Bailey’s Estes Park Excitement

by Linda McQuinn Carlblom

  “Ha!” Trina laughed. “Missed me!”

  “Ha, yourself.” Mr. Chang laughed. “I got you up.”

  Bailey and Kate had pillows in hand ready to throw but put them back down when the action wound down so quickly. “Shucks,” Bailey said. “We missed our chance.”

  An hour later, they stepped out of the elevator into the hotel lobby.

  The Perkins family was looking at the old Stanley Steamer car in the lobby when the Changs arrived.

  “Will! Great to see you.” Mr. Chang and Will Perkins shook hands.

  “George, I’d like you to meet my wife, Janice, and my sons, Joseph and Justin.”

  Bailey inhaled sharply and elbowed Kate. Joseph and Justin were the two boys Biscuit had nearly attacked in the hall the day before. Good thing they’d taken Biscuit for an early morning walk and left him in the room before coming to meet the Perkinses.

  “It’s a pleasure to meet you,” Mr. Chang replied, shaking each of their hands. “This is my wife, Dory, and my two daughters, Trina and Bailey. And this is Bailey’s friend, Kate.”

  Bailey smiled politely.

  “Hey, aren’t you the ones who had that dog in the hallway yesterday?” Justin asked.

  Mr. Chang cleared his throat. “I guess we are. I’m sorry, I didn’t recognize you. We’re terribly sorry about Biscuit barking at you. He’s a little skittish being in a new place and off his usual routine.”

  “No harm done,” Mr. Perkins assured him.

  Bailey noticed that Justin, the older of the two, was scowling. What’s his problem?

  Her thoughts were interrupted by a friendly looking older man and his wife approaching them. “There they are!” the man said.

  “Grandpa!” Joe ran to the couple, who greeted the boy with warm hugs.

  “Hungry for some breakfast?” Grandpa asked him.

  “Starving!”

  Mr. Perkins introduced his parents, Glen and Clara Perkins, to the Changs.

  “They live here in Estes Park. That’s why I brought the family along,” Mr. Perkins explained.

  “We’re off to have breakfast at the Waffle House,” Grandma Perkins said. “You’re welcome to join us.”

  “George and I need to get to our conference,” Mr. Perkins said. “But maybe Dory and the girls would like to.”

  “That would be lovely,” Mrs. Chang said before Bailey could signal that she did not want to eat with these grouchy boys. She turned her back to the group and rolled her eyes at Kate.

  After getting directions to the Waffle House, Mrs. Chang, Trina, Bailey, and Kate piled into the car. “That was nice of them to invite us to join them for breakfast,” Mrs. Chang said.

  “Nice if you like eating with Oscar the Grouch,” Bailey retorted.

  “Bailey!” her mother warned.

  Bailey looked down at her lap. “But Mom, those boys are so rude!”

  “Maybe they’re not morning people,” Mrs. Chang said.

  “Apparently they’re not afternoon people either, since they were so grouchy yesterday when Biscuit barked at them.”

  “Maybe they’re afraid of dogs,” Trina said.

  “Who could be afraid of sweet little Biscuit?” Kate asked.

  “As I recall, Biscuit wasn’t exactly his usual, sweet little self when he barked at the boys.” Mrs. Chang turned into the Waffle House driveway. “Let’s just give them a chance. We don’t know what’s going on in their lives. Maybe they’re having some kind of problems at home or something.”

  Bailey nodded. She never thought of that.

  “Right this way.” The hostess grabbed menus and motioned for them to follow her to two tables pushed together.

  Bailey sat next to Kate, with Justin and Joe directly across from them. While the adults chatted pleasantly, the children were silent. Bailey cleared her throat. “So how old are you?”

  The dark-haired boys shifted in their seats. They seemed uncomfortable making conversation with the girls.

  “I’m twelve,” Justin said, eyes narrowed.

  “And I’m ten,” Joe added less than enthusiastically.

  “You’re about our ages, then,” Kate volunteered. “I’m eleven and Bailey’s nine.”

  “What about her?” Justin nodded in Trina’s direction.

  “That’s Trina. She’s fourteen.”

  “Umph,” Joe said.

  Whatever that means, thought Bailey. She eyed the boys more closely. They weren’t bad looking. They could even be considered cute if they smiled more. Freckles sprinkled Joe’s nose and round cheeks. Justin’s face was more chiseled and his build was more muscular than his younger brother’s. His eyes burned with anger or hurt or something Bailey couldn’t quite identify. His eyebrows pointed downward in what looked like a permanent frown.

  “Did you hear about the elk problem they’re having?” Kate asked, trying to be polite.

  “Of course we did,” Joe snapped. “Our grandparents live here.”

  “Oh, right,” Bailey said. She added, “Did we say something wrong?”

  “What do you mean?” Justin placed his hands on the table, palms down as if he were about to jump up.

  Bailey shrugged. “Well, you just seem mad at us.”

  “Why should we like you?” Joe scowled.

  “Why shouldn’t you?” Kate smiled in spite of herself.

  “We don’t have anything against you. We just don’t like your dog.” Justin leaned back and folded his arms.

  “Have you had a bad experience with dogs before?” Bailey asked.

  Joe watched his older brother, waiting for his answer. “Maybe, maybe not.”

  “Well, I’m sorry if you did,” Kate said. “Biscuit is a really nice dog, and he’d never hurt a flea.”

  “Whatever.” Justin picked up his menu and hid behind it.

  “Have you eaten here before?” Bailey asked, changing the subject.

  “Our grandparents bring us here all the time,” Joe said, suddenly sounding almost friendly.

  “What do you recommend?” Kate asked.

  “I usually get the Belgian waffles with strawberries and whipped cream.” Joe licked his lips.

  “What about you, Justin?” Bailey asked.

  “I don’t have a favorite,” he said from behind his menu.

  “I’m thinking of the ham and cheese omelet,” Kate said. “Ever had it?”

  Justin lowered his menu slowly. Bailey saw his jaw clench. “I’ve had it and it’s fine,” he said through gritted teeth.

  Were those tears in his eyes? Bailey blinked to see more clearly. Too late. The menu was back up again.

  The waitress took their orders and they ate their breakfast without much conversation.

  Afterward, Mrs. Chang and Trina went to do some shopping while Bailey and Kate took Biscuit for a walk and talked about their strange encounter with the Perkins boys.

  “Something was definitely bothering Justin,” Kate said.

  “No kidding!” Bailey’s eyes nearly popped out of her head. “Did you see when you asked him if he’d had the omelet before? I thought he was going to cry!”

  “We need to get on our Camp Club Girls Web site to let the other girls know what’s going on around here. So far we have elk gone mad, unexplained ghost noises, and two crabby boys who hate us for no reason.” Kate stopped to let Biscuit sniff some bushes.

  “Maybe Justin and Joe don’t hate us, but they sure do act weird,” Bailey said.

  Back at their room, Bailey opened her laptop and signed onto the CCG Web site then clicked on the chat room. Kate pulled out her cell phone and also went to the site.

  Bailey: Hi CCGs. Who’s out there?

  Elizabeth: I’m here.

  McKenzie: Me, too.

  Sydney: Me three!

  Alex: Me four!

  Bailey: Perfect! Kate and I are in Estes Park and have some weird stuff we may need your help with. We’re staying at the Stanley Hotel, which is supposedly haunted. We’ve heard some strange noises and voices and
are trying to find out what causes them. McKenzie: Oooo! Sounds spooky! Elizabeth: How can we help?

  Bailey: We heard the ghost children of the night in our hall last night.

  Kate: I found a wire running along the wall under the wallpaper. It probably goes to a speaker somewhere. It was higher than I could reach, so I lost track of it.

  Alex: Sounds just like a Scooby Doo episode! They always have fake ghosts. Maybe you’ll run into Shaggy and Scooby while you’re there!

  Bailey: Any hints you can give us?

  Alex: I think you’re on the right track with the speaker wire. You just have to find the speaker.

  Kate: I figure it’s probably a recording. Something probably trips a circuit to start it. But what would be tripping the recording to play?

  Alex: Look for a switch of some kind. It will most likely be hidden. Something people would touch unknowingly. Or at least that’s how they did it in Scooby.

  Kate: Great. We’ll look around some more.

  Bailey: We also are trying to find out why the elk (which roam around town just like people!) are suddenly going crazy and are charging for no reason.

  Kate told Bailey, “Tell them about Justin and Joe.”

  Bailey: Kate wants me to tell you about these two boys we met.

  Alex: Oooo! Sounds interesting!

  Kate rolled her eyes at Bailey. Leave it to Alex to get the wrong idea about boys.

  Bailey: It’s not like that. These boys are crabby. Even Biscuit doesn’t like them. We’re not sure what’s up with them, but we hope to find out.

  Kate: Bailey has already nicknamed the older one Oscar the Grouch.

  Alex: And the younger one?

  Bailey: I’m thinking of Slimey, you know, like Oscar’s worm friend on Sesame Street.

  McKenzie: LOL. Maybe they’re insecure and trying to make up for it by being tough.

  Bailey: Maybe. We don’t know too much about them yet except their dad works with my dad and their grandparents live here in Estes Park.

  Elizabeth: Do you know much about elk? What would spook them?

  Bailey: We haven’t researched elk yet. Any volunteers?

  Sydney: I can check them out. My Uncle Jerome lives in a cabin on South Twin Lake near the Nicolet National Forest in Wisconsin and has elk around his property.

  Bailey: Great. Thanks. If anyone reads anything about special effects that could be used to make ghost sounds, let us know. We’ll keep you posted on any new developments. Bye!

  Bailey closed the laptop and sighed. “I wish we could all be together to work on our mysteries.”

  “It’s great that we can at least stay in touch so easy, though.” Kate suddenly sat up straight. “Hey! We never finished exploring the wire we found under the wallpaper last night.”

  “Let’s go!” Bailey was off the bed faster than you could say “ghost children of the night.”

  “You stay here, Biscuit,” Kate said. “We won’t be long.”

  Kate brought along her camera-pen, and Bailey her camera-watch. There were no ghost noises in the bright sunlight of afternoon. A neighboring door opened and Justin and Joe came out, binoculars hanging around Justin’s neck. They stopped short when they saw Bailey and Kate.

  “Hi, Justin. Hi, Joe,” Bailey said. “Where you going?”

  “Hiking.” Justin kept his eyes to the floor.

  “That sounds like fun,” Kate said. “Maybe we can go with you sometime.”

  “Yeah, maybe,” Joe answered, his eyes meeting Bailey’s.

  “We don’t know our way around the trails like you probably do since your grandparents are from here,” Bailey said, trying to build the boys up just in case McKenzie’s idea about them being insecure had any truth to it.

  “Hmmph,” Justin grunted. He pushed past them.

  “What’s that long thing under your jacket?” Bailey asked.

  “Huh? Oh this?” Justin looked flustered and pulled his jacket closed even more. “It’s just my walking stick.”

  Bailey and Kate nodded as the brothers dashed to the elevator.

  The girls turned to each other.

  “That was no walking stick,” Kate said. “It was way too short.”

  “And it looked like it was made of metal.” Bailey frowned.

  “Bailey!” Kate’s eyes were wide with alarm. “I think you’re right! That metal walking stick was really the end of a long gun!”

  The Angry Elk

  When the elevator doors closed behind Justin and Joe, Bailey and Kate went to a hallway window to see if they could spot the brothers leaving the hotel. They were about to give up when the boys came into view and walked across a grassy field into a wooded area.

  “Where do you think they’re going?” Bailey asked.

  “And why do they need that gun?” Kate added.

  Bailey turned from the window and started back down the hall. “Those two are up to no good.”

  Kate followed then stopped. “Bailey, look!” She pointed to a high corner where the hall had a sudden small turn.

  Bailey’s eyes followed Kate’s finger to a flat circle with tiny holes in it. “A speaker!”

  “Exactly!” Kate ran her hand along the wall. “Aha!”

  “Aha what?” Bailey asked.

  “What do you wanna bet our wire ends there? I can see a bump under the wallpaper up higher than I can reach, but then it snakes over from the corner to the speaker.”

  “They probably put it there figuring no one would look up since the hall jogs to the left here. People would have to watch where they’re going so they don’t run into the wall.”

  “Perfect reasoning!” Kate high-fived Bailey. “I mean, look how they wallpapered the edges of the speaker so you barely even see it. A definite attempt to hide it.”

  “If we hear those ghost children again tonight, let’s see if the voices are coming from this speaker.”

  The elevator dinged, and Mrs. Chang and Trina stepped out, arms loaded with shopping bags. “Oh, Bailey! I thought you and Kate were taking Biscuit for a walk.”

  “We already did,” Kate said. “Now we’re investigating the ghost children’s voices we heard last night. We think we may have figured it out!”

  Bailey wound her hand through the crook of her mom’s arm and pulled her toward the corner speaker. “See that flat, round thing up there?”

  “Yeah,” Mrs. Chang said, craning her neck.

  “It’s a speaker,” Bailey whispered.

  “No!” Mrs. Chang responded dramatically.

  Bailey giggled. “Yes!”

  “Does that mean you won’t be spirited away after all?” Disappointment dripped from Trina’s voice.

  Bailey glared at her.

  “Anyway,” she continued, turning back to her mom, “if we hear the voices again, can we come down here to see if that’s where they’re coming from?”

  “I suppose,” Mrs. Chang answered. “But right now I have to go put these packages down. They’re about to break my arm!” Mrs. Chang and Trina wrestled their bags to the room.

  “Wait a minute,” Bailey said to Kate. “We know where the speaker is, but how does it come on? Like, is it on a timer or does it have a motion sensor that sets it off? What trips it to play the sounds?”

  “We’ll have to look for a hidden switch like Alex said.” Kate scratched her head. “That will be our next step.”

  Kate pulled out her camera-pen and snapped a few pictures of the speaker.

  “Now that Mom and Trina are back, let’s go see what they’re going to do this afternoon,” Bailey suggested. “Maybe they would take us into town to do some sightseeing.” Bailey raised her eyebrows at Kate.

  “That would be fun,” Kate agreed. “We haven’t had a chance to see the town of Estes Park yet.”

  “Let’s go ask,” Bailey said, already hurrying down the hall.

  An hour later, Mrs. Chang pulled into a parking place outside a row of shops and Trina, Bailey, and Kate, with Biscuit in tow, climbed out of the car.
A gentle breeze blew Bailey’s hair in her face. She shaded her eyes from the bright sun.

  “Did you see those banners hanging over the street?” Bailey asked.

  Trina looked around. “Which ones?”

  “One said the Elkfest starts tomorrow, and another one said something about a film festival!”

  “Elkfest?” Trina looked at her sister like she had sprouted antlers.

  “I don’t know what it is, but that’s what the sign said.” Bailey pulled out her cotton candy lip balm and generously applied it.

  “I read about that on the Web before we left for our trip,” Kate said. “It’s a celebration of the elk that live here. There are classes, bugling contests, elk tours, entertainment, and all kinds of activities.”

  “Bugling contests?” Bailey asked.

  “That’s the sound the elk make,” Kate informed her. “I guess the contest is to see which person can sound most like a real elk.”

  “Now that would be fun to see!” Trina said, laughing. “Maybe we could get Dad to enter.”

  “I seriously doubt that.” Mrs. Chang smiled. “But it would be funny.”

  “Can we go, Mom?” Bailey pleaded.

  “We can pick up some information about it,” Mrs. Chang said. “If it works out, I suppose we could.”

  “Cool.” Bailey started down the sidewalk with Kate and Biscuit, while Mrs. Chang and Trina trailed behind. They looked in shop windows, exploring the stores that interested them. Elk and bighorn sheep leisurely roamed the streets, not nearly as hurried as the humans around them.

  “Be careful around those animals!” Mrs. Chang yelled ahead to them. “No fast moves that might spook them.”

  “Okay,” Bailey answered, her eyes glued to the window displays.

  “Here’s a rock store!” Bailey squealed. “Maybe I can find a good one to add to my collection.”

  Inside, Bailey buried her hands in the barrels of polished stones, letting them trickle through her fingers, cool and slick. She inspected row upon row of shelves that held rocks and gift items. Impressive displays of quartz, geodes, and turquoise glittered from every aisle. Jewelry cases boasted the authenticity of the gems.

  “Wo-o-ow!” Bailey said, taking it all in. “This must be heaven!”