Free White Water by Linda I. Shands Page A

wouldn’t do any good. He was treating her like a two-year-old. How embarrassing! Fighting back tears of frustration, she grabbed her pillow and followed Anne up the stairs.
    When Kara woke the room was still dark, but Anne was already up. Kara knew the woman would be either in the kitchen or outside in some quiet place, reading her Bible and praying. Mom had done the same thing. Every morning without fail, Kara would find her in the kitchen or family room with her Bible and an open notebook with a list of people to pray for.
    Kara felt a stab of guilt. How old were Mom and Anne when they started doing that? Her own Bible was still on the desk in her room at home. I pray every day , she reminded herself. And go to church on Sunday. Youth group too . But sometimes that didn’t seem to be enough. Especially when things in her life seemed to be going sideways, like now.
    She got up and moved to the window, careful not to wake Ryan, who was still curled up on his cot with his head buried underneath the covers.
    The sky was just beginning to lighten above the gray morning mist. Something stirred in the shadows, then moved into the clearing where the bear had been the night before. Kara rubbed a clear spot on the frosty glass and peered closer. Colin and Greg! They were studying something on the ground, and both of them carried rifles. Just as she thought, they were going after that bear.
    Tendrils of smoke snaked upward into an ice blue sky. The smell of burning cedar told her Anne had lit a log in the fireplace as well as the woodstove in the kitchen. Kara shivered. The room was cold enough to see her breath. Quickly she stuffed her feet into her slippers, grabbed her pillow, and hurried downstairs.

B ACK IN HER OWN BEDROOM , Kara pulled on jeans and a sweatshirt with a picture of a kitten hanging from a tree branch by its claws. The caption read “Hang in There.” Exactly the advice I need , she thought. She had to have a talk with Dad, and it had to be soon. Once Tia arrived, opportunities for privacy would be zero .
    The lodge was quiet except for the crackle of flames licking at a huge log in the dining-room fireplace. The fire gave the room a cozy, warm glow, and Kara eyed the two small, overstuffed chairs that flanked the hearth . Coffee first, then one of those is mine! She loved it here at Eagle Lodge, especially the quiet moments when no one else was around. The front wall of the dining room was practically one big window that offered an unbroken view of meadows, the river, and the mountains beyond.
    No one was in the kitchen, but the back door was ajar, and Kara knew Anne wasn’t very far away. She grabbed a mug from the rack by the ancient percolator and poured herself a cup of the steaming brew. She turned to head back to the fireplace, but stopped when she heard a voice coming from the radio room. Ryan loved to play in there even though it was strictly forbidden. Had he awakened and come down while she was in her room?
    She hurried to the door, which was open just a crack, and peeked in. The last thing she wanted to do was scare him into dropping the controls like he had the last time. That had been an expensive lesson and could have cost them their lives.
    Instead of Ryan, Kara realized it was Dad sitting in the radio room with his back to her. He was talking to someone on the radio. She was about to turn away when Dad said, “Right. Tell Mark not to bring Tia. He’ll have three passengers going home instead.”
    Kara braced herself against the table. Not bring Tia? And who was going home? He had to mean her and Ryan and probably Anne . How could he do this! And for absolutely no reason!
    A few seconds later, Dad confirmed her fears. “Sorry, Wakara,” he said when he saw her in the kitchen. “I know you won’t like it, but it’s just not safe here right now. Once a bear has become a nuisance, they seldom go away on their own. You know that.” He didn’t