“I just wanted to go home,” Ruthie Harrison said. She sat with her father on a bench near the entrance to the gift shop.
Ranger Harrison cleared his throat and tried to smile. He was obviously upset and embarrassed. “I thought you were having fun here, Ruthie,” he said.
Ruthie shrugged. “It was fun at first,” she said. “But now I miss home. I miss the city, and all my friends.”
Ranger Harrison sighed. “I wish you’d told me,” he said.
“I don’t get it,” Egg said. “Why did you go all this trouble? Why make it look like Lakota ghosts?”
“Yeah,” Gum said. “You didn’t think you’d fool anyone, did you?”
Ruthie shook her head. “I wanted the guards to think the protestors were causing the trouble,” she said. “I figured that way I could get the park shut down, and the protestors would get blamed.”
“But why did you tie me up?” Ranger Harrison asked. “That was you, wasn’t it?”
Ruthie looked at her hands in her lap. She nodded, and a tear fell. “I figured if you were late to the tour,” she said, “you’d get fired. Then we’d have to go back to the city.”
“But you left me there,” Ranger Harrison said. “Someone was bound to find me.”
“I was coming back for you!” Ruthie said. “But when I got to the house, the guard was already banging on the door. I ran.”
The ranger looked at his daughter for a long time. Then he put his arms around her. “I’m sorry, Ruthie,” he said. “I didn’t know how much you missed home.”
I decided Ruthie and her dad should have some privacy, so I grabbed Sam’s elbow and pulled her away. Then I hissed at Gum and Egg to come too. The four of us walked down the hill toward the parking lot.
“So how did you figure out it was Ruthie?” Sam asked. “I was so sure it was the caretaker.”
“The ghost gave it away,” I said. “It always said ‘Go home,’ and that reminded me of Ruthie. I realized how homesick she seemed when we saw her at the gift shop.”
Sam nodded. Then she patted me on the back. “Nice job,” she said.
“Do you think Ruthie will get in big trouble?” Egg asked.
“If I pulled a stunt like that,” Gum said, “I’d be grounded for a hundred years.”
“Look on the bright side, then,” I said. “If she’s grounded, she’ll have to stay in her house.”
“Why is that the bright side?” Sam asked.
I laughed. “Well,” I said, “she sure won’t be homesick anymore!”