A couple of weeks later, Emily and her class made a field trip to the town’s museum. Emily, Shayna, and Sydni stayed together as they walked through the museum while the tour guide, Shayna’s grandmother, talked about each of the exhibits. Most of the exhibits were about the history of the town and the men and women who helped to settle it a long time ago. There were numerous exhibits about the Indians who used to live in the area, and these were the most interesting to the girls.
“I wonder if we will see anything about Chief Floating Cloud,” Sydni said.
“That would be cool if they had a picture of the Chief,” Shayna said.
Emily gasped, and the two girls hurried to her side. They stood in front of a painting hanging on the wall above a glass case. There was a brass name plate under the painting that read, “Chief Floating Cloud receiving the lost peace pipe of the White Buffalo Woman.” The girls gaped at the painting on the wall. It showed the Chief surrounded by members of his tribe. Three young girls stood in front of him. One of the girls, a blond-haired girl, had a peace pipe in her extended hands, presenting it to the Indian chief.
Sydni gasped. “That’s you, Emily!”
“No way,” Emily said.
“It is you,” Shayna said. She pointed to the glass case below the painting. “And that is the pipe.”
The girls stared in awe at the peace pipe stored in the glass case below the painting.
Shayna’s grandmother stepped forward and placed her hands on Shayna’s shoulders. “Have you girls heard the story of the White Buffalo Woman?”
“Yeah, kind of,” Emily muttered. She could not take her eyes off the painting.
Shayna’s grandmother explained to them how two hunters on the prairie saw the White Buffalo and how it turned into a beautiful maiden. The Indian maiden went to the tribe and presented them with the sacred peace pipe. Years later, the tribe lost the peace pipe and wandered the prairie for many years in search of it.
“According to the legend,” Shayna’s grandmother said, “Chief Floating Cloud looked everywhere for the pipe. He even searched the spirit world for it. In the spirit world, he met three young girls. One day the girls came to him in his village and returned the sacred peace pipe.”
The three girls gazed at the painting in awe.
“Of course it is just a legend,” Shayna’s grandmother said. “There's no such thing as spirits. But it is said his tribe was camped nearby when the pipe was returned by the three spirit girls. And now, we have the actual pipe here in the museum.” She patted the glass case. “Safe and sound!”
“Wow,” Emily said. “So he does get the pipe back.”
“Oh, so you know the story already?” Shayna’s grandmother asked.
“Yeah,” Emily said. The other two girls giggled nervously.
Shayna’s grandmother frowned at them. “Well, we need to continue our tour. Let’s go, girls.”
The girls followed their classmates through the tour, but hung back from the rest.
“That is the real pipe, Emily,” Syndi said. “We can return it to the Chief.”
“But it’s locked up in that case,” Shayna said. “How are we supposed to get it?”
Emily grinned at Shayna. “I think I have a plan.”
Shayna and Sydni leaned closer to Emily. “What is it?” Shayna asked.
Emily pointed to Shayna’s grandmother. Hanging on her belt was a key chain full of keys. “Those are the keys to the museum, and your grandmother has them.”
Shayna’s eyes got big. “You want me to get the keys? But she will never believe the story; she won’t give them to me!”
“Of course not,” Emily said. “That’s why you will have to get them when she is asleep or away.”
Shayna stopped and grabbed Emily’s arm. “You want me to steal them?”
“You have to.” Emily pointed to the painting of the Chief and the three girls. “According to the museum, we are going to return the pipe to Chief Floating Cloud. It’s already history!”
Shayna looked back at the painting. “So it’s like we already did it, even though we haven’t done it yet. That’s weird…”
“That is weird,” Sydni said. “We know what we are going to do, and we also know we will not get caught doing it.”
“Right,” Emily said. “We are going to steal the pipe from the museum and return it to Chief Floating Cloud.”