Violet jumped at the sound of the ranger’s voice. She hoped Ms. Thakur hadn’t noticed them looking at the brochure. Violet didn’t want the ranger to think they’d been snooping around her office.
Ms. Thakur went around and sat behind her desk. She opened a drawer and took out four booklets. “I’m so glad you came in,” she said cheerfully. “We need all the help we can get! These are the booklets I was telling you about. You can sit out on the porch and work on them, and if you finish them before I leave, I can swear you in. You can be official junior rangers this very morning.”
“Yes!” said Benny. “I want to be a junior ranger right away!”
“Wonderful. Let’s get you some pencils.” They followed the ranger out of her office. “Leo, would you lend these future rangers some pencils?”
The man handed them four pencils.
“Just bring them back in when you are finished,” Ms. Thakur said.
The children went to the porch and sat down at a picnic bench. The booklets were very interesting. Jessie helped Benny read some of the words.
“I like that there are pictures of different kind of shells with their names listed,” said Violet. “I’m going to try to find one of each kind for my collection.”
“I’d like to see some of the animals that live here,” said Henry. “It says many of them are nocturnal though. It’s probably hard to spot them in the dark. I’m sure if raccoons or coyotes were digging up the eggs, that would be the time when they would do it.”
The children worked through each page. When they were finished, they took the booklets inside and gave Leo the pencils. The ranger came out of her office. “Perfect timing,” she said. “How did you do?”
“We’re all done!” Benny blurted.
“Excellent! Come over here and line up. Now raise your hands and repeat after me: ‘I am proud to be a National Park Service Junior Ranger. I promise to appreciate, respect, and protect all national parks. I also promise to continue learning about the landscape, plants, animals, and history of these special places. I will share what I learn with my friends and family.’”
The Aldens repeated the words. The ranger smiled. “I declare you junior rangers.”
Leo took four park ranger hats from behind the counter and handed them to the children. Then he handed out four badges, each with a picture of a sea turtle and the words Junior Ranger, Padre Island.
Benny was so excited, he had trouble putting his pin onto his shirt, so Jessie helped him. “I’m going to wear it every day!” Benny said. “Even when we get back home.”
“I hope you do,” said Ms. Thakur. “Now I need to go out on turtle patrol. My new junior rangers can come along if they’d like.”
Violet got Watch, and they all followed Ms. Thakur to the beach. It was a nice day but very windy. Benny’s hat blew off, and he had to chase it down. They had gone only a short way before Henry noticed something.
“Are those turtle tracks?” he asked, motioning to two sets of marks in the sand.
“Good eyes,” the ranger said. “They definitely are.”
Jessie followed the tracks up toward the dunes. “I don’t see a turtle,” she called.
“It’s already come and gone,” Ms. Thakur said as she followed Jessie. “I hope the eggs are still there.” The ranger knelt down and dug very slowly. Violet thought it felt like they stood there for a long time.
Finally, Ms. Thakur announced, “They’re here. Would one of you get a cooler from the UTV?”
Jessie ran to get it, and the ranger started collecting the eggs just as she had done the day before. Before Ms. Thakur was finished, Martina and Sandy approached, and Sandy started to dig a few feet away from the nest.
This time, Martina was holding Sandy’s leash, and she pulled him back.
“Look!” said Benny. “Sandy found something!”
“It’s a little red plastic ball,” Violet said.
Sandy barked and wagged his tail. “Good dog,” Martina said. She rubbed the dog’s head and then put the ball into one of her many bags.
Again, Benny thought back to the night before. This time there was no mistaking the voice. It had been Martina and Sandy walking along the shoreline!
“Sandy sure likes to dig,” Benny said. “He must be good at finding things.”
“Yes, he…” Martina trailed off. “I mean, maybe he is…I can’t say I’ve ever noticed.”
Benny wanted to ask Martina more about how Sandy had found the red ball. And about why they had been out in the middle of the night. But before he could, Ms. Thakur spoke, “See what I’m doing?” The ranger was moving the last couple of eggs from the nest to the cooler. “This is very important. I’m not turning the eggs over. We need to keep them right side up. If they aren’t kept this way, they might not hatch.”
Ms. Thakur finished explaining the process, and then Martina and Sandy continued down the beach. The children followed the ranger back to the UTV. As they went, Benny noticed the turtle tracks had disappeared. “Where’d they go?” he asked, looking around.
“The wind blows the sand and erases the tracks,” Ms. Thakur explained. “It makes it very hard to find nests that aren’t marked. That’s why we put the rope into the nesting site or mark them with flags.” She lifted the cooler into the back of her vehicle. “Would you like to see the incubation area? It’s my favorite place in the station. You can learn a lot more about the turtles.”
“Yes!” Jessie said. “We’d like that.”
“Terrific! Meet me back there, and I’ll show you around.” The ranger drove off, and the Aldens walked back in the direction of the station.
When the children got there, they tied Watch’s leash to the railing. He lay down to wait for them. Inside, Leo led them into a back room where Ms. Thakur was working. It was full of different kinds of equipment and containers.
“It takes quite an effort to get them to hatch,” Ms. Thakur said. “When we have eggs here, we sometimes take turns spending the night. We get up every few hours and spritz water on them. The ones nearing the end of the incubation period need fans put on them. We also monitor temperatures and check to see if any eggs are close to hatching.”
“That is a lot of work, but it sounds exciting,” Jessie said.
“It is very exciting,” said Ms. Thakur. “And it’s interesting to watch. Each baby turtle has one small tooth, called a caruncle, just to help them break out of the shell. Since we hatch the eggs here, the turtles get a little time to rest after all that effort. Then we release them at the beach.”
Ms. Thakur checked a thermometer on one of the containers and wrote a number on her clipboard. “I’ve got some paperwork I have to do. Thank you all for your help. If you want to keep looking for turtles, there are some orange flags in a bucket on the front porch. You can take a few.” She pulled a card out of her pocket. “If you spot a turtle, mark the nest, and then call this number. A ranger will come out and take care of the eggs.”
The children walked toward the main entrance. “Can we look at the guidebooks before we go to the beach?” Violet asked. “I want to see if they have one about the birds on Padre Island.”
While they were looking at the display of books, the front door opened. Martina and Sandy came in. Martina didn’t notice them. She walked up to the counter and spoke to Leo. Because the store was so small, the children couldn’t help but overhear her.
“I’d like to buy one of those white foam containers the rangers use,” Martina said.
“I’m sorry. We don’t sell those,” Leo told her. “We have our own supply for the eggs, but we get them in town. I’m sure you could find one at a store there.”
“I really want one just like yours,” Martina said. “A used one would be perfect. I’ll pay extra for it.”
Leo shook his head. “I’m sorry. We don’t have any for sale, new or used.”
“That’s too bad,” Martina said. She sounded disappointed. “I could really use one.”
“I’m sorry,” the man said again.
Martina frowned. “Come on, Sandy,” she said, and then she turned and left without another word.
Once Violet had paid for her book, the Aldens went outside too.
“I wonder why Martina wanted a cooler so badly,” Jessie said, untying Watch from the porch.
“Maybe she wanted a container to keep all the things she found on the beach in,” Violet suggested.
Henry got two orange flags out of the bucket. “Maybe. It is strange though. If she is the person taking the eggs, it would be much easier to carry them in a cooler than in one of her bags.”
“That’s not the only thing,” said Benny. “When Martina was talking, I recognized her voice from last night. I think it was her and Sandy on the beach!”
“Something strange is going on,” said Jessie. “But we still need more information before we can come to any conclusions.”
Henry nodded. “In the meantime, let’s go save some turtles!”
