“You know you could never do anything to make us stop loving you,” his mother said. “Not even this.”
“I know.” Justin’s face relaxed. “You guys are the best.”
Mr. Perkins turned to his younger son. “And Joe. I’m proud of you for not taking part in this. Even though you went with him, you did try to talk him out of it.”
Joe ran to his father’s arms and hugged him.
“However,” Mr. Perkins added, “even if you couldn’t stop Justin, you should have come to Mom or me. You should always speak up and tell an adult if you know someone is involved in dangerous activities. Maybe none of this would have happened.” Justin’s face was white, and Joe’s ears went red. “You will both have consequences.”
A tap at the door shifted their attention in that direction. “Hello?”
“Mom!” Bailey cried, glad to have the tension broken.
Mrs. Chang and Trina entered.
“How is he doing?” she asked.
“The doctor says he’s making progress,” Mr. Perkins said. “His vital signs are good. It’s just a matter of time and healing now.”
“He certainly is in our prayers,” Mrs. Chang said.
“We appreciate that,” Mrs. Perkins replied.
Mrs. Chang turned to the girls. “Kate, are you ready to go get Biscuit?”
“I’m more than ready!” Kate replied. “I can’t wait to see him.”
“Where is that cute little dog?” Mrs. Perkins asked. “On a playdate?”
“Oh no,” Kate said seriously. “He’s at the animal hospital. He was hurt in the stampede.”
“No!” Mrs. Perkins went to Kate and took her hands in hers. “You were kind to come see Grandpa Perkins when Biscuit had an injury to be concerned about. I’m sorry I didn’t know about it sooner.”
“At least Biscuit is recuperating.” Kate looked at Grandpa Perkins. “I wish Grandpa could go home today, too.”
“He’ll be home before we know it,” Grandma Perkins piped in. “And stirring up trouble, no doubt.”
“We’d better go,” Mrs. Chang said. “You girls ready?”
“Yeah,” Bailey said. Then turning to Justin and Joe, she said, “We’ll be around if you want to talk or anything.”
Justin smiled. “Thanks. We just might.”
On the way to the vet, Bailey and Kate told Mrs. Chang and Trina what they’d learned.
“You’re kidding!” Mrs. Chang said.
“Nope. And here’s the cool part,” Bailey said. “We got a chance to tell them about God and how He loves them no matter what they’ve done.” Bailey’s smile was as big as a watermelon slice.
“That is cool,” Trina said.
“What did they say?” Mrs. Chang asked.
“Joe said he always wanted to have faith like that,” Bailey said.
“And I told him God would help him believe if he just asked Him.”
“You girls amaze me.” Mrs. Chang looked at them in her rearview mirror. “I’m proud of you. And I bet God’s smiling pretty big right now, too.”
“I hope so,” Bailey said. “We told them we would be around if they wanted to talk or anything.”
“You’ve done what you can for now,” Mrs. Chang said. “Now God will do His part and help them sort it all out.” She pulled the car into a parking space in front of the animal hospital.
Bailey and Kate jumped out of the car and ran to the door. Mrs. Chang and Trina met them inside.
“The nurse is getting Biscuit,” Kate said. “We already gave them our name.”
Soon, the nurse came out with Biscuit on a leash. He limped on his bandaged paw, but when he saw Kate he hobbled on three legs to her, straining the leash.
“Hey, buddy!” Kate knelt so Biscuit could lick her face. “I missed you!”
“Looks like he missed you, too!” the nurse said. “As you can see, we’ve bandaged his middle so his ribs will heal faster. Since the bandage only sticks to itself, you can remove it in a week or two. Just try to keep him as calm as possible for the next couple of weeks. No jumping up or down onto furniture.”
“What about his paw?” Bailey asked. “Do we need to know anything about that?”
“We had to stitch it up. Remove the bandage tomorrow and see how it looks. If the wound isn’t oozy or bleeding, you don’t need to rebandage it. But if it is, go ahead and bandage it up for another day. I’ll send an extra one home with you.” The nurse handed the bandage to Kate. “Just wrap it with the gauze and tape it so it’s secure.”
“Thank you for taking such good care of Biscuit,” Kate said.
“We were happy to do it,” the nurse replied. “If you have any questions about caring for his injuries, give us a call.”
“We will,” Kate said.
Mrs. Chang went to the counter and paid the bill while the girls headed to the car with Biscuit.
“I can’t believe all that’s happened this week.” Bailey petted Biscuit, who laid his head on Kate’s arm as she held him. “Do we have some things to tell the Camp Club Girls tonight!”
Solutions
Back at the hotel, Kate made Biscuit a little bed of blankets on the floor and gently laid him on it. “I’m so glad to have you back, Biscuit,” she cooed as she stroked his head. “You be a good boy and stay here while Bailey and I call the girls. We won’t be long.”
“Mom, Kate and I are going to sit in the lobby to call the Camp Club Girls.”
“Okay,” Mrs. Chang said and waved them out.
Bailey pulled her phone from her pocket and conferenced everyone in. “We’ve had quite a day,” she told them.
“What’s going on?” Sydney asked.
“Oh, nothing,” Kate answered casually. “We came up with a solution to the elk mystery we’ve been working on all week.”
Four girls screamed, and Bailey held the phone away from her ear and laughed.
“How’d you do it?” McKenzie asked.
“Actually, we figured it out earlier, but we still had to prove we were right,” Bailey said.
Kate laughed and jumped into storytelling mode. “We went to the hospital to see Justin and Joe’s grandpa. Just after we got to his room, the boys went into the hall.”
“We decided to follow them to make sure they were okay,” Bailey said. “You know, in case they were upset by seeing their grandpa or something.”
“We found them in the hall,” Kate said. “We overheard Joe telling Justin that they had to tell what happened.”
“We didn’t know what to do at first.” Bailey took up the story. “But pretty soon we asked if we could do something to help.”
“We got them to tell us what the problem was.” Kate looked at Bailey.
“So? What was it?” Alex asked.
“Justin admitted he’d been shooting at the elk to scare them into stampeding,” Bailey blabbed.
“No way! Oscar the Grouch confessed?” Alex screeched.
“You were right all along!” Elizabeth said.
“I feel bad about calling him Oscar now,” Bailey said. “He’s really not so bad after you get to know him.”
“What about his brother?” McKenzie asked.
“Joe tried to talk Justin out of doing it, and went with him,” Kate said. “So he was involved, but not really.”
“Except by association,” Elizabeth said. “Proverbs says a person is known by the company he or she keeps.”
“Yeah, but when it’s your brother, it’s hard to stay away from him.” Bailey felt sorry Joe had gotten mixed up in his brother’s mess.
“I wonder how they knew where to find the elk,” Sydney said.
“Remember the smelly wallow we told you about that we found on our hike?” Bailey pulled her lip balm from her pocket and put some on. “We realized the boys must be using them to find the elk.”
“But here’s the good part,” Kate said. “We encouraged Justin to tell his parents and told him we’d even go with him. He was afraid to. But then I told him God
would give him the strength.”
“So did he do it?” Sydney asked.
“Yep,” Kate replied. “He walked right in there and told them everything.”
“How’d they take it?” Alex asked.
“Pretty well, considering,” Bailey said. “But they’ll both have some kind of consequences.”
“Guess that’s to be expected,” Elizabeth said.
“Wow,” Sydney said. “You guys have had quite a day.”
Bailey shifted her phone to the other ear. “We got Biscuit back.”
“Already?” McKenzie asked. “How is he?”
“He’s bandaged to keep him from moving too much,” Kate answered. “That will give his ribs a chance to heal. We’re supposed to keep him quiet. We can take the bandage off in a week.”
“What about his foot?” Sydney asked.
“It’s still wrapped up,” Kate replied. “But we’re supposed to look at it tomorrow to see if we can leave the bandage off.”
“Wow, God really answered our prayers that he would heal fast,” Elizabeth said. “I’m still surprised he wasn’t killed in that stampede. God sure watched out for him.”
Kate inhaled deeply. “I’ve thought the same thing. It’s a relief to have him back home. I must have told God thank You a bazillion times already!”
The girls laughed.
“Now we’ll just pray that God keeps working on Justin and Joe,” Elizabeth said.
“Funny how we were so afraid of them before and now we’re hoping they’ll come to talk,” Bailey said. “God sure turns things upside down.”
“I’ve got to go,” Sydney said. “But keep me posted.”
“We should get going, too,” Bailey said. “We’ll let you know if anything more happens.”
Bailey and Kate went back into their hotel room. Biscuit slept on the little bed Kate made him on the floor and hadn’t moved at all. He lifted his shaggy head when they came through the door.
Mrs. Chang was lost in a book and Trina was looking out the window. “Hey, the Perkinses are coming back from the hospital,” she said.
Bailey and Kate went to the window and saw the family walk up to the main entrance.
“Hey, maybe we can introduce Justin and Joe to the ghost in the Music Room tomorrow,” Kate said.
“Mom, can we go ask when they get up here?”
“I think that would be a nice gesture,” Mrs. Perkins said, “just so they don’t wonder if we think less of them after what happened.”
Bailey and Kate waited until they heard the Perkinses’ voices in the hall before going out to greet them.
“We were wondering if Justin and Joe would like to come to the Music Room with us tomorrow,” Bailey said. “There’s a ghost who lives there!”
The Perkins family laughed.
“That would be fun, but we can’t,” Justin said. Then he looked at his parents and gave a sheepish grin. “We’re pretty much grounded for the rest of our lives.”
“Ohhh,” Kate said. “We hadn’t thought about that. Sorry.”
“It’s okay.” Joe elbowed his older brother. “He’s grounded longer than I am. Maybe if you come back again next year about this time I’ll be free to go with you. But Justin probably can’t for a few more years.”
Justin playfully punched Joe in the arm.
“But we told our parents that you talked to us about your faith,” Justin said. “They said we could have you over to talk to us again if you wouldn’t mind.”
“Mind?” Bailey said, her eyes growing to the size of tennis balls. “We’d love to!”
“So that pretty much covers it,” Bailey told the Camp Club Girls. “We’re going over to talk to them tomorrow afternoon, and our parents might even come, too.”
“That is so cool,” Elizabeth said. “You really let your light shine. Knowing Jesus and living a life of faith will be the best solution for their lives.”
“For sure,” Kate agreed. “And thanks to all of us working together, we have a solution to our mysteries.”
Bailey giggled. “I can’t wait to see what our next one will be!”
Bailey’s Estes Park Excitement Page 11