Chapter 7

Chapter 7 It took them only a few minutes to carry the telescope to the front section of the deck. Abbi showed them where to position it. The rain drummed steadily on the tin roof over the porch. Josh put his eye to the lens. "I can hardly see anything through the rain," he said. "I'll have to wait till it stops," Abbi said. Dink knew Abbi was disappointed that she couldn't use her telescope. "Do you have Monopoly?" he asked. "We could play till the rain stops."

Abbi nodded. "Sure, it's on the shelf by the fireplace." Josh rubbed his hands together and grinned. "How about we make teams? Boys against girls?" Abbi and Ruth Rose exchanged glances. "You're doomed," Ruth Rose said. The kids set up a table in the living room. Wallis and Walker joined the teams. Thunder boomed and lightning lit up the ocean as they played late into the evening. The rain finally stopped, but the game still wasn't over when Wallis yawned and declared it bedtime. Dink picked up a flashlight, and he and Josh walked out onto the deck. They stood for a minute and stared toward the ocean. They could hear waves hitting rocks, and the smell was sweet and salty. "I wonder where those poor baby wolves could possibly be," Josh said.

"And the mother," Dink added. "Gee, maybe she came down here and crawled into your bed." Josh laughed. "Grandmother, what big teeth you have!" he said like Little Red Riding Hood. The boys made their way around the deck and slipped inside their tent. After they were undressed and beneath their blankets, Dink reached out and shut off the lamp. He was almost asleep when Josh grabbed his shoulder. "Dink!" Josh whispered. "Something's moving around outside the tent!" Dink opened his eyes. "What? All I hear is you keeping me awake."

"Shhh! Listen!" Josh hissed. Dink yawned. "Josh, if you're …" Then Dink heard a slithery noise, like something scratching against canvas. Dink gulped. Josh was right-something was outside their tent! A moment later, he heard a wolf howling. "Oh, gosh!" Josh cried. "The mother wolf came after us. She's on the deck!" When the wolf howl stopped, Dink heard another strange noise—rubber wheels squeaking on the wooden deck. He also heard two girls giggling. Dink smiled. "That wasn't a wolf," he told Josh. "It wasn't?" Josh whispered. "What was it?" "Something much worse than a wolf," Dink whispered in return, holding back a giggle. "What could be worse?" Josh asked. "A bear?" "Even worse," Dink said. "That's Ruth Rose and Abbi out there, trying to scare you with Abbi's wolf recording. And they did!" "Did not," Josh said. "Did too," Dink said, just before he fell asleep.

The next morning was bright and sunny. The only signs of the storm were a few puddles. "What do you kids have planned?" Wallis asked at the breakfast table. "I'm going to sit at my telescope until I find those people who took the wolf pups," Abbi said. "We'll help her," Dink said. "We can each take turns looking through the telescope." Wallis stood up and carried her plate to the counter. "Well, I'm going grocery-shopping. Food disappears fast in this house!" "I'm going to work on my plane," Walker said. He helped clear the table, then left through the back door. Abbi, Dink, Josh, and Ruth Rose took turns peering at the ocean through the telescope. They saw hundreds of boats, of all sizes and colors. Ruth Rose pointed out a woman who was sailing a small boat. She had short blond hair. Abbi shook her head. "No, the one I saw had a ponytail," she said. "It was sticking out that little opening in the back of her baseball cap." It was Josh's turn at the telescope. "Hey, Abbi, take a look," he said. "A woman with long blond hair is going by in a blue motorboat."

Abbi quickly took Josh's place at the telescope. She put her eye to the lens. "That's her!" she cried. "She's even wearing the same baseball cap!" Abbi pointed to the boat in the harbor. "Let's watch where she goes!" They watched as the boat moved away growing smaller in the distance. "I've lost her," Dink said. "There are too many small boats out there." "Well, I can still see her," Abbi said, her eye still at the telescope. A few seconds later, Abbi backed away from the telescope. "The woman went to one of the small islands," she said. "She tied her boat up at a dock with a blue awning at the end." Each of the kids looked through the telescope. Each could see the dock and the blue canvas. "Now what do we do?" Ruth Rose asked. Abbi looked at Ruth Rose. "Someone has to check out that island," she said.