The Blue Coyote (The Frannie Shoemaker Campground Mysteries Book 2) by Karen Musser Nortman Read Free Book Online Page A

effort of the local Presbyterian Church and offered a limited
but tempting menu. They seated themselves in a row on benches at a makeshift
paper-covered counter and agonized over their choices. Frannie ordered a
grilled pork chop sandwich and skipped the fries in favor of a piece of
homemade banana cream pie. All of those calories would disappear on the ride
back to the trucks, right? It didn’t matter; the rich, creamy,
made-from-scratch pie was worth every calorie. The kids opted for hot dogs and
fries while Larry ordered the “Largest Tenderloin in Iowa.”
    Ben scoffed. “Every diner and
roadside joint in the state claims the same thing.”
    “And it’s my mission to find
out the truth,” Larry told him.
    After polishing off every
crumb and discarding their trash in nearby barrels, they decided to head back
to the bikes. Along the way, Joe begged his grandfather for and got a
marshmallow gun made out of white plastic pipe contorted in an elaborate
configuration. Sabet got one too, strictly for self defense ,
no doubt. Since the purchases would be awkward to carry on their bikes, they
made arrangements to return with the truck to pick them up and then headed back
to the bike racks.
    They discussed continuing on
the trail, but it was decided that the prudent thing to do would be to return
to the campground, allowing for afternoon naps for some. Frannie thought she
might take the kids hiking on one of the nice trails along the bluffs.
    They met a few other bikers
on the path and returned to the parking lot without incident. After loading the
bikes and kids, Frannie and Larry drove back to Limestone City with the kids to
pick up the new weapons.
    “Wow,” said Joe. “It’s a lot
faster in a truck than a bike!” Larry smiled at Joe’s obvious surprise at this
realization.
    Larry parked near the ‘flee’
market, and Frannie elected to stay with the truck while he took the kids to
pick up their new purchases. After a filling lunch and strenuous exercise (for
her), she almost dozed off in the warmth of the cab. Sounds of an argument
drifted in through the open window, and she sat up as she realized it was the
three road crew guys from the campground, threading their way through the
parked vehicles to their own truck.
    “What the hell, Don? You’re
going to get us all in trouble!” said one.
    “What? I wasn’t gonna do
anything.” Don was the guy who had talked to Sabet the night before.
    “Right!” replied the first
guy sarcastically. “Just like the last place. Why can’t you keep yourself under
control?”
    Don mumbled a reply but they
had passed too far away for Frannie to make it out. Maybe her suspicions about
the trio weren’t so far- fetched, although it certainly
wasn’t clear from the conversation what ‘trouble’ Don was about to get them
into.
    Larry arrived back with the
kids, each bearing a twisted contrivance with great pride. They maneuvered
their prizes into the small back seat and climbed in behind them. Frannie
cautioned, “Now if you shoot all of our marshmallows, we won’t be able to have
s’mores.”
    “It doesn’t shoot reg’lar marshmallows, Gran. We have to
get some tiny ones,” Joe assured her.
    “Mini-marshmallows? I have a
whole bag of those,” Frannie replied.
    “But what if we run out?”
    “Then you will have to pick
up the ones you already shot.”
    “Oh.”
    The rest of the way back to
the campground, they were busy plotting possible uses for the guns, and optimum
sites for ambushing their grandparents, the dogs, and other kids. They also
decided that Uncle Mickey would make a good target.

 
    ***********************
    Happy Camper Tip #4

 
    Marshmallow guns can be built
out of PVC pipe and reconfigured in dozens of ways. Instructions pepper the
Internet. Of course, there are now commercial variations, but the homemade
versions are simple and allow for more creativity. At the 2012 White House
Science Fair, President Obama delighted in firing an “Extreme