Allie's Bayou Rescue Read online

  My dad says I’ve been a “character” ever since that day. I’m not sure what he exactly means by that, but I do know I’m a tougher person because of all that has happened. I call things as I see them, and I’m not afraid to stand alone in a crowd. After all, I have to stand alone in different food lines all the time.

  In addition to that, I’ve tried to follow God’s plan for me. That’s a little harder, because it means taking the time to listen and then obey that voice inside that whispers things that I don’t always want to hear.

  Like right at that moment—in our beloved clubhouse—the voice was saying this:

  “Allie, if you really want to love and honor Hunter—not just pretend to love him—then this Diva Duck Blind has got to go.”

  CHAPTER 3

  Carroway Convention

  Ruby was the first to arrive for the meeting. I knew because I smelled the cookies.

  “Allie!” she yelled from the bottom of the blind. “I can’t open the gate. My hands are full.”

  I poked my head out of the open window facing the stairs.

  “What’s your password?”

  Ruby giggled. “Little Red.”

  Ruby has red hair. But not the deep red kind. It’s more like a harvest orange. And since it’s long and gets a little frizzy in the humid Louisiana air, Ruby always braids it in one braid and pulls it forward over her right shoulder. She’s super casual, and if she wears the same blue jeans and red T-shirt a couple of days in a row, well, it’s not a big deal to her. In fact, she’s relaxed about everything in life. Of all the cousins, I figured she’d be the easiest one to convince that we have to get rid of the Diva.

  I ran down the stairs to give Ruby a hand with the gate latch and was practically knocked down as Lola entered first—without her password.

  I threw my hands up in the air and gave her my are you serious look.

  “Allie, don’t you think we’re getting a little old for passwords?” She rolled her eyes.

  “California, here I come.”

  That’s Lola’s password. She hopes to live on the beach someday in Malibu, design a clothing line, and paint sunsets when she’s not playing volleyball in the sand.

  Today, she had a new pink streak in her short, brunette bob.

  “Did you get permission from Hannah to do that?” I reached for the streak and gave it a tug to see if it was some kind of braided-in ribbon. Hannah gets a little peeved when Lola adds permanent sparkles to her appearance.

  “No, I did not get permission from Hannah, because it’s only temporary.” Lola shut the gate and then put her hands out to inspect her fingernails, which perfectly matched the hair streak. “Plus, in my next three scenes, I have to wear a dumb camo beanie, so no one will see my hair anyway.”

  We wear a lot of camo in Carried Away with the Carroways. None of us girls are thrilled with the outfits, but Lola gets bugged about it the most because she’s the most glamorous. She’s also the one who designed the Diva Duck Blind—which is why there’s a lot of glitter in there.

  We climbed the stairs to our hideout and scarfed cookies while we settled into our favorite chairs: me on the turquoise beanbag, Lola on the pink saucer chair, and Ruby on the crooked white rocking chair we got on clearance from Cracker Barrel.

  “Did either of you see Kendall out there?”

  Lola and Ruby looked at each other and shrugged.

  “Maybe she’s filming,” Ruby said. “Mom said something about Kassie and Wayne’s family being on the call sheet for this morning.”

  “We’ll hear her when she’s done.” Lola laid back, wrapped her arms around her middle, and then flipped over on her side to face me.

  “Allie, can’t you just tell us what’s going on?” Lola asked nervously. “I’ve had a stomachache ever since you sent the first text. You’re not moving, are you?”

  Ruby’s eyes got big and she stopped rocking. “Lola!”

  “Well, I don’t want her to move to Arizona!” Lola sat up and stared at me. All of a sudden I felt like I couldn’t breathe.

  “What are you talking about? Why would I move to Arizona?”

  Lola kept silent—looking a bit like a pink-streaked duck decoy.

  Ruby filled me in.

  “We overheard our mom talking to your mom this morning out on the front porch. They mentioned your asthma and how if it gets bad enough maybe you guys would have to move to Arizona.”

  My whole body heated up, and I felt like I was going to lose my lunch. I crossed my arms in front of me and tried to sound practical.

  “That’s ridiculous, people! If my family moved, how would we do the show?”

  “Good point.” Ruby nodded, and she started rocking again.

  Lola bit her bottom lip.

  “But if you don’t move, how are you going to breathe?”

  “Really good point,” Ruby said, and she stopped rocking again.

  “I’m breathing fine. But if you keep talking about this, I just might hyperventilate. So, let’s change the subject.”

  “Okay,” Lola said. “Are you going to tell us why we’re here then? Besides hiding from Hannah?”

  “I can’t. Not until Kendall gets here.”

  As if on cue, a frog—not Kendall—came flying through the large open window on the north side of the duck blind. It landed on the right side of my head, got stuck in my long wavy hair, and hung there while I squealed for about twenty seconds.

  Lola held her hands out, frozen in place like a statue—a statue that was trying not to laugh. “Allie, stay calm! It’s just a cute little frog!”

  “But he’s in my hair! I want him out!”

  Ruby came to my rescue and picked the green slimy thing out of my hair. It took a minute because he was tangled in there pretty good.

  When she finally freed him, she examined him a minute, and smiled. Then she popped the frog in her mouth, chewed, and swallowed! I nearly fainted.

  Lola’s jaw hit the floor, and then she gagged.

  Ruby giggled, rubbed her belly, and stuck out her green tongue.

  “It was just a lime-flavored gummi.”

  Even so, I was grossed out. I pulled a hair tie off my wrist, and gathered my hair up into a knot on the top of my head. Just in time for another frog to fly through the window and thump me on the ear.

  “Ouch!”

  Another landed on the beanbag. This one was purple, so probably grape-flavored. Then a yellow one smacked Lola on the shoulder. It was just like the plague of frogs in the Bible . . . if those frogs had been candy.

  “Now, wait just one minute!” Lola yelled and we all charged over to look out the north window.

  “Whoever’s down there, you better stop flinging the frogs before we come and—”

  “Bam! Oh yeah! I’ve really got this down!”

  It was Hunter, wearing headphones, talking to himself as he reached down to pick another candy frog out of a big, white bucket. He placed it in his slingshot, aimed up . . . and then he saw us glaring down at him.

  He pulled the headphones off and let them dangle around his neck.

  “Whoa—hey! What are you girls doing up there?”

  Lola threw her hands in the air.

  “We’re getting hit by frogs! What do you think we’re doing?” Then she spiked one of them back down to the ground, toward Hunter, who dodged it.

  “Oh man. I’m sorry! I thought you were filming and I wanted to practice my slingshot trajectory. I saw the open window and thought, ‘Hey, I bet I can get at least one frog in there,’ but then I just kept hitting the target so I couldn’t stop myself. You want some more?”

  “Sure,” Ruby said. “See if you can hit my mouth.” She opened wide, and Hunter loaded up. As he pulled back on the sling, I spotted Kendall coming up the hill behind him. Her perfectly straight, light brown, shoulder-length hair blew slightly away from her face on each side, and the sun illuminated the white stone in the middle of what looked to be another new choker around her neck.

  I
should have been keeping my eye on the sling. This time, Hunter’s trajectory was a little off. The orange-flavored frog catapulted up and hit me right in the forehead.

  “Oops! Sorry, Allie!”

  Kendall put hands on both hips and stared up at us.

  “What’s goin’ on here? A frog war?”

  “No,” Hunter said. “I was practicing my aim, and I didn’t know they were up there. So it was sort of like a sneak attack for all of us.”

  Kendall laughed, and tucked her hair back behind one ear. “Well, what are y’all doin’ up there?”

  “We’re waiting on you to have a meeting,” I said. “Check your phone.”

  Kendall pulled her phone out of the tan-leather mini messenger bag she had slung across her body.

  She looked and then threw her head back. “It’s dead.”

  “We figured that,” Ruby said.

  Kendall shrugged. “Guess I’ll be right up.” She put her phone back in the bag and then turned to Hunter.

  “They’re lookin’ for you to film the next scene. I’d run down to the house if I were you.”

  Hunter’s eyes widened, and he grabbed his bucket.

  “Sorry about the frogs!” he yelled, and then he looked like he was going to say something else but stopped. He frowned a little, waved goodbye, and took off over the grassy hill.

  My heart sank. I could tell he wanted to come up with us. He was probably just waiting for an invitation, which would never come. And that was only natural. No boys are allowed inside the Diva Duck Blind. It’s an unwritten rule. And we’d never had a reason to change it.

  Until now.

  CHAPTER 4

  Convincing Cousins

  Doe, a deer, a female deer. Ray, a drop of golden sun.” Kendall sang her password, as usual, and then as usual, asked to sing some more.

  “Would you like to hear the latest song I wrote?”

  “Maybe later,” I said, as I opened the gate.

  “Aww, I was just gettin’ warmed up!” Kendall put her hand to her throat and began singing some warm-up scales.”You sound good, but we don’t have time for songs. We have serious issues to discuss.”

  I turned to climb the stairs. Kendall put her hand on my shoulder to stop me.

  “No time for songs? Oh, no! Allie, are you movin’?”

  I wanted to kick something.

  “Why does everybody keep saying that? I am NOT moving!”

  “It’s just that I overheard—”

  “I think that you’re all eavesdropping just a little bit too much these days.” I turned and stomped up the stairs.

  When we entered the room, Ruby’s and Lola’s eyes were glued on me.

  “Okay, spill it,” Lola said.

  Kendall joined me on the turquoise beanbag, but she sat with her back straight and looked at me with a frown.

  I felt like I needed to stand. I breathed in deep and let out a sigh. The breath didn’t come as easily as I would have liked.

  “You guys, this doesn’t have anything to do with anyone moving out. It has to do with someone moving in.”

  “Movin’ in? Where? To your house?” Kendall still sat straight and adjusted her messenger bag.

  “Actually, no. Someone’s moving into your house.”

  Kendall shrugged. “Who?”

  “I’m talking about Hunter. Your family is adopting him.”

  Lola pulled her legs up and crossed them on the pink chair.

  “Is that what you called us up here for? Allie, we’ve known about the adoption for a week at least.”

  Ruby rocked and nodded while playing with her braid.

  “And I obviously know.” Kendall threw her whole body back on the beanbag. “He’s going to be my little brother. We’re all switchin’ rooms at my house. At least I’m movin’ upstairs.”

  “Why am I always the last to know stuff?” I shook my head, and a chill ran up my spine as a thought hit.

  Maybe I was moving, and no one was planning to tell me until the day before!

  “Allie, I don’t see what the serious issue is.” Ruby jumped up from her rocker and grabbed another cookie. “Hunter’s been around for a while now. We’re all used to him. He’s great—for a boy—and when he’s not hitting us with frogs.”

  “Yeah,” Lola said. “I guess if he’s gonna be around permanently we’ll have to put protective screens on all the Diva windows.”

  “Screens? Don’t you girls get it? We’re gonna have to make more changes to the Diva than just putting up screens.”

  Kendall sat back up again.

  “What are you talkin’ about? We’re not makin’ changes. Lola made it so beautiful. It’s a perfect glitter-paradise. I feel inspired to write my life-songs here.”

  “Why, thank you, Kendall.” Lola got up and walked around our little pink and purple room and pointed to a silver teapot-shaped clock on the main wall. “Remember when Mamaw Kat took us to the church yard sale, and we found this?”

  “And we didn’t have any money,” Kendall chimed in, “but the ladies let us pay for it with Ruby’s apple pie that she made.”

  “And then they let us eat it!” I plopped down on the beanbag. “And I devoured two slices.” Changing the blind was going to be a tough sell. I was having second thoughts myself.

  But there was God’s voice again, nudging me.

  Honor Hunter. Really love him.

  I stood up again. Yes, this was the right thing to do.

  “Girls,” I said. “I love this place. It’s our place. You know, for the Carroway cousins. We all feel welcome here, right?”

  “Well, as long as I don’t forget my password,” Lola said, and I picked up a little pink pillow and threw it at her.

  “It feels like home,” Ruby said, and she flipped her braid around in circles and glanced around at the walls.

  I swallowed hard and prayed that God would help me say the next thing right.

  “Okay, well . . . what about Hunter? Do you think he’d like it in here?”

  Lola crunched her eyebrows together. “Why would Hunter want to come in here?”

  “Because we’re all in here. And we’re all the same age. And because he’s going to be a Carroway cousin now too.”

  Kendall smacked the beanbag. “No!” She smacked it again. “No! He doesn’t get to come in here. He’s gonna be my brother. That’s amazing. And he’s gonna be a Carroway. Awesome. He gets my old room. Fine. But not this! Not the Diva Duck Blind. Nuh-uh. He’ll mess it all up with his boy stuff.”

  After that tirade, we all just sat silent for a few moments, listening to Ruby’s rocking chair squeak.

  Finally, Lola spoke. “So, what are you proposin’, Allie? You’ve got some sort of practical solution, right? Something we’ll all love, I hope?”

  Kendall was staring a laser hole in my forehead.

  I cleared my throat.

  “I propose we redesign the place. Change everything—the name, the decorations, the atmosphere. Maybe we can even add-on, or do something crazy, like tear it down and build something new.”

  Kendall muffled a sob. Ruby rocked some more. Lola took the teapot clock down from the wall, wiped some of the dust off it with her sleeve, and cradled it in her arms.

  “Change is a good thing, right?” I said, trying to convince myself too.

  “Maybe we should take a few days to pray about it,” Kendall said.

  “No.” Lola put the clock back up on the wall. “That’s just delaying the inevitable. We already know what God would want. Did you all see Hunter’s face when he left a while ago? I could tell—he wanted us to invite him up here, and he was sad when we didn’t. As much as I hate to think about changing this place … Allie’s right.”

  “Lola,” Ruby said, “you can make this place even cooler than it is now! And we can ask Dad and Uncle Jake if they can add a room or two.”

  “Now just wait a minute, y’all!” Kendall was up pacing back and forth. “How do we know that Hunter will even appreciate all that w
e’re givin’ up for him? Shouldn’t he have to do somethin’? Show that he’s willin’ to do whatever it takes to become a Carroway cousin? You know—earn his password? I don’t want him just waltzin’ in here, thinkin’ he gets everything without givin’ anything.”

  “Wow, you’re sounding like a real big sister already,” Lola said.

  Ruby shrugged. “I like Kendall’s idea. We could have some kind of ceremony, where he pledges to be a loyal cousin and signs a contract, something like that. We could take the pledge too.”

  Kendall crossed her arms in front of her. “That’s too easy! I think he should have to prove his worth. By doin’ things. Hard things. Things that Carroways have to do all the time.”

  “Are you talking about an initiation?” I was scared asking the question. Even more scared about how she might respond.

  Kendall wiggled her eyebrows up and down.

  “That’s exactly what I’m talkin’ about.”

  CHAPTER 5

  Initiation Appreciation

  Kendall’s eyebrows were still doing their thing when we heard a familiar voice over the loudspeaker.

  “Attention, Carroway children! This is HANNAH!”

  “Oh dear,” Ruby said.

  The speaker continued.

  “You have exactly TWENTY minutes to change into your dove hunting clothes, and report to field three for filming. That’s three, ladies! ONE . . . TWO . . . THU-REE!”

  “Oh dear,” Ruby said again. “I don’t know where my dove hunting clothes are.”

  Our eyes all fixed on Ruby.

  “Think, Ruby,” I said. “Where did you last see them?”

  She put her hand over her mouth and shook her head.

  “Ummmm.”

  “And IF YOU’RE LATE . . .”

  “Hannah sounds a little stressed today,” Lola said.

  “I will bring my NERF GUN and HUNT YOU DOWN. And after I shoot you, I’ll STUFF YOU and HANG YOU ON THE WALL IN MY LIVING ROOM!”

  Ruby started jogging in place. “I better go.”

  Then we heard an evil giggle over the speaker.

  “Y’all know she’s not serious,” Kendall said.

  “KENDALL, that means YOU TOO!”

  “She sure sounds serious,” I said, and I put my arms out to gather everyone in for a huddle.