Kate had just removed the stack of letters from the desk drawer when she heard the truck’s motor then saw a flash of headlights through the window. Thinking quickly, she noticed a small closet in the corner of the room. Clutching the letters, she moved around a couple of large storage boxes, slipped into the closet, and shut the door. Her cell phone light revealed a large pair of men’s boots with a long overcoat hanging above them. A couple of dirty shovels rested in the opposite corner. She stepped into the boots and slid her body into the middle of the coat, hoping to disguise herself in case someone opened the closet door.
She tried to quiet her breathing and wished she could soften the pounding of her heart. She heard the click of the office door opening then saw light beneath the crack in the closet door. Heavy footsteps were accompanied by whistling… was that a praise song?
The footsteps came toward the closet, and the door creaked open. Kate held her breath and prayed like she had never prayed before. Please, Jesus, don’t let me die. I’m too young to die.
Large hands reached into the closet, grabbed the shovels, and then shut the door. She then heard rustling outside the door and assumed the person was searching through the boxes. She heard a scooting sound, and the light from the crack in the door was covered. After more rustling, the footsteps retreated. The light clicked off and she heard the outer door close. Slowly, quietly, she let herself breathe.
Thank You, God; thank You, God; thank You, God, she prayed. Then she reached for the door handle and pushed. The door wouldn’t budge. Apparently, one of the boxes had been moved in front of the closet door. She was stuck!
Kate took a deep breath and told herself not to panic. She slid to the floor and pulled out the letters. If she was going to be stuck in a dark closet, she might as well make the most of it.
Elizabeth reached for Alex’s hand in the dark. Biscuit nuzzled between the two girls, and Alex scooped him up. Neither girl made a sound as they peered through the small shrub. They watched the truck park. The headlights died. They heard the truck door open, then footsteps, accompanied by whistling. Elizabeth recognized the tune—the campers had sung it that afternoon at the worship service.
The girls heard a door opening. Suddenly light flooded out of the window above them and Alex gasped. Elizabeth held a finger to her lips. The girls remained still as opossums, staring at each other and squeezing hands.
After what seemed an eternity, the light disappeared, the office door opened and closed again, and the footsteps retreated. The two girls sat, afraid to move. Finally Alex whispered, “What do you think happened to Kate?”
“I don’t know. I guess she found a place to hide,” Elizabeth spoke softly. Then she stood to her toes and strained toward the window. “Kate!” she whispered urgently.
No answer.
“Kate! Answer me!” Elizabeth urged.
Still no answer.
The clouds shifted, casting moonlight on the area. Elizabeth looked at Alex and said, “I’m going in. Help me up.”
“What? You can’t leave me out here alone!” whispered Alex.
“I have to. We have to find out if Kate is okay!” Elizabeth answered.
“Well, let’s both go,” Alex whispered back.
“We can’t both get in. Besides, one of us needs to stay here in case something happens,” Elizabeth said firmly. “Now help me up. Please.”
“Okay,” said Alex. “But this is not going like I thought it would.” She clasped her hands and held them down so Elizabeth could use them as a step.
Struggling, Elizabeth wiggled through the window, landing with a thud on the other side. She stood, rubbed her sore backside, and groped through the dark.
“Kate!” she called desperately.
“Elizabeth! Is that you?” Kate’s muffled voice came through the darkness.
Elizabeth stumbled around the room, feeling the wall, trying to find her friend. “Kate, where are you?” she called.
“I’m in the closet. Something is in front of the door!” she called out.
Elizabeth felt around until she located the boxes and the door. It took all of her strength to push aside the large box, but soon the closet door was free. Kate stepped out, and the light of her cell phone cast a soft glow around the room. The girls peeked in the box to see hammers, wrenches, and a pile of oddly shaped metal tools. The girls breathed deep sighs of relief.
“What ha—”
“I was so sca—”
Both girls started whispering at once, and this started them in a series of nervous giggles.
“I can’t believe this is happening. Did you get the letters?” Elizabeth asked.
“Yes, but we need to put them back and get out of here. I used my reader pen and recorded about a dozen pages, but it was dark, and I had a hard time seeing the lines. We may end up with a bunch of gibberish, but hopefully we’ll have something we can use,” Kate told her.
The girls jumped when they heard a voice through the window. “Hey! Are you two okay?” Alex frantically whispered.
“Yes, we’re fine. We’ll be right out,” Elizabeth told her.
Elizabeth turned to Kate, “We’d better go out the window so no one knows we’ve been here.”
Kate hurried to the desk and replaced the letters. They scooted the desk chair beneath the window and climbed back through the opening. Each of them stifled cries of pain as they landed on the scratchy branches of the small shrub.
“Finally!” Alex exclaimed. “I was starting to think you were going to have a slumber party in there!”
In the excitement, they hadn’t heard the sound of footsteps drawing closer. Suddenly, a flash of light shined through the window. “Hey! Is somebody in here?” Mr. Gerhardt demanded from inside the office.
The girls paused. Then, without saying a word, they ran full speed through the darkness. Alex still clung to Biscuit, and they were just rounding the corner when they heard, “Hey! You girls! Come back here!”
The girls ran faster than any of them had ever run in their lives. They were too afraid of what might happen if they stopped!
Finally they arrived back at cabin 12B. Sydney and McKenzie sat on the front steps in their pajamas.
“Oh thank goodness you’re back! We were just trying to decide if we should come after you!” whispered McKenzie. The five girls entered the cabin, three of them holding their sides from the pain of the long sprint. The clock read 12:33 a.m. when the whispers stopped and the girls finally slept.
During Discovery Time the next morning, all six girls dangled their feet from the dock. They had elected Elizabeth to lead them in their devotions, and now they listened to her read the scripture from her Bible.
“Proverbs 10:2, ‘Ill-gotten treasures are of no value, but righteousness delivers from death,’ ” she read.
“I definitely agree with the first part!” said Kate.
“Why?” asked Elizabeth.
“I guess you could call those letters last night, ‘ill-gotten treasures.’ We could have been arrested for breaking and entering! We had no business going through Mr. Gerhardt’s letters, and now they have no value.”
The girls nodded. They had been disappointed that the reader pen hadn’t delivered more information. The closet had been too dark for Kate to run the pen evenly along the lines. Most of the lines were scrambled, and what little they could read was just about prison life.
“Well, we may not have acted in ‘righteousness,’ but it sure felt like we got delivered from death!” exclaimed Alex.
“Oh I know it! I was so scared! I just knew we were going to…” Kate was interrupted by loud squeals from Bailey.
“Eeew! Gross! Get that thing away from me!” she yelled. The other girls laughed when they saw the source of panic. It was a tiny green lizard that had climbed onto the dock and almost into Bailey’s lap.
“Awww, look at him! He’s cute,” said McKenzie. She scooped up the lizard and held him for the others to see.
“Step back, Mac!” squealed Bailey to McKenzie.
Alex, Elizabeth, Sydney, and Kate crowded near McKenzie for a better look, while Bailey kept her distance.
“I wish we could keep him,” sighed Kate.
“No!” said all five roommates. But Elizabeth took the lizard from McKenzie and studied it.
“We can’t keep him. But maybe we should hang on to him for a few hours. I have an idea…,” she said with a mischievous grin.
McKenzie helped Sydney into the saddle of a gentle-looking mare. “This will be fun,” she told her friend. “This will be the first time I’ve gotten to ride the trails since camp started.”
Sydney looked at her freckle-faced friend. “He seems pretty gentle. I’ve always wanted to ride a horse.”
McKenzie chuckled. “She. The horse is a she. Her name is Sugar. I’ve helped Mr. Anzer a few times with the grooming, and she’s a sweetie. You’ll like her.” She then adjusted the saddle on a strong black quarter horse, stepped into the stirrup, and pulled herself into place. “This is Spirit. He’s well trained and full of energy. He reminds me of Sahara, my horse back home.”
The two girls were about to hit the trails when Mr. Anzer and Mr. Gerhardt rounded the corner and approached them. The girls avoided Gerhardt’s eyes and focused on Mr. Anzer.
“Hello, girls,” Mr. Anzer said. “Headed out?”
“Yes, sir,” they responded.
“That’s nice. It’s a lovely day for a ride,” he said with a smile. Then his expression changed to one of concern. “Say, girls, Mr. Gerhardt told me that some campers were fooling around at the golf course late last night. He said he thought it might have been some cabin 12 girls, though he didn’t get a good look. Were you at the golf course after dark last night?” He looked straight at McKenzie then at Sydney.
The two girls looked at each other then back at Mr. Anzer. “No, sir,” they answered.
He eyed them steadily then said, “That’s good to know. You two be careful and have fun!” The smile returned to his face, and he waved as they rode through the gate and toward the trails.
“That was close,” said McKenzie as they got out of earshot. “I wouldn’t have lied to him.”
“Me neither,” said Sydney. “My mom says withholding information can be like lying, though.”
The girls grew quiet, enjoying the beauty of the trails. Suddenly they heard giggling from the trees. Out of nowhere, a fat water balloon exploded on the trail in front of them, spooking Spirit and causing the horse to whinny, rear back, and then take off in a full-speed run. Red hair streamed in the wind as the horse rounded the curve and sped out of sight.
Sydney turned to see Amberlie and her friends running away. She decided she would deal with them later. Right now she had to help her friend.
McKenzie clutched the reins. After a brief scare, she realized the horse was staying to the trails. Eventually they would circle back to the stables. She held her head back, enjoyed the wind on her face, and let the horse run. After a few minutes of a thrilling ride, she felt the horse getting winded. Tugging gently on his reins, she guided him to slow down.
“I don’t know where that balloon came from, Spirit! I’m sorry it scared you,” she told the horse, rubbing him gently behind the ears. “Sydney will be worried. We’d better go find her.”
She gently guided the horse to turn around and head in the opposite direction. Before long, she met Sydney, who was coaxing Sugar into a slow, labored gallop. McKenzie had to chuckle at the sight of her friend bravely coming after her on the slow horse. “I’m okay,” she announced.
“Well, that’s good,” said Sydney. “I didn’t know whether to come after you or to go back and get help. Either way, Sugar doesn’t know the meaning of ‘Hurry up’!”
McKenzie guided Spirit to turn around once again, and the girls continued down the trail. “Did you see who threw the balloon?” McKenzie asked.
“Do you even have to ask?” Sydney responded.
McKenzie nodded. “It’s a good thing Spirit is well trained. That could have been really dangerous.”
“I don’t understand that girl. She’s so fake around the counselors. But she’s the meanest girl I’ve ever seen. I almost feel sorry for her,” said Sydney.
“Yeah, I’d love to know what’s going on inside that head of hers. She obviously has some problems.” McKenzie looked thoughtful.
The two girls settled into a comfortable silence; then Sydney started laughing.
“What’s so funny?” McKenzie asked.
“Elizabeth’s plan. Never in a million years would I have thought Elizabeth was capable of coming up with something so…so…” Sydney searched for the word.
“Naughty?” McKenzie helped her out.
The girls chuckled and talked about the plan for the rest of the trail ride.
The campers had just been released from the evening meeting, and groups of girls were ambling toward the cabins. No one was ever in a hurry to get ready for bed. Amberlie and her roommates were about to turn down the path leading to cabin 8 when Bailey and Alex stopped them. “Amberlie, could I talk with you for a minute?” Alex asked sweetly.
Amberlie looked at the two with a mix of curiosity and suspicion. “What do you want?” she asked. Amberlie’s roommates stood by, listening.
“I was just wondering if you are a cheerleader,” asked Alex.
Amberlie was taken off guard. “A what?” she asked.
“A cheerleader. Are you a cheerleader at your school?”
Amberlie paused. “No,” she said.
“Oh, that’s a shame. You’ve got the perfect build to be a cheerleader. And you’re so pretty. You should think about trying out,” Alex told her.
“Uh, okay,” Amberlie responded. She clearly wasn’t sure how to take the compliment.
“If you’d like, I can show you some moves. Here, watch this,” Alex continued then demonstrated a double forward handspring. “It’s really not as hard as it looks,” she continued.
During this conversation, Elizabeth, Sydney, Kate, and McKenzie watched from behind the trees at the side of the road. When Alex had Amberlie’s full attention, the four Camp Club Girls, along with the lizard, sneaked toward cabin 8.
“Shhhhhh!” Elizabeth told her giggling friends, but she had a hard time controlling her own giggles. She removed a small jar with holes poked in the lid from her tote bag. “You all stay here and keep watch. I’ll go in and put Prince under Amberlie’s covers. She always brings a pillowcase with her name on it, so I shouldn’t have any problem finding her bed.”
“Okay, but hurry!” McKenzie told her. “I’m not sure how long Alex can keep them entertained!”
Elizabeth surprised them by standing tall and walking right into cabin 8 as if she had every right to be there. It took her only a moment to locate the pink, ribboned pillowcase with the name Amberlie embroidered across the top. Carefully, she turned back the covers then gently removed the small lizard and kissed him on the head. “Do your job, Prince,” she said. She tucked the creature under the blankets and smoothed them back into place.
The other three girls stood in the road, trying to act casual. A few moments later, Elizabeth darted out of the building then slowed down. The four girls walked toward their own cabin, trying to control the laughter that bubbled up inside them.
Alex and Bailey caught up with them at their cabin door, and the girls circled toward cabin 8 again. They hid in the bushes outside the windows of Amberlie’s cabin. This would be a show they didn’t want to miss.