Alex, caught off guard, was thrown off balance. She leaned to one side, trying to regain control, but it was too late. The boat tipped.
Splash! Two girls fell ungracefully into the water only inches from the finish line.
Sydney stood and yelled, “No! No way! This cannot be happening!” just as two girls from another cabin sailed past them to win the race.
Alex sputtered and pushed hair out of her eyes. The four remaining Camp Club Girls stood in shock until McKenzie broke into laughter.
“That was the funniest thing I’ve ever seen!” she called out. “That moment made losing the race worth it!”
Sydney and Alex frowned at her. But then they looked at themselves and their overturned boat, mere inches from the finish line, and the humor of the situation began to sink in. They had to laugh.
“Here, let me give you a hand,” said McKenzie, holding out her arm. Alex and Sydney both reached out, grabbed their auburn-haired friend, and pulled her into the water with them. “Hey!” McKenzie yelled.
“Now that,” Sydney said with laughter, “was the funniest thing I have ever seen!”
Elizabeth watched out the window as buses lined up to transport girls to the airport. The Camp Club Girls sat near the back of the room, frantically jotting down phone numbers and email addresses. Kate cuddled Biscuit, who had been returned to her just moments before.
The camp director, Miss Barr, took the stage, and the noise died down.
“Saying goodbye is always the most difficult part of the camp experience. I know you all have developed some lasting friendships during the last two weeks. I hope each of you will return next year. And now, let’s announce this year’s Discovery Lake champions. As you know, teams have built points during the entire camp. But the greatest source of points comes from the counselors’ award, which is given to the team that has shown loyalty, friendship, and humility throughout the camp. This year, one special group of ladies has exhibited these characteristics in an outstanding way. Camp Club Girls, would you join me on stage?”
The girls looked at each other in shock and rose from their chairs. When they arrived on stage, Mr. Anzer and Mr. Gerhardt joined them.
“These girls have been friendly, sweet, and supportive during the past two weeks. But they have also gone above and beyond what anyone could expect of our campers,” said Mr. Anzer.
Mr. Gerhardt took the microphone. “Girls, you helped me solve the mystery at Discovery Lake, and because of it, my father’s name will be cleared, and he’ll be set free. I’m pleased to award the Camp Club Girls with the title Team Discovery Lake. You deserve it!”
The room erupted in cheers. Elizabeth looked at the audience, and even Amberlie was clapping. Biscuit wiggled in Kate’s arms, and the girls gathered into a group hug.
“We did it!” they called out, whooping and hollering.
“I wonder what mystery we’ll solve next,” Elizabeth said with a smile. Just then, her cell phone rang. It was her father, and she stepped away from the cheering group so she could hear.
“How’s my girl?” asked her dad, and she filled him in on their win. “That’s great,” he told her. “I have a surprise for you. When you get home, you won’t even need to unpack your bags!”
“What do you mean?” she asked him.
“We’re going to Washington, DC! We leave on Monday.”
Elizabeth had always wanted to visit the capital, and now she had a friend there. After hanging up the phone, she went to find Sydney.
As the girls said their final goodbyes and promised to keep in touch, they had no idea that another mystery was already beckoning the Camp Club Girls. From their various corners of the United States, soon they’d be embroiled in Sydney’s DC Discovery.
“It was great to find the jewels for Mr. Gerhardt,” Elizabeth commented as the girls hugged each other. “But the real treasure I found…” Elizabeth paused as she looked, in turn, into the faces of Kate, Bailey, Sydney, McKenzie, and Alex. “The real treasure is finding friends like you!”
Camp Club Girls: Elizabeth’s Amarillo Adventure
The Mystery Marbles
“Elizabeth! Come quick! My grandmother has lost her marbles!”
Elizabeth held the phone out from her ear, trying to understand what her friend was saying. “Megan, what are you talking about? I thought your grandmother was dead!”
“She is! Listen, you’ve got to get down here right now.” Megan hung up the phone, leaving Elizabeth baffled.
Elizabeth replaced the phone on its base and dashed out the door. As an afterthought, she stepped back inside and grabbed a letter off the entryway table. Cramming it in her back pocket, she called out, “Mom, I’m going to see Megan—I’ll be back in a little while!” She slipped her helmet on, jumped on her bike, and headed down the driveway.
“Wait!” her mother cried, and Elizabeth slammed on her brakes. The screen door squeaked as Mrs. Anderson stepped onto the porch, drying a coffee mug with a white dish towel. “I thought Megan was at work.”
“She is, but she gets her break at 2:30. That was her on the phone, and she wants me to come,” Elizabeth said, adjusting her helmet.
Mrs. Anderson continued drying the mug, and looked at her daughter a moment. “Okay, but be careful crossing streets, and come straight back here after Megan’s break is over.”
“Yes, ma’am,” Elizabeth called as she lunged her bike forward. She practically flew the four blocks to the restaurant. If it hadn’t been for the pesky stops she had to make at the intersections, she could have made it in half the time. But safety first.
Within minutes, she parked her bicycle next to her friend’s scooter, near the back entrance. Going to the front of the restaurant, she pushed open the heavy door. The restaurant seemed black, compared to the bright Texas sunlight. It took her a moment to adjust her vision, and she looked around.
Jean Louise, the head waitress, greeted her with a wink. “You’re just in time, girly. Megan just sat down at her usual table,” she drawled.
“Thanks,” Elizabeth told her. She sidled through the mixture of cowboys and tourists who were the customers at the Big Texan Steak Ranch.
“What took you so long?” Megan asked as she stood to greet her friend.
Elizabeth slid into the booth and said, “I got here as fast as I could. What’s up with your grandmother?”
“I have no idea. Jean Louise is telling me some crazy story about my grandmother and some marbles and us being rich or something. That’s all I know. And since you’re the mystery girl, I called you.”
Elizabeth didn’t know what to say. Sure, she had helped solve mysteries with the Camp Club Girls, but she was surprised Megan would even remember that.
Megan leaned her chin on her hands then. “I’m exhausted. We’ve been busier than usual today. I’ve washed more dishes today than I have in my entire life! I’m just too tired to try to solve a mystery.”
Elizabeth grinned. “Yeah, but just think of all that cash you’ll have when you collect your first paycheck!”
Megan put her head on the table and moaned. “All I can think about right now is my tired back.” After a few seconds, she sat up and added, “But it will be nice to be able to buy my saxophone. I know Mom can’t afford it, and I don’t want to ask her. But I really want to be in the band.”
Jean Louise set a tall glass of iced tea in front of Megan. “What’ll ya have?” she asked Elizabeth.
“Oh, nothing. I just—”
“Nonsense. It’s on the house. Just tell me what you want,” the tall redheaded waitress said around her gum.
Elizabeth paused, realizing the woman wouldn’t take no for an answer. “I’ll have a root beer,” she said politely.
Jean Louise winked and said, “One root beer, coming up!”
Megan sat up and smiled at her friend. “I’m sorry. I haven’t even asked about your day.”
Megan and Elizabeth had grown up more like sisters than next-door neighbors. Though Megan was a y
ear and a half older, she and Elizabeth had played together, walked to school together, and gone to church together for as long as they could remember.
Elizabeth pulled the letter from her back pocket and slid it across the table. “It’s from my friend McKenzie. I told you about her—from camp? She’s the one from Montana, the one who has horses. She’s wanted to visit Texas, and she’s finally going to. Her family is coming here to Amarillo for their vacation! She’s coming to visit!”
Megan opened the envelope and pulled out the pages. She skimmed the contents of the letter, and then handed it back to Elizabeth. “That’s great, Beth, really. I’m excited for you.”
Both girls sat silently for a moment.
“And I promise to act excited, as soon as I have slept about forty hours,” Megan continued with a yawn.
Just then, Jean Louise appeared with the root beer and two oversize pieces of apple pie, topped with enormous scoops of ice cream. “Here ya’ go,” she said.
Both girls perked up at the sight of the pie. “Wow! Thanks, Jean Louise!” they told her.
“Awww, hush up now. No need to thank me. You’ve earned that and more. You just eat and enjoy your break,” she told Megan. She turned to go, then changed her mind. “So, what are you going to do about that special tip?”
Megan, whose mouth was poised for her first juicy bite of pie, stopped. “Well, actually, that’s why I called Elizabeth. She’s good at solving these kinds of things.”
The waitress turned to Elizabeth. “So, you’ll help her solve this mystery, huh?”
“I’m not sure,” said Elizabeth. “First, I need to know more about those marbles.”
“Shhhhh!” Jean Louise looked around her, as if not wanting anyone to overhear. “Honey, we need to talk. But not here. These walls have ears. Why don’t you two head over to my place after work today?”
Megan nodded, and the waitress moved to take an order from the next table. “So, can you come?” the girl asked.
Elizabeth thought a moment. “I’ll have to ask my mom. I’m supposed to stay with James while Mom and Dad go to a meeting at church, but maybe he can go with them.”
“Okay. Meet me at the back door if you can,” Megan told her. The girls finished their pie and drinks without much further conversation. Elizabeth was still thinking about this new mystery, and Megan was just too tired to talk.
Mrs. Anderson stood in her kitchen, looking between Elizabeth and six-year-old James, who were both talking.
“Megan wants me to go with her to Jean Louise’s house at six,” Elizabeth told her mother.
“Elizabeth promised she would watch me tonight, Mom! I want her to stay with me,” James interrupted his sister.
“I know I said I’d watch him, but I think this is really important to Megan,” Elizabeth continued. “Something about a special tip and her grandmother.”
“But I wanted Beth to help me finish my Lego airplane. It’s more fun when she helps me,” James urged. “Make her stay with me…please!”
Elizabeth held in an exasperated sigh. She loved James. She just didn’t like being his full-time playmate. She needed her space, and he didn’t want to give it to her.
Mrs. Anderson looked at Elizabeth, then at James. “I don’t think Elizabeth promised you anything, James. I asked her to stay with you tonight, and she agreed. But Josh’s mom called earlier and is bringing Josh with her tonight, so you’ll have a playmate.”
James’s face brightened as he said, “Cool! I’ll go pack my toys so we can play!”
“You may take two toys, and that’s it!” Mrs. Anderson called after him. Then she looked at her daughter.
Elizabeth slowly released her breath. She was off the hook with James, but she still didn’t have permission to go with Megan.
“Is this Jean Louise Wilson, the waitress at the Big Texan?” her mother asked.
“Yes, ma’am. She’s the tall lady with red hair. She gave us free pie today.”
“I know her. She’s nice,” her mother said. She stood, clearly trying to make up her mind. “Okay, but you need to leave her house by seven thirty. I want you home before dark. And you girls stay together. If we’re not home by the time you get back, go to Megan’s house with her. We should be back around eight.”
Elizabeth gave her mother a tight hug. “Oh thank you, thank you, thank you! You’re the best mom in the world!” She kissed her mother’s cheek and ran to her room.
At 5:58 p.m., Elizabeth sat on the back stoop of the Big Texan Steak Ranch waiting for her friend. At 6:01 p.m., the back door opened, Megan stepped outside and collapsed next to her friend.
“I’m not sure what I’ve gotten myself into,” Megan told her. “Washing dishes here is a lot harder than washing dishes at home. They just keep coming and coming, and I can never get caught up!”
“I’ll bet you’ll get faster, the more you do it,” Elizabeth encouraged her. “Besides, just think of the free pie!”
“Speaking of free pie, the cook sent these home with me,” Megan answered, nodding toward two pie-sized boxes. “We’ll never eat all of this, so one of them is going to your house.”
“I won’t argue,” Elizabeth told her. “Should we drop them off before we go to Jean Louise’s?”
“That’s a good idea,” Megan answered, and Elizabeth took the boxes from her.
“I walked, so I’ll carry them. Then we can ride our bikes from home.”
Soon the girls were bicycling through town, toward a section of small but well-kept hundred-year-old homes. They found the address the waitress had given them and rang the doorbell.
Jean Louise answered the door wearing cutoff jeans and a trendy T-shirt. It was an outfit that Elizabeth expected to see on a much younger person, but it looked good on the red-haired lady. The woman smacked her gum and said, “Come on in, y’all. I just made some fresh, sweet tea. And if you’re hungry, I have some leftover fried chicken. You’ll have to eat it cold, but that’s how I like it.”
The girls would have preferred to skip the tea and jump straight to the mystery, but they didn’t want to be rude.
“I’ll have some tea, thanks,” said Megan. Elizabeth nodded that she’d have the same.
The two girls sat in the tidy, old-fashioned living room. A collection of salt and pepper shakers lined the mantel, and a pink porcelain teapot shaped like a pig rested on a tray on the coffee table. They could hear Jean Louise singing along with a popular country western song that was playing on an antique radio in the corner.
The older woman handed them the tea and placed a couple of pig-shaped coasters on the coffee table. She turned the radio down and sat across from them in a green overstuffed chair. “Megan, were you serious when you said you didn’t know anything about a special tip?” she asked.
Megan set her tea down and answered, “Jean Louise, I still don’t know what you’re talking about. My grandmother died when my mother was a little girl.”
The woman looked at her, as if deciding what she should say. “I don’t mean to be nosy, honey, but why are you working as a dishwasher? Is money tight for you all?”
Megan blushed, but held her head high. “We do okay. We’re not rich, but we always have what we need.”
Jean Louise shifted in her chair. “Well darlin’, with that tip your grandmother got, you should have everything you need, everything you want, and then some.”
Elizabeth sipped her tea and remained quiet.
“Jean Louise, you’re not making any sense,” Megan said to the woman.
The woman looked out the window, then back at Megan. “You’re really not kidding, are you? You don’t know anything about the marbles.”
“Jean Louise, please tell me what in the world you’re talking about,” Megan responded.
“Oh honey. Some rich fella’ was head over heels in love with Emily Marie—your grandma. I remember it like it was yesterday. I was just a young teenager myself, and the whole thing was so romantic. Your grandma and my mama were best friends,
and I used to hang out at the restaurant after school, till my mama got off work. This fella came in once a week or so, and he’d always sit at the same table in your grandma’s section. Then he started coming several times a week. Before long, he was visiting the restaurant every day, ordering nothing more than coffee or tea. But he always left her a twenty-dollar tip. He was smitten.
“Then one day, he gave her this bag of marbles. They were the prettiest things you ever saw! There was a red one and a blue one and a green one, just about every color of the rainbow. There must have been a dozen of them in that bag. But the prettiest one was crystal clear.”
She paused and looked out the window, as if remembering.
Megan interrupted her silence and said, “So the special tip was a bag of marbles?”
Jean Louise slowly brought her gaze to Megan. “Honey, those weren’t just any old marbles. But hold your horses. Let me finish the story.”
The two girls leaned forward, their eyes glued on the sassy waitress.
“So, the fella gives Emily Marie this bag of marbles, and tells her to keep them in a safe place. He tells her he wants to take care of her, and he knows these marbles will give her and her children a comfortable future.
“Well, at first she didn’t know what to say. After all, you can buy a bag of marbles at any old five and dime store. But she didn’t want to offend him, so she just said, ‘Thank you.’
“Then, she started to pour them out on the table, but he stopped her. He pulled her toward him and whispered something in her ear. I remember it plain as day. I was sitting at the table across from them. I was eavesdropping, even though I knew I wasn’t supposed to. Your grandma was such a pretty lady, and I used to watch her all the time.”
She shifted, and the sofa squeaked. Elizabeth had a pretty good guess what Megan was thinking. They both wanted the woman to get on with the story.
The squeaking seemed to draw Jean Louise back to the present. She laughed. “Oh, listen to me, chasin’ rabbits. Anyway, when that man whispered in your grandma’s ear, she turned white! She looked at the bag in her hands. Her hands started shaking and she tried to give it back to him, but he wouldn’t take it. He kept saying, ‘They’re yours. I’ve already put them in your name. The paperwork is all there.’ Then, she sat down in the booth with the man. That was against the rules, but she did it anyway. Just sat right down and started crying and telling him thank you over and over again.
Camp Club Girls: Elizabeth Page 11
