Troupers

"What? What's goin' on?" Judy HAD to know. She knew Shauna better than anyone else there, and knew that if she got stirred up over a phone call that something BIG was happening. By this time, all the ladies were gathered around her waiting to hear the scoop. Smoke started rolling from the kitchen area. Because of all the excitement, Kim left the grilled cheese on high and the soup was boiling over too. The smoke alarm went off and Doris ripped it off the wall and before she smashed it with her boot she, just for orneriness, laid it beside Ricks and Dicks ears for a few seconds. "Haahahaha, how's that? Can you hear that? Smoke alarm works, doesn't it? Hahahaha!!!" With that, she gave a quick stomp and the noise ceased. " Okay Shauna, Give us then news!" Patsy pleaded. Shauna gave a disgusted sigh and started in; "Those people are idiots!!! I rattled off our alarming news to them and they just started laughing and told me "APRIL FOOLS"!!! I don't know who runs that place but I'm going to tell their superiors about this! We have a full blown emergency here and they just want to tell me "April Fools" and then they hung up on me!!!! " Shauna was red in the face and ready to blow a gasket when a park ranger car pulled up in the drive-way. Kim was still thinking about this April fool thing and asked, "can you play an April fools joke in October? Just doesn't seem the same to me." She was getting used to "the look" from her fellow campers so it didn't faze her when they gave her the look and then ignored her to turn their attention to the rangers at the door.
"Hi ladies! Glad to see you all here together! Oh, we see you have some extra "guests" as well. Hi Jonas, Rick, Dick. Boy, it sure is a beautiful day, huh?" At that, Patsy and Judy had to practically pull Shauna off of Ranger Tom. His partner, Ranger Regina, just stood there with a smirk on her face. "I'll wipe that stupid grin off your face if you don't tell us what's been going on around here!" threatened Shauna. She wasn't fooling.
It finally got quiet and the rangers felt that it was time to straighten everything out. "Okay ladies"Tom started, "Hey, we're not ladies, we're the HAC's!" corrected Patsy. "Oh, excuse me. I didn't know. Okay, HAC's, we here at the park know that you have been here many times over the years. You know the trails, know the rules and have always followed them to a tee. You always clean up the cabin so nicely. You are basically, perfect campers for us. We are always glad to have you." The girls glanced at each other with smiles and had to agree. They WERE pretty darn perfect. It was nice to be noticed once in a while."We ARE good, but what does that have to do with all that has happened to us?" Judy wanted to know. She had her note pad and pen. She was getting this all down, by golly! "What's with all this fluff and stuff you're telling us? We know all that already." Doris was not into warm and fuzzy talk. She wanted them to get to the meat of the subject. "Come on Gomer, tell us about these puds here and why they've caused us so much trouble!" Patsy found Doris' rough and tumble way hilarious. She laughed saying, "Yeah Gomer! Get on with the story! Hurry up before I pee my pants!!!"
"Okay ladi.. I mean, HAC's, we really like you ladies and love having you stay at our wonderful park. We also know that you're a pretty tough group. We have a local acting troupe that puts on plays and so forth and.. "OOOoooo! You want us to act for you!?" asked Kim excitedly. "No,no, no not really!"Tom continued, "but we".. "Kim and I are PROFESSIONALS!!! We've acted before and were the stars of the show!" Judy was obviously proud of the parts they played on the boat murder mystery. "So, you were in a Murder Mystery play? Hmmm, funny!!" Regina said. "What's so funny about that?" wondered Shauna. "These are my friends you're making fun of!" "OH! I'm not making fun!!! I'm just now seeing the coincidence!" Everyone was getting more confused by the minute. "Oh, for cryin' out loud, would you people get to the point!!?!!" Doris needed to get home to her horses but couldn't leave until the truth was out. "And I still haven't got to go to the bathroom. Let's get on with it!" agreed Patsy.
"Alright, you're probably going to mad but you ladies were all a part of a murder mystery week-end!!!" They were too stunned to speak so Ranger Tom continued.. "We were looking for a fun bunch of people to take part in our "play" only we didn't want the people we chose to know that they were a part of it!" "Uh, WHAT?" uttered Kim, "how can we have a "part" if we don't even know it?" "That was supposed to be the beauty of it. You all take a natural part of our elaborate scheme, only you don't know it. The "actors" all play along with you and even we don't have any idea where the story will lead." Judy got into it, " I get it!!! What a neat idea! I wish I knew what was going on though, I would have acted better!!!" "So, I'm assuming Jonas, Rick, Dick and you two are all part of this acting troupe?" guessed Shauna. "Yep, we sure are. Could you untie us now?" " Was that Rick or Dick asking?" questioned Doris. She still couldn't believe that this was all just an act. "Actually, that's David Crandellson and his twin brother Robert. And "Jonas" there, is actually Joe Walton. I'm Steven Peterson and this is Cindy Horner. We all had a part with moving the canoes, messing with your trucks and all the other tricks we pulled on you! You guys were great!!! We couldn't have done a better jobs ourselves!" " It was a little scary having you mad at us though. We weren't going to let it go much farther or someone would've been hurt, namely US! " admitted David and Robert. Jonas/Joe spoke up, "On behalf of the Great Lake Acting Troupe, we dub you all honorary members and we've granted you the gift of free camping in these wonderful campground cabins twice a year for as long as you want!" They all agreed that that was mighty nice, but with all the excitement they'd been through, they might be camped out. "Well," Judy thought, "Maybe, just maybe we'll be up for another vacation in the spring. Just promise us that the next time will be BORING!!!"

A What???

Judy pulled a somewhat bedraggled bag of Yogos out of her bag. "Anybody want a Yogo?" she asked cheerily. Kim busted out laughing, "Yogos? At a time like this?? We have 2 men hogtied on our kitchen floor, Jonas telling us tales we don't know we should believe, our vehicles won't start and you're eating Yogos???" "Well, I was gettiing hungry and wasn't sure when we would get lunch. Whose turn is it to cook anyway? asked Judy, "Besides that, I don't figure those fellows are going anywhere till we untie them and Doris can for sure handle Jonas if he gets woofy with us." "So," said Patsy, "I say we should call the other Rangers and work on that jigsaw puzzle till they get here. Or maybe fix lunch. Judy does have a point, we do need to eat." "Sounds like a plan to me," agreed Kim, "I'll get started on lunch if you all will help me move these two lumps outta the way. Jonas can have a seat here at the table and Doris can keep an eye on the hogtied two. Shauna, could you go call the Ranger Station and explain our situation?" "On my way," said Shauna as she headed out the door.
In less than a minute Shaua was back in the cabin, holding her phone out in front of her with a quizzical look on her face. "You guys aren't gonna believe this," She said............

Twin Boys

"It was from that brunette, Micki. All the memories of the week we'd had came flooding back and I could hardly understand the note I was trying to read it so fast. What it amounted to in a nutshell" - "It came in a nutshell?" asked Kim. Doris shot her another one of those squinted eyeball looks and Kim said, "Sorry, Jonas, you go on with your story. I won't say another word. Not ONE more word outta me, no sirree." Jonas continued, "Well, it seems Micki had been engaged to Nick but was having second thoughts so she came down here to camp for a week to clear her mind. She met me and that decided her. She figured she better go on home and call it off with Nick. Problem was, when she got back he'd set up a Surprise Ceremony. She walked into a house full of relatives and friends and a wedding gown all ready for her to slip into. She figured she better just go with that plan instead of upsetting all the other apple carts and she'd always wanted to let me know but just couldn't bring herself to send the many notes she had written. Turns out she should have trusted her instincts cause Nick turned out to be not such a good guy after all and soon got worse. Course the boys came along 'bout 9 months after the wedding. They kept her pretty busy but things with her and Nick just got worse and worse." Patsy spoke up, "What'd she name the boys?" From the floor came a chorus of two, "Rick and Dick." Patsy looked at Jonas and then the 2 men on the floor. "You mean," she pointed at the floor, "That's them?" "Yes," answered Jonas, "That's them." "How'd they get HERE?" Patsy asked. Patiently Jonas said, "That's what I am trying to tell you." "See guys, I am NOT the only one who interrupts. Patsy just spoke right up there and Jonas was trying.." Kim quieted at a look from Shauna. Again, Jonas continued, "When I got the note she was planning her escape and was hoping against hope I would remember her. REMEMBER HER? How could I have ever forgotten her? I welcomed her and the boys and we set up camp, so to speak right there over the General Store and had a wonderful life. Once Nick saw she wasn't going back he set about getting custody of the boys. He failed but he sure made our lives miserable and we worried like crazy whenever the boys went to visit him that he would leave the country with them. The boys grew like weeds out here and my land I have never seen two more opposite brothers. Rick, there, doesn't have a mean bone in his body and would give you his last dollar. Dick, now, Dick doesn't have a mean bone in his body either, but he would gladly TAKE that last dollar. He's always gotta make it rich quick scheme, especially if somebody would just loan him the money. When he got to be about 16, he went to spend a couple weeks with Nick and just didn't come home. Got himself into a few scrapes with the law and ended up a guest of the state for a few years. Then he bounced around from place to place until about 2 years ago he wound up back home with us. You know how rumours and the gossip fly in small places where everybody thinks they know everybody else's bidness so it hasn't been easy for him but I am pretty proud to say he's been doin' a right nice job around here. Between the 2 boys Micki and I have been able to pass on most of our work load and we're even planning a trip to Alaska. On one of them cruisin' ships. So as far as you gettin' all worked up over Dick, I reckon it was just a waste of time. You might as well turn them fellers loose and I'll show you how to tell 'em apart."
The girls silently traded glances but you could see their minds whirling. Finally Judy spoke up, "Well, if Dick is such a good boy now, how's come he let us think he was Rick?" "Yeah, said Kim, "And why did he have to ake his phone call outside so we wouldn't hear? Are you SURE, Jonas, that he's turned the tides and is living right? Cause if he hasn't we can have Doris toss him over her shoulder and dump in the truck and as soon as we get it started we can haul him in. Or Judy can take him in in the mini bike." "HA! Not alone, I'm not," spoke up Judy, "One of you has to go with me!!" "And where would we ride, the handle bars?" asked Shauna. "No, silly, I have a cart in my truck." "Now Girls," came from Jonas, "You can trust me. You know that. Just let the boys go and we'll all have a nice game of Monopoly."
"Don't do it," came from the floor. The girls eyes all jumped to the speaker. "Don't let him loose," said one of the men with a toss of the head toward the other man, "Dick and Jonas aren't what they seem. Most of what Jonas told you is true, especially about Mom and us moving here and then Dick moving back with Dad, but there's more he's not telling and it would be in your best interest to leave him tied right where he is." Jonas spoke again, "Now Dick, you just stop that. Things have been going so well for you and here you are causing trouble again." Girls you go ahead and let them boys loose. That's Dick acting like he's Rick, again. You just let them boys loose." "Call the other rangers," said the man on the floor. "Now, let's don't be causing trouble for everybody," said Jonas, "You just turn them boys loose and we'll go on home and straighten this out."
The girls looked to each other for suggestions. Judy dug around in her bag, finally saying, "There you are," to whatever item she had in her hand, "I've been looking for you." And she pulled..............

Jonas' Story

"He seemed just fine to me. Maybe a little concerned about these two yahoos though" answered Kim. "Hey! I take offense to the yahoo thing!" contested one of the Rick/Dicks. Doris gave a boot to both of them, just for the sake of fun, "Did I say you could speak? No, I didn't so keep quiet or I'll boot you where it REALLY hurts!" Shauna gave her a high 5 for that one and begged them both to say something. Anything! "Come on big boys! I want to see grown men cry!" Patsy sat at the table taking all the action in, hankie in hand to wipe away her tears of laughter."I love this! I wouldn't trade you guys for anything! This has been the worst and best week-end of my life!!" She continued chuckling and then they heard the putter of the golf cart. "Finally!! Where have you been?" Shauna scolded as she stomped out the door. Judy, all smiles, apologised and explained; "As soon as Kim left, we took off behind her in Jonas' cart. I convinced Jonas to take my short cut through the woods and then I remembered that I left my bag on his counter. We went back to get my bag and it wasn't there. So we searched high and low to find it. We gave up because we knew you were all waiting for us and would get worried so we left and once again took my short cut which Jonas said was no short cut and he was right so we had to take the real trail and here we are but I NEED my bag! WHEW!! Now I'm out of breath!" "I have your bag right here. You left it on the mini-bike since we were in such a rush." Kim held up the bag as Judy swooped in and started going through it doing a quick inventory. "OH good!!! My book on how to free clutter from your purse is still here! And my swiss knife is here...who took the tweezers from my swiss knife?!?... oh, here they are. Nevermind! We're all good. Hey Jonas, tell us what you know about these two yahoos!" "Enough with the yahoo thing again!" whined Rick/Dick. He whined even more because Doris gave him a swift kick in the thigh, "Next time it'll be higher and you'll really howl," she warned.
"Okay, now that we're all here let's straighten this whole mess out." Shauna was taking control of the situation. SOMEONE had to! They all got situated and waited for the story as Jonas cleared his throat..."It all started back in '62 when I was a young man" Kim spoke up, "you wouldn't have been THAT young. You would've been, what, 30 something?" All eyes glared upon her. It was the "shut-up" glare she was accustomed to. She shrugged and added "I was just SAYING. Geez! Anyway, sorry Jonas, keep going. I'll shut up. Really. Don't worry about me. I won't say another word." "Please continue with your story Jonas," Doris added while she gave Kim the eye. Once again, he cleared his throat and started his story...."It all started back in '62. I was a young Ranger in these woods. Loved my job and the people and the community. There was a lovely brunette came to stay in these cabins for a couple of weeks. I knew there was a story there but was afraid to ask. We came across each other a lot that first week. It was love at first sight, I s'pect. We were inseparable that next week then she was gone. Like the wind. Never heard a word and after a while I never expected to. Then about 5 years later I got a note"..................

Questions, questions

Entertaining wasn't exactly the choice word but unusual would fit the bill. When the three walked back into the cabin, there, wallered up in the dirty throw rug was one of the Rick/Dicks with his face smashed to the floor while the other Rick/Dick had his legs looped around the others neck in a choke hold. The one on the bottom had tried to make an escape while the other twin made a daring capture. At least that's how it appeared but who could trust them and how could the girls favor one over the other when they couldn't tell them apart?

"Alright guys, nice try! Now you didn't think you could get past us did you?" chided Doris. "We are not your everyday wimpy women!" added Patsy. "Yeah, actually, we're so tough, sometimes we wonder if we ARE women after all!!" Shauna reinforced nodding her head. "Don't mess with us, suckers! We've been through an awful lot this week-end and we're gittin' a little cranky!!!" Patsy reflected on the not-wimpy-women phrase and had to correct the fact that THEY weren't wimpy but Judy and Kim were a different story. "HEY! I heard that!!" It was Kim. She and Judy had made it to Old Jonas and quickly explained the problem to him. Kim brought back the mini-bike while Jonas offered to bring Judy back on his golf cart. "I know the perfect question for Rick which will prove he is the real one!" Patsy excitedly announced. "Rick, a few years ago we had a problem at one of our cabins. What was the problem with our cabin the time we had to move from one to the other and which cabins were involved?" The three others gave a collected "OOOoooo, that's a good one!" while they waited for one of the Ricks to answer the question. Then, before anyone could answer the question posed, Kim noticed that Judy and Jonas weren't back yet. "They should be back here by now. I wonder what's taking so long?" "Yeah, his golf cart goes faster than that little mini-bike" laughed Pats. "I don't like this. Something just doesn't feel right" Shauna was sounding concerned. "Jonas seemed alright didn't he? He's just a nice old man. Right?" Doris was asking for reassurance. "Well"...........

WHO are YOU?

Doris looked from Rick to Dick and back again. "Hey, there's two of 'em," she said, squinting her eyes and wrinkling her forehead. "That's what we were gonna tell ya but haven't had a chance," piped up Kim, "Jonas told us that Dick had been locked up and we thought he was impersonating Rick and figured he was up to no good so that's why we captured him!" From the floor came an out of breath, "Rick. I am Rick." "No he's not," said the Rick at the door, "I am Rick. That's Dick and I have been chasing him all over the place trying to catch him!" The girls looked at the men. Then they looked at each other and then at the men again. "Well," Shauna said, "I can only think of one thing to do." "Me, too," said Judy, 'GET HIM!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!" And with that the girls pounced on the one at the door and before you could say Whistlestop Jiggle Pig, they had him hogtied and sitting back against the kitchen wall facing the Rick/Dick on the floor. "Now what?" asked Patsy, "We can't keep them here." "You betcha can't," said the first to be tied up man, "I'll press charges for kidnapping right after I press charges for assault." "Yeah, yeah, yeah," sneered Doris, "We're shakin' in our boots." "Well, I think somebody should go get Jonas. He should be able to tell these boys apart," said Patsy, " And the rest should stay here to watch these two." Judy leapt up and grabbed her keys, "I'LL GO," she said quickly, "But somebody better come with me." "Wait," said Kim, " how about Patsy and Shauna go while you and I and Doris stay here. I can think of a couple questions we might be able to ask that only Ranger Rick would have the answer." "You're right, " agreed Judy as she tossed her keys to Patsy, "Hurry up you two and we'll hold the fort here. If you'll watch these boogers Doris, Kim and I will compare notes outside and be right back with a few questions." "I'll watch 'em all right! I hope one of em moves cause I've gotta new choke hold I've been wanting to practice," followed by laughter. Patsy and Shauna had made it to the truck but were just sitting in it. "What's wrong?" hollered Kim. "Don't know," came the response, "It won't start!!" "Did you turn the key?" "YES," said Patsy, " We did turn the key. Duh." Kim and Judy headed out to the truck to see what they could figure out. Meanwhile, Doris came to the door and said, "What are you guys doing?" Kim explained that the truck wouldn't start so Doris said, "don;t mess with it now, just take mine." The girls decided that was a good idea so Doris' keys were passed on to Patsy. Shauna and Patsy got up in Doris' truck, put their seatbelts on and sat there. Doris' truck wouldn't start either. With a grim look, Shuana got out of the truck and marched towards the cabin. "Where ya goin'?" asked Kim. "To have a little chat with the boys inside. Doris, you come with. I might need your help." Judy was messing around the back of her truck and as the others turned to look they saw her pulling a minibike out of the bed. "What are YOU doing?" came from Kim. "Going for help," said Judy. Wanna go along?" "Sure," answered Kim. Judy fired it up. Kim climbed on the back and off they went. Patsy watched them drive off with her head tilted and a puzzled look in her eye then turned to watch Shauna and Doris going thru the cabin door. "Shoulda had them bring a six pack back, " she said to herself, "We could use it." Then she headed for the cabin to see what was happening in there. SHe was sure of one thing. It would be entertaining.

The girls were extremely antsy waiting for 6:00 to come around. They piddled around with the jigsaw puzzle, absentmindedly picking up and trying various shapes in the partially finished corners of the polar bears in the snow scene. Was Doris coming back? they each wondered. As Shauna glanced at her watch for the 300th time, they all happily gazed toward the door when they heard feet plodding on the wooden porch. Patsy rose from the chair to open the door for Doris. She was laughing as she swung open the door and shouted "It's about time you showed up! Where have you been?" Boy was she surprised! It wasn't Doris. It was none other than Ranger Dick! "Well Ranger Rick!"Judy greeted, "we are so, uh, glad you came back!" she added as she grabbed Shauna's arm for support. "Uh, yeah, you still owe me the rest of a game of monopoly" Patsy quickly said. She acted eager to see Rick/Dick but inside her legs were jello. Kim cowered in the corner of the couch and tried to slip off to the linai but Shauna reached for her and while her teeth were clenched she managed a fake smile and said "Kim! Ranger Di- I mean, Rick is here to play more games. I think you should FIRST show him the little leak under the kitchen sink!" "Oh, no, JUDY is the one that discovered it I think SHE can show him!" Patsy started snickering at that suggestion. Dick said " I don't have any tools on me and that's maintenence's responsibility anyway." "You've helped us before" piped up Kim, just now catching on to what Shauna was plotting. Judy started to get brave too, "I've got tools in my bag that I'll let you borrow. You crawl down under there and I'll get your supplies!" She was excited now. She had confidence in whatever plan Shauna had in mind. Patsy and Shauna moved the kitchen table so Ranger D had room to scoot under the sink. The girls were all in the kitchen area now watching Dick crawl on his hands and knees. When he was in as far as he could go Patsy yelled "NOW!!" and all there was, was a flurry of hands and feet and pots and pans rattling and Dick yelling "stop, stop, no, no!!" They almost had him pummeled to tears when they heard someone yell above all the commotion; "What are you guys doing!?! You need help? HERE! I've got a lead rope in my pocket!!!" It was Doris! She'd come at a perfect time. The girls had him in a headlock, an armlock and an anklelock. It was definitely due to strength in numbers. Doris ran over and gave the final blow to Dicks ego by wrestling his arms behind his back and proceeded to hog tie his arms to his legs and when he was incapacitated completely they all released their grips from his shirt, pants and hair and gave collected breaths. Shauna's shirt was torn, Patsy's hair was as if she'd been in a wind tunnel, Kim had lost a shoe and an earring and Judy's glasses were a bit crooked but her water wings came through just fine. "Water wings!!!" Shauna laughed. "When did you put those on?!" "When I went to get my tools I figured I'd better put them on for safety's sake. You never know, Dick could have thrown us all in the lake, never to be seen again. " They all just stared at her for a few seconds then Patsy broke the silence with, "Hey, are we all just gonna lay here on the floor with Dick or are we gonna call Ranger Rick and tell him we caught his evil twin?"
They all got up and brushed themselves off while Doris double checked her square knots. She smacked Dick in the face and chuckled just for fun. "Hey! Why did I tie up Ranger Rick and why did I just enjoy smacking him?" she finally wondered. "And why did you say we'll call Ranger Rick when he's right here? And who's this Dick you keep talking about?" "We'll explain it all while we wait for the REAL Rick to get here." Kim assured her. "Yeah, then I still wanna go ask Jonas some more questions. I think he knows even more about this than Rick does." surmised Judy. "Jinkies Daphne, we'll get right on it!" Laughed Shauna. Just then they heard Rick stomping on the porch. He didn't look happy..........at all..........................

The plan

Yes I too thought this was the evil twin Dick but we gotta play it cool said Shauna. We all watch alot of mystery shows what would they do in those? Lets see , first they would not let the suspect know they knew he was not who he was pretending to be said Kim. Exactly! said Shauna, Lets go back in there and act like nothing is wrong and... What if her tries to kill us said Kim? Well he's not gonna do that if he doesn't suspect we know. Lets get back out there and we need to really pay close attention and see if there are differences between he and Rick that we will be able to tell the difference. Good idea said Kim and we need to at least let Judy know so she can watch too lets go! Wait we need the game said Shauna. What game? replied Kim Ohhh the game got it!

Kim and Shauna returned with monopoly hoping it would be a game long enough to allow them to really study Dick. As they were playing along all the girls were making mental notes of Dick, the little freckle on his left ear, how his right sideburn was longer than his left, that he snorted when he laughed, that his eyes were actually hazel and not green like his brothers, and how he LOVED oatmeal raisin cookies etc... Patsy was concentrating on the game and rolling in the dough and properties not realizing she and Dick were really the only ones playing the others were going through she motions. She even jumped up on the table and did a little happy dance when she got park place to add with her boardwalk! Finally Dick got a call on his walkie talkie from the ranger station it appeared some boy scouts may have let a campfire get out of control and he needed to go check it out or at least that is what he told the girls. Once the voice came across the radio he took the call outside so as to not tip off the girls in case his brother the real ranger answered. Relieved to be able to leave before totally getting taken to the cleaners by Patsy he tried to act disappointed and made his apologies and promised to return another time to finish the game and left. When he left everyone started talking at once about what they noticed and Patsy whistled and said WAIT A MINUTE! What the heck are you all talking about?? Oh that's right she doesn't know said Judy who explained the whole mess. OHHHHHHH why didn't you tell me said Patsy??????? We couldn't tell you with out alerting him said Kim. So now what do we do asked Patsy. What can we do? We really have no proof of anything said Judy. Well I think we need to do some investigating on our own said Shauna. First lets take this glass he used to drink his milk after washing down the dozen or so cookies he ate and put it in a bag we might need it later for dna or prints. Dang! you do watch alot of crime dramas don't you said Kim. Yep too many probably laughed Shauna. We need to talk to Jonas at the store, see what else we can find out about Dick like why he was in trouble with the law and maybe some other quirks of his that might help us realize from a distance who is who said Judy. Is Doris coming back from the race asked Patsy? Maybe we shouldn't leave the cabin if Doris is coming back it might be dangerous for her to be here by herself she added. Not sure if she is she will be back by 6 said Kim. Ok we can wait that long said Shauna. In the mean time the girls were talking about what questions they could aske Jonas with out making him suspicious. It seemed to the girls it was best if no one else knew what they suspsected at this time. Wonder WHY he is doing this said Shauna? Is he harmful or harmless added Patsy? Well it seems to me any one portraying some one else to gain the trust of others is not harmless said Judy. Lets make a list of all the things we each noticed about him so we can all remember a few of them in case we encounter him again suggested Judy, and a list of questions for Jonas too added Kim. Good idea if we each take a question maybe he won't be suspicious. My first question is why was he in prison said Shauna but how do you ask that with out sending up a red flag?

Game time

Patsy and Shauna were having a dandy conversation with Ranger Rick. Gee, he was much more "charming and suave" outside of the strict confines of his ranger uniform. If they didn't know better, they'd swear he was flirting! Judy and Kim watched every move he made and were getting ever more nervous. Shauna invited him to sit a spell and have a cookie and a glass of milk. Patsy continued with more tales of our incredible (however odd it may be) week-end so far. She laughed until she had tears while retelling the Judy/bear/coon story even though she hadn't yet arrived at the campsite. "What I would have given to be here then! Judy with her long johns around her ankles running from a bear!!!!" "Believe me"added Shauna, "I WAS here and it definely WAS funny!! All her antics make it ALMOST worth what we've been through!" Shauna and Patsy were reveling in all the details when Shauna happened to notice.."Hey! What's with you two? You're being awfully quiet and THAT never happens." "Oh, nothing, just taking it all in." Judy covered well and Kim gave her an approving nod. They had to let the girls know what was up though. Kim interrupted, "let's all play a game! Patsy, could you come help me get it out of the bedroom?" "What do you need me for?" Pats asked "I think you can handle it!" Kim glanced nervously at Judy. Judy saved the moment by adding "Shauna will help you. Go ahead Shauna!" Shauna dutifully followed Kim to the bedroom, "What are we playing?" "SHHHHH!!" whispered Kim, "That's not Rick!!" "We don't have a game called that do we?" questioned Shauna. "No! No! In there!! That's not Ranger Rick! That's his evil twin! We have to do something!! Quick!! You're the brave one, what do we do??"

Someones at the door

"Hi young lady! I forgot your milk!" It was old Jonas from the store. "I knew you were out and would probably need it for breakfast. I remembered as soon as I got back to the store. You don't owe me a penny. It's on the house!" Jonas didn't give the girls a chance to say a word. He just continued smiling as he turned and hopped back in his golf cart. "Well, see! I knew he was a nice old man all along!" stated Kim. "Nice? You thought he was going to have us for supper and we were the main course!!" Judy reminded. "He probably put poison in the milk" Shauna teased. "Here Patsy, take a swig and find out!" Patsy & Shauna laughed at the idea. "I'm not drinkin' it now!" said Kim in a worried tone. "Oh, it's fine!" assured Patsy, "The seal is still on it and everything." "Nope, I read where they can inject stuff in sealed containers and no one can even tell." Kim was convinced of that. Just then the girls heard another knock at the door. Judy grabbed her bag (just in case) and peeked through the kitchen window. "Oh good, it's Ranger Rick!" she happily announced. "He must have heard my horn!" "I'm glad SOMEONE can hear" added Kim, "I'm deaf now because of the little horn episode." Judy waved her off and greeted Ranger Rick. "Boy are we ever glad to see you!" "Hey Ranger Rick! We've never seen you without your uniform on. Do you have a hot date?" Patsy asked in an ornery manner. "You look different without your ranger hat and khakis" Shauna chimed. "We're glad to see you all the same. Some more weird things have been happening. At least in our imaginations. "
While Shauna and Patsy carried on a nice conversation, Judy pulled Kim aside. "Something's not right here." "What do you mean?" "Ranger Rick has a small scar on his chin. Where did it go?" Kim tried to glance his way to look for herself, then she sniffed and gasped,"Oh no, I smell old spice again!"

One Mystery Down

"OK, let's just calm down and think about this," said Shauna, ever the voice of reason. Patsy agreed, "First off, how do you know that was the same coon as the one Kim ran over?" "Oh," said Kim, "That's easy. Did you see how his mask shaded out to almost grey on one side and he had a tan tip on his tail? I noticed it when we were looking at him after I had hit him. He musta just been knocked out and after we drove away he came to and followed the trail to this cabin. He really likes yogos, apparently!!" "But what about the shower gel?" asked Judy, "Where did it come from?" Patsy had taken the tube from Judy and was looking at it intently. Without a word, she turned and carried the tube into the cabin. The others followed. Patsy went to the shower and pulled back the curtain, then busted out in laughter!!!!!!!!!!!!!. "WHAT?? What's so funny?" asked Kim. "Patsy could just point at the tube and then at herself. Shauna went to the kitchen and returned with a glass of water which she handed to Patsy, with orders to, "Drink." Patsy took a slug of the water, looked at the tube again and almost blew the water out her nose. Finally, she calmed down enough to say, "THIS is mine!!!! I must have picked up Rick's gel by mistake when I was packing my stuff for the trip up here." "Well, now's a fine time to tell us, " said Kim. "We have been smelling Old Spice ever since you got here and have been scared to death that it was Ranger Rick's criminal twin!!!" Shauna spoke up, "I am just glad we solved that mystery! I was beginning to wonder myself. But I'll bet Dick is locked up somewhere if he is as bad as Jonas said. Those kind don't spend much time on the outside." Just then there was a tap at the door. Judy went to answer it, figuring it was Ranger Rick coming in response to the air horn blast. Boy, was she surprised when she opened the door.............

Behind the Cabin Door

All talking at once, each insisting it wasn't SHE who left the door unlocked, the group moved towards the cabin. Patsy spoke up, "Well, as much activity as there has been at this cabin I can't imagine anyone hiding in there, can you?" "You're right," agreed Shauna, "But what did that old fart say about Ranger Rick having a twin brother?" "I heard that. He said there was a twin whose name was Dick and he had been in trouble with the law," said Kim, "I wonder what he did." "Do you suppose there is anything connected to him and the Old Spice we keep smelling? " Judy asked anxiously. "And I can't believe I left my bag, with EVERYTHING, inside that cabin when it wasn't locked!!" "You'd think," piped up Kim, "That if some crook was in our cabin the first thing he woulda done was to have searched through Judy's bag looking for money, but she paid for the groceries. Was that all the money you had Judy?" she continued turning to look at Judy, who was busy digging through her bag of priceless items. "Nope," answered Judy, "Looks like it's all here." "How would you even KNOW if somebody took anything out of that quagmire?" asked Shauna. "What do you mean?" responded Judy, "I KNOW EVERYTHING that is in this bag and usually where it is, too! Speaking of.... I am missing my safety mirror and my last bag of Yogos!!!" Just then the girls heard scuffling sounds coming from behind the cabin door!! "Quick," whispered Patsy, "I'll open the door while you get ready to use your club on whoever comes out, Shauna!!" They moved into position. Judy and Kim took up positions just off the edge of the porch, you know, to catch them if they got away from Pats and Shauna. (wink wink) Patsy reached forward carefully and just touched the handle when the door busted open and crashed into Patsy which caused her to step backwards into Shauna who dropped her club. Chaos ensued. Kim and Judy raced each other to the pickup truck, where of course, the doors were locked. Both were digging frantically through Judy's bag looking for Kim's keys. Judy came up with the air horn which she blasted in Kim's ear. "Geezaloo," exclaimed Kim, grabbing her ear, "You wanna be careful with that thing? You're gonna deafen me!" "I'm sorry. I'm sorry," said Judy, "I just wasn't thinking!! I thought maybe Ranger Rick would still be in the area and if he heard the horn he would come back here to help us." Meanwhile, on the porch, Shauna and Patsy had managed to regain their footing but both were almost in tears with hysterical laughter. "What's so funny?" asked Kim still rubbing her ear. All the two girls could do was point. Judy and Kim followed the poiting fingers to see the raccoon from the previous night shuffling down the trail, a bag of yogos in his mouth. "He must like Yogos as much as you, huh Judy?" asked Shauna. Judy was off and running, "Come back here you silly racoon!! Those are MINE!!" The coon dropped something and put it in high gear. "Hey! What did he drop?" yelled Kim. "It looks like a tube of shower gel," responded Judy, "It IS shower gel. You aren't gonna believe this. It's OLD SPICE shower gel!!!! And he brought it out of OUR CABIN!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!"

Groceries

As the girls stood in the woods so that the old man from the general store did not see them, they started to lay out a plan of attack. Judy and Kim took charge, they decided that since Shauna had a club/walking stick, she should go first, Patsy second, size mattered more than brains and Judy and Kim would bring up the rear.
So as the girls left their hiding place in the woods and stepped out in the clearing, they heard someone say, "Hey girls what are you up to?", all four simultaneously turned around and at the same time Patsy yelled out in pain, because as Shauna was turning she swung her club/walking stick, and struck Patsy on the arm, leaving it red and with a large welt on it. There stood Ranger Rick, arms crossed and tapping his foot in the dirt.
After seeing who it was and relieved at the same time, Kim and Judy started telling him every thing that has happen to them since they arrived. Everything from the canoe outing, the bear, the raccoon that Judy thought was a bear, the accident of running over the raccoon, the disappearing Cheerios, the smell of Old Spice in the cabin and the old man at the general store that also smelled like Old Spice. As soon as they finished telling Ranger Rick the whole story, Ranger Rick, raises a waving hand and yells out, "Good morning Jonas."
Once again the girls turn in the direction of the cabin, this time Patsy ducking the swing of the club/walking stick, that Shauna had in her possession and laughing because she missed her. Right in front of them stood the old man from the general store. He said good morning to Ranger Rick and asked us if they had a good hike back to the cabin.
The old man from the general store said he arrived before we returned, he checked the door to see if it was unlocked, which it was, and preceded to unload the groceries from the golf cart into the cabin. At which then the old man from the general store turned to Judy and said, "That will be $31.65, for the groceries."
Judy ran into the cabin got her bag and came out with $32.00 and told the old man from the general store to keep the change. Wow what a big tipper.
So everyone stood outside the cabin for a little bit longer and finally Ranger Rick said he had to get back to work. After he left Kim and Judy mentioned to the old man from the general store that Ranger Rick was a nice guy and they felt very safe knowing he was around.
The old man from the general store replied as he was getting into his gulf cart, "Yes, Ranger Rick is a very nice guy not like his twin brother Dick, who has had some problems with the law. And just because of Dick I always have to keep Old Spice Cologne at the store"!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
After the golf cart pulled out of sight all four girls looked at each other and at the same time said "WHO LEFT THE DOOR UNLOCKED"!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Old Spice

The girls scoured through ever crack, crevise, door, cupboard, closet and under ever bed, dresser, couch and table. No sign of a would-be rapist/attacker anywhere. Phew!!! They could all eat breakfast in peace and rest and relax or do whatever they wished without fear for the rest of the day. But where had that scent come from? Who had eaten Kim's cheerios? It was a mystery that would just have to stay a mystery.

Judy got out the puzzle and Shauna joined in. Doris had to race tonight and needed to get home to get stuff ready. As with all races, she hoped Ritzy would bring home the dough. If the happy campers chose to stay a couple more nights then she may return in the morning. She'd let them know. They all wished her luck and Doris was on her way out of the campgrounds by 9:30. It was a beautiful morning and the girls were already planning a big pre-lunch hike. The ground was a bit gooey from last nights rain but the trails shouldn't be too treacherous, they decided they were up to it. Afterall, with all that had happened already, they could handle just about anything. Before they walked back to the cabin after the hike they figured they'd better stop off at the old general store to replenish their stock. All agreed and after the half hour of pooping, dressing, chap-sticking and getting prepped for the trek, they headed for the trails.

The trails were breath-taking. The birds were singing, the tree's leaves were rustling."Such a glorious day the Lord hath made!"exaulted Kim, "Rejoice and be glad!" gleefully added Judy. Patsy was leading the way, laughing at pretty much everything that was said. Shauna carried a big walking stick to whack at briars and everyone took in the beauty. Judy had left behind her bag and didn't even miss it! This was a wonderful day with not a care in the world!!

They arrived at the general store and picked up some bread, cookies, chips and all the fixins' to make a pizza. The old man, as nice as ever, sat at the counter and asked how they were and chit chatted with common conversation. He asked if they had everything and commented that they didn't get milk. "Come to think of it, we do need milk," said Shauna "how did you know?" "Oh, just a guess!" the old man said teasingly as he winked. "Everyone needs milk don't they?" They all nodded their heads in agreement. Judy absentmindedly reached for her bag to pay for the supplies and "OH SHOOT!! I forgot my bag!! I don't have any money on me!!" The others looked at each other and noone had even so much as a dime. "We'll have to come back later and get our stuff. We're sorry," Judy apologised. "Now don't you ladies worry about a thing. I'll just bring your bags right to your door. It'd be easier than you having to carry them anyway. I'll give you a few minutes to get back then I'll be on my way with all your goodies."

The happy campers thanked the nice old man, said their goodbyes and went on their way back toward the cabin. "Hey guys" said Kim as she stopped in her tracks, "That smell! That old man smell! It just dawned on me! I smelled it back at the store and it just struck me!" "What are you talking about?" Patsy asked while chuckling. "Hey, you're right!" Shauna added. "He DID smell like an old man!!!" "Guys! Keep it down!!! He'll hear you!!" piped in Judy cautiously. "Of course he smells like an old man. He IS an old man!!" "No! That Old Spice smell we smelled in the cabin. It's HIM!! HE was in our cabin when we WEREN'T!!" Kim peered over her shoulder. She just knew the old man was right behind them and was going to put them all in a bag, take them back to his lair and eat them for his supper."He KNEW we needed milk because he's the one that ate the cheerios too, I'll bet", deduced Patsy. "My bag! My bag! Where's my bag?!" Judy was wringing her hands in worry. She probably had old man repellant in one of it's compartments. Shauna was now ahead of the pack and took charge. "Ladies, we need to hurry. We have to get back back to the cabin before he does. Let's go!" "That old man doesn't scare me" Patsy said confidently. "Yep, I can take him!" "Well, now's your chance Patsy" said Judy clutching onto Kim's shirt, "because there sits his golf cart in front of our cabin".............

Because..................

"I smell aftershave. We might be a bit manly but I don't think we wear aftershave. Especially old man aftershave." Kim sniffed the air again. "It's Avon's wild country. No, I think it's Old Spice."She continued sniffing and made her way to the kitchen area. All of a sudden she hollered "SOMEONE'S been eating my CHEERIOS!!" By this time all the weary campers had made their way to the scene of the "crime". "How would you know some one's been in your cheerios?" asked Judy snidely. "The way you eat them non-stop, the box is never closed anyway!" Doris, who was checking out the refrigerator for any clues to this latest mystery, straightened up and announced , "Oh yeah. This is real nice. I have to race in 12 hours and I can't so much as even have a nice cold glass of my Nestea. Who drank my tea? I don't ask for much. I came on this camping trip thinking I could rest up and get away and now I can't even have a nice cold glass of tea!!! "Calm down! Happy campers my foot!!" yelled Shauna. "We'll never figure out what has been happening here unless we all calm down!" At that moment they all sensed that there was an extra "camper" in the cabin. All eyes turned to the hallway. Scuffing sleepily from the bedroom and scratching her head was.................. PATSY!!!! "Where'd you come from?" asked Judy excitedly. "From the bedroom" stated Patsy, simply. Judy continued, "No, I mean when did you get here? How did you find us?" "Well, I call you everyday so it's not exactly a big puzzle to find out where you were" chuckled Patsy. "PUZZLE!" jumped in Kim, "We haven't worked on our puzzle yet!" All eyes glared her way so she decided to make Doris some tea and stay out of trouble. They could work on the puzzle later. Shauna gave Patsy a welcoming hug, "I'm glad we have someone else to share our miserable, I mean, exciting camping trip with!" Doris sat at the table drinking her fresh glass of tea and thought of something. "Does Patsy wear aftershave?" "No but I think she wears some of that fancy doggie perfume sometimes. What is it called, Pucchi ? Woof Lauren?Hahahahaaha!!!!" teased Judy. "Why do you ask if she wears aftershave?" Shauna wondered. Doris continued, "Well, Kim with the nose, said she smelled Old Spice and I did too. What's up with that? Where'd that come from? I know I"M not wearin' it!" "Did anyone check under the beds and in the closet? asked Judy nervously. "What about the lanai? That's where he is!!! He's on the lanai!!!" She grabbed the closest thing to her for a weapon which happened to be a little 3 ring tablet of paper "What are you gonna do with that?" laughed Shauna "Beat him to a pulp with the spiral binder?!!!!" All Judy could come back with was"You'd be surprised what I can do with paper!!" They were all a bit intrigued with the scent in the cabin so they bunched together to see what or who they could find.....

Justice

"Some one get out and see what we hit" said Kim. " You hit it you get out and look" said Doris. All the girls looking around at each other finally Shauna said "I'll do it" and she timidly looked through the window to see if anything was immediately going to get her she opened the door slowly. She heard and saw nothing. " Your gonna have to get out" said Judy I'm going I'm going you... you wanna go? said Shauna? "Who me? no not me your doing fine" replied Judy. Shauna swung her legs out and crept ever so slowly and quietly to the back looking all around as she went. HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAA! Shauna cracked up laughing so loud all the girls piled out and ran around to see what was going on. "I am sorry it is really not funny but I had to laugh" said Shauna as she pointed down. There lay the racoon with the yogos pack still in his mouth and a graham cracker clenched in his paw he must of gotten spooked by the bear too. "Justice" said Judy "Steal my yogos and crackers will ya that's what you get communist! added Judy. Relieved they all piled back in the vehicle and headed for the cabin. Exhausted from the evenings never ending adventure they couldn't wait to get back inside the cabin and crawl in bed. Arriving at the cabin they made sure they approached the correct one and found the door unlocked. Too tired to argue about who forgot to lock up on the way out they all piled in their places and passed out with their clothes on. Kim sat straight up with a jolt at 7 a.m. "Someones been in our cabin!" she exclaimed. "How do you know?" all the girls were asking as they were rubbing the sleep from their eyes. Because ...

It'sA Bear????

"Push the button! PUSH THE BUTTON!!" Kim shouted as she fumbled in her pocket for the keys. Shauna spoke up, "YOU have the keys!!" "I know I know but I can't get them out of my pocket." Doris, the brave heart of the group had shoved past even Judy who had been in the lead and was waiting impatiently at the truck for the others. Kim triumphantly pulled the key from her pocket and pressed the button. "HONK HONK HONK," "SHUT OFF THAT ALARM," Shauna shouted over the honking horn, "HIT THE UNLOCK BUTTON!!!" "Ohh Ohh, I'm tryin' I'm tryin'!!! STUPID THING!!!" came from Kim. The horn stopped. Judy dug frantically through her bag. "What are YOU lookin' for?" asked Doris. "I don't know,I don't know. But I am sure it is in here," Judy answered as she continued to dig. The door clicked. All the girls piled in lickety split. Just as the last door slammed they all exhaled in relief. "A bear," said Doris, chuckling, "You actually thought you saw a bear, Judy? Well that coon WAS a bit intimidating!" Judy said, "A BEAR." "That's what I said," said Doris. "NO, A BEAR!!!!!!!!!" Judy was pointing out the window. "OH OH," squealed Kim, "IT IS A BEAR!" Shauna, who had been looking at Judy, turned her head at Kim's words. "Huh, look, it IS a bear. Imagine that. After the night we've had I wouldn't be surprised to see Bigfoot in a bonnet with a picnic basket wander through this clearing." "I told you I told you I told you guys there was a bear and he took my bag. I told you!! And you left me here alone all by myself and I had to pee and I just wanna go home,. to my bed in my safe house without bears!!!" Judy whimpered.
"Well, you're gonna have to settle for a cabin and your sleeping bag tonight," said Doris, "cause it's almost morning anyway, and I have to race tomorrow night." "You mean TONIGHT, don't you," asked Shauna."Well whatever, I just need sleep" added Doris. "I need cheerios!" piped in Kim "and my oolong tea. I'm getting a headache." "Tea?" asked Judy "I have some right here in my bag! Do you need regular, decaf, constant comment, earl gray? Wait, wait, I DO have oolong right here!" Kim whipped around to reach for the tea bag only to see Judy sitting there, hand in the bag, wearing her headband with google balls on top.Shauna, doubled over in laughter, gasped out, "I suppose you even have hot tea water in there?" "Well, not HOT water but I have this mug you plug into the 12 volt plug to heat it. Here!" She handed the mug and a bottle of water to KIm. Doris took over the tea making while Kim started the truck and put it in reverse. They all felt a bump. Shauna said without daring to look back, "Don't tell me. I'm afraid to look. It's Bigfoot, in a bonnet carrying a picnic basket isn't it?" "No!!! It's............................................

About that bear

"Well we have no choice we have to hunt down the bear" said Doris "we can't get in the truck or in the cabin with out keys". "Maybe we'll be lucky and it will have dropped the bag or at least the keys out of it while rummaging through it looking for food" said Kim. Judy still had her head lamp placed firmly on her head and her water wings on from the canoe ride the other girls had their flashlights and lanterns so off they went in the direction they last heard the whistle. SHREEEEE SHREEEEeeee there the whistle went again but the noise tapered off. The girls hurried along the path the last whistle sounded like it was moving farther away. Kim leading the way tripped over something which brought them all to a screeching halt piling into one another. Shining their flashlights down they saw a book titled "How not to get lost in the woods". "That's my book it was in my bag! said Judy. "I'm surprised" Shauna said Sarcastically "Only you would bring a self help book camping" she added. "Well it might have helped if my bag hadn't gotten stolen by a bear!" cried Judy as she scooped it up and clutched it close to her heart. On down the path they went looking from side to side as they went. "There ahead I hear something rustling" said Doris me too said the rest of the girls. As they all raised their lights to shine down the path there eating graham crackers and yogos sat a RACOON! Whistle and bag partially dumped out in front of it. BEAR? said Doris That is the smallest bear I have ever seen as she looked over at Judy. They all moved in slowly to see how it was going to react hoping it would frighten and run off but leave the goods behind. Judy grabbed a big stick and started making whacking noises on the ground as they moved closer. It was enough to scare the coon and he left the bag and whistle and scampered off down the path with a bag of yogos hanging out of his mouth. Judy grabbed her bag and they started picking up the things that had been dumped out, a magnifying glass, the keys to kims truck, and ink pen, ibuprofen,twine, a can of tuna, a head band with antennae and balls attached, a lady bug spotted flip flop, suspenders, each item odder than the next and the whole bag had not been dumped. The girls looked at each other with each bizarre item and passed them along to Judy who did not try to explain just gleefully grabbed them and stuffed them back in her bag. "Is that it asked Kim"? "I don't see anything else" said Judy "Do you have the keys to the cabin" asked Shauna "Yep they were left in the bag" said Judy. Just about that time a huge branch cracked and there was big movement in the woods ahead and on the right. "WHAT WAS THAT" they all said looking at one another. "It's the bear said Judy RUNNN"! She was more afraid of what was behind her than the dark ahead she already headed down the path in a full run the rest of the girls following along behind not waiting to see what it was for sure.

"Hey! Woo Hooooo!!" Came a frantic but relieved voice from under the truck cap. "I'm under here! The truck cap is snapped tight and I can't get out!" What the heck are you doing under there to begin with?"laughed Shauna. Kim and Doris each took a side of the tarp cap and unsnapped Judy to freedom. "Thank the Lord you finally came. What took you guys so long? Leave me in the truck to die out here all by myself all for the sake of some night-time fun, will ya? By the way, I went out in the woods to go pee ALL BY MYSELF, with only the safety of my whistle , and a bear" "A BEAR!!" the other 3 chimed in, "Yes a bear tried to eat me!! I nearly fell down on my face trying to run and pull my thermal underwear at the same time!!" Judy gave an animated display of how she was attempting to run and pull at the same time. The others were in stiches by this time. Kim had to wipe her nose on Shauna's sleeve and Doris was gasping for air while leaning on the still locked truck. Shauna put her arm around Judy's shoulder in a mock- comforting gesture while trying to catch her breath. "I'm not kiddin'!!!" Judy insisted, "there's a bear out there blowing on MY safety whistle!!! Didn't you hear it?!!?" "We heard YOU blowing on it them there was a few minutes between blows" Shauna recalled. "Yeah, those last toots you heard weren't me" assured Judy, "it was the bear!! It has my multi-purpose bag too!!" "Well, you can kiss that goodbye" added Doris, now able to breath. "There's no one here dumb enough to take on a bear just to retrieve your maps and water wings." Shauna, tired and over the hilarious moment said, "Okay guys, I say it's finally time to go back to the cabin. It'll be morning soon and we haven't even gone to bed yet. Judy, you have the keys, unlock the door." "No, I don't have 'em. Kim has the keys. It's her truck!" "Uh, no Judy, I don't have them. YOU wanted to stay in the truck so I left them with you!" The look on Judy's face was priceless.... "Um, I, um, well, yeah, you're right. See, they are kinda in the bag for safe keeping. When I went to go pee, I had to lock up so no one would get in there. So I took the keys and put them in my bag. I squatted, and that's when the bear came waltzing up to me." "Well girls, are any of you wearing an under-wire bra?" Doris demanded. Nothing but puzzled looks came to their faces. "I saw on an older movie where they unlocked a car door with a bra. So, anybody?"

She Was RIGHT THERE a Minute Ago

SHREEEEEEEEEEEEEEE SHREEEEEEEEEEEEEEEE!!!!
"WHAT is that noise?" asked Shauna. SHREEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEE SHREEEEEEEEEEEEE!!!
Kim, from her seat in the front of the canoe, said through her gales of laughter, "It's Judy. She musta woke up and found us missing from the truck so she is blowing her emergency whistle to alert us. Or somebody." "Emergency whistle? What is that?" asked Doris.
SHREEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEE SHREEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEE!!! "Wait a minute, HOOTY HOOT, HOOTY HOOT!! There that will let her know we are close by. Anyway, years ago when we first started camping out, Judy passed out whistles to everybody with instructions to use them whenever we were in danger. This is the first time I remember anyone using one." "I didn't see any whistle around her neck," said Doris. "The bag," said Shauna, "She must have had it in her bag." As the girls talked they were making their way back to shore, Kim and Shauna in one canoe while Doris piloted the second canoe. "That was kind of a nice voyage, wasn't it? The water is calm and the moon shining through the trees makes you feel all calm inside," mused Kim. "I still think we shoulda had a race,.I coulda taken you two - easy. Woulda been like taking candy from a baby," answered Doris. "Well," said Shauna from the back of the canoe, "I still feel kind of guilty about leaving Judy alone in the truck." "It's not our fault she falls asleep at the crack of 9. I thought that gallon of iced tea she drank at dinner would surely keep her going," said Kim. "Land Ahoy," said Doris as she beached her canoe then reached to help with Kim and Shauna's. "Judy, hey Judy!" Kim shouted. No answer. "Quit joking around. We know you're here," Kim continued. Still no answer. "Maybe she got back in the truck and fell asleep. It's been 4 minutes since she was blowing that whistle," said Shauna. The girls approached the truck warily. Just as Kim reached to grab the handle there was the faint sound of shreeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeee from somewhere in the woods, followed by a thumping from under the truck cap on the bed of the truck. Squeals and shouts and much hustling and grabbing of door handles followed. It was useless. The truck cab was locked!!! And Judy was nowhere to be seen.

Say WHAT?

"What did you say, Shauna?" asked Judy. "I said, let's do it again tomorrow night but I was joking!!" replied Shauna. Judy sighed heavily, "Well, that's a relief. I was afraid you were serious and we were gonna have to go back out on that Lake and my left water wing has deflated!" Kim was concentrating on the road.. "Can you see ok?" asked Doris. "Yep," answered Kim, "so long as I keep my head turned a little bit and kinda squint one eye I can see just fine!" The other girls double checked their seat belts and Judy said a little prayer for travel mercies. "It sure didn't seem to take this long when we drove TO the lake, did it?" asked Shauna, "Are you sure you didn't take a wrong turn somewhere?" "Well," responded Kim, "I was watching my compass and I am just reversing how I came in." Knowing the length of Kim's memory, the group sent up another prayer and Doris sat up a little straighter and peered intently out the window. After a few minutes, she said, " None of this looks familiar to me. Even being dark, I thought the Lake was on our right when we pulled in and now I don't even see the Lake." "I'm sure," said Kim, "We are on the right road. See! There is the dead opossum we joked about taking home for dinner!" "That was a dead 'possum, but it was in the lane we are in and the one we saw was also in the lane we were in at the time which means that 'possum is not the first one we saw!" pointed out Shauna, "We ARE lost!" "No. We are not lost," Kim said quickly, "We're just taking the scenic route!! Maybe if I drove back to the Lake we could get our bearings and compass readings. I think that's what I'll do." Nobody argued. Judy mumbled a little bit but the others thought she might just be talking in her sleep. The next place Kim saw where she could turn around she pulled in and then backed out into the road to turn around. Just as she did a vehicle came out of nowhere and with horn blaring blew past the girls. "HEY!!! Did you guys see that?? They almost HIT MY TRUCK!. I am gonna chase them down and give them a piece of my mind!!" said Kim. "You are NOT gonna chase anybody anywhere. You are going to drive back to the Lake so we can figure out how to get back to our cabin," Shuana said very slowly. "Are we there yet?" came Judy's voice, "I have to pee." "Not quite," answered Kim, "Do you want out here?" "No, no, I'll just wait," came from Judy, "But hurry!" With that Kim sped along towards the Lake as they discussed the car that almost hit them. They finally concluded that it must be some other younger campers who just didn't know any better. That led into tales of their younger years and in no time at all they had arrived at the lake. "Anybody up for one more turn about the lake, since we're already here?" queried Shauna.

A sigh of relief!

"Alright! Things are looking up!" cheered Doris. "See. Everything is fine. No one is out to get us. Kim's truck is still here. Now, as long as the bogeyman isn't sitting in the back seat, I think we'll all be just fine!" "Hurry up and unlock the doors!"yelled Judy. Kim's hands were shaking but she managed to hit the unlock button on the keys.... Once..... Shauna, who always seemed the brave one, practically ripped the handle off the back door. "Kim, would you PLEASE hit the button again and unlock the freakin' door!?!" "Sorry! Sorry!!" squeaked Kim, as she re-hit the remote. Everyone piled in except Doris. "Doris, hurry up and get in so we can lock the doors!" Judy demanded. Then she proceeded to recite the Lords prayer. They anxiously waited for Doris to get in so they could head back to the cabin but as Kim started the truck Doris said "well, shut 'er off! We've got a flat to fix!" "Oh great!" muttered Shauna, "Geezaloo" whined Kim, "Our Father...." continued Judy, still in her water wings and almost to tears. "Where's the spare?" demanded Doris. "We can get this changed in no time." "Yeah, no time" said Kim sarcastically. "I had a flat last year in one of David's fields down south. THAT was really fun. It was Sara Hoover's field. I saw the prettiest little yellow bird. I didn't have my Audubon field guide with me to identify it but I thought it was a yellow Tananger. So I got out and watched it closer and.." "Ooo, I love birds too!" added Shauna "Are you sure it wasn't a finch?" "No, it was solid yel.." "Okay, okay, we all love birds here" interrupted Doris. She was smiling and trying to be nice, but this evening wasn't fun for her either. "We have a flat tire here! It is starting to rain. It's 2 a.m. , I'm outta my Nicorette gum and I want to get back to the cabin!!!! There is a Carey Grant marathon on TVLand too. Let's get to work guys!!" "Ahh, Carey Grant is an old hottie! I just love him too. When did the marathon start?" asked Kim. "We're never getting home again, are we?" cried Judy. "I'll be found a skeleton, sitting here in the back of Kim's truck, holding Shauna's skeleton hand. And my little water wings will still be wrapped around my little wrist bones." "Okay guys, the spare is under the truck. It takes 963 years to unwind it with the super duper apparatus provided but we can do it!"said Kim, optimistically.
They took turns cranking down the spare. They worked together using the oh-so-nice jack provided by GMC.They also took turns unscrewing the lug nuts, putting on the spare and retightening the lugnuts. Amazingly, they all knew about the "star-pattern" method of tightening tire lugnuts. They all paid close attention in driver's ed. Obviously.
"I want a pecan sandie, and go to bed!" stated Judy in a much more relaxed tone. "Yeehaw!" yelled Doris. A job well done always revived her spirit. "This has been quite an exciting evening! Let's do it tomorrow night!!" added Shauna. Kim started her truck and they headed back....

Now What?

"SHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH" came a voice from the darkness. "We're over here under this tree. Doris thougt she heard something so we shut off the lights and were trying to listen," said Shauna. "Oh! Well, sorry," responded Kim, "But we didn't see even a glimmer of light when we came over that rise - it kinda scared us to think we might be stuck out here in the dark all alone." "You have the truck keys in your pocket," said Doris with a sigh, "WE would be the ones stuck out here all alone if you had decided to drive off without us. I suppose we might as well give up the canoe search for tonight and head on back to the cabin." "Fine by me," answered Shauna, "We don't seem to be making much headway in the dark." The group gathered themselves up and started back down the trail. Judy, who was in the lead, suddenly stopped and began to dig around in her bag. "What are you looking for now?" asked Shauna. "Well, I have been thinking about this and I think we might be closer to the cabin than we are to Kim's truck since we have come halfway around the lake. I used to have a map with all the trails on it and thought I tossed it in this bag on the way out the door. Yep, here it is. Do either of the lights still work? We can take a look at this and maybe get our bearings." They all gathered around the map and tried to make sense of it. "It would sure help if we had a compass," Doris lamented. "A compass? I carry one in my pocket all the time," said Kim, "Here it is, but how is a compass gonna help us?" "Look at this map," said Doris, "The cabins are to the north of the lake and we came in from the west where we picked up the canoes. We went, best as I can figure, northeast, so Judy might be right about being closer to the cabins." "I wouldn't bet on it," responded Shauna, "We went to Lancaster once from Baltimore and she took a shortcut that took us through Groveport." "I KNEW where I was the whole time," said Judy, "I just thought you might like to see a little of the countryside!" Kim piped up saying, "If you'd had a compass you wouldn't have had to tour the countryside! I came all the way home from Marietta once with my compass, using only township roads and I made good time." "I'll remember that next time," said Shauna. Meanwhile, Doris had been studying the map. "I think," she said, "If we go back to where the canoes were, there should be a trail just a little way on around the pond that will take us right back to the cabin. And it does look closer than walking all the way around to the truck. Let's go." The girls, led by Doris with Shauna at the rear made short work of the hike back to the lake. When they reached the spot where the canoes had been beached, however, Doris stopped so suddenly that they all piled into her. She pointed, without saying anything. There, right there in front of them, were the missing canoes. "HEY!" said Kim, "There's our canoes! Where'd they come from?" "I TOLD you somebody touched me, " Judy told them, "And there's the proof! Whoever it was moved the canoes and then moved them back!" "I wonder if they'll float or if the mystery somebody drilled a holes in them?" wondered Doris. "One way to find out," said Shauna as she pushed one of the canoes into the lake. They all watched the canoe as if they were expecting it to come to life or maybe just sink. It did neither. Just sat there waiting. So Doris pushed the other canoe in only to discover it too, was fine. "I don't know about this," said Judy, "What if somebody is out there waiting on us? If they tip the canoe I'll swim just like a rock." "You have 2 life jackets on, water wings and probably an inflatable raft in that bag. You'll be fine," Shauna assured her. "I might lose my glasses," Judy worried. "Here we go again," Shauna said, "Get IN the boat." Concerned they really might leave her alone Judy did as Shauna suggested and climbed in a canoe. Just as the canoes got about 20 feet from shore a bolt of lightning split the sky and thunder CRASHED all around them! "INCOMING! HIT THE DECK!" shouted Judy as she began to dig frantically in her bag. Mumbling to herself she came up with an umbrella. "PUT THAT AWAY," came from Doris, "Before you attract the next lightning strike and fry us all. Judy put her umbrella back in the bag but pulled out a rain suit. "Don't even think about it," said Shauna, "You are NOT gonna dump us in the drink which is exactly what will happen if you try to put that on while you're in this canoe. We are almost to the other side and if you'd quit digging in that bag and help me paddle we could be there in a few minutes." "I want to ride with Kim next time," mumbled Judy under her breath. "Don't worry, next time you WILL."
In short order the girls reached the dock, climbed out of the canoes and headed for Kim's truck. "Oh, I sure hope my truck is there. I hope, I hope, I hope," said Kim. "You aren't the only one," came a chorus of 3 voices. Another few steps and they would see if the parking lot was still home to Kim's truck..............

They Went Where?

"Maybe we're at the wrong spot," two of the girls said at once. "No, I am SURE this is where we banked the canoes before we headed into the woods," replied Shauna. "Well, do you think they slipped back into the water and floated away?" This from Doris. Kim, meanwhile was trying to use the dimming headlamp to see across the lake. "I think I see something moving out there," she said. "Where?" came the chorus. Judy dug around in her bag and came up with a chortle of glee, "LOOK what I found!!! A FLASHLIGHT!!!" Shauna took the light and shined it to where Kim was pointing. Nothing. At. All. Just water. "Well, it isn't like those canoes could have grown legs and walked away, now is it? asked Doris. "No," responded Kim, "But somebody WITH LEGS could have carried them. We were gone long enough for someone to dash back down here to the canoes and for all we know they could be 12 feet away hunkered down in the brush with OUR CANOES, watching us, right now!!" This statement brought lots of movement from the group as they jockeyed for flashlights and the ability to see 6 directions with only 4 sets of eyes. "There should be a trail somewhere," said Doris, "You couldn't carry a canoe away without mashing down the grass. Shine that light over here and let's see if we can find something." "You're kidding, right?" asked Judy, "Don't you just want to make a dash around the lake to the truck and back to our cabin? I mean we can see a lot better in the daylight and what are the chances whoever took our canoes left them where we could find them?" "This way," said Shauna, "I can see where the grass has been pushed down." Doris fell in step with Shauna leaving Kim and Judy little choice but to follow. "You wouldn't happen to have another light in there, would you?" asked Kim, gesturing at Judy's bag. "I don't think so, but I'll look. You want a candy bar? I have Milk Chocolate and Dark Chocolate and some Taffy." "Just a light will do nicely, thank you," replied Kim. As Judy rummaged in her bag, with Kim standing patiently by, Doris and Shauna moved ever farther away until all at once both Kim and Judy realized the other two had gone over a small rise leaving them alone. "HEY GUYS, WAIT UP," Kim shouted as Judy and she rushed to catch up. But when they topped the rise, there wasn't anyone there. No Doris. No Shauna. No lights. Nothing. Just darkness.

The night never ends

The simple idea of a midnight canoe had turned into quite the ordeal. With Judy carrying half of Gander Mountain with her, the mysterious light flashes, and the "hand" on Judy's shoulder, this ordinary outing was proving to be a bit exciting, if nothing else. The 4 happy campers were eagerly making their way back down the trail to the more secure confines of their spacious 1 foot wide and 6 foot long canoes. The moods had lightened up a bit already just knowing that the sooner they were in the canoes the sooner they would be back to the cozy cabin with door locks and chains. Shauna led the way back to the lake with Judy breathing down her neck and giving her the occasional "flat tire". She'd giggle, apologize, then the whole line would have to stop so Shauna could pull her shoe back on. Kim had confiscated the headlight and was using it to check out every twig snap and woods noise just to be on the safe side. Doris was on guard duty in the rear and carried a nice sized stick as a reinforcement gesture for the 2 cowards in the bunch whose bloodline, by the way, is very long when it comes to being short on bravery.
Shauna's keen sense of direction brought them to the very clearing whence they came. It was still very dark and the clouds had temporarily covered the moon making it even darker.
"What the..." Shauna stopped dead in her tracks. "Give me the light!" she demanded, waving her hand impatiently. Judy clutched onto Kims hand and they both zipped around behind Doris. No one knew what was happening, including Shauna. Doris, who was now behind Shauna, raised her maple weapon and was poised for whatever may come to harm them. She could handle a 1,000 pound untrained stud horse with a lead rope and a bit of ingenuity, she was confident she could handle anything the woods had to offer! Shauna scanned the edge of the lake with the ever-dimming headlight. "Hey!" questioned Kim, "where's our canoe? Where's YOUR canoe? Where are the canoes!!???"

And Behind Tree Number 1...

Ever so gently the group dipped their paddles in the water as they tried to get close to where they had last seen the flashes of light. Doris and Shauna were determined to get to the bottom of the mystery while Judy and Kim were more of the opinion, "If it's not botherin' us, we shouldn't bother it." Although, Kim had to admit she was curious. Just as they got close enough to beach the canoes on the bank, Kim whispered, "I heard a voice, did you?" Nobody else had heard anything so they continued disembarking from their canoes. Judy clasped the air horn to her breast and assured them she would keep an eye out from the rear. As one unit, with Doris in the lead, the girls inched their way up an old path towards where they had last seen the light. Just as they passed a huge old oak tree, Judy's air horn's scream split the night and sent Kim straight up on a tree limb, while Shauna and Doris fought with their feet, trying to get them to stop running 30 MPH in place. "WHAT WAS THAT ALL ABOUT???" Shauna snorted at Judy. "I felt a hand on my shoulder a hand on my shoulder a hand on my shoulder," Judy quivered in return. "Probably a limb from this tree brushed against you," reasoned Doris. Kim, from her perch in the tree, said, "Well, you about gave me a heart attack. Can you come help me down outta here?" Judy had switched her head lamp on and was using it to look around the tree and up and down the trail while saying, "I KNOW the difference between a hand and a tree limb and that was no limb brushing my shoulder!!" "Somebody touched me." Shauna, the voice of reason said, "Well, whoever it was that touched you is long gone by now if that air horn went off in their ear and whoever had the flashlight is probably half way to Texas by now, too" "You're right," agreed Doris, "Let's just head back to the canoes and finish our Midnight Ride and head for the cabin.Morning will be here before we know it and I have a 3 mile pre breakfast hike mapped out" "Well, I am not taking the rear guard this time," said Judy. "Fine, you can be in the middle but give me that horn!" said Doris as she reached to take the air horn from Judy. Shauna struck off back down the trail towards the canoes and the others followed, each thinking her own thoughts about the supposed hand that Judy was positive had touched her.

Canoeing After Dark

"Oh, for the love of.... quit complaining and get in the canoe," Shauna said to Judy, " Look at it this way, the sooner you get in the sooner we can get around the lake and back into the cabin!!" "Well, I still say we should wait until tomorrow morning for our canoe adventure. What if we take a wrong turn somewhere and are out here all night?" was Judy's response. "Think about this," Doris said from somewhere in the dark, "Kim and I are already out here and the truck keys are in Kim's pocket. You are more than welcome to sit on the bank and wait on us if you want but who knows when we'll be back." With that, Judy picked up the extra life jacket and stepped gingerly into the teensy tiny canoe. Shauna shoved the canoe off the bank and jumped in, situating herself in the back because she was a better steerer. Judy didn't argue. She was too busy fiddling with her head lamp and life jackets and searching for the air horn she had with her just in case there was trouble. The others had all laughed at her when she packed a bag with the air horn and some snacks but who knew what they might encounter on the lake in the dark.
"MARCO," came from Kim followed by a, "POLO," from Shauna. "This is no time for games," Judy said, "We have to pay attention so we can find our way back." Very quietly Shauna said, "It's a lake. If we keep the shore on our right as we go around we will come right back to where we just left." "MARCO," this time it was Doris. ""POLO," came the response from Kim. And the canoe ride continued around the lake. Nobody else on the lake, just the spring peepers and an occasional "jug a rum" rumbling from the banks. The light of the moon acted as a night light and all was well with the world. "See," Doris said, "I told you guys this would be the high light of our trip." "Speaking of lights," Shauna said, "Did any of you just see a light over to our right?" "The only light I see," said Kim, "is from Judy's head lamp." "No," Shauna retorted, "Over to the right I have seen a light flicker several times. Like a flashlight doing the Morse code thing." "Oh man," from Judy, " SOMEBODY is watching us, I KNOW it." "Couldn't see us if SOMEBODY would shut their headlamp off," Doris suggested. Judy shut her light off and paddled faster trying to get closer to Kim and Doris. "There it goes again," Shauna whispered. "I SAW it," was Kim's response. "Let's get closer," came from Doris. Judy checked on her air horn but kept paddling cause she knew it was useless to argue with this bunch. If they wanted to check something out, they would check it out and besides that if she argued too much they might pitch her over board and she wasn't sure the two life jackets she had on would hold her up until she could get to the shore. Slowly,the two canoes skimmed through the water slipping closer and closer to the flashes of light......

And The day Sped By

They had all decided the easier the better when it came to eats, so lunchmeat was what they got. The old man at the store said the delivery truck had just left and the lunchmeats and cheeses were about as fresh as it gets so that made the sandwich idea sound very appealing. They picked up a bag of chips, piminto cheese spread for Judy, and a couple cans of mixed fruit as well. That, they all agreed, was a dandy spread for a camp lunch. Surprised to find it in an old store, Doris grabbed a jar of Nestea and a bag of sugar. Kim added that Doris made tea exactly like her mom made it years ago; strong and sweet! They almost forgot about supper fixins'. Shauna suggested spaghetti . The old man was stocked up with all the ingredients needed except the spaghetti so they bought Inn Maid noodles instead. They told the old man goodbye, thanks, have a nice day and headed back to the cabin with food in tow. Hopefully, they would go into the right cabin this time! Shauna was curious how their key had fit in the "other cabin's" door lock. Kim thought that maybe the other door hadn't been locked at all and that when Judy "unlocked" it, it just felt as if she had turned then key and unlocked it (she was grasping for an explanation!)Doris wasn't the least bit concerned about the whole wrong cabin, door mat, geranium ordeal. She just wanted lunch, (complete with her tea!) and to get on with the daily activities. Shauna was all for that. She had brought a few supplies to let the other three make a candle or two. It was clouding up a bit anyway so candle making would keep them all busy for a while and maybe by then it would be sunny again.
As they ate their sandwiches, Ranger Rick came to the door with news of the prisoner. Apparently, that very morning, he had stowed away on the Oscar Mayer truck as the man made his delivery and got caught when he jumped off in the next town. They all exhaled a breath of relief, thanked Rick for stopping by and finished their lunches while discussing what brave deeds they would have done had they come across the escapee. The idea of a midnight canoe trip came up again and Judy thought that it was probably going to rain and they had better stay in tonight but the rest just grinned and gave each other a group "high-five".
They enjoyed the candle making and laughed while they hit all the topics of the camp happenings that they had experienced so far. It had turned out to be an exciting week so far and the midnight canoe trip was just 10 hours away!!!!...............

A Simple Mistake

Just as we got to the Stop sign, Doris, who had apparently been thinking about the cabin, said, "Would you run back past the cabin for a minute, Judy?" "Sure thing, did you forget something or just wanna check under the beds yourself?" "Just happened to think of something," responded Doris. Judy did a u-turn and headed back. Just as we approached the parking area Doris began to chuckle and then erupted into a full blown gale force eruption of laughter. "What's so funny," Kim asked, starting to chuckle herself while Judy and Shaua just looked bewildered. "Well," explained Doris, "it occurred to me that all these cabins look the same and I also remembered when I got here the screen door opened to the left, but when we came back from our walk Kim was opening the door to the right while Judy was searching for her key." "YOU'RE RIGHT!" spoke up Shuana, " Which means....WE WERE GOING IN THE WRONG CABIN!!! So the geranium and the welcome mat weren't moved!!" Doris nodded her head in agreement bringing gales of laughter from all 4 women. Judy was wiping tears from her cheeks and Kim was trying to catch her breath. Feeling much relieved Judy turned around and headed back to the store. "You still want to stop at the Ranger Station?" she asked. No, they decided there wasn't any reason to bother Ranger Rick or to let him know that we had gotten all *besited* over turned around things that we didn't really know were turned around. No reason at all to let him on the secret that we had been going to do a little b&e'ing (as Barney Fiffe would say about a breaking and entering...)! Feeling much better, the ladies discussed just what supplies they would need as they continued to the little grocery store.

A Brand New Day

Everyones eyes flew wide open with the rapping on the door. Heads swiveling around looking at one another as if to say "who is that?" but no one said a word. Doris got up grabbed the fireplace poker and looked back at the girls making a come on motion with her head for the girls to follow. Eyes as big as 50 cent pieces were what she was seeing. Shauna got out of bed and grabbed the fireplace shovel, lined up behind Doris and then followed Kim and Judy, one with a shoe the other with a pillow. They moved as a herd of sheep to the door, one big clump of womanly courage. Another rap on the door and Doris dropped her voice and yells in her best mans voice " WHO IS IT!" "Ranger Rick!" was the reply. With HUGE sighs of relief the door was opened. He was there to check on us on his rounds making sure we made it through the night ok. He said the escapee was still on the loose but they thought he had probably moved out of the area but to still be aware of our surroundings and to not leave the cabin or vehicles unlocked. After he left we decided to make some breakfast and a big breakfast it was too. We had worked up quite an appetite after last nights excitement so we whipped up some blueberry muffins. scrambled eggs with onions, green peppers, and mushrooms, and bacon. That ought to hold us until lunch said Judy. Around the breakfast table plans for the day were talked about and all agreed a walk to the lake would be good. Judy was a little apprehensive since she is not a water lover but we assured her we were there just to look no entering of the water was on the agenda. After all got a shower and got dressed we headed out the door and found the path to the lake. Walking along, hearing the birds in the trees, the squirrels chattering their warnings and the sun peering through the trees was awesome. Kim and Judy came with their camera's and got pictures of a gray cat bird, a red squirrel, some beautiful pink flowered woodland plants none of us were sure what they were. It was so nice walking just listening to nature. No one felt they had to keep chatting we just listened and followed the trail. As we got closer the trail rose to an incline and of course what goes up must come down so we all like a bunch of kids ran down the hill to the lake. What fun! Once down the hill we all gasped and aaahhed at the beauty of the lake. There was still a slight fog on top of the water that the sun had not burned off yet and we could see a male and female wood duck floating along and a family of loons! A momma with 3 ducklings on her back and the father close behind. As we walked out on the dock to get a better view we could hear the frogs leap into the water from the shore with their little EEP sound they make and saw a turtle sunning itself on a log. There is a trail that winds around the lake and gradually takes you back up to the main trails. It is a nice way to get to see the lake from all the different angles and Judy and Kim got some breath taking shots. As we wound our way around the lake chatting about it's beauty and all the things we wanted to do while staying here at our retreat, there was talk of a midnight canoe ride later if we all felt brave enough to do so. We decided a trip to the local store was in order if we planned on having any lunch or dinner so we made our way back to the cabin to form a list of needs and wants. We arrived at the cabin and as Judy was getting the keys ready for the door Kim said " somethings different". Doris asked what it was and Kim was not able to put her finger on it but said she knew something was different. She continued to look around as did every one else to see if they could see anything different but could not come up with anything right off. On in they went and formulated the list. Now feeling a little creeped out again they all decide to go to the store to stay together. On the porch with Judy locking the door Kim gave out an "AHA that's it!" "the potted geranium is on the other side of the post than what it was." We all stared at the plant like it was going to tell us who had moved it and then Judy says "yes and the welcome mat has been turned around, the welcome was facing out and is not towards the door." We all ran to Judy's pilot, piled in locked the doors and headed to the Rangers Station on our way to the store.

Morning Came!!

After having Ranger Rick escort us back to the cabin and check out the closet, the shower, under the beds and a quick scan of the lanai(back screened in porch. Most likely mis-spelled), he bid us goodnight and reminded us to be safe and he'd be checking on our cabin through the night. We hated to see him go and wished he could protect us personally all night but we knew he had other campers to tend. The second that he stepped out the door, we had the door locked, the chain hooked and the kitchen table slid in front of it. We quickly readied ourselves for bed but double checked the windows and doors for good measure before finally settling in. Judy was a bit leery about sleeping out on the couch all alone and Kim agreed that it wouldn't be safe, so even though Shauna and Doris were certain that we were totally safe, they relented and we all slept in one bedroom. It was not the most comfortable situation but no one needed to know what sissies we were and just in case the convict came around, we would have strength in numbers!
Shauna was the first to fall asleep. We knew this because she quit answering Kim's never ending "Did you hear that?" "What was that?" questions. Doris, being a night owl of sorts, volunteered to be on guard duty for a while, promising to wake us if anything happened. She found the movie "From Here To Eternity", turned the volume down low and told us to relax and go to sleep. Judy said she'd do her part by lying in front of the bedroom door on her trusty sleeping bag. If the bad man wanted in, he was going to have to push all 115 lbs of her out of the way first!!
Shauna was mumbling something in her sleep and chuckled. It was amazing that she fell asleep so fast and that she was dreaming of something happy, especially after our scary evening! Gee, to be so brave and relaxed! Kim finally drifted off and started snoring, Judy's breathing got long and rhythmic as she fell into a deep slumber and Doris' eyes grew heavier by the minute just listening to all the sleep sounds. It wasn't long before her head nodded and she too gave into a much needed rest.
They were all awaken by a loud rapping on the front door! It was morning already! They made it through the night!! But who was knocking at the door this early in the morning?

The midnight walk's not over!

As we headed straight away to the safe confines of our cozy cabin with Judy tucked away between Shauna and Doris, we were relieved to see the faint light of our cabin's lamp glowing on the dewy ground. Almost to safety and we avoided the wrath of the skunks! Just as we were relaxing a bit at the sight of our temporary "home sweet home" we heard a mans voice and at the same time Doris felt a hand on her shoulder. With the reflexes of a cat, she quickly turned and without time to think took the pointy toe of her cowboy boot and gave an upward thrust to the "murderers" (well, he could be a murderer!) middle section knocking him to his knees! Not being one to neglect a friend in need, Shauna sensed his vulnerability and body slammed him to the ground for good measure! Judy, clinging to Kim's sweatshirt and her forehead flashlight pointing into the tree branches above, cheered the two brave women on while Kim, with Judy at her back found a trusty stick and gave the assailant a few good pokes from a safe distance. Still reeling from all the excitement and squealing with nervous fear, we were all wondering what had just happened. Judy calmed down enough to straighten her headlight and that's when we discovered that our "murderer"(well, he COULD have been a murderer!!) was actually our loyal camping friend, Ranger Rick! He heard us heading up the trail and wanted to alert us of an escaped convict who had just made a jailbreak around 3:00 that afternoon. As we helped him to his feet Doris sort of apologized but did tell him it's not wise to sneak up on a bunch of brave, strong women. In the dark no less. Shauna helped him brush off the wet leaves and debris from his uniform as a peace offering for the body slam, however noted that he DID deserve it considering his approach of choice. He agreed that it was his fault and he was sorry but still needed to fill us in on the convict. He was last seen heading into the woods of the park and would probably stay in the woods for a while and may be "observing" campers from afar to see if he could use them for his get-away. He warned us to be extra careful, lock our cabin door and he would be patroling our area every hour so don't worry and get a good nights sleep. Yeah, like THAT was going to happen now....

Evening prominade

Judy KNEW this was gonna happen so she came prepared. Wearing one of those elasticized lights that goes around your head and sits on your forehead like a 3rd eye and toting a large railroad type lantern in one hand and the biggest cop flashlight she could carry in the other. "I'm ready" she said reluctantly. We all 3 turned and looked at her and busted out laughing! "What?" she said which made us laugh even harder! You don't have to go Kim told her but Judy decided there was safety in numbers so off we went. We headed around the back of the cabin where there is a path that goes through the woods and leads to other trails and if you take the right one the path will loop back around to the cabin. We decided that the loop path was the one for us tonight since it was shorter and we had all had quite a day getting settled in. Doris led us down the path and we kept Judy in the middle for her comfort zone. Kim and I were just chatting away when we heard SHHHHHHH from the front of the pack and Doris and Judy had come to a halt. We stopped and listened but heard nothing but crickets and frogs. What did you hear Kim whispered? Not sure but I heard something rustling along the right side of us said Doris. Doris, Kim and I turned our small little flashlights in that general direction and Judy had her3rd eye light on but we saw nothing. Judy said wait a minute and she cranked up her lantern and big ol flashlight and there we saw a family of skunks making their way through the woods, a momma and 2 babies. Uh huh make fun of my lights will ya! Judy said. We quickly shut off Judy's beacons and swiftly made our way on down the path. Not much happening on this path tonight so we headed on back to the cabin. Tomorrow we hope to make it down to the lake and maybe see the loons. No not us, the birds lol

Evening

It took us awhile to get settled in the cabin. Seems like we always carry enough stuff in to last us at least 2 months. For a 3 day week end. But one never knows when one may get a freak April snowstorm stranding us in the cabin for an extra day!! It helps to know we now have two ways to reach the cabin, though. Glad Shauna thought to stop at the little store and ask.
The tea kettle was simmering on a back burner so Kim and Judy had a cup of Jasmine Tea. It smelled as good as it tasted. Then we got out the card table and a jigsaw puzzle was unceremoniously dumped out and the empty box hidden under Doris' bed. She is the warden of the box, not allowing he rest of us even a teensy, tiny 3 second peek. Our best time to date is a 1000 piece, "NORTH AMERICAN BIRDS", completed in just under 5 hours. We were hustling on that one. This puzzle, "Polar Bears in a Blizzard", might just prove to be our downfall. But, I doubt it. We don't back down from many challenges, always encouraging and/or teasingly goading each other. After completion, some of the puzzles have been glued together, framed and given to those we think might enjoy them. Others are returned to the box and dropped at a Goodwill Store. We had just gotten all the pieces flipped over when Shauna pushed back her chair and wandered toward the door. Judy knew what was coming. "So, who's up for a midnight promenade?" Shauna asked. "I'm in," came from Doris who was already headed toward the door. Kim's face, too, lit up. "Let me hit the bathroom and get rid of this tea and I AM READY," she said. Judy, who they all knew was not a friend of the night, seemed to be deciding whether it would be better to be in the dark with the other 3 or left all alone in the empty cabin. "Do we have to go right now? Don't you wan't to work on this fine puzzle?" she asked.