Secrets
Early the next morning, Lucy woke up to
the thunderous sound of a garbage truck dumping one of the large dumpsters of
campground trash.
She was immediately reminded of the bear
cub that was trapped the day before, so she quickly put on her clothes and ran
over to make sure the bear clips were put back.
She was thankful when she saw the clips
were secure and no bears could be inside.
A familiar voice spoke to her from
behind.
“I already checked all dumpsters in your
camp!” the voice called from behind.
Lucy turned as fast as she could to find
Paul Jr. standing there.
“That was right out of the Jr. Ranger
handbook,” Lucy told him proudly. “A good deed for today.”
“Yes, it was,” Paul Jr. replied with a
big smile on his face.
“Why are you up this early in the
morning?” Lucy asked him. “Breakfast with the President is not for another
three hours.”
“I’m not invited to the breakfast, and
my mom has a long list of things for me to do before leaving for Ireland this
afternoon,” he replied.
Paul Jr. looked down at the ground
feeling sorry for himself.
“They left me out of the Grand Canyon
trip,” he mumbled.
“That’s terrible, why can’t you come?
asked Lucy.
Paul kicked his feet in the pine needles
covering the dirt.
“My birth mom is in Ireland and I was
told she needed me,” he explained.
“Cheer up! It sounds fun,” she said
cheerfully, trying to cheer him up.
“My mother is a little boring,” he
explained.
Lucy was sad Paul Jr. was not going to
the Grand Canyon.
“How did Paul Bunyan meet a girl in
Ireland?” asked Lucy. “She must be one tall momma.”
“She is tall when she wants to be, but
that’s a long story,” Paul explained.
“What’s her name?” Lucy asked.
Paul was not in the mood to talk about
his birth mom. He felt that he hardly knew her.
“It is hard for some people to say,” he
replied. “Her name is Bébinn.”
Lucy tried to picture a woman named
Bébinn.
“That is a very pretty name. Do you have
a picture?” she asked.
Paul felt embarrassed that he did not
have a picture, and mostly because he could hardly remember what his mom Bébinn
looked like.
“This may sound strange, but I am not
allowed to have or take pictures of either of my parents,” he whispered.
Lucy giggled.
“It’s not easy for weirdos like us who
have strange parents,” she said hoping to make him smile.
Paul started laughing.
“My mom Bébinn is the strangest of all.
Hopefully your family can come and meet her after the Grand Canyon,” he
replied.
“That would be fun,” Lucy replied. “Is
Bébinn nice to you?”
“She’s nice, but she has a huge hazelnut
farm and she is hardly home to spend time with,” he explained.
Lucy smiled and felt happy that Paul was
willing to trust her with so much of his personal life.
Paul Jr. began noticing how strange the
animals were starting to act. Blue jays, squirrels, ravens, and even a few deer
began getting closer to them.
“This is kinda creepy!” Paul Jr. said
pointing at a dozen ravens that just landed on the dumpster in front of them.
Lucy was calling them on purpose using
her mind. She wanted to share her own
secret with Paul Jr.
“If I tell you a secret, do you promise
not to tell anyone?” she asked.
Paul looked around at all the animals
listening quietly.
“I can keep a secret, but I think we
have a few more ears that may not be able to,” he replied. “Did you notice that
none of the animals are making any noise?”
“That is my secret,” Lucy whispered. “I
can communicate with animals.”
Paul Jr. looked over at the squirrels
that were getting closer and closer to his feet.
“I did notice something strange between
you and the bear cub the other day,” he whispered back to her. “I just did not
know it was this cool!”
“Do you want to see something else?”
asked Lucy.
Paul Jr. looked up at Lucy already
impressed.
“Go ahead,” he invited.
Lucy knelt on the pine needles and dirt
and closed her eyes.
For about a minute nothing happened
until finally there was movement from every corner of the campground. Even more
squirrels were running as fast as they could towards Lucy. They climbed down
trees, out of holes in the ground and began getting a little too close to Paul
Jr.
Paul Jr. scared away the ravens and
climbed to the top of the dumpster faster than he thought was even possible.
“That’s good enough.” Paul Jr. warned.
Lucy started to laugh when she heard a
voice calling from the bathrooms.
“Luuu-cccy!!”
It was her mom Tali, so Lucy quickly
stood up and gently waved her arms at all the animals, sending them away.
“I’M OVER HERE!” she yelled back.
“Come back and start getting ready,”
Tali called back to her.
Lucy helped Paul Jr. jump down from the
top of the dumpster.
“I need to go,” she explained. “First,
tell me what your dad is like. Lucas went to bed before telling me”
“It is still hard to believe that Lucas
is your twin,” he replied. “My dad is great.”
“Lucas is a long story,” Lucy replied.
“I can’t wait to meet the great Paul Bunyan.”
“My dad is big but he is not scary at
all. He is the nicest dad a boy could
have,” he explained.
“Does he still love Bébinn?” she asked.
“More than anyone could love someone,”
Paul replied cheerfully.
“Then they will be back together before
you know it,” Lucy explained. “What time do you leave tomorrow?”
Paul began walking home.
“I catch the train from Sugar Pine with
your family right after lunch,” he replied.
Lucy was confused.
“Don’t you need to fly to get to
Ireland?” she asked.
Paul stopped walking and smiled.
“The Cannonball can get you anywhere
faster than planes or boats,” he explained.
“What’s the Cannonball?” she asked.
“It’s the name of Casey Jone's train,”
he replied.
“Sounds impossible that it would be
faster than a plane, but I guess anything is possible in our world,” Lucy said
happily, before returning to her camp.