Bailey by Linda Carlblom

Author:Linda Carlblom [Carlblom, Linda]
Language: eng
Format: epub
ISBN: 9781643521275
Publisher: Barbour Publishing, Inc.
Published: 2019-11-19T16:00:00+00:00

Camp Club Girls: Bailey and the Santa Fe Secret

Strangers in a New Land

“What was that?”

Nine-year-old Bailey Chang jumped at the snort she heard behind her and twirled around.

Elizabeth Anderson, her fourteen-year-old friend from Amarillo, Texas, grabbed her hand. Sweat beaded on her pale forehead. “I don’t know.”

They inched toward a clump of dried bushes in the New Mexico desert. The pungent odor of livestock grew stronger as they approached the bushes. The hot August sun beat down on their sleeveless arms and necks, and a trickle of sweat rolled down Bailey’s back.

“Smells like my grandma’s farm!” Elizabeth held her nose.

Bailey covered her nose and mouth with her hand. “Maybe even worse than a farm.” She saw the brown bush move. “Something’s in there.” Her slight frame trembled like a bowl of jelly.

Suddenly, with a squeal and a grunt, a bristly gray javelina charged stiff-legged at them from behind the bush and ran across the landscape. The girls screamed and bolted in the opposite direction, just as terrified as the wild pig. They didn’t stop running until they got to Halona Tse’s home, nearly a half-mile away. Halona was a distant cousin to Bailey and her mom.

“Whoa, what’s the matter?” Halona said as they burst through the door.

Bailey, her mom, and Elizabeth had come to help Halona with her pottery shop just that morning, and the girls had gone out exploring the barren territory around her house. It was so different from Peoria, Illinois, where Bailey lived, or Amarillo, Texas, where Elizabeth lived.

“We came face to face with a fanged pig!” Wheezing, Bailey pulled her inhaler from her jeans pocket and breathed in the medicine to open her airway.

Halona laughed. “Sounds like you saw a javelina.”

“He was so ugly.” Elizabeth shuddered. “Gray and black bristly hair, little stiff legs, and an underbite like he needed braces!”

Bailey let out the breath she’d been holding since using her inhaler. “Yeah, he was a real beauty.” She giggled. “But boy, could he move fast!”

“I’m just glad he didn’t chase us, or I would have freaked out,” Elizabeth said.

“You weren’t freaked out?” Elan, Halona’s thirteen-year-old son, smirked at Elizabeth. His build was small, but he had a handsome face and a winning smile. His long black hair was pulled back into a short ponytail that reached just beyond his shoulders. “You could have fooled me.”

“Well, maybe just a little,” Elizabeth admitted with a smile.

“We’re used to seeing javelinas,” Elan’s younger sister, Aiyana, said. “We’ve grown up around them.” Her dark eyes sparkled, and her soft, black curls fell like a waterfall down her back. At eight years old, she stood nearly as tall as her brother.

“But you still have to be careful,” reminded her mother. “Wild boars are not to be taken lightly any more than rattlesnakes are.”

The color drained from Elizabeth’s cheeks. “Rattlesnakes? I’m petrified of snakes.”

“They’re all over the place, but we don’t see much of them.” Elan acted like it was no big deal. Though he didn’t stand much taller than Aiyana, he behaved as if he were ten feet tall.

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