Rusty and I decided to take a jog down to Chuck and Carmie’s house to see some super-huge Dahlia flowers that Chuck told us about at lunch. We took off down the hill from the lodge, and it didn’t take Rusty long to get ahead of me with those long legs of hers.
I pumped my arms a little harder and tried not to appear winded.
“So, how have you been, Rusty? I’m sorry I missed the softball tournament. The Half Dome hike was a little harder on me than I thought it would be.” That was mostly true, but Rusty could never know the half of it. For now, she could only know that I was tired and sore and didn’t make it out of bed in time to play.
Rusty slowed to a walk and pulled her long, reddish-brown hair to one side of her neck. “The first game was terrible. TJ was so mad that you weren’t there, I think she lost her concentration and pitched a lousy game. Then, I let a ball go through my legs which scored the winning run for the other team. I didn’t think she’d ever talk to me again.”
“I’m so sorry. I wish I had been there.”
“It’s okay.” Rusty smiled. “We ended up winning the tournament.”
“No way.”
“Yeah, I sorta got on a hitting streak. I pounded a walk-off home run in the next game, which got us back on track. You should see the trophy, it’s huge.”
I remembered back to some of those winning moments in softball. They were so fun. Would I ever get to do that again?
“So, TJ must have talked to you after that, right?”
“Yeah, she apologized for being mean. I think she’s just so competitive that she loses track of what’s important. I wish she had decided to come here with me.”
“You mean she had a chance to come?”
“Yeah, your mom invited her, but she didn’t want to miss the first game of All-Stars.”
“Yep, that sounds like TJ. She’ll never miss a game. But I wish she was here.”
“Me too. But, hey, I came.”
“And I’m glad you did.”
I smiled and looked down at the Riley Mae Teal and Steal shoes that Rusty was wearing, and I remembered how cool it was that God helped me get those for her since her dad couldn’t afford them. And that reminded me about a lesson I learned at church from Ephesians 6:15 in the Bible. It says, “For shoes, put on the peace that comes from the Good News so that you will be fully prepared.” The verse isn’t so much about real shoes, but more about sharing Jesus wherever we go. I’d been calling them the “Good News Shoes.” I wondered if that was why Rusty was here in Montana — so I could share more about Jesus with her. I just wished I had a clue about how to do it.
We walked a little ways more and then stopped in front of Chuck and Carmie’s cute little cottage. Rusty looked around. “So where are all the huge flowers?”
“I’m not sure. I would think they’d be right out here in the open.”
We did see a couple of deer grazing in a bed of green stalks.
I scratched my head. “I wonder —”
“Hi there!” Hope poked me in the back, which made me jump. “Do you want to play hide-and-seek with us?”
I turned and was surprised to see all three sisters. How had they snuck up on me? You’d think I would have heard a giggle or something.
“NO way,” I said, and then I turned to Rusty. “I’ve been trying to find them for two weeks. They have way too many hiding places!”
“But we want to play with you guys,” Hope whined.
“That’s fine with me,” Rusty said. “What can we do instead of hide-and-seek?”
“We can go scare the boys,” Grace said.
Faith frowned. “Mother would not like that.”
“But they will not tell Mother because they will be too embarrassed to tell her they were scared by girls.”
“That is true,” Faith said. “But it would not be nice.”
“But it would be fun,” Hope smiled.
I liked these adventurous little girls.
“Let’s go find the boys,” I said.
We spent what seemed like a half-an-hour looking for Brady and Sunday, and we almost gave up until we spied them hiding behind a big storage box a few feet from the boat house. They kept poking their heads out and pointing toward the trees which lined the other side of the lake.
“They are looking for Mary-Bear,” Faith said. “She sometimes comes down to that side of the lake in the late afternoon to eat berries from the huckleberry bushes.”
“Should we be leaving then?” Rusty looked worried.
“Oh no. Mary is not dangerous. She minds her own business, as long as we stay out of her way. The one we need to watch out for is Herod-Bear.”
“Herod?” Rusty said. “That’s a funny name for a bear.”
“He is crazy,” Hope said as she made googly eyes.
Faith explained. “We named him Herod because he is the meanest person we could think of from the Bible. The rangers have been trying to capture Herod and take him far into the woods so he does not hurt anyone. So far, he has only clawed at some of our buildings.”
“And he broke my favorite canoe right in half,” Grace said with a frown.
I suddenly wanted to go inside where there were no bears.
“Herod has not been around for a long time,” Faith said.
That didn’t change my mind.
“Hey, would you girls like to go play in the game room with us?” I asked.
“Yes!” They all ran up toward the lodge.
“They have a game room too? This place is crazy nice,” Rusty said.
“Yeah. We can play pool, ping-pong, board games, darts. And there’s a hot chocolate machine!”
“So we better get in there quick.” Rusty took off running. Of course, she beat me up the hill.
I guess the boys weren’t going to get scared . . . today.