Girl Power

by Melody Carlson

  Emily smiled. “So maybe you can help me. I’m trying to find out about someone. You see I have something that belongs to him—actually a few things—that I found in a box. And I think they might be valuable to him because they’re memorabilia. You know what I mean?”

  She nodded. “Yes. I can understand that. Who is it you’re looking for, dear?”

  “Daniel Watterson.”

  The woman nodded with a creased brow as if trying to remember.

  “Do you know him?” Emily asked hopefully.

  “I did know him.”

  “You did?” Emily wanted to jump for joy but—remembering this was a library—controlled herself.

  “I used to teach English at the high school. Dan was one of my students. A very bright boy. Popular too. And very good at sports. So much potential …” Her face grew sad.

  “Do you know where he is?” asked Emily. “Does he live around here?”

  “Dan died in the Middle East.”

  “Huh?” Emily frowned at her. “In the Iraq War?”

  “No, dear, it was Desert Storm.”

  “Desert Storm?”

  “Do they teach about that in history yet?”

  “Not exactly.”

  “Well, that war was in 1991 and didn’t last long. I believe Dan was several years out of college when he went over. I remember being surprised that he’d joined up.” She sighed. “And he was one of the unfortunate few who never came back.”

  “Oh,” Emily didn’t know what to say, but she could feel tears gathering in her eyes. “Do you mean he was killed?”

  She nodded. “I’m sorry to tell you such sad news, dear.”

  “It’s okay.” Emily attempted a smile. “I mean it’s not your fault. I just had no idea.”

  “Will you be okay, dear?”

  Emily nodded, swallowing against the lump in her throat.

  “I don’t know what to tell you about the box of memorabilia. The Wattersons left town many years ago, not long after Dan graduated from high school, as I recall. I have no idea where they moved.”

  “That’s okay,” said Emily. All she wanted now was to get out of here. She didn’t want people to see her crying. “Thanks, Mrs… .”

  The woman extended her hand. “Mrs. Drimmel,” she said.

  “Emily Adams.” She blinked back tears.

  “You take care now,” said Mrs. Drimmel. “And next time you come in, I’ll show you some good mysteries.”

  “Thanks.” Emily hurried out, trying to hold back the tears as she walked quickly through town. She didn’t know why she was taking this so hard, except that it was as if Dan had become a personal friend this week. It was so shocking, so sad, to hear that he was dead. Finally, worried that she might see someone, or someone might see her, Emily began jogging toward home. But instead of going into her house, she went straight to the Rainbow Bus. Then she went inside and locked the door, and she turned on the record player—turned it up loud and just cried.

  Finally, after a few minutes, Emily stopped crying. The music was still playing, the same Elton John album that she’d had on just the other day. But this time, as a certain song came on, she listened carefully to the lyrics. The song was about a man, also named Daniel, who was leaving on a plane. He’d had a lot of pain, and now it was time to say good-bye. Emily cried when it came to the line about how Daniel’s eyes had died. And then she kept singing the last line: “must be the clouds in my eyes.”

  The song ended and she turned off the record player. And then she sat down in the driver’s seat of the bus and began to pray. “Dear God,” she said with her eyes wide open, looking out over the dunes to where she knew the Harbor was. “I know I never really knew Dan Watterson personally, but it feels like I did. And his story is so sad. So very, very sad. Is there anything I can do to help? Or should I just let this thing go? Should I wave good-bye to Daniel and try to forget about it? Please, dear God, show me what to do. Amen.”

  Then she noticed someone walking along the beach road. At first she felt scared, imagining that she’d just seen Dan’s ghost. But then she realized it was only Mr. Greeley. But as she watched him, slowly walking along with his head hanging low, she felt bad. She realized how wrong it was to be suspicious of him—thinking he’d done something to Dan Watterson when he was completely innocent.

  She opened the window on the driver’s side and called out. “Mr. Greeley?”

  He turned to see who it was, then gave her a small halfhearted wave.

  “How’s it going?” she yelled out the window.

  “All right.”

  Then, without even questioning herself, she hurried outside and ran over to join him. “You taking a walk?” she asked.

  “Yep.”

  “Can I come too?”

  He peered curiously at her. “I reckon.”

  “Going to the beach?” she asked as they began walking.

  “Yep.”

  “Kind of foggy today,” she said, wishing for something better to say.

  “Yep.”

  “And cold too.”

  “Yep.”

  “We really like our bus, Mr. Greeley.”

  He turned and looked at her, almost smiling now. “That’s good.”

  “We fixed it all up inside. You should come see it sometime.”

  He nodded without saying anything, and they just walked in silence for a couple of minutes. Emily was starting to get worried, wondering what on earth she was doing. Why had she come down to the beach with this old guy who she only recently suspected of murder?

  “We found some things while we were fixing the bus up …” she said as they walked toward the Harbor.

  He stopped walking. “What kinds of things?”

  She stopped walking too. “Personal things.”

  He frowned. “I took everything off that bus.”

  “Well, a bunch of things were stored under the bed.”

  “Under the bed?” He looked skeptical.

  “Yeah. There’s this kind of secret storage spot there. We found books and record albums and—”

  “You said personal things?”

  “That’s right.” She studied his face. “Did you know Dan Watterson, Mr. Greeley?”

  He slowly nodded.

  “He sounded like a really nice guy,” said Emily.

  “He was.”

  “I’m curious as to why he left his bus on your property?” she said in a gentle voice. “Was he a friend of yours?”

  He nodded again, this time looking off toward the ocean.

  “Well, I feel like he was my friend too,” she said suddenly.

  “Huh?” He looked at her.

  “I feel like I know him now.” She looked into Mr. Greeley’s faded eyes. “This week the other girls have been gone, and I’ve been reading his books and listening to his music and even reading his journal … and I feel like I really know him.” She sighed. “And then I found out how he died in the war.” She felt tears coming again, and she knew she wouldn’t be able to stop them. “And I’ve been so sad. I feel like my friend just died.”

  He nodded, and she saw tears running down his wrinkled old cheeks too. “Yep,” he said. “Me too.”

  “Do you want to talk about it, Mr. Greeley?” she asked.

  He peered down at her, and she could almost see him thinking how she was just a kid and wondering why he should talk to her.

  “I’ve been through some hard things too,” she told him.

  He nodded. “Yep, I s’pect you have.”

  And so they continued walking, and Mr. Greeley started to talk. And he talked and talked and talked. And finally, after all her investigating and all her wondering and searching, the whole story of Daniel Watterson unfolded. Finally she understood what had happened.

  “Wow,” she told him as they turned around to walk back toward the trailer court. “That must’ve been so hard.”

  He nodded. “Yep.”

  “Do you think you’d want to read Dan’s journal?” />
  He seemed to consider this. “I guess I would.”

  “I hid it in the bus. I just didn’t think the other girls should read it. Not that I’m trying to be mean. But I’m a writer and I keep a journal, and some things, well, they’re supposed to be private, you know?”

  He nodded. “And I’m hoping you will keep some parts of my story private too, Emily. I don’t mind if you tell your friends that Dan was my son. And you can even tell them about how stupid I was. But some things about Dan … well, some things are best left alone.”

  She nodded. “Don’t worry. Your story is safe with me.”

  “And your family’s story is safe with me too.”

  “So does this make us friends now?” asked Emily as they headed down the dunes trail that led back toward the trailer court.

  “I reckon it does.”

  Emily paused where the trail forked over to the bus. “How about if I get that journal while we’re here?”

  “I’d like that.”

  “You want to see the bus?” she asked, waiting and hoping that he’d follow her down the trail. “We’ve really fixed it up.”

  So while she got the journal, he took a quick peek inside, but then just as quickly he went back outside. “It sure looks different in there,” he said as she came out to rejoin him.

  “Kind of girly, huh?”

  He grinned. “Yep, I reckon it is. But it does look nice.”

  Then she gave him the journal as well as the high school yearbook. “Oh, yeah,” she said. “Do you have a record player?”

  He nodded.

  “Let me get something else for you, okay?” And she hurried back in to get the Elton John album. “Listen to the song called ‘Daniel’ on this record,” she told him. “I think you’ll like it.”

  He nodded and started to go, but then he stopped. “And since you feel like Dan was your friend too, well, you’d be welcome to come see some of his photos and other things if you’d like. Your friends can come too. I have them all set up in a room. Just to look at. I thought I’d gotten all of his stuff from the bus.” He looked at the items in his hand. “Guess I missed some. Thank you for taking the time, Emily.”

  “Thank you, Mr. Greeley.”

  chapter ten

  “Thanks for letting me come with you today,” Emily said as she rode with Morgan’s grandma to the airport. It was Saturday afternoon and Morgan and her mom’s flight should’ve landed by now.

  “We’re supposed to get them by the baggage pickup,” said Grandma as she turned toward the terminal. “You keep your eyes peeled and I’ll drive as slowly as possible.”

  “No problem there,” said Emily when she noticed the traffic jam up ahead. Grandma slowly made her way forward and Emily scanned the crowd for Morgan and her mom. “There they are!” she shouted. “Up there by the big turning door.”

  Soon they had Morgan and her mom and their stuff all loaded in the car and were heading out. “Thanks for the ride, Mom,” said Cleo. “But I thought Leslie was getting us.”

  “She had to keep shop for you,” said Grandma, “since Kara was sick today.”

  “I’m so glad you came!” said Morgan as she gave Emily’s hand a squeeze. “I missed you so much. So tell me, have you been bored out of your gourd?”

  “Not exactly,” said Emily with a smile. “Although I’ll admit that it has been pretty quiet.”

  “Have you seen Carlie at all?”

  “A couple of times … but she’s been pretty busy with Miguel and Pedro. They’re a handful. But I did help her take them to the beach yesterday. The weather finally warmed up again, and we played in the sand and stuff.”

  “I’m so happy to be home,” said Morgan. “I mean, it was actually pretty fun in Atlanta. And I can’t wait to show you guys some of the awesome stuff I got for free at the gift show—things we can use for the bus. Very cool.”

  “I’m so glad you’re home too,” admitted Emily. Then she lowered her voice, “and I do have something big to tell you when we’re all together, back in our clubhouse again.”

  “Can’t you tell me now?” begged Morgan. “It sounds really interesting.”

  Emily shook her head. “Remember what you said about being part of a club, Morgan. We need to consider the other girls too.” Then she held up her hand with the bracelet and grinned. “Rainbows rule.”

  Morgan nodded and held hers up too. “Rainbows rule.”

  By the time they made it home from Portland, it was too late to have a club meeting, but Morgan said she’d call the girls for a two o’clock meeting tomorrow, after they got back from church.

  “Sure you don’t want to give me a hint about your big news?” asked Morgan as they dropped Emily at her house.

  “It’s a mystery,” said Emily.

  “Thanks a lot,” said Morgan. But she was smiling.

  “Glad you’re home,” said Emily again. “See you tomorrow.”

  The next day, on their way home from church, Morgan tried to pry more information from Emily, but Emily told her she’d have to wait.

  “You’re pretty good at keeping a secret,” said Morgan as they pulled into the mobile-home court.

  Emily nodded with lips pressed firmly together. Morgan had no idea!

  Finally it was two o’clock and all four girls were back together in the Rainbow Bus. Emily put on a record to play, and they sat down at the table where Morgan set out a plate of her grandma’s homemade oatmeal raisin cookies and a carton of milk. She’d also brought along a box full of things from the gift show for the bus. She had colorful notepads and magnetic pens and scented candles and bright silk flowers and stuffed gadgets and window decorations and all sorts of things.

  “You should’ve seen the place,” said Morgan. “It was huge, like acres and acres of these little shops with all this stuff. My feet got so tired.”

  “But was it fun?” asked Amy.

  “Sure. And then they give you all this free stuff.”

  “It’s like Christmas,” said Carlie, holding up a stained-glass butterfly with a little hanger on it.

  “For the bus,” added Morgan. “Which reminds me, I did get some Christmas decorations too, but we can save those for later.”

  “It’s so good to be back in the bus,” said Amy. “And it’s fun having music. That’s a great place for the record player.”

  “So, how was music camp?” asked Emily, wanting to save her news for last.

  Amy gave a complete rundown on music camp and who was there and how Amy got to do a flute solo at the campfire one night. “It was really pretty good,” she said finally. “And it didn’t seem that geeky.”

  “See,” said Morgan. “We told you.”

  “And I made a hundred dollars this week,” said Carlie proudly.

  “Just for babysitting?” asked Amy.

  “Just for?” repeated Carlie with wide eyes. “Do you have any idea how much work it is to take care of two little kids that never stop moving? And Pedro is barely potty trained. You know what that means?”

  Amy laughed. “No. But it doesn’t sound good.”

  “Well, that was a hard-earned hundred-dollars,” said Carlie. “And then my parents made me put half into the bank for my college fund. And the rest … Mom says I should save to buy school clothes.” She shook her head. “I think they’re the ones who came out on top in that deal.”

  The bus got quiet now, and Morgan looked at Emily. “Emily has something to tell us,” she said. “Something big.”

  Now all eyes were on Emily. Thankfully, she’d carefully rehearsed what she was going to tell them—and how much. She wanted to be respectful of Mr. Greeley, but she wanted them to understand the story too. Especially since they all got to share in the bus together.

  “Well, I was putting away the books and I started wondering about Dan Watterson again.”

  “Oh, yeah, Dan the man,” said Amy. “We almost forgot about that dude.”

  “That’s right,” said Morgan. “Don’t tell me you figured
it out?”

  Emily nodded. “And it wasn’t easy.” She told them about some of her early dead ends and then how she finally remembered the old librarian. But she didn’t mention the journal. She wanted that to remain private.

  “Mrs. Drimmel?” said Amy. “Of course, she’s been here forever.”

  “And she’s so old, she’d know everybody,” said Morgan. “Good work, Em.”

  “She was Dan’s teacher in high school,” said Emily. “And she totally remembered him. She said he was a nice kid. But she also said that shortly after college he went to Desert Storm.”

  “Desert Storm?” said Carlie. “What’s that?”

  “A war,” said Emily.

  “The Iraq War?” asked Amy.

  “No, that’s what I thought too. Desert Storm started in 1991, and Dan went in that year.”

  “He would’ve been about twenty-eight by then,” said Amy.

  “Thirty,” corrected Emily, and everyone looked stunned. “I guess he had a late birthday,” she added quickly. “Anyway, Dan Watterson was killed in action.”

  “Really?” Morgan looked stunned.

  “That’s sad,” said Carlie.

  “War is so wrong,” said Amy in an angry voice.

  “So he never made it back,” continued Emily. “And this was his bus. He’d been touring the country in it … after college. And he was kind of lost and confused … He’d been in love with this girl from high school, and she sort of just disappeared on him. It was like he never got over her.”

  “Man, that’s so sad,” said Morgan.

  “Was that why he went to the war?” asked Carlie.

  “Maybe so …”

  “But why is his bus here?” asked Morgan.

  “Well, that’s the amazing part,” said Emily. “Dan Watterson was Mr. Greeley’s only son.”

  “But why wasn’t his name Greeley?” asked Morgan.

  “Mr. Greeley’s wife left him when Dan was a little boy. She married another man who adopted Dan, and they changed his name. And poor Mr. Greeley didn’t see Dan for years. He finally tracked them down in Boscoe Bay and moved here himself. That’s when he started the mobile-home court. Dan was still in high school. He just wanted to be around him.”