Ghost Town

by Annie Bryant

“Maeve, Mom’s calling,” Sam told her.

  “I know, I know. Take care of Marcia and Jan for me, okay?” she instructed as she opened the door.

  Maeve was a little surprised to see her father still sitting in the kitchen. She hadn’t known he was coming by today.

  “Maeve,” her dad began with a small smile, then stopped when he saw her downcast expression.

  “What’s the matter, sweetheart?” asked Ms. Kaplan, her face filled with concern.

  “Isabel has no money for the trip and we just can’t leave her behind. It would be so tragic for her,” Maeve explained with a dramatic flourish. She slumped down in the kitchen chair and sighed.

  “I think we might possibly have a solution,” Mr. Taylor said with a wide grin. “Your mother and I were a little concerned about the money as well, but we will contribute half the money for your trip . . .”

  “And you will have to earn the other half yourself,” Ms. Kaplan added firmly.

  Maeve looked at her parents and gulped. “I have to earn one hundred dollars?”

  “If you want to go on the trip . . . yes,” her dad confirmed with a nod.

  “Before the trip or after the trip?”

  “Before the trip, of course,” Ms. Kaplan emphasized. “You can’t spend money that you don’t have.”

  “But it’s only ten days away!” Maeve exclaimed. “How can I earn a hundred dollars in ten days? And how does that help Isabel?” she asked, searching her parents’ faces for answers.

  Ms. Kaplan’s mouth curled into a smile. “Actually, your father and I have an idea.”

  Maeve looked over at her father.

  “I was thinking of hosting a Western Movie Festival at the Movie House next weekend. Just because everyone seems to be in a western type of mood. What if you set up a little stand with refreshments for all the moviegoers? It would be a good experience for you to organize a menu, buy food within a budget, and serve the guests,” Mr. Taylor said.

  “Menu? Budget?” Maeve asked. She was an idea person, not an organizer!

  “Well, you have to figure out the food costs and make a budget before you can sell anything,” Ms. Kaplan pointed out.

  “We have some money from season ticket sales that I’ll lend you for purchasing the food and beverages. So, whatever profit you make after you subtract your expenses, you can keep,” Mr. Taylor said with a smile.

  “But, what about Isabel?” an anxious Maeve insisted. She just couldn’t let her friend down. Her father stood up and gave Maeve a hug.

  “Honey, I am so proud of you for thinking about your friend too. Why don’t you girls do it together?”

  Maeve smiled up at her dad as her head began spinning with visions of one hundred dollar bills. This might just work. “Thank you! THANK YOU!” she exclaimed, giving them both a hug and a kiss on the cheek before racing for her room.

  “Don’t go overboard and bite off more than you can chew,” her mother called after her.

  Maeve didn’t have time to respond to or even think about her mother’s comment. She had to call Isabel immediately and let her know that now maybe they could both earn the money for the trip. If they worked together, it would be a piece of cake. Hah, literally! Maeve thought with a giggle.

  As she popped a Swedish Fish in her mouth, Maeve thought of her friend Ethel Weiss. Owner of Irving’s Toy and Card Shop, where Maeve constantly restocked her supply of Swedish Fish, Ethel was a great businesswoman. She’d be so proud of me, Maeve thought happily.

  They were all going to Big Sky Resort after all. It was just a matter of time and hard work and planning and good food. Maeve couldn’t help letting out a squeal as she grabbed the phone.

  CHAPTER

  3

  Cowgirl Up!

  Sunday night was Family Night at the Summers’ house, and Family Night dinners were always scrumptious. Tonight it was roasted chicken, a huge, fresh chopped salad—Katani’s personal favorite—with Patrice’s balsamic vinaigrette, mashed potatoes and gravy, and spinach au gratin, topped off with Mrs. Fields’ homemade sweet potato pudding.

  “I have an announcement,” Mr. Summers proclaimed as soon as they started passing dishes. “Katani has been offered the chance to visit a dude ranch in Montana.”

  “A dude ranch in Montana? The Wild Wild West?” Mrs. Fields marveled. “Sounds like a wonderful educational opportunity!” In addition to being Katani’s grandmother, Mrs. Fields was also the principal of Abigail Adams Junior High School.

  “Dude ranch? Dude ranch? Is that a place for cool dudes?” Kelley asked, drizzling dressing onto her salad. Katani’s fifteen-year-old sister Kelley was autistic, which meant that she had trouble communicating and interacting with other people and often seemed much younger than her age.

  “We have brochures for you to look at after supper,” Katani told Kelley.

  “Montana . . . Fontana. That sounds far away. How are you going to get to Montana?” Kelley asked.

  “She’ll fly in an airplane,” Mrs. Summers said.

  “NO WAY!” Patrice complained. “I can’t believe that Katani is going to get to fly before I do! That’s unfair.”

  “Mr. Ramsey is a travel writer and he’s writing an article for a magazine about kids’ experiences at this resort. He worked it out with the magazine so that Charlotte and her friends could go on this trip with him and be part of his research. The magazine is picking up expenses,” Mrs. Summers explained.

  “How long is she going to be gone?” Patrice asked as she furiously buttered a potato roll. Katani couldn’t help but feel a tiny bit bad that her big sister seemed so envious.

  “A week,” Katani told her. Patrice and Katani often competed with each other, but this time Katani sympathized with Patrice. Missing out on a trip to a resort was huge.

  “A week!” Patrice exclaimed, dropping her knife to her plate with a clunk. “My little sister gets to spend a week at a dude ranch while I’m stuck here? You know what that means! I’ll be babysitting Kelley every single day!”

  Kelley dropped her roll onto her plate and glared at Patrice. “Babysit! You do NOT babysit, Patrice! You Kelley-sit,” she said, sticking out her lower lip and crossing her arms in front of her.

  “Sorry, Kelley,” Patrice mumbled. “You’re right, I Kelley-sit. And we have a lot of fun, right?” Sometimes it was hard to be patient with Kelley, but all of the Summers sisters tried their best to help Kelley out and be cheerful about it.

  As Mr. and Mrs. Summers went on about the plans for the upcoming trip, Kelley pushed away from the table and returned with Mr. Bear, her favorite stuffed animal.

  “Here, Katani,” Kelley said, shoving Mr. Bear into Katani’s lap. “Mr. Bear can stay with you so you’re not sad.” Suddenly, her voice changed and her lip quivered. “You don’t have to go away. I don’t want you to go away!”

  “Katani’s not sad.” Mrs. Summers looked over at her daughter. “Are you?”

  “You have been surprisingly quiet through all this,” Mrs. Fields noted. “What’s going on, Katani?” she asked her granddaughter.

  “Well, I was excited about the trip, but . . .” Katani trailed off.

  “You do want to go on this trip, don’t you? Montana is a beautiful part of the country, and you’ll get to experience life in the West with all your friends. It’s really quite a wonderful opportunity,” Mrs. Summers said.

  “It’s not that I don’t want to go. It sounds amazing. It’s just that . . .”

  “Are you afraid to fly?” Patrice asked.

  “No! Not at all. It’s just . . .”

  “Mr. Bear can go with you if you are afraid to be away from home,” Kelley comforted her.

  “Thanks, Kelley, but it’s not about being homesick or anything. It’s the whole two hundred dollars thing,” Katani finally admitted.

  “But I thought the magazine was paying for everything,” Patrice said.

  “Mr. Ramsey said that the girls should bring two hundred dollars for spending money,” Mr. Summers said.
“Katani, you have more than enough in your savings account to cover that.”

  “I know. I know. But I’m not sure that I want to dig into my savings for this trip,” Katani explained.

  There was complete silence around the table. The family was too dumbfounded to respond.

  Patrice folded her arms and started to smirk. “Are you serious, Katani?”

  Katani rolled her eyes. “What? I’ve worked hard to earn that money! I’ve been selling my scarves for a couple of months now and I’ve been saving that money for the future . . . here, let me show you.” Katani got up from the table and came back with her business notebook. There were the figures, in black and white. “See, if I put money into my savings account every month and then the money gathers interest, I’ll have just enough money to launch my design business by the time I turn twenty-one.” Katani was determined to be a big-time international designer with her own Kgirl Fashion Empire someday. Taking out two hundred dollars now would only set her back from her goals.

  “An international design business? When you’re twenty-one?” Patrice scoffed.

  Katani said nothing in response. She felt her cheeks grow warm and crossed her arms in front of her to keep her hands from shaking. Patrice could make her so mad sometimes.

  “Now, Patrice. You should respect Katani’s ambitions,” Mrs. Fields chided. “Have you ever heard the story of the ant and the grasshopper? The ant works and toils and saves up his food and lives comfortably through the winter. The grasshopper spends all his time chirping and singing and when the winter comes, he has no food saved. Katani is right to think carefully about how to spend her money.”

  “Katani, perhaps we can finish this discussion after dinner in the living room,” Mr. Summers suggested.

  “Meaning, I’m not going on a dream vacation and I’ll have to do the dishes, too,” Patrice grumbled. “Unfair.”

  “I believe it was your turn to do the dishes anyway.” Mrs. Summers flashed her stern lawyer look at Patrice, who clamped her mouth shut and moved some spinach around her plate with her fork. Nobody talked back to Mrs. Summers.

  After the dishes were cleared, Katani and her parents moved to the living room.

  “Your father and I appreciate that you have respect for money and that you work hard and save so carefully,” Mrs. Summers began.

  “It’s very admirable that you have such lofty goals,” Mr. Summers added. “Especially for someone your age.”

  “But this is a once-in-a-lifetime experience,” Mrs. Summers continued. “You’ve worked very hard in school this year. Don’t you think you deserve a nice vacation?”

  Katani hadn’t been thinking about it that way.

  “I don’t want to intrude, but I thought I could offer some help.” Mrs. Fields poked her head into the living room.

  “Of course, Mom, come on in.” Mrs. Summers motioned Mrs. Fields into the room.

  Mrs. Fields dug fifty dollars out of her purse and handed it to her granddaughter.

  “Grandma Ruby, no . . . no, thank you. I don’t want to take any money from you or Mom and Dad,” Katani said, gently pushing her grandmother’s hand back.

  “Katani, I am your grandmother. I want to give this money to you. It’s an investment,” Mrs. Fields said firmly.

  “What?” Katani looked puzzled.

  “An investment in your future. I’m banking on my money having great returns,” Mrs. Fields said with a smile.

  “I don’t understand.”

  “Travel is broadening. It’s inspiring. It’s as necessary for a young up-and-coming designer as money in a savings account,” Mrs. Fields told her.

  Katani blushed. It felt good to know that her grandmother believed in her.

  “You are going to come back from this experience rejuvenated. They call Montana Big Sky Country, you know. You’ll get inspiration from that big sky and the beautiful rolling hills. And the people! The people you’ll meet there will be different from folks in Boston.”

  “Really? What will they be like?” Katani asked.

  “I’ll be waiting for you to tell me all about them.” Mrs. Fields smiled.

  Katani couldn’t help but smile right back.

  “All work and no play makes Katani a dull designer, to put my own twist on an old phrase. Your designs should reflect a life full of wonder and adventure. This is an amazing opportunity for you, Katani. Carpe diem—seize the day!”

  “Besides,” Mr. Summers added. “You’re twelve! You’re supposed to have fun when you’re twelve! There’s plenty of time later for you to worry about finances.”

  “Like when you have your own daughters in college,” Mrs. Summers added with a laugh.

  Kelley came into the room, holding out Mr. Bear to her sister again. “Hey, Katani, Mr. Bear wants to visit the dude ranch with you.”

  Katani wasn’t sure how Kelley sometimes knew just the right thing to say. She often thought Kelley understood what was going on better than most people.

  “So, what do you say? Are you going to Montana?” Mrs. Fields asked.

  “Yup!” Katani announced. “I’m going to Montana!”

  “Yay!” Kelley cheered. “When are you going?”

  “During school vacation.” Katani’s eyes widened. “Whoa! That’s less than two weeks away!”

  “But Katani . . . my horse show is in two weeks!” Kelley cried out. “Katani, you can’t go in two weeks. You can’t miss the horse show! Wilbur will be so sad.” Wilbur was the horse Kelley rode in the therapeutic riding program at the High Hopes Riding Stable.

  Katani hadn’t realized until that moment that the two events would overlap. She suddenly felt panicked all over again. How could she leave Kelley at a time like this? The show was being put together for all of the kids with disabilities at the stable, and Kelley had been looking forward to the whole family being there to see her ride. Plus, Katani had wanted to help out at the event.

  “Don’t worry. I’ll be there, Kelley,” Patrice said from the doorway. Katani wasn’t sure how long Patrice had been standing there. “And I’ll borrow my friend’s video camera. We’ll videotape the whole thing, and Katani can watch it when she gets back.”

  Kelley still looked a little skeptical.

  “You’ll see, Kelley. We’ll all be there to cheer you on. I bet Candice will even come home from college,” Patrice said, giving Kelley’s hand a squeeze. “Katani will be sending you cheers, too . . . all the way from Montana!”

  Kelley’s grimace slowly turned into a grin. “Okay,” she conceded, “but Katani, you have to watch my Wilbur video the minute you get back.”

  CHAPTER

  4

  The Big Idea

  Whoa! Maeve, slow down,” Avery said between bites. “You lost me somewhere between Cary Grant and mucho spending money.”

  “Hey! You’re the one who wanted me to hurry up!” Maeve protested. She checked her watch. Yikes! With all their different after-school activities, she was able to get only fifteen minutes with the BSG at Montoya’s to brainstorm for the Western Movie Festival.

  I guess that’s just life when your friends are very busy and important, Maeve thought to herself with a smug smile.

  “Maeve and Isabel need help raising the two hundred dollars for the trip,” Katani explained matter-of-factly. “So we’re all going to pitch in by setting up a food table at the Western Movie Festival this weekend.”

  “Oh! That does sound cool!” Avery motioned for Maeve to continue.

  “As I was saying,” Maeve said, taking a deep, dramatic breath, “I thought we could have a real hoedown.”

  “A hoedown?” Isabel asked. “Isn’t that, like, a square dance or something?”

  “You know what I mean—a western theme. I loved the way Charlotte decorated her place for the brunch. Imagine the Movie House like that—bales of hay, red bandanas, cowboy hats. Ooh, I have this sequined cowgirl outfit from my dance class that’d be perfect!”

  “Maeve, I’m not sure the decorations and costumes
are what we should be worrying about right now,” Katani started to say.

  The girls exchanged looks as Maeve presented her to-do list with a grand “ta-dah!”

  “Maeve, there are like twenty-five different things there,” Charlotte exclaimed.

  “I have an idea. Why don’t we just stick to snack food?” Isabel suggested. “People love to grab quick snacks at the movies.”

  “But . . .” Maeve protested, afraid that her dream of a western hoedown feast was being swept away like popcorn on the Movie House floor.

  “Maeve,” Katani said, “the point here isn’t to throw a huge party with gourmet food. It’s to raise as much money as we can in a short amount of time. So I say we pick things that are cheap and that we can sell for a good profit. And we can all wear bandanas!”

  Maeve looked at Katani like she was speaking Greek.

  “Trust me, Maeve,” Katani reasoned. “In this case, less is definitely more.”

  “Elena Maria makes a great homemade salsa. And tortilla chips from warehouse stores are always super cheap,” Isabel recommended.

  “Great idea!” Avery agreed. “Your sister’s salsa rocks!”

  “And she also makes the best jalapeño cornbread,” Isabel proudly assured them.

  “Hey, I bet my brother would help us. He makes the most awesome cookies and cupcakes,” Avery added.

  “Your brother would really do that?” Maeve asked.

  Avery nodded slyly. She knew Scott would be willing to help out if he heard Elena Maria was involved. Avery had heard him on the phone with his friend the other day talking about how cute Elena was.

  Maeve was still disappointed that she wasn’t going to serve ribs and corn on the cob. And even if they couldn’t get bales of hay, she was going to wear her cowgirl outfit no matter what. “Okay, it’s tutor time. I gotta run,” Maeve announced, gathering her things and zipping her backpack. “Think of some ideas, okay? And thanks so much for your help, everybody. You guys are the best.”

  “How are we going to get this all together?” a practical Charlotte asked after Maeve left.

  “Hey, we can use my house,” Avery offered. “We have a huge kitchen! Besides, since Scott will be doing the baking, he’ll probably want to use the oven he’s used to,” she said.