Read The Blue Coyote (The Frannie Shoemaker Campground Mysteries Book 2) for Free Online Page B

and wore skin-tight
jeans, high-heeled boots, and a bulging tank top partially covered by a satiny
baseball jacket. Her companion had a similar build, thinning hair, and wore
jeans and a faded t-shirt. The girl tugged on the woman’s jacket and pointed at
Larry. She whispered something and the woman looked at Larry and glared. Larry
started to get up, but Frannie put her hand on his arm.
    “If they come over, we’ll
talk to them, but there’s no sense in stirring things up.”
    He nodded and sat back, but
the little group continued on down the road.
    Before long, they were all at
the table, digging into the breakfast. Conversation continued about the
ride—how far to go, where that meant turning around, and where to start
and leave the trucks. Afterwards, Mickey and Nancy volunteered to do all the
dishes while Larry and Frannie helped the kids get ready.
    Getting the snarls out of
Sabet’s hair was always a challenge. Frannie favored short hair but that was
obviously not the preferred style in fourth grade these days. So with some
effort, Sabet’s blonde mane was tamed and shining. Sabet produced a purple
scrunchy to pull the hair back from her round scrubbed face, which she
pronounced the perfect accessory for her orange softball t-shirt.
    Bikes loaded, water bottles
filled, they headed out to their starting point about 9:30. Ben and Nancy’s
truck, with Jane Ann and Mickey in the crew seat, led and Larry followed. They
soon arrived at a small parking lot in a county park that adjoined the trail
where they could leave the trucks. Frannie checked the kids’ helmets, strapped
on her own, and instructed Sabet and Joe to follow Mickey. She and Larry would
stay behind them where she could keep an eye on them, thinking at the same time
that with her own kids, she would have just told them to follow and pay
attention to what they were doing. Had times changed that much or had she?
    The first section of trail
wound down through a shady ravine and back up a gentle slope, emerging along a corn field . The corn had not been harvested in this field
but was turning brown and it wouldn’t be long. The morning sun felt welcome on
their backs as they pedaled along at an easy pace.
    “Look, Grannie Fran!” Joe
called back, pointing at a pasture they were passing. Three
horses, all brown, grazed contentedly, glancing up only briefly and with little
interest at the odd creatures on wheels passing by. They soon reached
another tree-lined stretch, rode over a small bridge spanning a creek, and
could see a clearing ahead with a bench.
    “Break?” Mickey called back
and several yeses chorused in return. They parked their bikes along the trail,
pulled off helmets and opened water bottles. Frannie got a bag of animal
crackers out and offered them to the kids.
    “What a perfect day!” Nancy
said and received vigorous agreement. A young family biked by, nodding and
waving, followed by a lone rider, thin wispy hair flying from under his helmet.
    “Gran!” Sabet whispered, even
though the rider was already on down the path, “It’s the story-telling guy!”
She was right; Frannie had noticed he even had his ukelele strapped to the back
of his seat.
    “Ready to ride?” Mickey
asked, wheezing a little. He thought of himself as wagon-master, but he was
looking a little pale. A long-time smoker who was trying to quit with only
intermittent success, he suffered from the beginning stages of COPD.
    “Are you ready is the question,” Jane Ann said, looking at him with
concern. “You and I can go back, Mickey, if you’re not up to it.”
    “If you decide to go back,
you could take my truck back to the campground,” Larry said. “I can call Jane
Ann for a ride when we get back.”
    “No, no, no!” Mickey insisted.
“I’m fine. Somebody else lead and I’ll just ride a little slower.”
    “I’ll ride with you,” Jane
Ann said and her tone was clear that she would brook no argument.
    “It’s only about two or two
and a half