Drafts: Frog Haven Chapter 15

Chapter 1, Chapter 2 and 3, Chapter 4, Chapter 5, Chapter 6, Chapter 7, Chapter 8 ,Chapter 9, Chapter 10, Chapter 11, Chapter 12, Chapter 13, Chapter 14

Chapter 15: Eavesdropping

“We didn’t take anything,” Garryd said, indignantly. “We thought it was abandoned. It looked like it from the outside. We were just looking.”

“No, we didn’t take anything. Nothing at all,” Sissy said. “I already told you that.”

“He doesn’t trust anyone,” David Harrison said, jerking his thumb toward Maroni. “Don’t worry, I believe you.”

“That’s good,” Sissy sighed.

“Can I take the children home now?” Sissy’s father asked. “They have school in the morning.”

“Sure,” David Harrison said, “We know where to find you if we need you for anything.”

“Why did that fat cop think we took something?” Sissy asked angrily as they walked back through the woods.

“His name is Officer Anthony Maroni, Sissy. Even if you don’t like him, you must show him respect. You were breaking the law when you went into that cabin. That was wrong, and it was illegal. If you could do one bad thing, why would he think you might not do another and steal something?”

“We thought the cabin was abandoned. I know better than to steal something.”

“I know you do, Sissy. I don’t think you took anything, either of you. But I can see where the policemen might think so. Lots of kids steal things, especially from abandoned buildings. But that’s still theft. Buildings that appear to be abandoned still belong to someone. And Sissy, you were forbidden to go there.”

Papa paused to climb over the fence, then held the wires apart for Sissy and Garryd. They started through the arboretum and Papa continued, “It doesn’t matter what Garryd said or what animal you saw, you shouldn’t have gone there. We had heard that Old Man Williams had threatened to kill anyone who came on his land. He shot at hunters; he even shot at Mr. Dzabel when some of his cows went through a hole in the fence into Williams’ Woods.”

“Did he hit anybody?”

“No, but I would hate to think that if he had been alive, it would have been you or Garryd that he hit.”

“He wouldn’t have shot us, Papa. I know he wouldn’t have.”

“Sissy, there is no way you could know that. You must never disobey us like that again.”

“Okay, Papa, she said, looking down at her feet. They were getting dirty again, and she had just taken a shower.

She washed them, sitting on the side of the tub, and kissed her parents goodnight. She lay for a long time but couldn’t sleep. She was thinking of the toys in the cabin loft and she was sure Old Man Williams would not have shot her. And she was thinking about his papery skin and the longish white hair with the grey streaks, and Maroni accusing her of stealing. She might have taken something, if they hadn’t have found the body. She sort of thought the place didn’t belong to anyone any more. Mom went by and stuck her head in the room.

“You have school in the morning sweetheart. Try to relax and go to sleep.”

“Okay, Mom, I will.”

A while later, Sissy’s Mom walked down the hall again. She poked her head in the door, and seeing that Sissy was still awake, she went in and sat on the bed beside her. Sissy sat up and leaned her head against her mother. Her mom put her arms around Sissy.

“How do you feel about finding a dead person? Does it bother you?”

“We found a dead fox, too.”

“But that’s not really the same, is it?”

“Well, it is and it isn’t. I feel sort of sad about the man. But I feel sad about the fox, too. Sadder, about the man, I guess. But I don’t feel freaked out or anything, if that’s what you’re worried about. Maybe because he’s been dead so long. It’s Okay, Mom! It’s all right, really.”

Sissy’s Mom gave her a hug. “I’m worried about your still being awake. You must be upset, at least a little. Maybe more than you realize.”

“That’s not it, Mom, I don’t think. It’s not so much the dead guy that’s bothering me, it’s that some fat, mean cop wanted to blame us for something. For something we didn’t do. It was as if he was looking for an excuse to get us in trouble.”

“Well, keep your nose clean and you won’t get in trouble. Seriously, Sissy, you shouldn’t have gone over there. You know that. But don’t worry, we know that you haven’t done anything seriously wrong, and we will see to it that you don’t get blamed for anything you didn’t do. Now go to sleep. Lie down and close your eyes. Keep them closed no matter what until morning. Unless the house burns down or something of course. Come on, close your eyes.”

Sissy’s Mom leaned over and kissed Sissy goodnight. But Sissy still couldn’t sleep. The police car was still in their driveway. The policemen hadn’t yet come back from Frog Haven. It was getting darker and darker. Suddenly, there was a blinding flash of light. Sissy sat up in bed. It was completely dark out. Another flash of light lit up the neighborhood. Sissy could see the colors of the roses across the street, brilliantly pink in front of Taylor’s and yellow in front of Smith’s. She could see the green blades of grass in the lawns and the green leaves of the trees and then the neighborhood plunged into darkness again. When another flash came, Sissy watched the colors brighten and fade. It was like adjusting the color and contrast on the TV. Only much better and more exciting.

Lightning, but no thunder. It flashed again and again. Finally, a rumble of thunder followed. Sissy pushed her window down against the coming rain. In the next flash, Sissy saw the two cops walking past her window toward their car. They were deep in conversation. In the next flash, Sissy saw that they were having a heated argument. Both of them were waving their arms around and she could tell that they were shouting, but she could not distinguish the words. She inched her window carefully back up.

“I don’t care if Old Man Williams does have a treasure hidden somewhere, it’s not ours and we had no right to look for it. Our job is to simply report the death and our findings about the children and follow whatever orders we are given!” That was the blond cop, Harrison.

“Everyone knows Old Man Williams was rolling in dough. Why shouldn’t we get a cut of it?” the fat man pleaded. His voice was angry and whiney at the same time.

“We don’t know that. It was probably just a rumor made up by suspicious neighbors. Old man Williams was a weird one. He never spoke to anyone. You know how people can’t tolerate anything different.”

“Well, if we get sent back there, I’m having a look around. I just might, anyway.”

“You’d better not. You’d be breaking the law.”

“Why are you such a goody-goody, Harrison?”

“I’m not a goody-goody. I just think that some things are right and some are wrong. I want to be on the side of the good guys. That’s one reason I became a policemen. Listen, we’ve got to go report in.” They climbed into the squad car and the engine purred to a quiet, well-oiled start. The car rolled almost silently down the driveway and Sissy sat for a long time staring out the window. She wanted to get up and go wake Garryd and tell him what she had just heard, but she didn’t dare. She had promised her father not to go back to the cabin, and besides, it was starting to rain.

Big drops splashed against her window and spattered through the screen. Soon it was pouring. Lightning and thunder crashed, and the pines between Taylors’ and Sampsons’ lashed almost sideways. The wind and rain blowing through the window made Sissy shiver. She closed the window and snuggled down into the covers. The last thing she heard was the sound of Henrich Hamster the Third and Henrich Hamster the Fourth running in their wheels.

Chapter 16; P365-07W

Drafts: Frog Haven, Chapter 14

Chapter 1, Chapter 2 and 3, Chapter 4, Chapter 5, Chapter 6, Chapter 7, Chapter 8 ,Chapter 9, Chapter 10, Chapter 11, Chapter 12, Chapter 13

Chapter 14: The Policemen

The policemen were already at the house by the time Sissy finished dressing. Sissy didn’t know why they had come so fast. What was the hurry? The old guy had been dead a long time and a few more minutes weren’t going to make much difference.

One of the policemen was young and handsome. He had deep blue eyes, the color of summer skies. His blond hair fell in his face and he kept brushing it out. His little silver nametag said David Harrison. Sissy liked him right away, but he didn’t do most of the talking. The fat cop did. He was short and had a pimply face, three double chins and greasy, stringy hair. He wasn’t very friendly and he didn’t smile as much as the other cop did. Sissy didn’t get close enough to him to read his nametag.

Marc and Michael had been banned from the living room but Sissy could see them standing in the darkness of the hall listening. She related how she and the others had gone into the cabin and found the body in the bed.

“Did you wreck anything?”

“No, we were just looking. We didn’t touch anything. Nothing at all. Oh, except the faucet. I turned the faucet on.”

“Why?”

“That was before we saw the dead guy. I just wanted to see if it worked.”

“Did it?”

“Yes.”

“Oh, and we opened some of the kitchen cupboards, just to look inside. We didn’t touch anything, except 1 cracker box. We put it right back.”

“Why did you touch it?”

“It had a hole in the bottom. I wondered if the crackers were gone. They were. I was just curious.”

“Can you take us there?”

“Yes.”

“For goodness sake Officers. Let us take you. You are going to upset Maria. I think finding a body is upsetting enough for one day, don’t you?”

“I’m not upset, Ma.”

“She has school tomorrow. She needs her sleep and this will just upset her more.”

“Mom, it’s all right. I’m not upset.”

“She should have thought about this before she started breaking and entering,” the fat cop said in a very unfriendly way.

“I don’t believe the children know anything about breaking and entering and I don’t believe—Sissy—was the door to the cabin locked?”

“No Papa, the door was not locked. We didn’t know anyone was there. We thought it was just an old abandoned building.”

“She can tell it to the judge,” the fat cop muttered under his breath. Louder, he said, “Come on, kid, let’s go.”

“My name is Maria,” Sissy said with dignity, pulling herself up straight.

“She led the cops and her father down through the orchard. Garryd came running down the path and joined them. “Are you going to the cabin? Did you tell them? Can I come?”

“Was this one of the kids that was there with you?”

“Yes, Garryd’s the only other one who saw the dead man close-up. The other two kids ran away.”

“Yeah, come along, kid, we may have to ask you some questions.”

“Okay,” Garryd agreed happily. He didn’t seem to notice the note of threat in the cop’s voice.”

They continued past the garden and the arboretum to the fence. Sissy and Garryd climbed through the fence, her father and the cops stepped over. The second cop, the fatter one, caught his pants and ripped a hole in them. He swore angrily but softly to himself. Sissy heard him. He said some words that she had never hear her parents say, words no kids were allowed to say. They climbed down the cliff and started off across the pastures.

After a while, the fat cop said, “You didn’t tell me it was so far away. We might have been able to drive in here on the farm roads.”

“It’s not much farther,” Sissy said. She led the way toward the woods. “It’s right over there.” She pointed. The opening was clearly visible across the scrubby section of pastureland.

The fat cop said, “Good grief, what were you ever doing this far from home?”

“That’s what I’d like to know,” Sissy’s father said quietly.

“It’s my fault, sir,” Garryd said.

“No it’s not,” Sissy retorted, not wanting Garryd to get himself in trouble.

“She didn’t want to go, but I told her I was going to go alone if she didn’t go with me. She was worried about me, you know. We’re blood siblings and she’s sworn to be faithful to me,” Garryd said, proudly holding up his wrist with band-aid and then showing the blood-drop ring. Sissy held hers up, too.

“Oh, brother, a bunch of weirdoes! They probably all have AIDS to top it off. Why do we always get stuck with the faggots and weirdoes?”

“What’s a faggot?” Garryd asked.

“It’s a very rude expression for a homosexual,” David Harrison said, “one that is inappropriate to use in front of children.”

“What’s a homosexual?” Garryd asked.

“This is not the time to talk about that,” Sissy’s father said. “We can discuss that later. It has absolutely nothing to do with the topic at hand. And I would like to point out that these children are not weirdoes, they are normal healthy children who are normally curious.”

“I think Officer Maroni was talking about the blood siblings thing,” Officer Harrison remarked quietly to Sissy’s father.

“There is certainly nothing weird about that. Many well-known historical figures . . .”

“Yes, but . . .” Harrison started.

“Those kids are neither historical figures or Indians,” the fat cop said, with a sneer in his voice.

“I have blood siblings, too,” David Harrison whispered, leaning away from Officer Maroni and close to the kids. He smiled at Sissy and Garryd. Sissy didn’t think the fat cop ever had a blood sibling. Who’d want to be related to him? Harrison turned and spoke quietly to Sissy’s father. “But that was before . . .”

“I do need to investigate the blood siblings thing. Kids, did you mix your blood?”

“Yes, Papa, but outside our bodies. We were very careful about it. Mr. Sharp warned us. Can you guys wait a sec while I use the bathroom, I’ll be quick. I gotta go real bad.”

“Sissy!” her father protested. But Sissy ran in to the dilapidated outhouse and pulled the creaking door shut behind her. It was a two-seater, with regular white oval toilet seats attached to the wooden platform. Because the whole outhouse was leaning to one side, the platform and seats were a little slanted. There was even an old roll of toilet paper on a shelf between the seats. It was stiff and skuzzy on the outside and the bottom looked like mice had gnawed it. Sissy wound off the outside and the inside was fine. When she was done, she put it back on the shelf where she had found it.

“We saw the cabin from over there,” Garryd was saying when she came back out. “We were following an animal, only we don’t know what it was.”

“A sleek, brown animal, about the size of a beaver only longer and thinner, with a round tail. It was sliding on that hill over there,” Sissy said, pointing back toward the slide. They couldn’t see it through the trees.

“Sounds like an otter,” Sissy’s father said, “only there aren’t any otters around here any more, too civilized. I wonder what it could be.”

“Otter, schmotter, come on, let’s get going,” the fat cop said.

“We went in through here,” Sissy said, opening the unlocked outer screen door, “and then through here,” she opened the next door, which was a regular wooden front door with a lock, but it wasn’t locked, of course. “The dead man is right over there,” she added, pointing. Sissy couldn’t see him, and for a second, was afraid he was gone. She ran over to the bed and leaned over. He was there, all right, but she could see why they had missed him at first.

“The kid wasn’t lying,” Officer Harrison said, as if he were making a point to Maroni.

“No kidding,” the fat cop said, sarcastically.

“And they didn’t ransack the house, either. Nothing is wrecked. She was telling the truth.”

“They probably stole all the valuables, though,” Maroni said. “I’m sure they took stuff.”

Chapter 15, P365-07W

Drafts: Frog Haven Chapter 13

Chapter 1, Chapter 2 and 3, Chapter 4, Chapter 5, Chapter 6, Chapter 7, Chapter 8 ,Chapter 9, Chapter 10, Chapter 11, Chapter 12

Chapter 13: The Man in the Bed

Lyssa might play with dolls and stuff, but she was not the kind of kid to scream without good reason. Sissy rushed to the ladder and started down. The other kids were running out the front door.

Sissy saw what had scared Lyssa. There was a man in the bed. They hadn’t seen him at first because he was nearly completely covered by blankets and his face was close to the wall. He didn’t take up much space. Sissy stood on the ladder and looked down at him. A horrible tightening in her chest kept her from moving and she felt as if she couldn’t breathe. The man was dead.

He had been dead a long time. She saw the dead fox in her mind, and suddenly, she felt very calm. She climbed the rest of the way down the ladder and walked over to the bed. She pulled the covers back a little. The man was only a skeleton, a skeleton with dried skin stretched over the bones and dressed in farmer overalls and a red plaid flannel shirt. He had long white hair with streaks of grey.

She heard footsteps behind her and was scared again. She dropped the covers and turned in a crouch, ready to run or fight. It was Garryd with a big stick. She started laughing. He looked so fierce, and she knew he had come to save her.

“He’s dead,” she said calmly, lifting the blanket again to show Garryd. She reached out and touched the skin on the back of his neck. It felt more like paper than skin.

“I wonder what happened to him,” Garryd said, letting his club fall down his leg.

“I don’t know,” said Sissy, covering him gently back up again. “What do you think we should do?”

They walked out of the cabin, shutting the front door, and closing the screen door, too. They walked down to the road through the trees. Lyssa and Bill came out of the bushes where they’d been hiding.

“He’s dead,” Garryd said. “He’s been dead a long time. He’s all dried out.”

“What should we do?” Sissy repeated.

“Tell someone,” Bill said.

“We’ll get in trouble,” Sissy said. “We should never have come here. If we don’t tell anyone, it will be just as if we hadn’t come. No one knew before and they still won’t know.”

“But someone should know. We should tell.” Bill insisted. “We can’t just leave that dead guy there.”

“Why not? He’s been there a long time already.” They retrieved their pails from under the bushes and were heading along the pasture toward home. Out of the woods on the far side came Dzabel, driving his tractor, pulling a load of firewood.

“We’re gonna get it now,” Lyssa cried.

“Run,” said Sissy and they ran, not for the dirt cliffs behind Sissy’s, but for the closest fence, behind Doolittles’.

They scrambled beneath the barbed wire fence at Doolittles’ just as the tractor was getting close enough that they could hear Dzabel yelling, “You kids keep out of my pastures!”

Mrs. Doolittle was standing in her rose garden with her hands on her hips staring at the kids. “How many times have I told you hooligans to stay out of my gardens? I am going right inside and call your mothers!!! Let’s see now,” she said, squinting down at them, “Who are you?”

They turned as one and ran into Fontenellas’ lawn, through Fontenellas’ yard, and across the street to McAllisters’. “Quick,” Sissy said, “hide the pails. Let’s join the game.” They slid the pail under McAllisters’ shrubs and dashed out to the ball field.

“Garryd,” yelled Paul when saw them headed his way.

“Sissy,” yelled Michael.

“Lyssa,” called Paul. Bill headed toward Michael’s team, who was in the field. Sissy was thinking about the dead man in the cabin and missed an easy pop-up fly. Everyone on Michael’s team groaned. But she got the ball and shot it to first and got Kelvin out anyway. That was close, Sissy thought, I’d better pay attention. But she couldn’t stop thinking about the dead man. She decided to tell her parents when she got home.

But when they got home, Papa was tired and grouchy and Mom was annoyed because she had to blow the whistle four times before the kids came home. McAllisters’ was way up on the other end of Van Vleck Drive. That was one of the reasons they usually played at Mancinis’. And Sissy didn’t have her bike and had to walk back lugging her pail.

“And Mrs. Doolittle called and said a barefoot girl in braids and three of her hooligan friends had run through her rose garden. She wanted to know if it was my daughter.”

Sissy looked at the floor and said nothing.

“I’ve asked you and asked you to stay out of Mrs. Doolittle’s yard, Sissy. You know better than that.”

“Yes, but Mom . . .”

“She also said she was devastated by the destruction!”

“She always says that. What does it mean?”

“Overwhelmed, shocked, distraught.”

“What does dis-”

“We’ll talk about it later, Sissy, the words, and your part therein.”

“But Mom . . .”

“Not now Sissy.”

“But Mom, I have something impor-”

“LATER!” Mom irritation was evident in the rising tones of her voice.

Sissy wanted to tell her about the dead man, but she wasn’t getting a word in.

It was Sissy’s dish night and Mom didn’t hang around in the kitchen like she sometimes did. Neither did Pa. He had taken the boys out to practice for the big rematch. Mom was correcting exams for a special workshop she’d been teaching.

When Sissy finished the dishes, she went into the study to talk to Mom. Mom was surrounded by piles of exams and was muttering grumpily to herself. Sissy sat down and waited for a good time to tell her mom about the dead guy. She didn’t want to just blurt it out.

But Mom looked up and said, “Sissy, you are absolutely filthy. You have school tomorrow. Go right into the bathroom and take a shower.”

“But Mom, I have got to talk to you! It’s important!!!!”

“Whatever it is, it can wait until I have these exams corrected.”

“But Mom . . .”

“GO! Right NOW! For goodness sakes, child, do as I tell you.” Sissy’s mother stood up, glowering. Sissy jumped up and ran out of the study, afraid she’d get swatted. She didn’t get swatted often, but it looked like she might now.

Sissy was rinsing the shampoo out of her hair when she heard her mother shouting. She stuck her head out, yelling, “What’s that Ma, I can’t hear you!”

“Dr. Taylor just called. He said you found some kind of skeleton in a cabin somewhere. Is this some kind of joke?”

“No, Mom, it’s not. That’s what I’ve been trying to tell you ever since I got home. There’s a dead man in the cabin in the woods behind Dzabel’s. He’s been dead a long time. He’s all dried out. He still has his clothes on and everything.”

“Sissy, who told you this? Were the boys trying to scare you?”

“No, Mom, I saw him myself. Honest. Look, Mom, I know I wasn’t supposed to be there, and I didn’t want to go, either, ask Garryd. I was the last one to go in. But when everyone else ran out, I had to see for myself. I went over and looked at him. He’s dead in his bed under the covers and all dried out.”

“Sissy, weren’t you . . . Aren’t you . . . upset about this?” her mother stammered.

“I’m scared you’ll be mad at me for going over there when you told me not to. I’m sorry. Really I am. I really didn’t want to. Honest.”

“But aren’t you upset about finding the body? About seeing a dead person?”

“I was a lot more scared before we found it. I was all creeped-out going in there. But once we found it, it was just there, that’s all. Like dead animals on the road. Like my hamsters, only different. I was sad, really sad. I suppose I was upset, because I wanted to tell you and I keep thinking about it. Worrying.”

“We’ll have to call the police. Finish your shower. Let me go get your father.”

Chapter 14, P365-07W

Drafts: Frog Haven Chapter 12

Chapter 1, Chapter 2 and 3, Chapter 4, Chapter 5, Chapter 6, Chapter 7, Chapter 8 ,Chapter 9, Chapter 10, Chapter 11

Chapter 12: The Angels of Deliverance

Lyssa plunked herself in the seat next to Sissy. “Can Bill go with us to help rescue frogs?”

“You promised not to tell!” hissed Sissy. “You crossed your heart and hoped to DIE if you told,” she continued dramatically.

“Bill told me about the gang’s initiation ceremonies. He was so upset that I had to tell him. Telling Bill doesn’t count as telling anyone anyway.” Sissy turned around and looked at Bill. His big serious eyes looked back at her with great intensity. He didn’t smile. Sissy rolled her eyes in exasperation, sighed, and then smiled at Bill. He smiled happily back at her.

“Yes, I guess he can go, if it’s Okay with Garryd.”

“Ask him, he’s right there.”

“I KNOW where he is,” Sissy retorted. She leaned across the aisle to Garryd, who was sitting with Kelvin Moore again. She pulled on his sleeve and he turned toward her. “Is it okay if Bill Taylor comes too?”

“We can use all the help we can get. Maybe we can form an ‘Angels of Deliverance’ gang to counteract the other gang.”

“Shhhhhhhhhhh!” Sissy said, looking around to see if any of the gang members had heard him. Kelvin was, after all, in the gang. She studied him. He was big and just a little overweight. He had a round face, a slightly pointed chin, and an angel-like expression. Sissy had played with Kelvin and knew that he was a nice kid when he was alone. She had a hard time picturing him doing the kinds of things Paul LeFevre liked to do.

The Deliverance Gang met behind Mancinis’ garage. Lyssa and Bill brought their own pails. “The LeFevre Gang is going to be practicing for Friday’s rematch behind McAllister’s,” Bill told them.

“Good! Then they’ll be out of our way. If we get done soon enough, we can go play too,” Garryd said.

They walked companionably together through the backyards. Sissy wondered how much help Bill would be. Lyssa was very athletic and good outdoors, even though she’d usually rather be playing with dolls. Bill was awkward and uncoordinated. But he turned out to be pretty good at catching frogs. By the time they’d made it to the fence, they had more frogs than ever before.

“Well, we can either let the frogs go at Dzabel’s Ponds,” Sissy said, “where the LeFevre gang can get them again, or we can let them go at William’s Ponds, where they’ll probably be safer.” Sissy was worried about how Lyssa and Bill would react; they were both sort of goody-goody.

“William’s Ponds, where are they?” Lyssa asked, in surprise.

“Over there,” Sissy said vaguely, waving her arm in a long arc across the pastures.

“But we’re not allowed to go over there,” Bill said.

“I know, me neither. We could just walk to the edge of the woods and Garryd could take the pails in. He’d have to take a couple trips. We could wait. Or I could help him and you guys could wait. The ponds are just inside the edge of the woods and there’s nothing to worry about.” They walked across the pasture, keeping an eye out for Dzabel.

“Do you know why we’re not allowed to go in the woods over there?” Sissy asked.

“Maybe because they are just too far away,” Bill suggested.

“No, I think it’s more than that,” Lyssa said. “I remember something about an old man with a gun. Lyssa was a year older than Sissy and sometimes remembered things from longer ago. Also, she had a better memory for certain things than Sissy.

Sissy shuddered. “I don’t think anyone lives there any more. The place looks deserted.”

“Oh, there’s an old cabin, but don’t worry, it’s past the ponds, and anyway, like I said, it looks deserted. No one has been around for a long time.”

“Let’s go check it out,” Lyssa said excitedly.

“I thought you didn’t want to go into the woods.”

“That was before I knew there was a deserted cabin. That sounds like fun!”

“If we show you where it is, you have to keep it a secret, okay?”

“Okay.”

“You, too, Bill.” Sissy was afraid that Bill was going to wimp out on them, but his eyes were sparkling with excitement. He showed more life in his face than Sissy had ever seen before.”

“Sure, Sissy!”

Garryd began to dance around, saying, “Come on, let’s hurry!”

Lyssa and Bill were thrilled by the beauty and tranquility of the woodland ponds. Seeing them again through the eyes of newcomers, Sissy was awed. What a tremendously lovely place, she thought, the two long ponds set in the open sunny woods.

Garryd told them about finding the dead fox as he led the way along the shore of the first pond. They released their frogs and stashed the buckets in the bushes. They rounded the bend of the larger pond and the cabin stood on the rise before them. Sissy shivered again. It was an ordinary-looking, small, pleasant log cabin. She studied it carefully and there was not a creepy thing about it. It was set in a perfect spot on the little hill overlooking the pond. Everything was peaceful and sunny. The woodland birds were singing and at a distance, Sissy saw the skunk wandering among the trees. But for some reason, she felt cold and frightened.

She wanted to go back, but the others were going eagerly forward. Sissy went too, trailing behind Bill. Garryd was so excited that he didn’t notice Sissy had fallen behind. He circled the cabin, with everyone following, and then led the way right up to the front door of the screen porch. There were three beautiful wooden rockers sitting on the front porch. They were dusty and littered with mouse-droppings, and the finish was a little milky, but otherwise, they were perfect. Sissy turned and looked down at the pond. What a beautiful spot to sit and rock, if you liked to sit and rock. Sissy did, sometimes. Her grandmother had rockers on her front porch and she and Sissy would sit on a warm summer night rocking and watching the people who walked by on the Schenectady street. In some ways, this would be even better, because if they sat quietly, they could probably watch beavers and herons and whatever that other animal was. Sissy wondered briefly what it was.

Garryd tried the front door. It wasn’t locked and he walked in. They others followed and they stood in a clump just inside the door. It seemed dark at first and they waited for their eyes to adjust. There was a table in the center of the room, off slightly to the right, with a green cotton tablecloth. It was set with dishes and with what looked like the remains of old food on them. The dishes were dusty but they all matched and looked like they might be fine china. Sissy picked up a cup and saucer and held the saucer up to the light, the way her mother had taught her. Her hand shone clearly through the saucer. Sissy turned it over and read the back. Fine china by Royal Copenhagen. Fine china in a log cabin. She showed the others, but no one spoke. For some reason, no one spoke.

There were three chairs around the table and the chairs matched. They were well-made oak chairs with finely woven cane seats. They looked like something Sissy had seen in the antique shops last summer on their vacation to Cape Cod and Acadia National Park. Sissy wondered why someone would have such nice furniture in a log cabin. She’d been to log cabins before and they had always been rustically furnished.

To the right of the table was a kitchen area with modern cabinets and counters just like in a regular house. There were a few dirty dishes piled by the sink as if someone had intended to wash them. Sissy turned on the faucet, and rusty water and air gushed noisily out. Quickly, she shut it off again. Bill reached out and quietly turned it back on, slowly and carefully. After a moment of additional sputtering, cold clear water ran out in a thin stream. He turned it up more and a thick stream of icy clear water rushed out. He shut it off. There was only a cold-water spigot, no hot.

Lyssa began opening cupboards. They were arranged very much like their cupboards at home, with stacked plates, cups hanging on hooks, glasses and so on in one cupboard, pots and pans in another, food in some of the others. Animals had chewed up some of the food. A box of A&P saltines had apparently been totally emptied by mice, because it was entirely sealed shut except a mouse-sized hole in one bottom corner. The cans and jars of food mostly looked fine.

While Lyssa, Sissy, and Bill were exploring the kitchen, Garryd walked into the living room. On the front or pond side of the cabin was a couch and two stuffed chairs, separated by end tables, each of which held a gas lamp. On the other side of the desk were a bed and a big, old-fashioned roll-top desk. Before Garryd got to the bed, he came to a ladder that led up to a loft. He climbed up the ladder and the others followed. The loft held two more beds, one on each side, divided by two dressers, one facing each way. There were toys of various kinds scattered around the loft: dolls, trucks, blocks and many others. On either end was a window. The one on the left looked out over the curved part of the larger pond. The window on the right looked toward the point where the two ponds came nearly together and the road passed between them.

From this angle, the kids could see the road winding through the woods, between the ponds, and curving to run up the hill to the cabin. The leaning outhouse stood just at the bend in the road. As they turned from the window, Sissy noticed that the lace-edged white curtains matched the bedspreads and dresser cloths.

Garryd started back down the ladder. Sissy took another look around. Something about the room made her feel very sad, but she wasn’t sure what.

Below her, on the ladder, Lyssa gave an ear-piercing scream.

* * *

Chapter 13, P365-07W

Drafts: Frog Haven, Chapter 11

Chapter 1, Chapter 2 and 3, Chapter 4, Chapter 5, Chapter 6, Chapter 7, Chapter 8 ,Chapter 9, Chapter 10

Chapter 11: The Cabin

It was a log cabin with a small, screened porch, a chimney, and a woodshed. Following the hill down to the right with her eyes, Sissy spotted what looked like an old, falling-down outhouse near the bottom of the hill. The whole place looked deserted, but Sissy felt a sudden icy shiver run jaggedly down her spine. The hair on the back of her neck prickled and goose bumps raised all over her body. All the warnings about not going into the woods beyond the pastures came back fresh and sharp in her mind. It was clearly forbidden and yet here she was, disobeying a direct order.

“Oh, Garryd, I think that cabin has something to do with why we’re not supposed to be here. Do you feel spooky at all?”

“A little,” he admitted.

“Look,” said Sissy, holding up her watch, “now we’ve got to really hurry. Come on, let’s go. Please Garryd, don’t tell anybody about the cabin! I’m sure we’ll get in trouble for being here!”

“Okay, Sis!!”

“Oh, Garryd, I wish I were your sister!” Sissy exclaimed as they charged through the woods. “Do you want to be my blood brother? You’re so special and understanding and different than my real brothers.” They walked quickly down the old road.

“Sure, why not, let’s do it, Sissy!”

“Maybe we can do it after supper. Do you have a jackknife?”

Garryd pulled a small knife out of his pocket and held it up for Sissy to see. It had a mother-of-pearl handle and a small sharp blade.

“Good. Come over to my house at six o’clock. I should be done eating by then.”

“Why don’t you eat at my house?”

“You haven’t asked your Mom if I can.”

“Don’t worry, it’s okay.”

“You have to ask her; I’ll wait in the garage.”

“Don’t be silly, come on!” Garryd pulled Sissy into the house and started signing rapidly to his mother. She looked puzzled. She wrapped her hands around his rapidly moving hands and cocked her head to one side, almost as if she were listening. She turned and looked questioningly at Sissy. Sissy smiled. Elke smiled and nodded her head.

With Garryd at her heels, Sissy ran home and asked her father.

“Are you sure it’s all right?”

“Yes,” she said. Garryd nodded.

“Okay, be good.”

“I will, Papa!” She gave him a kiss.

“Just a sec, Garryd, I’ve got to get something in my room. For the ceremony,” Sissy said, mysteriously. She reappeared a moment later and they sprinted back to Knudson’s.

Supper was on the table. Sissy and Garryd washed up in the bathroom together. They sat at the table next to each other. Sven signed grace and Garryd said the words aloud for Sissy. They had steak, stuffed baked potatoes, succotash (which Sissy loved) and homemade rhubarb pie. Everything tasted delicious, a miracle for Sissy, whom some people considered a picky eater.

Supper conversation was a combination of signs, grunts and words. A grunt and a point meant, “Please pass the whatever.” Sissy figured that out without Garryd’s help. Elke kept jumping up to get stuff for everyone. She smiled fondly toward her family and her warm, loving smile included Sissy as well. Sissy felt welcomed and comfortable, after a few minutes adjusting.

After supper, Sissy offered to help with the dishes but Elke shook her head and pushed Sissy gently away. She and Garryd went down the hall to Garryd’s room. The doorway was partly blocked by three cans of paint, rollers, trays, brushes, and a stack of newspapers.

“Dad’s project for tomorrow,” Garryd said, grinning, “and I can’t wait! Green for trees, not pink for puke!” Sissy’s room was green, too. Green with yellow woodwork. Pink, Sissy thought, was a Francie Coover color, fine for girly-girls.

Garryd had a huge collection of Teddy bears on his bed. Big ones, small ones, all kinds and colors.

“Wow! These are neat!” Sissy said.

“Look at this one,” Garryd said, pulling a medium-sized bear from the pile. It looked like a real bear.

“Is it alive?” Sissy asked, laughing. “I never saw one like that before.”

“My aunt gave it to me.” Garryd opened the door to Tweety’s cage. The bird flew out. Sissy pushed the bedroom door shut to confine the bird and tried to catch it. She was anxious to do the blood siblings ceremony, but she couldn’t catch the stupid bird. It flew around and around the room. Every time it landed somewhere, it flew again before they could get close enough to catch it. Sissy was getting more and more annoyed.

“We’ll never catch it,” she moaned.

Garryd’s arm shot out and he grabbed Tweety in mid-flight. “It’s easy,” he said, "if you really want to do it.”

Sissy was surprised and impressed, but eager to get on with the ceremony. “Do you have any alcohol, Garryd?” she asked, when Tweety was back in his cage.

They went in the bathroom together where Sissy wiped Garryd’s knife with alcohol, using toilet paper to clean it. Then she got her own knife out and showed it to Garryd. It was exactly like his. She smiled, wiping the blade with alcohol.

“It’s perfect that we have matching knives for the blood siblings ceremony.”

“Blood siblings? What’s that?”

“Siblings are brothers and sisters. We learned all about blood brothers and sisters last year in 4^th grade with Mr. Sharpe. We were studying Indians, Native Americans and reading lots of stories and we all got to have a blood brother or sister. They did it again this year but you just missed it, by coming late.”

“You didn’t tell me you had the same knife.”

“I wanted to surprise you! Let’s go up in the weeping willow in your backyard.”

Sitting on the branch opposite Garryd, Sissy instructed Garryd to take his knife and carefully cut her wrist. “Here,” she said, pointing. “Just a little cut. I don’t want to bleed to death.”

“I don’t want to cut you. I’d rather cut myself.”

“Come on, Garryd!” Sissy held out her wrist and Garryd made a small careful cut. A single drop of blood oozed from the incision. Sissy grabbed Garryd’s arm and cut a quick slice in the side of his wrist. It was small, but not as small as hers.

She picked up a drop of blood on his knife and he did the same. The pressed the drops together with the knives. “They used to press their cuts together to mingle the blood, but Mr. Sharpe said there is some disease you can get doing that, AIDS or something. He said never to let our blood mix inside our bodies.”

“What about transfusions, people in accidents and stuff?”

“I guess they look at the blood to see if it has germs. Some people die though, or they did, he said.” She touched her fingertip to the mixed blood after checking to see if there were any cuts on her finger. Then touched the mixed blood to his right cheek and kissed him on the left. “I hereby promise to be a faithful sister to you, forever and ever.”

Garryd solemnly followed her lead, doing the same, swearing to be her faithful brother. Then Sissy dug down in the pocket of her cut-offs and took out two rings. Each had a tear-shaped drop of bright red ceramic “blood” attached.

“Mom got these when she donated blood at the Red Cross,” she said. She slipped one on Garryd’s ring finger. It was a little loose. “You’ll have to put a little adhesive tape around the back,” she said.

“Okay.” Garryd slipped the other ring on her finger. “You’ll need a little tape too. I never had a sister before,” he added shyly.

“Well, I promise to make up for it. I’ll be an even better sister than a real sister.” The whistle was blowing shrilly next door. “I’ve got to go do chores now, Garryd, see you tomorrow.”

“What about the frog run you told Lyssa she could come on?”

“I don’t know, maybe we could let them go somewhere else.”

“I want to find out what’s in that cabin. I don’t think anyone lives there. Aren’t you curious?”

“Yes,” Sissy said nervously. “But I’m not supposed to go there. And . . . I’m scared, a little,” she admitted.

“Well, Sis, blood siblings or not, if you don’t want to go with me, I’m going by myself.”

“I guess I’ll probably go with you, Garryd. Yikes!” The whistle sounded again. “I’ve got to go. See you in the morning.”

Chapter 12; P365-07W

Drafts: Frog Haven, Chapter 10

I've been trying to work on these revisions of the Frog Haven Chapters through all the issues that have come up around my Mom's death, but I am way behind. I've done more work than I've had time to post.

Chapter 1, Chapter 2 and 3, Chapter 4, Chapter 5, Chapter 6, Chapter 7, Chapter 8 ,Chapter 9

Chapter 10: Monday

Usually, on school mornings, either Sissy called for Lyssa or Lyssa called for Sissy, depending on who was ready first. But today, everyone came out at once: Taylors, Mancinis, Webers, and Garryd Knudson (Sven had gone on the earlier bus with the bigger kids.) They walked the quarter mile to the bus stop in a big group, collecting Kelvin Moore, the McAllisters, the McKeevers, and David Fontenella [MNS1] [MNS2] as they went. They talked excitedly about the game last night, and decided they should have rematch, since the game had ended in a tie.

“The grown-ups won’t let us have a rematch with them until school’s over,” Lyssa pointed out. “According to them, we have to go to bed on time. Games with grown-ups can’t start until after dinner, since most of them work.”

“Yeah, you’re right,” Paul LeFevre said, “Dumb grown-ups! They don’t know what’s important! Who cares about sleep?”

“Let’s schedule the game on Friday night—the last day of school. I bet we can talk the grown-ups into having a big picnic to celebrate. It can be a party, covered dish,” Sissy shouted excitedly.

“Great idea,” said Lyssa, with everyone else chiming in, too. “Yes, yes, let’s do it! The Great Van Vleck Drive Super End of the School Year Rematch Party.

The school bus pulled up while they were working out the details. For once, all the kids were in agreement and working toward a common goal. Even Lannie McAllister had some good ideas.

Sissy sat with Lyssa. Garryd sat in front of them with Michael and Kelvin Moore. Sissy leaned forward, “Who’s your teacher?”

“Mr. Sharpe.”

“Oh, he’s great. He’s the best teacher in the whole school, maybe the whole world. I had him last year. Too bad you will only have him for a week! I’ll take you to the room, okay?”

“Sure!”

On the way down the hall, Sissy asked Garryd if he wanted to make another frog run that afternoon. “Of course I do!”

“Okay, meetcha after I change my clothes. Hi, Mr. Sharpe! This is my good friend Garryd Knudson. He’s going to be in your class this week. Too bad he didn’t come sooner, because he’s really nice!”

“Hi Sissy, hello, Garryd. Nice to meet you. I think a lot of Sissy here,” he said, putting his arm around Sissy’s shoulder. “If Sissy likes you, you must be okay. Come in and meet the class. Thanks for bringing him down, Sissy.”

Lannie McKeever asked Lyssa and Sissy to stop in after school. “I can’t,” said Sissy, “I’ve already promised to do something else.”

“Not with the gang!” Lyssa exclaimed, in a horrified voice. “Bill told me some of the things they were doing at their fort.”

“No. In fact . . .” Sissy started, pausing to decide if she should tell them. “In fact, we’re going on an anti-gang mission, top secret!”

“Really? Oh, can we help?” Lyssa asked.

“Maybe tomorrow, if you really want to. If you promise not to tell, I will tell you what we’re doing. Lyssa and Lannie promised and crossed their hearts and hoped to die should they ever breathe a word of Sissy’s secret. She told them about how she and Garryd were rescuing the frogs. Lannie, who was extremely delicate about such matters thought it was wonderful but didn’t really want to help. Lyssa did.

“Stay here with Lannie today, and tomorrow you can help.” Sissy didn’t tell Lyssa, but she wanted to check with Garryd to make sure it was okay with him, and also, she wanted to have him to herself one more day. And then there were the sign language lessons, did she want to share those? And what if Lyssa told about Frog Haven?

Sissy had already wasted a lot of time talking to Lannie and Lyssa, so she ran all the way home. Papa was sitting on the front porch talking to the boys. She flung herself into his arms.

“Hi Sis.” He gave her a hug and set her down again. She ran around to the garage door and into the house. Taffy was out on her leash on the terrace. Sissy went out through the patio doors and stroked her fur. She greeted Petey on the way back in, checked her hamster, her mice, and her fish. She threw her clothes on the bed and jumped into her cut-offs and raccoon shirt. She picked up her Super Girl watch and deliberately put it on. Then she made two peanut butter and jelly sandwiches on toasted rye. She picked out two of the best Empire apples from the bag in the fridge and put them in her backpack with her sandwiches and two juice boxes.

“I’m going out to play, Pa,” she said through the front screen door.

He turned and gave her a significant look, and then smiled. “Be home in time for dinner.”

Sissy held up the arm with the watch. “I will, Papa.” She turned and ran out the back door, through the garage and over to Garryd’s. Sven answered the door.

“Hi, Sissy. You’ll have to come in and wait a few minutes. Garryd is changing and hasn’t had his snack yet.”

“I made him a picnic snack, Sven, except, do you think he’ll like peanut butter and jelly on toasted rye?”

“Garryd will eat anything. Here, take this.” Sven opened Sissy’s backpack and stuffed in a bag of potato chips. Sissy wasn’t crazy about potato chips, but she knew other people liked them. They were okay. If she was hungry enough.

“Thanks, Sven.” He nodded and disappeared upstairs. Elke was standing in the kitchen smiling. Sissy wished she could say something to her, but she was afraid to try to spell anything, since she was unsure of the alphabet. She shifted from foot to foot, feeling awkward and embarrassed. A moment later, Garryd came clattering down the hall. “I’m starved,” he said, seeing that Sissy was already there.

“I packed us some chow,” Sissy said, pointing to her backpack.

“Good, let’s go.” Garryd signed goodbye to his Mom. They ran outside, grabbed the pails, and headed for Blackfords’ pond. Sissy had pictured a quick trip down the pond banks, but as they approached the pond, they could hear shouts of the gang members. They went carefully through the bushes and cattails until they could peer cautiously into the area of the fort and were surprised to discover that the gang was toasting hotdogs and marshmallows instead of torturing frogs. Marc and Michael weren’t there, but soon they could hear their voices approaching from behind. She and Garryd flung themselves into the cattails just in time, crouching absolutely silently until the two had safely passed. Marc was holding a bag that was about half full of marshmallows, and Michael had an aluminum foil packet that looked like it might contain hotdogs. He also had a bag with hotdog rolls and with some packets of catsup from McDonald’s showing through the bottom of the bag. Sissy felt a pang of left-outed-ness, but then realized she liked toasted peanut butter on rye better than hotdogs anyway.

The gang was so busy that Sissy and Garryd easily caught frogs on both sides of the pond around them. Then they headed down through the marshy area, collecting more frogs until they came to the barbed wire fence.

After they released the frogs into the haunted pond at Frog Haven, they walked to their sign-language log. Sissy took off her backpack and passed out the food. Garryd said grace and they ate their sandwiches.

“I’ve never had peanut butter and jelly on toasted rye before, but you’re right, Sissy, these are good!” Garryd shoved handfuls of potato chips into his mouth and Sissy daintily ate one at a time. It wasn’t that she was dainty; she just wasn’t fond of potato chips.

Garryd started the sign language lesson while they ate their apples. After they had gone over the alphabet twice and Garryd had tested her to see if she remembered it, Sissy said, “Teach me how to say “Hello” to your mother.”

Garryd smiled, “you say hello like this.”

Sissy tried it several times. “What else could I say to her? How about, ‘It’s nice to see you’ or something?”

“Wee, that’s a little harder. First you go like this, and then . . .”

“Look, that animal is back! We forgot to look it up in my book! Oh, I wonder what it is!” The sleek dark animal was sliding again. Garryd and Sissy stopped their sign language lesson and watched happily as the animal slid down the hill over and over in the same muddy slide. After a while, it swam the length of the pond past where they were sitting and climbed the bank by the road in the same undulating up-and-down motion it used when climbing the sliding hill. It crossed the road and disappeared in the direction of the other pond.

“Let’s explore the pond now, while all the animals are gone, so we don’t have to worry about scaring them, “ Sissy suggested.

“Good idea. Want me to carry your backpack?”

“Okay.” They started off along the shore in the opposite direction from the road. Soon, they came to a marshy, swampy area.

“Why don’t you take off your sneakers and put them in the backpack?” Sissy suggested. She was barefooted, as usual, and didn’t have to worry about getting her feet wet.

“I’m not used to going barefooted, and the rocks and sticks will hurt my feet.”

“We’ll go slowly.” Sissy checked her watch. We’ve still got lots of time.”

Garryd sat on a fallen log and took off his sneakers. He wiped them clean on some thick moss and put them in Sissy’s backpack, along with his socks.

“You go first,” Sissy said, “so I don’t go too fast for you.”

But the going was easy. There were no rocks down in the swamp and by avoiding the sharp sticks, they were able to move fairly quickly. Lots of frogs jumped into the water as they skirted the edge of the pond. Sissy wondered how many of them were from Blackfords’ pond.

At the very end of the pond furthest from the road, a small stream flowed out through the cattails into the cedars and then into the main woods beyond.

“I bed this is the stream that flows through the woods behind the butterfly field,” Sissy said, laughing, excited about their discovery. Garryd had never played there, had never been to those closer, safer woods. “I’ll have to take you there sometime. It’s pretty, and nice. We dam up the stream sometimes and catch the minnows. But we always let them go again. They can’t live in an aquarium. They need cold, running water.”

They walked along the squishy shore until the bank rose steeply. They climbed the bank and examined the muddy path that the animal had been sliding down. “I wish we could try it,” Garryd said, wistfully.

“Me, too,” Sissy said with enthusiasm. “But I don’t think we can. At least, I don’t see how.”

The bank was too steep to walk along, but the woods were open and park-like. Soon, they were back at the road.

“Look,” Sissy said, pointing. “There’s that skunk again.”

“Do you think it’s the same one?”

“I don’t know; it looks like it.” Sissy checked her watch. “We should start back in about 15 minutes so we don’t have to run all the way back.”

“Let’s walk along the shore of the other pond.”

“Okay.” Garryd led the way. Again, the walking was easy. The bank sloped gently down to the water and the trees grew all the way to the edge of the pond. The pond was long and narrow. It went around the bend and disappeared from sight in the trees. On the opposite shore, a hill rose in the woods.

“Let’s turn back when we get to the big boulder where the pond turns to the right,” Sissy suggested.

“Okay.”

When they got to the boulder, it was nearly as tall as they were. A small yellow birch grew beside it and the branches formed a perfect ladder. Garryd climbed up and Sissy followed. The top of the rock had a thick layer of moss like a plush carpet. Both children lay on their backs and stared at the sky through the trees.

“Wow!” Sissy said. “This is great. Tomorrow, let’s have out lunch and lesson here.”

“Maybe we can come back for a little while after supper,” Garryd said, turning over on his stomach and staring out toward the pond.

“I don’t think so. There probably won’t be enough time. I have to be in bed at 8:00. Garryd, would you mind if Lyssa came along on our next frog rescue operation? She asked me if she could, but I told her I’d have to check with you first.”

“Sure, that’s okay, if she likes animals and wants to help. It’d be nice to have help.”

Sissy breathed a sigh of relief but at the same time felt terribly disappointed. She knew she was being silly, but it seemed special to have Garryd all to herself. “Lyssa wanted to come. She’ll be glad you said it was okay.”

“Sissy, look!” Sissy rolled over onto her stomach and looked where Garryd was pointing. Across the pond on the hill on the woods was a cabin.

---

[MNS1]Make sure to mention David Fontella (or Paul F?) earllier, in several places! AT THE GAME (s)

[MNS2]

Please forgive me for saying this if you are a sweet innocent reader: I hope you are.

But I got a message saying I should be careful because soemone might see this and steal it. I thought I'd let that someone know it has already been seen and commented on by Scholastic Books and others and I am drafting it for the next send out. It is already known in the publishing world, so please don't consider stealing it. (I got a VERY NICE rejection letter from Scholastic books. They had read it carefully and commented on it wonderfully.)

On the other hand, if you ARE an innocent reader, and we'll assume you are, and you'd like to make comments, helpful critiques, point out things that still need attention, please do.