Waiting

A Chapter by Judy

Dani can hardly wait to go camping. She and her friends get ready.

Suzanne was tapping the face of her watch. “We're going to have to run all the way back,” she informed me.

Even though we ran like Alice Whittaker's ghost was chasing us, we didn't get home before Tonya got there. She was waiting for us in Maggie's room. When we walked in they both stared at us like we had two heads.

“What happened to you guys?” Maggie exclaimed.

Suzanne and I looked at each other. Then we burst out laughing. Suzanne had dirt smeared on her arms and legs. She was sweaty, and her hair was pointing in all directions. There were scratches on her arms, and on her face, and her leg was bleeding from a deep briar scratch. I imagined that I must look similar.

When Suzanne managed to control her giggles, she reached for my hair.

“Ow! OWW!” It felt like she was ripping my brains out! When she drew back her hand, she held a tree branch. I joined in with everyone's giggles.

“We know that you like for your hair to look natural, but this is a bit ridiculous,” she said, still giggling.

“Seriously, what gives?” Tonya asked.

“We went to find a camping spot for tonight,” announced Suzanne. I gave her my best warning look. Before our marathon run back home, we had agreed to keep the

details of our perfect spot a secret. The suspense would make it even more exciting.

Maggie made a face at me. “I thought you were going to the library.”

“We did,” I answered. “I thought of it while we were there.”

“Nice of you to ask us along,” she grumped.

“We didn't have time. Besides, you're going to love it,” I promised.

Luckily, Linda's arrival interrupted our conversation. We spent the afternoon gathering our supplies, and making plans for the night. The later it got, the more anxious I became. I couldn't wait to tell them what we'd found out today. Apparently, it was bugging me more not to tell them about it, then it was bugging them not to know. Neither Maggie nor Tonya had asked any more questions.

Really, I just wanted to talk about it. I couldn't believe that Alice Whittaker was real. I couldn't believe that she actually lived that close to our house. I mean, did our parents know? If they did, why didn't they tell us about it? I mean, I get it, not everyone believes in ghosts. But I do, and they know it. Besides, how so you tell such a great ghost story, and not say 'and it all happened less than a mile away from this house'? The only explanation was that they didn't know.

The other thoughts swirling around in my head were much more exciting. We were getting ready to spend the night in the very place that Alice had spent her last moments of life. It was actually the anniversary of the day she died. As far as ghost stories go, the possibility of us seeing the ghost of Alice Whittaker was becoming very

real. A shiver of anticipation swept through me.

After what seemed like an eternity, we were finally ready to go. We all wore pretty heavy backpacks, and Suzanne and I each carried an extra bag with a tent. We were going to have to take this trip much slower, but I didn't care. I was positively vibrating with excitement.

Mom was waiting for us at the front door. “I want you to take this.” She was holding up her cell phone.

“Aw Mom,” Maggie protested.

She held up her hand to silence Maggie. “You don't have to use it, but I want you to have it with you.”

I took the phone, and slipped it into my pocket. We wouldn't need to use it, but I didn't want to waste time arguing about it.

“One more thing...” Dad spoke up from behind us. We all turned to face him. “I'll be out to check on you before it gets dark.”

Tonya giggled. “Don't wait too late. The ghosts might be out after dark!”

“I'm sure you guys will keep all of the ghosts scared off,” he said with a wink. Then he turned to me. “How far do you think you'll go?”

“You know that place where we went fishing last summer? We're going to camp there.”

“Aaauuugh! Dani, that's too far!” Maggie cried out. “We'll never make it!”

I raised my eyebrows mysteriously at her.

“Oh right, the secret,” she said shaking her head. “This better be a good secret, Dani.”

“Secret?” Dad asked me.

I smiled. Everyone knew I wasn't going to give up my secret, so they didn't ask any more. We filed out the door, and were finally on our way.

We only stopped twice on the way to the clearing. Although, Maggie protested that I was like a drill sergeant, and we needed more stops. Maggie wasn't known for being very active, and hiking just wasn't her thing. The moment we stepped into the clearing, we all dropped our gear with a thud.

“Now tell us!” Tonya demanded.

I smiled innocently. “Don't you think we should put up the tents first?” Now it was my turn to have fun. I did want to tell them, I just wanted them to sweat it out a little bit.

Everyone sat on the ground, and refused to move. If I wanted the tents up first, I was going to have to do it all by myself. Suzanne was included in this little rebellion. She wanted them to see the picture while it was still daylight. Finally, I caved. I took the picture out of my pocket, and told them what we'd seen at the library.

When they all finally believed that I knew what I was talking about (it took some help from Suzanne) they wanted to know the whole story. That was one thing I wouldn't

change my mind about. The ghost story would be after dark.

We busied ourselves with the other aspects of our camp out. We set up our tents as close as we could to the position of the cabin in the photo. After that we gathered some wood, and started a fire. We roasted some hotdogs. Before long, the sweet gooey smell of roasting marshmallows filled the air. We were making s'mores when my dad came to check on us.

“GarRoar!!” He jumped out of the bushes, growling like some kind of crazed monster. This was a typical entrance for my dad, but he practically scared Linda to death. She screamed, and jumped up, dropping her marshmallow into the fire. The rest of us rolled onto the ground, laughing.

Then, Maggie jumped up from her spot by the fire. “Did you know?” she demanded, looking up at Dad.

He cocked his head to one side. “Know what?”

“About Alice,” she said impatiently, as if he had been here with us, talking about it all afternoon.

“Who's Alice?” Dad was looking more confused than ever.

“Alice Whittaker,” I explained, stepping in to show him the picture I'd carried around all day.

After I explained about the story and the picture at the library, Dad seemed genuinely surprised. He had never known for sure if Alice was real, much less that she

might have lived that close to us. He wasn't completely convinced by the picture, though. He thought maybe we should do some more research to see if we could find out if this was the real location.

“I guess you'd better be the ones watching for ghosts then,” he said to us.

“Why do you think we're here?” asked Maggie.

He sighed, and shook his head. “The five ghost busters,” he said. He'd been calling us that for years. At our slumber parties, we always watched movies with ghosts in them, and we always told ghost stories before bedtime. Dad had been teasing us about it forever.

“We don't want to get rid of ghosts, Dad,” I told him for what seemed like the millionth time. “We Just want to see them.”

“Well, be careful,” he answered. “And don't forget to put the fire out before you go to sleep.”

“Okay,” we chorused.

“You still have the phone?”

I took it out of my pocket, and waved it at him. Yes, I still had the phone. I wasn't going to need it, though. I was sure of that. Of course, I didn't have any idea how desperately we would need that phone. Or worse yet, that it wouldn't be any good at all by the time we did need it.

As darkness settled around our campsite, a cool wind began to blow. We moved a

little closer to the fire. The moon shone above us, and a misty fog began to rise from the river. I looked around at the darkness, and smiled. It was finally time to tell Alice Whittaker's story.