” said McKenzie. “The eruption was only half an hour ago!”

  “That’s true, but Mr. Randall ran into town about an hour ago with some crazy news. He was ranting and raving about a man-eating Bigfoot. That scared people out of their socks, and most of the tourists were gone before the eruption even happened.”

  “Man-eating Bigfoot?” said Alexis.

  “That’s what he said,” said Rosa. “There was something about new evidence too. Can’t blame the tourists for leaving. Between an erupting volcano and a man-eating monster, who would stay? I was nervous myself, coming into work today. But you know Sam.” She turned to the girls. “He’s the owner,” she told them.

  Chad laughed. “He’s not about to miss out on the potential of last-minute money coming in, is he?”

  “Nope. He won’t close the diner if there’s a chance that one little ol’ customer might walk in. Shoot, he’d serve Bigfoot himself if Bigfoot held out a quarter,” she announced. “I think he figures all the scientists on the mountain and the news crews and all those people are gonna need something to eat, and he’s planning on providing it. They’re not the types to tote their lunch boxes up the hill with them.”

  “He’s not worried about getting caught in a major eruption?” McKenzie asked.

  “Shoot no, honey,” Rosa said. “He says he’s lived here all his life, and he made it through the 1980 eruption, so he can survive anything.”

  “Besides, he’s too mean for anything to happen to him,” Chad announced loudly.

  “I heard that, Smith!” A loud voice came from the office. “You’d better watch it, or I’ll be mean enough to tell my chef to put hot pepper in your burger!”

  Rosa laughed. She turned around
and took their orders to the chef in the kitchen.

  “Better watch it. The walls have ears around here,” she said as she walked away.

  “Speaking of walls having ears, if Randall has spread the word about the hiker, it sounds like he did hear us,” said Chad. “Kellie, are you okay?”

  Alexis saw that Kellie’s hands had begun to shake.

  “It’s okay, Kellie,” said McKenzie. “We’re all afraid for that poor missing girl.”

  Kellie nodded, but Alexis thought she knew what was wrong. Sure, Kellie was worried about the hiker, but she was also worried about Bigfoot. What if the animal her father had searched for his whole life—the animal she loved—ended up being a monster? It wasn’t fun to think about.

  While they waited for their food, Alex went to a private corner of the restaurant and called her mother. She explained the situation and told her mother that they’d know within a couple of hours if the eruption was expected to be serious.

  “If we have to evacuate, can we at least go on to Olympia with Kellie?” she begged Mrs. Howell.

  Mrs. Howell paused. “Well, okay. But you keep in touch with me and keep me informed on what’s going on,” she directed.

  “I promise, Mom,” Alexis said. “You’re so cool! This is one of the reasons I love you so much!”

  “My goodness, talk like that and you can have anything you want!” Mrs. Howell said with a laugh.

  Alex motioned for McKenzie to join her.

  “Mom said it was okay,” Alexis reported.

  “Well, if your mom agreed to it, it should be a cinch for my mom to say yes,” McKenzie reasoned. And sure enough when she filled her mom in on the details and told her Mrs. Howell felt comfortable, McKenzie’s mom agreed too.

  When the girls returned to the table, they found their hot food waiting.

  Surprisingly, it was a quiet meal. Kellie had apparently mentioned the Camp Club Girls and their mysteries to Chad and Rick. The men were surprised to hear about all the cases the girls had solved and all the adventures they’d enjoyed.

  “So will this trip end up in the Camp Club Girls’ annals?” Chad asked.

  “Maybe…what are annals?” McKenzie asked.

  “Basically a record of events,” Rick explained.

  “Oh, probably. That is, if we solve the mystery,” McKenzie added.

  “What mystery is that?” Rick asked. “Being so close to the eruption is quite an adventure, but I don’t know if it’s really a mystery.”

  “Oh no, not that,” McKenzie said. “The mystery we’re working on is about Bigfoot!”

  Suddenly, Chad started choking. He coughed and coughed but couldn’t dislodge the food that was causing the problem inside his throat.

  “Oh no! He’s starting to turn blue!” Alexis exclaimed. She knew from health class that when a person was choking on food, it blocked the air passage. Without air, a choking person could experience brain damage in moments.

  “Chad, are you okay? Chad!” Kellie’s distress showed not only in her face but in her voice too. “Does anyone know how to do the Heimlich maneuver?” she called out.

  Alexis knew basically what the Heimlich maneuver was. You stood behind the person who was choking, and put your arms around him or her. Then you sharply put pressure on the diaphragm to hopefully push the food out. But Alexis sure couldn’t remember where the diaphragm was!

  “Here, I know,” Rick said, jumping out of his chair and running around the table to where Chad sat, still coughing. “First let’s try some back slaps.”

  Rick sharply pounded his palm on Chad’s back.

  Whack! Whack! Whack!

  At about the twelfth whack, Chad suddenly was able to take a breath. He coughed something into his napkin.

  The girls, Kellie, Rick, Rosa, the cook, and even Sam—who’d come out from the office—all breathed a sigh of relief together.

  Chad coughed lightly a few more times and took some sips of water.

  “Are you going to be okay now?” Kellie asked.

  “Sure,” Chad said, his voice squeaking a bit. “Sam, what are you putting in those burgers these days? Nearly killed me, man!”

  But Alexis wasn’t so sure it was something in the burger. She’d happened to be looking at Chad when McKenzie mentioned the Bigfoot mystery. That’s when his eyes had grown big and startled. And the choking hadn’t happened for a few minutes later. What about the idea of the girls solving the Bigfoot mystery had startled or upset Chad?

  As the group got up to leave a few minutes later, Rick got another phone call.

  “I have to stay here and meet my boss,” he said. “I’ll come by later to get my car.”

  “Okay,” said Kellie. “We’re going over to the ranger station before heading home.”

  They waved goodbye to Rick and then ran across the street. Alexis and McKenzie held napkins over their heads to keep the ash from getting in their hair, but it didn’t help much. When they got inside the station, Alexis looked at McKenzie and laughed.

  “You look like you have a million more freckles!” she said.

  “You’re not any better!” McKenzie said. She reached up and wiped Alexis’s cheek and then showed Alexis her fingers. They were covered with the gray soot-like material.

  “Great,” said Alexis. “Now I’m all smudged.”

  “Reminds me of our fireplace,” McKenzie said. “It’s just like the ash the wood leaves behind.”

  “Well, I guess that’s pretty accurate,” Kellie said. “It is ash. But it can be really dangerous. We’re only getting a few occasional flakes in the wind right now. If you’ll notice, it’s not steady. If it were any heavier, we would have already had to get out of here. It’s not just a mess that gets in your clothes and hair. Any heavier and it might hurt our skin.”

  “Not only that,” Chad added, “but ash can be very dangerous for breathing. It can get into lungs and really clog them up.”

  “Bailey wouldn’t do well with her asthma, would she?” Alexis noted.

  “No, it would be really dangerous for anyone with asthma or any kind of breathing problems,” Chad told them.

  Kellie was at the front desk trying to get someone’s attention. Everyone in the ranger station was running around like they were in a hurry but had no idea where they were going.

  “Excuse me!” Kellie finally yelled. “Can someone please tell me where Ranger Davis is?”

  “No need to shout, Kellie.” Ranger Davis waltzed out of his back office with a smile on his face.

  “You always did like catastrophes, didn’t you?” said Kellie.

  “Shame on you, Kellie! Of course I don’t like catastrophes. But it is nice to have some action around here, that’s for sure.” He winked at Alexis. “So what brings you down here?”

  “I was just checking in. Do you need any help? You know, with the evacuation and all?”

  “Not really,” said Ranger Davis. “I know it looks crazy around here, but we’ve done this before. I’m about to ride out and make sure the campgrounds are evacuated. You just make sure you’re out of that shop of yours by tomorrow morning. Noon at the latest, understand?”

  “Yes, sir,” said Kellie. “Oh, and we found something you might need to see.”

  “The hair? I know. Randall’s already been in here.”

  “So do you want it, sir?” asked Alexis.

  “No. You keep it for now. The police might want it when things settle down. If you see the sheriff, you can give it to him.”

  “Randall isn’t giving you a bad time about this Bigfoot thing anymore?” said Kellie.

  “Randall’s giving me an evil time about it. He swears Bigfoot ate that missing camper. He says he’s the only one who can track it down. I told him to calm down. That hair could be a man’s hair for all we know.”

  “What did he say about that?” said Chad.

  “He yelled that men don’t have long blond hair.” The group busted out laughing. All of them were looking at Chad, who had shoulder-length blo
nd hair that most girls would kill for.

  He wasn’t laughing.

  “Oh don’t get mad!” said Ranger Davis, smacking Chad on the shoulder. “It’s just Randall. He didn’t mean anything by it.”

  “So you don’t think he’ll do anything about Bigfoot?” asked Kellie.

  “Kellie, we don’t even know this is Bigfoot,” said Ranger Davis. “But no, I don’t think Randall will break the law and hunt in a national park. Why don’t you go on home and start packing. Hopefully, the mountain will calm back down, and everything will be back to normal in a week.”

  Ranger Davis nodded to each of them and disappeared back into his office.

  When they got back to the house, Kellie and Chad started packing the statues that hadn’t sold yet, as well as any other valuables in Kellie’s house and shop.

  Alex and McKenzie helped cover Kellie’s kiln. “It’s too heavy to move,” Kellie said with a sigh. “So if we cover it well, even if the area ends up getting coated with ash and lava, it should be okay. After all, it’s built to withstand heat.

  “I don’t think they’re expecting the eruption to affect this area too much, even if it’s strong,” she added. “But even if the forest falls around us and destroys the building, the kiln would probably survive. It’s an old, heavy-duty one!”

  After helping Kellie, Alexis and McKenzie ran to their cabin and threw on their pajamas before firing up the computer. McKenzie logged into the Camp Club Girls site while Alexis got them each a Coke from the mini-fridge. She found a bag of mini Reese’s Peanut Butter Cups in the fridge too. She opened it and grabbed a handful before deciding to just take the whole bag. They were so good when they were cold!

  Sydney was already waiting online. As the girls greeted her, she opened her mouth in a massive yawn.

  “What’s up?” she said. “You do know it’s eleven o’clock at night here, right? I had softball practice for four hours this afternoon.”

  “Thanks for coming even if you’re tired,” said McKenzie. “We really need you guys!”

  Elizabeth’s face was next to pop up onto the screen.