Bailey and the Santa Fe Secret (7 page)

“Go turn the light back on in the studio and leave the door open to see if that helps,” Elizabeth suggested.

Bailey flipped on the light, pushing the door open as far as possible. “Is that any better?”

“A little,” Beth answered. “I wish the shelf was on the other wall. The light shines more on that side.” Elizabeth was distracted by the noisy cries of the baby in the store and the sound of its mother trying to comfort him. “Sounds like it’s someone’s naptime,” she told Bailey.

Bailey nodded absently. “I think we should hold the pot in the light,” Bailey said. “It’ll only be for a minute.”

“Bailey!” Elizabeth warned. “Don’t you dare even think about picking up that pot.”

“Come on, Beth.” Bailey faced her friend, hands on her hips. “Don’t be such a worrywart.”

“I am not a worrywart,” Beth said. “I just know right from wrong, and we were told not to touch it.”

Bailey reached out and touched the pot with one finger. “See? Nothing happened. You’re blowing this thing way out of proportion.”

Elizabeth’s face was getting red. “Here. You hold the computer. It’ll keep your hands busy.”

“You’re doing a fine job with it.” Bailey wouldn’t take the laptop from Beth but moved toward the shelf. “I’m just going to take the pot in the light for a second.” She put her hand out to grab the pot.

“Bailey! No!” Elizabeth whisper-yelled while moving in Bailey’s direction to stop her. Instead, she bumped the computer. Bailey’s hand slipped and knocked into the pot, sending it crashing to the floor.

The girls looked at each other, eyes wide with fear.

“Now look what you made me do!” Bailey frantically picked up pieces of pottery from the floor, thankful it had broken into five neat parts rather than shattering into a million pieces.

“Me!” Fury filled Elizabeth’s eyes. “This wouldn’t have happened if you had just done what you were supposed to!”

“We can glue it back together and no one will ever know,” Bailey said desperately.

The bell on the door rang again. More customers.

“Bailey? Elizabeth? Could you come give me a hand?” Halona called.

“S–sure, Halona,” Bailey replied. “W–we’ll be right there.” She looked around wildly, wondering what to do with the broken pottery pieces she held. “Come on!” Bailey hurried back into the studio and stuffed the fragments into a lower cabinet against the wall.

Elizabeth set the laptop on the table and closed it. Taking a deep breath, she followed Bailey to the front of the store.

“Here, will you wrap these like you did earlier?” Halona handed a shallow bowl to Bailey and a narrow vase to Elizabeth. “Are you girls okay? You look a little pale.”

Bailey giggled nervously and tried to smile. “Sure. We’re fine, aren’t we, Beth?”

Elizabeth lowered her head, but nodded. She took the vase from Halona and carefully started wrapping a paper square around it.

Aiyana bounded through the door, a plastic bag swinging from each hand. “I got the supplies you asked for, Mama.”

“Thank you, sweetheart,” Halona replied. “You can put them in the studio. The clay goes in the lower cabinet.”

Bailey followed Aiyana with her eyes, and then wiped her sweaty hands on her jeans before picking up the bowl to wrap it. Her hands shook as she set the bowl in the center of her paper square. She could hear Aiyana singing in the studio. Bailey pulled one corner of the paper up and stuffed it into the center of the bowl, then another.

She stopped, hands in midair, when Aiyana screamed.

Aiyana’s scream from the studio froze all activity in Earth Works. Halona rushed to the back and was met in the hallway by Bailey’s mom, who’d raced out of the office. Together, they hurried into the pottery studio where Aiyana stood dazed, holding the broken pottery pieces in her hands. The cabinet door stood open, and the newly bought clay sat on the floor in front of it.

“Aiyana, what is it?” Halona went to her daughter.

Bailey and Elizabeth quietly appeared in the doorway and stood with Bailey’s mother.

“The pot! Our key to riches…it’s broken!” Tears poured down the little girl’s face.

“Wha– There must be some mistake.” Halona took the pottery shards from Aiyana’s hands. She turned the pieces and looked at the painted pictures. “It can’t be!”

The bell on the front door rang as it opened.

Paco’s friend, Willy, burst into the store looking for Halona. “Come quick! It’s Elan! He’s in trouble on Puye Cliffs! He’s losing his footing, and I think he’s going to fall. You’ve gotta come!”

Halona left the pottery pieces on the countertop and hurried out the front door, not bothering to turn the open sign to closed as she locked the door. She hoisted Willy’s bike into the back of her Suburban while he and the others buckled up for the trip to the cliffs.

“He’s climbing the side of the cliff like they used to do in the ancient rite of passage,” Willy explained when they were on their way. “I think he’s trying to prove his manhood by scaling the cliff. Sort of his own personal rite of passage. But he’s slipping a lot, and I don’t care if he gets mad at me. Someone needs to make him get down.”

“He has nothing to prove,” Halona said, defiance and fear gripping her voice. “He’s more man than most boys his age.”

Willy said nothing.

“Is anyone else there?” Bailey asked.

“Paco was there when I left.”

Bailey closed her eyes and shook her head. That could only mean trouble.

Halona sped out of Santa Fe and into the desolate area that took them to Puye Cliffs. She swung her car into a parking space on the tourist side of the cliffs, and they ran to the place Elan had showed Bailey and Elizabeth, where the ancient rites of passage used to be held.

Willy looked up and pointed. “Whoa. He’s a lot higher now than when I left.” Willy walked away to where Paco stood by his bike.

“Elan!” Halona cried when she saw where her son was. “You must come down!”

“I can’t!” The tremble in Elan’s voice gave away his fear.

Halona snatched out her cell phone and dialed. “Chief Maska. We need your help. Elan is scaling the Puye Cliffs. You’ve got to talk to him. Yes…Thank you.”

“Is he coming?” Bailey’s mom asked.

“Yes. He’ll be here in just a few minutes. He lives nearby.”

“Aiyana, did you know he was planning to do this?” Halona asked.

“No,” Aiyana replied. “He talked about proving to those boys that he was a man, but I didn’t think he’d do something this crazy.”

“What boys?” her mother demanded.

Aiyana shrunk back. “He didn’t want me to tell,” she said.

“You must tell.”

“Paco and his friends have been bothering Elan almost every day since school let out. They tell him he’s not a man.”

Halona’s mouth gaped, and tears filled her eyes. She nodded at Aiyana and hugged her. “It’s okay. You did the right thing to tell me.”

Bailey spoke up. “He told Beth and me about the ancient rite of passage and acted like climbing the cliffs wouldn’t be hard to do. We told him we were glad the tribe dropped that tradition so he wouldn’t have to do it.”

“We even told him we thought he easily qualified as a man since he helps you so much and already has a job,” Elizabeth added. “But I guess we didn’t convince him.”

“No one should have to tell him,” Halona said. “He should know inside himself.”

“Elan, come down!” Tears pooled in Aiyana’s eyes. “We need you to help take care of us!”

“Hang on, Elan! Help is coming!” Bailey called. Even as she spoke, Elan took another step higher.

“He’s not giving up,” Elizabeth said. “He’s determined to do this.”

More boys from town had apparently heard about the daredevil rock climbing attempt and gathered at the foot of the cliff to watch. A slight breeze moved the dry, hot air.

“Boy, word sure travels fast,” Bailey said to Elizabeth. “Dorko and his pals must have called all their friends.”

Elizabeth didn’t seem to hear. She was busy looking at the area around them. “Bales, look at this place.”

“Yeah, so what? It’s the same place we saw yesterday when we came with Elan.”

“But think about the pictures Kate sent us,” Beth said. “It looks just like this!”

Bailey viewed the landscape with fresh eyes, imagining it without all the trees and bushes. “You’re right! This could be the site shown in the sunset painting on the ancient pot!”

The girls’ conversation was interrupted when a white pickup truck pulled up. A man in a uniform jumped out. Gazing up at the cliff, he gave Halona a quick hug. “I see he’s gone quite a ways up already.”

“Yes, he has. Thank you for coming, Chief Maska.” Halona wrung her hands as she watched Elan go still higher. “I don’t know what to do.”

“He’s proving his manhood,” Chief Maska said. “We can only wait and pray.”

“Don’t you think we should try to talk him out of it?” Bailey asked.

“Has anyone tried that yet?” the chief asked.

“Yeah, we tried, but he wouldn’t listen!” Aiyana wailed.

“Then that is your answer.” Chief Maska’s eyes stayed on Elan. “We’ll let him finish. He’s climbed too high to come down safely now.”

“But he could fall! Or even die!” Halona’s voice rose.

The chief placed his strong hands on Halona’s shoulders to calm her and looked into her eyes. “The Great Spirit will show him the way.”

Elizabeth spoke up. “I don’t know about the Great Spirit, but I know my God was strong enough to protect Daniel in the lion’s den, and He opened up the Red Sea like a book to protect the Israelites from the Egyptians who were chasing them. I know He can hold Elan against that cliff and keep him from falling, too.”

Bailey’s mom put her arm around Elizabeth and squeezed her shoulder.

Bailey cupped her hands around her mouth and shouted, “You can do this, Elan! God will help you!”

“You can do everything through Him who gives you strength!” Elizabeth added. “The Bible says so in Philippians 4:13.” She winked at Bailey.

“Yeah, Elan! Be strong and courageous,” Bailey said. “For the Lord your God is with you wherever you go. Even up the side of a cliff!”

Elan looked down over his shoulder, then up at the rest of the cliff above him. He inched his right hand up the cliff wall until he found a handhold. He did the same with his foot. Over and over, he repeated the motion. Soon he was three-fourths of the way up.

“He looks so small up there.” Sweat dripped down Bailey’s face, and she wiped it with her sleeve. “I bet he’s as high as my dad’s four-story office building downtown!”

“If he makes it to the top, how in the world will he get back down?” Elizabeth wondered aloud.

“One step at a time, child,” the chief told her.

Bailey noticed Paco and his pals had grown unusually quiet. She nudged Elizabeth and nodded in the boys’ direction. “Dorko doesn’t have such big things to say now, does he?”

“Nope.” Elizabeth smiled. “This stunt has really shut him up. Let’s keep praying Elan doesn’t fall. And that Paco learns a lesson from this.”

Bailey turned at the sound of rocks falling and gasps from the crowd. Her hands flew to her mouth.

“Oh no!” a woman behind her screamed.

Elan had lost his grip and slid about five feet down the side of the cliff. He caught himself on a tree rooted in a crack in the rock wall.

“I can’t watch!” Halona wailed. Bailey’s mother put her arms around her sobbing cousin.

“Deep breath, Elan,” the chief called. “Steady yourself. You’re okay.”

Elan appeared to listen. Clutching the branch, he searched for a foothold. Then he laid his forehead against the cliff.

A man wearing jeans and a polo shirt hurried to Halona. “I came as soon as I heard.”

“Pastor John!” Halona grasped his outstretched hand like a lifeline.

The pastor then shook hands with Chief Maska, who told him Elan was determined to prove his manhood by climbing Puye Cliffs.

“All we can do for him now is pray for his safety,” the chief said.

“That I can definitely do,” Pastor John replied.

Bailey shook the pastor’s hand, too. “Elizabeth and I have been trying to give him extra courage and strength by telling him Bible verses that have helped us.”

“Yeah,” Elizabeth said. “Just the other day when Elan took us hiking out here and Bailey and I practically tripped over a rattlesnake!”

Pastor John grinned. “I think that’s an excellent plan. You can’t go wrong with God’s Word.”

“It has superhero powers in it that transfer to you when you believe,” Bailey said seriously.

“That’s true, if you’re referring to God as the superhero,” the pastor said. “I never quite thought of it that way, but I think you’re on to something there.” He smiled and ruffled Bailey’s silky black hair. “So how about if we call on some of that supernatural strength to help Elan now?”

“Let’s do it!” Bailey said and high-fived Pastor John.

She, Elizabeth, and Pastor John joined hands in a little circle. Bailey prayed first.

“Dear God, we are afraid for Elan. Protect him. Help him find the right places for his hands and feet as he climbs. Give him strength to hold on. Most of all help him not to fall and to trust in You. Amen.”

Elizabeth went next. “God, thanks for being here with us. We know You’re helping Elan right now, but he needs to know that You’re the only Father he needs to show him how to be a real man. Give him courage to make good choices. Keep him safe. In Jesus’ name. Amen.”