The Aldens were supposed to start unpacking, but that would just have to wait. Old Faithful, the most famous geyser in the world, was about to perform again.
“Look at all the people hurrying so they won’t miss it,” Violet said, leaning against the windowsill.
Benny knelt on a chair to get a better view. “Can we go outside and see it up close?”
“Sure thing,” Henry said.
In no time, the Aldens joined the stream of tourists heading for the geyser. They found a place at the edge of the walkway that circled the geyser area.
“Wow!” Benny said a few seconds later when a huge plume of steam rose in the air.
A whooshing sound, like the biggest hot shower in the world, muffled the crowd’s cheering and clapping. Then, a few minutes later, everyone quieted down. The plume of steam grew smaller. When the steam disappeared back into the ground, the crowd clapped and cheered again.
Henry laughed. “It is quite a show.”
“What makes a geyser, anyway?” Benny asked. “And all the other steamy things coming out of the ground in Yellowstone?”
As usual, Jessie knew the answer. “The ground around here has lots of cracks that go down into the earth for miles. When rain and snow fall down the cracks, the cold water hits all the hot liquid inside the earth. That makes the steam blow up into the air. I read that the Old Faithful Inn once tried to run a pipe of steam from a small geyser up in the hills to the inn.”
Benny got all excited when he heard this. “You mean we could take a geyser shower?”
Jessie laughed. “The system didn’t really work. The geyser dried up. Geysers are very delicate. That’s why there are signs all over telling people not to throw anything into them.”
“I would never do that,” Benny said. “I guess I’ll have to take plain old showers, not geyser showers.”
“Just think,” Jessie said as they walked back to their room, “in seventy minutes or so, the Old Faithful geyser will start up all over again. In the meantime, I guess we’d better head back to our room to unpack before we meet with Mrs. Crabtree.”
Unpacking took the Aldens no time at all, since they were such experienced travelers. In just a few minutes, all their vacation clothes were folded in drawers or hung on pegs.
Jessie lined up everyone’s hiking supplies on the dresser. “I’m putting our guidebooks, Oz’s map, our sunglasses, and our empty water bottles on this dresser by the door. We’ll want to get a fast start in the morning and not leave anything behind.”
Henry checked his watch. “I wish there was time for a quick shower.”
“I wish there were towels for a quick shower,” Jessie said, looking high and low for washcloths and towels.
While she was searching, someone knocked at the door.
“Who’s there?” Henry asked.
“Housekeeping,” a man’s voice answered. “Sorry, the staff delivered your towels to the wrong room.”
Henry unlocked the door. “Just what we were looking—” Henry stopped talking. “Oh, it’s . . . uh . . .”
The other children came to the door to see who was there. Standing in the doorway was Mr. Crabtree, the hiker with the orange hat. Only now he wasn’t wearing his hiking hat or his backpack or his hiking boots. Instead, he had on an Old Faithful Inn uniform and an identification badge.
Mr. Crabtree seemed just as surprised to see the Aldens—and none too pleased, either. “Here,” he said, standing there with a stack of white towels.
Henry held out his arms for the towels. “Thanks, Mr. Crabtree. We’re the Aldens. We met this morning, up near the Continental Divide, remember?”
“Don’t forget to mention Oz’s store,” Benny whispered to Henry.
“And we saw you at Elkhorn’s General Store, too.” Henry moved closer to take the towels, but Mr. Crabtree held on to them. “I’m Henry Alden, and these are my sisters, Jessie and Violet, and my brother, Benny. We’re friends of Oz’s, too. He told us your name.”
Mr. Crabtree ignored Henry’s introductions. “Here are your towels. They get changed every couple of days. If you need more, call Housekeeping.”
With that, Mr. Crabtree put the towels on a small space on the dresser. The stack of towels was so tall, it toppled over, knocking several items off the dresser.
“This is where we usually deliver the towels,” Mr. Crabtree said sharply. “If you clutter up the space, there’s no room.”
Benny whispered to Violet, “He just picked up Oz’s map.”
Sure enough, Mr. Crabtree clutched Oz’s map in his hand along with a water bottle and some suntan lotion that had slipped off the dresser. When he realized all four children were staring at him, Mr. Crabtree put everything back in a jumble. Without another word, he left the room.
“Oz was right,” Jessie began. “Mr. Crabtree sure isn’t too friendly to the guests. Maybe he was hoping nobody would be here.”
“You’re right, Jessie,” said Henry. “It looked as if he was after the map. If we hadn’t been here, he could have easily picked it up.”
At five o’clock sharp, the Aldens reported to the front desk of the Old Faithful Inn. Long lines of people were waiting to register. Others stood in line waiting for the inn’s beautiful old dining room to open for dinner.
The Aldens looked around the bustling lobby. The lodge was such a busy place.
“I bet there are all kinds of jobs we can do here,” Jessie said. “There’s so much going on.”
At that moment, an older woman with curly gray hair came over to the children. “Are you the Aldens?” she asked, a bit out of breath. “I’m Eleanor Crabtree. Sorry I’m a little late, but we’re short of help. I got behind on my work.”
Henry shook the woman’s hand. “We’re the Aldens—Jessie, Violet, Benny, and I’m Henry. Glad to meet you.”
The woman took a deep breath. “And am I ever glad to meet you! We’re shorthanded this week. I just finished straightening out a problem with our towel deliveries.”
“Our towels went to another room,” Violet said. “But your husband, Mr. Crabtree, dropped them off right before we came down here.”
Mrs. Crabtree look relieved and seemed to relax. “I’m so glad to hear that. So I guess you met Lester. He likes to keep to himself. Usually he stays behind the scenes in the kitchen or the laundry room. But today I had to give the staff some extra chores.”
“Mr. Elkhorn told us you need some extra people to fill in for some college students,” Jessie said. “I hope we can help. We’ve worked in lots of places before.”
Mrs. Crabtree smiled at the children. “Well, if you can start right now, I’d love you to supervise some young children for about an hour. We offer baby-sitting to parents so they can have a nice, quiet dinner in our dining room.”
“We like taking care of children,” Jessie said.
“Because we are children,” Benny added, “we know what they like—games and stories and solving mysteries.”
Mrs. Crabtree had to laugh. “Then I know Oz Elkhorn sent me the right helpers. I don’t know about solving mysteries, but you’ve solved a lot of problems just by showing up. Anyway, there are about six children you can look after.”
Mrs. Crabtree pointed up to the first-story balcony. “See those parents and children up in the corner? Well, one of my other workers, a college student named Sam Jackson, is up there with them. Now that all of you are here, you can stay with the children while their parents go to dinner. I need Sam to tidy up some of the rooms instead. Just follow me.”
As the children climbed the log staircase to the balcony, Mrs. Crabtree explained where everything was and what to do. “There’s a cabinet full of art supplies, books, games, and some toys. The children can draw or listen to stories or play games. And don’t forget our geyser. That’s our biggest entertainment. It goes off in a little while.”
“May we take the children outdoors to see it?” Jessie wanted to know.
“Absolutely,” Mrs. Crabtree answered. “You can view it from the porch just outside the balcony area.”
The children followed Mrs. Crabtree to the corner of the first balcony. That’s when the Aldens recognized a familiar face.
“Psst,Jessie,” Henry whispered. “Isn’t that the fellow who asked Oz about old maps at the store today?”
“Sam,” Mrs. Crabtree said, waving to the young man. “Come over and meet the Aldens. They’re going to take over the children’s hour for now. I need you for room cleaning—emptying trash and such. We’re dreadfully behind.”
“We already met this morning,” Jessie said, smiling at the young man.
Sam Jackson looked away.
“At Elkhorn’s?” Henry reminded Sam. “We were in back of the store with Mr. Elkhorn. He was copying something for us.”
Now Mrs. Crabtree looked confused. “You went to Elkhorn’s this morning, Sam? I thought you just picked up supplies at the depot down the road. I wondered why you were gone so long when I needed you here.”
Looking at the Aldens, Sam tightened his lips. “I . . . uh . . . had to pick up a spare part for my car. Anyway, the important thing is that I came back in time for the children’s hour. Here I am. I was just about to read the kids a story. Afterward I’m going to take them out to the porch to watch the geyser.”
Mrs. Crabtree checked her clipboard. “Well, plans have changed a bit. This is a perfect job for the Aldens right now since I haven’t the time to show them around. They can do housekeeping and deliveries another day when they’re more familiar with the lodge.”
Sam Jackson looked upset with this change of plans.
“Don’t worry, Sam,” Mrs. Crabtree went on. “I’ll post you back here again. Now please be down in the laundry area in ten minutes to pick up the room keys and a cleaning cart. In the meantime, why don’t you introduce the children to the Aldens.”
After Mrs. Crabtree left, the Aldens waited for Sam to say something. At first he didn’t move or speak. Some of the smaller children began to look worried.
“I want my mommy and daddy,” a small boy said. “They’re down there having dinner. I want to see them.”
Violet bent down to make the little boy feel better. “There, there. You know what? Before we see your mommy and daddy we’re going to read you a story. Then well go see the geyser.”
“I saw the geyser already,” a little girl said, twisting the end of her pigtail around her finger. “I want to see my mommy and daddy, too, not the geyser.”
Jessie came over to the little girl. “I’m Jessie. Can I guess your name? Is it . . . Tiddledeedo?”
The little girl gave a tiny smile and shook her head.
“Is it Mousymiss? Or Sunnypup?”
“Her name is Becky,” Sam Jackson said sharply. “They don’t have silly names like that. That’s Davy, Lauren, Scotty, Emily, and Katy.”
The little girl named Katy looked up at Sam Jackson. “How come you can’t play a game like you said?”
The Aldens looked at Sam Jackson. He took a long time answering, this time in a softer voice. “Sorry, Katy. Mrs. Crabtree doesn’t want me here anymore. I have to go clean rooms. These other people will play a game with you, okay? I’ve got to leave now.”
“Oh, look,” Jessie said before Sam left. She picked up a book lying on top of the bookcase. “Here’s a book called The Tale of the Lost Cabin Miners. Would you children like me to read that to you? Did you know there’s a lost cabin way up in the mountains of Yellowstone?”
“And we’re going to find it!” Benny told the excited children.
Sam Jackson walked over to Jessie. “That book doesn’t belong here. Somebody must have left it here by mistake. I’ll put it in the Lost and Found box.”
Sam held his hand out.
Jessie looked at the book and gave it to Sam. “Here,” she said softly. “I wouldn’t want to take a book that belongs to someone else.”
Sam grabbed the book, turned, then disappeared down the steps.
“Is Sam coming back?” the little boy named Davy asked.
“He’ll be back another day,” Violet said as she set up the gameboard and pieces Sam had taken out for the children. “Now, who wants to play a game with Benny and me?”
“We do!” four of the children said.
Now that the Aldens were there to keep them busy, the children didn’t have too much time to think about missing Sam or their parents.
The other children squeezed themselves between Jessie and Henry on one of the inn’s long cozy couches. Jessie began to read a story about a moose named Mike and an elk named Elkie who lived together in Yellowstone but couldn’t get along.
The hour flew by. The Aldens took the children out to the porch overlooking the geyser area. After Old Faithful went off, the children’s parents came back for them.
“Can you play with us tomorrow?” little Davy asked Violet. “And the day after that, too?”
“I hope so,” Violet answered.
The redheaded girl named Lauren pulled on Jessie’s sleeve. “Where are you going with your brothers and sister?”
Jessie smiled. “Back to our room to change. Then we’re going to meet our grandfather in the dining room and have a great big dinner.”
The parents of the little ones thanked the Aldens.
“That was fun,” Violet said as she and her brothers and sister strolled down the dim hallways that led to their room. “I hope we do that job every night—I mean if Sam Jackson is busy.”
Benny looked up at Violet. “Know what? That was fun, but I’m hungry. I wish we could eat when the parents eat.”
The older children laughed.
“Then we wouldn’t be able to work,” Jessie said. “Our jobs come first, then our dinner.”
Henry unlocked the door. The room was cleaner than they’d left it. Even their suitcases and hiking boots were lined up in neat rows.
“I guess somebody from Housekeeping came by again,” Jessie said, picking up two pieces of paper lying on the bed. “Oh, somebody dropped off our job schedule. It looks as if we have to be at the laundry area tomorrow afternoon. That gives us time for a morning hike. I’m glad Mrs. Crabtree sent over this floor map, too. The lodge is so big, it would be easy to get lost.”
“Jessie,” Henry said in a quiet, serious voice. “Speaking of maps, have you seen our copy of Oz’s map?”
“It was right on the corner of the dresser when we left,” Jessie told Henry.
Henry checked under the dresser, then under the bed. “Well, it’s not here now.”
The children searched high and low one more time. But Henry was right. The copy of the Lost Cabin Trails map had vanished.
“You don’t think Mr. Crabtree would have taken it, do you?” asked Jessie.
“I don’t know, Jessie,” said Henry. “I don’t know.” |