Missing Map!
Early the next morning, the chirping birds woke Max. He snuggled down in his warm sleeping bag and thought about the events of the past few days. He grinned as he remembered the phone calls they had made the night before. No one could believe they had discovered so much already. The whole family was planning a trip up to Uncle Jay’s for Labor Day. There was talk about a picnic in the park at Salida. Aunt Maggie said she would call Miss Cox and invite her, as well as her niece and nephew. I hope that Dexter guy doesn’t come. He gives me the creeps.
“Psst, Max. Are you awake?”
Max sat up and looked out the window of the tent.
“Get up. I need to talk to you.” Carly stood outside the tent window, shivering in the cold morning air.
“What’s going on?” Brandon rolled over and rubbed his eyes.
“It’s Carly. She says she needs to talk to me.” Max reached for his jeans. “Come on, get dressed and come with me.”
A couple of minutes later, the three were gathered around the picnic table. Carly sat hunched over, her arms crossed in front to keep warm.
“My Bible is gone,” she whispered. “I left it in the van after church last night. I woke up early and wanted to read it so I came out and it’s gone.”
“You probably put it in your suitcase or something and forgot,” said Brandon. “I’m always putting things somewhere and then forgetting.”
“No.” Carly shook her head. “I left it in the van. I thought I wouldn’t need it before we left this morning, so I didn’t take it inside. My map is in it.”
“Do you think someone took it?” Max asked. “Maybe Grandma took it inside.”
“Or Dorie, trying to keep things neat,” Brandon said. “Don’t get too excited until the others are up. Then we can help you look for it.”
“Okay, maybe you’re right,” Carly said.
Brandon dropped his voice and leaned forward. “What do you guys think of Dexter?”
“He gives me the creeps,” said Carly.
Max sighed. “I’m sure glad to hear you say that. I agree, but after what happened with my suspicions of Slim this summer . . .”
“Slim didn’t like him either,” said Brandon. “He didn’t say anything, but I don’t think he trusts him.”
“What is this pow-wow about?” The three kids jumped as Slim came up behind the cousins. “It’s awful early for you all to be up. It’s only 6:30.”
“It’s my fault we’re up so early,” Carly said. “My Bible is missing and I thought the boys could help me find it.”
After she told him the story, he agreed with the boys. “Let’s wait to get too excited until everyone is up. But in the meantime, let’s go look in the van again. Cleaning it out won’t hurt. Seems to me there’s quite a pile of candy wrappers and pop containers on the floor.”
A thorough cleaning of the van brought no sign of the Bible. However, on the ground outside the van, they found a bookmark.
“It’s my ‘Books of the Bible’ marker.” Carly’s brow wrinkled. “Someone must have had my Bible outside the van.”
“It must be in the camper,” said Max.
“Yeah.” Brandon carried the garbage to the metal trashcan, “I bet Dorie gathered . . .”
When he didn’t finish his sentence, the others turned to look at him. He stood with his back to them and stared down. Slowly, he turned around. “I found your Bible, Carly. In the trash.”
Carly gasped. “In the trash barrel? Who would put a Bible there?” She ran over and took the Bible carefully in her hands. After brushing off the dirt, she opened it then leafed through it. “My map.” Her voice started low and rose to a shriek. “My map—it’s gone!”
“Let’s look some more before we jump to conclusions,” Slim said. They looked through the trash can, under the van, and in the van, and after the others were up they tore apart the tent, their bags, and the trailer. The map was nowhere to be found.
“Hey, Molly, have you seen Carly’s map?” Max asked.
Molly, just returning from the restrooms, shook her head. “No, why?” When they finished telling her the story she shrugged her shoulders. “I haven’t seen it, but someone was here in the night. I heard them.”
“What do you mean?” asked Dorie.
“I heard a door slam,” Molly said. “I don’t know what time it was, but it was still dark. The door woke me up, then I heard an engine, so I sat up and looked out the window. I saw an old pickup.”
“What color?” asked Max.
“I don’t know. It was dark.” She glared at Max.
“Why didn’t you wake me up?” asked Grandma.
Molly shrugged. “I thought maybe it was just someone leaving from one of the other sites. Besides, I didn’t know it was important. I thought I was just noticing details again, like Mom always says.”
No one said anything for a long time.
“Here’s what we’ll do.” Grandpa spoke in a quiet, firm voice. “Slim and I will each keep a map in our pockets so we have one handy. The rest we will lock in the glove compartment of the van. At night, we will lock the van and you girls will lock the trailer door. I’m not sure who would take it, but you all know that map isn’t very helpful as it is. So, let’s quit wasting time. We need to get to Creede, and pronto. Let’s get some breakfast, get things loaded, and get on the road.”
Grandma nodded. “That sounds like a good plan.”
Carly held her Bible to her chest, her head down to hide the tears that threatened to come. She felt Grandma’s hand on her shoulder. “It’s not your fault the map was stolen, Carly. And God knows you didn’t want your Bible in the trash. We need to keep our focus on what we are doing and not let circumstances get us down.” She changed the subject. “Would you make sure one of the walkie-talkies is in each vehicle so we can talk if we need to while we’re on the road?”
Cheered, the kids scattered. Within thirty minutes they had eaten breakfast, loaded the van, torn down the campsite, and were ready to go.
“Carly, why don’t you sit up here?” Grandpa held open the front passenger door of the van and waved his arm at Carly. “You can man the walkie-talkie.”
“Isn’t Grandma going to sit there?” Carly asked.
“I’ll sit back here with the boys,” Grandma said. “That way I can just enjoy the view and don’t have to worry about using that radio.”
“Okay.” Carly climbed into the van and buckled her seatbelt.
Max, Brandon, and Grandma climbed into the back seats, and Grandpa turned the key.
“Slim suggested he should lead the way with the pickup and camper,” Grandpa said. “We’ll be climbing toward the mountains. If he’s in front, it’ll be easier for us to stay together, and if he has trouble, we’ll know right away.”
Carly could see Chad waving out the back window of Slim’s pickup. She waved back. Molly’s head stuck up beside him, and Dorie was just climbing into the front seat.
As they pulled out of Salida, Grandpa said, “Carly, look under the seat. There’s a road atlas under there. Hand it to the boys; they can be our navigators.”
Carly handed the atlas back to the boys then tugged at the shoulder strap on her seatbelt so she could turn sideways in the seat. She watched as Max opened the map. “Slim said we were headed to Poncha Springs, then south,” said Carly.
Brandon looked over Max’s shoulder as they studied the map. “There’s a mountain pass just south of Poncha Springs,” said Brandon.
“How do you know that?” Carly said.
“It says right here, Poncha Pass, 9,010 feet.”
The walkie-talkie jumped to life with static. “We’ll turn up here.” Dorie’s voice echoed through the walkie-talkie. “According to the map it’s only a few minutes until we climb the pass. Over.”
“We saw that on our map too. Over.” Carly grinned at Max and Brandon. “Hey, this is fun, just like in books.”
The climb to the top of the pass was gradual but steady. As they neared the summit, the vehicles slowed until they nearly stopped.
“I hope we make it over the top with both vehicles,” said Grandma.
The walkie-talkie crackled. “Uh-oh, look at that. Someone didn’t make it.” Off to the right they saw a battered, rusty, blue pickup with a dent in the left rear fender. Plastered over the dent was a huge band-aid-shaped bumper sticker. The hood was up, but the pickup appeared to be abandoned.
“The driver must have caught a ride, over.” Carly spoke into the walkie-talkie.
“Yeah, or he’s walking. Over.”
But they reached the top and made it down the other side and clear into Villa Grove without any sign of the driver.