“Wonder who that is?” Dan brushed dirt off his jeans as yet another car pulled up to the lodge. “Isn’t that your kid?”
“Where?” Bucky watched as the car stopped. A dark - haired boy climbed out and looked over at him.
“Alex!” With a happy grin Bucky bounded over to the car. “It’s great to see you!” He slipped his arm around the boy. “Is this your dad?”
“Uh huh.”
A thin man with wiry features climbed out of the car and came toward them.
“Hi. I’m Bucky Stone, Alex’s counselor.”
The man shook his hand. “Hello.” He had a shy demeanor much like his son’s. “I . . . uh, thanks for helping with Alex. And everything.”
“Well, I was happy to have him as one of my boys,” Bucky told him. “And I’m sure glad how everything turned out.” He faced Alex. “Are you OK?”
The boy nodded. “Yeah.” A troubled look came into his eyes. “My mom . . .”
Bucky held his breath.
“They put my mom in the county jail.” The child looked up at Bucky, his eyes suddenly glistening. “I probably won’t ever live with her again.”
“I know. I’m sure sorry.” How could a kid go through so much turmoil? Being afraid of his mother. . . and missing her at the same time? “But you hang in there.”
“I will.”
With a wistful smile Bucky watched as Alex showed his father around the camp. He could hear the child’s high - pitched voice fading out as the pair walked down to the lake. “And I got up on skis. It was really fun! Mr. Stone said I did pretty good and everything . . .” Bucky looked over at Dan and grinned.
Dan chuckled. “You and me, Stone. I told you we’d be great.”
“Yeah.” Bucky accepted Dan’s high five.
Suddenly Dan’s amusement turned into a full laugh.
“What’s so funny?”
The stocky counselor cocked his head toward the front gate. “More visitors.” He jabbed Bucky on the arm. “I guess this must be a lucky day for one Mr. B. N. Stone.”
“Huh?” Even before he turned to look he could hear Tracy’s characteristic giggle. The pretty redhead, wearing a black T-shirt and Giants baseball cap, waved as she came toward him. “Hello, Mr. Stone.”
“Don’t forget what I told you,” Dan reminded. “Peace Through Strength. Hang tough, Buck.”
The abrupt emotional shift left him dazed for just a second. A fragmented memory of Lisa flickered in the back of his mind. Despite his earlier resolutions, it still felt awfully good to see the bubbly girl walking in their direction.
“Don’t you worry none about me.” Bucky shot his friend a tiny scowl as he walked up the road to greet her.
• • • • •
Bucky Stone Book #9
Fire in Paradise
By
David B. Smith
Contents
Chapter One: Ready For the Senior Year
Chapter Two: Panthers Are In!
Chapter Three: Look Who’s Back in Town
Chapter Four: Not the Same Girl Anymore
Chapter Five: A Fleabag Hotel in Paradise
Chapter Six: A Surprise on the Beach
Chapter Seven: Slippery Answers
Chapter Eight: Postgame Party For Two
Chapter Nine: Into the Flames
Chapter Ten: Playing on an Empty Tank
Chapter Eleven: Turning Point in Room 1929
Chapter Twelve: A Real Friend
Chapter One: Ready For the Senior Year
Bucky’s little white Toyota began to shake imperceptibly as the speedometer crept past seventy miles an hour for the second time in the past five minutes. “Stupid!” he muttered to himself, easing his foot off the accelerator. Traffic always zipped along on Interstate 80, and it was all too easy to be the “fastest in the fast lane,” as Dan Litton boastfully proclaimed himself. Even an older model car like Bucky’s seemed to head right for the seventies whenever he got out on the freeway – and today the road was wide open.
Still, high speeds and full - blast air conditioning combined to really knock down a guy’s gas mileage, and Bucky wasn’t about to turn down the AC. It was a hot August afternoon in northern California and the wide expanse of dark - gray asphalt seemed to bounce the heat right into his front window.
The summer program at Sierra Pines Christian Camp had finished a week ago, and he still had two weeks of vacation left before school started again. Mr. Willis, bank manager at First California Bank, had sensed the strain the strenuous summer had put on Bucky and had scheduled him for light thirty-hour weeks. Once school started, he’d be lucky to manage twelve hours a week at his bank teller job. Just the night before he and Dan had looked over their schedules, grimacing at the full academic loads the two seniors would have to carry in order to graduate.
“Man, this is gonna be Crunch City,” Dan had grumbled as he penciled in the must - take classes. “How come we still got so much to take down here at the finish line?”
“‘Cause you’ve been sleepwalkin’ the last three years,” Bucky teased. Having taken one additional unit back during his sophomore year, he had a lighter load than his stocky friend, and wasn’t about to let Dan forget it. “I told you to take that computer class the same time I did.”
The other student sighed heavily. “Well, all this plus varsity basketball plus work at the station . . . I may as well climb in my grave right now and let you start throwing the dirt in.” Then he brightened. “Oh, who cares? You know Panthers are gonna repeat. No way they can stop us. With you and me both being seniors?” He tossed his schedule onto an overcrowded desk and slipped on a pair of shoes. “Come on, Stone, let’s shoot some hoops.”
Now as Bucky headed toward the off-ramp, he couldn’t help but smile. Out on the basketball court Dan still had all the fancy moves that had earned him conference honors the year before. Despite Bucky’s hot streak of fourteen straight points to earn a Hampton High victory over the Tornadoes, it was Dan Litton who shared MVP honors with another player from Concord. And in their brief “shoot-around,” the older boy had combined his tricky plays with a nonstop rush of boastful patter that left Bucky incapacitated from laughter. Still grinning, he pulled the Toyota into the service station where Dan worked. He tapped on the horn and vigorously motioned at his friend, who was finishing off a can of soda. “Young man, would you please hurry it up?” he rumbled. “Let’s get some service here.”
“Yes, sir.” Dan hustled over, bowing low with every step. “Right away, sir. What can we do for you today, man? Fill it up? Check the oil? Put in a new engine while you wait?”
Bucky cocked his head to one side, grinning again. “No, just a dollar please. And get the windshield, wouldja?”
“You nut. A dollar?” Dan kicked at his tire. “That’s, like, three teaspoons of gas. What kind of cheapo deal is this?”
“I’m kidding, I’m kidding.” Bucky dug in his wallet. “I meant $10.”
“Pump it yourself, shorty.” Dan leaned against the hood of Bucky’s car and fanned himself as his friend did indeed fill his own tank. “You get that jogging stuff you were looking for?”
Bucky shook his head. “I just looked, but I didn’t get anything. Catalog’s cheaper, so I’ll just do that.” The pump clicked off and Bucky carefully squeezed out enough drops to bring the gauge to an exact $10. “There ya are.”
He flipped the bill at his friend, who neatly caught it and tucked it in his shirt pocket. “Thanks.” The telephone rang back in the office. Dan jerked his head around to make sure someone else had picked up the line. “Slow today,” he observed. Then to Bucky: “Next Tuesday’s it, Stone. Senior year.”
“Yeah.” Bucky shook his head. “It’s going to seem strange with guys like Sam gone.”
“Man, you’re not kidding,” Dan grunted. “Plus Gorton. I don’t know who we’re going to have for center. They shouldn’t have let him graduate. Nobody on the JV team was much good from what I could see.”
&
nbsp; “Something’ll turn up.” Bucky climbed back into the car and started the engine. “And you and I got to take this team to an undefeated season.”
“We shall see, my man.” Dan gave the side panel of the Toyota a little pop with his fist. “See you later.”
As he drove out, Bucky reached over and eased down the volume of the car stereo. The last bit of conversation reminded him how often he and his friend had ridden the roller coaster of trying to be active Christians on the athletic fields of Hampton Beach High School. He and Dan were both settled in their commitment to Jesus. As far as Bucky was concerned, nothing could ever induce them to surrender their chosen beliefs: not fits of temper, arguing with referees, and the occasional temptation to indulge in a beer or bit of pot after a road contest.
That evening at supper he picked at his food without the usual enthusiasm. Dad was in Ohio for a five - day business trip, and Rachel Marie, who usually chattered nonstop at meals, was equally sober as she quietly chewed on Mom’s casserole.
“My goodness.” His mother looked down at the dish with the three tiny scoops taken out of it. “This stuff’s not very popular.”
“Sorry.” Bucky took a final bite and managed to get it down. “It’s just not my favorite.”
Mom picked up the offending dish and began to head toward the kitchen. “Well, I borrowed the recipe from Mrs. Nelson, and I guess I’ll just give it back to her.”
“Do I have to finish it?” Rachel Marie asked.
Her mother laughed. “No, sweetcakes. I’m afraid you’re right. It isn’t very good.” She reached out with her thumb, and forefinger and pinched off one more bite. Tasting it, she shook her head. “Yikes. I guess you have to be a super-vegetarian to like this stuff.”
The ten - year - old took a big drink of milk, slurping noisily as she drained the glass. Bucky began to pick up the rest of the dishes. He stacked everything up into a dangerously high pile. “You done, shorto?”
“Uh huh. Except for dessert.”
“OK.” He added her plate and silverware to the pile and took it into the kitchen.
“Thanks, honey.” Mom began rinsing things off as she put them into the dishwasher. “Ice cream for dessert. Help yourself.” She hesitated, turning off the water. “Are you OK?”
“Yeah.” Getting the carton out of the freezer, he dished out two scoops. “Just thinking about school starting up and everything.”
“Did you and Dan both figure out your schedules?”
He nodded, taking a small bite as he headed into the living room. “I’m going to see the end of the game.”
The ice cream disappeared in slow, aimless bites as he tried to focus on the Giants contest. The San Francisco squad managed to beat the Marlins, but still trailed both the Rockies and the Dodgers by a full six games. Both NL West teams had also won that evening, and with the calendar down to late August, it looked like the Giants would even miss the wild - card slot in the playoffs. Again! Flipping off the set in disgust, he took his bowl into the kitchen.
Registration the following week was a quick and easy affair. A fully computerized process, he simply went online and entered the code numbers for the classes he wanted. Moments later the readout appeared with a notice at the top: “Approved.” Bold type right underneath indicated that with the schedule as recorded, Bucky would qualify for graduation.
“You’re all set, Stone.” The history teacher handed him his parking pass. “Good luck with basketball, man. Are we getting a repeat out of you boys this year?”
“I hope so.”
The faculty advisor shook his head. “When I heard about you kids and Hawaii, I almost ran over Brayshaw with my SUV. You guys are going to have the whole school down on your neck.”
“Huh?” Bucky wrinkled up his nose, confused. “What are you talking about, Hawaii?”
“Didn’t you hear?” Mr. Carlson punched a function button and a cartoon computer screensaver began to slowly crawl across the monitor. “Some kind of invitational. From what one of the kids told me, Panthers may get in on it. Seeing as how you all were division champs last season.”
“You’re kidding.” Bucky wadded up the schedule sheet and stuffed it in his back pocket. “I didn’t know anything about it.”
A few minutes later in the hallway he spotted the other half of the Litton/Stone Dream Team combination. “Litton!”
The older student turned and came jogging over. “Hey, champ.” He pulled up short and popped an imaginary jump shot over Bucky’s head into an imaginary hoop. “Stone is caught flat - footed again as Litton takes away his championship ring at the buzzer!”
“Shut up with that stuff. What’s this about Hawaii?”
“Hawaii? Who said?”
“Carlson. Over at registration. Said the Panthers might get to go to some round - robin over there. ‘Cause we were area champs last year.”
“Are you serious? Hawaii? I could go for that.”
“But it’s not for sure, though.”
Opening his locker, Dan dumped his books in. “Let’s go check.”
They headed for the other side of campus and the athletic complex. Still empty, the quiet structure brought back memories of last year’s triumph over the Tornadoes. Bucky remembered with a stab of pain how superstar guard Bill Volker had gotten swept into the net of taking gambling money and almost forfeited the team’s last playoff game.
Dan looked over at him. “That was heavy - duty stuff with Billy Boy, wasn’t it?”
“You read my mind.”
Their footsteps echoed off the concrete walls as they went into the office complexes in the back. “Is the Coach of the Year in here?” Dan hollered out the words. “Some guys from Sports Illustrated are in the parking lot looking for a man named Brayshaw. Coach of the Year, they said.” He looked at Bucky, who grinned.
“You’re a nut, Litton.”
“Hey, hey, girls.” Ted Brayshaw picked up a basketball that was by his desk and popped a quick pass to Dan. “Ready for championship ring number three? I hope you’re not running out of fingers.”
Bucky looked down at his bare hands. “Not yet.”
“Forget that stuff,” Dan said, plopping himself down in the nearest chair. “What’s this about an airplane ride to Honolulu? Stone and I have already packed.”
Brayshaw grinned. “Oh, that.” He accepted a return pass and dropped the orange basketball down on the floor with several other loose balls. “Yeah, I just heard yesterday. Some brand - new sporting goods corporation is sponsoring a big whoop - de - do over there right after Christmas. If it’s eight teams, we’re probably not going to make it. But they might splurge and go sixteen and then we’ve got a real shot. I’ll probably know by next week or for sure the Monday after. Strictly fun stuff, but the last game, top two teams, would go on TV nationwide maybe.”
Bucky felt a tingle of interest. “Man, that’d be something.” Suddenly he paused. “Would that be like the Reno thing we went on?”
Coach nodded. “Yeah. Except lots bigger. I mean, a sixteen-team tourney can take the better part of a week. And it’d be huge for Hampton if we could win the whole thing.”
“I wasn’t thinking about that,” Bucky said. “I mean, that was when Chris died.”
An awkward pause. Dan and the athletic director both nodded, remembering how two years ago the Panthers’ hot little guard had lost his life during a one - man celebration party involving crack cocaine.
“Yeah, that was a mess,” Coach admitted. Then he forced a grin. “But we’re a whole new team now, Stone. I got both you and Litton to help us keep things clean.”
“That’s right,” Dan asserted. “Litton and Stone to the rescue, Coach.”
“That’s not all,” the older man smiled. “Did you hear who we stole away from Tornado country?”
“No, who?”
A slow grin. Coach seemed to savor the wait. “Jonesy.”
“What?” Dan sat up straight. “Their center? That big huge guy?”
; The man began to laugh. “That’s right. Jonesy Wilson. We’re getting him.”
“No way.” Bucky looked over at his teammate. “That guy’s enormous. He was bigger than Andy. And good! Man, if we get him we’ll go undefeated.”
“Could be.” Brayshaw leaned back, smiling.
“Wait a minute,” Dan put in. “How come he’s playing here?”
“His folks moved into our territory.” The coach pulled out a sheet of paper. “Right here in town, got their address and everything.”
“Did they move here just to get him on the Panthers?”
“I don’t know about that,” the director confessed, although his tone of voice indicated that he was certainly willing for the whole district to think so. “But I think it was part of it. His parents just rent so they can pretty much live anyplace they want. Dad drives a truck, I hear. Guy told me his son was tired of coming in second all the way through high school, especially to the two of you. So they moved, and he’s going to play for us.”
“Man, oh man.” Dan still couldn’t believe it. “Those Walnut Creek guys are going to be royally ticked off.” He shook his head. “And just in time with us losing Gorton.”
“You’re right about that,” Brayshaw nodded. “And we’re going to be struggling with Volker out the first half.”
Bucky pulled his chair closer. “What’s that about?”
“Well, you know. That point - shaving business. District ruled on it this summer. I figured he’d be busted the whole year, but they said he could play second half under supervision, under probation, under court jurisdiction, etc. In other words, barely.”
“Who’ve we got in the meantime?”
The older man shook his head. “Not much, I’m afraid.” He looked up at Dan and Bucky. “The two of you and Jonesy are going to have to carry the day until we get some guards in here.”
Chapter Two: Panthers Are In!
The first two weeks of high school rolled by uneventfully. Basketball was still a month away, and with both Dan and Bucky staying out of football each fall, the opening days of their senior year were quiet ones.
Bucky Stone: The Complete Adventure (Volumes 1-10) Page 82
