Andi Unstoppable (3 page)

The box contained some of my parents' things that I saved from our old house. Bethany insisted that she didn't want anything from our parents, but I had kept a few memories that weren't worth anything to anyone but me. I knew Amelie saved some items for Bethany too. She was waiting to give them to my sister at “the right time.”

“Here goes,” I said after a deep breath.

I opened the box and the smell of my father's soap hit me like a bowling ball directly to the stomach. I tried not to look at any of the items in the box for long and just find what I needed. I rooted through the box until I came up with Dad's binoculars. As soon as I found them, I ripped them from the box, slammed the box shut, and shoved it back underneath the bed. I did it all so fast that Mr. Rochester meowed in protest.

I fell backward onto my butt and caught my breath. Mr. Rochester jumped on the floor and nosed my arm, purring softly. I don't know if he did that to comfort me or himself. I wiped a tear from my eye that I hadn't even known was there. The binoculars were in my lap. They were high-powered but lighter than you would think. My father had used them on his research trips dozens of times, and they were the only item that came back from their last trip to Central America.

I shoved the binoculars into my backpack and was about to head for the stairs when I decided to take one more thing. The casebook. Colin and I hadn't used it since the summer, when we solved a case on Michael
Pike's campus. I told Bethany that Colin and I weren't on a case, but it couldn't hurt to take the casebook with me.

I gave Mr. Rochester one more pat on the head before I left my bedroom. Outside, I ran across the front lawn from my yard to Colin's. Colin was waiting for me on the front porch, standing in front of the door.

I skipped up the three steps.

Colin didn't open the door.

I held onto the straps of my pack. “What's going on? Why don't we go in?”

“We will. I have to warn you. Claudette can be a little intense.” He wrinkled his nose.

I laughed and adjusted my backpack higher up on my shoulder. “I got that when I met her. I saw her almost squeeze you to death, remember?”

“Yeah,” he said. “But she can be really intense about birds. I mean, this is her life, so just watch what you say about them to her.”

I rolled my eyes. “It's not like I'm going to start insulting cardinals or something. Can we go in now?”

He nodded and opened the door. I followed him through the living room into the kitchen. The Carters' kitchen was the biggest room in their house, which was good because it was where Bergita spent most of her time baking.

In the kitchen, Bergita and her sister sat at the table. The most surprising thing about the two sisters was how little they looked alike. Claudette was wide and had that buzzed hair while Bergita was tall and
lanky. She divided her white hair into pigtails and wore denim overalls over a tie-dye T-shirt.

A large map was spread in front of them on the table. Claudette stabbed her blunt index finger onto the table with so much force I was surprised she didn't break it. Her features were squished together and red, reminding me of the inside of a tomato. “Bergita, I can take care of myself. I always have.”

Bergita sighed. “I know you have, but you aren't getting any younger. Shouldn't you be thinking about your future? You have spent every penny you have searching the globe for birds. I'm afraid you will have nothing left to live off of. I had to send you money to fly home from Papua, New Guinea last month, didn't I?”

“You won't have to do that again. I'll find the money.”

“I don't mind helping,” Bergita said. “But — ”

Claudette glared at her older sister. “You don't know what birding means to me. You never have. It's
everything
to me.”

“I know — ”

“I don't want to talk about it any longer.” She jabbed her finger into the large map stretched across the table again. “This is where we should start our search.
This
is where we'll find the Kirtland's.”

“Did you ask if we could go with them?” I whispered to Colin.

That was a mistake.

Claudette's head snapped in our direction so fast that her glasses flew off her face and fell to the tabletop. Without missing a beat, she snatched them off the
map and put them back on her nose. “I'm glad to see you are back, but no one said you're going with me to see the Kirtland's. This is serious business, not child's play. I can't have anyone slowing me down.”

I glanced at Colin. “Did you tell them about the assignment?”

Colin flushed. “I didn't get a chance.”

Bergita smiled. “What assignment? Something for school?”

I nodded and told them about the birding homework we had.

Claudette smacked the table, and the rest of us jumped. “Hot dog! I'm glad the public school system is finally paying attention to something important like birds.”

I climbed on a barstool beside the counter. “If we went birding with you, we would be sure to see the Kirtland's and a whole bunch of other birds.”

Claudette frowned just for a moment, and I thought she was going to say ‘no.' Instead she said, “I'm not one to discourage budding birders. Two capable kids like you shouldn't be too much extra trouble. Yes, you can come with me, but you have to do everything I say to do in the field. Do you understand?”

Colin and I nodded.

Bergita left the table and walked to the counter where she started to dice a tomato. A large salad bowl sat next to her cutting board with lettuce, peppers, and mushrooms already cut into it. “This is going to be a great adventure for us all,” Bergita said as if she hadn't just been in an argument with her sister. “I've
accompanied my sister on her birding trips a couple of times but never in my hometown.” She glanced up from her tomatoes. “Where's Bethany?”

“She's happy with her Doritos,” I said.

Bergita shook her head and continued to dice.

“If you're going to go out into the field with us, you need to know the plan. We'll go into the park this way and camp near the old Shalley homestead.” Claudette ran her finger along a trail in the map. I could see that the trail split Shalley Park in two.

“Shalley homestead?” I spun around in my stool to see Claudette better. “Is that where the ghost lives?”

Claudette's head jerked up. “Don't tell me you listen to those ridiculous stories. I will not tolerate any silly ghost talk on my birding trip.”

Bergita chuckled. “That ghost story has been around a long time. I remember hearing it as a little girl.”

“What's the story?” I asked.

The doorbell rang and interrupted us. “That must be Ava,” Colin said.

Bergita put down her knife. “You invited Ava here?”

“She's in our birder group too.” I jumped off the stool and followed Colin.

Claudette called behind me. “I hope you kids can keep up.”

Colin threw open the door. Jackson, who was snoozing on the couch, barely lifted his head.

Through the front door, I saw Ava's brother's red pickup truck idling on the street. “Does your brother want to come in too?”

Ava frowned at me. “No. Romero has other stuff he needs to do. He'll be back in an hour to pick me up.”

When Ava stepped into Colin's home, she looked at everything as though she was taking inventory. She pursed her lips together as if she didn't like what she saw. I didn't know what was wrong with it. It was an ordinary living room. Maybe the Drs. Carter had a little too much beige in the place, but it was perfectly tidy.

“An hour doesn't give us much time to plan,” Colin said.

She folded her arms over her notebook. “That's all the time I have. I have other stuff to do tonight.”

“What stuff?” I asked. “What could be more important than this birding project right now?”

Ava scowled at me. “We're wasting time. I now have fifty-eight minutes. My brother will be back right at five thirty.”

“Okay, okay,” I said. “Let's go to the kitchen and introduce you to Claudette. Great news! Colin's great-aunt — don't let her hear you say ‘great' about her — is an expert birder, and she is going to take us out in the field to find the Kirtland's.”

Colin waved us across the room. “We've already told Bergita and Claudette about our assignment, and they're on board.”

When we walked into the kitchen, Bergita pointed to the pizza on the counter. “Ava, I'm so glad you could come over.”

Ava squinted at Colin's grandmother as if she was trying to decide if the older woman was lying to her.

Bergita simply smiled. “I just pulled this out of the oven. You kids help yourselves.”

I grabbed a piece of pepperoni pizza and placed it on a plate before slipping back onto the stool at the counter. I spun the seat so that I faced Claudette and the map.

Colin and Ava did the same and perched on stools on either side of me.

Claudette sat at the dining table and seemed to have no interest in the pizza. She made notes on a yellow legal pad. “Since there will be a group of us going out, we have to rethink our supply list. We should have enough food — I hope you kids like granola — and then there's always the issue of the amount of toilet paper to bring. You never know.”

Ava grimaced at her slice of pizza.

“I have an extra tent,” Bergita said. “It holds two adults. It should be plenty big enough for the girls. Colin has a single pup tent, so we are good as far as shelter goes.”

Great, I'd be sharing a tent with Ava.

Ava wiped her mouth with a napkin. “Why do we need a tent?”

Claudette dropped her legal pad onto the table. “Because we have to be there as early as possible to see the birds. It's best to camp the night before.”

“I — I can't do that,” Ava stammered.

“Are you afraid of the ghost?” Colin teased.

“No,” Ava snapped with her old confidence.

“Yeesh.” He held up his hands in surrender. “I was just kidding.”

“Well don't,” she snapped again.

Claudette pointed her pen at them. “I don't like the sound of this. There will be no squabbles out in the field. Do you hear me?”

We all nodded. Ava was tough, but Claudette — she was tougher.

Ava wrinkled her forehead. “I will have to check and see if I can come. I have some stuff I have to do at night. I'll have to ask my mom.”

“Ava, if you need me to talk to your mother about the camping trip, I can,” Bergita said.

“No,” Ava said, more quietly. “I'll talk to her.”

“Okay.” Bergita resumed dicing. “What about binoculars? Does everyone have those?”

Colin and I nodded, but Ava shook her head.

Bergita smiled. “That works out well because I just so happen to have an extra pair.” She dumped the last of the tomatoes into the salad bowl and walked across the room to the buffet, which ran along the wall. Usually, the buffet was covered with Bergita's best dishes, the ones no one is allowed to eat on. Now, in the dishes' place there was everything a camper would need for a night in the wild.

I popped my last bite of pizza into my mouth and hopped off the stool for a closer look. Ava and Colin did the same, but Colin grabbed another piece of pizza and brought it with him.

Bergita handed Ava a pair of binoculars from the buffet.

“Thank you,” Ava mumbled. She said the words like they had actually caused her physical pain.

“Bergita, is that a grappling hook?” Colin asked, pointing at the pointed object in the middle of the buffet.

She winked. “We must always be prepared. We don't know what we are going to come across out there.”

Ava looked through her binoculars. “It's Shalley Park, not the Grand Canyon.”

Bergita shrugged. “You never know where adventure will lead.”

Ava dropped her binoculars from her eyes. “What does the warbler look like?”

“I have it.” Claudette flipped through her well-thumbed bird guide and pointed to a page, then handed the book to me.

There were several similar-looking birds on the page. All of them had the same shaped body and at least a little yellow on them. The bird that Claudette pointed out didn't appear that much different from the others. It had a bright yellow underbelly and a bluish-gray back with black markings on the sides of its body. “That's it?” I asked.

Claudette sneered. “What do you mean ‘that's it?'”

I licked my lips. “I thought it would be more impressive. Rainbow colored or a crest of feathers shooting out from the top of its head? Maybe something a little more interesting?”

Claudette took the bird book from my hand. “First of all, it's a real bird, not a Dr. Seuss character, and it sounds to me like you are thinking of a painted bunting. You won't see any of those around
here. They live in the southern part of the country. Second of all, didn't you notice the bright colors on this bird? It's beautiful. I have waited my entire life to see it. Finally, I have my best chance.” There was awe in her voice.

“You've never seen one before?” Colin asked.

The lines around Claudette's mouth deepened. “No.”

“Oh,” I said.

Claudette slammed the book closed. “While the three of you are in school tomorrow, I will do some preliminary birding in Shalley Park. Then, when you get home from school, we will leave for camp. I suggest that you pack tonight. We need to get into the field as soon as possible. We can stay two nights out there.”

Bergita shook her head. “I think one night is more than enough. If you want to stay longer, Claudette, that's up to you, but I don't want the children missing church on Sunday for this.”

Claudette scowled but didn't argue.