Calico Horses and the Patchwork Trail (45 page)

Shannon ran to help her cousins, Fran and Jill, carry beach buckets and towels. It was their last chance to frolic in the ocean before school started. Brian was already beginning to hunt for sand crabs while Jodi was just opening her book. She closed it and waved to her sister Ellie, who was carrying chairs and a large pink straw bag.

The three girls dropped their things and raced to the water. “Hey, wait— sunscreen, you two,” Ellie shouted.

“Already on, Mom. We did it in the car,” they said, disappearing into the crowd that was hovering along the water’s edge.

“Wow, you have them trained good,” Jodi laughed.

“Well, I can hardly believe they remembered to put it on with all their fighting in the back seat about some toy.”

The water was warm and the ocean was filled with children of all ages trying to enjoy one last swim before the end of summer. Shannon loved riding the big waves on her board, but sometimes it was tricky to steer away from the crowd that gathered right in her path. “Move, move,” she would holler but sometimes the people just laughed as she banged into them. Geez, if grownups want to stand and talk, why can’t they do it somewhere else, she thought, dragging her board back to catch another wave. Fran and Jill liked to just float on their boards and Shannon decided to take a break from the crowd. She flopped down on her board and retied her ponytail.

A girl nearby started screaming and Shannon watched as a few adults came to help. “Something’s stinging me, it’s stinging me, get it out, get it out!” cried the girl in a panic.

“Shh, it’s okay,” said the girl’s mother. “It’s probably a jelly fish inside your suit, and we need to go take it off.”

The girls screamed louder, “No, no, I can’t take it off, get it out, get it out!” The crowd watched as the mother picked her up and a lifeguard came running to help. Some of the children went back to swimming while the adults began searching around them for jellyfish.

“That’s so awful,” Fran said. “Look, she’s wearing a one-piece suit and she’s gonna have to take it off.” Jill looked down at her own orange-and-purple two-piece suit and patted her stomach. Shannon watched as the lifeguard gave the woman something from his first-aid kit.

“Did you ever feel a jellyfish sting?” Shannon asked, watching as the mother took the little girl toward a restroom.

The two girls shook their heads no. “It’s horrible, trust me,” Shannon said.

“Over here,” they heard a man say. “Look!” They ran to see what he was pointing to and Shannon suddenly stopped, holding her arms back to keep her cousins from venturing any further. Large groups of jellyfish were being washed up onto the beach and people were hurrying out of the water. Some of the people on shore got out of their chairs to get a better look.

“Oh, no,” said Shannon, “now we can’t swim.”

“Why not?” asked Jill. “Can’t we just play over there?” She pointed to where they had been floating.

“They break apart. See…” Shannon said as the waves crashed upon the beach, scattering bits of shells and parts of jellyfish.

“That girl may have a small piece in her bathing suit; it doesn’t have to be the whole thing.” Shannon looked over at Brian, who was just about to pick one up. “No, Brian, don’t touch it!” she hollered.

Brian stopped and looked up. “Look at them, Shannon. They’re all over the place.” The crowd started moving away and the lifeguard blew his whistle at some of the curious onlookers.

“Come on,” Shannon said. “Let’s go ask if we can take a walk.” The children hurried back to their towels and dropped their boards and buckets, scattering sand all over their mothers. They were given permission to take their sandy bodies for a walk as the women continued their conversation.

“So, they put the horse up for adoption? Just like that?” Ellie asked. “I’ve never heard of such a thing.”

“Yeah, well, I didn’t know you could, either, but evidently horses, just like cats and dogs, can find homes through organizations all over the world.”

“How is their daughter, Lori, doing now? I met her when she was in the hospital with Shannon. She’s a sweet kid.” Ellie kept one eye on the children as the four of them walked toward the jetty.

“She’ll be getting her cast off soon, but she is terribly upset about losing her horse. I think it’s really sad and Shannon was just starting to develop a relationship with her. Now they don’t really see each other anymore. She says Lori is too angry and depressed.”

“Yikes, can you imagine trying to find a home for a horse? Our cat had kittens and that was hard enough,” Ellie said as she stood up. She could just make out the children looking at something near the rocks.

Jodi took a sip of lemonade. “I think they’re fine, Ellie. Shannon’s got a good head. She won’t let them wander too far.”

“But I don’t understand how it just grows an arm back,” Jill said, squatting down to get a closer look at the starfish they had found.

“Me, neither,” said Shannon, “but my dad says that it takes about a year to grow one back.”

“Cool,” Fran said.

“Can we keep it?” Brian asked.

“NO!” said all three girls at the same time.

“Rats.” Brian walked away to look for more sea creatures.

“How come Lori doesn’t play with you anymore?” Jill asked, kicking a tiny shell.

“She’s too sad. Remember I told you about what happened to her horse?”

“Oh, yeah,” Fran replied. “How could her parents just do that?”

“Who knows?” Shannon stopped to examine a long razor-shaped shell. “My friend Carrie moved to Nevada and nobody asked her about it. Parents sometimes just do stuff, but now Carrie’s really happy. Oh, and we’re on a mission together!” Shannon said, smiling brightly.

“Wow—a mission!” Jill said.

“What kind?” Fran asked.

Shannon looked at her younger cousins who were anxious for her to explain. She wasn’t sure herself what the mission was about yet, as she was still waiting for Carrie to figure it out. “A secret mission,” she said, quickly walking toward Brian.

“What secret?” Fran persisted.

“You can tell us, honest,” Jill pleaded.

Shannon wished she hadn’t mentioned the mission, as now her cousins would be pestering her the rest of the day. “Sorry, but I promised Carrie I wouldn’t tell anyone. She’s in charge of the mission.” Shannon wanted to change the subject. “Hey, look at those sea gulls trying to open clam shells.” It worked. The children stood and watched as birds carrying shells flew high above the jetty and dropped them. Crack! went the shells as they hit the slippery rocks. The gulls then began squawking and fighting over the clams that were unprotected in their broken shells.

“Look at that big guy,” Brian said. “I bet he’s the leader!”

“He’s fat,” said Fran. “He needs to let the others have a turn.” Just then the big gull turned to nip at another and a tiny gull snatched the clam and began to fly away. Several birds went after him and the children began cheering. “Go! Go!” they hollered, rooting the tiny gull on.

“I’m hungry, too,” Brian said.

“Same here,” said Shannon. “Let’s go eat.”

“So why can’t you just give us a hint?” asked Jill. Shannon rolled her eyes and kept walking. She thought she had maneuvered her way out of the mission talk, but her pestering cousins would not give it up. The children walked past the colorful beach umbrellas, chairs, and buckets that decorated the seashore. Some people were playing radios loudly while others were tossing Frisbees and footballs. Shannon breathed in the smell of coconut sunscreen and salt air and it reminded her of Carrie. Would Carrie ever come to this beach with her again? Just then she heard someone calling her name and stopped to see who it was.

“Hi, Shannon. I thought that was you.” It was Carrie’s dad and he was walking with a small boy and a woman who was pregnant.

“Hi, Mr. Anderson.” The rest of the children hesitated and decided lunch was more important so they ran the short distance back to their mothers.

“How have you been? I haven’t seen you since Carrie left,” he said.

“Good,” Shannon said, looking at the boy and the woman.

“This is my sister—Carrie’s Aunt Lucy—and this is her son, Mike.”

“Hi,” Shannon said, relaxing. “Nice to meet you. Carrie told me about you.”

Lucy put her hand out to shake and said, “It’s nice to meet you, too.”

Mr. Anderson said, “I hear you’re going out to see her.”

“Yeah,” Shannon said smiling.

“Well, I’ve been meaning to call your parents because I’m going also and I want to make sure I don’t show up during your visit.”

“Well, my mom’s right over there,” Shannon said, pointing to her mother, who was now waving.

“Great,” he said, and walked toward Jodi.

“We’re going to head back, Mark. I’m getting tired,” Lucy said, turning aside with her son. Mr. Anderson gave her a quick kiss on the cheek and she waved goodbye to Shannon. Shannon and Mr. Anderson chatted as they strolled along. It was great seeing him again. He always said silly things that kept her laughing. She was still smiling as she led him to her mother, only to have it disappear when she saw the look on her Aunt Ellie’s face. A sick feeling came over Shannon and she found a corner of the blanket and sat down. Her aunt offered her a sandwich but Shannon just shook her head, wishing her stomach would settle down.

“Hi, Mark,” Jodi said. “I’m not sure you’ve ever met my sister before. This is Ellie.” Mark tipped his hat. “Hi.”

“Nice to meet you,” Ellie said, not looking up.

“Well, I hear our two girls are still thick as mud,” Mark said, smiling at Shannon.

“Oh, they sure are. They talk on the phone almost every day, and we’re even planning a family vacation out west,” Jodi said.

“Yes, that’s what Carrie told me. That’s fantastic and actually so am I. That’s what I wanted to ask you about. Do you know your dates yet? I need to tell my boss when I’m taking time off and I don’t want to be there while you’re visiting,” he said.

“Alone?” asked Ellie stiffly.

“Excuse me?” Mark looked confused. “I’m not sure what you mean.”

“Are you going alone?” asked Ellie, now looking up at him. Shannon felt she was about to be sick and held her stomach.

Jodi, realizing her sister was being nosey and rude, replied, “Yes, Mark, I do have the dates. We’re planning a ten-day visit starting the day after Christmas.”

Mark’s smile returned and he said, “That’s sounds great. I was planning to go around the holidays myself, but my sister is expecting a baby and I’ve been helping her out. I’d prefer to wait until after the little one’s born before heading to Nevada.”

“Oh, that’s really sweet of you; what a good brother you are. When is the baby due?” Jodi asked.

“Well that’s just it—her pregnancy has some complications and they are telling her it might come sooner than they thought. She was supposed to have it in January but now the doctors aren’t sure.”

“Is this her first baby?” said Ellie, her voice now softening.

“No,” Mark laughed. “This will be number three, and she just turned forty. I told her she’s going to be in a rocking chair when this one’s in college.”

Ellie laughed and said, “I have a few friends who have had late pregnancies and they say it’s so much easier because they’re wiser. Somehow all those sleepless nights aren’t as difficult. I’m not sure why but I guess experience eases the worries.”

Shannon’s stomach began to feel better as she watched Carrie’s dad sitting in the sand while Aunt Ellie offered him a bottle of water. Fran came to sit near Shannon and offered her a pretzel. What a gorgeous beach day Carrie was missing, she thought, glancing over at Mr. Anderson, who was standing and brushing himself off. She was happy he was here, happy to see his smiling face again. She couldn’t wait to tell Carrie about it. The adults talked about babies and doctors while the children drifted off with shovels in hand.

“I’ll see you later, Shannon,” Mr. Anderson said, slipping into his sandals.

“Come on,” Fran said, tugging on Shannon’s arm as she picked up a bucket. Shannon glanced over at Brian and Jill and their sandcastle.

“Wait, Mr. Anderson,” Shannon said. “I’ll walk you back. I want to tell you about our mission!” Fran and Jill’s mouths dropped open and they looked at one another frowning.

“Who was that man?” Fran asked, watching Shannon walk away deep in conversation.

“Oh, that’s her best friend’s dad,” Jodi smiled. “You remember Carrie, don’t you?”

Yeah, I know her, thought Fran. She’s the girl that’s the head of the mission—the one that’s still a big secret.

Ellie watched them walk away and turned to Jodi. “I feel horrible. I was so wrong about him. What a wonderful man who really cares deeply about his sister.”

“Yeah, well, we all need to stop judging people so quickly. At least he’s not home having a pity party about his wife leaving. He’s doing something positive and he’s helping someone else. He’s a good guy.” Jodi watched Mark, who was pointing to something in the sand.

“This all sounds amazing,” he said, watching a crab scurry back down into a hole, “but I’m not really sure I understand what the mission is.”