The Characters and their families do not belong to me and I’m making no money off of them.  The other characters are representative of some of the people that come from here, but other than that they’re entirely fictitious.  They belong to me.  The places in this story actually do exist.  The events (the mystery and danger involved) are entirely ficitious. 

The foods that they eat here are real and you may or may not eat these things, depending on what part of the country or the world where you’re from.  I hope you enjoy this!!

This opens up a new universe for me, sorry!! I know I have so many open already.  Jim and Trixie are just beginning to get together in this one.

 

Adventure in the Panhandle

By Kay Lynn

 

Chapter 1

“Wow!” exclaimed Trixie, as she climbed out of the backseat of the rented passenger van and looked around her at the huge azalea bushes in full bloom and the gigantic pine trees. “I don’t think I’ve ever been this far back in the woods before.” 

“I didn’t even know Florida had woods,” said Diana, jokingly. 

“I know what you mean,” Honey, who had just scrambled out of the van, added. “I always associated Florida with Disney World, beaches and tropical islands.” 

“I guess we all did,” Brian said as he stepped up behind Honey and slipped his arms around her.

Trixie smiled at the two of them. She was so glad they’d finally gotten together and so hoped she and Jim would eventually get together too.

The other BWG’s, along with Hallie, were slowly waking up and climbing out of the rented passenger van driven by Ms. Trask and followed by Mr. Lynch in a rented Lincoln. 

They were spending the Thursday and Friday before Spring Break, and the whole following week, visiting an area of North Florida known as part of the “Panhandle” or the “Big Bend.”  The area where they’d be staying was a huge piece of property sitting right in the middle of the “Florida Wildlife Preserve” a few miles from an extremely small town, which was even smaller than Sleepyside.  Diana’s father was purchasing this particular property as a tax shelter and because the land would be worth a lot of money in the near future.   

On the way down, they’d sleepily read some brochures about the area that Ms. Trask had picked up.  There wouldn’t be much in the realm of thrilling amusement parks, which South and Central Florida were comprised of,  but they found there were some really good restaurants in the area and some sightseeing, but most of the sights were “natural” things.  Trixie sighed as she wondered if she and the other girls might be just a little “bored”.  She knew the guys would love it, because there was a lot of guy stuff to do.

“Let’s unload the van,” Dan suggested, grabbing a heavy duffle bag. 

The girls grabbed their lighter luggage and headed into the house, while the guys got the remaining luggage out of the car.  They all felt travel weary, since they’d  left New York at 5:00 this morning and landed in Atlanta Georgia a few hours later.  They had sleepily loaded up in the van and had ridden the seven hour drive to this little remote area of Florida, that none of them had ever heard of. 

“I’m famished,” said Mart. “When do we partake of--    

“--food.” Dan finished for him, before Mart could go into a long, drawn out question. 

The elderly bald man that came out to meet the van answered them. “My wife will be cooking soon.  Tonight, we planned on T-bone steaks and fried shrimp.  How’s that sound?” 

“Excellent,” Mr. Lynch told him.  “Guys, why don’t you all go inside, choose your rooms and freshen up before dinner? After seeing the lodge, I’m going to head to the motel and freshen up myself, but I’ll be back to eat with all of you.” 

“That’ll be good,” said the elderly man, who introduced himself as Mr. Harris.  “And feel free to look around the property while you’re at it.  It’ll be awhile before supper’s ready.” 

Mart started to moan hungrily and Trixie, who was standing by him, poked him in the side with her elbow. Even though she had to admit, she felt hungry also.  They hadn’t eaten since dinner the night before and they’d all fallen asleep on the way here, so they didn’t stop for breakfast or lunch. 

“Let’s go inside and see where we’ll be staying,” Jim suggested. 

The other Bob-Whites, followed by Mr. Lynch and Ms. Trask, headed for the door and walked into a long room that covered the whole back end of the house. It had an old-fashioned, wood-burning Franklin stove in the corner, and Trixie guessed this was the den.  There was a TV and VCR, as well as several comfortable couches in this room.  Then they stepped up into a nice kitchen with a lot of cabinets in one end as well as modern appliances and a dining area, with a huge table, with long benches on each side. 

Leaving the kitchen, one stepped into the living room,  It was a large room with light blue plush carpeting and several couches also.  At the end of the living room was the the door which stepped onto a huge screened front porch. 

Trixie realized at that point that they had entered the house through the back.  The front porch ran the length of the front of the house. There were porch swings and rocking chairs against the walls.  From the rustic porch, the river could be seen, which was about one hundred feet away.  The porch was built high enough, to see over the huge  azalea bushes that encircled the house and were now in full bloom.  They were beautiful in the late afternoon sun.  Some of them were red, some a delicate light pink, most were fuschia and a few were white.  As the Bob-Whites, Ms. Trask, and Mr. Lynch stood on the porch, they could see massive pine trees. There were a few oak trees, but mostly pines.  The water looked a little different than the Hudson River at home.  It was dark and resembled fresh brewed coffee or tea.  

“This place is beautiful,” Honey said reverently.  “Look how blue the sky is and it makes the clouds seem so white.” 

“It is pretty,” drawled Hallie. “And just feel that afternoon breeze coming off the water.” 

“So, you girls think this’ll be a good investment?” Mr. Lynch asked them, as he smiled indulgently. 

“I think it’s great Daddy,” answered Diana truthfully, as she hugged her father.

“This is supposed to be a great place for hunting and fishing,” he said, turning toward the others. 

“I’d like to get out on that water myself,” Dan said. 

“Well, I don’t know about you, but I think it’s time for that freshening up we were talking about earlier,” said Ms. Trask, as she led the others back into the living room.”  Noticing that everyone looked slightly disheveled from the long ride, she added, “I think we’re all weary from so much traveling.” 

Mr. Lynch then said his temporary goodbye and left to drive the ten mile trip to the motel where he’d be staying. 

There were three bedrooms off the large living room on one side as well as two baths.  It was decided the four girls would share one bedroom, since it was large and had two double beds in it.  Dan and Mart took one of the other smaller rooms and Brian and Jim took the other. 

On the other side of the living room was a huge master suite, with a nice glamourous bathroom.   Ms. Trask, of course, would sleep there. 

“This’ll be a nice place to soak up some sun,” Honey told the other girls, as they all went into their bedroom. But I think it’s too late today.” 

“I’ll say,” Trixie said, falling backwards onto the double bed she’d be sharing with Honey.  “Right now, I just want to change clothes. This winter outfit we left New York in is making me sweat.” She pulled on the wool pantsuit her mother had insisted she wear on the plane. “Thank God, we brought springtime outfits.” 

“I know,” Hallie drawled. “But the big question now is, what will we wear?” 

The girls had spent last week preparing clothes, that were similar to one another, just for fun.  They each brought cut offs and colorful tank tops, jeans and colored t-shirts, khaki shorts and capris in coordinating colors.

“Well, it’s already cooling off,” Honey told them. “So, I’d say we wear our blue jeans and those bright colored t-shirts.”

“I think it’ll probably be awhile till supper, so why don’t we go for a walk,”  Trixie suggested. 

The girls each changed out of the hot winter outfits to clothes that were more suited for Florida weather.  They each wore a pair of blue jean Levis. Trixie wore a navy blue t-shirt, Diana, of course, wore deep purple, Honey wore a emerald green, and Hallie wore red.  They each clipped their hair back and redid their make up.  They could hear the guys laughing and talking out on the front porch as they headed through the den and out the back door.

“Do you want to invite them along for our walk?” Honey asked, looking at the others as she turned the doorknob that led out of the den.

“No, not especially,” Trixie replied. “I wouldn’t mind if Jim, Brian, and Dan came with us, but the airplane ride and then the long ride in the van with Mart, is enough for right now.”  They all stepped out into the late afternoon sunshine. 

“That must be the mobile home where Mr. and Mrs. Harris live,” Diana said as she pointed across a road and a small field. 

Everyone turned to look and they could see Mr. Harris firing up a grill, out in the huge back yard.

“This place has some huge pine trees, but would you look at that Oak tree?” Diana said, pointing. 

It was a massive tree, with branches that spread in every direction. It spread its roots in the field between the house where they were staying and the Harris mobile home. 

“Let’s walk down this road,” Trixie said, leading the way.  They walked to what looked like a huge square body of water.

“This must be the lake,” Diana said, as they looked at the crystal clear water.

“This is a lake?” drawled Hallie. “Maybe we could go swimming, tomorrow, when it starts getting hot.” 

“I don’t think we’ll be able to swim anywhere here on the property,” Diana informed them.

“Why not?” Trixie asked.

“Because of the alligators. The person that sold Daddy this land told him to keep the twins and any pets away from the edge of the water. The gators aren’t usually aggressive, but sometimes, they’ve been known to attack.”

“Alligators?” Honey asked, shivering. “The only time I’ve ever seen one, was at the zoo. They are scary!!” 

“There’s also water moccasins and rattle snakes and even the famous copperheads like we have back home, right here in these woods,” Diana told them.

“Maybe we should go back to the house,” Honey said, looking around worriedly. 

“Oh, we’ll be okay,” Hallie assured her.

They walked further down the road, which ran between the river and the lake.

 “This river isn’t very wide, but it must go on for miles,” Honey said.

“Where does it lead to?” Trixie asked Diana.

“Well, Mr. Harris told Daddy, you can actually get to the Gulf of Mexico by this river. We might take a boat ride to the gulf while we’re here,” Diana said.

“That’d be great!” Trixie exclaimed. She was starting to feel some misgivings about coming here. There just didn’t really seem to be that much to do.

“Let’s go the other way, down the road we came in on that runs in front of the the wildlife refuge,” Diana suggested, after they’d walked completely around the huge square lake. 

They turned and went in the opposite direction, passing the house where they were staying.  They went around the winding dirt road, past the Harrises', until they came to a wooden fence with a sign that read: Florida Wildlife Refuge. On the other side of the fence was a wide road which led further out into the woods. 

“Let’s go explore,” Trixie suggested excitedly, as she climbed over the fence.

“I don’t know, Trixie, it’s getting late,” Honey said, looking back toward the house where they were staying.

“It’ll be awhile till dark,” Trixie said. “Come on.” 

“You don’t have to ask me twice,” Hallie said.  She, and then Diana, and, lastly, Honey hoisted themselves over the fence. They headed down a wide grassy unpaved road, with thick woods and tall pine trees on each side.

“Look over there! That looks like a hidden road,” Trixie told the others, pointing to a place, on the left side, where bushes and vines grew in profusion.

“Only Trixie would’ve spotted that,” Hallie said.

“Why would anyone have a hidden road?  You know the Wildlife officers must patrol this place,” Diana commented. 

“I don’t know, but I’m going to find out.”

“Trixie, I wouldn’t...” Honey said, as first Trixie, then Hallie, pulled the vines away.

“Wow, look at this,” Hallie said.

“Why do I have a bad feeling about this?” Honey commented more to herself than anyone else, as she followed the others down a long, narrow muddy road, which looked like huge trucks had gone through.

“Oh, man,” Trixie said, as she all of a sudden got bogged down to her knees in the black tar-like mud. “My new jeans...”

“Oh my gosh!” Hallie exclaimed, as she also went down into it.

“Why do I let myself be led into these things?” Honey, who was also knee deep in the mud along with Diana, complained. Honey wasn’t trying to be a spoil sport or anything, she loved mysteries and chasing after bad guys as well as Trixie.  She just knew how quickly things could get out of hand and they could find themselves in some situation they had no business being in. Trixie seemed to have a knack for that. 

The girls quickly extricated themselves from the mud and walked along the edge of the narrow road and the woods.  The road was covered at the top with pine tree branches that seemed to grow into each other as well as vines and other foliage and it was dark and damp, with thick woods on each side, as not much sun could come through. 

“Wow!” Diana exclaimed as they came into a huge clearing.   The late afternoon sun was so bright that, for a minute, they all had to shield their eyes.

“What is this, some kind of garden?” Hallie asked, looking at the neat rows of something unfamiliar that was growing.

“This isn’t just a garden.” Trixie said, looking around.  “I’ve never seen any of this in real life, but I’ve seen pictures. This looks like cannabis.”

“What?” Honey exclaimed.

“As in marijuana?” Hallie asked incredulously.

“We have to call the police,” Honey said firmly.

At that point, they began to hear several male voices, it sounded like some guys were  walking towards them from the other side of the woods.

“Quick, we got to get out of here!” Trixie exclaimed, rushing backwards towards the road they came in on.

“Oh, that’s probably just Mart and the other guys,” Diana said nonchalantly. “They probably followed us out here.”

“No, I don’t think so. Run!” Trixie said, trying to keep her voice down.

 

Chapter 2

All four girls turned and quickly back down the hidden road they had came in on, they were out of sight, just as four guys stepped into the clearing.  One of the guys was small built, with long blonde hair. The other one was tall and slightly overweight, with graying brown hair. He wore his hair long also and had a beard and was dressed in overalls. The other one, to her surprise, was dressed in neat jeans and a t-shirt and was a clean cut, distinguished looking, middle-aged man with gray hair. There was a fourth guy, which the men seemed to be pushing down the road in front of them.

Maybe they won’t see us, Trixie thought, as they crouched behind some thick bushes.

All four girls were very mindful of the snakes Diana had told them about earlier and were hoping they didn’t find themselves face to face with one. 

The guys shoved the one guy into the clearing. One of the other guys carried a gun.

 “What do you have to say for yourself, Dale?” The big bearded guy asked.

“I didn’t tell no one man, I swear I didn’t.”

“Yeah, right,” the blonde haired guy said. “How else would they know?”

“I don’t know, man,” the guy named Dale whined. “I swear I didn’t do it.”

“You know what we do to people who rat us out?” the big bearded guy asked.

“Please don’t hurt me. I swear, Mr. Markham, I didn’t do it,” Dale said, falling down in front of the well-dressed middle-aged man.  “I swear I didn’t tell no one,” he reaffirmed.  “That cop, he’s been asking questions that’s all...”

The middle-aged man stepped toward him threateningly. “I have too much at stake to just let you go, Dale.”

“Diana, give me your camera,” Trixie whispered urgently to Diana.

“Trixie, no!” Honey said.

Trixie quickly stood up, stepped into the clearing and took a picture of the four men. She knew she had to do something, because she couldn’t just let them take a human life and her way of thinking, was that if the men knew someone had seen them, they’d let the poor guy go. Of course, the men saw her, but they were far enough away that Trixie knew she and the others could get a head start. 

“Run!” Trixie shouted.

They all took off, first Hallie, right behind her was Diana and then Honey, who’d quickly gotten over her fright from the snake and was now terrified of these guys.  Trixie brought up the rear. They started down the road, but realized they’d be apprehended if they stayed on it.

“We can’t stay on the road!” Trixie excitedly told the others.  At that time, they heard a loud noise and Trixie heard a bullet fly right past her ears. “Quick! In the woods!” she yelled as they dove into the thick woods and crawled into a hiding place. They lay perfectly still as they heard the guys running for the road.

“May as well come on out darlin's,” they heard one of the guys say, in a southern accent, laughing. “We can find you.”

The girls were under some kind of bush that seemed to grow all over the place here, that looked like it grew palm fronds on it. Trixie would later find out it was called a palmetto bush, but that didn’t matter now. She was just hoping that she didn’t find herself face to face with a rattlesnake.

“Come out, come out, wherever you are,” one guy, said in a sing-song voice.

Honey and Trixie lie on the ground facing each other, Honey looked terrified.

“You find em’, Ferris?” they heard another of the guys ask. 

“We can’t let them get away,” they heard a more refined voice say, which Trixie knew belonged to the older man. 

“I think we can make it back to the main road, the one we came in on, and we’ll be in sight of the house.  Maybe Jim and the others will be looking for us,” Trixie whispered quietly, as the guys headed back toward the clearing.  She crouched down and motioned for the others to follow.  It took a long time and a lot of unraveling themselves from vines and pine straw, but they crawled through the thick woods back to the dirt road. They quickly jumped the wire fence and ran as fast as their wobbly legs would carry them back to the house where they were staying.

 

Chapter 3

They could see the house, surrounded by the huge hedge of azaleas, as soon as they got over the fence, but it was a long run down the winding road that led to it. They could hear the guys that were after them yelling and crashing through the woods behind them.  But the girls had gotten a good head start and the guys hadn’t seen which side of the woods they had gone into.

They quickly ran to the house where they were staying. When they were on the outside of the azalea hedge, Trixie, figuring they were safe now, stopped abruptly. “Okay, stop,” she told the others breathlessly, bending forward at the knees to catch her breath.

“What?” Honey said supporting herself on a big light pole, as she also bent over.

“We’re not going to let anyone here know what happened,”  Trixie told her.

“They’re going to be able to look at us and tell something went wrong,” Hallie said, looking down at herself and around at the others.

They all began to look at each other then. Each of their faces was red from running and damp from sweating. Trixie looked at the others and knew she probably looked the same way.  Each girl’s hair was in disarray, with an assortment of pine straw and twigs stuck in it. Their faces were sweaty and dirty and their jeans from the knees down and tennis shoes  were covered in black tarry mud from them sinking in the mud earlier .

“If Brian sees me like this, he may decide he doesn’t want to date me,” Honey said worriedly. “I know I must look like a witch.” 

“I don’t think I can stand it if any of the guys see me like this,” Diana said, looking down at her mud-covered shoes.

“Let’s hope they went walking, too, and let’s go lock ourselves in our room until we can shower and change,” Hallie suggested. 

“Goodness, what happened to you girls?” They all jumped startled and turned to see Mr. Harris walking up to them. “I seen y’all heading for the refuge and I was a little concerned about you, there’s bears and snakes out there. Did you decide to play in the mud? I also heard a gunshot. And it worried my wife.  I can’t believe people would be hunting on that refuge, firing a gun will bring the game warden down here in a heart beat.” 

“We heard the gunshot too.” Trixie quickly told Mr. Harris, looking around impatiently, hoping the guys didn’t come out to where they were. “We just bogged down in this mud and we’d like to go in and get out of these dirty clothes.”

“Sure,” the elderly gentleman said, smiling.  “I just came to let everyone know, supper will be ready in about an hour. I’m sorry it’s taking so long.”

“That’s okay,” Diana said, smiling back. “We really should have prepared our own or went out tonight.  I hate for you and your wife to have to go through so much trouble.”

“Supper?” Honey asked, after he had left.

“I think that’s what they call an evening meal in the south,” Diana replied.

They quickly took their muddy shoes off and left them outside on the concrete entrance way and rushed inside.  They didn’t hear the guys, so they hurriedly ran and  locked themselves in their room.

“Who gets the shower first?” Hallie asked.  “If none of the guys is around, we can use theirs.” 

“We have to hurry, we only have an hour until dinner,” Trixie told the others. “I’ll go last, because it doesn’t take me as long to get ready as it does you.” 

Hallie, after making sure the coast was clear, ran to the guys' shower and Diana got into the girls' shower.

“Trixie, we have to call the police,” Honey told her, as the two stripped the muddy jeans off and put on terry cloth robes to wait for their shower.

“No,” Trixie told her as they both sat on the big bed. “I bet there’s a reward for the person who catches them.  And, the police may be in on this, you know how rural areas are. That one guy is someone important. Don’t you want them brought to justice?”

“Oh, Trixie,” Honey said exasperatedly. “We’ve been chased through the woods and shot at. I don’t think we’d better mess with these guys. They’re dangerous.”

“We’re fine,” Trixie assured her. “They probably didn’t get a good enough look at us to recognize us, if they see us again.  Let’s at least try to find out who they are first, then we’ll go to the police. ”

“I’m with you,” Hallie said, coming into the room with her robe on also. “I’d like to have a crack at this before the police get involved.

“So would I,” Diana replied, as she walked in and plugged in the blow dryer. “Honey, if you hurry with your shower, I may be able to  get your hair dry before dinner.”

“What are we wearing tonight?” 

“Let’s just wear our blue jean capris and peasant shirts,” Diana suggested. 

Trixie quickly grabbed her clothes out of her suitcase and headed to the guys' room to the shower.  Her mind was on one track as she bathed. She could only think of capturing the crooks involved in this. She had a hunch that the middle-aged man was somebody prominent in this area, or possibly in the state. 

There is probably a reward for whoever leads to their arrest,  she thought. 

Honey had her make-up on and Diana was busy drying her hair for her, when Trixie finished her shower. Trixie ran a towel through her hair and put on her pale pink lipstick and she was ready for dinner.

 

Chapter 4

Dinner was well worth the long wait, as Mr. Harris and his wife drove the short distance over in their truck to deliver the food.  Mrs. Harris was a sweet older woman, with salt and pepper graying hair.  She quickly and efficiently came in after being introduced to everyone and spread a colorful vinyl table cloth on the huge dining table.  Then her husband, along with Mart, Brian, Dan and Jim began to bring in boxes of food. The aroma was irresistible as the table was laden with a huge platter of golden brown fried shrimp, sirloin steak marinated and cooked on the grill.  There was a big bowl of southern potato salad, corn bread, and a huge platter of barbecue baked beans, along with a big square pan of banana pudding.

“Look at that banana pudding,” Mart exclaimed, forgetting to use big words for once. “It has meringue on top!”

“I bet that’s delicious,” said Brian. “Moms always puts whip cream on hers.”

“This is the old fashioned way to make banana pudding,”  Mrs. Harris told them,  smiling.  After putting out steak sauce and something called tartar sauce, which was made with mayo, pickle relish and onions, to eat with the shrimp and pouring huge glasses of iced tea with lemon wedges for each glass, Mr. and Mrs. Harris said their good nights and quickly left. 

Mr. Lynch had arrived as the food was being brought in and he joined the others.  Everyone was so hungry and not much was said as they ate.  It wasn’t long before the pans of baked beans were scraped dry. Mart had the last steak after everyone was finished and the potato salad bowl was emptied.  The girls were glad everyone was quiet and so intent on their food, because they kept looking at each other guiltily.  

“Let’s eat our banana pudding out on the porch,” Ms. Trask suggested. 

“I’m going to have to take a rain check on that,” Mr. Lynch told them good-naturedly, standing and rubbing his round tummy. “My wife’s put me on a diet, and I’ve already gotten off of it a little with this dinner we’ve had tonight. Besides, I’ve got a lot of negotiating to do tomorrow, so I have a big day planned. I’m going to head on back to the motel.” 

“We’ll clean up here,” Brian volunteered for all of them. “With all of us working together, we can have this taken care of in no time.”  

The girls made themselves forget what had happened earlier, as everyone joined in the friendly banter in the small kitchen.  They kept running into each other as they dried dishes and put things away.  The dishes were washed and the Mrs. Harris’ were packed in a box to be given to her later.  After finishing, Honey took out small paper plates and plastic forks for the banana pudding and cut everyone a square. “I’ll take one out to Ms. Tras,” she said. Ms. Trask had retired to the front porch overlooking the river as soon as dinner was over.

She headed through the living room and gave Ms. Trask her pudding and ran right into Brian’s arms as she headed back through the living room.

“How would you like to go for a moonlight boat ride on the river?” he asked as he quickly stole a kiss.

“Oh Brian,” she replied, “I’d love it. It’s almost a full moon.”

“The only drawback is that we won’t be alone. We’re going to take turns, since we’re going in Mr. Harris’s little fishing boat. Trixie and Jim are coming with us.”

“I’d still like to go,” she said, laughing as they shared another kiss.

 

There was a huge floodlight on the riverbank, so they could see their way around. 

Brian untied the small handmade fishing boat. “Mr. Harris built this boat himself,” Brian told them.

“It reminds me of The Water Witch at home,” Honey said, “except it’s a tad bigger.” 

Honey and Brian climbed in narrow seat in the back and Jim and Trixie climbed in the front.

Oh great, Brian can see everything. I guess there’ll be nothing more than fond looks tonight, Trixie thought. She had been waiting so long for Jim to make the first move. She’d hoped that when Honey and Brian got together, Jim would be encouraged to get together with her, but so far nothing had happened. 

Jim took the oars on the way out and Brian would take them on the way back.

 Trixie’s mind wandered back to what happened this afternoon. Momentarily, she didn’t even think to enjoy that Jim had to reach across her as he maneuvered the oars to the boat.  “What’re you thinking?” he finally asked her.

Trixie was glad it was dark, so she wouldn’t have to look him in the eyes.  “Oh, how beautiful it is out here,” she said, looking around her.

The moon cut a silver path along the river. Everyone now and then, they’d see red eyes of some creature glowing in the dark.

“What kind of eyes are those?” Trixie asked. “I keep seeing them everywhere on the banks.”

“Mr. Harris told us we’d see some of those,” Jim replied. “It’s actually frogs' eyes. This type of frogs gets really big and people gig them at night and sell them to the local restaurants. People eat the legs.”

“Oh gross!” Trixie said; she couldn’t imagine eating a frog. “And those poor frogs, Bobby would be heartbroken if he knew they were gigged.” 

They paddled along in the moonlight talking and conversing and then headed back.  As they stepped out of the boat, and Mart, Diana, Dan and Hallie stepped in, Trixie realized she was exhausted.  It had been a long day.

“Trixie, can I talk to you for a second?” Jim asked as Brian and Honey headed up to the house.  As the others paddled away, Jim pulled her out from under the floodlight and over to a darker area, where they would not be spotlighted for everyone on the porch to see. “I don’t know quite how to, uh, ask this and I hope it’s okay....with you, I mean,” Jim said as Trixie looked up at him expectantly. “But I was wondering, if you’d be my girl. I don’t blame you if you say no, but, well, I hope you don’t.”

“Oh Jim. Of course, I’ll be your girl.” Finally, an end to just fond looks, she thought dreamily. 

“Well, I was wondering,” he said, taking both of her hands in his. “Would you let me kiss you?”

“Of course!” she told him.

He pulled her deep into his arms and kissed her. Trixie knew if it were possible to hear music or see cupids drawing their bows, it would be right now. She’d never experienced anything like it.

 

Chapter 5

“So what’s on the agenda for today?” Ms. Trask asked them as they ate cereal for breakfast the next morning. 

“We’re going to a place called Wakulla Springs,” Jim replied.

“You are coming with us, aren’t you, Ms. Trask?” Honey asked, taking a swallow of orange juice.

“No, I don’t think so,” she answered. “I’m going to enjoy the quietness of this place. It’s like a vacation to me, not having to run Manor House. I’m going to do some reading.  Mr. Lynch reminded me last night that Mrs. Harris is packing you a lunch. Don’t forget to stop by and get it.” 

Even though it was April, the day was already exceedingly warm, much warmer than they were used to in New York at this time of year.  The girls each took their whole piece bathing suits and cover ups, but they wore khaki shorts and alternating tank tops. Trixie wore a black tank, Honey a cream-colored, Hallie wore a plain white, and Diana wore a cornflower blue.  

“You look great this morning,” Jim said, as he climbed into the very back seat of the van with Trixie. He wished he could kiss her again, but it would be awhile before he would be comfortable kissing her in front of her brothers. And he’d never seen Honey and Brian kiss, though he knew they had. He knew they probably felt really awkward in front of him.  He couldn’t believe Trixie had actually agreed to be his girl. He wanted to jump and shout this morning when he awakened. Jim wished he could talk to someone about it, but he just couldn’t talk to Brian, even though they were best friends, since Trixie was his sister.  Maybe if he got the chance to talk to Dan...

As they traveled, Trixie noted that they didn’t pass what looked like any towns on the way to the Springs. They just rode down long paved roads, with woods on each side, occasionally passing a house, a small neighborhood, or a convenience store.  She was half listening to Mart as she moved closer to Jim and looked dreamily up at him.  Mart was telling everyone about Wakulla Springs, he’d looked up some information on the place. Parts of the old Tarzan movies with Johnny Weissmuller were filmed down there and the old movie classic: Creature from the Black Lagoon.

 “Wow, that’s great,” Diana said. “I loved those movies. It’ll be neat to see some familiar scenes from there.”

After paying the entrance fee, they rode into the park. It was a beautiful place, with emerald green grass, stone-covered pathways, huge oak trees, many dogwood trees in full bloom, lots of azaleas and the Springs. The water in the Springs was crystal clear.

“I can’t wait to go swimming!” Trixie exclaimed.

“We probably need to wait till it warms up some more,” Brian suggested as he maneuvered the van into a parking space. “And there are a lot of things to see first.”

They all piled out of the van.

“Let’s go on the boat rides. They have two of them,” Mart said.

“Why do we need to go on two rides?” Trixie asked.

“Because one of them is a glass-bottom boat and the other is called the jungle cruise. The jungle cruise leaves in ten minutes.”

The park wasn’t very crowded so the Bob-Whites quickly paid their money and climbed in the boat. The cruise was interesting; it took them away from the swimming area into the swampier part of the springs which ran into the Wakulla river. The girls shivered as they saw alligators sunning on the banks of the water. They saw all manner of flora and fauna.

“Wow, I’d like to research some of these plants, to see if they can be used for herbs and medicine,” Brian said. “Most look somewhat different than what you see at home.”

There were huge, unusual looking trees that grew on each side of the water. 

“What kind of trees are those?”  Dan asked, looking at the odd trees. “Their roots stick up out of the ground, they look like someone’s knees.”

“Those are called cypress trees.” The guide told them. “They grow everywhere down here and those roots are actually called “cypress knees.”

They made it back to the bank and then opted to go for a walk, since it would be another forty-five minutes before the glass bottom boat tour.

“I have my camera with me,” Diana said. “All of you stand in front of the azalea bush.”  She quickly took a picture. 

They all then walked down the nature trail and finally made it back in time for the glass bottom boat tour. After once again paying their money and stepping off the dock into the boat, they found that it was a nice tour, too. They didn’t talk much as they looked down into the water, which was nice and clear today. The guide told them that sometimes, due to weather conditions, the water was really murky and you couldn’t see very well. It was like a whole world underwater as they watched.

“Man, I’d love to go snorkeling here,” Dan said.

“It’s a dangerous place for any type swimming,” The guide told them. “You need to stay in the designated area.  A young man was killed by a gator here a few years ago while  snorkeling and enjoying the underwater life.”

“Oh, that’s awful!” Honey exclaimed.

The guide went on to tell them the story and once again, Honey shivered before they finally made it back to the shore and quickly climbed out of the boat.                       

“I’m famished and also need some liquid for my insatiable thirst,” Mart told the others.

“So, what else is new?” Brian asked dryly. “But, I’m with you Mart, I’m thirsty and hungry too.”

“It must be all this fresh air,” Jim said. “It really makes you hungry.  Let’s go over to the picnic area and see what Mrs. Harris packed.” 

The guys brought the coolers and Trixie and Honey quickly spread out a green-checked table cloth, and took out plates, cups, napkins and plastic forks. Diana and Hallie sat huge platters of cold fried chicken  on the table, as well as a platter of ham and cheese sandwiches, fresh sliced tomatoes, a big bowl of pasta salad and a bowl of fresh fruit.

“Wow, this is a regular feast,” Dan exclaimed.

“Come on everybody, let’s dig in,” Hallie told them as everyone grabbed a plate.

“This chicken is a little different than Moms, it’s actually kind of greasy,” Brian told them, taking a bite. “But somehow it’s good that way!”

“I know, Moms' chicken is definitely different,” Trixie replied. “So, what’re we going to do when we finish eating?”

“Well, after a walk, I think we should go swimming,” Jim told the others.

“Yeah. I can’t wait to dive off that board, it’s really high,” Dan said.

“Me neither,” Mart told the others, as he grabbed the last ham sandwich.

When they finished, they cleaned up, took another walk down the nature trail and headed for the water. The girls stuck their toes in.

“It’s too cold for me,” Diana said.

 “Me too,” Trixie said. “If it were summer and a lot hotter, I might go swimming.”

“I don’t think I”m going to get in either,” Hallie said. “I think I’ll go work on my tan.”

“Good idea,” Honey said.

“What about you wimps?” Dan turned and asked the guys. “You coming or are you going to let a little bit of ice water scare you?” 

“Speak for yourself, Mangan,” Jim told him, playfully pushing him. Each of the boys, keeping up a friendly, teasing banter, headed over to the diving board.  The girls watched their antics in the water for awhile then lay down on blankets to get some sun.

Trixie must’ve dozed off because next thing she knew, Honey was awakening her.

“Trixie, we’re going to go and see the old-fashioned lodge and conference room, are you coming?.”

Trixie looked around her and all the other BWG’s and Hallie already had on bathing suit cover ups.

“No, I think I want to lie here awhile. I’ll see everything later.”

“Are you sure?  They have a store with an old fashioned soda fountain,” Honey said teasingly. “We’re all going to get some ice cream.”

“I think I just want to lie here,” Trixie said, going back to sleep.

They left and Trixie dozed back off until awakened again by Honey later.

“Trixie, everyone’s leaving. Brian found out that from here we’re only about eighteen minutes from Tallahassee. They’re going to a sporting goods store to buy some things Mr. Harris told them they would need. And Mart wants to go to a regular grocery store, since he figures the Mom and Pop stores around where we’re staying probably don’t have much of a snack food variety. And Hallie and Diana are going, so you need to get up.”

“You go on and go, Honey. I think I’ll stay here,” Trixie told her, sitting up on her blanket. “I don’t feel like watching the guys buy fishing poles and I sure don’t want to watch Mart buy food to gorge himself on. Besides, I still haven’t seen the lodge or anything. Brian can pick me up on the way back.” 

“Well, if you’re staying, I’m staying,” Honey told her and went to relay the news to the others.

After the others left, the girls worked on their tans a little longer and then got up to go to the restrooms and see the conference room. The conference room was huge, with old fashioned ornately trimmed windows and imported tile on the floors. There were various pictures of scenery from the Springs' early days. It was established as a park back in the twenties. Trixie was most fascinated with the huge stuffed alligator that was in a large glass aquarium. There was a little placard which told the story of “Old Joe”. He had been very old when someone had shot and killed him about thirty years ago. But he’d lived at the springs for a long time before that, sunning along it’s banks and scaring many.

“Trixie, I have to use the bathroom,” Honey told her as Trixie stared into the cage at the alligator.”

“Okay,” Trixie replied absentmindedly. As she stared, she became aware that someone on the other side was also staring into the tank. Embarrassed, she straightened up at the same time the other person did.  Startled, she realized she was looking into the eyes of the bearded guy with the overalls, the one who had shot at her yesterday.

Frightened, Trixie quickly looked around.

“Well, what have we here?” the guy asked her. “The little girl that’s staying at the old Buckhorn Creek lodge. I think you have something that belongs to me. I know you wanted a picture of someone as good-looking as myself to keep as a souvenir and I don’t blame you. But I want that picture.”

“I don’t have it,” Trixie replied, backing away, while at the same time looking around.

“You know, you and your nosey friends cost us about sixty thousand dollars. We had to cut down this year's crop and dispose of it, since you all seen us,” he said as he came around the tank and grabbed her by the arm. “How about me and you going to see a friend of mine and you can explain to him where those pictures are.”

“Help!” she yelled. She saw Honey come out of the bathroom and several people come in the door. The man murmured an expletive and quickly took off. Trixie watched him leave in an old noisy truck.

“Trixie, that was the guy that shot at us yesterday, wasn’t it?” Honey asked. “We have to tell the guys, at least, even if we don’t tell anyone else.” 

“No, no,” Trixie replied shakily. “I’m okay.  I have to find out more about them.”

 

Chapter 6

Trixie and Honey were very weary and the park was closing when Brian and the others returned for them. They were more than ready to go home.

“Are we going boat riding again tonight?” Hallie asked, as she rested comfortably on the second seat of the van, leaning back in the crook of Dan’s arm.

“No, we guys are going flounderin',” Dan replied, affecting a Southern accent. 

“What in the world is floundering?” Trixie asked incredulously looking at Dan.  She was riding on the very back seat with Jim.

“We’re going to apprehend specimens which...”  Mart began.

“Flounder is a type of fish, Trixie,” Brian answered patiently from the driver's seat.

“Did you buy fishing poles?” Honey asked.

“No,” replied Jim. “Mr. Harris told us you don’t use a pole to catch flounder, you go to the bay at night and you gig them, just like the frogs.” 

“So, what’re we planning tomorrow?” Diana asked. “Are we going to the beach?” 

“No, all of us guys are going to learn about living near the bay,” Jim said. “We’re going oystering, crabbing and scalloping. Then we’re going to bring the food home and you girls are going to clean it and prepare it, just like in olden times.” 

“Yeah, right,” Diana said from the third seat back, punching him on the arm. 

“I’m going with you tonight,” Trixie said. “I want to see what floundering’s like.” 

“We’ll all go,” Honey said, smiling back at the others, from the front passenger seat. “This’ll be fun. Going to the bay at night.”

They declined dinner, because Mr. Harris said the tradition when going floundering was to roast hotdogs on a fire built on the shore near the bay.  So, everyone, per Mr. Harris’s request, dressed in jeans and sweatshirts and old tennis shoes.  The guys wore rubber boots which they’d bought earlier that day on their excursion to Tallahassee.  They all loaded up along with their equipment in the van and drove in the moonlight, down another long winding paved road, through part of the Florida Wildlife Refuge and then took a turn at the end of the road toward the right and ended up at a small expanse of the bay, which was right beside a paved highway. 

Mr. Harris got out of the van, which Brian was driving, and began to gather up wood to build a fire. “Now you girls don’t be hollering” he told them. “Because if you do, the flounder will hear you and they’ll skedaddle.” 

“We’ll be quiet,” Honey said dutifully.

Trixie, even though she didn’t bring rubber boots, had packed an old pair of tennis shoes and she walked out in the bay with the guys.  Her job was to hold the old-fashioned kerosene lantern up while the others stood very still and waited to see one of the elusive flounders.  She was fascinated by the underwater life at night as she saw dozens of little fish and even a little starfish and small crabs swimming around.  Every now and then a wave would come by and almost knock her off her feet though.

They were able to gig three nice sized flounders after what seemed like a couple of hours and Mr. Harris decided it was time to get out. Trixie had never seen a fish like the flounders, they were big, almost round in shape and they were flat. “Those are good eatin” Mr. Harris told them.  “My wife will cook it tomorrow to have with the rest of our seafood.” 

The Bob-Whites all stood by the fire, roasting marshmallows and hotdogs and discussing tomorrow’s activities. 

Trixie and the guys were cold , because of the night wind and the fact that they were soaked.  But it helped to stand by the fire, with blankets wrapped around their shoulders, as they roasted wieners by the fire and Mr. Harris entertained them about life around here when he was a young boy, back during the Great Depression.           

It was soon time to load up and head back to the lodge.

“This was neat,” Honey said. “Being out here on the bay in the moonlight.” 

“If there’d only been more sustenance. I require more than a single frankfurter to fill my abdominal cavity,” Mart said, as he ate crumbs out  of the bottom of a bag of potato chips.

“You had five hotdogs, Mart” Brian said dryly.

Everyone was tired when they got back to the lodge, even though Mart opted to stay up and eat the  snack food he’d purchased earlier that day and he and Dan stayed awake to watch movies in the den.           

Trixie thought she was tired, but, after lying down, she was almost too keyed up to sleep. Even though the den was away from the room where she and the other girls were sleeping, she could still hear the T.V. and Mart and Dan’s laughter; she knew they were watching a comedy. 

Trixie dozed off again and awakened later to a quiet house. She tiptoed out to the kitchen to find that Mart and Dan had gone to bed.  Unable to sleep, she quietly tiptoed out to the front porch.  She thought she might sit and look at the river in the moonlight.  She became aware that someone was down there.  It was three men and under the big street light they were loading a wrapped object into a fishing boat.  She recognized the distinguished-looking man and the other two, the ones they’d ran into yesterday in the refuge. But the one named Dale was missing.  She wondered if it was his body they were loading into the boat.  They loaded it up, cranked the outboard motor and were gone before she could decide what to do.       

                                                                       

Chapter 7

It was chilly in the early morning, as Trixie and the others once again piled into the back of Mr. Harris’s truck and, after a couple of stops, headed for the bay.  Everyone had worn  jeans and flannel shirts since mornings still tended to be quite cool, especially on the water. 

Trixie couldn’t wait to see how oystering was done.  When they arrived at the bay, the boys jumped from the back of the truck and quickly began pulling on their rubber boots once again. 

“What’re you going to do?” Trixie asked Mr. Harris and the guys curiously.

“We’re going to paddle out to that oyster bar,” Mr. Harris replied, pointing to a stretch of what looked to Trixie like white sand, covered in places with what appeared to be black colored plants growing on it.  “That’s where the oyster’s are.”

“Oh,” she replied, as they unloaded the truck into the water. 

The girls had a boring wait on the shore as the guys and Mr. Harris paddled out to the oyster bar, climbed out of the boat and just calmly picked up the brown things that looked like they were growing on the oyster bar. 

“I guess those are oysters,” Trixie said. Then she asked the orhers, “Who’s going to try one?” 

“Well, the only way I’ve ever had oysters is cooked with spinach and stuff, in Oysters Rockefeller,” Diana replied.

“That’s the only way I’ve ever tasted them too,” Honey said.

“Me too,” Hallie added.

“I guess I’ve never had them.  But, of course, I’ve never eaten much seafood,” Trixie replied, looking thoughtfully at the guys, who were steadily bending over picking up the oysters.

The girls sat on blankets on the shore of the bay and watched seagulls and egrets wade along the banks of the bay. 

“There’s been so much going on, I forgot to tell you all something,” Trixie told the others.

“What?” they all asked, their eyes on Trixie.

“Jim and I are officially boyfriend and girlfriend!” Trixie exclaimed.

There was a course of “Alright!”, "Finally!”  and other such epithets from the other three girls.

“Has he kissed you yet?” Hallie asked teasingly. “Come on, fess up."

“Yes, the other night after the boat ride,” she told them. 

“This is so awesome!” Diana said, “It’s like a dream come true. Dan and Hallie are together, Brian and Honey, myself and Mart, and finally you and Jim.  I didn’t think it’d ever happen!”

After about an hour and a half, the guys returned to shore with two large burlap bags loaded with oysters.  As they left the bay, Mr. Harris stopped and left the oysters with one of the numerous seafood houses that dotted the roadsides of this area.

“I thought we were going to open the oysters,” Mart said.

“It’d take too long with all we have to do today,” Mr. Harris replied.

After leaving the oysters, Mr. Harris drove over a  bridge, which was probably a mile long. When he came to the end of it, he turned down a hill toward a road hidden by the bridge, which seemed to Trixie and the others to go almost under the bridge.  This place was a little better than the last one, the girls noticed. There would be a nice place to lay in the sun.

“We need to catch the crabs before the tide goes out,” Mr. Harris said as they got out. He reached into a long tool box in back of his truck and pulled out a couple of dip nets with long handles on them and handed Dan and Mart one each.  He then pulled a ball of string out.

“What’re you going to do with that?” Trixie asked, once again curiously. 

“This is how you catch them.” He cut everyone a long piece of string and on the end of it he tied a piece of raw chicken. "Now, you throw this string out in the water and wait for the crab to come. When it comes up, Dan and Mart, you’ll have to be fast, you use the dip net to catch the crab.”

By this time, it was starting to get hot, the girls shed their jeans and sweat shirts, for bathing suits. They had worn their tankini sets today, in similar colors. The bottom part of each was black. The spaghetti strap top was for Diana periwinkle, since that was the closest she could get to lavender.  Honey wore a black top, Hallie  had a pink top, and Trixie’s was a light green color. These were not their signature colors, this was just what was available in this particular suit. 

It wasn’t long before a huge crab was at Diana’s line.

“Don’t move Diana,” Mart told her.  He splashed forward and victoriously caught the crab in the net.

“That was good, Mart,” Diana said. “But I wasn’t going swimming and now I’m wet.”

Trixie got the next one on her line, and because of the boys splashing out to get them, everyone ended up wet before they left. But, as they all agreed, they’d had a blast.

“Where’re we going next?” they asked Mr. Harris, as everyone was climbing in the van.

“We’re going to take a swim, have a quick lunch, and after ward, we’ll go to Shell Point and pick up some scallops,” he replied.

 

Chapter 8

After dropping off the crabs at the same place where they’d left the oysters, Mr. Harris headed briefly down the long paved road, through the woods that led to where they were staying. But instead of going the fifteen or so miles back to the house, he turned down a dirt road that wound back into the woods.

“This is called Silver Lake,” he told them as he pulled up to it. “It was a tradition when my children were growing up, that after going crabbing or oystering, we’d come down here and go swimming.” 

The others climbed out. The lake was large, probably a mile in all directions. A person could see over to the other side, where there was a rope swing hanging from a tree, and there was a road that wound around the right side, but really couldn’t see where the lake ended on the left side.  There was what looked like marsh grass which went on for miles. 

“We’ll have a bite to eat first,” Mr. Harris said. 

Hallie and Honey spread blankets on the ground.   The others busied themselves putting the food out. Mrs. Harris had packed sandwiches, fruit, sodas and homemade peanut butter cookies. Everyone gathered on the blankets to eat.  They were so hungry by this time that all you could hear for a few minutes was "Pass me an egg salad sandwich" or "I’d like a pimentio cheese sandwich please",  "Is there any more tuna?" and  "Someone hand me a banana."

After finishing and allowing time for their food to settle, they all ran and jumped into the lake. It was waist deep for a long way out and there was no diving board or anything like that. Even though it was crystal clear like the springs were yesterday, it wasn’t nearly as cold. The swim was refreshing and invigorating to all of them.

“I think I’d like to swim over to where the swing is,” Dan said. “Anybody else like to go?” 

“That’s nearly a mile over,” Mr. Harris, who was sitting on the banks told him. “But I guess you all are strong swimmers.” 

“I think I’ll pass,” Brian told them.

“I’ll go Dan,” Jim volunteered.

“I want to go, too,” Trixie said. 

Of course, if Dan was going, Hallie was going, so in the end the four of them headed across.

There were a few people over there now; they’d arrived while the Bob-Whites were having lunch.  When they were about half way across the lake, the people on the other side ran out into the water and were yelling something, looking alarmed. “What’re they yelling about?” Dan asked the others, as they all swam side by side.

“I don’t know, you think they may be telling us we aren’t welcome over here?” Jim said.

“Somehow, that doesn’t seem to be it,” Trixie said. “They’re yelling and pointing.”

“Who knows?” Hallie asked.  “I just wish we were more than halfway over,  I’m tired already.”

“Can you make it?” Dan asked concernedly.

“Of course,” she said smiling.

Finally, they reached a point where they were waist deep and all four of them stopped to rest.

“Did you know there was a gator that took out behind you?” a young girl, who looked to be about twelve asked.

“What?” Trixie asked, her blue eyes wide.

“Yeah,” said a boy, who appeared to be the brother of the girl. “It took right out behind y’all.  But when everyone ran out and started hollering, it turned and went back.”

“Gleeps!” Hallie said. 

“Let’s get out and rest a minute,” Jim suggested.

The four Bob-Whites climbed out. They were in good shape, so they were only a little winded from the swim. Trixie and Jim climbed the hill and found a grassy place under a large spreading oak tree to sit. This was the first time they’d had alone since the first night, he’d asked her to be his girl. They both felt shy and awkward, as he draped his arm across her shoulders.

“I didn’t think we’d ever get to be alone,” Jim told her.

“Me neither,” Trixie replied, enjoying the feel of his arm across her shoulders. The most they’d done since the other night was hold hands.

Trixie saw people hanging out on the shore. There didn’t seem to be too many families, though.  It seemed to be teenage girls and their boyfriends and a few guys who seemed to be hanging out down there. She happened to see someone who looked familiar. It took her a few moments, but she recognized Dale, the guy who was almost killed in the refuge the first day they were here.  She felt very relieved that he was still alive, that it wasn’t his body she’d seen them loading last night.

Maybe that wasn’t a body that was being loaded onto the boat last night,  she thought.   She watched him to see if he recognized her. Trixie felt that he’d be grateful to her and the others, because their presence there had probably saved his life. He had a bruise on one side of his face, she remembered he had been hit with a pistol while they were watching.  He happened to turn and see her. At first, he just looked curiously at her, then recognition began to dawn in his eyes.  By this time, Mr. Harris and the other’s had driven over to this side of the lake.  

“Kids, it’s about time to load up and head to Shell Point,” Mr. Harris told them, causing Trixie to break out of her reverie.  “That’s where we’re going scalloping.” 

As Trixie watched the guy, after hearing Mr. Harris speak, he quickly excused himself from some friends of his and got into a very old truck and with one last look at Trixie, he took off.  For some reason, she had a bad feeling about that. 

 

Chapter 9

After all the Bob-Whites took turns going off the rope swing, it was time to go. They headed in the opposite direction to another beach.  This time, they went past the dirt road where they were staying and on to the stop sign at the end of the road. Then they took a right and headed back in the direction they’d gone yesterday toward the springs.  But, before they came to the place where you turned to go to the Springs, they took another paved road through what looked like some woods and marsh. 

“This place is the strangest combination of woodlands, marshes and beaches,” Diana said, as she looked out the window. 

They passed a restaurant that just seemed to be sitting in the middle of the marsh.

“The Oyster Bay Inn,”  Honey said, reading the sign. “It looks so quaint, just sitting in the middle of nowhere.”

They rode down a curvy paved road and came to a place that had a marina, another restaurant, and a convenience store, and a few houses scattered around, but didn’t really seem to be a town. 

“This is a good place for scalloping,” Mr. Harris told them, when they’d parked and he’d gotten out of his vehicle.

Once again, they unloaded the old fishing boat from off the trailer, which they were pulling in back of the truck.  The girls opted to stay on shore and work on their tans as the guys loaded up to go out scalloping. It seemed to be something  done with a big net and that didn’t appeal to any of them.  Plus, the boat would be too crowded with all of them.

The girls spread their blankets in the sun and quickly applied sunscreen.

“I’m going to take a nap,” Hallie announced as she turned over on her stomach.

“Me too,” Honey replied, also laying on her stomach.

Trixie and Diana stayed awake and watched the guys out in the Gulf for awhile, working with the net and then Diana also decided to go to sleep. Trixie was not sleepy, but she found she was very thirsty.

“I think I’ll go back to the truck and see if there’s any soda left,” Trixie told them, standing and brushing sand off her backside.

“Don’t get lost,” Diana mumbled sleepily.

Trixie headed off the beach and onto the restaurant/marina’s pavement, where the van was parked. When she got there, she found the truck was locked. Luckily, she had her fanny pack with her.  She counted out almost three dollars.  It is so hot.  Maybe I’ll just go in the restaurant and sit and order a Coke, she thought, as she wiped sweat from her forehead. I don’t feel like going to sleep in the sun.  She headed across the parking lot toward the restaurant.

“Hello, sweetheart,” said a familiar voice, before she could get to the door, he had grabbed her arm. It was the bearded guy they’d ran into that day in the refuge.  Trixie couldn’t figure out how he’d sneaked up on her here.  He must’ve parked on the other side and come around to where she was now. Trixie frantically looked around to see if she could yell and attract anyone’s attention.  There was no one. There wasn’t anyone on the beach directly in front of her  and the girls were a long way off, they’d never hear her screams and the guys were way out in the Gulf, so of course, they wouldn’t hear her. 

“What do you want with me?” she asked, trying not to sound frightened.

“Well, Mr. Markham doesn’t really like pictures taken without his permission and we want those pictures back, since I think it’s safe to assume you weren’t taking pictures of me and Ferris for our good looks. You’ve already cost us sixty thousand we would’ve had from this years crop.  Thanks to you and your nosy little friends, we had to cut it all down.”

“I don’t have it,” she told him, looking frantically around.

“Where is it?” he asked her, completely ignoring what she’d just said. While talking, he was pulling her toward his truck. She was trying to pull her arm away from him, but he was really strong and it was to no effect. “All we want is that roll of film, if you turn it over to us, and you and your little friends keep your mouth’s shut about everything you saw that day, there’ll be no problem.” 

Before he got Trixie to the truck, she managed to snatch her arm away from him and take off running. “Help!” she yelled. She ran around to the front of the restaurant determined to go in. That was when she saw the sign.  The restaurant wouldn’t open until six o’clock tonight. 

“Help!” she yelled running down the beach toward the girls with  him right behind her.  As luck would have it a sheriff's car was pulling down the road, obviously doing a routine patrol of the area.  Ferris, who was right behind Trixie,  yelled an expletive and ran back to his truck, gunned the engine and drove away.

Whew! Trixie thought, once again wiping sweat off her forehead.  

 

Chapter 10

Trixie felt like she was on to something now, excitement coursed through her mind.  I finally found out the man’s name, Mr. Markham and I’m glad to know Dale wasn’t murdered that day, I felt like he wouldn’t be though, since they knew we’d seen them. she thought. But he obviously wasn’t too grateful, he told Ferris and his pal where to find us.  I just bet that Mr. Markham is someone important in this area, but also a major drug dealer.  

“Who would’ve thought a mystery in a little place like this?” she said, feeling chills and the thrill she always got when she was on the trail of a mystery.

The guys returned with a load of scallops and after the long ride home, everyone headed for showers and changes to prepare for later this evening when they would have their seafood feast.

“Mrs. Harris is coming over here to cook the seafood. I’m going to write down her recipes for our cook so she can try them when we get back home. I loved the fried shrimp the other night,” Honey said

“Well, I guess that means you can have the shower first,” Hallie told her.

“I want to lie on my bed and read my new Lucy Radcliffe anyway,”  Trixie said after changing out of the tight bathing suit and putting on a comfortable pair of loose fitting khaki capris and a pale blue spaghetti strap tank top.  She didn’t tell them, but she wanted some quiet time to think about things. She wanted to get Mr. Markham busted and she didn’t know how to go about doing it. Her instincts told her that there was something very sinister about him.

Later, the boys were fishing with their new reel and rods on the river, Diana and Hallie had gone for a walk and Trixie joined Honey and Mrs. Harris in the kitchen to watch Mrs. Harris prepare the meal. Honey had her pad and paper ready to write down everything.

First, she prepared the flounder they’d caught last night. “After it’s been deboned, you just put it in a pan with some lemon juice and garlic powder, then you bake it in the oven, till it’s done,”   she told Honey as she put it in the oven. “Now, we’ll prepare the crab casserole.  This is an old recipe, it was my mother’s.” 

Trixie watched amazed as Mrs. Harris dumped the crab meat into a huge bowl and added mayonaise, mustard, tomato sauce, lemon juice, garlic powder, salt, pepper, canned milk, saltine crackers, worcestshire sauce along, with sauteed onion, celery and bell pepper. After mixing it and spreading it in a large pan, she popped it into the oven.  Trixie was amazed, she wondered if it would be good with such a varied list of ingredients. 

Mrs. Harris decided to boil the shrimp. “I think fried oysters and scallops will be enough fried food,” she told them.  She dumped all the shrimp in a huge pot and added cut up lemons and garlic powder to that also. 

“Irving’s got a fish cooker outside that he’ll cook the mullet, shrimp and scallops in,”  she told the girls, referring to Mr. Harris. 

“What’s mullet?” Trixie asked.

“Oh, it’s a fish that is plentiful in the waters down here, so it sells really cheap. Irving picked some up from the seafood place, when he picked up the scallops and oysters you all caught today.  You’ll like it.  Honey, to prepare the oysters, I just dip them in some plain white corn meal and straight into the hot cooking oil and you just fry them till they’re a crisp golden brown, the same with the mullet. But when I fry shrimp and scallops, I dip them in an egg and milk mixture and then in a type of meal we call cracker meal. You can buy it in the grocery stores down here, since there is so much seafood here.”

“What’re we having with all this?” Trixie asked.

“I told her we wouldn’t need anything with it,” answered Mr. Harris, who’d just stepped into the kitchen.  “But she’s insisted on cooking the traditional things that go with seafood.  We’re having cole slaw, cheese grits, baked beans, french fries, hush puppies and swamp cabbage.” 

“What is a hush puppy and what is swamp cabbage?” Diana asked Mr. Harris, as she and Hallie came through the door, freshly returning from their walk.

“Hush puppies are something we mix up to go with fish dinners, you’ll usually get them in all the seafood restaurants around here.  Some people call them dough boys. You just mix up some cornmeal, a little bit of flour and minced onion, garlic powder, eggs and milk till you have a stiff dough and you drop them by spoonfuls into the hot grease.”

“So what is swamp cabbage?” Hallie asked, as everyone listened curiously.

“Well, around here, we have a type of palm tree called the cabbage palm. They don’t get real tall like those palm trees down in South Florida do. They’re native to this area.  These cabbages grow on them, see here’s one of the cabbages. Mr. Harris picked up one.” 

Trixie studied it, as she’d never seen anything like it.  It was a long and cream colored and had a hard outer shell. 

“Now, it’s only the heart of it that’s edible, so it’ll take several of them to make a meal.” 

The girls looked curiously at the cabbage. It looked nothing like a cabbage out of Moms' garden. It had no leaves. It was cylindrical shaped, and long.

“Are cheese grits also something you have with fish?” Diana asked.

“Yes,” Mr. Harris answered. “If you eat in the restaurants around here, cheese grits and hush puppies are usually served with seafood.” 

Later, as everything was cooking and all the Bob-Whites were gathered around Mr. Harris outside, he brought out the uncooked oysters.  “Now, for something else you kids probably haven’t tried, raw oysters. “Who’s brave enough to try one?”

“I am,” Dan replied,  stepping to the little table where everything was assembled.

“The way they’re traditionally eaten, is on a small cracker called a Captain’s wafer,  with a dash of hot sauce,”  Mr. Harris told them.

Dan quickly gulped it down. “I don’t know if I like it or not. I’d have to try another one to know. What about the rest of you girls?” he addressed Brian, Jim and Mart.

“I’d like to ingest a small crustacean, as part of my cultural experience pertaining to this region,” said Mart.

“Boy! why don’t you just say, I’d like to try one,” Mr. Harris said, shaking his head.

 “I’m not going to say what they look like,” Diana said.

“That’s good, because I don’t want to know,” Dan told her.

“Yeah and because I’m about to try another one and would not want to regurgitate,”  Mart said and he quickly ate one. “I’ll have to wager my taste buds on another, before determining if I like them.” 

One by one, all the Bob-Whites tried one.  For the girls one was enough.  “I think I like Oysters Rockefeller a lot better,” Diana said. “Of course, I haven’t eaten fried oysters yet.”  

Dinner was wonderful. The crab casserole, the broiled crab legs. The creamy cheese grits which were loaded with cheddar cheese and butter. The fried oysters were yummy and the scallops had a delicate sweet taste, the boiled shrimp was wonderful.

“I’ve never had anything like this,” they all said. The swamp cabbage was chopped up and cooked with smoked bacon, like so many vegetables were cooked in the south.  When you first tasted it, it was so unfamiliar, that you had to give your taste buds time to warm up to it, but after you took a few bites, you liked it more and more.

“Can anybody eat desert?” Mrs. Harris asked. “For tonight, I just made an old-fashioned pound cake, the kind made with real butter and fresh eggs.” 

The Bob-Whites had eaten so much, they had to save the pound cake for later, but when they tasted it later on, it was delicious. It had a crispy crust on the outside and was buttery and rich on the inside.

“The Bob-Whites of the Glen are all going on an official diet when we get back to Sleepyside,” Brian declared.

 

Chapter 11

The next day, Sunday,  dawned bright and clear again.  The Bob-Whites decided to sleep late and stay around the lodge all day.  The girls in keeping with their dressing alike theme, each wore cutoffs and pastel colored tank tops.  Mrs. Harris was fixing another traditional Southern meal tonight, so they were going to eat light all day. All except for Mart, who declared in words of more than one syllable that he couldn’t spend the day eating food meant for bunny rabbits, as in salads. 

“Would you like to go for a walk?” Jim asked Trixie. 

Mart, Dan and Brian were going to fish along the riverbank and Hallie, Honey and Diana were going to lie in the sun and work on their tans.

“Sure,” Trixie said shyly.  She and Jim held hands as they walked down the dirt road toward the lake. 

“The air seems so clean here,” Jim said, taking a deep breath. 

“Yeah, I think it’s because there aren’t any factories or anything like that in this area.”

“That must be it,” he replied.  Before they’d started liking each other officially, they could think of a million and one things to talk about, but now, they were struggling to carry on a conversation.  They spread a blanket out and sat down together, just watching the lake. “Do you think your parents will be okay?  With you and I, I mean?” Jim asked her hesitantly. 

“I’m not sure,” Trixie replied thoughtfully.  “They’re kind of adamant about me being too young and they think the teen years are too young to be in a relationship.  But, I think they’ll allow me to anyway, because they’ve allowed Brian and Mart to.” 

“I sure hope so,” Jim said taking her hand in his. “Trixie?" he asked, as she watched a hummingbird flitting about in the spring flowers.

“Yeah?” she said, turning to look at him.

“Can I kiss you again?”

“I thought you’d never ask.”

They leaned forward and kissed, first a light kiss then a little more.

“That was wonderful,” Trixie said, as she leaned backwards into his arms.

“It was,” he said. “But I think I hear some of the others heading up the trail.” They quickly drew apart.

The day passed uneventfully.  That evening, Mrs. Harris brought over a traditional southern meal. Once again, the Bob-Whites got to taste some of the foods that were strange to them. She brought rice and tomato gravy, homemade biscuits, fried pork chops, some kind of strange greens called mustard greens and some fried squash, she called it yellow crook neck squash.  Trixie wasn’t sure if it was the same kind of squash Moms grew in her garden at home.  The greens tasted funny at first, but like the swamp cabbage, once you ate a few bites, you began to acquire a taste for them.  For dessert, she had made an old-fashioned chocolate layer cake and it was delicious. Trixie didn’t recall Moms ever making gravy from tomatoes either, but she decided she liked it.

After supper, Mr. Lynch had gone home, Ms. Trask had retired to the front porch, the Bob-Whites retired to the huge covered shed out beside the lodge. It was open all the way around, with a closed in storage space right in the middle. They played some old records on an old phonograph they’d found and they danced to old classics from the seventies.

“I love this kind of music,” Dan said. “This is what my parents would’ve listened to when they were dating.”

“I think all our parents probably listened to it,” Brian told him as the others nodded their agreement.  “Here’s Mr. Harris.”

After they’d all greeted them, he said, “My wife saw you all out here and insisted on sending over some snacks. She baked some pecans and here are some boiled peanuts. Here in the South, they’re called Southern caviar.  She also sent some Cokes and glasses of ice.” 

The peanuts were another different kind of food, but they were good. Mr. Harris showed them how to put the whole peanut up to your mouth and bite the shell in half and dump the peanuts into your mouth, then you throw the shell away.

“These are delicious,” Honey said, as she tasted the soft salty treat. “Diana, we have to come back here. I hope your father will let us. I’m so glad he’s buying this place.”

“I am, too,” Dan told them as he scooped up some hot buttered pecans. “This place rocks!”

“Oh, I'm sure Daddy will let us come anytime we want, too,” she said.

“I would love to come back during hunting season,” Brian said.

“I’d like to check out the agricultural facilities here,” Mart said. “Mr. Harris said there’re a few farms in this area.”

“I'm ready to go home and talk my dad to buying some land down here. I saw a lot of homes for sale on the bay,” Hallie told them.

“Oh Daddy has already said we can come back for the fourth of July,” Diana said. 

The BWG’s laughed and visited with one another, danced and played games and talked way into the night.

“Life here is so simple,” Brian observed as they were getting ready to go inside. “I thought it was simple in Sleepyside, but it’s nothing compared to here.”

 

Chapter 12

The next day, the BWG’s got a brief respite from the place where they were staying. Mr. Lynch had to meet someone in a town called Panama City, which was a three hour drive on the coast. He had rented a house, that was on an island, which was several miles from Panama City.  The name of it was St. George Island.  The BWG’s were quiet as they rode over to the place. They drove through two coastal towns and stopped at one called Apalachicola.  There they had lunch at a quaint older restaurant called the “Grill” and then they went to the John Gorrie ice museum. 

No one except Brian was really impressed with the tiny museum though. John Gorrie was famous because during the 1800’s during an outbreak of yellow fever, he developed a method for cooling the patient’s rooms. He invented a machine that produced ice, which led to the modern day inventions of refrigeration and air conditioning.  After driving through the city and looking at the antebellum homes, they went on to the island. The bridge they road over, looked like it was miles off of the water and rather high and long, but when they arrived, the island was beautiful, with white sandy beaches and clear azure blue colored water.

“This is so pretty and so untouched,” Diana said with awe, as she looked out the window.

“I can’t wait to do some fishing off that tall bridge, which we came in on,” Brian declared, as the other guys agreed with him.

“That’s all they think about,” Honey said, turning around to look at Trixie and roll her eyes.

“Now, sweetheart, you know I think about you an awful lot, next to fishing, that is,” Brian teased, putting his arm around her.

After getting the BWG’s and Ms. Trask situated at the beach house where they’d be staying, Mr. Lynch drove back into Apalachicola to pick up some groceries.  Of course, the guys left to go fishing off the bridge and the girls were left to entertain themselves.  The beach house was on pilings, which reminded Trixie of stilts.  They were built high so when hurricanes passed through, the water wouldn’t come up in the houses.  But, it was very luxurious.

“Why don’t we get that round float and go out in the water,” Hallie suggested.

They pumped air into a round float they’d bought earlier and went out to ride the waves.

“This is fun,” Honey said. “And over here, I feel safe from the refuge guys.” That’s what the girls had dubbed the guys who they’d seen in the refuge that day, who seemed to show up where Trixie was. 

Trixie had kept the others informed of everything that transpired, but was adamant that they not tell Ms. Trask, Mr. Lynch, nor any of the four guys. She was afraid Mr. Lynch might cut their vacation short and she was afraid the guys wouldn’t enjoy it here as much, because they’d feel bound to watch out for the girls.

The following day, Mr. Lynch was up early. “I’m driving into Panama City both today and tomorrow,” he told everyone at breakfast. “Panama City has both a water park and an old fashioned amusement park, that’s been around since the fifties. I thought you kids might like to go.” 

“And miss all the fishing?” Dan asked. “Thanks for the offer, Mr. Lynch, but I think I’d like to go back to the bridge and fish some more.” 

“I’ll stay here with you, Dan,” Jim volunteered, much to Trixie’s chagrin.

“Count me in also,” Brian said. “It isn’t often we get the chance to fish on an island like this, I don’t want to miss it.”

“If my companions have agreed to apprehend specimens of the non-crustacean variety, because of this afforded opportunity, I would like to add my considerable professional skill and knowledge to their repeated endeavors. Which challenges me to make the decision...”

“I know Mart, you’re staying, too,” Diana said sarcastically, before  he could finish the sentence. 

Trixie looked forward to visiting Panama City, but she’d be glad when they could go back to the lodge. She wanted to investigate Mr. Markham and find out all she could. She only had the rest of the week left to solve this mystery.    

 

Chapter 13

The girls had a great time in Panama City.  They enjoyed the water park called Shipwreck Island, where they rode a variety of water rides and floated in a fake lagoon and ate lot' of junk food.  

The next day they had almost as good a time at the amusement park called "Miracle Strip", which had been around since the sixties and had changed very little. 

The guys, of course, stayed behind at St. George Island to fish.  The two nights they spent there were spent walking along the beach in the moonlight, all four couples.  All too soon, for everyone except Trixie, it was time to return to the lodge for the remainder of their visit.  They only had a few more days till time to head back to New York and Trixie wanted to find out about Mr. Markham and what he and his guys were up to, other than growing something illegally.   

During the next couple of days, the Bob-Whites visited an old civil war fort and an old lighthouse, which really fascinated the guys.  And they went to the beach.  The public beaches there were different than Cobbett's Island, they were way less crowded and only had restrooms and picnic tables.  There were no street vendors or anything like that.  The girls spent their time lying in the sun and also collecting interesting shells and sand dollars to take back with them.

"Get ready everyone, we're meeting Daddy at a restaurant tonight,"  Diana announced as she walked in the room where the other three girls were lounging across the beds and leisurely talking after a day at the beach. 

Trixie wondered if she had to dress up.  "How do we dress?" she asked. She was really in a blue jeans kind of mood. 

"I would think semi-casual," Diana replied. "But I don't think we have to dress up to visit most of the restaurants around here. 

"I want to wear a dress," Honey told the others. "We haven't dressed up like that since we've been here."

"Oh woe," said Trixie.

"This gives us the chance to wear our linen sheaths."  Honey said, her eyes lighting up at the idea.

"Come on, Trixie, we'll do your hair and make up, and it'll be fun." 

Later, after taking showers and doing hair and makeup, Honey wore a pale mint green, Hallie wore pink, Trixie wore light blue and Diana, of course, wore a very pale lavender.  They fixed Trixie's hair in a really cute style and did her make-up.  It made Trixie feel good to see Jim's eyes light up when the four girls stepped out of the room.

"Wow," said Dan, as if awestruck.  "Should we go change clothes?"

Each of the boys had worn nice jeans and shirts.

"Nonsense," Diana said as she hooked her arm through Mart's.  "You guys look great."

Trixie and Jim looked shyly at one another.  Their relationship was still so new. 

 

They met Mr. Lynch at a restaurant that was at one end of the bridge they had driven over on the day they went crabbing.  The restaurant was called Angelo's and was built over the bay so they could see the water from the table where they sat. 

"This is beautiful!" Honey exclaimed. "After we order our food, I'd like to go and look in the little jewelry store that was inside the front of the restaurant." 

"I would, too," Diana replied and Hallie agreed. 

After ordering and excusing themselves the girls headed to the  front of the restaurant.  All the jewelry was real gold or silver and it all had a theme that had something to do with the ocean.  There were gold earrings that looked like sea shells, tiny golden sand dollars on a delicate chain, necklaces, bracelets and earrings with tiny dolphins.

"I think we should all get a pair of these dolphin earrings as a souvenir for ourselves," Diana suggested. "And I'm getting my mom a pair of those seashell earrings, she'll love them.

"I was thinking I'd get the same for my mother," Honey said.

"I'll buy my mom and Aunt Helen a pair," Hallie declared. 

Trixie really didn't care that much for jewelry, but she was glad Hallie was getting her mother something. And, she knew she didn't have the money for the dolphin earrings.

"I'm buying all of us a pair of dolphin earrings," Honey told the others, as she picked out four pairs.  "My treat."

"Oh, Honey. You don't have to do that," Trixie told her.

"I want to," Honey said.

"I still have to get the twins something," Diana said. "And we only have two more days here. So, sometime today or tomorrow, I need to visit a gift shop of some sort."

"I know," Trixie agreed. "I want to get Bobby something, but I don't want to buy just typical junk. I want something that represents this area."

"That's what I want to do, too," Diana said. "For the twins that is."

"I have a suggestion," Honey said. "At the little shop across the street, you know we were in there the day we went crabbing and all that, they had hand painted sand dollars. They had beach scenes on them that looked a lot like the beaches we've visited here."

"Oh, Honey, that's a great idea," Trixie said. "I'd like to have one for myself, too. This is such a rare and beautiful place."

"Yeah, that is a great idea. I could get some of those for my friends back home," Hallie said.

It was then a door opened and a familiar man stepped through the doors. 

Trixie's mouth gaped open as she gasped in surprise. It was Mr. Markham. He looked very distinguished as he led an attractive lady into the restaurant. Trixie guessed that must be his wife.  Trixie vowed to keep an eye on him. 

Later, as the girls returned to their table, everyone except Trixie kept up a friendly banter until the waitress brought their food. The food was excellent, they were able to try seafood cooked a different way besides fried. They had the option of having it broiled or blackened and were served with melted butter sauce to dip it in.  Trixie's mind was on Mr. Markham though as she watched him. He sat a few tables down from them. She noticed that Jim was looking at her puzzled, because she uncharacteristically didn't join in the conversation going on around the table.

Trixie continued to watch and was startled as she saw the guy named Ferris come into the restaurant and straight to Mr. Markham's table and seemed to speak urgently about something. Trixie watched curiously, as Mr. Markham said something to the lady that was with him, left some money for her and get up to rush out of the restaurant.

"Trixie, how have you liked your vacation here so far?" Mr. Lynch asked as he and the others looked intently at her.

"Oh, it's been great. Just great," she replied in a preoccupied manner, already standing up and pushing her chair back. "I have to go to the restroom," she told them. "I'll be right back."

"Trixie!" Honey called after her.  "I better make sure she's alright," Honey told the others as she quickly stood up and followed.

Trixie headed out into the crowded parking lot, following Mr. Markham to a full size late model truck with a camper shell on the back. Mr. Markham walked away from the truck to stand beside another vehicle a few feet away, while talking to Ferris and Dale and the bearded guy. She made her way crouching down behind vehicles so they wouldn't see her and finally was crouched behind the truck, preparing to quickly climb in and hide in the camper shell on the back.

 "Trixie what are you doing?" Honey whispered exasperatedly, as she crouched beside her.

"I'm going to get in back of that truck and spy on these guys. I think they're drug runners. Soon, I'll know for sure," Trixie whispered back.

 "Trixie, no!" Honey exclaimed.

"Quick, climb in!" Trixie told her. 

She and Honey quickly clambered into the back of the truck and lay down quickly. They felt rather than saw Mr. Markham climb into the truck's cab along with someone else in the passenger seat and the truck cranked up and drove away with them hidden in the back.

I haven't been this scared in a long time, Honey thought as she and Trixie crouched under an old blue tarp that was covering something else in the back of the truck.                 

To Be Continued

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