“Oh, goody. Something else to look forward to,” said Mal.
“Well, I don’t know why you’re getting eaten up,” spoke up Claudia. “Nothing’s bitten me yet. I don’t think I’ve even seen a mosquito.”
“Me neither,” said most of us.
“I’m surprised,” said Sam from behind me. “I mean, I’m surprised Stacey hasn’t been bitten. Mosquitos like sweet blood.”
“Oh, barf,” muttered Kristy, and added, “I guess you’d know, wouldn’t you, Dracula?”
Sam laughed. “I am a man of many secrets.”
“Man? You don’t even shave yet,” said Kristy.
“Knock it off, you two!” called Mrs. Brewer. (She didn’t even turn around. I guess she has what Stacey calls Mother Radar.)
David Michael, jogging along next to me, let out a snort of laughter. Then he turned to Nicky and Linny and said, “What do you guys want to do this afternoon? Go swimming, maybe?”
“Nah, too cold,” replied Linny, at the same time that Nicky exclaimed, “Yeah, go swimming! I want to dive off the dock.”
Linny and Nicky looked at each other. “The water isn’t cold,” said Nicky. “I tested it this morning.”
“So did I. It’s freezing,” Linny replied.
“Wimp,” said Nicky.
I waited for Mrs. Brewer’s Mother Radar to kick in. It didn’t. But Mallory’s Big Sister Radar did. “Nicky!” she exclaimed.
“I’m sorry.”
“Say it like you mean it.”
“I’m sorry, Linny.” (Nicky shot a dirty look at his sister.)
“You two have been crabbing all day,” observed Mal.
“All day yesterday, too,” added Charlie, who had ridden in the Pink Clinker with them. “What’s eating you guys?”
“Nothing,” they answered.
“Mary Anne? Can we go swimming?” Karen asked me, speaking for the Three Musketeers. “Even if the water is cold, we don’t care.”
“No, we don’t care,” echoed Hannie.
“Traitor,” whispered Linny to his younger sister.
Hannie stuck out her tongue.
“Hey! We are supposed to be on vacation,” said Charlie. “I mean, we are on vacation. So you kids can start having fun any time now. I give you permission. Trust me, everyone will be happier if you settle down.”
“To answer your question, Karen,” I said, “yes, we can go swimming.”
“Yeah!” she shrieked. “Let’s go right now. We Musketeers are wearing our bathing suits under our clothes! We are ready for anything.”
“Hold it!” I put my hand in the air. “Not yet. You just ate.”
“Oh, bullfrogs,” said Karen, which made everyone laugh.
An hour later, I was sitting on the end of our dock (well, not our dock, because it didn’t belong to me at all, but you know what I mean) dangling my feet in Shadow Lake. Around me were Karen, Nancy, and Hannie. They were swimming like fish, jumping into the water from the dock, paddling around, clinging to the float that hovered nearby, diving underwater. The water wasn’t very deep, but it was deep enough for the girls to perform some acrobatics. They decided to put on a circus.
“Come in the water, Mary Anne!” called Nancy. “We need a ringmaster.”
“I better not,” I called back. “I’ll be your ringmaster from the dock. How’s that?” I have a little problem with the sun. I have this incredibly fair skin, and I never tan. The only thing that happens if I try to soak up some rays is that I burn and then peel, which is not particularly attractive. So I was dressed in my sun outfit: a long-sleeved shirt, jeans, sunglasses, and a straw hat. I was covered with sunblock (just in case) and my nose was a white triangle, because it was gooed up with Noze-Coat.
Guess what. My outfit was not the weirdest one in sight. Mallory’s was. When we had returned to the cabin after lunch she had decided to arm herself against the Shadow Lake insect population, so she was also wearing a long-sleeved shirt and jeans, and she had fashioned a headdress for herself by draping a dish towel over her head, and then putting on a baseball cap. Plus, she had sprayed herself with Bug-Off, so she didn’t just look funny, she smelled funny, too.
Mal and Jessi were supervising Andrew and Emily who were trailing Kristy, who was trailing Dawn and Stacey on their monster hunt. I took my eyes off Karen and her friends long enough to glimpse Stacey, who was holding her hand to her forehead and gazing across the water.
“Yo!” shouted Stacey. “Look out there! In the middle of the lake.”
“Yo?” repeated Mal.
“She’s from New York,” I heard Kristy say to Mal, who nodded knowingly.
“What do you see?” asked Dawn, instantly on the alert.
“A big dark shape.”
“A shadow!” shrieked Dawn. “Shadow Lake is full of mysterious, unexplained shadows!” She shaded her eyes, too, and then said, sounding awed, “Oh, my lord. That’s no shadow. That looks just like Nessie.”
It was Stacey’s turn to act surprised. “Nessie?”
“The Loch Ness Monster. That’s her nickname.”
“Nessie is a close, personal friend of yours?”
“Stacey. The Lake Monster is out there. I think that’s a little more important than —”
“You goon!” cried Stacey. “There’s nothing in the lake except the lake. And maybe some shadows. I was just teasing. I don’t see anything.”
“There’s nothing in the lake,” said Kristy, “except the lake … and this boat.”
“What boat?” asked Jessi.
“There is too a monster in the lake,” said Dawn.
“Show him to me,” demanded Stacey.
“What boat?” asked Jessi again.
“He’s right out there,” said Dawn. “Just look. See that — that thing?”
“That boat?”
“No, it’s a monster.”
“Is that the boat you’re talking about, Kristy?” Jessi wanted to know.
“It’s a monster!” exclaimed Dawn.
Kristy looked totally frustrated. “Not that boat. And it is a boat, Dawn, not something alive. Anyway, I meant this boat.” Kristy pointed under the dock. Sure enough, hugging the shore in the darkness under the planks was an outboard motorboat. A little speedboat. No one had noticed it until now.
In the excitement over the boat, everyone forgot about the Lake Monster for awhile. We gathered at the front of the dock and peered over the edge.
“Is it ours?” I wondered. “Does the boat go with the house?”
“Don’t know,” answered Kristy, “but I’ll find out.” She jumped in the water. (She was wearing her bathing suit.) We watched her make her way under the dock, then tug on a thick rope. Presently the boat came into view, and Kristy called, “It must belong to us! I mean, to Watson’s aunt and uncle. It’s called Faith Pierson. That’s their first names combined.”
“Awesome!” said David Michael. “Let’s take a trip around the lake.”
“How?” asked Kristy. “Do you know how to drive this thing? Because I don’t. Not yet. But I bet Mitch or someone could teach me.” Kristy was off and running. Literally. She found Watson. Then she found Mitch. When she returned to the dock, it was with the news that Faith Pierson was kept in good working order, and that Mitch could teach Kristy how to use the boat with just a few lessons.
“Can I learn to drive the boat, too?” asked David Michael.
“I doubt it,” said Kristy. “You can ask Mom, but I bet she’ll say no. I bet she and Watson will make up some kind of age rule.”
Which was exactly what happened. Watson and Kristy’s mother came to the dock and stood around with Mitch, looking at Faith Pierson and asking questions like how big is the motor. After a long time they decided that anyone over twelve could drive the boat if they took lessons from Mitch first, and that of course no one could even ride in the boat without a life preserver. Then they wandered off with Mitch who was going to show them where the life vests were kept.
“You kn
ow what would be cool?” said Kristy who was now sitting on the dock, just staring at the speedboat. “If we could take the boat out to that island” (Kristy pointed across Shadow Lake to a green lump in the distance) “and explore it. Maybe have a picnic or something.”
“Are you crazy?” exclaimed Dawn. “Explore it? The island? That thing surrounded by Shadow Lake? I bet the island is haunted. Not to mention we’d have to navigate past a lake monster to get to it.”
“Um, excuse me,” I said. I glanced around. Panic rose in my throat. “Excuse me, has anyone seen Karen or Nancy or Hannie recently? I think they’re missing again.”
This morning, my friends and I found two secrets in the woods. The woods are right behind our cabin. We found the secret house and the secret garden while we were supposed to be taking a walk with Mary Anne who was our baby-sitter that day. Only she was not with us. Somehow she got lost from us. We were not scared, though.
I was the one who saw the house first. Okay, it was not exactly a house. It was more of a shed or a shack. And it was falling apart. But we could fix it up. It could be our beautiful hidden playhouse. Hannie and Nancy and I could go to it to escape from the boys. (David Michael and Nicky and Linny were being gigundo pests.) Plus, we could play house.
But we did not get to stay in the woods long that morning. We were called back to the cabin by Mary Anne and Stacey.
“Where were you?” Mary Anne cried.
We had just come out of the woods. But in case Mary Anne had not noticed, I said, “In the woods.”
“Well, don’t run off again without telling me where you are going.”
“Okay,” I answered. But I felt a knot in my tummy. That was because I was lying. I knew I would not tell anyone when us Three Musketeers were going to our secret place. If I did, then our place would not be secret.
* * *
That day we ate lunch at the Shadow Lake Lodge. The lodge is kind of like a restaurant and a store and a place to have fun, all at once. Actually, it is like a hotel, but without rooms to sleep in.
Anyway, I simply adore eating in big dining rooms. And the dining room at the lodge was enormous. It was as big as a school cafeteria. But it was much prettier. Also, I did not feel any tacky old gum wadded up under the chairs. And no food was stuck to the ceiling. I guess people do not have many food fights in the lodge dining room.
Hannie and Nancy and I ordered hamburgers and French fries for lunch. We felt very grown-up because Daddy let us sit at a table all by ourselves. We pretended we were Lovely Ladies, and we ate our hamburgers with our pinkies in the air. Also, we ate our fries with forks instead of with our fingers. We hoped everyone was watching us.
“This hamburger is scrumptious,” said Nancy. “I must ask for the recipe.”
“And these fries are delightful,” added Hannie.
“Yes. Not too hot and not too cold,” I said. “And not too greasy.”
“Yoo-hoo! Lovely Ladies!” called David Michael from another table.
“What?” said Hannie.
“Ignore him!” I whispered loudly.
“Have a Lookie!” David Michael opened his mouth wide. It was full of chewed-up food. He closed his mouth and grinned.
“Ew,” cried Hannie and Nancy.
“I told you to ignore him,” I said.
So we did. It was the only way we could be true Lovely Ladies.
Guess what happened after lunch. Kristy found a boat. It was tied up right under our dock, and we did not even know it. It was named Faith Pierson and Mitch said he would teach Kristy how to drive it.
Finding the boat was fun, but my friends and I wanted to go back to our secret hiding place. We had been thinking about it ever since we had found it. While everyone was talking about Faith Pierson, we were talking about the secret house and the secret garden.
“We need some nails,” Hannie whispered to me. “And a hammer. And some paper towels and stuff to clean with. And a rake for the garden.”
“I know. We have a lot of work to do,” I replied. I looked around. Kristy and her friends were peering into the boat. So were Daddy and David Michael and the boys and everyone.
It was a good time to escape.
“Come on,” I whispered to Hannie and Nancy. “Let’s go.”
We tiptoed off the dock. We snuck back to the cabin. No one was paying even a teensy bit of attention to us. So we raided the cabin. When our arms were full with cleaning things and tools and the rake, we darted into the woods. Once, I peeped over my shoulder. No one was behind us. I could not see anybody. They were probably still on the dock. Perfect.
Nancy was the first one to reach our secret house. “You know who I feel like?” she asked. “Snow White, that’s who. I feel like I’ve found this dirty old cottage in the woods and the dwarfs live here, only I don’t know that because I haven’t met them yet. And soon they will come back from the mines or wherever they work, and I will clean up their cottage for them.”
“Cool,” I said.
We began to work. First we swept out the shack. Dirt and dust blew all over the place. I watched it float out the door in the sunlight. Then we wiped off the table and chairs. The shack looked a little better. But it was not very cheerful. Mostly, it was brown.
“The windows need curtains,” said Nancy.
“Everything needs paint,” said Hannie.
“Maybe the windows would look better if we washed them,” I said. I began to wipe the glass with a square of paper towel. And what did I see when the first window pane was clean? A face. A face was looking in at me through the clean window. Its eyes stared right into my eyes.
I screamed.
The person behind the face screamed. Then a voice said, “Karen?”
“Mary Anne?” I replied.
The face left the window. Mary Anne appeared in the doorway. “Karen!” she cried. “Hannie! Nancy! What are you doing here? You ran off again. I told you not to go anywhere without telling me first.”
“But this place is supposed to be a secret,” I replied.
“Our secret house,” added Nancy.
“And our secret garden,” said Hannie, pointing outdoors.
“I don’t care. You may not keep disappearing like this. I’m responsible for you,” Mary Anne said. “And just this morning, Karen, you promised —”
“I know,” I interrupted. “I’m sorry.” I paused. Then I went on. “But we do have a reason for keeping secrets. Do you want to know what it is?”
Mary Anne nodded. She was still standing in the doorway, hands on hips.
“We don’t want the boys to know about this house,” I told her.
“The boys?”
“Well, really just David Michael and Nicky and Linny. They will want to play here, too. But we want to play house here.”
“And fix up the garden,” said Hannie.
“Like Mary and Dickon in The Secret Garden,” I added.
Mary Anne smiled. “The Secret Garden,” she repeated. “I love that book. I’ll tell you what, you guys. Now that I’ve found your secret house and secret garden anyway, why don’t I tell the grown-ups about it? Also Kristy and the rest of my friends, since they baby-sit for you, too. Then you tell one of us when you want to come play here by yourselves. But none of us will tell the boys. That way, we’ll know where you are, but your secret will be safe from the boys.”
I thought about Mary Anne’s offer.
“Is that okay?” I whispered to Nancy and Hannie. They nodded. “All right,” I said to Mary Anne. “It’s a deal. And, um, I really am sorry we ran away again. We did not mean to scare you.”
Mary Anne let us play in the woods by ourselves then. After she left, the Three Musketeers took turns raking the garden. We pretended we were on the moors of England. We pretended we were waiting for Dickon to pay us a visit.
“Mom? What are you doing?” I asked. It was the middle of the afternoon. My mother was in the kitchen, barefoot, wearing only her bikini bathing suit and a long shirt which belonge
d to Watson. (I, for one, do not wear bikinis. I do not think anyone should, really, especially if they are past thirty. But, in all honesty, my mom looked pretty good — for an over-thirty mother. Maybe I will wear a bikini one day, but only after I actually have a chest. When you’re as flat as I am, there is no sense in wearing a skimpy little top. Why should I, when I don’t even need a bra yet? At the rate I’m growing, though, I probably won’t have a chest until I’m, like, twenty-eight, and then there’ll just be a measly two-year window of time in which to find and wear a bikini.)
Mom was opening and closing cupboard doors and scanning the contents of the refrigerator. “I thought we’d eat supper here tonight,” she said.
“Not at the lodge?” We’d eaten lunch and dinner at the lodge every day since we’d arrived at Shadow Lake.
“We need a change. I’m a little too familiar with the menu at the lodge. Besides, Watson thought a barbecue would be fun.”
I thought a barbecue would be fun, too. I thought eating at the lodge that night with just my friends would be even more fun. So did Mary Anne and Stacey and Jessi and Claud and Mal and especially Dawn, since she’s a vegetarian and never fares very well at barbecues. What’s she supposed to do? Grill lettuce?
So I asked Mom and Watson for permission to eat at the lodge instead of staying at home and joining in the barbecue. I kind of made Dawn’s problem a little more dire than it really was, considering she could have eaten salad and corn-on-the-cob while the rest of us scarfed up meat.
At any rate, permission was granted. Late that afternoon, while Watson and Nannie piled charcoal briquettes into a pyramid in the grill, and Mom and David Michael began to concoct their “secret” barbecue sauce, the members of the BSC closed themselves into the girls’ dorm.
“Why?” I asked.
“So we can get ready for dinner,” replied Stacey. She might as well have said, “Where did you leave your brain, Kristy? In the lake?”
“What’s to get ready? We can go as we are.”
“I am not going anywhere with Mal,” said Claudia, “until she gets rid of that.”