“How did this happen?” Morgan asked her grandma. She was sitting in a lawn chair, and she had a tub filled with ice and cold drinks that she was sharing with the workers.
“Word of the vandalism traveled fast,” she began. “People started coming out and asking if they could help. And the next thing we knew, we had a regular work crew going here.”
“It really wasn’t that much work,” said Carlie’s aunt as she patted down the dirt around a juniper plant. “You girls did the hard stuff in the first place. We’re just putting things back where they belong now.”
“Were very many plants dead?” asked Carlie with wide, concerned eyes.
“Time will tell, mija,” said her aunt. “But it’s worth trying, eh?”
“Definitely!” said Carlie. “Let me dump my stuff from school, and I’ll be back out to help too.”
“I still have paint for the sign,” said Morgan. “I’ll bet after a couple of coats, that red gunk will be history.”
Everyone worked hard, and just as the group was talking about quitting, a bright red and yellow pizza van pulled into the trailer court. Morgan looked up from painting a third coat on the vandalized sign.
“I have a bunch of pizzas to deliver,” a young man hollered at her. “Where do you want me to put them?”
She looked over at him. “I don’t know.” She glanced over at Grandma. “Did you order pizza?”
Grandma shook her head. “Not me, honey.”
“Did anyone order pizza?” yelled Morgan, hoping that someone would step up and take responsibility. But everyone just shrugged and looked around.
“The man who called already paid for it,” said the young man. “He said to give the pizzas to the workers here.” He smiled at Morgan. “Would that be you guys?”
Morgan grinned. “Yeah, I guess so.”
So the guy went back to his pizza van and emerged with a stack of giant pizza boxes. “Come and get it!” he yelled.
Morgan took a couple of the pizzas from him and whispered, “Did the man tell you his name?”
“He told me not to tell.”
She made a disappointed face.
“But he sounded like an old dude,” he said in a quiet voice.
“Oh.” She nodded. “Thanks.”
Before long the pizza van was gone, and everyone was gathered in Grandma’s yard. “You run into the house and fetch some paper plates and napkins,” she told Morgan. And soon they were all pigging out on pizza, laughing and joking. And for the first time since Morgan had lived here, she was actually getting to know a bunch of her neighbors.
“I called my son again today,” said Mrs. Hardwick. “He was by this morning taking pictures of the vandalism. It might even make it into tomorrow’s paper. Shame on whoever did it.”
“I heard voices last night,” said a retired man named Mr. Ramsay. Morgan had just met him today, and he seemed pretty nice. He lived in the mobile home just across from Grandma’s. “Sounded like kids to me,” he continued. “I told the police.” He shook his head. “Wish I’d gone out to check on it. But I didn’t think it was anything serious at the time.”
“Maybe we need a neighborhood watch,” said a young mom named Leanne. “I remember last summer when some houses got broken into. It was kind of scary.” And soon all the adults were discussing the best ways to start up something like that.
“Are you thinking what I’m thinking?” Amy said to Morgan as the four girls gathered together off to the side.
“About last night’s vandals?” asked Morgan.
“Do you think it was Derrick and his buddies?” said Emily.
Amy and Morgan both nodded.
“I’d like to murder them!” said Carlie in a seething tone.
“Carlie!” said Morgan.
“Okay, not murder them. But I’d like them to suffer.”
“We don’t know for sure that it was them,” said Morgan.
“You don’t still think it was Mr. Greeley, do you?” asked Amy.
“Well, no …” Morgan considered telling them about what the pizza guy had said about an old man ordering the pizzas. But she wasn’t sure that meant it was Mr. Greeley.
“I think it was Derrick,” said Amy. “The question is, did he have help?”
“Mr. Ramsay said ‘voices,’” pointed out Emily.
“And I’m sure Derrick was furious at us for making him give Emily his bike wheel,” said Morgan.
“And for being humiliated like that,” added Carlie.
“It makes sense,” said Amy. “But what are we going to do?”
Morgan glanced back over to where Mr. Ramsay seemed to be heading the beginning of a real neighborhood-watch group. “Maybe we won’t have to do anything,” she said, nodding at the adults. “Maybe they’ll take care of it.”
“Cool,” said Carlie. “Then we can all sleep better at night.”
“Hello,” called a voice from across the street. Suddenly the crowd of people sitting around Grandma’s yard got quiet as Mr. Greeley slowly walked toward them. “Don’t want to bust up your party,” he said in a gruff voice. “But there are some girls I need to have a word with.” He scowled at the group. “I think they know who they are.”
“If you’re talking about our hardworking young ladies,” began Mr. Ramsay, quickly getting to his feet. “You may need to—”
“Don’t worry,” barked Mr. Greeley. “I’m not going to hurt them.”
“But what do you—”
“I just want a word with them!” Mr. Greeley folded his arms across his chest. “If you don’t mind.”
“It’s okay,” said Morgan, quickly going over to where the old man was standing. “You want to talk to us, sir?”
“That’s right. All four of you. March yourselves over to my place, right now.”
The other three girls looked terrified, as if they expected Mr. Greeley to eat them for dinner or something. “It’s okay,” Morgan assured them. Then, under her breath, “There are four of us and only one of him.”
The crowd watched quietly as the four girls followed Mr. Greeley across the street to his mobile home. Morgan hesitated, looked at her friends, and then followed Mr. Greeley up the porch steps and into his house. To her relief, her friends came too. Still, her knees were shaking as she stood there in his living room that doubled as the office for Harbor View. What could he possibly want with them anyway? Surely, he didn’t think they were responsible for last night’s vandalism. Why would they destroy their own work?
chapter twelve
“I know what you girls did,” Mr. Greeley spoke in a serious voice. “Although I’m not quite sure why you did it.” He slowly shook his head. “And, to be honest, I didn’t think you had it in you. But you did.” Now he actually smiled at them. “And I just wanted to say thank you.”
Morgan sighed with relief. “You’re very welcome, Mr. Greeley.”
“Now, will you all tell me your names?” he asked.
So, one by one, they introduced themselves to him and he shook each of their hands, personally thanking each of them.
“Pleasure to meet you, ladies.” He reached into his pocket now. “And I have something that I want to give you. As a token of my gratitude.” He pulled out a key. “It might not be anything you want or can use … or maybe it will.” His brow creased. “But I have a feeling that girls like you will know what to do with it.”
He looked at Morgan. “You seem to be the leader of the pack, Morgan. Here.” He put the key in her hand.
“But what’s it go to?” she asked.
He peered out at the sky that was just starting to get dusky. “Well, it’s getting late tonight. Maybe I’d best show you girls tomorrow. That all right by you?”
“Sure,” she said. “Of course.”
“You come over here around nine, and I’ll show you what the key goes to.”
She thanked him, as did the others, although none of them had a clue as to why.
“And I wanted you to know that I was re
al disappointed when I came out this morning and saw what the vandals done to the place. I would’ve liked to have wrung some necks.” He sighed loudly. “But then when I seen the residents here all coming out to help put things back to order … well, it was enough to give an old man like me some hope. Thank you, ladies.”
They thanked him again and promised to be back at nine in the morning, and then they left.
“That was so weird,” said Amy as they were crossing the street.
“But sweet,” said Morgan as they paused near the area where the adults were earnestly discussing neighborhood security. “Mr. Greeley is really a sweet old guy.”
“But kinda scary,” said Carlie. “I mean, I saw this movie once, and the old guy acted really nice, but in the end he killed everyone.”
“Your parents let you watch that?” asked Morgan.
“It was at my cousins’ house.”
“Well, I agree with Morgan,” said Emily. “I think Mr. Greeley is a nice old guy. Just lonely.”
“You know what else,” said Morgan.
“What?” they all asked.
“I think Mr. Greeley bought the pizzas.”
“Why didn’t he tell anyone?” asked Amy.
“Maybe he wants to be a mystery man,” said Emily.
“Well, he’s definitely mysterious,” admitted Carlie.
“I wonder what the key is for,” said Morgan as she fingered the key that was safely tucked into her pocket.
“Maybe it’s to a secret vault,” said Amy, “full of money.”
“Yeah, right.” Morgan rolled her eyes. “Like Mr. Greeley is rich.”
“He might’ve robbed a bank,” said Amy.
“Maybe it’s to a car,” said Carlie. “A brand-new Corvette.”
“Like, what would we do with a car?” asked Morgan. “We can’t even drive.”
“Maybe it’s to a house,” said Emily. “A nice little beach house that we can use this summer.”
“You wish,” said Amy. “Why would someone like Greeley have a nice beach house?”
“I can dream,” said Emily.
“Maybe …,” said Morgan dramatically, “it’s the key to his heart.”
Amy gave her a playful shove. “Man, you’re really getting goofy over the old geezer, aren’t you?”
“Well, I think he wants to be our friend,” she said defensively.
“And maybe we’ll have to wait until tomorrow to find out what the key is for,” said Emily.
“Why don’t we meet at my house,” said Morgan. “Nine o’clock sharp.”
It was dark out now. Families had started to regroup, and people were heading for home. Morgan and her mom picked up a few stray pieces of trash and started back into the house.
“Do you think I should stay up and watch for vandals?” asked Morgan once they were on the porch.
“No,” said Mom. “Don’t worry about that. Mr. Ramsay has it all under control. You girls have done quite enough for the neighborhood. At least for the time being.” She put her arm around Morgan’s shoulders. “Hey, what did Mr. Greeley say to you girls?”
So Morgan told her about the key.
“A key?”
“Yeah. We don’t have the slightest idea why. But he’s going to show us in the morning.”
“Sounds exciting,” said Mom. “Just make sure that it’s something safe, Morgan. I wouldn’t like to hear about you four girls riding around on a motorcycle or anything dangerous like that.” Mom’s eyes sparkled.
She laughed. “Don’t worry, Mom.”
Morgan got up with the sun the next morning. She knew it was crazy since it wasn’t even a school day. In fact, it was the first official day of summer vacation. But she was thinking about the key sitting on her dresser—and something else—Morgan hurried to the kitchen window. What if the vandals had struck again?
To her huge relief everything looked perfectly fine. In fact she even noticed Mr. Greeley outside dragging a hose behind him. It looked like he’d been watering their plants.
Finally, after what seemed like days, it was 8:45, and Morgan went out on the porch to wait for her friends to show up. At nine o’clock sharp all three of them arrived, and the four of them marched across the street like they were on a mission.
“What if this is just a trick?” said Amy as they paused in front of Mr. Greeley’s house.
“A trick?” Morgan frowned. “Why would he want to trick us?”
“Because he’s really a mean guy who’s just trying to act nice?” said Carlie.
“Because he’s really going to murder us?” said Amy.
“You guys!” Morgan turned and glared at her friends. “If you don’t want to come, you don’t have to. But I intend to find out what this key goes to.” She went onto the porch and knocked on the door.
Mr. Greeley emerged wearing his dusty old ball cap and a serious expression. “You ready?”
“Yep,” said Morgan.
“Follow me.”
So, feeling like she’d just joined boot camp, Morgan followed Mr. Greeley with her three friends trailing behind her. She had no idea where they were going, but he seemed to be heading toward the trail that led down to the dunes and then to the beach. The girls hoped that Amy and Carlie’s foul-play suspicions were wrong.
Then, instead of continuing down the beach trail, he turned sharply to the right, where a newly cut path—one that she had never seen before—led into the tall beach grass that grew thick in the dunes. The area Grandma had warned her not to explore, since “you could get lost for days out there.”
“Uh, where are we going?” she asked in a nervous voice, glancing over her shoulder to be certain her friends were still behind her. They were there, but they looked as worried as she felt. What could possibly be back here anyway?
Then he turned another sharp corner to the left and suddenly, right in front of them was something Morgan had never seen before. It was a big bus! It looked like a school bus except that it had been painted in a wild array of colors. And although the paint had faded some, probably from the coastal weather, it was still very bright. And kind of pretty too.
“A hippie bus?” said Amy, stepping next to Morgan.
Mr. Greeley cleared his throat. “I could be all wrong,” he told them, “but I got to thinking this might make for a good clubhouse. You know, for you girls to fix up and play in and stuff. But maybe I’m just all wet … I mean, what do I know about what girls like to do?”
“Can we look inside?” Morgan asked eagerly.
“Sure,” he said. “That’s what the key is for.”
So Morgan unlocked the door and they all went inside.
“This is cool,” said Morgan as she looked at the little wooden table and benches that were attached to the wall.
“It needs some cleaning and fixing up,” he admitted. “But then you girls seem pretty good at that sort of thing.”
“I think it’s absolutely wonderful,” said Morgan, grinning at him. “I think it’s a great clubhouse.”
“So do I,” said Emily. “Thank you so much, Mr. Greeley!”
“Was this your bus?” asked Morgan.
“Oh, in a way it was … but it’s yours now.”
“It’s like a playhouse,” said Carlie as she opened one of the built-in cupboards above the table.
“It is kind of cool,” admitted Amy as she examined an empty closet. “Someone must’ve put a lot of work into making this.”
“Well, it’s all yours now,” he said, bowing slightly as he backed out the door. “And I’ll leave you ladies to it. Enjoy!”
They all thanked him and watched as he walked away.
“Wow,” said Morgan. “Our very own bus.”
“It needs a good cleaning,” said Carlie as she pulled down a spider’s web.
“And some new curtains,” said Morgan as she fingered the faded fabric. “But I can take care of that.”
“It could be our clubhouse,” said Emily. “If we wanted to have a club, that i
s.”
“Aren’t clubs for little kids?” said Amy with a frown. “Baby stuff?”
“That depends,” said Morgan. “Lots of grown-ups have clubs. And I, for one, would love having a place like this—fixed up, I mean—where I could hang out with my friends and listen to music and talk and do art and all kinds of stuff. Wouldn’t you guys?”
Of course, they all agreed. Why shouldn’t they agree? The place was loaded with potential—and it was all theirs!
“Let’s make a list,” said Amy as she found a pencil and an old spiral notebook with yellowed pages.
“What for?” asked Emily.
“For all the things we want to fix up.”
“Here we go again,” said Carlie, rolling her eyes. “Making lists … fixing things up …”
“Yeah,” said Morgan with a big grin. “Isn’t it great?”
Soon they each had a list of their own. Carlie was going to bring some cleaning things from her house. Amy had some dishes left over from the restaurant that she wanted to donate. “In case we decide to eat here some time.” Morgan and Emily were off to look for curtain fabric and some other items to make the bus more livable—and fun! But before they left, they all just stood outside and looked up at it in amazement.
“Can you believe this is really ours?” said Morgan. “To do with as we please?”
“Yeah, it’s pretty cool,” admitted Amy. “Our very own bus.”
“It looks like a rainbow,” observed Emily. “The colors, you know.”
“Like our own personal rainbow,” said Carlie.
“Just like a promise,” said Morgan.
“Huh?” asked Emily. “How’s that?”
“The rainbow,” said Morgan. “It’s God’s promise.”
“For what?” asked Carlie.
“For us,” said Morgan.
“But what’s the promise for?” demanded Amy.
Morgan smiled. “I think it’s a promise for friendship.”
So it was agreed, their new clubhouse would be called the Rainbow Bus. Of course, they would keep their personal rainbow top secret. Well, except for their parents. They knew they would have to let them in on it. But other than that, this secret belonged to the four of them—their Rainbow Bus—a promise that their friendship would continue. At least until the end of summer, Morgan hoped. Because who knew what would happen when fall came and they all started seventh grade? But right now—with their very own bus, good friends, and the first day of vacation—it looked as if this might be the best summer ever!
Girl Power Page 8
