“Oh yeah, the photograph. Right.” Theodore was out of his mind. “And how am I supposed to pay for a plane ticket to Montana?”
“It’s already taken care of. There’s ticket is waiting for you at the airport. Your plane leaves at six this evening.”
“And where do I stay tonight?”
“You have a reservation at the Holiday Inn near the airport in Bozeman. The tour bus leaves tomorrow morning at seven from the hotel. It goes to Mammoth Hot Springs. That’s where you’ll find the trail head that leads to the commune. I have it all mapped out for you.”
“And what’s the commune called again?”
“C-O-D-L,” he said. “Children Of Divine Light. It’s all in the folder.”
“Right. And I’m supposed to saunter up to their homestead in the woods and tell them I want to join up.”
“From the information i’ve gathered,” Theodore said. “I don’t think they’ll turn you away. And because of your age, they won’t suspect you of being an undercover cop or reporter. They’ll accept you with open arms, and with luck, you should be back by Sunday evening.”
“And what am I supposed to tell my parents?” I asked. “’I’m going to Yellowstone for the weekend. Catch you later?’”
“Didn’t you say your parents were leaving town?”
“Yeah, but—”
“If you get back before they do, I don’t see any point in telling them.”
“Okay then, what do I tell my sister?”
“Tell her you’re spending a couple of nights at a friends or something. From what you’ve told me about her she’ll be happy to get rid of you and have the house to herself.”
Well, at least he had that right. Teri didn’t care where I was as long as it was out of her sight.
“What about money?” I asked.
Theodore opened a drawer, took out an envelope and gave it to me. “This should be enough to cover incidental expenses. Get receipts for everything and give them to me at the end of the assignment. Willy needs them for taxes.”
I opened the envelope. There was at least five hundred dollars in fives, tens, and twenties. I was about to tell him that I wasn’t going to take the money, and more importantly, I wasn’t going to Yellowstone, when a loud buzzer went off in the room.
“Incoming parent!” He shouted. “It’s my mom. Quick, put everything in the pack.”
Only Theodore would have an alarm to warn him that his parents were approaching. Without thinking I started helping him stuff the maps, photographs, camera, and other gear into a small backpack. We got it zipped closed just as his mother walked into the computer room.
“Oh, hello Briggs!” She said. “I didn’t know you were down here.”
“I came through the backyard,” I said.
“That’s nice.” She looked affectionately at her crazy offspring . “Are you ready to go, Theodore?”
“Just about,” he mumbled.
“Well, please hurry. We don’t want to be late. I’ll be upstairs. Good to see you again Briggs.”
“You too,” I said.
She gave me a nice smile and walked out of the room.
“I have to go,” Theodore said. “i’ve got a doctor’s appointment.”
I wondered if the appointment was with a psychiatrist. Maybe I should get the shrink’s phone number and have a conversation with him about his patient’s latest delusion.
“Well...” I hesitated. I didn’t know what to say to him. “I guess i’ll talk to you when you get back.”
“Yeah,” he said. “Call me when you get to Bozeman.”
“What?”
He started to switch off the computer equipment. “I won’t be home ‘til late. After my appointment, my mom’s making me get my hair cut and go shopping, then we’re meeting my dad for dinner. We haven’t been out in a long time and I promised her I’d go without complaining. Family day. You know how it is.”
“Sure.” I knew all about family days, but why did he have to have one today? I needed some time to break it to him gently that I thought he was out of his mind.
“Theodore,” I stammered. “This is just a game you’re—”
“No it’s not!” He said, harshly. “But I don’t have time to prove to you right now that it isn’t. A little girl is missing. Her name is Belinda. And there’s probably not a chance in a million that she’s at the CODL commune, but it has to be checked out. That’s what detective work is all about—running down leads that usually go nowhere. You don’t read about this kind of grunt work in books or see it in films, because it’s pretty boring. It’s just legwork. I’d go to Montana myself to check out this lead, but it would be a little difficult to get through the woods on these.” He slapped his legs, making me wince with guilt.
“Look at it this way,” he continued. “You’ll be getting paid to go camping for a couple of days. The money will help you buy that computer you want. In fact, if Belinda’s there and you get her photograph i’ll buy you the computer as a bonus. You can use the money you earned for software.”
It would be interesting trying to explain a new computer to my parents. “I still don’t know, Theodore,” I said.
“i’ve got to go.” He started rolling towards the door. “I’m sure you’ll make the right decision. I’ve written everything down.” He turned his wheelchair around and backed it into the lift. “Oh, one more thing. Don’t take any of the information or photos of Belinda with you. If she’s there and something happened you sure wouldn’t want to be caught with them. Any questions?”
“Well—”
“Good luck, Briggs,” he said and disappeared into the ceiling.
Belinda’s Missing
~
I spread all the gear Theodore gave me out on my bed. Binoculars, pocket camera, and map. Along with all this stuff was a folder that included several photographs, background information on the Children Of Divine Light, and a brief summary of the “case” as Theodore called it.
I remembered hearing something about it on the news a while back.
A little girl named Belinda Vose disappeared from her backyard on May 4th at three o’clock in the afternoon. She was wearing blue jeans, white Nike tennis shoes, a red T-shirt, and a pink jacket.
When Belinda’s mother, Sarah Vose, discovered that Belinda was gone she contacted friends and neighbors and they searched everywhere for her. When they couldn’t find her they called the police.
The police believed that Belinda was the victim of a random abduction. Posters with Belinda’s photograph were widely circulated and aired on local news shows for several weeks. A reward of twenty-thousand dollars was offered for information leading to Belinda’s whereabouts. No one had come forward.
Sarah Vose had hired the YS Detective Agency to help find her daughter because she felt the police weren’t doing enough.
That was about it. There was no mention about why Theodore thought Belinda was at the CODL commune.
The whole thing seemed ridiculous to me. I would have bet anything that Theodore didn’t like the case that Willy had really given him so he made up one of his own. Even if YS Detective Agency had been hired to find Belinda, there was no way they would turn the case over to a kid. Uncle Willy probably gave Theodore a case along the lines of a missing dog or cat.
Belinda’s photo smiled up at me from my bed. I turned it over and read the note clipped to the back.
Subject’s Name: Belinda Vose.
Age: 4 years. Hair: brown. Eyes: blue.
Weight: Approximately 32 pounds.
Along with this photo were a couple other shots of Belinda. One was of her making a sand castle at the beach. The second was Belinda playing in her backyard with a puppy. She looked like a happy kid.
I slipped the identification photo into my shirt pocket, then looked at the newspaper photo of Belinda’s parents. They were young and looked terribly worried. I felt bad for them. They had to be going nuts over Belinda’s disappearance.
I called the YS D
etective Agency to talk to Uncle Willy. He’d be able to tell me if the case was legitimate. Unfortunately, all I got was a recording saying that the office was going to be closed for a few days because Willy was out of town. I didn’t leave a message. What was I going to say?
Next I called my friend, Shawn, to find out what he was doing. He told me that he was grounded and wanted to know if I wanted to help him clean out his parent’s garage over the weekend. Forget it.
Then I called Stanley. He told me he was going camping for the weekend.
“I think my dad’s plan is to ditch me in the woods and have a cougar eat me,” he said. “You wanna come?”
I told him no. Stanley’s dad was a professional wrestler whose ring name was Paul Bunyan. Sometimes he carried an ax or a chain saw into the ring with him, depending on his mood.
Camping with Mr. Bunyan was always interesting, but not necessarily fun. When he wasn’t body slamming opponents into the mat he was practicing wilderness survival techniques. His idea of camping was to take a knife, compass, canteen, and us into the most remote, desolate spot he could find and live off the land for a few days. During these trips I learned a lot about how to stay alive in the woods, but I was always very happy to get back home.
At least once during these outings Mr. Bunyan would ditch us and we would have to find our way back to camp, or to the car on our own. He said he always kept an eye on us with a spotting scope so we wouldn’t get into any real trouble. As we stumbled through the woods our primary concern was what would happen to us if something happened to Mr. Bunyan. If my parents knew what went on during these camping trips Paul Bunyan would have a real fight on his hands.
I don’t know why, but I hadn’t told Stanley or Shawn about Theodore. And it wasn’t because of Theodore’s disability. The fact he couldn’t walk wasn’t even an issue anymore. I just didn’t want to tell them until I had Theodore figured out. And I was a long way from that point.
I went downstairs to make a sandwich. Teri came into the kitchen as I was stacking a pile of bologna and cheese on a piece of bread.
“Clean up your mess,” she snapped.
Instead of saying anything I plopped a huge spoonful of mayonnaise on the pile meat. Teri hates to be ignored and the sight of mayonnaise and meat usually makes her gag.
“So what are you doing this weekend?” She asked looking away from my gut bomb.
I put a slice of bread on top of the pile and pushed it down so I’d be able to get my mouth around it.
“I asked you a question,” she said nastily.
I walked into the living room with my sandwich and flopped onto the sofa and turned the television on with the remote.
Teri followed me and stood in front of the screen. “I asked you a question,” she repeated.
“My mowf if full,” I said.
“Well, I’m having some people over this weekend and I don’t want you or your sicko friends bugging us,” she announced.
I pointed the remote at her and pushed the button.
“I mean it Briggs!” She screamed. “I don’t want you ruining my weekend.”
The signal must have passed right through her body because the TV channel changed. Too bad it didn’t change her, I thought.
“I’m going camping,” I said as a joke.
“For the weekend?”
I nodded.
“With who?” She asked suspiciously.
“Stanley.”
“And Mom and Dad said it was all right?”
My parents didn’t like Stanley. They thought he was out of control. And they were right.
“I haven’t asked them,” I said.
“Well, there’s no way they’ll let you go anywhere with him.”
I shrugged my shoulders and smiled. “Then I guess we’ll just have to hang around here,” I said.
“Not with Stanley you’re not.”
“No choice. My house too, Sis. Stanley and I don’t have anything to do. Hope your friends like him.”
She went pale. When it came to getting on people’s nerves nobody could beat Stanley. He’d think nothing about walking into a room full of strangers on his hands. Or blowing his nose on the tablecloth in a nice restaurant. I’d seen him do these things more than once.
“Well,” she sputtered. “Maybe you could go camping with him.”
“Nah,” I said. “Mom and Dad would never let me.”
“Don’t tell them,” she said, in a panic. “After all, they’re going to be gone and i’ll be in charge.”
“You mean you’d let me go?”
“Is Stanley’s father going?”
I nodded. She shuddered.
“You’d have to be home before Mom and Dad got back. And you have to promise not to tell them you went. They’d skin me alive.”
“What if a cougar mauls me?” I asked.
“Tell Paul Bunyan to haul your remains out of the woods and dump them in the backyard. I’ll tell Mom and Dad you ran yourself over with the lawnmower.”
Some sister.
***
Before the run-in with my sister I had no intention of going to Montana, but after I talked to her I wasn’t so sure.
I went up to my room and called the airline company to ask if they had a ticket waiting for me at the airport. They did. One thing I had to say about Theodore is that he took his fantasies seriously and had a lot of money to feed them.
I started playing with the idea. What was the worst thing that could happen? I’d go to Yellowstone, spend a couple days hiking around, then come home. Maybe there was a cult up in the woods and maybe Belinda was even there. Why not pretend I was a private eye for a couple of days? After all, it was just legwork.
The more I thought about it, the more I liked the idea. I wondered if Theodore was going to pay me ten bucks an hour while I slept out under the stars. I should have asked him.
The Flight
~
The plan came together perfectly—almost. I took a bus to the airport. I showed the airline counter person my student identification and they gave me my ticket. I ran the backpack through the x-ray and strolled through the metal detector. On the way to the gate I stopped at a snack stand and bought a couple of candy bars. I walked to my gate and almost bumped into my parents. I thought I was going to have a heart attack.
I ducked behind a big pillar not sure if they had seen me or not. They were sitting at the gate directly across from mine waiting for the San Francisco flight to leave. I stood with my back to the pillar certain that any second my dad would stick his head around the corner and say something like, “Small world!” Or “Son, you’re stuck between a rock and a hard place.” Then he and my mom would ground me for the rest of my life. But they must not have seen me because the only people staring at me were my fellow passengers. They probably thought I was a hijacker or something. I slid down into a sitting position in an attempt to look less threatening. I don’t think it worked, but it was more comfortable.
I stayed in this position for at least ten minutes, then the most wonderful sentence I’d ever heard came over the loudspeaker: “Now boarding flight three-forty-three to San Francisco.” I peeked around the pillar and saw my parents standing in line. They were holding hands.
After they got on their plane I almost left the airport and went home, but when they called my flight I found myself getting into line with the others as if I had no will of my own. When I decide I’m going to do something, no matter how stupid, I usually follow it through. My mom says that this is a terrible character flaw. My dad agrees with her except when it comes to sports, which I’m pretty good at. The flaw comes in handy when you’re running the football down field, stealing a base, or trying to pin a wrestling opponent to the mat.
***
The flight to Bozeman was uneventful and I didn’t have any trouble getting to the hotel. When I checked in the clerk handed me two messages. The first was a reminder that the tour bus left for Mammoth Hot Springs in Yellowstone at 7 AM the next morn
ing. The second was a message from Theodore asking me to call him.
Up in my room I dialed Theodore’s number, waited through ten rings, and was about to hang up when he came on the line.
“Just a sec,” he said. In the background I heard printers rattling and the high-pitched whine of a computer modem connecting. After a couple of minutes he came back on. “How was the flight?”
What makes you think I went? I thought.
“Fine,” I answered. “Except I almost bumped into my parents at the airport.”
“You’re kidding?”
“They were at the gate right across from me.”
“I should have thought of that.”
“It’s not your fault. I didn’t tell you when their plane was leaving.”
“Yeah, right,” he said distractedly. “What did you tell your sister?”
“I told her I was going camping with a friend for the weekend.”
“Perfect! It’s even true.”
Barely, I thought.
“What do you know about cults?” He asked.
“Nothing,” I said. Although, on the plane I thought about what I would do if I happened to come across a cult in the woods. I didn’t come up with much.
“I did some more checking on the Children Of Divine Light,” he said. “It’s not easy getting information on them. They’re pretty secretive. But from what i’ve been able to gather they’re raising a select group of children to take over the world or something. They believe that some catastrophic event is going to hit us sometime soon and they’re training the kids as the earth’s future leaders.”
“What does this have to do with Belinda Vose?” I asked.
“Her aunt is one of the founding members of CODL,” he said. “But I’m not sure if she’s still a member. I’m having a hard time finding information on her which is pretty weird. Usually with a computer you can—”
“Wait a second, Theodore!” I interrupted. “I don’t need a computer lecture right now. Are you saying that Belinda’s aunt has something to do with her disappearance?”